by Tony Hays
“In truth, Arthur, I do not think that the Druid introduced him to this. I think that the Druid happened on him killing Fercos’s daughter by accident. Once he knew Talorc’s secret, Wynn knew how to manipulate the boy. At some point, I think Talorc came to enjoy the act, came to feel that it gave him power in some way.”
“And the splinter from the Druid’s staff in the girl?” Arthur asked.
“I think Wynn stayed about after Talorc had killed her, and he could not resist the temptation to extract his own revenge. He simply did not realize that we would involve ourselves.”
“Some people are broken,” Ygerne added. “Once, in my village, a powerful man, a decurion, was caught removing a dead maiden from her grave and trying to lie with her.”
Arthur nodded. “I have heard such tales.”
“Sometimes I fear for you, Malgwyn,” Guinevere teased. “You are a hard man. You dispatched Talorc without hesitation, and you delivered the Druid up to the Wicker Man for his feast.”
“With all due respect to the Rigotamos, the only justice we find in this life is that which we make for ourselves. Sometimes that justice needs be harsh and immediate. And I want only justice, only the truth.”
Arthur chuckled softly. “Then I suspect your life will be filled with disappointment.”
“Perhaps, but I can do nothing else.” I hesitated for a moment, long enough for Arthur to notice.
“A question?”
“A favor. On the journey back from Caer Goch, we encountered a family living in an old villa, a man named Rhodri. They are a good people, but struggling to survive.”
“You wish me to send for them and resettle them here near our home?”
“There is a small girl, Vala. She—”
Arthur stopped me. “Oh, the girl that Bedevere spoke of, who can predict death?”
“Who is to know if that is true? But you know that children of that nature are often treated harshly in hard times. The people blame them when crops fail, when the rain does not come. I would not have that happen to this family. They freely shared their food with us. And they sent word to me of that death.”
“I will have Bedevere fetch them as soon as his duties allow.”
We had almost reached Arthur’s hall when Ygerne, mostly silent until then, coughed.
“Malgwyn, we must speak.”
Arthur and Guinevere exchanged glances and started to leave us alone, but Ygerne stopped them with a hand. “No, better that you should hear this now.”
My stomach rolled around. It seemed I was about to hear why Ygerne had been so angry with me for so long. I was not certain that I was ready.
As was Ygerne’s nature, she did not hesitate. “Mariam is to have a new brother.”
That was not what I had expected her to say. So stunned was I that I did not speak except to blurt out, “What?”
Her eyes sparking and that red hair fair glowing in the torchlight, she squared on me and slapped me in the stomach. “I am carrying your child, you dolt! The fortune tellers say it shall be a boy. Have you nothing else to say?”
Truly I did not know what to say. Though I knew enough to pull her against my chest and hold on tight. But for the rest of my life, I would count that single moment, drowned by the congratulations of my Rigotamos, Arthur ap Uther, and my cousin Guinevere, as the happiest of my life.
This was a good land, our Britannia, and we were about to bring a new life into it.
GLOSSARY AND GAZETTEER
Aquae Sulis—This was the Roman name for what is now Bath, England. Excavations have shown that many of its buildings were refurbished and continued in use throughout the fifth and sixth centuries.
braccae—Breeches worn by both Saxons and the Brythonic tribes. The only extant examples come from peat bogs in Europe. There was a certain disdain by Romans toward the Gallic tribes for wearing pants.
Breton—A native or inhabitant of Brittany, or the Celtic language of the Breton people.
Brittany—That area of Gaul known as Brittany. Settlements by some of the Brythonic tribes were located there during the fifth and sixth centuries.
Caer Goch—An Iron Age hill fort in south Wales.
camisia—A type of undershirt worn beneath a tunic.
Carmarthen—The legendary birthplace of Merlin.
castellum—Castle, but not in the High Middle Ages sense with thick stone walls, towers, and damsels in distress. Usually a defensive position with stacked rock and timber defensive rings.
Castellum Arturius—For the purposes of this novel, Cadbury Castle at South Cadbury, Somerset, is the location for Arthur’s castle. Excavations during the 1960s identified it as having been significantly rebuilt and reinforced during the late fifth century by a warlord of Arthurian-like stature, although no explicit evidence linking the site to Arthur himself was discovered.
