It was almost midday when they reached Kintorra, a small town in the mountains. Arturo parked quietly next to an inn, they got out and went inside to ask for rooms. But as soon as they met the owner, he stared at them with his mouth open.

—Is he all right?— asked Liliana.

The innkeeper then shook his head.

—Do you want... a room?

—Yes.

The noni slowly took out the register book.

—In whose name?— he asked, still looking at them with his eyes wide open.

—Erica Sanz— she introduced herself.

But as she said it, the owner jumped a little, as if someone had frightened him from behind.

—You ok?— asked Erica, even more puzzled.

—Yes! I mean, yes. It's nothing...

The noni seemed very nervous, but gave them the keys to the room without making trouble, so Erica didn't bother. The three of them went upstairs, closed the door behind them and left the few possessions they had on the bed.

—Oh, good, I've missed stretching my legs— joked Erica— Who wants to go for a walk?

She didn't mean it, since there was plenty of room in Tur's ship to stand up and walk around a bit. She hoped that her friends would correct her on this detail. However, they seemed lost in thought; something bothered them.

—What is it?— asked Erica.

But then they both noticed that they were overthinking it and played it down.

—Nothing, it's nothing. Let's go for a walk— Liliana agreed.

—Yes, yes, let's go.

The three of them left the hotel for a walk. It was a nice day, there was nothing that could spoil it. Even so, Erica noticed that people were staring at them as they passed by. It wasn't because they were humans without a noni owner, since there were other free humans out there as well. Something about them caught people's attention. Confused, she turned to her friends, but none of the three had anything unusual about them.

They decided to sit at a table in one of the first restaurants they caught. To add to the confusion, the people around them were quickly standing up to move away or just leave. Then a waiter approached them, but when he noticed them his face almost fell from fright.

—Erica Sanz!— he jumped.

She turned to the waiter in surprise.

—Yes... How do you know my name?

The guy froze, not knowing what to say, until Erica knocked on the table.

—I'm hungry— she said in a soft tone.

—Of course, I beg your pardon— he immediately took out a note, a pencil and took their orders.

The children ate without any complications other than the unsubtle glances from everyone around, but the food was good. After paying, they left to continue walking around, absentmindedly. People kept looking at them, but at the same time seemed to want to avoid them as much as possible. Suddenly, a van parked next to them on the street. Five big nonis jumped out of it and stood in front of the children.

—Stop right there, evildoers!— exclaimed the one in the middle, while the others struck poses to show off their muscles.

The youngsters stopped and looked back, but there was no one there.

—Us?— asked Erica.

—That's right!— exclaimed the middle noni— Stop! We, the Red Heads, won't let you do any more of your misdeeds!

—What did you do to them, Erica?— asked Arturo.

—Nothing!— she hurried to answer— Nothing... that I remember.

Then Liliana stood between her friends and the nonis, with her hands raised to show that she was going to speak.

—Gentlemen— she began— please don't get upset. I'm sure this is a misunderstanding. Wouldn't you like to discuss this more calmly, in a more...?

—NO! Get them!

The nonis jumped on the youngsters, ready to attack, but with a thud they fell defeated to the ground.

—Ah? That was it?— Erica wondered.

—It seems they were just charlatans— observed Arturo— But why did they attack us?

Erica kicked the one closest to her to see if he was faking.

—Erica, don't do that!— exclaimed Liliana— Although... it didn't seem to me that they were angry with us.

Erica pondered for a moment.

—Maybe...

—Can you think of anything?— asked Arturo.

—Let's keep walking, I have a hunch.

They walked a little faster amidst the stares of the people around them. Erica stopped next to a bounty panel.

—I don't think it's a good idea to look for a job now— Liliana argued.

—It's not that— Erica told her, as she checked the hundreds of ads on the board— Aha!

Suddenly she pulled one up and showed it to her. The poster showed Erica's face, sticking her tongue out at the camera. At the top of the picture said "WANTED" and below it was a price.

