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
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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.