They were trapped. Donegan had entered the infirmary without opening the door. He had simply appeared there, so the door was probably still locked. They couldn't escape through the window either as the blond knight had come to stand in their path. They were was no way they could escape. The only hope left to them was for Aisha to try to mentally contact someone and ask for help. Rodrigo glanced at her but he didn't notice the vacant expression she usually had when she was using her gift to communicate with others.

'That's enough nonsense, little ones,' said Donegan. 'Now, you're going to have to come with me.'

The blond knight began advancing towards them. His sword hung from his belt, still sheathed, but he always kept his hand near its hilt, prepared to use it at any moment. His eyes were fixed on the three of them, alert to any unexpected movement. Rodrigo, Oliver and Aisha started to retreat away from him, becoming cornered against Mirena's cupboards. Suddenly, they heard a bang, as though something had burst. Before they knew what was happening, Donegan had unsheathed his sword.

Rodrigo ducked down behind the bronze trunk and realised that Donegan hadn't drawn his sword on them, but on Balkar. The grand master had appeared at the door, which had been blasted to pieces.

'If I were you I would step away from those children,' said Balkar, raising his own sword to Donegan's chest.

'Well, look who's here! Our dear, grand master!' said the blond knight sarcastically. 'Did you really dare to come alone? Big mistake, my friend. You're going to regret it.'

In a flash, Donegan had directed a blow at Balkar's chest with such force that sparks flew when the grand master blocked it with his own sword. The power in the blow made Balkar stagger. He was about to fall back, which Donegan tried to exploit and deliver a second blow. This time, the grand master was more agile and, with a hand on the floor to avoid falling, he kicked his opponent in the stomach, giving himself enough time to get to his feet.

The fight continued for several minutes with an endless clashing of swords. Rodrigo felt as though the incessant cracks were piercing his ears as he remained crouching behind the trunk. Aisha was huddled next to him while Oliver was pressed against the cupboard of potions.

'Run!' Balkar shouted, trying to corner Donegan against the wall. 'Get out of here!'

Rodrigo considered the distance separating them from the door. They could cross the room in two or three seconds but just then, Donegan managed to move away from the wall and his sword once again began to slash the air, tracing wide circles that whistled endlessly. Trying to escape from the infirmary would be madness. Rodrigo attempted to think of a way to help the grand master when he suddenly heard the shrieking of clashing sword metal cease and, in its place, the sound of metal bouncing against the stone floor could be heard. He glanced up and saw Balkar on the floor. He had tripped over the sleeping body of Mirena and fallen, his sword slipping from his grasp. Donegan immediately approached him and pointed his sword's blade at the grand master's neck, stopping him from moving.

'Tell me what the last page said!' he ordered.

'What?' Balkar asked, taken aback.

'The last page of the diary, the one you tore out,' said Donegan. 'Tell me what it said!'

'Kill me, you coward!' Balkar replied. 'You know I'll never tell you anything.'

Rodrigo pushed his fists against the trunk in front of him. Donegan was about to kill the grand master and there was nothing they could do to stop him. He would kill him and then he would take them, surely to Arakaz. If he could just do something to distract Donegan, maybe Balkar could take advantage of the diversion to reclaim his sword. If he could just throw something...

Rodrigo started searching for a hard, heavy object he could throw at Donegan. Then he saw it. There it was, within arm's reach. A small but powerful weapon.

Without thinking twice, he stretched the sleeve of his shirt to cover his fingers and grasp the key that was still inserted in the door of the cupboard: the same trick key that had successfully locked Oliver inside the trunk. Gathering his courage, he breathed deeply and shouted.

'Hey! Donegan!'

The blond knight, glanced at him without losing sight of his prisoner for a second. Rodrigo threw the key at his face. Donegan easily moved his hand to lightly bat it away, as though it were simply an annoying fly, but as soon as the key touched his hand, Donegan disappeared. Seconds later, they could hear a knocking sound coming from inside the trunk.

'Rodrigo!' Aisha exclaimed. 'You trapped him!'

'What happened?' Balkar asked as he got to his feet and collected his sword from the floor.

'The key teleported him to the inside of that trunk,' Rodrigo explained while the muffled cries of Donegan continued coming from inside the chest. It's one of Mirena's tricks to ensure no one touches her stuff.'

