Marion Zimmer Bradley
The
Forest House
Marion Zimmer Bradley
The
Forest House
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
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 nineteenth 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
Flavius Macro & Longus } two legionaries who try to raid the Forest House
* (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, 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 AD6i)
* (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
Eilidh & Miellyn} Eilan’s friends
Tanais & Rhian} entered Vernemeton after Eilan became High Priestess
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