The Fallen World

The Moon City - Part 8

     After a short distance they came to an intersection, the very same intersection at which Matthew had first come across the steel doors. This time Jerry operated the doors, just to make sure that he could do so despite his short stature and puny strength (he encountered only minor difficulties, much to his delight), and soon they were standing at the crossroads with steel doors all around them.

     “That’s the way you went, isn’t it, Matt?” asked Shaun, indicating the doors that led further eastwards. Matthew confirmed that it was, so they went through the doors and continued on.

     They found themselves back in a stretch of corridor with ordinary wooden doors on either side of them. This time they ignored them, though, since they were certain that they wouldn’t find the key there and were eager to reach the park cavern. Matthew stared at the door behind which the necklaces were, about thirty yards ahead of them, and strained his brain for an excuse to get them to go through it. This was a development he hadn’t counted on. He’d expected them to carry on searching every room they came to, in which case it would have been easy to ‘discover’ the necklaces, but now they were striding ahead with awful speed, devouring a full yard with every stride, and before he’d managed to come up with a single plausible excuse they’d reached the door and were passing it.

     Not knowing what else to do, he stopped beside the door and struggled to find something sensible to say. “Er, er, I mean, er...”

     “What is it, Matt?” asked Shaun, turning to look at him curiously. “Is anything wrong?”

     “Well, er, I mean...” repeated Matthew, feeling his face going red with fear, shame and embarrassment, “Er, don’t you think we should be checking all these rooms? I mean, who knows what they might have in them? Don’t you think?”

     “No need,” replied his brother confidently. “You checked them all when you came here before, didn’t you?”

     “Well, er, not all of them,” said Matthew unhappily. “I don’t think I looked inside any of these. In fact the more I think about it, the more I think I didn’t.”

     “Oh well, never mind,” replied Shaun indifferently. “I can’t be bothered to check any more rooms. I want to see this park cavern of yours. Come on.”

     The young soldier looked even more unhappy. “It wouldn’t take a moment to just take a peek,” he pleaded, edging even closer to the door. “Come on, just one little look...”

     “Matthew,” said Diana in her special tone of voice, “What are you up to?”

     “Nothing! Nothing!” cried the young soldier in near terror. “I just thought, you know, that...”

     “Matthew Winterwell!” said Diana sternly. “What are you playing at?” She opened the door and looked inside. “Well well,” she said in mock surprise. “Look what’s in here, another cabinet. What’s in it, Matt?”

     “How should I...”

     “Matthew!”

     Matthew knew it was all over and broke down completely. The only thing he could do now was confess everything and throw himself at the mercy of the court. Numbly, he went over to the cabinet, opened it to the gasps of the others and produced the necklace he'd had hidden in his pocket. There was no need to say anything. His humiliation was complete and he hung his head in unbearable shame.

     Shaun looked down at his feet to try to hide his face but his body was shaking and he raised a hand to wipe a tear from his eye. Diana's face remained stern but her lips narrowed with the effort. “You were wearing this when you went through the cavern?” she asked. Matthew nodded. “And you think it protected you from whatever killed everything else?”