Castellum Mark—Castle Marcus near Fowey in southeast Cornwall is believed to have been the site of King Mark’s headquarters. Nearby was found the famous Tristan stone, a gravestone believed to commemorate the historical Tristan, making it the one contemporary piece of evidence for the historicity of a character in the Arthurian canon.
cervesa—The Latin name for the beer made by the local tribes during the Roman occupation. According to tablets unearthed at Vindolanda near Hadrian’s Wall, Roman soldiers were not shy about drinking cervesas.
consilium—A council. Gildas refers to a consilium ruling pre-Saxon Britannia that ended in Vortigern hiring Saxon mercenaries to help put down the raids of the Picts and Scots. It is safe to assume that any warlord that exerted influence over large areas in central and western England would have done so at the behest and the agreement of such a council of lesser kings.
Dumnonia (Dumnonii)—A tribe residing in the area of Cornwall and throughout the west lands. Mark is thought to have been a king of the Dumnonii during the general period of Arthur’s life. Christopher Snyder suggests in The Britons that people in the post-Roman period referred to themselves by tribal designations.
Durotrigia (Durotrigii)—A tribe residing in the area surrounding Glastonbury down through the South Cadbury area to the southern coast.
fibula—A brooch used to pin cloaks and other clothing together. Sometimes they were jeweled and quite ornate. Others were made in the shape of crossbows.
iudex pedaneus—A Roman official assigned to investigate crimes and offenses. It is known that such titles were still used in post-Roman Britannia.
latrunculi—A term applied to groups of bandits that ran rampant during the fifth century, not to be confused with a Roman board game of the same era.
levels—The remarkably flat terrain from the Polden Ridge and South Cadbury in the east and south and stretching to the Mendip Hills in the north and northeast, really only broken once and then by the cluster of hills that is modern-day Glastonbury.
Lindinis—A Roman town near what is now Ilchester, just west of South Cadbury.
Londinium—As would be expected, this is the Roman name for what is now London.
meneds—The meneds is the ancient name for the Mendip Hills of northwest Somerset.
mortaria—A type of bowl with knots or beads in the bottom to make it easier to grind vegetables to a pulp.
peplos—A type of gown worn by women, having a Roman cut.
philologus—A teacher.
Pomparles Bridge—Located between present-day Street and the edge of Glastonbury. Legend has it that it was from this point that Bedevere set Arthur’s funeral bier off for Avalon. Although the current bridge is not ancient by any means, fieldwork has shown that there may have been a Roman crossing in this vicinity.
presbyter—A Latin term applied to priests or other church officers. Remember that this was a time before parish priests.
sacerdote—A term used to describe priests, interchangeable with presbyter above. There may certainly have been differences between these two terms at the time, but such distinctions, without documentary evidence, are impossible for mod
ern readers to discern.
schoenus—A Roman mile.
tigernos—The Celtic word for “lord,” sometimes used to designate local lords, but believed by some scholars to have been combined with the word “vor” to produce the name “Vortigern,” or “overlord.”
vallum—A ditch, possibly holding a wooden palisade, used as both a defense and a boundary marker for monastical sites during the fifth century and onward.
Via Arturius—“Arthur’s Way.” A roadway or lane actually ran from Cadbury Castle to Glastonbury. It has become known as Arthur’s Way. Two major Roman roads near Cadbury Castle were the Via Fosse and the Via Harrow.
Via Caedes—“The Killing Way.” Obviously, this is a creation for the series, but skeletons were found along the main roadway entering Cadbury Castle. They were victims of an ancient massacre, probably at the hands of Romans and probably in reaction to the rebellions of Caractacus or Boudicca.
vigile—The Roman equivalent, in a sense, of both a policeman and a fireman. In Rome, they watched for fires as much as any crime.
Votadini (Votadinii)—A tribe residing in what is now northern England and into the lands of the Scots border as far as the Firth of Forth. One story of a chieftain named Cunneda (Kenneth) suggests that part of the Votadini migrated to northern Wales, but, according to Snyder, that possibility has been discounted.
White Mount—Said to be the location of the White Tower at the Tower of London.
