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wisely counseled to consider Prince Zinan as your main opponent, not King Garrick. Someone of Jared's capabilities with an evil bent is most assuredly pulling the king's strings. Prince Zinan is not doing King Garrick's dirty work. It is the other way around."
    "How can you be so sure?" asked the Arin prince.
    "His capabilities alone would overwhelm whatever defenses King Garrick might have," replied Audric. "The only chance there is of my being wrong about this is if Prince Zinan has never been tutored as Jared has not been."
    "The dark prince was raised by a wisper," Prince Antion shook his head. "In fact, Naveena was the regent for King Garrick for a short period."
    Audric sighed heavily and leaned on the large sea rock as he stared out at the bay. As he digested the words or Prince Antion, his arm nudged the pebble. It rolled along the face of the rock and dropped into the sea. The old man turned at the sound of it rolling away from him and shook his head.
    "Times are grave indeed," Audric stated as he turned away from the rock. "Jared must confront his brother, and you must stand by his side when he does. I can only hope that he is strong enough to overcome the advantage of Zinan's evil."
    "Confront?" questioned the Arin prince. "What do you mean? I thought the Talent would not allow the dark prince to listen to reason."
    "You thought correctly," nodded Audric. "There will be no reasoning during the confrontation. It will be a battle to the death for one of them."
    "No!" shouted Jared. "I will not use my power to kill anyone, especially not my brother."
    "You must, Jared," sighed Audric. "You are the world's only chance."
    "I will not do it," yelled Jared, "and neither of you can make me do it."
    Jared turned and ran off towards the cave. Prince Antion turned to run after him, but Audric grabbed is arm.
    "Let him cry about it," Audric said sadly. "He will be repulsed by the thought for a while, but he will learn to understand that he must do what is necessary to restore the equilibrium of the Talent. You must guide him, and you must be there to help him. Without your reservoir of power, Jared will not stand a chance of defeating Zinan."

Chapter 2 - Discovering Truths
Discovering Truths
    The summer sun bore down on the dark prince as he rode through the city gates of Tarent. He was dirty, tired, and drenched in perspiration. He wanted desperately to bathe and change his clothes, but he was more anxious to solve the riddle that had been revealed to him over the past two months.
    Prince Zinan passed through the gates of the palace and dismounted by the door, leaving his horse to be taken care of by someone else. He stormed into the palace, demanding a meeting of the king's advisors from the first soldier he passed. He ignored the polite bows of the servants until he reached his chambers and demanded that a bath be drawn immediately. Setting his notes aside, the dark prince stripped off his clothes and climbed into the tub before it was completely filled. The servants sloshed water all over the floor as they hurried to finish filling the tub, but Prince Zinan was unaware of the mistake that would normally have raised his ire. Instead he sat with his eyes closed as servants washed his body and mopped the floor.
    By the time the prince was dried and dressed, the meeting chamber was already full of the king's advisors. Prince Zinan strode into the room and sat at the head of the table, which was usually reserved for the king. Everyone in the room noticed the slip, but none dared to mention it.
    "Someone is trying to impersonate me," Prince Zinan began. "I want to know who it is."
    The room fell silent as the dark prince gazed around at the assembled advisors, searching each of their faces for some sign of treachery.
    "How do you know someone is trying to impersonate you?" Naveena asked calmly after no one else had chosen to speak.
    "Because my spies report seeing me all over the world," scowled Prince Zinan. "I want to know who