As Sir Henrik marshalled the young men out into the Southern Hall and down to the eastern end where the double doors to the men’s barracks stood, the girls followed the Preceptor to other end of the hall. Set in the wall were the heaviest set of doors seen anywhere in the palace. Massive baulks of timber were held together with iron straps that had been riveted right through the door.

The Preceptor stopped in front of them. ‘Ladies. This is the traditional entrance to Gloria’s hall. Men may not enter. In fact, we can’t even touch the doors.’ He put his hand out towards one of the rings, but strain as he might, he couldn’t quite grasp it. ‘I have never been in. As far as I know, no-one has been in since the time of Gloria.’

‘We might find the lost jewel of the isles or suits of dragon armour or magic swords’ said Camryn excitedly.

‘Anything’s possible, although magic swords are unlikely’ replied the Preceptor. ‘There’s probably nothing but dust but do keep your eyes open for armour. It will probably be in a better state than anything we currently have. Should you find books or scrolls, don’t touch them. They’ll be fragile. The Lore Master can teach you how to handle them without destroying them. I advise you to sleep near the door until you’ve had the leisure to explore. There will be two of us on duty in the hall all night so come back out if you have any problems.’

The four girls looked at each other, silently daring the others to take a lead or to be the first to chicken out. Bria was the first to summon the nerve to move. ‘Come on, we knew there were going to be challenges and that we would have to show some steel.’ She grabbed the nearest ring, pulling hard, and the door open slowly, revealing nothing but darkness.

The Preceptor lifted a couple of lanterns from hooks the wall, put is finger inside one and it flared into life and passed it to Camryn and before doing the same to the other and handing it to Nia. The girls looked at him in astonishment. He laughed. ‘Tis but a cantrip. Go-on then.’ The girls cautiously stepped through the doorway, their footsteps slightly muffled as soon as they crossed the threshold by the thick layer of dust on the floor. As they moved away from the door, it silently swung shut behind them. Adelyn shot back to the door and pushed, As before it opened, still surprisingly smooth for such an ancient piece of work. As soon as Adelyn stepped back across the threshold, it started to swing shut again. Adelyn pushed it open again and again it closed itself when she was back in the hall. She shrugged and turned back to the other girls. 'I suppose its not the last curiosity we're going to run into. what next?'

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Bria pointed. ‘Look at the light.’ Sure enough, away to their right, there was a tiny pinprick of light near the floor some distance away. They moved closer and found a shallow flight of steps leading up. All the steps were a couple of paces deep, but the top step was seven or eight paces to the wall. ‘Listen’ whispered Nia, ‘I can hear the court.’ They went up the steps and the sound of the court musicians could be heard playing a popular air. Bria whispered back ‘If we can hear them, they will be able to hear us. The light must be coming under a hidden door at the top of the dais. It’s probably been badly plastered over and a bit has been chipped off. The walls are shocking towards the back of the dais where no-one ever goes'. She ran her hand over the wall. ‘I can feel the wood and metal. Bring the lantern.”

Nia lifted her lantern close to the wall and they could see a set of double doors very similar to the ones they had just passed through.

Camryn lifted her hands towards the steel rings but Bria grabbed her arm. ‘The other doors were enchanted, what if these are’ she hissed ‘And we won’t be thanked for an avalanche of plaster in the throne room either. Let’s bed down here’ She dragged her bedroll about, sweeping the worst of the dust off the top step.

Adelyn dropped her bedroll and gave it a practiced kick, spilling it out across the stone before muttering ‘This is the first time I’ve camped out indoors. Well come on then.’ Bria and Camryn copied her but had to finish unrolling their bedding with their hands. Nia managed to hoof hers down the steps and bounce it down into the thicker dust on the floor at the bottom of the steps, drawing giggles from the others. She went to pick it up and Camryn called ‘shake the dust off down there, don’t bring it all up here.’

‘Who is there?’ A soft voice sounded from further down in the darkness.