Ynys-witrin—According to some sources, this was the early name for what is now Glastonbury. It is believed that a Christian community may have resided there during the Arthurian age.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
The idea that serial killers are a modern invention has always struck me as short-sighted and arrogant. The same basic factors that drive serial killers today have been around as long as humans have. Mothers and fathers mistreat their children, sometimes to the extreme. Those with twisted minds see killing as a way to gain power, to take control over something. The difference today is that communications have improved in such a way as to make these killings all the more visible. In the distant past, in post-Roman Britain, word of mouth was the only channel for dissemination.
Once again I have chosen to weave certain Arthurian traditions into the tale. A mythic king of the Britons, Bran became involved in a war with the king of Ireland in which only seven men from Bran’s side survived. Mortally wounded, Bran ordered that his head be severed after his death and buried on the White Mount (Tower Hill) to ward off invasion. And Arthur is said to have gone to the White Mount and exhumed the head because the people should not rely on such a talisman for protection.
Lord Aircol Lawhir was a real person, a king of the Demetae in the region of Wales known as Dyfed. We actually know more about his son, Vortipor, than we do him. Gildas, in the De Excidio, complains about Vortipor, and his memorial stone has survived. Aircol is also known by his Latinate name, Agricola, but having already used that name in The Divine Sacrifice, I chose not to confuse my readers. His daughter, Gwyneira, is sadly fictional, however. I would like to have met her. Melwas’s abduction of Guinevere is first mentioned in The Vita Gildas, approximately contemporary with Geoffrey of Monmouth’s work. Melwas is mentioned as lord in the “Summer Country,” usually thought to mean Somerset. He is mentioned again in an anonymous poem called “The Dialogue of Melwas and Gwenhyfer.” Oddly, Arthur does not figure in the poem much, but Kay does. When Chrétien de Troyes added to the literature later, Melwas becomes Melagaunt, from which twentieth-century filmmakers extracted First Knight. Poor Guinevere, as Geoffrey Ashe says, seems to have been abduction prone, it happens to her so often. But the legend of Arthur removing Bran the Blessed’s head from the White Mount stems from the Welsh Triads.
One of the stories surrounding the alleged exhumation of Arthur and Guinevere at Glastonbury in 1190 is that the famous lead cross that accompanied the burial referred to Guinevere as Arthur’s “second wife.” But if Arthur was married twice, who was his first wife? So there you have the central elements around which I concocted this tale, and it is a tale, a novel of murder, a piece of fiction.
The reader will note that a new character has appeared at Arthur’s court, one Morgan ap Tud, a physician. He originates in the Mabinogion and is thought by some to have been the model for Arthur’s sister, Morgan le Fay.
Anyone familiar with the Arthurian legends and Arthurian fact will see that I use scholar Geoffrey Ashe’s theories frequently. I have also profited from Dr. Christopher Snyder’s work on the history of post-Roman Britain and Christopher Gidlow’s The Reign of King Arthur.
As usual, I’ve relied on a plethora of archaeological studies, particularly of Cadbury Castle in South Cadbury, England, and Glastonbury and the surrounding area. For those interested in Cadbury Castle, my website, www.tonyhays.com, has a number of new photographs of the hill fort as it now stands.
I find myself amused by these scholars who insist that Arthur was some sort of Celtic god made mortal over the millennia. They accuse those who believe in a historical Arthur of making an a priori assumption that he was real, when they themselves are making an a priori assumption that he was not. The various twists and turns they make to prove their theories remind me of Ockham’s razor. When all is said and done, the simplest explanation is almost always the correct one.
Any mistakes I’ve made, and I’m sure there are some, are mine and mine alone. For those, you have my apologies.
FORGE BOOKS BY TONY HAYS
The Killing Way
The Divine Sacrifice
The Beloved Dead
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
THE BELOVED DEAD
Copyright © 2011 by Tony Hays
All rights reserved.
A Forge® eBook
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
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Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hays, Tony.
The beloved dead / Tony Hays.—1st hardcover ed.
p. cm.
“A Tom Doherty Associates book”—T.p. verso.
ISBN 978-0-7653-2628-7 (alk. paper)
1. Arthur, King—Fiction. 2. Britons—Fiction. 3. Murder—Investigation—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3558.A877B45 2010
813'.54—dc22
2010036259
First Edition: April 2011
eISBN 978-1-4299-5397-9
First Forge eBook Edition: March 2011