The Hallowed Isle Book Four (26 page)

Through his eyelids he could still see sunlight; his other
senses seemed to sharpen. The borders of his body could no longer hold him; awareness expanded outward through earth and air and water. Beyond the surfaces he had always accepted as reality, he perceived the real Britannia, the true country of the heart that no matter what evils passed in the world of men would always endure. This was his kingdom. Why, he wondered, had it taken him so long to understand?

To Guendivar, the light that had filled Artor's face seemed slowly to fade. But the radiance all around her was growing. Blinking back tears, she looked up from the emptied body, wondering where he had gone.

From Morgause came an anguished cry, and as if that had been a signal, the ravens rushed upward in a glistening dark cloud. Three times above the still body the black birds circled, calling out in grief and triumph. Then from their midst Guendivar saw one Raven rise and wing southward, its feathers turning incandescent in the sun.

A.D.
1189

“T
HEY SAY THAT YOU KNOW ALL THE
B
RETON TALES,” SAYS
the king. “Can you sing of King Arthur as well?” He taps a leather-bound book on the table before him. “Here are the
Lais
of Marie, that she dedicated to me. I have read the
Brut
also, and Geoffrey's
Historia
, when I was a young man. And I have heard very many songs of the jongleurs of your country. You will be hard put, I warn you, to find anything that I have not heard!”

The bard inclines his head. He is old, but seems strong, with a pair of dark eyes beneath bushy brows. He is a very big man.

“Lord king, I know many tales that no one has heard, of Artor, and other things.” In the light from the pointed window, his beard glints silver against the dusty white of his robe.

“Hah!” says King Henry. “Sit, then, for I've a fox that gnaws my vitals, and a good tale may help me to forget the pain.” He has filled the castle of Chinon with beautiful things. The stool to which he gestures the bard has a seat of red leather and feet carved like griffons' claws.

“That was how King Arthur died,” says the bard. “Stabbed
in the belly by his son.” He speaks the French tongue with the deep music of the Celtic lands.

The king gives him a sharp look. “My sons have done the same, both Richard, who fights me, and John, who intrigues with that viper Philippe Auguste while smiling and praising my name. But you surprise me,” he goes on, sipping more wine. “Mostly the Bretons say that Arthur never died, but sleeps in the Western Isles, or in a cavern in the hills, or in the vale of Avalon. The Welshmen, too, especially when they are preaching rebellion.”

“Those who speak of Avalon come closest to the truth,” rumbles the bard. “He is buried there.”

“Now how did that come to pass?” Henry pulls his robe more closely around him and leans back in his carved chair, one eyebrow raised.

“The battle of Camlann was fought in the north of Angleterre, near the Wall,” says the bard, “not in Cornuailles, as so many say. And when Arthur was dead, his body was carried south by Queen Guenivere and buried in Inis Witrin, which is the Isle of Avalon.”

“Indeed?” The king cocks his head, willing to be amused. “Say then, if you know so much, what manner of man was Arthur, and how old he was when he met his end?”

“A big man, like you, and fifty-five years of age when he died. He too quarreled with churchmen for the good of the land, and dreamed of an empire in Gaul.”

Henry frowns. “I have passed him, then, for I am fifty-six. I wonder, do you mean to threaten or to flatter me?”

The bard shrugs. “Arthur walked the earth, and loved greatly, and strove greatly to make good laws and keep the peace and preserve the land from her enemies.”

“So also have I,” the king replies, more softly. “But you take the magic from the story, telling it so!”

“Is it not a greater wonder that this same history should still be recounted some six centuries after Arthur died, and in every country of Christendom?” the bard answers more softly still.

King Henry shakes his head, laughing. “You will never make your fortune telling such tales to mortal kings! We prefer
to believe that Arthur lived in an age of marvels, and avoid comparisons!”

“But what if it were true?”

“If it could be proved, you mean?” Suddenly the king grasps his sinewy arm. “Who are you, to know such things?”

For a moment the bard considers him. Then, very gently, he smiles, and Henry finds his grip loosening. “I have been called by many names. I am a Wild Man in the wood, and a bard in the courts of kings. I am a wanderer upon the roads of the world, and the prophet of Arthur. And you yourself can prove the truth of my words—”

He leans forward. “The abbey at Glastonbury burned five years ago, and the monks are still rebuilding. Command them to dig deep between the two pyramids in the churchyard. They will find there a coffin hollowed from a log of oak, and in it the bones of Arthur, and at his feet, Guenivere, with a leaden cross that gives their names.”

