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The Caves of Challenge Book Seven of the Guardians of Glede Excerpt |
It seemed only natural that Treyas' children would now be seeking adventures of their own. And learning from their mistakes just as their father and his friends did. ISBN: 9781921314452
PDF, PDB (Palm), HTML, LIT (Microsoft Reader), PRC (Unencrypted Mobipocket),RB (Rocket 1100), IMP (Gemstar 1150/Ebookwise), IMP (Gemstar 2150/Rocket 1200) Price: US $4.95
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Nine-year-old
elfin prince Vantann Merripen poked his head into Crown Prince Darosenim
Quartermane's study. His gaze scanned the small, homey room, quickly
ascertaining that the prince was not there. He motioned his
identical-twin brother, Thomlin, forward, and together they slipped into
the study, closing the door quietly behind them. Vantann went at once to
a high shelf behind Darosenim's large, carefully-arranged desk, while
Thomlin pulled a chair close. "Are
you sure you know which one it is?" Thomlin whispered, brushing his
mop of blond hair off his forehead. "Positive.
Just watch for Uncle Dar." Vantann climbed up on the chair and
stretched for the book that was the goal of his quest. It was just
beyond his searching fingers, and he cursed softly. His gaze darted over
the room, seeking something to increase his height, and settled on a
thick leather-bound volume lying on the desk. Quickly, he retrieved it,
balanced it on the chair and climbed on top of it. His fingers closed
upon the thin tome. "Got it!" he whispered triumphantly. "Hurry
up!" Thomlin urged. "Someone's coming!" Vantann
scrambled to return the chair and the heavy book to the desk. He slipped
the thinner volume inside his tunic just as the door to the study
opened. Prince
Darosenim strode in, his blue gaze intent upon a letter he held. He
fairly collided with the twins. "Baerns!" he exclaimed,
looking from one to the other. "What are you two doing here?" The boys
exchanged quick glances, then Vantann, the more verbal of the pair,
spoke up. "Master Ulric has us studying neighboring countries in
class. We were wondering if you might have a book we could borrow on
Karsaba." Darosenim
frowned, moving toward his desk. "And what, pray tell, is wrong
with the books in your father's library?" Vantann
shrugged as if the answer were obvious. "We've already looked at
all of those. We thought we might find something different in one of
yours. You know, something that every Karsab might know, but not every
elf." The prince
eyed them suspiciously, then ran a hand through his thick, red hair.
"Go ahead and look," he said, sitting down. He frowned and
brushed the top of the heavy leather book Vantann had stood on.
"But look in the library. I have work to do here." "Thanks,
Uncle Dar," Vantann said happily and led his brother from the room. "That
was too close," Thomlin murmured as they hurried down the heavily
carpeted hallway. "Doesn't
matter. We got it. Let's just get home and see what it says." They broke
into a run and tore down the hallway toward the TravelPortal Vestibule.
They reached it breathless and without hesitation stepped through,
manipulating the Magic to return them to the Elfin Council Chambers in
Lidgerwood. They emerged in their father's study and breathed matching
sighs of relief that he was not there. "Now
comes the really tricky part," Vantann moaned softly. "If
Mamay catches us out of music class again, we're in trouble." "Correction.
Big trouble. That'll make twice this month." They
grimaced together, thinking of the many unpleasant ways their music
instructor might have to punish them. After all, he was under command of
Odora Dava's king, Jansson van Tannen, who was also their surrogate
uncle and as such was very close to their father, the elfin Crown
Prince. Whatever the king suggested was likely to be heeded. The twins
had already spent many grueling hours of extra practice, music
translation and, their personal most hated, re-scoring. They crept
down the circular staircase past the library and fled for the hallway
that linked the wings to the ten towers of the massive palace. In
moments, they were in their room, the door safely closed behind them.
Vantann heaved a sigh of relief, then froze as Jansson uncurled himself
from one of the hearthside chairs with a loud yawn. He turned to face
them, his large, brown eyes sarcastically surprised. He brushed soft
brown curls from his forehead, looking for all the world as if he had
just awakened from a nap. Truthfully, Vantann wouldn't be at all
surprised if that weren't the case. Not that Jansson was old, he was
just twenty-seven, but he and his wife, Zira, had just added their fifth
child and both parents were exhausted. Still, Vantann didn't think that
he or Thomlin would get off easy despite the bard's brief respite from
fatigue. "So,"
Jansson said calmly. "You apparently had better things to do today
than music. Very well, I can understand that. We'll just double the
practice sessions and times for the next week. After which, we'll work
on some cataloguing and re-scoring in the music hall. The sheet music is
badly out of order and half-chewed. Seems someone left it unbound on the
desk and one of your brother's rabbits got into it, though gods know how
the rabbit got into the house in the first place." He looked at
them thoughtfully, then snapped his fingers as if in sudden revelation.
"Could it have been that the porch door was left wide open?" Vantann
found his tongue before Jansson could go on. "We're sorry!" he
cried. "Really! It was rather stuffy in the music hall yesterday
and we opened the door for air. We must have forgotten to close
it." "And
we thought Chaia was coming in to practice, anyway," Thomlin put
in, then added in a weak voice, "We really are sorry." Jansson
glared at them both, though Vantann saw the sparkle in his uncle's eyes.
"I'll expect to see you both tomorrow, straight after
breakfast," Jansson said. "I'll go speak to your father
now." They
groaned in unison and stepped aside to let him pass. As soon as the door
was closed Vantann locked it, took the book from his tunic, and he and
Thomlin flopped onto one of the beds to peruse the contents, completely
ignoring Jansson's dire threat. "See,
look." Vantann pointed at the index. "Here it is. The Kartonn
Caves of Challenge, page thirty-two." He flipped to the designated
page and scanned the first several pages, then stabbed a finger at the
following page and read aloud. "'The Caves of Challenge contain
three basic elements. Man against nature, man against man and man
against himself. How each of these battles presents itself has never
been fully documented, as each participant able to survive the Caves has
told a greatly different tale.'" "Able
to survive?" Thomlin echoed. "I don't like the sound of
that."
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