—What?!— exclaimed Liliana, surprised.

—And I'm not the only one— indicated Erica.

She pointed to the blackboard. Next to the space where they had put her, there were two other posters; one with Liliana's face, smiling, and the other with Arturo's, meditating.

—It can't be!— exclaimed Liliana— What did we do?

—When did they take these pictures of us?— wondered Arturo.

Then the three of them remembered a recent situation where they had been surrounded by cameras.

—At Tur's castle— they said at the same time.

—So he did it— muttered Arturo.

—Damn Tur, using his influence to look for us— grunted a smiling Erica.

—Does it make you happy to be a wanted criminal?— asked Liliana.

—No!— she lied.

Her friends laughed.

—I guess we can take it as a game— suggested Arturo.

Liliana sighed. When she found her parents, she would surely have a lot of explaining to do.

—Very well.

Arturo thought for a moment.

—We'll have to hide ourselves better from now on. We should wear clothes that don't stand out, maybe dye our hair and change ships....

—STOP THERE! HANDS WHERE I CAN SEE THEM!— a voice suddenly shouted, startling them.

As they turned around, they noticed that they were surrounded by policemen pointing their guns at them.

—That was fast— said Liliana.

—We exposed ourselves a lot on the way here, they must have followed us— deduced the mage.

Erica raised her hands, but instead of keeping them open above her head, she made an exaggerated pose to show her not so impressive muscles.

—Come at me!— she exclaimed.

Then she lunched into the middle of the police barricade to attract their attention as she blew them away. At the same time Arturo raised a wave of concrete that swept away the police and vehicles on his side. Liliana took advantage of the fact that they were paying little attention to her to put the nonis to sleep on the other side. In a few minutes they had knocked out their pursuers.

—We have to get back to the ship— hurried Arturo— quickly.

Immediately he lifted a concrete slab from the ground, where he and Liliana climbed on and the three of them left at full speed, Erica sliding with her timitio and her friends flying over the slab. They jumped over the crowd of people who had stopped to watch their failed arrest and continued straight down the street. Suddenly, four motorcyclists appeared down the road and began shooting at them, while a flying craft emerged between the buildings to attack them from above. Arturo concentrated on the handlebars of the motorcycles to bend them completely to one side. All the motorcycles suddenly spun into each other, collided and slid several meters down the street. At the same time Erica climbed onto the buildings, from there she jumped onto the flying ship and put a hole through its engine with a timitio drill. The ship fell and shattered on the pavement. However, it wasn't long before more pursuers appeared again.

The children dodged hundreds of laser beams and smashed dozens of machines until they reached the hotel. There they quickly climbed into their ship. Under a hail of gunfire and explosives trying to smash the windshield, they took to the air and set off at full speed.

----------------------------------

After a few days of travel, hiding from everyone, the children returned to Primanoni, the capital of the noni empire and Tur's home. They had had to repaint the ship and make some changes to make it look different. The times they needed to go out, they covered up well so that no one would recognize them. Fortunately for them, most nonis had some difficulty distinguishing humans they had only seen in pictures a couple of times. Even so, as a precaution Liliana dyed her hair green, Arturo put on a false beard and Erica got used to generating a black mustache and an eye patch with her timitio.

—Someone will recognize you with that mustache— Arturo told her, as they walked through the crowded streets of Primanoni with their costumes, hats and capes.

—Pfff! You worry too much, don't you think, Lili?

Then Erica turned to Liliana and moved her mustache from side to side, making her laugh.

—Stop it, Erica! Arturo is right.

—It's okay, I'll take it off when more humans show up.

—Then cover yourself with something— the mage asked her.

—Yes, yes, I know.

The three of them continued to hide until they reached the square in front of the castle, as full of life and distractions as ever. There were food stalls, jugglers, dancers, musicians, painters, drunk people lying on the ground, prostitutes, policemen and all sorts of people, all focused on their daily lives. The children passed through the crowd to the first barrier of the castle: a high wall leading to one of the inner courtyards. The first time they were there it was easy for them to pass through, since there were no guards, but at this moment they were all over the place, and there were even some standing on the wall from the outside, as if they were waiting for someone to try to pass.