'You saved my life, Rodrigo,' said Balkar. 'You saved me and you managed to catch a murdering traitor. I believe we are all in your debt.'

'You should thank Oliver too,' said Rodrigo. 'Thanks to him, we discovered that the key was one of Mirena's traps.'

'Poor Mirena!' said Balkar, kneeling beside her. 'Why did he have to kill her?'

'Oh, she's not dead,' explained Oliver, laughing. 'We gave her a potion to make her sleep. She stole our rings and was poisoning us. She was the one causing our illness. We think she was conspiring with Donegan.'

'Why would you say such a thing?' Balkar asked.

'Look at this,' said Rodrigo, removing from his pocket the letters the nurse had delivered to them. 'Mirena told us you sent these letters.'

'I cannot believe it! Mirena has also betrayed us. The power of Arakaz stretches further than we believed.'

The grand master observed the fake letters for a minute before finally storing them inside his tunic. He neared the bronze trunk.

'I thank you for everything you have done, children,' he said. 'Now, you must leave here.'

'Who will look after Adara now?' Aisha asked, motioning to the wolf.

'Mirena was the only one of us who knew how to cure sicknesses and injuries,' Balkar replied sombrely. 'I am afraid Adara's fate is now in the hands of the gods.'

'What are you going to do with Donegan and Mirena?' Oliver asked. 'Are you going to kill them?'

'I cannot do that,' Balkar replied. 'However, they must spend the rest of their days in the dungeons of this fortress. Otherwise, they would be a danger to us all.'

'Would you like us to help you lock them up?' Oliver asked.

'You have done enough for today. I am sure your friends will want you to tell them everything that has happened here.'

'But–' Oliver began.

'There are no "buts" about it,' the grand master interrupted. 'In any case, you still look unwell. You should go to your dormitories and rest some more.'

The three of them hurried out of the tower and climbed the stairs to their dormitories, but they had no intention of going to bed. The first thing they did was search for Darion, Noa and Vega, who were in the reading room. Aisha ran to hug her brother and began to tell them everything that had happened. Their three friends sat listening to her, mouths agape, as she explained the fake letters and the poison, but that was nothing compared to their facial expressions when she told them about the fight that had taken place between Donegan and Balkar, followed by Rodrigo's intervention.

'I can't believe it!' Darion said. 'You caught Donegan!'

'Mirena was poisoning you?' Vega asked. 'But why?'

'We think she was doing it to keep us locked in the infirmary,' said Rodrigo. 'That way, Balkar couldn't protect us.'

'No... No way,' Noa stammered. 'Mirena taught me so much. She always looked after Adara. She did everything she could to keep her alive.'

'Of course she did!' Rodrigo said. 'They needed her to work out the whereabouts of the Mirror of Power.'

'But Donegan already had the seer's diary,' Vega objected. 'He stole it from Balkar's study.'

'It doesn't matter,' said Rodrigo. 'Balkar had torn out the last page, the one where the premonition was written.'

'How do you know that?' Darion asked.

'When Donegan had Balkar on the ground, he pointed his sword at the grand master's neck and ordered him to tell him where he'd put the last page of the diary. Obviously, Balkar didn't tell him a thing.'

'Anyway, even if he'd told Donegan where it was, they'd still need Adara,' said Aisha. 'I think she's the only one who understood the real meaning of the seer's words.'

'Do you think that's what she was trying to tell us with her message?' Rodrigo murmured.

'What message?' Darion, Vega and Noa asked in unison.

'Oh, that's right. We didn't tell you about that,' said Rodrigo. 'Adara woke up and the first thing she did was point out some potion jars. Aisha realised that she wanted to tell us something, send us a message.'

'What do the potions have to do with it?' Noa asked in confusion.

'We think we need to use the initials of each medicine,' Rodrigo explained. 'When we did, the message we got was "irdunequi", but we think it's incomplete because Adara lost consciousness before she finished.'

'Irdunequi?' Darion repeated. 'That's weird.'

'It could be several words,' said Vega. 'Irdun sounds familiar, don't you think? I'm sure I've heard it before. It could be the name of someone. Maybe the person who attacked Adara.'

