Chapter 25: The treasure room

The group had walked the castle. Jack knew this side was bad guard by the guards. Jack knocked five times on a door. The door opened slowly and a woman's head turned. Jack looked straight into her two colored eyes.

"Are you coming from lady Artemisia?" the woman asked and Jack nodded. The woman left the group inside. They arrived in a long stone corridor. Anthony smelled the scent of freshly baked potatoes and fish. One of these doors should lead to the kitchen.

"Alright." The woman said and was pointing to the corridor. "Walk the down the corridor and then walk up the stairs. From there you should look out for a few guards. The ruler must be in the throne room. That's on the first floor with the big door with figures of horses. You cannot miss it."

"Where does she keep the human heart?" Jack asked.

"I believe in her personal treasure room." The woman said. "One of the ladies in waiting told me. It is on the second floor, with the silver door."

"Thank you." Jack said. "The castle will be under attack. I must ask you to leave with the other servants."

"I will." The woman said. "Good luck." And the group went straight through the corridor. They finally came to a stone staircase with wide steps.

The men and Paige walked slowly upward. When they were over, they heard noises. The group sat with their backs against the wall. They saw guards passing by. They were heavily armed with swords and spears. The guards were ready to fight. The puppet mistress had probably already seen the army.

When they had walked past the group looked at each other. "What's the plan?" Ajax whispered.

"A group has to go looking for the heart." Jack whispered back. "I'm going with Anthony to the puppet mistress. Who will go with us?"

"I will go." Kyoshi said.

"We will go looking for that heart." Zahur said and looked at Ajax and Paige. They nodded.

"Agreed, if you have found it, we'll see you in the throne room." Jack said. "Let's go. Good luck."

Zahur, Ajax and Paige walked slowly upstairs towards the second floor. They saw some guards and they hide quickly behind a statue of a witch with a large hat. They saw guards walk by. "How far is it?" Paige whispered.

"I have no idea." Ajax whispered back. "We must look for a silver door."

"The guards are gone, let's go quickly." Zahur whispered.

"Do you know which way?" Paige asked.

"We go to the left." Zahur said.

'Are you sure?" Ajax said.

Zahur nodded and they walked to the left corridor. The corridor was lit by burning torches and the floor was covered with a blue carpet. But they fell on the walls were bare, there was even no wallpaper. It looked very unattractive. Perhaps the mistress did that on purpose, so that no one would come to her treasury. Paige looked around her, she found it very quiet and got a bad feeling.

Zahur turned his head and saw Paige stopped. "What are you doing?" He asked and stopped with walking.

"I have a bad feeling." Paige said. "There is something here…I feel dark magic…"

"Guys, I found the door!" Ajax cried and he walked towards a silver door.

He tried to open it but it was locked. The vampire looked at Paige. "Can you help?"

Paige looked around nervously. "Paige! Come on!" Ajax said irritated. "We have no time for this, we have to hurry!"

Paige nodded and walked toward the door. She put her hands on the door. "I feel a force field ... I do not know if I can break it," she said.

"Could you try it with your magic?" Zahur asked.

"It is very strong." Paige said and she closed her eyes. "But I can try."

"What are you doing?" someone cried.

The group looked up and saw a boy. He wore a dark blue robe down to his feet. In his hand he had a long scepter surmounted on a crystal ball. His hair was short black and it was combed straight back. He looked very young, he was like 10 years old.

Paige looked shocked and stood up quickly. "Uh ... well ..."

"Go play outside, boy." Ajax said. "We are working here."

The boy turned his scepter to them. There was a white light beam. The group could just dive away in time.

"Good heavens." Ajax said. "Is he a sorcerer?"

"Yes he is." Paige said and she stood up. She looked at the sorcerer. "I'm very sorry but we have to do this."

"I know what you are planning, I will not let that happen." The sorcerer said and he turned his scepter towards Paige. "I've seen it all."

"Are you going to use your own magic against your own sister?" Paige asked. "Please, don't do that."

"Sister?" Zahur asked and stood up. "Is he your brother?"

"I thought you had lost him, according to Lady Artemisia." Ajax said and stood up quickly.

"We've lost him to the darkness. We never said that he was dead." Paige said and looked at her brother. The big problem is that her brother, can see small bits of the further.

Paige did not hesitate and turned her hand to the silver door. She gathered all her strength and out of her hand came powerful blue beam. The door swung open with a bang. She looked quickly at Ajax and Zahur. "Go! I will hold him up!" she cried.

"But…." Zahur said.

"Just go!" Paige cried again and the two men ran inside the treasure chamber.

Cillian laughed. "Do you really think you can fight against me?"

"You should see how much I trained." Paige said. "And I will bring you home!"

"I'm not going back to that old hag." Cillian said and he turned his scepter to Paige. "I chose for this."

"But why?" asked Paige and lifted her hands to him. "Why did you leave me and grandma?"

"I did it to increase my power." Cillian said. "And the ruler appreciates my talents."

"She is using you for her army and you kidnap innocent humans." Paige said. "That woman killed our parents and I will not allow you to stay here as her lap dog!"

Paige hands came from a blue ray and Cillian's scepter came from a white beam. They powerful beams hit each other.

Zahur closed the door quickly. "Okay, how hard is it to find a heart?" he asked.

He stood beside his friend and looked around. The room was big and long. The room was lit by large torches. Everywhere they looked they saw piles of golden coins, chests filled with gems and precious jewels. They even saw diamond and silver coins. The entire space was filled there.

"Now I can see where my taxes go." Ajax muttered. "This space is huge. How can we find the heart?"

"This is going to take forever." Zahur said.

"Let's start." Ajax said and the two men walked through the room. Zahur kicked mountains with coins away to see if there is something underneath. Ajax ran to dig into the treasure chests.

They did not know how long they were searching and Ajax became frustrated. "Damn it, where is it?" he said and kicked against a treasure chest.

"If I was the puppet mistress, where shall I hide it?" Zahur muttered.

Ajax sighed. "I don't know, perhaps in a golden casket?"

"What is this?" Zahur asked and grabbed a golden bag that was lying on a mountain of golden coins. It was decorated with small rubies and emeralds. It felt heavy and Zahur opened it. He pulled out a cylinder that was filled with green water.

"Oh my…." Zahur said.

"What the hell?" Ajax said and the two men looked at the cylinder. There was a human heart inside it. "Is that the human heart?"

"Yes, I think the water ensures that it is preserved." Zahur said.

"Good to know." Ajax said. "Let's get out of here."

Suddenly the torches went out and she heard a growl. "What is going on?" asked Ajax.

"Look." Zahur said and she saw something in the distance, two red lights came to them. But there were more than one. But it was no lights, they were eyes. They started growling and meowing. They were coming closer.

It was too dark to see what they are, but Zahur knew. "These are demonic shadow cats." he said. "They are known to guard valuable treasures."

"You're kidding me?" Ajax said and started too sighed. "I had thought that this mission was a lot easier. Do you have ideas?" And the shadow cats began to attack.