by Beth Webb
‘You think our baby girl needs her Mam? So do I. Go back to her and we’ll be watching over you both, I swear. And what seems to be long years to you, are nothing to us in Tir na nÓg. We’ll all be together again one day.’
‘What do you think Griff?’
Griff nodded cheerfully. ‘Loves yer Tegen. Miss yous, but I’ll allus be waitin’ for yous. ‘Ere, this is for little baba. From uncle Griff.’ He pressed a roughly carved little doll in Tegen’s hand. ‘Give her a kiss from me, will yus?’
Tegen took the toy and put it into her pouch. ‘I will.’ She reached out and hugged her beloved Tonn and Griff until her back and neck almost cracked. Kisses, tears and love twisted them together in an unbreakable knot.
‘Almost home,’ Tonn said at last, easing himself out of Tegen’s grasp.
The boat glided down a narrow stone gully with morning light ahead. The smell of young grass and blossom filled Tegen’s lungs. She heard birdsong, goats bleating and children laughing. ‘But – but it’s spring …’ she looked around, bemused. ‘It was Imbolg when I went into the caves.’
‘A little time has passed in your world, but all is well. Indeed, because of you, all manner of things shall be well.’
The boat grounded. Tonn stepped out and held it steady. ‘You’ll have to wade from here, beloved. It isn’t far.’ He held her and kissed her one last time.
As they stood, the sunlight shifted and fell on his dear face, and he faded.
‘No!’ Tegen gasped. ‘You can’t leave me – not again.’
She ran into the tunnel once more. In the gloom, she glimpsed Griff waving to her from the back of the little boat. ‘Bye byes Tegen. Will you makes me some honey cakes? I miss ‘em big missin.’
Tegen stood unsteadily, then pulled herself together. ‘Look under a yew tree at Samhain, Griff. I’ll make you a whole plateful, every year, I promise.’
Turning her back on the darkness, she splashed through the stream as it trickled out of a wide crack in a grassy hillside.
Nodding over the sunlit entrance was a rowan tree in full blossom. Next to it a musty hawthorn spread its frothy cream.
Tegen turned the ring on her finger and touched the spreading flowers. Bowing her head, she said, ‘Thank you Lady, for everything – and I’m sorry I doubted you.’
Then pulling off her sodden boots, she ran uphill and through the busy streets of Tara to the Ráth of Grainne where she had once lived. Leaning breathlessly on the roundhouse doorpost, she called out, ‘Gilda! Gilda, I’m home!’
A tiny child with a mop of dark curls crawled merrily across the floor and looked up at Tegen with big green eyes. ‘Ma-ma-Mam!’ she cooed.
Tegen scooped up her baby and kissed her cheek. ‘Your Mam’s come home now – for always.’
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Who’s Who in Tegen’s World
Druids
Bronnen and Dallel – Senior druids at Sinodun. They help Tegen in her quest and teach her to Fire Walk in Tir na nÓg.
Enid – Gronw’s apprentice. At first she is Tegen’s friend, but when she has to undergo a gruelling winter ritual, she learns to hate.
Gorgans – An albino who longs to be a warrior but can’t bear sunlight. Addicted to power, he becomes a druid. He wants to be the Star Dancer, and sets out to destroy Tegen with Derowen’s help.
Gronw – the Chief Druid of the people of Bera. He is very wise and he mentors Tegen by teaching her to question everything.
Huval – A kindly druid who takes over Tegen’s mentoring when Witton dies.
Moryn – The self-appointed leader of the druids after the slaughter on Mona. He sends Tegen to become Boudica’s Battle druid.
Owein – An ovate (second stage druid), a little older than Tegen. He is secretly the son of Cara (Caractacus) the British warlord who almost defeated the Romans. He was raised in Rome by his uncle Admidios, to become a puppet king acceptable to both sides. An accident left him disabled, excluding him from kingship by British law. He is a natural diplomat who can see that if the Romans can’t be got rid of, then a humane co-existence must be worked out. He is engaged to Sabrina, then believing she is dead, to Claudia Metella, both times to create political alliances.
Tegen – A British girl born during a meteorite shower that seemed to come from Cassiopeia in about 43AD, just as the Romans were invading. These ‘Dancing Stars’ are seen as a sign that a great druid has been born who can save the British people.
Witton – The elderly chief druid of the Winter Seas, (the Somerset Levels). He recognises Tegen’s powers and begins to mentor her.
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Witches, Shadow Walkers and ‘Wise Ones’ Not trained as druids, but with magical abilities – for good or evil.
Admidios: A minor British king who sided with the Romans very early on. He betrayed his brother Cara, and stole baby Owein as a ‘gift’ for the Emperor Caligula, hoping to buy favour. When Caligula died, Admidios was ignored by his successor, Claudius. Admidios’s lust for power turned him into a ‘Shadow Walker,’ a black magician in league with the demon. Derowen the Raven is his familiar.
Aodh – A spell-caster, a worker of dark magic. The brother of Addedomaros.
Derowen: A failed druid, who resorts to black magic to control and destroy. She raises the cave demon, and is killed by it, but even after her death, she still hunts Tegen. In Fire Dreamer, she takes the form of a raven.