'It does sound familiar,' said Aisha. 'I'm certain it's no one in the fortress.'

'Anyway,' said Noa, 'as soon as Adara gets better, she'll be able to explain everything to us.'

'How is she going to get better without Mirena?' Aisha objected. 'According to Balkar, she was the only person in the fortress with any medical knowledge.'

'I know what needs to be done,' Noa said in a small voice, as though she was afraid of sounding arrogant. 'I've been helping Mirena to prepare Adara's potions every day, and I know where she keeps her anefora fruits.'

'Her what?' Oliver asked.

'Anefora fruits,' Noa repeated. 'They're sea plants. Just one of those fruits can keep a person fed and hydrated for a week. Mirena made the wolf swallow them to keep her alive.'

'You need to tell Balkar so you can look after Adara,' Rodrigo said.

'I will,' she replied, 'but I still can't believe Mirena is a traitor.'

Oliver looked at her with exasperation.

'She tried to poison us!' he replied. 'Don't you see? We're fine now that we've stopped taking her damn potions.'

Noa didn't know what to say so she merely nodded.

'Well,' said Vega. 'The important thing is that Donegan's been caught. The truth is we were all a bit worried, knowing that the killer was still on the loose.'

'I would have loved to have seen his face when he appeared inside that trunk, just as he thought he'd defeated Balkar,' said Oliver. 'He must have been raging when he realised he was trapped inside and there was nothing he could do.'

'Wait a minute!' Darion cried. 'Donegan can do something. He can teleport! We saw him do it!'

'You're right!' Rodrigo exclaimed. 'When he entered the infirmary he did it without opening the door. We have to let Balkar know. Donegan could escape!'

Rodrigo ran out of the door and began to descend the stairs as quickly as his legs would carry him, although he was still feeling the effects of Mirena's potions. The others were right behind him and they all ran to the ground floor.

It's probably already too late, he thought. He'll have teleported to somewhere else and we won't be able to find him.

'Hey, kids!' a powerful voice resonated from the other end of the corridor. It was Toravik. 'Balkar told me what you did. Magnificent! I hope that devious swine rots in his cell.'

'Sir Toravik, we have to find the grand master,' said Rodrigo. 'It's really important!'

'Right now he's taking Donegan to the dungeons,' Toravik replied.

'Where are the dungeons?' Rodrigo asked impatiently.

'Over there, down at the bottom of some stairs,' Toravik answered, signalling the corridor they needed to take.

Rodrigo and his friends took off running without further explanation. The corridor was extremely long. When they finally reached the stairs, the six of them were gasping when they came across the grand master.

'Sir Balkar!' said Rodrigo. 'Donegan can escape!'

'I do not think so, Rodrigo,' he replied. 'Our dungeons are very secure. Nobody has ever escaped from them.'

'But Donegan has the power to teleport to wherever he wants!'

'You are incorrect, young man. His power has always been to detect lies.'

'But we saw him teleport,' Rodrigo insisted. 'That's how he entered your study and Agatha's bedroom and the infirmary too.'

'He actually did so using this,' said Balkar, unfolding a handkerchief in his hand. Rodrigo lowered his gaze and saw two silver coins lying on the cloth. 'This is a teleporter,' the grand master explained. 'All Donegan had to do was slide a coin beneath a door and then touch the other. Ingenious. It would have helped him to escape the dungeons, had I not discovered them.'

Rodrigo stared admiringly at the coins. It was truly an incredible trick. With those coins, Donegan could come and go from almost any place. He would only need to push a coin through a small crack under a door.

'There's something else we should tell you,' Aisha broke in. 'Adara woke up and left us a message.'

'What? Adara left you a message?' the grand master asked, his interest piqued. 'What do you mean?'

Aisha described to Balkar how the wolf had tried to communicate with them using Mirena's medicines.

'Irdunequi?' the grand master confirmed at the end of their explanation, puzzlement etched on his face. 'Are you sure?'

'We think so,' Aisha said, 'although the message could be incomplete. Adara fell unconscious before she finished.'

'Irdunequi,' Balkar repeated, considering its meaning. 'I must say, I have never come across any kind of word combination like that. I need to think about it. Now, I must go. If you think of anything, do not hesitate to inform me.'

