“Hey! Come back here!” shouted the steward.

Into the blackness of the tunnel I dived. My right knee smashed against something hard and immediately grew warm with blood. Down the giant steps I scrambled, groping frantically in the darkness, my hands outstretched like the feelers of some frantic insect. Down, down, down.

Up behind me I heard a hollow shouting. I hit a level place and forced myself to run, tripping in the absolute blackness, getting to my feet and running again…

Thirteen-year-old Denis Anwyck lives in the Middle Ages, where knights joust with lance and sword, and Baron Mordred foments revolt against the king.

Finding himself swept into this maze of intrigue, Denis must brave the baron’s wrath, and even a cold-blooded betrayal by a close friend, in order to discover—with the help of a mysterious golden-haired girl—the startling truth about His Majesty.