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"If it fits, you know," Arlo uttered when Vega maintained that she held some sort of proprietary stake in the word. Wart, that was. He grinned slightly when he said it though, giving himself a way. But it was just a small bit of levity. There was nothing funny about the place they were exploring. Wigged out, a case of the jeebies. She could call it whatever she liked, but there was no denying it. They hadn't even gone inside yet and the abandoned fortress unnerved him.
Just because they hadn't seen any footsteps leading back in the other direction, didn't mean that whoever had left them was still nearby, Arlo argued. They could have left in a different direction after all. But he wasn't at all convinced it was the case.
Still he didn't think that it was them, that was creating the unsettling feeling of being watched. Or anything else that might've left a physical trace of themselves behind. His imagination was working overtime though. This place seemed to encourage that, so he didn't mention it to Vega.
As for the old, crusted over coin, Arlo frowned when she told him it was Biqaj, and he had a closer look before she dropped it into her pouch. Strange. He hadn't been able to decipher what was there at all before he'd handed it to her. If the markings had been recognizable, they'd been too worn down with age or tarnished to see. And yet when she named them as seeming familiar, then suddenly to his eyes they were.
It didn't help to resolve Arlo's unease as they passed through the entrance and into a darker entryway. She was right. It was big, even in the passageway they were in. The walls curved and the ceiling high and dark. The floor was made of stone too, but much of it there at the start was covered in leaves, dirt and other debris, presumably blown in from outdoors. Arlo hadn't noticed the tokens until she pointed them out. But could be, because he'd been occupied with getting his lantern out of his rucksack, and lighting it up.
But then sure enough, there they were, and they were just as she said. "The funny thing is," Arlo whispered, and frowned deeply. "That coin outside. I couldn't see that marking till you said what it was. And maybe," he considered with a glance towards his feet, "those too." He leaned down and picked one of the things up, looking at it closely before putting it down again. For some reason Arlo just couldn't bring himself to take any of them with him.
But on they went with his lantern to light the way, and soon enough they came to a split in the passageway. To the left, it appeared to be just another long passageway. Maybe, since the light cast by his lantern was limited. To the right though, just a few yards away, the way spilled into an enormous chamber and Arlo's curiosity got the best of him. That way, he thought, and headed in that direction.
Their footfalls echoed off a far wall that neither of them could see. Maybe the ceiling too. And the tiles on the floor must've been marble and not the cheap stuff either. Even under the grime of what might be centuries, they could see some sort of mosaic decoration that must have required a great deal of effort, expertise and expense to put in place.
The thing that caused a chill to slide up Arlo's spine however was the way that impossibly black shadows seemed to swirl and dance just outside of the glow cast by his lantern. And then there was that sound, or at least what he thought he was hearing. The laughter of children, giggling as if telling one another a secret. He turned round on his heel, trying to figure out just where it was coming from. And he wondered, was it real or was he imagining it after hearing similar stories previously. "You hear that?" he whispered to Vega.
