Sephryn turned to get more light on the page, then held it farther out and then closer up.

“What’s wrong? Is that where it ends?” Farilane asked.

“No, but this last part, it’s hard to read. Bran’s handwriting gets worse as it goes on. Near the bottom, it’s a mess.”

“May I?” Farilane asked, reaching out. “I’ve spent about a hundred years deciphering old handwriting, some of it pretty atrocious I must say.”

Sephryn handed it over, and Farilane saw that near the bottom the last few lines were indeed scribbled with disregard. More than that, they were marred by a dark, ruddy-brown stain that ruined the whole lower third of the page. Farilane wondered if Sephryn understood the significance of the blemish. Bran did not come to a peaceful end, she thought.

After studying the hastily scrawled and blood-blurred lettering, Farilane made her best guess and read aloud, “They are coming. I think . . . something, something . . . don’t have time to . . . something, something . . . Falkirk is . . . remember . . . Second Book of Brin is underneath . . . in the hidden chamber . . . where the . . .” Farilane stopped. “That’s it.”

She handed back the letter. “Do you know what Bran meant by the Horn of Gylindora?”

“Hmm?” Sephryn looked up from the page, her face weighted in sadness. “Oh, yes, of course. It’s the instrument given to the first fane of the Fhrey by Ferrol as a means for them to peacefully transition power.”

“Not too peacefully,” Farilane said. “Two people do have to fight to the death.”

Sephryn shook her head. “My father told me that the challenge between Zephyron and Lothian—the one just prior to Nyphron and Mawyndulë—was the first time a real battle had ever taken place. Prior to that, the horn was a sort of formality. Navi Lon and Ghika were anointed successors, and although the horn was blown, the fight was conceded. Alon Rhist ascended to the Forest Throne during the Dherg War when no one else wanted it. The same was true with Fenelyus.” Sephryn held the letter in her quivering hands. “How did you get this?”

“We found it buried with him beneath Dibben Monastery—a little community on a mounded hill outside the Mystic Wood.”

Sephryn looked at Kile once more as her eyes teared up. “So, he was buried back home, on Dahl Rhen, beside his parents, above all his ancestors. Thank you for that.”

Kile nodded.