—It is normal that they have so much surveillance for the First's home— observed Arturo— There are also hidden cameras everywhere.

—Tur will see us coming anyway— pointed Erica— we'd better do it quickly.

Her friends nodded and got ready. Hiding behind a bush, Arturo noticed the nearest gate, a beautiful red stone archway under which a lot of people were passing. Then he took control of the arch and smashed it to pieces with a mighty blow. He scattered the debris to resemble an explosion and smashed the stones to dust, so as not to hurt anyone below. This attracted the attention of all the guards and others around, who hurriedly went to look at what that had been.

In that moment the children approached the wall. Erica grabbed her friends and jumped with them on her back. They were across the courtyard in a second. From there they moved stealthily, tried to talk as little as possible, waited their chances patiently and knocked out the guards with Brontes when they were in range. They had to move forward a huge stretch very slowly, which seemed like an eternity.

Finally they reached the great tower of the castle. At that point Arturo formed a concrete slab under their feet and lifted them quickly to the top floor, where Tur's office was located. In the blink of an eye they crossed the landing zone into the private garden, put the guards to sleep and headed for the mansion. Erica kicked the doors open so hard she knocked them off their hinges and knocked them down.

—Tur!— she shouted.

She marched through the office entrance, leaping over the fountain to the desk, while her friends climbed the stairs on either side. Liliana pulled Brontes out, Arturo prepared to take possession of the rock and the tiles around them, Erica covered her hands with timitio. They paused for a moment; they were about to start a fight with the most powerful and influential noni in the whole world, their chances of losing were enormous, the consequences for doing so could become horrible. They needed to steel themselves for a moment longer and look at each other's faces until they felt better and able to make it. Finally the three of them crossed to the back room, ready to act.

Behind the desk, however, they found not a noni with big horns and a sly grin, but a boy with orange skin and horns barely peeking out the desk, drawing on a sheet of paper. Next to him, standing, was a veteran noni, muscular and with several scars all over his body. When the humans entered, the nonis turned to look at them.

—Ah, if it isn't the most wanted criminals in the empire— growled Cilo.

—Cilo?!— exclaimed the girls.

Ungrar saluted with a nod of his head, Arturo answered in the same way.

—And you have a new mage friend. We've met before, haven't we? But we were never introduced.

—Hello, my name is Arturo— he hurried to introduce himself.

—Hi, I'm Cilo, this is Ungrar— he answered formally.

—Nice to meet you.

—Wait!— exclaimed Erica, confused— What are you doing here?

The boy arched an eyebrow in surprise.

—You're asking what I'm doing at home? Well, I was drawing, although I don't think I'm very good at it.

Then Liliana hit her head.

—Of course, the son of the First.

—Oh, right. I forgot about it— Erica admitted.

—What I'm curious about is what you three are doing here— Cilo wanted to know— Don't you know that there's a reward for capturing you three?

—Yes, we know that— grunted Erica— That's why we wanted to look for Tur and force...

—Ask him! We wanted to ask him to remove the reward— Liliana hastened to interrupt her.

—We have to get the ring out of him anyway— Arturo reminded them.

—Ah? Take the ring off?— Cilo wondered— What are you talking about? You humans are so weird. My dad has a lot of riches, I'm sure he'll give you a ring or two if you swear eternal loyalty to him or something.

The three stared at Cilo, not sure what to say. They realized that, even if he was the son of the First, he had no business knowing about the Chainer. As they took a closer look at him, Liliana realized that he had changed a bit.

—Aren't you taller since the last time we met?— she asked him.

—I hope so, I'm still a child, I'm supposed to grow up— he answered without much enthusiasm.

—Oh, sure.

—Do you think so?— asked Erica— I don't see any change.

—It's because of what Fir told us, remember? That nonis mature faster— explained Arturo.

