“And Chantal left before we went for lunch. She hasn’t come back yet,” Maija added.

“Perfect,” Kirsten said while stepping hesitantly into the hallway. Maija followed and they ran up to the door that led to Merglan’s chambers. As Kirsten pushed, the door squeaked on its hinges and swung open. They slowly climbed up the staircase, making sure to be quiet in case others were in Merglan’s chambers. At the top of the staircase a second doorway led into a room. Kirsten turned to Maija and put a finger over her lips to let her know to be extra careful as they approached the top of the staircase.

Kirsten watched closely as she neared the top stone step and could see more of the room beyond the doorway. She didn’t see anyone as they inched closer. The room was large with extremely high ceilings. She could see tables, chairs, and a desk through the doorway. Checking in both directions, she gave Maija a thumbs-up and motioned to follow her into the room. Enormous bookshelves lined the walls, rising high into the air. Both of them stood in the doorway in awe.

“Wow. It’s beautiful,” Kirsten said, taking in the magnificence of the chambers.

“Remember, we need to find the crystals before he comes back,” Maija said, nudging Kirsten to keep her on track.

The two began searching the room. Not entirely sure what they were looking for, they rifled through the desk, searched throughout the shelves, and even looked under the rugs. They searched everywhere but didn’t find anything that resembled a crystal.

Finally Maija called to Kirsten, “Come over here! Check this out.”

Maija pulled aside a banner hanging as a decoration on the wall. Behind the banner several lines deeply engraved into the wall resembled a doorway.

“Is that a door?” Kirsten asked.

“I think so,” Maija said. “But there’s no handle or knob,” she said as she searched the area where a handle would normally be installed on a door.

“Look at this,” Kirsten said pointing to the ground. On the floor next to the wall was a strange marking, a spiral carved into the stone floor.

“Maybe it’s the doorknob?” Maija said.

Kirsten bent down and felt it. She pushed on it. Feeling it release, the spring-loaded spiral carving extended up from the stone floor. She turned it to the right. It twisted and the hidden door in the wall cracked open.

“Wow!” Maija said, amazed at the secret doorway’s complexity. Maija pushed the door open. It led into a long narrow passageway. It grew dark in the narrow hallway as the light from the chamber room grew more faint. In the distance at what appeared to be the other end of the passageway, they could see a glow. As they approached, the glowing light seemed to shine a brighter blue. The passageway led to another large room with high ceilings. The only light in the room was a glowing hue of light blue that radiated from the end of the narrow hallway.

“Maija look!” Kirsten said. She pointed across the room to the origin of the blue light. There, neatly stacked into a giant slab rising twice the height of her family farmhouse and running nearly the length of her barn back in Grandwood were brightly glowing crystals, emanating the unusual light.

Maija tugged on Kirsten’s shirtsleeve. She looked at her with a furrowed brow, “What is it?”

Maija’s eyes widened as she pointed at the ground in front of them. Kirsten’s eyes, at last adjusted to the dim blue light, could now see clearly what she had failed to see before. On the ground in front of them lay an enormous dragon spread in a heap, comfortably-sleeping on the floor. She watched as its dark scales rose and fell with each breath. Kirsten almost shouted in fear, but put her hand over her own mouth to avoid making any noise. She returned Maija’s wide-eyed look. Just as they exchanged their fearful gaze the dragon stirred. It’s enormous black-scaled body shifted as it rolled onto its side and let out a drowsy growl. Kirsten and Maija didn’t wait to see if the dragon’s eyes opened. They darted down the narrow passageway and back into the master’s chamber. Kirsten closed the hidden door behind them and pushed the spiral nob on the floor back into its locked position. Both of them breathed heavily as they looked at each other.

“A dragon,” Kirsten said, shocked. “He has a dragon in there.” She pointed to the wall where the banner now covered the secret door.

“Yeah, an enormous one too,” Maija gasped. “But hey, at least we know where the crystals are,” she said sarcastically.

“Come on, let’s get out of here before we get caught,” Kirsten said as she rushed across the room toward the door. Before they reached the stairway, though, they heard the door at the bottom of the stairs close. They also heard Chantal calling for them.

“Crap!” Kirsten mouthed. “What do we do know?” she whispered.

