He would have missed it if it wasn't for his uncle leaning over the fireplace and accidentally pressing it. The aged snowglobe with a little Taj Mahal inside sank into a hole on the marble top and the wall pressed inwards instantaneously.
A cloud of dust engulfed the room making their sight murky as it creaks of wood and stone filled the still air within the cabin. Coughing and wafting the air the two made their way towards the chimney that had now disappeared and before them was a little tunnel that seemed to be leading down into the earth below the infrastructure of the humble dwelling.
"Well?" Sydney raised his eyebrows at River.
"Well, what?"
"A thankyou would be nice you were about to ditch this place"
"You literally had no clue either you were about to take a swig of that flask you got there this is just pure coincidence"
"Yeah yeah whatever can we just go in already"
"After you"
River pulled out his trusty torch as did Sydney and they both took careful steps down a rickety ladder. River jumped down right after Sydney the ladder collapsing behind him into pieces of weathered wood.
"Way to go, kid, I told you to cut down on those rose dumplings didn't I?"
"Shut up the bridge was bound to break it was probably a hundred years old "
"Whatever floats your boat princess"
"Let's just take a look around I'm sure this leads somewhere"
It was pitch dark save for the little illumination that their torches provided. There was no even ground just dirt and rocks with cold stone walls all around. Little lanterns hung from the wall but they were missing candles. There were no signs of any recent visitation.
"It seems like no one has been here in ages"
River's voice seemed to echo off loudly through the darkness. The walls of the cave gleamed and glistened in the light from his torch; suggesting there was some sort of crystal present in them. He stopped however when he realised the path had led them into a single room.
From what it appeared the stone wall was no longer there as the light no revealed a shelf of books embedded instead of the stone wall. A chandelier of some sort hung from the ceiling that was relatively higher to the rest of the obscene tunnel.
"Sydney check it out"
"Looks like some sort of Library to me"
"That globe looks so familiar and check out that taxidermy collection this place belongs to some rich chap hey we could nick this and a few more and that painting from the fireplace you know just as a backup-"
"River" Sydney whispered in a low voice.
"- I mean let's be honest here this place might just be it you know all that great treasure they talk about in books is really never gold but just some sort of hoax which leads you to a place filled with more books and then they claim-"
"River"
"-that the real treasure is wisdom you know a load of bullshit this is why I usually go for the pirates instead they are way better-"
"River!"
"What?!"
"You might wanna come, take a look at this"
"Why what is that"
"River, River these aren't just any books or not just someone's eccentric retirement home they belong to-"
"My father"