Gilda: She gave up her druid training for love, but was cheated by Derowen. She is a ‘wise woman’, a white witch who uses herbalism and kindly magic. She was Tegen’s midwife and always believed in her. Derowen tricked Tegen into killing Gilda. Tegen names her child after her.
Griff: He is a ‘Gifted One’, who has psychic power and wise insights. He is Derowen’s secret son whom she abandoned because he had Downs Syndrome. A foundling, he became Tegen’s foster brother, and for political reasons, Griff and Tegen are handfasted. They care deeply for each other, and Tegen is devastated when Griff dies in the floods caused by the cave demon.
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Spiritual beings
The Demon:
A creature from the Otherworld, the essence of evil and chaos, serving only itself. When Derowen’s spells in the funeral caves open the way between the worlds, the demon seizes the chance to wreck havoc. He seeks to possess Tegen and use her magical powers to rule humanity.
Gods and Goddesses: note: The ancient Celts did not have a set pantheon of deities, they varied locally.
Andraste: A war goddess worshipped by Boudica
Bera: Another aspect of the Watching Woman, the goddess of cereals and growth, the mother of Goban and Brigid.
Brigid: Another form of the Watching Woman, and Goban’s sister, with special care for blacksmiths, poets and midwives.
Bran the Blessed – A mythical Lord of the Britons who made the Cauldron of Re-birth and gave his life to rescue his people and his sister. His head was buried on the White Hill of Lundein (where the Tower of London now stands) to protect the Land for ever and to give wisdom to all who sought it.
Goban – A smith god who gives Tegen an iron ring of protection. He becomes the Samhain sacrifice to bring fruitfulness to the land for the following year. His belief in re-birth is absolute, and his loving determination to ensure that life goes on, moves Tegen deeply.
Old Ones / Hill People – Small nomadic people with earth magic. See Y Tylwyth Teg.
The Lady – Another name for Tegen’s goddess (See Watching Woman).
Sul: the goddess of Bath’s Hot springs. (Sul’s Land)
Skatha – her name means darkness or shadow, an underworld goddess of war.
The Watching Woman – Tegen worships a benevolent earth goddess with many aspects and incarnations. Her star sign we now call Cassiopeia, Tegen calls it the Watching Woman because it can be seen all year.
Taranis – A Celtic god of thunder and storms.
Y Tylwyth Teg – Traditionally Welsh fairy folk, used here as the Welsh names for the Old Ones.
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Kings, Queens and Commoners
(R) = Real people
Addedomaros – King of the Trinovantes (Colchester and Suffolk)
Boudica – (R) The wife of Prasutagus (R), King of the pro-Roman Iceni tribe. When Prasutagus died in circa AD 59 or 60, he bequeathed half his kingdom to the Emperor Nero, and the other half to his daughters. Nero commanded that the whole kingdom be seized, Boudica flogged and the daughters raped (possibly by slaves). Enraged by the insult, Boudica led the Iceni people, along with their neighbours the Trinovantes, in rebellion. As Suetonius Paulinus was away, subduing the people of Mona (Anglesey) there was almost no opposition.
Daig – A chieftain of the Trinovantes
King Eiser – King of the Catuvellauni. He is spearheading the campaign to destroy the Romans, so Admidios and Derowen murder him with black magic. This murder brings Tegen into a new level of magic and precipitates the events of Wave Hunter.
Kieran – A son of a salt-trader and a Silure warrior. Brought up by his abusive aunt and a weak mother, he is resentful, wary and bitter. He becomes Admidios’ slave in lieu of unpaid taxes. Tegen befriends him and he helps her defeat the Shadow Walker. He receives the gift of poetry when he spends the night on Cadair Idris, becomes a bard and a Silure Warrior like his father.
Oriana and Megan – Imagined names for Boudica’s daughters, raped by Roman soldiers or slaves as punishment for inheriting half of their father’s kingdom.
Princess (Later Queen) Sabrina – The only surviving child of Eiser, King of the Dobunni tribe. A warrior at heart, Sabrina had no wish to be queen. Impulsive and passionately anti-Roman, she leads her people into a Roman trap and is sold as a gladiatrix (female gladiator). She and Owein were betrothed as a political match, but neither wanted it. Eventually she is freed and she joins Boudica’s rebellion.
Venutius – (R) King of the Brigantes tribe (roughly Yorkshire). Venutius was initially pro-Roman but his wife, Cartimandua betrayed the rebel king Caractacus to Rome. Later Venutius and Cartimandua divorced and it is possible he joined Boudica in her revolt.
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Romans
Claudia Prima Metella – only surviving child of Julius Claudius Metellus and a Gaulish slave woman. Widowed when her husband died at the battle of Mona, now betrothed to Owein (Sextus) ap Caractacus, a political marriage.
