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.

CHAPTER ONE - THE CAVES OF CHALLENGE

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."