The Broken Seal - Chapter 6

She ran to the front door, followed closely by Jacob.

« Sasha, wait ! »
« I have to go, I have to go now. It will take me several hours to reach my lair, so I have to leave at once »
« Several hours ? But we have a way to go much faster. We can take the back door, like we did when we travelled from the ranch to the Annex. It's possible to do the same to go to your lair. »

Jacob could see that Sasha had an internal conflict.

« Sasha, I promise it's safe. »
« I know, it's just... I never revealed the location of my lair, never brought anyone there. It's the one secret I will take with me when I die. »
« Sasha, I promise none of us will ever reveal that secret to anyone. But it's gonna take seconds to get there, not hours. »

She hesitated, thinking of her secret. Finally she shook her head.

« All right let's use the back door. »

They came back inside.

« Jenkins, we need a door. »
« Is there a door in your lair ? »

She hesitated once more.

« There's a door in the castle. »
« Your lair is in a castle ? »
« Under a castle. Set it for Château de Malle, in France. »
« Of course. »
« Any door will do, but the foyer on the ground floor would be the most practical. »
« There it is. »

The door glowed blue. They could see on her face there was doubt, a battle inside of her.

« Yes, yes, all right. »

They stepped through and were transported at once to the old continent, in the entrance hall of a beautiful castle. They had barely the time to ooh and aah. Sasha rushed across and pressed on a panel revealing the hidden door masquerading as a wall. She trembled and stopped before entering the tunnel that was concealed behind the panel.

« What's happening ? »
« It's so hard, I never thought it would be like that. It's almost impossible, I have to fight so much with my dragon. She doesn't understand. »

With an air of strong resolution, she went through and asked them to come with her.

« Follow me closely or you'll get lost. Or worse »

She pressed a button and lights went on. The passageway was dug into the ground and rock. Cassandra was surprised.

« Electricity in a dragon's lair ? It's more modern than I thought. »

The path turned and twisted in a way that none of them could remember. There were openings in the walls right and left at random intervals and they couldn't have navigated without Sasha. They were going down, deeper and deeper under the surface. Finally, they reached a flight of stairs and entered a cavern big enough to fit a plane, and not a small one. Well, if her dragon was the size of a diplodocus, that made sense. It wasn't empty, every corner, every nook and cranny, everywhere there were mountains of... things. Some glittered, some shone. There were weapons and books, jewels and music instruments, pieces of clothing, every kind of artwork, paintings and sculptures. It was more like a grandma's attic, and a rich one mind you, than what they imagined a dragon's lair would look like.
Before they could step further, she stopped them.

« Stay here, and don't touch anything. Especially you, Ezekiel Jones. I know who you are and what you do for a living. Hands in your pockets. I need to see if something's missing. »

Sasha was nervous and agitated. There was a wide area in the middle of the cavern that was empty. She stood there and shifted.
It was like seeing a flower open, or an origami unfold. But much bigger and much faster. And then there was no Sasha anymore. There was a dragon, and she was magnificent. Her back was sage green from the tip of her nose to the end of her tail. She had ivory horns, and spikes on her neck. Her wings were a darker shade of green, and leathery. Her belly was gold and her scales were shiny.
Jacob thought he had never seen such a marvelous sight. A dragon in its lair. He had to remember that this was her natural form and that her woman's body was only a disguise.

She let out a roar and began sniffing around. For a beast as big a small house, she was incredibly agile. She moved around the heaps and towers of items with the grace of a ballerina without touching anything. Her long neck allowed her to reach every corner. Every pile was checked, every item inspected.

After taking the time to scrutinize everything, dragon Sasha came back to the center of the cavern and shimmered back to her human form. She signaled to the group who came down the stairs and joined her in the center of the cavern. Sasha looked worried and anxious.

« I don't understand, no one has been here, nothing is missing, nothing has been touched, and the piece of the seal is still here. If someone had entered, I would smell it, I would know it. But here, it's like a false alarm. It’s weird. Come with me. »

Eve thought like a warrior.

« Have you ever felt that way before ? »
« No. No one has ever set foot in here except me. That’s why I noticed this feeling immediately. »
 « Can someone come in here undetected ? »
« I have superior smell and hearing. My dragon can smell a mouse a thousand feet away, and see the owl diving for it. If someone had been here, I’d see what had been moved. I know where everything is. Down to the smallest penny. »
« So no one has been here, but you feel like somebody actually came here ? How is it possible? »
« I have no idea. And that’s what worries me. »

Sasha took them to a remote corner of the cave, near a showcase. Inside they could see different artefacts, and they guessed they were special, having been put on display. She opened the door and showed them two large fragments of stone, one veined with white, like price marble, the other one a black so deep it looked like it was absorbing light. They both had the irregular shape of a larger piece that had been broken. She took the black piece, that was as big as a plate, and it looked heavy. 

« That's my part of Shaitan's seal. »

She showed it to Jacob, and they bent over to study the partial engravings on the surface. 

Sasha suddenly barked.

« Put that coin exactly where you took it, Ezekiel Jones. If you dare touch anything else, I will do something that I haven’t done in a long time, but haven’t forgotten about. »

Ezekiel froze and paled. She turned towards him, eyes blazing, and finished her sentence.

« I will taste human flesh again. »

He put the gold coin back on a pile of identical gold coins. Sasha didn’t divert her eyes.

« The other one too. »

And Ezekiel took out another coin from his pocket and put it on top of the other one. He looked embarrassed.

« I just wanted to test your instincts. »
« Consider them accurate. »