The Fallen World

The Moon City - Part 4

     He tried to open the centre door by pulling on the wheel, marveling, as he did so, how quickly one could get used to such a wealth of steel, but it remained stubbornly shut until the young soldier had the idea of turning the wheel, whereupon it opened easily. As it swung open, he saw that it had another identical wheel on its other side, and that it led into a small alcove, in the far wall of which was another, identical door. It also opened easily when its wheel was turned and, stepping through, Matthew found himself at a crossroads. A square as wide as the corridor he’d just left with three steel doors in each of its four walls.

     “What are they for?” he wondered out loud. “You use steel for strength, but they can’t be for defence ‘cos they can be opened from either side, so what in hell are they for? And why have them in sets of three?” Several of the doors were standing open, and looking through them he saw that they all led into small alcoves, each with another door in their far walls.
     “They’re all in pairs!” he cried in consternation. “Why?” Thomas would know, he seemed to know everything, and he almost dashed back to get him, but he hadn’t found his treasure yet and he wasn’t going to go back without it. He pushed open one of the doors leading off to his left, therefore, and stepped through it, through the small alcove and through the second door beyond to continue his search.

     He found himself in another wide corridor, essentially identical to the one he’d just left. There were more doors along this corridor, ordinary wooden doors that opened easily by turning wooden doorhandles, and he looked through several of them as he went. These were smaller rooms and seemed to have been offices where people performed the administrative side of whatever had once been done here. None of them looked as though they’d contain the treasure he was sure existed down here somewhere and he passed them by with scarcely a glance until, leaving the third room on his left and closing the door behind him, he was suddenly brought up short by something he’d seen in there but which had only just impinged itself on his awareness. His heart thumping in excitement, he opened the door again and went back in.

     Hanging on the wall opposite the door was a wooden cabinet with brass straps and hinges that must have once made it as much an attractive ornament as a piece of furniture. The brass was now heavily corroded, though, as was the plaque on one of the doors, the writing of which was now totally obscured. Not only that, but the wood itself was chipped and splintered, as if someone had violently attacked it with a chisel or some other sharp metal instrument in a frantic attempt to break it open. That was the thing that had attracted Matthew’s attention, that and the fact that the cabinet was still closed and, apart from the obvious disfigurement, still largely intact. Now that he had a chance to think about it, that was the most surprising thing of all, because the cabinet didn’t look all that strong. It wasn’t ironwood, just pine or something. If someone had been so determined to break in, how come they had failed?

     He fingered one of the splinters of wood that stuck out from the door and tried to break it off, expecting to find it as brittle as the broken packing crates in the observatory upstairs. To his surprise, though, he found that it was as strong and hard as iron and that, no matter how hard he pulled, it would scarcely bend by as much as a quarter of an inch. Magically hardened! he thought in excitement, and allowing for the fact that some of the magic must have worn off over the centuries, how much harder must it have been when the unknown vandal had tried to break into it? Suddenly, the young soldier was amazed that whoever it was had managed to inflict as much damage as he had, and he reflected that he must have been driven by a mad desperation to have been able to summon that much strength. What could possibly be inside to inspire that kind of fanaticism? Matthew’s heart leapt in excitement. Treasure!

     The cabinet had no lock, or any other means of fastening it shut, indicating that it had been magically locked, but Thomas had said that locking spells often faded over the centuries, in which case... He took hold of the handles and pulled gently. There was a little resistance at first, but then the weak remnant of the locking spell gave way with an audible pop and the door opened easily.