Page 1 of The Forest House




  Praise for the novels of Avalon

  The Forest House

  The setting evokes a fascinating time of change…. The mythic elements grow to hint satisfactorily at the Arthurian wonder to come…. The stuff of legend.”

  —Locus

  "A historical novel with a mythic undertone…distinctive enough to achieve success in its own right [and] likely to appeal to a wide audience.”

  —Chronicle

  "A seamless weave of history and myth.”

  —Library Journal

  "The sure touch of one at ease in sketching out mystic travels.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Ancestors of Avalon

  "Magical….[The Mists of Avalon] devotees won’t feellet down by Ancestors…. Provides plenty of pleasurable reading hours.”

  —Fort Worth Star-Telegram

  "An elegant stylist, Paxson captures the awe, tragedy, and resounding mystery of ancient Britain and mist-enshrouded Atlantis.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  "Paxson fashions an entirely new entry in the Avalon saga…. [Her] storytelling features the requisite veins of mysticism, but, like Bradley, she excels at bringing the vast sweep of imagined history to an accessible level…. A rich and respectful homage that will dazzle readers longing to revisit Bradley’s sacred, storied isle.”

  —Booklist

  "Once again, Diana L. Paxson has beautifully elaborated on Marion Zimmer Bradley’s beloved Avalon saga with this dramatic new installment…. [An] extraordinary journey.”

  —SFRevu

  "Paxson is an excellent choice as successor to Bradley for this series. Her style and the details of the plot retain the sense of the mysterious past and the feminist awareness that was an underlying theme in the originals.”

  —Chronicle

  "Ancestors of Avalon may be the best of the Avalon tales. The story line stands alone due to the strength of the characterizations…yet also interconnects the myriad plots from the previously published books.”

  —Midwest Book Review

  Priestess of Avalon

  "The message that all religions call on the same higher power should go over well with fans of Mists [of Avalon]. Paxson’s own skill at bringing historical characters and places to vivid life enriches Helena’s story.”

  —Publishers Weekly

  "Stunning…this rich and moving novel merits its place beside Bradley’s fantasy classic.”

  —Booklist

  "A guilty pleasure for history buffs, and a sure hit for the goddess crowd.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  "Bradley creates a powerful tale of magic and faith that enlarges upon pagan and Christian traditions to express a deeper truth.”

  —Library Journal

  Lady of Avalon

  The National Bestseller

  "Combines romance, rich historical detail, magical dazzlements, grand adventure, and feminist sentiments into the kind of novel her fans have been yearning for.”

  —Publishers Weekly (starred review)

  "The prose is as smooth as those sacred stones on which so many interesting things take place.”

  —Kirkus Reviews

  "Bradley’s women are, as usual, strong and vibrant, but never before has she so effectively depicted the heroic male…. An immensely popular saga.”

  —Booklist

  OTHER BOOKS IN THIS SERIES

  The Mists of Avalon

  Lady of Avalon

  Priestess of Avalon

  Ancestors of Avalon

  MARION ZIMMER BRADLEY

  the forest house

  ROC

  Published by New American Library, a division of

  Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

  New York, New York 10014, USA

  Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,

  Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)

  Penguin Books Ltd., 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

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  Auckland 1311, New Zealand (a division of Pearson New Zealand Ltd.)

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  Penguin Books Ltd., Registered Offices:

  80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

  Published by Roc, an imprint of New American Library, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc. Previously published in Viking hardcover and Roc trade paperback editions.

  Copyright © Marion Zimmer Bradley, 1993

  All rights reserved

  ISBN: 978-1-1012-1272-1

  REGISTERED TRADEMARK—MARCA REGISTRADA

  Without limiting the rights under copyright reserved above, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form, or by any means (electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise), without the prior written permission of both the copyright owner and the above publisher of this book.

  PUBLISHER’S NOTE

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party Web sites or their content.

  For my mother, Evelyn Conklin Zimmer, who

  has borne with my working on the book for

  most of my adult life

  To Diana Paxson, my sister and friend, who anchored

  this book firmly in time and space and added Tacitus

  to the cast of characters

  CONTENTS

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  PEOPLE IN THE STORY

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE

  CHAPTER TWO

  CHAPTER THREE

  CHAPTER FOUR

  CHAPTER FIVE

  CHAPTER SIX

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  CHAPTER NINE

  CHAPTER TEN

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

  CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

  CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

  CHAPTER THIRTY

  EPILOGUE

  ABOUT THE AUTHOR

  AUTHOR’S NOTE

  Those who are familiar with Bellini’s opera Norma will recognize the origins of this story. In homage to Bellini, the hymns in chapters five and twenty-two are adapted from the libretto of act I, scene i, and those in chapter thirty from act II, scene ii. The hymns to the moon in chapters seventeen and twenty-four are taken from the Carmina Gadelica, a collection of traditional Highland prayers collected in the late nin
eteenth century by the Reverend Alexander Carmichael.

