See here, she said in his mind, gesturing to the paper with her free hand, I have a plan here for you. A plan of London as it should be rebuilt. It shall be our Game, yours and mine alone. Will you play?
Glossary
ALBA: ancient, and now vanished, city on the banks of the River Tiber in Italy.
ANCIENT CAROL: that which is sung by the CAROLLER within the FAERIE to welcome in both dawn and dusk.
ARIADNE: ancient MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH at Knossos in Crete of the GREAT FOUNDING LABYRINTH. She was the half-sister of ASTERION, the Minotaur, as also his lover. She betrayed him to Theseus.
ASTERION: the ancient Minotaur who inhabited the GREAT FOUNDING LABYRINTH in Knossos on Crete. Murdered by Theseus, and recalled from death by ARIADNE, he has ever since been locked in a battle with BRUTUS for the kingship bands of TROY and control of the TROY GAME. In this current life he is known as WEYLAND ORR.
BANKS, NOAH: CORNELIA reborn and EAVING, the goddess of the waters. In her previous life she was Caela, wife to Edward the Confessor, and in her first she was CORNELIA, wife to BRUTUS.
BEDFORD, EARLS OF: see RUSSELL.
BRAGANZA, CATHARINE OF: princess of Portugal, and wife to CHARLES II.
BUTTERED BEER: a rich brew of beer, sugar, spices and butter, served warm. It was drunk by all but the poor.
CAROLLER, THE: the songstress who carols in the dawn and the dusk in the REALM OF THE FAERIE.
CARTERET, MARGUERITE: daughter of the governor of Jersey, Marguerite became CHARLES II’S mistress when he was in exile and bore him several bastard children.
CATASTROPHE, THE: after Theseus left ARIADNE, she responded by destroying much of the ancient Aegean world in revenge. This is known as the Catastrophe.
CATLING: daughter of NOAH BANKS.
CHARLES I: King of England 1625-49. Executed by Parliament at the end of the English Civil War.
CHARLES II: son of CHARLES I and HENRIETTA MARIA, lived most of his youth in exile following the ENGLISH CIVIL WAR. Regained the throne in 1660.
CIRCLE, THE: the means whereby three or more people can recreate the ancient magic of the STONE DANCES.
CLARENDON, EARL OF: See HYDE, EDWARD.
COEL: a man of the Bronze Age and a friend and lover of CORNELIA.
COMMONWEALTH, THE: that period in England between the death of CHARLES I in January 1649 and the restoration of his son CHARLES II to the throne in mid-1660.
CORNELIA: wife to BRUTUS when the TROY GAME was first constructed. Now she lives as NOAH BANKS.
CROMWELL, OLIVER: Protector of England during the period of the COMMONWEALTH, leader of the Parliamentary forces against the royalist forces during the ENGLISH CIVIL WAR.
DANCING FLOOR, THE: literally the labyrinth as it is carved into rock or stone. The MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH and the KINGMAN use the dancing floor to raise the Game from the labyrinth. Dancing floors—labyrinths—could be found in many medieval European cathedrals.
DOLBEN, JOHN: Dean of Westminster School.
EAVING: the goddess of the waters who takes the mortal form of NOAH BANKS. In the Anglo-Saxon language, Eaving meant “shelter”, or, “the unexpected haven from the storm”.
EAVING’S SISTERS: in God’s Concubine EAVING was reborn in Caela (now NOAH BANKS). She drew fiercely loyal women about her who became known as Eaving’s Sisters. Chief among them is Ecub, reborn now as MARGUERITE CARTERET; Erith, Judith in her previous life and now reborn as KATE PEGGE; and Matilda of Normandy, now reborn as CATHARINE OF BRAGANZA.
ELIZABETH: a prostitute working in WEYLAND ORR’S brothel in IDOL LANE.
ENGLISH CIVIL WAR: CHARLES I, like his father, James I, believed in his divine right to rule (i.e. he believed he was answerable only to God). In a country which had long believed the king was subject to his nobles before God, this attitude caused great friction, resulting in civil war between the forces of the king and Parliament between 1642 and 1646. From 1646 to 1649 CHARLES I was held captive by Parliament until his eventual execution in January 1649.
FAERIE, LORD OF THE: an ancient being who watches over the FAERIE. He is often confused with the Green Man, an ancient mythical figure in English village culture closely associated with the forests, and with the May-tide celebrations. Figures of the Green Man, or the Lord of the Faerie, can be found carved into the decorations of myriad English (as European) cathedrals and churches.
FAERIE, REALM OF THE: the faerie world which exists side by side with the mortal world. Governed by the LORD OF THE FAERIE.
