She had found the reference in an ancient scroll in the abbey of Breckon Moor, down in the province of Dulgath, the oldest monastery in the world. Virgil had distracted the abbot while Farilane stole peeks at the Forbidden Text section that was buried in a chamber deep beneath the scriptorium. In the scroll, she saw references to Bran the Beloved and his devoted follower Falkirk de Roche. Further unrolling the scroll, she spotted a mention of the territory of Alon-Bern, now the imperial province of Alburnia. Bran, the founder of the Monks of Maribor, was forever on the run from Emperor Nyphron, and he had a habit of founding new monasteries wherever he went. He stayed in one place just long enough to make a copy of the famed Book of Brin, teach a handful of others to read, and command them to instruct their brothers. These seeds of literacy were sowed one step ahead of the imperial scythe. Bran often referred to himself as the Keeper of the Light of Truth, and in the growing darkness of imperial fabrication that sought to erase the past, he stood against Emperor Nyphron. Since her mother’s death, Farilane had discovered she had a personal and crucial stake in learning that truth.

Licking her index finger, she swiped to the next page. Each sheet in the field book was packed with drawings and scrawled notes. Most were written in neat lines across, but others curled up and around the edges of the pages. Her handwriting varied in legibility. Most notes had been recorded in camps or roadhouses, but many parts had been jotted down while she bounced along in a wagon, or in the case of the green tag, in great haste in a dark room.

DAHL RHEN—ALON RHIST—DRAGON CAMP—AVEMPARTHA

These words, scrawled across the bottom of the page, had been circled twice. An arrow led to the facing page, upon which was a crude sketch. Farilane had drawn a tall rectangle divided into ten squares—two columns of five. At the time she sketched it, Farilane had no idea what the group of boxes had meant. Now, sitting within her lonely island of light, she looked from the drawing to the door.

“Found you.”

DAHL RHEN—ALON RHIST—DRAGON CAMP—AVEMPARTHA

The puzzle wasn’t hard. Knowing the twisted minds of dwarfs as well as she did and having the door before her made it easy.

Dahl Rhen was clearly the upper left square, the one with the stockaded village on the mound. This was the famed hometown of Persephone, over which the present imperial capital was supposedly built. All monk histories began there.

Alon Rhist was the ancient elven fortress in the scene depicting the famed Battle of Grandford. This was obvious from the spire and dome, both featured prominently in the epic poem.