Looking around the room, Maija said, “Hold on, I got this.” She went over to the desk and grabbed some dirty dishes stacked on the corner and handed some to Kirsten. Then she led them down the stairs and out into the hallway where Chantal stood, obviously looking for them.

When they opened the door leading out of Merglan’s chambers, Chantal immediately chastised them, “What in the world were you two doing in there? You’re not allowed to be in there, only I and…”

Maija cut her off, “The master asked us before he left if we would be so kind as to return his dirty lunch dishes to the kitchen.” Chantal looked at her with hands on her hips angrily tapping her foot. Maija continued, “We told him that we were explicitly told never to enter his chamber room. He said to forget what we were told and follow his orders. He wanted the place tidy and clean when he returned.”

Chantal scoffed and said, “Well that’s ridiculous, the master has never complained about his dishes remaining in his room for too long. I clean them up before dinner every day.”

Maija handed her the dirty dishes and said, “I was just obeying his direct orders.” Kirsten loaded more on top of those Maija had handed her.

“Anyway,” Chantal continued. “You’re needed to help prepare for tonight’s dinner. The master will be entertaining special guests and there is much to do beforehand.”

Maija and Kirsten rushed off to the dining hall, leaving Chantal with an armful of dirty dishes.

“That was brilliant,” Kirsten said as soon as they were out of earshot.

“Thanks,” Maija said, blushing. “I saw those dishes when we entered the room and thought that they’d serve as a good excuse if we got caught leaving.”

“It worked beautifully,” Kirsten said happily.

They reached the dining hall and began helping the others set up tables and chairs.

“Is there any special reason why the master is having guests tonight?” Kirsten asked one of the kitchen servants.

“I heard something about a battle. It seems the master is hosting a strategic planning meeting with some of his commanders tonight,” the servant told her. Kirsten thanked him and kept the news to herself.

She briefly entertained going back to Merglan’s chambers while he was busy at the dinner, but Chantal had told Thargon to place two guards at Merglan’s chamber room door, which made a second visit impossible.

That night after they had cleaned up the mess the orc, kurr, and men made during the feast, Kirsten and Maija stayed up talking with Thomas about the events of the day. After making sure no guards were spying on them, they told Thomas about finding the crystals in the secret room with the sleeping dragon. They followed up with details about the meeting Merglan had with members of the orc, kurr and human armies at his command.

“I heard about a fight with the Rollo Islanders,” he said. “The orcs attacked a group of Rollo Island warriors, taking them by surprise in their sleep, but the warriors fought them off.”

“I hope they kill every last orc and kurr in Merglan’s army,” Kirsten said angrily.

“Me, too,” he agreed. “And the crystals, you said they were behind a secret door or something, guarded by a dragon?” he asked.

“Yeah, so they’re definitely important,” Kirsten said.

“They must be used for magic,” Maija said. “It’s the only explanation that makes any sense to me.”

“So, how do we get to them if they’re guarded by a dragon?” Thomas asked. “I didn’t even know dragons still existed. Father told us the last dragon left this world after it destroyed the castle at Highborn Bay.”

“But Merglan’s got one. We saw it,” Kirsten said. They perked their heads up as they heard guards coming through the hallway to the courtyard.

“We’ll talk more tomorrow,” Thomas said and quickly ran to his cell. Kirsten and Maija did the same.

Once the guards were gone, Kirsten said to Maija, “There has to be a way to get the crystals. If they are, in fact, the key to the magic here, then maybe we could use them to escape.”

Maija said, “All we have to do is get past that dragon and we are home free.”

When Kirsten awoke to the banging on the cell door, she still hadn’t come up with an idea on how to get past the dragon guarding the crystals. She spent all morning thinking about it. Every possible scenario she dreamed up ended with either the dragon eating them or Merglan killing them for attempting to steal the crystals. They were cleaning the rooms near Merglan’s chambers when Maija stopped mopping the floor and leaned over with her ear. Seeing her do this, Kirsten came to her side.

“What is it?” Kirsten asked.

Maija said, “Merglan is arguing with Thargon.” She walked to the edge of the room and leaned her head out the doorway into the hall to get a better angle. “Merglan says he’s leaving,” Maija said, looking back at Kirsten. “Oh, get back to work; Thargon’s coming.” They continued to mop and scrub the floors and watched as Thargon left in a rage.

“Did you hear where Merglan was going?” Kirsten asked.