Gaius Suetonius Paulinus: – (R) A Roman general who became Governor of Britain in AD 59, quickly gaining a reputation for unnecessary cruelty and savagery, especially in Wales. In Fire Dreamer, Tegen tricked him and burned him with magical flames, exacerbating his hatred of the British, and of druids in particular. The real Suetonius ordered the massacre of the druids on Mona (Anglesey) in AD 60, and led the campaign against Boudica in AD 61. Afterwards, he was the subject of an enquiry for his unnecessary cruelty and recalled to Rome to be replaced by the more moderate Publius Petronius Turpilianus. After a not very glorious career, Suetonius was accused of treachery and faded into obscurity.
Julius Claudius Metellus – A Roman general, father of Claudia Prima Metella
Poenius Postumus – (R) The Roman chief of staff in Isca Dumnoniorum (Exeter) who refused to come to help Suetonius when ordered to do so. Afterwards he fell on his sword for shame: his men did not share in the loot and the glory and he had disobeyed a direct command.
Ula – Claudia’s Gaulish slave
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Historical and made-up names used for real places
Maps of Tegen’s journeys are available on www.bethwebb.co.uk
Bagendun – Bagendon
Bara’s stronghold – Barbury Castle, on the Ridgeway
Boudica’s marsh stronghold – Stonea Camp, Fens
Boudica’s palace – Thetford, Norfolk
Boudica’s mustering space – Gallows Hill, Fison’s Way, Thetford
Boudica’s final battle – somewhere along Watling Street (now the A5), probably Mancetter (Warwickshire) or High Cross, Leicestershire
Brigid’s smithy – the village of Tywyn, Gwynedd
Cadair Idris – part of the Snowdonia range in north Wales
Camulodunum – Colchester
Corinium – Cirencester
Diva – Chester
Dorcic – Dorchester on Thames
Ériu – Ireland
Funeral caves – Wookey Hole in Somerset
Hill of Gold, Silver and Tin – Alderly Edge
Hill of the King – Silbury Hill
House of Bera – Castell y Bere in Gwynedd
Isca Dumnoniorum – Roman Exeter
Lindum / Colonia Lindensium - Lincoln
Lundein – the White Hill, now the Tower of London
Londinium – built north of the river Thames between Ludgate and Aldgate.
Mona/Ynys Môn – Anglesey, Wales
Rearing River – the River Severn at Frampton on Severn
Sinodun – Wittenham Clumps
Stone Forest – Avebury stone circle
Sul’s Land – Bath
Tal y Llyn – a lake at the top of Cadair Idris Tara – Tara in Meath, Ireland
Tamesis – the Thames (Tegen and Owein join it at Streatley)
Tara – The Hill of Tara, Ireland, once the seat of the High Kings
Tegen’s Home Village – near modern day Wookey Village, Somerset
The ruined stronghold (Fire Dreamer) – Liddington Castle, on the Ridgeway
The first Wight-Barrow (Fire Dreamer) – West Kennet Long Barrow
The second Wight-Barrow (Fire Dreamer) – Wayland’s Smithy, Uffington Castle
Tor – Glastonbury village and Tor.
White Horse – the White Horse of Uffington on the Ridgeway
Winter Seas – the Somerset Levels
Verulamium – St Albans
Y Fenni – Abergavenny
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Ancient names for seasons and festivals
Pronunciation varies, guides can be found on the internet.
Imbolg – Feb 2nd. Now St Brigid’s day, previously the first day of spring, a festival of the goddess Brigid, and Tegen’s birthday.
Beltane – Early May (usually the 1st). A fire festival to celebrate the coming fertility of the summer. Marriages are often contracted and blossom of the hawthorn or May tree is highly prized.
Lughnasadh – Early August, the beginning of harvest, and dedicated to the god Lugh (strength and sunlight).
Samhain – Oct 31st – Nov 1st. We now call this Hallowe’en / All Saint’s Day. It marks the last of the harvest, and is the festival of death, when the spirits of the departed visit the world to make sure they are remembered. Cakes and drinks are left out for the ancestors. It’s also the end of the ancient year and diseased and unwanted things are burned to start the New Year clean and fresh – we now have ‘bonfires’!
Equinoxes – When the days and nights are of equal length (March 21st and September 21st)
Solstices – Midsummer and midwinter’s day (Dec 21st and June 21st)
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Glossary of Unusual terms
Clamp – A heap of wood covered with turf and slowly burned to make charcoal.
Glamour – A spell that conceals the true nature of something.
Gladius – A Roman short stabbing sword (plural Gladii)
Land – When land is spelled with a capital L, it describes the ancient belief that the ground itself is body of the Goddess and is therefore sacred.
Oppidum (pl Oppida) – a large defended settlement.
Pugio – Roman dagger
Withy / withies: long flexible young sticks, usually willow, used for basket making, thatching and wattle and daub walls.
Wight-barrow – a long barrow (Bronze Age funeral mound). Tegen believes that sleeping in them means the ancestors give her dreams.
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Beth Webb lives in Somerset, England, not far from the Mendip hills and levels (Winter Seas) of Tegen’s home.
The Star Dancer stories are a carefully researched mixture of history and myth, richly spiced w
ith
magical imagination.
The druids were (and are) real, and the Roman Invasion of CE 43 as described in Fire Dreamer, Wave Hunter and Stone Keeper, was all too real as well.
For more information about Beth and her other books
www.bethwebb.co.uk
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