“That would settle the Welsh!” exclaims the king, then sobers. “They claim Arthur as their Defender, but so do the English, and we Normans likewise, for my grandson bears his name. These days, he belongs to everyone. Why is that, do you suppose?” Henry says then. “Why should he matter so?”

“Because he loved Britannia . . .” answers the bard. “Because for a little while he kept her safe against the dark.” He sits back, considering the king.

“I tell you these things so that you may know that such deeds can be achieved by mortal men. And yet what the Welsh and the Bretons tell you is the truth as well. Arthur's spirit never departed—neither to Heaven nor to the Otherworld. He watches over the Hallowed Isle. . . .”

A note on pronunciation:

British names are given in fifth-century spelling, which does not yet reflect pronunciation changes. Initial letters should be pronounced as they are in English. Medial letters are as follows:

SPELLED
                
PRONOUNCED

P...........................b

t...........................d

k/c......................(soft) g

b...........................v (approximately)

d...........................soft “th” (modern Welsh “dd”)

g...........................“yuh”

m..........................v

ue.........................w

†

PEOPLE

CAPITALS = major character

* = historical personnage

( ) = dead before story begins

[ ] = name as given in later literature

Italics
= deity or mythological personnage

*Aelle—king of the South Saxons

Aggarban [Agravaine]—third son of Morgause

*Agricola—prince of Demetia

*Alaric II—king of the Visigoths

(*Ambrosius Aurelianus—emperor of Britannia and Vitalinus' rival)

(*Amlodius—Artor's grandfather)

Amminius—one of Artor's men

ARTOR [Arthur]—son of Uthir and Igierne, high king of Britannia

(Artoria Argantel—Artor's grandmother)

Beowulf—king of the Geats in Denmark

BETIVER [Bedivere]—nephew to Riothamus, one of Artor's Companions

Bleitisbluth—a Pictish chieftain

Brigantia/Brigid
—
British goddess of healing, inspiration, and the land

*Budic—a grandson of Riothamus, lord of Civitas Aquilonia

CAI—son of Caius Turpilius, Artor's foster-brother and Companion

*Caninus [Aurelius Caninus]—son of the prince of Glevum, ally of Medraut

CATAUR [Cador]—prince of Dumnonia

Cathubodva
—
Lady of Ravens, a British war goddess

*Ceawlin—son of Cynric and grandson of Ceretic

Ceincair—a priestess on the Isle of Maidens

(*Ceretic [Cerdic]—king of the West Saxons)

*Chlodovechus [Clovis]—king of the Franks in Gallia

*Chlotild—queen of the Franks

*Conan—lord of Venetorum

*Constantine—son of Cataur, prince of Dumnonia

*Creoda—son of Icel of Anglia

*Cuil—a brigand

*Cunobelinus—warleader of the northern Votadini

*Cunoglassus—a prince of Guenet, ally of Medraut

Cunovinda—a young priestess on the Isle of Maidens

*Cymen—Aelle's eldest son

*Cynric—son of Ceretic, king of the West Saxons

*Daniel Dremrud—son of Riothamus

Doli—a Pictish warrior in the service of Morgause

*Drest Gurthinmoch—high king of the Picts

(*Dubricius—bishop of Isca and head of the church in Britannia)

*Dumnoval [Dyfnwal]—lord of the Southern Votadini

Edrit—a young warrior in the service of Aggarban

Eldaul the younger [Eldol]—prince of Glevum

*Eormenric—son of Oesc, child-king of Cantuware

*Feragussos [Fergus]—king of the Scotti of Dal Riada

*Gipp—Norse founder of Gippewic in Essex, Medraut's ally

GORIAT [Gareth]—fourth son of Morgause

(Gorlosius [Gorlois]—first husband of Igierne, father of Morgause)

Gracilia—wife of Gualchmai

GUALCHMAI [Gawain]—first son of Morgause

GUENDIVAR [Gwenivere]—Artor's queen

*Guenomarcus—lord of Plebs Legionorum

Gwyhir [Gaheris]—second son of Morgause

Hæthwæge—a Saxon wisewoman

(*Hengest—king of Cantuware, leader of Saxon revolt)