FELTON, BESS: a goodwife of Easthill, who took in NOAH BANKS after her father’s death.
FOX, SIR STEPHEN: one of CHARLES II’S companions in exile.
FRANCES: a prostitute working in WEYLAND ORR’S brothel in IDOL LANE.
GARDIEN, HELENE: mother of LOUIS DE SILVA.
GOG: one of the legendary giant protectors of London, closely associated with the Guildhall (you can still see him there); his brother is MAGOG. Once a SIDLESAGHE.
GOG MAGOG HILLS: a line of hills a few miles south of the town of Cambridge.
GREAT FOUNDING LABYRINTH, THE: the original labyrinth in Knossos on Crete, where the Minotaur ASTERION was imprisoned, and where ARIADNE betrayed him to Theseus.
GREAT ORDEAL, THE: whenever a woman is trained as a MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH, she must undergo a final test to determine whether or not she is capable of controlling the powerful sorceries of the labyrinth. It is the Great Ordeal, and not all novice Mistresses of the Labyrinth survive it.
GREAT MARRIAGE, THE: the formal union between the STAG GOD and the goddess of the waters (see EAVING), signifying that forest, water and land exist in harmony.
HAMPSTEAD HEATH: lying in the north-west of modern-day London, the Heath comprises 800 acres of parkland and woods; Parliament Hill rises in its south-east quadrant. To its east, close to the village of Highgate, are a number of natural springs which in the seventeenth century became popular for medicinal purposes.
HENRIETTA MARIA: French-born wife of CHARLES I, mother to CHARLES II, Queen of England.
HENRIETTE-ANNE, PRINCESS: daughter of HENRIETTA MARIA and CHARLES I, and sister of CHARLES II.
HYDE, ANNE: daughter of EDWARD HYDE.
HYDE, EDWARD: adviser and friend of CHARLES II. Later Earl of Clarendon.
IDOL LANE: one of London’s many remaining medieval lanes, Idol Lane is now a fairly mundane passageway watched over by office blocks and CCTV cameras. It does, however, bear exploration if ever you’re in London.
JAMES, DUKE OF YORK: younger brother to CHARLES II, eventually James II 1685-88 before he was deposed. Loth-reborn.
KINGMAN, THE: the TROY GAME is constructed and controlled by two people, the MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH and the KINGMAN. The Kingman was traditionally the king or ruler of the city which needed to be protected by the Game. In TROY, the original Kingman was Aeneas, and his descendant Brutus later took on the role.
KINGSHIP BANDS OF TROY, THE: when Brutus originally constructed the TROY GAME with Genvissa, he used the power of the ancient and magical six kingship bands of Troy he wore about his limbs. But when CORNELIA killed Genvissa, and ASTERION threatened to invade, Brutus took the kingship bands and hid them about London as part of a protective enchantment. Ever since then both Brutus-reborn and ASTERION have competed in the effort to locate them. In Book Two, God’s Concubine, Caela (Cornelia-reborn and NOAH BANKS in this book) took them and hid them in different locations about London. Possession of the bands enables the wearer to control the TROY GAME.
LIBERTY OF THE TOWER: see TOWER LIBERTY.
LLANGARLIA: the ancient name of England during the Bronze Age (about 1500 BCE).
LONG TOM: a SIDLESAGHE, and a close friend of Noah Banks, particularly in her previous life as Caela. In medieval and early modern England, individual standing stones were often called Long Tom.
LONQUEFORT, SIMON GAUTIER, MARQUIS DE: French nobleman, father of LOUIS DE SILVA.
MAG: goddess of the waters in ancient LLANGARLIA, now reborn in NOAH BANKS as EAVING.
MAGALLAN: the priestess who acted as the living representative of the goddess MAG in ancient LLANGARLIA.
MAGOG: one of the legendary giant protectors of London, closely associated with the Guildhall (you can still see him there); his brother is GOG. Once a SIDLESAGHE.
MARY, PRINCESS: daughter of HENRIETTA MARIA and CHARLES I, sister of CHARLES II, and wife of William of Orange.
MESOPOTAMA: in the Bronze Age, Mesopotama was a Dorian city on the River Acheron on the west coast of Greece. It was ruled by Pandrasus, who was CORNELIA’S father.
MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH: the TROY GAME is constructed and controlled by two people, the MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH and the KINGMAN. The Mistress is an ancient office which derives from the Great Founding Labyrinth in Knossos in Crete. In previous lives Genvissa, reborn as Swanne (now JANE ORR), has been the Mistress of the Labyrinth.
MONTAGU, SIR EDWARD, EARL OF SANDWICH: General-at-sea, or Admiral, of the English fleet which sailed to bring home CHARLES II to England.
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