The First Emperor

Chapter Four: Xianyang

        The trapdoor was covered in a thick layer of moss, earth, and dead leaves. This entrance to the secret passage must not have been used in a long time, and it was a wonder Yiren found it in the first place. Only a fraction of a wooden corner was visible, peeking out through the greenery. Yiren knelt down and brushed away the dirt. 

        It had taken hours to find this entrance, but a significant amount of time had been saved. The real setback was Lady Zhao, who constantly disappeared into the woods to relieve herself. In her absense, Lü would look meaningfully at Yiren, hoping he'd come out and agree to make Lü his advisor. However, Yiren only gazed up at the sky until Lady Zhao came back, whereupon he would dreamily smile and start his horse forward.

        Lady Zhao was gone now, having assured Lü that she "will only be out for a minute or two, so don't go into the entrance without me!"

        Yiren finished dusting off the trapdoor, and stood up. He wiped his filthy hands on his robes, looking around. "Where's Lady Zhao?"

        "She's off in the woods again. You have some dirt on your face."

        "Where?" Yiren closed one eye and tried to look at his nose with the other, achieving a dorky expresion that Lady Zhao would probably describe as "cute."

        Lü laughed despite himself. "Right... here." He touched a spot on his forehead.

        Yiren tentatively raised a hand to his own forehead. "Here?"

        At Lü's nod, his face grew determined and he scrubbed at the mark with his grubby hands, leaving behind a much large smudge. Lü put his face in his hands. When he finally looked up, Yiren was still busy trying to clean himself. His whole forehead was a mess.

        Lady Zhao popped out of the bushes. She swayed a bit, her face gray, before brightening at the sight of the revealed trapdoor. "You got rid of all the dirt!"

        Yiren glanced at her, paused mid-smear. "I did?"

        Lady Zhao turned to face Yiren, and raised an eyebrow. "What happened to you?"

        "I had some dirt on my face. Is it gone yet?"

        The edges of her mouth twitched up. "Almost. Let me get rid of the last few splotches." She peeled some fresh green moss off of a tree, and walked over to Yiren, each step making a soft crunch in the undergrowth and debris. Yiren squeezed his eyes shut, and Lady Zhao rubbed the moss on his face. The dirt partially came off, but the moss left behind specks of green fuzz on his face. She giggled, and Yiren's eyelids fluttered up, looking at her dubiously with his intense but playful eyes.

        "Am I good now?" Yiren gave her a happy smile.

        This was all getting too flirty for Lü's taste.  He threw up his hands. "You'll camoflauge! Now are you going to open the trapdoor, or will I have to?"

        Yiren's face lit up. "Oh yeah!" he exclaimed, and quickly walked to the trapdoor. The young prince - Lü was having trouble remembering that the boy was royalty at this point - dropped to his knees and dug his fingers under the side of the door. His mouth squinched up and his eyebrows furrowed, Yiren sedulousy pried the wooden slab out of its packed dirt compartment.

        With a low scraping noise, the door slid away, revealing a gaping hole. Yiren huffed triumphantly, and Lady Zhao gave him a small round of applause. Lü silenced her with a look, and strode over to peer in the hole. It was dark, but Lü could see that the passage was narrow and musty. He hitched up his robes, and cautiously put one foot into the hole.

        The ground was slippery, not rough as Lü had expected, and his foot skidded down the passage. He lost his balance, and toppled through the hole. Letting out an uncharacteristic yelp of panic, he slid along the bottom of the walkway, which was slanted downwards and apparently very smooth. Yiren called out to him, but he couldn't make out what the boy was saying. But that didn't matter, Lü was uncontrollably sliding down this strange underground pathway, probably leading to his demise!

        I should warn Lady Zhao, Lü thought. The passage was actually very long and he was losing his adrenaline. Now it felt like more of a slide than a death trap. Lü recalled his childhood, the brief moments where he would relax and have fun with his friends... This reminded him of those times.

        With a jolt, Lü realized he was still sliding to his doom. Was there some kind of magic spell on these walls, that cursed the inhabitants with nostalgia? He had to warn the others! Well, not Yiren. Yiren probably knew this was a trap.

        All of a sudden Lü heard a high pitched squeal echo from far behind him. Lady Zhao! She was headed his way, towards death as well! Lü moaned. Was this all his fault? He never should have trusted the young prince of Qin.

        But Lady Zhao didn't seem to be panicking. A loud whoop followed her scream, belonging to Yiren. He must have followed Lady Zhao into the hole, then. Did that mean no danger awaited them? Lady Zhao and Yiren seemed to be having a blast as they skidded towards Lü, by the excited noises they were making. Maybe this was a way Yiren entertained himself when he was younger. Lü relaxed, satisfied with this explanation, and slid the rest of the way down the passage.

        He landed with a soft bump at the end of the passage, and sat up, stretching. The passage was oddly long, but it had to travel through a whole city to arrive at the Qin court. Lü dusted himself off and started to stand up. However, with a gleeful cackle, Lady Zhao came careening out of the hole, colliding with Lü. They lay in a disgruntled pile on the floor, before Lü extricated himself from underneath Lady Zhao. He sighed, and stretched again, feeling bruises swelling up on his back. Now all Lü had to do was wait for -

        Yiren flew out of the hole in the wall, letting out a loud holler, and crashed into Lü. His eyes widening, Lü fell back onto Lady Zhao, who let out a soft Oomph and landed back on the floor.

        "I haven't done that in ages!" Yiren exclaimed, bouncing to his feet.

        Lü picked himself up off of Lady Zhao and straightened his robes, fixing Yiren with a cold stare. "Why didn't you tell us we were going down a slide? I thought I was going to die back there."

        Yiren shifted uncomfortably, and looked down. "Sorry. I was going to tell you, but then you cut in front of me and I didn't have time and- sorry."

        Lady Zhao stood up. "Oh, stop it, Lü," she scolded. "You had fun too, admit it." She waggled her finger at Lü and then walked out of the small dirt cavern, opening a wooden door inset into the walls of the room.

        Dim light spilled into the room. Yiren halfheartedly started to beckon her back. "That's the door... to the servant's... Oh well, might as well dive in headfirst." He stepped through the doorway and out of sight.

        Lü looked back at the slide, and gave it a small smile. Yiren's naïve cheerfulness was making him soft, and it wasn't such a bad feeling. He turned his back on the dark passage, and walked through the door.