Fourth Prince - Climbing Experience

Although Renjie's climbing experience could not provide insights into where to look for relics, as the Ministry's experts placed sticky dots, Renjie could assess the feasibility of exploring the surrounding terrain. Some promising areas were prohibitively difficult to reach. Some accessible areas showed insufficient variety to be considered promising.

The Third Prince arrived unexpectedly and complemented everyone's hard work.

"Please do not be offended," he said, "but we have new rivals and I'm here to rush you."

"Rivals?" asked Renjie. "On Jade Palace Mound? Kill them. Wait! Is it Hero Lang?"

"Hero Lang?" asked Parsifal.

"Mu Lang," said Renjie. "Of Jian Peak Abbey. He's too handsome to kill."

"I was thinking of different rivals," said Parsifal.

"Who were you thinking of?"

"Tianming Duke. Why do you think Jian Peak Abbey is involved?"

"I smelled it on their clothes," said Renjie.

"I'm not sure…."

"Iba Algi confirmed," said Renjie.

"I see," said Parsifal. "All the more reason for us to be a step ahead."

"We're trying to make the best step," said Renjie.

Parsifal saluted apologetically.

"Please be appeased," he said. "I know you are taking this seriously and want to do your best. You've already done amazing work. But the game has changed."

"Because of rivals?" asked Renjie. "We're the royal family! It's our Mound!"

Parsifal put one arm around his brother's shoulders, the other around the Minister's, and walked them both into a corner. It was difficult for Renjie to object. The masculine, but not too masculine, aroma of Parsifal's armpit inhibited Renjie's objection mechanisms.

"As you know," said Parsifal, "our plan was to lay a trap for tomb raiders."

"Was?" asked Renjie. "That's no longer the plan?"

"It remains one plan," said Parsifal. "But now we believe we must rediscover the secrets of the ancient giants in order to… I realize this will sound far fetched…."

"To what?" pressed Renjie.

"I hesitate," said Parsifal, "because it will sound so absurd you will ask Iba Algi."

"I've only talked to her about the clothes," said Renjie. "If something's important, she'll tell me."

"When multiple people with precognition look at the same problem," said Parsifal, "everything turns to mush. If you do talk to her, promise not to tell me – or anyone else – what she says."

Renjie appreciated Parsifal's solid behind. It had been too long.

"Sure," the Fourth Prince agreed. "But you're being silly."

"We have to rediscover secrets of the ancient giants in order to save the world," said Parsifal.

Renjie folded his perfect arms across his perfect chest. Then it hit him.

"Ah!" he cried.

"Ah!" cried the Minister of Antiquities.

"Ah!" repeated Renjie.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Renjie and the Minister repeated together.

"This is the look you make when you're experiencing an idea or an orgasm," said Parisfal.

"The painting!" said Renjie.

"The painting!" agreed the Minister. "The painting… The painting your sister sent over?"

"Yes!" said Renjie. "Yes, yes, yes! Go get it! Someone! Someone!"

Renjie ran around the room calling for someone to bring him the painting. Then he stopped near the model of Plum Terrace Palace and stared into its cracks and grooves.

"It's one of these!" he insisted. "Someone!"

"Someone!" called the Minister of Antiquities.

"Get that hydromancer from the Ministry of Works!" instructed Renjie.

The painting arrived first. Once hung, everyone marveled at it.

"Everything makes sense!" said Renjie.

"I'm not familiar with this painting," said Parsifal.

"It was just painted," said Renjie.

"It looks a thousand years old," said Parsifal.

"Iba Algi calls the young man who painted it the greatest of our age," said Renjie. "You wouldn't think that just from looking at him. He's as thin as his own shadow!"

"You're as thin as your own shadow," said Parsifal.

"I have muscles!" said Renjie.

"I didn't know that the Princess collects art," said Parsifal.

"She collected this painter as a gift to my mother," said Renjie. "As you can see, he hides eroticism in sublime landscapes. But this waterfall…."

Renjie held out a perfect pointer finger and almost touched the painting. Leaving his finger extended, he turned and walked toward the model of Jade Palace Mound.

"...is one of these. And these streams are responsible for some dots down here."

Renjie lowered his finger to a patch of marshland at the base of the Mound.

"There aren't a lot of finds in that basin," said the Minister of Antiquities. "But they are of high quality. You think these waterfalls are promising? They are all high up the mound."

"I've never understood how that works," said Parsifal. "It rains, but not enough to sustain the Mounds waterfalls. Even if mountains can pressurize groundwater, Jade Palace Mound is the tallest mountain for at least fifty miles."

"I don't know how it works either," said Renjie.

"That's why you called for the hydromancer?" asked the Minister.

"It's related," agreed Renjie. "I do know the ancient giants put in plumbing."

"You want to start in the plumbing, then?" asked Parsifal.

"No," said Renjie. "And I don't intend to start up here where the painting is even though it's right under my bedroom. As you can see, these waterfalls flow into caverns before reemerging farther down the cliff faces. I've never climbed underneath the water because I only use bare fingers and climbing under a waterfall would be foolish. With equipment, however, it becomes only difficult, not foolish."

"You think there are tunnels connected to these caves?" asked the Minister.

"There are so many tunnels in Jade Palace Mound," said Renjie, "it might be more tunnel than rock."

"What are you proposing, exactly?" asked Parsifal.

"When she gets here, I will propose that the hydromancer test all the places where the water from these waterfalls emerges from the cliffs."

"You're putting a lot of faith in a painting," said Parsifal. "Oh, I see. Iba Algi is telling us where to look."

"I think she's telling us more," said Renjie. "This is her style. I'm not smart enough to figure out the whole message. But this is where we start."

"How can the hydromancer test where the water comes out?" asked Parsifal.

"The Ministry of Works does something with dye when it's planning constructions near water features," said the Minister of Antiquities. "They've helped us this way at other sites, but to my knowledge never on the Mound."

"How groundbreaking!" said Renjie. "We should all get an award!"

The Minister appreciated Renjie's suggestion.