With that, the grand master said goodbye and hurried away. Rodrigo and his friends went out to the fortress' main courtyard to be surrounded by all of the girls and boys who were already there, questions being thrown at them. The rumour about the arrests of Donegan and Mirena had spread like wildfire. 'Is it true Rodrigo caught Donegan?' 'Is Mirena a prisoner too?' These were just some of the questions they had to answer more than once. Despite having no desire to be, Rodrigo soon became the centre of attention, given that they all took it for a fact that the arrests had been down to him. He continued saying that it was thanks to Oliver they had discovered that Mirena was poisoning them and it was he who had also made her fall asleep. However, they were all most impressed with how Rodrigo had locked Donegan inside the trunk and Oliver told the story over and over again.

When they all finally entered the dining hall, Rodrigo thought the avalanche of questions, praise and looks would finally cease but then Balkar walked into the centre of the room, as he did when he was about to give a speech.

'My friends, I am sorry to delay your meal time but as I have always said, gratitude is the sign of noble souls. As I am sure most of you know, the traitor, Donegan, who murdered our colleague, Agatha, has finally been captured and taken to our dungeons. The same has occurred with Lady Mirena, who was aiding Donegan to hide himself and trying to poison three of your colleagues. This is sad news but thanks to the bravery and astuteness of these children, we can now sleep better at night. Furthermore, I must tell you, and I have no qualms about admitting it, one of them saved my life. A boy of twelve years old. For this reason, at this time and in this particular place, I am awarding him the Golden Medal of the Knights of King Garad. Please, Rodrigo, if you would be so kind as to stand up.'

Rodrigo was so nervous he almost tripped over Oliver's foot when he stood up. Trying not to pay attention to the dozens of eyes that were following him, he walked between the tables to stand in front of Balkar. His heart was beating so quickly he thought it might explode inside his chest.

'Rodrigo, it is an honour for me to bestow you with this medal in recognition of your honour and bravery. You should always carry it in your heart along with our gratitude, especially mine.'

After these solemn words, the grand master pinned a medal on his vest and the whole dining room burst into applause and cheers. Rodrigo returned to his seat as quickly as he could.

'I must say this is the first time a squire has received the Golden Medal of the Knights of King Garad, but it will not be the last,' Balkar continued. 'I have always said that the achievement of victory is never down to just one person, and this case is no exception. That is why I also wish to award a Golden Medal to your colleague Oliver.'

Applause filled the dining hall once more as Oliver rose to his feet and walked towards the grand master. The only people who weren't clapping were Kyle and his friends, who were muttering between themselves. When he spotted them with expressions consumed by rage, Rodrigo began applauding more loudly.

When Oliver sat down beside him with the gleaming insignia pinned to his chest, Rodrigo took the time to study it some more. It had a dragon in the centre and words that circled it: Dedication, Courage, Bravery, Honesty. As soon as he read the words, it was obvious to him that Kyle would never have one of these medals.

'Last but not least, I also award the Golden Medal of the Knights of King Garad to your colleague, Aisha, who knew how to use her gift at the right moment.'

Again, handclapping reigned over the dining hall while Kyle and his friends looked gloomier with every medal the grand master awarded. Aisha quickly neared the centre of the room and the applause slowly began to subside until only Darion's clapping could be heard. When the blonde girl returned with her medal pinned to her vest, she was glowing with happiness. Without a second thought, she kissed her brother who seemed almost as happy as she was.

'This is incredible!' said Aisha. 'I never thought he would give me a medal as well. You caught Donegan and you made Mirena fall asleep. I didn't do anything, really.' She looked at Rodrigo and Oliver respectively.

'Of course you did,' Rodrigo replied. 'If it weren't for you, Oliver and I wouldn't have remembered the potions the wolf chose and we would never have known which one would make Mirena fall asleep. Anyway, it was you who told Balkar, didn't you? You managed to do it in the end.'

'Well, yes, that's true...'

Aisha stopped talking when she realised everyone else was silent. Balkar was still standing in the centre of the dining hall and appeared as though he had more to say.