—Oh, that's true!— exclaimed Liliana— Gee, I never realized what that meant.

—It doesn't matter, he's still a boy— said Erica— We're looking for Tur, remember?

—That's right— Liliana turned to the crivia— Cilo, my dear, we're looking for the First, could you tell us where he is?

Cilo stared at her with a frown on his face.

—Do you want me to help you? You, who took away my munima and beat me?

Liliana froze, for a moment she had forgotten that they had not been on good terms with that boy.

—Whatever— Erica bellowed— Are you still at it? First of all, you attacked us. Secondly, Brontes would have killed you if you'd tried to take him out. I thought that was clear.

Cilo lowered his head, somewhat annoyed. An awkward silence ensued.

—I don't like you people anyway.

Liliana clasped her hands together.

—Perfect! Then you'll want to help us.

Cilo arched an eyebrow, Liliana waited for that to explain.

—The sooner you tell us where Tur is, the sooner we'll leave, right, friends?

Erica and Arturo looked at her curious. It was unusual for her to speak in such a hostile manner, even if it was in a pleasant tone. However, Cilo smiled.

—Yes, you are right. Anyway, father told me to tell you how to find him.

—Really?!— exclaimed the three of them, surprised.

—Yes, although I don't know why. He went to Kervel.

—Kervel?— repeated the children.

—It's a country northwest of Noradima— indicated Ungrar, but seeing that the children were still confused, he explained— We are in Noradima, the original country of the nonis.

—Original?— Erica wondered.

—Of course, the Nonis have a whole empire— Arturo recalled aloud— And is Kervel also under their control or is it home to another species?

—No, it is also part of the empire— clarified Cilo— The noni empire dominates almost half of Nudo.

—Why only half of it? Who is in the other half?

—Other species— indicated Ungrar— Several, some originating from Nudo, others immigrants from thousands of years ago, although the most prominent are the vole in second place, and the picos in third place. The other species have some dwarf country or city states, or none at all, such as the sirivis.

The children knew something about sirivis and picos, they had even encountered subjects of those species, but the term "vole" they didn't remember so well.

—Vole?— repeated Erica, also curious.

Ungrar and Cilo looked at each other, as if they didn't know how to explain it.

—Vole are...

—Liars, thieves and swindlers— Cilo hastened to answer— They have no honor, they're even worse than humans. Stay away from them.

The children stared at him, puzzled.

—The vole and the noni have a long history of enmity— pointed Ungrar— In Noradima there are almost no vole, but not so in other countries. Be careful.

—Are they that bad?— asked Erica.

—The worst— assured Cilo.

Liliana thought that Cilo's hostile speech sounded like inherited hatred. She doubted if the crivi had really met a volir before, but she said nothing. For his part, Arturo was not very interested in the vole, since one detail had been bothering him.

—Wait, wait. They said the First is in Kervel, but that's a whole country. Where in Kervel is him exactly?

—I don't know— Cilo leaned back on his father's seat and began to spin around to amuse himself.

Erica stepped forward, ready to punch him in the head and force him to speak, but Ungrar stepped in front of him and with his imposing body warned her not to come any closer.

—The master is right, humas. His greatness the First gave no details to anyone about his whereabouts, only that he was going to Kervel.

Erica stepped back, calm. Even if she was stronger, she didn't feel like starting a fight with Ungrar over someone like Cilo.

—What about Vikala?— Liliana asked— Didn't Tur tell her where he was going?

—Miss Víkala and Mage Kan'fera left with his greatness the First— explained Ungrar.

—No one knows where they are inside Kervel, be thankful I was benevolent and told you.

Erica clenched her teeth and fists. Just seeing that boy's face made her want to hit him with all her strength, but then Liliana put her hand on her shoulder.

—He's telling the truth, we'd better go— she said— Thank you, Cilo. Thank you, Ungrar.

The bodyguard nodded his head, while the crivi looked away as if he didn't want to answer. With that, the children left the office and the castle. They already had a new target: Kervel.