The ceremony in the abbey went well enough, apart from a peculiar episode when Aldred
lowered the crown on to William‘s head.
―I find this most amusing,‖ Aldred whispered. ―Crowning you, most witless of fools, as
King of England. Enjoy it while you can, William, for when I return—Caela and Swanne
chained to my hand—I will take the Game and bury you. The bands shall be mine, the Mistress
is mine, and you shall be irrelevant. Are irrelevant.‖
The eyes of the entire abbey were on the king, sitting on his throne, and Aldred, standing
with his hands on the crown as it rested on William‘s head. Aldred had murmured something, but
most believed it to be a blessing.
They were astounded when William reached up his hands and seized Aldred‘s wrists.
―She promised to Silvius, fool, not to you.‖
Aldred gave a small laugh. ―Her verbal promise meant nothing. It was a ruse to upset you
only. Don‘t you know how I shall control her? It is what I planted in her womb, as what I planted
in Swanne‘s womb, that binds her to me. She may not be a willing tool, but she will be a tool.‖
Aldred stepped back, wrenching his wrists from William‘s grasp.
―All hail the King of England,‖ Aldred intoned. ―Mighty among men.‖
And then he turned his back and walked slowly away down the centre of the nave
between the ranks of Normans who cheered both their new king and their new realm.
Only their king, sitting on his throne, knew how empty his kingdom truly was.
The stone hall stood empty.
Empty, that is, except for the black imp that sat in the shadowy recesses of one aisle,
playing with a red woollen ball to while away the time.
Waiting.
It grinned suddenly, and its teeth were white and sharp.
Waiting.
Its jaws snapped closed, then chewed as if they had bitten off something delectable.
The black imp sat.
Waiting.
GLOSSARY
ALAN: Second son of HAROLD and SWANNE.
ALDITHA: widow of a Welsh lord, sister to EDWIN and MORCAR, wife to HAROLD.
ALDRED: Archbishop of York.
ALEXANDER II: Pope of the Roman Catholic Church, 1061–1073.
ANSGAR: a member of the WITAN.
ARIADNE: Mistress of the Labyrinth of Crete, sister to ASTERION, foremother of
SWANNE.
ASTERION: the Minotaur.
BEORN: eldest son of HAROLD and SWANNE.
BOLLASON, ÖRN: one of HARDRADA‘S men.
BOWERTHEGN: the senior chamberlain of the bower, or bedchamber.
BRUTUS: Kingman and leader of the Trojans. Instigator, with GENVISSA, of the Troy
Game on the banks of the THAMES. Now reborn as WILLIAM, Duke of Normandy.
CAELA (EADYTH): wife of EDWARD THE CONFESSOR, sister to HAROLD.
CHENESITUN: a small village to the west of Westminster. Now known by its modern
form of Kensington.
CLOPEHAM: a small village some six miles south-west of the City of London. Now
known as Clapham.
CNUT: a Dane, and former King of England; he was also EDWARD‘S stepfather and his
hatred of his stepson was the primary reason that EDWARD spent so much of his earlier life in
exile.
COERL: a free landholder.
DAMSON: the middle-aged widow of a stonemason, living in Westminster.
EADWINE: Abbot of Westminster Abbey.
ECUB: Prioress of ST MARGARET THE MARTYR, a priory established in a convent
close to Pen Hill north of London.
EDWARD: King of England, known as the Confessor for his piety. Husband to CAELA.
EDWIN: a northern Saxon earl and brother to ALDITHA and MORCAR.
GENVISSA: former MagaLlan, Mistress of the Labyrinth, instigator, with BRUTUS, of
the Troy Game in England. Now reborn as SWANNE.
GERBERGA: a midwife.
GLAMOUR: an enchantment which swaps souls from one body to another.
GODWINE: Earl of Wessex, father of HAROLD and CAELA.
HARDRADA, HAROLD: King of Norway.
HAROLD: Earl of Wessex at the death of his father, GODWINE; brother to CAELA and
TOSTIG, husband to 1) SWANNE and 2) ALDITHA.
HAWISE: attending lady to SWANNE.
JUDITH: a noblewoman attending Queen CAELA.
KINGSHIP BANDS: the six golden limb bands of Troy‘s Kingman. Possession of them
enables the Kingman to control the Troy Game.
LONDON: an ancient city in England. Formerly known as Troia Nova. Established in the
late Bronze Age by BRUTUS.
LONG TOM: one of the more talkative among the SIDLESAGHES.
MARTEL, GUY: an envoy of WILLIAM of Normandy.
MATILDA: daughter of the Duke of Flanders and wife to WILLIAM, Duke of
Normandy.
MORCAR: a northern earl, brother to ALDITHA and EDWIN.
OLAFSON, HALLDORR: one of HARDRADA‘S men.
POITERAN: a Bronze Age kingdom in the west of France.
RANULD: Duke WILLIAM‘S huntsman.
REGENBALD: a member of the WITAN and EDWARD‘S Chancellor.
ROUSSEL, ALAIN: Master of the Horse to WILLIAM of Normandy.
SAEWEALD: a physician.
SIDLESAGHE: a name meaning ―sad songster‖. A member of the ancient race of
Britain.
SILVIUS: father of BRUTUS.
SOUTHWARK: a small community on the southern bank of the THAMES near
LONDON. It is largely grouped about the southern approaches to London Bridge.
SPEARHAFOC: Bishop of London.
ST MARGARET THE MARTYR‘s: a priory at the base of Pen Hill. It is run by Prioress
ECUB.
STIGAND: the Archbishop of Canterbury.
SWANNE: Danelaw wife of Earl HAROLD of Wessex.
THAMES, RIVER: the major waterway which runs through LONDON. In ancient
Britain it was named the Llan River.
THEGN: a Saxon noble.
THESEUS: son and heir of the Athenian king, he was sent as tribute and sacrifice to
CRETE where he was to be fed to the Minotaur ASTERION. But Theseus, aided by his lover
ARIADNE, managed to defeat the Minotaur and escape from Crete. Later in life he was the first
lover of Helen, whose abduction precipitated the eventual destruction of TROY.
TOSTIG: Earl of Northumbria, brother to HAROLD and CAELA.
TROY: the fabulous city of Troy sat on the western shores of Anatolia (modern-day
Turkey). Paris, son of the Trojan king, Priam, stole away Helen from her husband, Menelaus,
King of Sparta, precipitating the Trojan war in which the city-states of Greece united against
Troy. Although it survived a long Greek siege, Troy was eventually destroyed due to a
combination of hubris, the betrayal of the gods, and Greek cunning. Those Trojans who survived
the destruction scattered about the lands of the Mediterranean, either as refugees or slaves.
VEILED HILLS, the: the six sacred hills of ancient Britain, known in the Bronze age as
Llangarlia. These sacred hills were clustered above the Llan River (THAMES RIVER) in the
area now known as London. The six hills are: Tot Hill (where now stands Westminster); the
Llandin, the most sacred of the hills (now called Parliament Hill); Pen Hill; Og‘s Hill (Ludgate
Hill); Mag‘s Hill (Cornhill); and the White Mount (Tower Hill). The hills are intersected by three
small rivers which flow into the mighty LLAN: the Magyl (now called the Fleet), the Ty (now
the Tyburn), and the Wal (now the Walbrook).
WILLIAM: Duke of Normandy, husband of MATILDA.
WITAN: council of Saxon earls and elders.
WULFSTAN: Bishop of Worcester and friend of HAROLD.
YVES: a priest in the employ of ALDRED, the Archbishop of York.
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