'Finally I have another piece of news. I would like to remind you that spring will be here in a few days and, as our more senior members will already know, we usually host a large celebration with games, theatre, music, dance, large feasts and the preferred activity by many of you, a tournament. We shall divide you into six teams and each will include squires of all ages. Depending on your age, you will participate in different trials, such as jousting, shield and sword fighting and archery. Of course, all fighting will be performed using wooden weapons and excellent protective equipment.'

Balkar's speech was interrupted by a wave of muttering and jubilant expressions, especially among the tables seating the older squires. With the enthusiasm that had burst forth following the grand master's speech, Rodrigo imagined the celebration must be extremely special.

'Good,' Balkar continued. 'Now, Sir Aldair will pass by each table with a bag filled with coloured balls. You must select a ball per table and the colour you withdraw will be the team with which you shall participate in the tournament.'

The murmuring seized control of them all again as Aldair, a tall, brown-haired knight approached the first table with a bag made of cloth. The table had more senior squires on it, including Corentin. A curly blond-haired girl put her hand inside the bag and withdrew a red ball, showing everyone. Then Sir Aldair neared the second table, which also chose a red ball. They all rose to their feet and applauded, making victory gestures. Aldair had to make them sit down again.

One by one, all of the tables continued to remove balls and discover the teams they would participate in. Rodrigo didn't care what team he was in, as long as it wasn't the same one as Kyle's group. They had pulled out a green ball so he would be happy with any other colour. The problem was that their table would be the last to pick.

Slowly but surely, teams were completed until there were only two balls left in the bag: one red and one green. Aldair approached the penultimate table. Rodrigo tensed all the muscles in his body. If they pulled out the red ball, and they were left with the green, the tournament would become an insufferable event for them. A small boy with squirrel features plunged his hand into the bag and withdrew a ball. Rodrigo had to stop himself from jumping with joy. It was the green ball.

Those from the red team weren't able to hide their jubilation, immediately pouncing on Rodrigo's group as though they'd signed the best player ever. Darion took out the remaining ball (the red one) and they all began to cry, 'champions, champions!' Balkar neared them and told them all to return to their seats, a faint smile on his face. They all obeyed him and the grand master ordered dinner to be served.

'Thank goodness we didn't end up in the green team,' said Rodrigo. 'It would have been a nightmare.'

'Yeah. And the guys in the red team seem really cool,' Oliver said. 'I'm sure we'll win. At the end of the day, I'm the best jouster and Aisha's not bad with a bow.'

'You're the best jouster because you use your power on the horses,' Aisha replied. 'I don't think they'll allow that in the tournament.'

'How will they know if I do?' Oliver asked.

'They'll notice as soon as they see you holding the reins as though they're sausages and the horse still obeys you anyway,' Aisha responded, drawing laughter from them all.

'Hey, guys,' said a voice behind Oliver. Corentin had sneaked up behind them. 'We have to win at all costs. I just made a bet with the green team. If we beat them, they have to do laundry for us for a month.'

'And if they win?' Vega asked.

'Then we have to do it for them. But that's not going to happen, right? Or maybe it's true what Kyle says?'

'What's that idiot been saying?' Darion asked.

'He says you lot are useless and that your medals only show you suck up to Balkar.'

'Well, we'll make him eat his words,' Darion replied. 'Don't worry. I'm sure we'll win.'

'That's what I like to hear!' said Corentin. 'Come on, raise your arms. To the future champions!'

They all high-fived except for Noa who remained sitting.

'Give me five,' Corentin said to her.

'Alright, but I'm not going to take part,' she said, stretching out her hand.

'What do you mean?' Corentin lowered his hand suddenly, leaving Noa with hers in the air.

'I'm not a squire,' she replied. 'It's my job to cure wounds, not inflict them.'

'It's just a game!' Corentin protested. 'You have to participate. If we have one person less, we'll lose.'

'If I take part, yes, you'll lose,' said Noa. 'While you were all practising with swords and a bow, I was in the infirmary learning how to prepare potions.'

'We still have time to fix that,' said Corentin. 'We'll use all our free time to train. We'll start today. How does that sound?'

'Come on, Noa,' Oliver interjected. 'Anyway, you can't learn any more about potions from that crazy old woman.'

'Fine,' she said, dejectedly. 'We'll train this evening. Then you'll know for sure you'll be better off if I don't take part.'