Boudica’s hounds. At this season the Morrigan rides, but I do not wel-
come Her. Since our community was established at Vernemeton the
Goddess has spoken through me many times, but never again have I
opened my soul to the Lady of Ravens.
And yet She spoke truly. After Boudica died, I sent to bring Cail-
lean from Eriu. We lived for a time in a stone tower on the northern
coast, but even in that lonely place I heard rumors of the terror that fol-
lowed the battle at Manduessedum. Governor Paulinus sought to restore
his lost honor with fire and sword, and by the next summer scarcely a
farmstead was left standing in the Iceni lands. But the procurator who
replaced Decianus Catus understood that Roman crimes had driven the
people to desperation, and he stopped the governor before he destroyed
Britannia. And gradually, peace began to return.
Even now, much of Boudica’s kingdom lies desolate. But Argantilla
and Caw went back eventually and built a house near where Danatobri-
gos once stood, where they scratch a living from the soil. The Romans
have rebuilt their ravaged cities. Camulodunum and Londinium and
Verulamium are bigger than ever, and as Caractac feared, the children
of our chieftains are learning Latin and becoming citizens.
The following spring, the priestesses left pregnant by Roman rape
bore their bastards. Some of the girl-children were drowned, but the
boys were claimed by the Society of Ravens. Coventa gave birth to a
son as she had dreamed, and died in the bearing. Bendeigid has raised
him as his own.
In the years after the attack on Mona, Ardanos traveled Britannia
ceaselessly, visiting those of our Order who survived, and in time reveal-
ing himself to a few of the more liberal Romans and becoming their
ally. I wonder if they have ever realized what a rebel he was when he
392
D i ana L . Pax s on
was young. The Goddess knows he is a model for what the priest of a
conquered people should be today.
I suppose his submission has been justified. Four years after the
burning of Lys Deru, he got permission to establish a community at
Vernemeton, where our priestesses might live secluded from the world.
The Romans seem to have quite forgotten the dark-robed furies who
terrifi ed them on the shore of Mona, and think us kin to their Vestals.
The priests chose as Ardanos bade them, and made me High Priest-
ess as Lady Mearan once foretold. Some days I myself find it hard to
remember exactly how it came about. But I suppose the Goddess ap-
proves, for I have grown old in office. Caillean has become as fi ne a
priestess as any we ever had on Mona, though I do not think the Coun-
cil of Druids will accept her as my successor. She thinks for herself, and
that is never popu lar with men.
I have never gone back to Avalon, and now I do not have the
strength for the journey even if I should wish to go. Though Caillean
loves me too well to admit it, I think that soon I will find the way to
follow Boudica. I trust she has forgiven me for trying to hold her, as
I have forgiven her for leaving me. I have done what I could to preserve
the faith of our people, though there were times when I myself had
none. Our ways will not be lost.
The procession that escorts the White Mare is coming, but louder
than their voices is the song of the wind. That wind carried Boudica’s
ashes throughout Britannia. Our people do not speak her name where
Romans can hear, but she is remembered.
Rome will not give our women even so much freedom as our men
are allowed. But once, a woman stood against the might of Rome, and
for one shining, terrible summer, had the victory.
A F T E RW O RD
W hen Marion Zimmer Bradley’s health began to fail during the
writing of The Forest House, she asked me to help her finish the book.
Marion’s invention of the Society of Ravens, a secret society of the sons
of the Druid priestesses raped by Roman soldiers during the attack on
the Isle of Mona, placed the novel firmly at the end of the fi rst century.
But the backstory of The Forest House offered even more enticing possi-
bilities, including the Roman conquest of Britannia and the rebellion
led by Queen Boudica, and Marion and I promised each other to tackle
that story one day.
In this book, I have had the opportunity to do so at last. In the pro-
cess, I struggled with a number of problems that the writer of fantasy is
usually free to ignore. No matter how bravely Boudica fought, or how
powerfully the Druids worked their magic, history tells us that they
failed, as other brave and good people have failed throughout the centu-
ries, or worse still, in the pro cess of resisting commited the same kinds
of crimes as their enemies.
Why do the gods allow such injustice? Can destiny overwhelm both
virtue and free will? I do not pretend to have solved problems with
which humans have struggled throughout history. I can only hope that
the book will cause you, as it did me, to spend some time thinking
about the questions.
The events in the novel are based on historical and archaeological
evidence, where known. The Claudian invasion of Britain took place in
43 CE. Boudica’s rebellion and the Roman attack on the Druids oc-
cured simultaneously sometime in 60 CE. For photos of some of the
sites, a timeline, and further background information on how I worked
it all out, and information on the other Avalon novels, see my Web
site—www.avalonbooks.net.
We are currently experiencing a revival of interest in Boudica.
394
A f te rword
Recent biographies include those by M. J. Trow, Graham Webster, and
Vanessa Collingridge. For a different view of the Roman conquest,
try The Heirs of King Verica, by Martin Henig. In researching the book
I also made use of the many Web sites devoted to British antiquities
on the Internet. In particu lar, for the site and sequence of Caratac’s last
battle, I drew on the work of Graham J. Morris: www.battlef ield
anomalies.com/caradoc/index.htm.
I am grateful to the staff at the Sedgeford Historical and Archaeo-
logical Research Project (SHARP), especially Dr. Neil Faulkner, for
taking the time from their work to talk to me when I visited the sites
I call the “Horse Shrine” and “Danatobrigos.” For information on fi nds
in the area see the BBC production Boudica’s Treasure, the book The
Sedgeford Hoard, by Dennis Megan and Neil Faulkner, and the SHARP
Web site: www.sharp.org.uk. The details of Prasutagos’s building proj-
ects are based on East Anglian Archaeology Publications Reports EAA
30 and 53, describing excavations in Norfolk. Any mistakes in interpre-
tation are my own.
If you should wish to visit the (most probable) site of Boudica’s last
battle, just outside of Mancetter, I recommend the Old House B&B
(www.theoldhousebandb.co.uk/). The battlefield is on the other side of
the A-5 from the B&B.
—Samhain 2006
Document Outline
/>
Cover Page
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication Page
Names in the Story
Prologue: Lhiannon Speak
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
Chapter Twenty-Two
Chapter Twenty-Three
Chapter Twenty-Four
Chapter Twenty-Five
Chapter Twenty-Six
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Chapter Thirty
Epilogue: Lhiannon Speaks
Ravens of Avalon: Avalon Page 53