  PEOPLE IN THE STORY

  * = historical figure

  ( )= dead before story begins

  ROMANS

  Gaius Macellius Severus Siluricus (called Gaius, native name Gawen), a young officer, born of a British mother

  Gaius Macellius Severus, senior (called Macellius), father of Gaius, Prefectus Castrorum of the II Adiutrix Legion at Deva, Equestrian rank

  (Moruadh, Royal Woman of the Silures, mother of Gaius) Manlius, physician at Deva

  Capellus, Macellius’s orderly

  Philo, Gaius’s Greek slave

  Valerius, secretary to Macellius

  Valeria (later called Senara), half-Briton niece of Valerius

  Martius Julius Licinius, Procurator (financial officer) of Britannia

  Julia Licinia, his daughter

  Charis, her Greek maid

  Lydia, nurse to her children

  Licinius Corax, the Procurator’s cousin in Rome

  Marcellus Clodius Malleus, senator, Gaius’s patron

  Lucius Domitius Brutus, Commander of the XX Valeria Victrix Legion after its move to Deva

  Father Petros, a Christian hermit

  * (Gaius Julius Caesar, "the deified Julius,” who began the conquest of Britannia)

  * (Suetonius Paulinus, Governor of Britain during Boudicca’s rebellion)

  * (Vespasian, Emperor AD 69–79)

  * (Quintus Petilius Cerealis, Governor of Britain AD 71–4)

  * (Sextus Julius Frontinus, Governor of Britain AD 74–7)

  * Gnaeus Julius Agricola, Governor of Britain AD 78–84

  * Gaius Cornelius Tacitus, his son-in-law and aide, a historian

  Sallustius Lucullus, Governor of Britain after Agricola

  * Titus Flavius Vespasianus, Emperor Titus AD 79–81

  * Titus Flavius Domitianus, Emperor Domitian AD 81–96

  * Herennius Senecio, a senator

  * Flavius Clemens, a cousin of Domitian

  BRITONS

  Bendeigid, a Druid living near Vernemeton

  Rheis, a daughter of Ardanos and wife of Bendeigid

  Mairi, their eldest daughter, wife of Rhodri

  Vran, her young son

  Eilan, their middle daughter

  Senara, their youngest daughter

  Gawen, Eilan’s son by Gaius

  Cynric, foster son of Bendeigid

  Ardanos, Arch-Druid of Britannia

  Dieda, his younger daughter

  Clotinus Albus (Caradac), a Romanized Briton Gwenna, his daughter

  Red Rian, an Irish raider

  Hadron, one of the Ravens, father of Valeria (later called Senara)

  * (Boudicca, "The Killer Queen,” queen of the Iceni, leader of the revolt in AD 61)

  * (Caractacus, a leader of the rebellion)

  * (Cartimandua, queen of the Brigantes, who betrayed Caractacus to Rome)

  * Calgacus, Caledonian chieftain, who led the tribes at Mons Graupius

  PEOPLE OF THE FOREST HOUSE

  Lhiannon, Priestess of the Oracle, High Priestess of Vernemeton (the Forest House)

  Huw, her bodyguard

  (Helve, High Priestess before Lhiannon)

  Caillean, a senior priestess assisting Lhiannon

  Latis, the herb mistress

  Celimon, instructor in ritual

  Annis, an old deaf woman who serves Eilan during her pregnancy

  Lia, nurse to Eilan’s son Gawen

  DEITIES

  Tanarus, British thunder god, equated with Jupiter

  The Horned (or Antlered) One, archetypal god of beasts and woodlands with many local variations

  Don, mythic mother of the gods, and by extension, the British people

  Cathubodva, Lady of Ravens, a war goddess similar to the Morrigan

  Arianhrod, Lady of the Silver Wheel, maiden goddess associated with magic, the sea, and the moon

  Ceres, Roman goddess of grain, agriculture

  Venus, Roman goddess of love

  Mars, Roman war god

  Bona Dea, the Good Goddess

  Vesta, goddess of the sacred hearthfire of Rome, served by virgins

  Mithras, a Persian hero-god worshipped by soldiers

  Jupiter, king of the gods

  Juno, queen of the gods, his wife, patroness of marriage

  Isis, an Egyptian goddess worshipped in Rome as protectress of commerce on the sea

