[Child adventures!] Ancient times

[st_ratagem]

They weren’t actually supposed to be outside of the palace grounds. Father and Mother both agreed, nine was too young, and Thor had only just started arms training. But Thor had wanted to ‘test his courage’ and apparently that didn’t just mean ‘leave the palace’, it had meant ‘leave the palace, take a skiff, go to island ruin with a door in it, far enough away that you could barely see the spires’.

It was exciting, yes! Still Loki was in trouble much more often than Thor, and he was deeply complicit in the escape thanks to a lot of illusions, was still nervous. Mostly about being blamed if something went wrong. “Did one of the guards tell you about this place?”

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[st_ormbreaker]

"It isn't like the city's that far away." Thor takes a few steps inside, looking around. "We have plenty of ways to get there easily enough on top of it."

Then suddenly a thought occurs to him:

"Maybe this place is haunted and people fled out of fear!"

For what might seem like a frightening possibility for a child his age, Thor seems remarkably excited by the prospect.

[st_ratagem]

“Maybe!” It would be interesting, Loki thought, to meet a ghost. Especially one as old as any in this place would have to be! If it didn’t attack first. “...I don’t know how useful knives will be against ghosts, Thor.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"That's what my lightning's there for! Ghosts can't evade lightning."

Thor sounds confident of this fact, but Thor also sounds confident of everything - including his ability to execute his skill with lightning with perfect form. Even the little sparks he made were a struggle for him to control.

[st_ratagem]

“No one can evade your lightning, brother.” As if illustrating, Loki reached up to touch his head and make sure his hair was down, make sure his brother couldn’t make it poof up. “If you electrocute us I’ll... do something.”

He’d almost said ‘I’ll tell Mother’ but there wasn’t much chance that would help since they’d both be in trouble anyway.

[st_ormbreaker]

"I'm not going to electrocute either one of us," Thor argues. Clearly, he's taken offense. "I've gotten a lot better since the last time you've seen me really use it."

He had not.

As they continue forward, they hit a T-Shaped intersection. Without even asking Loki's input, Thor immediately turns right.

[st_ratagem]

Loki followed, though he looked down the left-hand passage curiously. When it wasn’t much different as far as he could tell, he pulled a charcoal stick from over there and scribbled a mark on the floor. Then he jogged a little to catch up with Thor. “Why right?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Because," Thor pronounces, and then he does not go into it any further.

Because was apparently the only rationalization he could give.

"Did you think we should go left?" Thor might as well have asked what, do you think I am wrong? with the tone he was using.

[st_ratagem]

“No, it looked about the same. I just wondered.” So much for hoping there was some sort of strategy. Probably Thor wasn’t even looking for traps! Loki was, though:grooves or lines where they shouldn’t be, depressed floor tiles. He assumed traps looked like that.

It meant that he was always moving slower than Thor, though, and continuously falling a little behind.

[st_ormbreaker]

"You really should try and keep up," Thor complains, looking over his shoulder at his brother, who is apparently dawdling behind. "What happens if you get left behind and the ghosts get you?"

Thor spins around and closes the gap between them, then takes Loki's hand into their own.

"There, so we don't lose track of one another," he pronounces.

[st_ratagem]

“I was looking for traps!” Loki protested, tugging slightly on his hand. Thor wasn’t letting go, though, and honestly a dark underground space that could collapse on them anytime seemed about the right time for holding hands anyway.

Until the ghosts attacked at least. Then it would be better to have two hands. “Now the ghosts are going to get both of us, does that make you happy?”

[st_ormbreaker]

"Better for us to die together than to die alone," Thor says cheerily. "Besides, if this place had any traps, they'd probably be set off or broken, anyway. This place has been abandoned for a millennia."

[st_ratagem]

“If I put traps in a place like this, I’d make sure sure they reset themselves so they’d just keep going off.” What was the point of a single-use trap? “Pits with spikes at the bottom and doors that closed back until, that kind of thing. Sharp spikes!”

[st_ormbreaker]

"You're not afraid that we're going to run into them, are you?" Clearly, Thor is not. "I'm sure that if I did run into one, I'd survive it easily, even if the pit were 100 feet deep with spikes half as long!"

[st_ratagem]

“No, just you. You’d throw me out so I didn’t get impaled.” Loki was absolutely sure of that much. It was a point they agreed on, if one of them was going to get impales by massive spikes, it was Thor.

Plus it would be easy, Thor was already holding on to him. “Right before a whole lot of fifty foot spikes go all the way through you.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"That's right," Thor proclaims, clearly delighted that his brother was well aware that he would save him. He gives Loki's hand a tight squeeze.

"Okay," he says, slowing his pace as the two of them approach another split in the hall. "Your turn."

[st_ratagem]

It was a little thing, but Loki was so used to Thor taking the lead that it felt ridiculously good to be the one to pick. Yes, it was only fair, but ‘fair’ wasn’t always a priority on either side when they played. (That was part of the fun.)

After due but brief consideration (his brother’s patience was far from legendary) Loki brought out his charcoal stick again and scribbled a mark on the left path. “This way.” Less chance of going around in a circle.

[st_ormbreaker]

Since Loki asked him before, it was only fair that he shot his words right back at him, right?

"Why that way?"

[st_ratagem]

“If we turn right all the time we’ll just end up where we started.” Loki shrugged, as if it was so obvious. Because it was so obvious! “Wouldn’t be much of an adventure, would it, brother? ‘Ooooh we went into this dark and collapsing ruin and walked around In a big circle, oooh.’ I’m being helpful.”

[st_ormbreaker]

"It's not like we couldn't backtrack, you know," Thor argues, clearly affronted by this very rational explanation. "Besides, we're going to eventually explore this whole place, anyway. Maybe not today, but sometime."

[st_ratagem]

“We’re still going left. I picked.” Loki pointed at his charcoal scribble, as if that made the choice permanent somehow. Then he started walking and tugged on Thor’s hand. “Come on, brother!”

[st_ormbreaker]

"I wasn't saying we weren't!" Thor says, giving the passage to the right a quick glance before following his brother down the left. "This place is starting to get boring." He kicks a little bit of rubble dismally. "I thought there'd be more excitement, more fighting, and more treasure."

And so far, there had been none of it.

[st_ratagem]

“Well.” Loki stopped abruptly. It felt like he could think this through or keep walking, but not both. “If... if all the traps are set off or broken because other people, then... then it stands to reason everything else would be gone too. We have to deeper than where other people got to, that’s where things will still be.” Right? Yes, That all made sense.

[st_ormbreaker]

"Well then, we shouldn't be stopping, we should be moving faster!"

Thor tugs at Loki's hand, and when he doesn't immediately move, Thor lets go and immediately races ahead.

[st_ratagem]

"Hey!" Loki's initial inner response was don't leave me here! which wouldn't have done much to slow Thor when he was on the move. Fortunately, his second was to race after his brother, with the third occurring on the way: if there are still things deeper in, that could include traps.

He didn't try too hard to catch up. A few paces behind was better. Just in case.

[st_ormbreaker]

As Thor runs carelessly by, he feels part of the ground below him shift, and then he hears a click. When he turns, it's just in time to see a series of darts race towards him.

They rip through his skin as easily as they rip through his clothing, and Thor is downed.