Rodrigo Zacara and the Mirror of Power

1. The Tower of Torment

Without a doubt, history was the subject Rodrigo liked the least. Maybe it wasn't the fault of the subject itself, but the way the Mole taught the class. Every day he would sit in his armchair, put on his tiny, round glasses and take out an enormous book from his briefcase before reading page after page to them. Every day was the same. That's why Rodrigo and all his classmates were left open-mouthed when, one day, the Mole entered the classroom and, instead of sitting in his armchair and putting on his tiny glasses, he remained standing in front of the class and announced that he would be taking them on a trip to a medieval castle. As if that wasn't enough of a surprise, the Mole then began to explain to them that they would be spending three full days in the castle, eating in the armoury and sleeping in the old chambers of the nobles.

In the four months that Rodrigo had been at the School of San Claudio, many teachers had taken them on a trip but they had never spent the night outside of the boarding school. Perhaps the Mole wanted to make up for the endless hours of boredom he had inflicted on them? That was what he had thought, but when they arrived at the castle he realised he was wrong. The guide's explanations were just as monotonous as those of the Mole.

'Now, if you'll follow me through this corridor we'll come out into the courtyard where I will show you a very special tower,' said the gangling, bald man who was showing them the castle. When he saw the group moving forward, Rodrigo quickly abandoned his daydreaming. Resigned, he turned his gaze away from the large window and began to walk with the rest of his classmates until he heard a voice whisper behind him.

'Hey, Rodri. Can you give me a hand?'

Turning round, he saw his friend, Oliver, standing in front of one of the suits of armour that decorated the room. He had a mischievous glint in his eyes.

'Come on, we're going to get left behind,' Rodrigo said when he saw their classmates beginning to move further away.

'That's what I want!' Oliver whispered. 'I'm going to put this suit of armour on and then I'll run up behind them and scare them.'

'Yeah, sure,' Rodrigo replied. 'It'll be very funny, but I reckon this would be your last trip this year.'

'You think I'd get into trouble?'

'I'm absolutely certain.'

'Now that you say it, maybe you're right. I'll save the jokes for the end of year trip. After all, they can't punish me during the holidays, right?'

Rodrigo smiled and nodded his head. Oliver was his best friend at the boarding school, despite the two of them being very different. He was always up to no good, breaking all the rules and continuously being disciplined in some way or another. Rodrigo tried to stop Oliver from carrying out his more ridiculous ideas, and he sometimes managed it. Nobody knew exactly how the two of them had become such firm friends. Even Rodrigo himself didn't understand fully how it happened, although it was surely because they had one thing in common: the two of them were new students at the boarding school, having arrived there after spending their lives moving from one place to another.

In Rodrigo's case, this constant coming and going was due to the continual job changes of his father, forcing them to move from one city to another (his mother had died when he was very young). Oliver, however, had passed through five different schools in his parents' desperate attempt to find one that could straighten him out.

In every other aspect, Rodrigo and Oliver weren't at all alike. Even their appearance couldn't be more different: Oliver was the tallest in the school, given that he was repeating the last year of primary education; not only was Rodrigo a year younger, he was also small for his age. The result was that the two of them together were unmistakeable: one tall boy with forever messy black hair and another with smooth, brown hair who scarcely reached his friend's shoulders.