  PLACES

  Britannia Superior—southern England

  Mona—the island of Anglesey

  Segontium—a fort near Caernarvon

  Vernemeton (most holy grove)—the Forest House

  Hill of the Maidens—Maiden Castle, Bickerton

  Deva—Chester

  Glevum—Gloucester

  Viroconium Cornoviiarum—Wroxeter

  Venta Silurum—Caerwent

  Isca Silurum—Caerleon

  Aquae Sulis—Bath

  The Tor—Glastonbury

  The Summer Country—Somerset

  Isca Dumnoniorum—Exeter

  Lindum—Lincoln

  Londinium—London

  Britannia Inferior—northern England

  Eburacum—York

  Luguvalium—Carlisle

  Caledonia—Scotland

  Bodotria estuary—Firth of Forth

  Firth of the Tava—River Tay

  Sabrina Firth—Solway

  Trimontium—Newstead

  Pinnata Castra—Inchtuthil

  Mons Graupius—location uncertain, perhaps near Inverness

  Hibernia—Ireland

  Temair—Tara

  Druim Cliadh—Kildare

  Germania Inferior—upper western Germany

  Colonia Agrippensis—Cologne

  the Rhenus—the Rhine

  PROLOGUE

  A cold wind was whipping the torches into fiery tails. Angry light glittered on the dark waters of the strait and the shields of the legionaries waiting on the other side. The priestess coughed at the reek of smoke and sea fog and listened to the clangor of camp Latin echoing across the waters as the Roman Commander harangued his men. The Druids sang out in answer, calling down the wrath of the skies, and thunder shook the air.

  Women’s voices rose in a shrill ululation that sent a chill through her body, or perhaps it was fear. She swayed with the other priestesses, arms raised in imprecation; their dark cloaks flaring out like raven wings.

  But the Romans were howling too, and now the first rank surged into the water. The Druid war harp throbbed with a dreadful music, and her throat was scraped raw with shrieking, but still the enemy came on.

  The first red-cloaked soldier set foot on the shore of the Holy Isle and the gods did not strike him. Now the singing faltered. A priest pushed the priestess behind him as Roman steel caught the torchlight; the sword fell and blood sprayed across her dark robe.

  The rhythm of the chant was lost. Now there was only screaming and she ran for the trees. Behind her the Romans were scything the Druids down like grain. Too quickly, they finished, and the red tide swept inland.

  The priestess stumbled through the trees, seeking the sacred circles. An orange glow filled the sky above the House of Women. The stones loomed up ahead, but from behind her came shouting. She turned at bay, clinging to the central altar stone. Now, surely, they would kill her…She called out to the Goddess and straightened, waiting for the blow.

  But it was not weapons of steel they meant to use against her. She struggled as hard hands grabbed at her body, tearing off her robes. They forced her down upon the stone, and then the first man battered against her. There was no escape; she could only use the sacred disciplines to withdraw her mind from this body until they were done. But as awareness winged away, she cried out: "Lady of Ravens, avenge me! Avenge!”

  "Avenge…” My own shout woke me, and I sat up, staring. As always, it took a few moments for me to realize that it was only a dream, and not even my own, for I was still a child in the year w
hen the Legions murdered the priests and raped the women of the Holy Isle; an unwanted girl-child called Caillean, safe in Hibernia across the sea. But since first I heard the story, soon after the Priestess of the Oracle brought me to this land, the spirits of those women have haunted me.

  The curtain at my door fluttered and one of the maidens who served me looked in. "My Lady, are you well? May I help you to robe? It is almost time to greet the dawn.”

  I nodded, feeling the cold sweat dry on my brow, and allowed her to help me into a clean gown and arrange the ornaments of a High Priestess on my breast and brow. Then I followed her out onto the summit of another isle, a green Tor that rose from the mingling of marsh and meadow that men call the Summer Sea. From below came the singing of the maidens who watch over the sacred well, and from the vale beyond it the bell that calls the hermits to prayer in the little beehive church beside the white thorn tree.

  They were not the first folk to seek sanctuary on this island at the end of the world beyond the narrow seas, nor do I suppose they will be the last. So many years have passed since the death of the Holy Isle, and though in my dreams ancient voices still cry out for revenge, a hard-won wisdom tells me that the mixing of blood strengthens a breed, so long as the ancient knowledge is not lost.

  But to this day I have never found any good in the Romans or their ways. This is why even for Eilan, who was dearer than a daughter to me, I could never trust in any Roman, not even Gaius, whom she loved.

  But no tramping of iron-shod legionary sandals on stone-paved roads disturbs us here, for I have cast a veil of mist and mystery to keep out the straight-edged Roman world.