The next tricky part was getting past the dragon. The turncoat said that there was no better way around it, that they had to go through the yard, and this thought scared Serenica like nothing else.
She peeked from behind a corner and saw the Black Mountain looking away.
It was a matter of seconds. They had to cross the yard to get into the room with the keys in thirty seconds, maybe less.
Then there was the issue of smell. Dragons supposedly had a keen sense of smell, and Serenica had to improvise. She rubbed herbs on herself and her friends to mask their natural odor, but this took her those precious thirty seconds. The gap was gone now, the head of the dragon turning back towards their general direction, and they had to wait and hope that the fortress was truly understaffed badly enough that they would not be noticed.