*Henry II—king of England

*Icel—king of the Anglians in Britannia

IGIERNE [Igraine]—Artor's mother, Lady of the Lake

Johannes Rutilius—brother-in-law to Riothamus, Betiver's father

Julia—a nun from the Isle of Glass, Guendivar's companion

(Kea—a British slave girl among the Picts, Medraut's first woman)

Father Kedi—an Irish priest at the court of Artor

Leodegranus [Leodegrance]—prince of Lindinis, Guendivar's father

(Leudonus [Lot]—king of the Votadini)

Maglouen [Maelgwn]—a prince of Guenet, Medraut's ally

(*Magnus Maximus [Maxen Wledig]—general serving in Britain who was proclaimed emperor 383–388)

Marcus Conomorus [Mark of Cornwall]—son of Constantine

Martinus of Viroconium—an ally of Medraut

Maxentius—a grandson of Riothamus

MEDRAUT—fifth son of Morgause, by Artor

Melwas [Meleagrance]—an Irishman born in Guenet, abductor of Guendivar

MERLIN—druid and wizard, Artor's advisor

Morcant Bulc—heir to Dun Breatann

MORGAUSE—daughter of Igierne and Gorlosius, queen of the Votadini

(*Naitan Morbet—king of all the provinces of the Picts)

Nest—a priestess on the Isle of Maidens

Ninive—daughter of Gualchmai by a woman of the hills

(*Oesc—grandson of Hengest and king of Cantuware, Eormenric's father)

*Othar, Ela, Adgils, Admund [Othere, Onela, Eadgils, Eadmund]—King Ottar of Sweden, his brother Ali, his sons Adils and Eadmund

Paulinus Clutorix—lord of Viroconium

*Peretur [Peredur]—son of Eleutherius, lord of Eboracum

*Pompeius Regalis [Riwal]—lord of Domnonia

*Ridarchus—king at Alta Cluta and protector of Luguvalium

Rigana—widow of Oesc, Eormenric's mother

*Riothamus—ruler of Armorica

*Theodoric—a Gothic admiral in the service of Britannia

*Theuderich—king of the Franks, son of Chlodovechus and a concubine and one of his successors, along with Chlodomer, Childebert, and Lothar (by Queen Clotild)

Uorepona—the “Great Mare,” high queen of the Picts

(Uthir [Uther Pendragon]—Artor's father)

Verica—a young priestess on the Isle of Maidens

(*Vitalinus, the Vor-Tigernus—ruler of Britannia who brought in the Saxons)

*Vortipor—son of Agricola, prince of Demetia

†

PLACES

Afallon [Avalon]—Isle of Apples, Glastonbury

Alba—Scotland

Altaclutha—kingdom of the Clyde

Ambrosiacum—Amesbury

Anglia—Lindsey and Lincoln

Annuen [Annwyn]—the land of the dead

Aquae Sulis—Bath

Armorica—Britanny

Belisama fluvius—River Ribble, Lancashire

Bodotria aestuarius—Firth of Forth

Britannia—Great Britain

Caellwic—Kelliwic, Cornwall

Caledonian forest—southern Scotland

Calleva—Silchester

Camalot [Camelot]—Cadbury Castle, Somerset

Camboglanna [Camlann]—fortress of Birdoswald, the Wall

Camulodunum—Colchester

Cantium, Cantuware—Kent

Castra Legionis—Caerleon

Cendtire—Kintyre peninsula

Civitas Aquilonia—Quimper, Brittany

Clutha—River Clyde

Demetia—Pembroke and Carmarthen

Domnonia—Cotes du Nord, Brittany

Dumnonia—Cornwall and Devon

Dun Bara—Barry Hill, Perth

Dun Breatann—”fortress of the Britons,” Dumbarton Rock

Dun Eidyn—Edinburgh Rock

Durnovaria—Dorchester, Dorset

Durobrivae—1. Rochester, Kent; 2. Water Newton, Cambridge

Fodreu—Fortriu, Fife

Forest of Caledon—Caledonian forest, southern Scotland

Gallia—France

Giants' Dance—Stonehenge

Gippewic—in Essex

Glevum—Gloucester

Guenet [Gwynedd]—Denbigh and Caernarvon

Isca (Silurum)—Caerwent

Isle of Glass (Inis Witrin)—Glastonbury

Isle of Maidens in the Lake—Derwentwater, Cumbria

Lindinis—Ilchester, Somerset

Lindum—Lincoln

Londinium—London

Metaris aestuarius—the Wash

Mona—Anglesey

Plebs Legionorum—St. Pol de Léon, Brittany