On the morning when Dinas was preparing to leave, Cadogan inquired, “Have you thought about going to the high mountains to be with your friends?”
His cousin responded with a negative shake of his head. “Other men’s lives,” he said dismissively.
“What about your own life?”
“I intend to live it. Hand me that lead rope, will you? I’ll ride the bay today and lead the mare. The yearling colt will follow her.”
“When will we see you again, Dinas?”
He gave a careless shrug. “I can’t answer that, Quartilla. Maybe next month, maybe never. I’m looking for something, and I’ll have to keep going until I find it.”
“What is it?”
“I don’t know that either,” Dinas replied. Gazing past her to the meadow, the trees. The far distance.
Cadogan and Quartilla stood together outside their door and watched him ride away.
* * *
I left them there in their little fort, with their future planned and as predictable as a future can be. Hard work and a modicum of security; children perhaps. Cadogan would make a good father. As for Quartilla … who knows what depths are in that woman? She will continue to surprise and infuriate him to the end of their days.
Summer fading into autumn and the harvest. And then winter. For them, for me, for all of us.
I am happy for them, though I do not want what they have. It is my fate to seek an elusive prize without a name, perhaps even without substance. Yet I know it exists. The irresistible pull it exerts on my spirit is proof of that. I have sought it in the wrong way and learned a terrible lesson, but someday I will find it. I have faith.
Faith. “Fides” in the Latin language. What a slippery word that is! It translates as trust, confidence, belief. The belief of simple people who do not know the larger truth of existence; people who do not realize the great pattern underlying everything because they have not seen it in action.
I have seen it in action. Yet I too have faith.
While my search continues the dark yearling is growing up. His training goes well, he is becoming a fine stallion like his sire. If I am not happy at least I am content, which is perhaps the greater gift. My life is full. I ride across the land and sleep beneath the stars—or under my cloak if it’s raining.
It rains so often in Albion.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
In the decades following the departure of the legions a new, indigenous form of architecture developed. Rectilinear thatched houses took the place of the round huts of Celtic Britain, as well as the later constructions patterned on the Roman style. Archaeologists recently discovered a massive timber hall, of unmistakably British design, built on the fire-ravaged site of Viroconium—now Wroxeter. Similar finds are being unearthed elsewhere. In time whole towns were built free of Roman influence. Intelligent minds were at work.
The so-called Dark Ages were primitive rather than dark. Literacy was not totally lost in Britain. Some descendants of the educated elite and a few monastic scholars retained the ability to read and write. But the pervasive influence of the Saxons, and to a lesser extent the other tribes who invaded the island during the fourth and fifth centuries, meant that Britain would no longer be Celtic.
Most modern historians accept the historical reality of Vortigern and the two Jutish mercenaries, Hengist and Horsa, though their actual dates vary widely depending on the sources consulted. There are no reliable eyewitness accounts from Britain during the years covered by this novel. The earliest information on the post-Roman period relies on the work of two monks: Gildas (De Excidio et Conquestu Britanniae), a Briton who died c. 570, and Bede (Historia Ecclesiastica), an Anglo-Saxon theologian who died in 735.
Both men were born long after the events related here, and wrote in the seclusion of monasteries. Their works bear testament to their religious convictions if not their historical acumen. They reputedly took their information from earlier letters and manuscripts that have since disappeared. The authors of those documents are unknown and their authenticity unproven. All we can know for certain is that the Romans invaded and conquered—then left.
In the long run, the fall of one civilization is very much like the fall of another.
Only the land remains.
GLOSSARY OF NAMES
Ancient and Modern
Albion—England
Caledonia—Scotland
Cymri—the Welsh
Cymru—Wales
Deva Victrix—Chester
Durovernum—Canterbury
Eire; Hibernia—Ireland
Erse—the Irish
Eryri—Snowdonia
Fretum Gallicum—The Strait of Dover
Glevum—Gloucester
Isca Dumnoniorum—Exeter
Londinium—London
Mamucium—Manchester
Oceanus Britannicus—The English Channel
Oceanus Germanicus—The North Sea
Oceanus Hibernicus—The Irish Sea
Ratae Coritanorum—Leicester
Vallum Aelium—Hadrian’s Wall
Viroconium Cornoviarum—Wroxeter
Venta Belgarum—Winchester
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Bowen, E. G. Britain and the Western Seaways. London: Thames & Hudson, 1972.
Campbell, James. The Anglo-Saxons. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1982.
Cottrell, Leonard. A Guide to Roman Britain. New York: Dimension Books, 1966.
Cunliffe, Barry. Rome and the Barbarians. New York: Henry Walck, 1971.
Gildas. On the Ruin of Britain (De Excidio Britanniae). London: Dodo Press, n.d.
Johnson, Stephen. Later Roman Britain. New York: Scribner, 1980.
Laing, Lloyd. Celtic Britain. New York: Scribner, 1979.
Owen, Gale R. Rites and Religions of the Anglo-Saxons. Totowa, NJ: Barnes & Noble, 1981.
Randers-Pehrson, Justine Davis. Barbarians and Romans. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1983.
Scullard, H. H. Roman Britain: Outpost of the Empire. London: Thames & Hudson, 1971.
Stenton, Frank. Anglo-Saxon England. London: Oxford University Press, 1971.
Tacitus. The Annals of Imperial Rome. London: Penguin Classics, 1977.
______. The Histories. London: Penguin Classics, 1972.
Thwaite, Anthony. Beyond the Inhabited World. London: Andre Deutsch, 1976.
BY MORGAN LLYWELYN FROM TOM DOHERTY ASSOCIATES
Bard
Brendán
Brian Boru
The Elementals
Etruscans (with Michael Scott)
Finn Mac Cool
Grania
The Horse Goddess
The Last Prince of Ireland
Lion of Ireland
Pride of Lions
Strongbow
THE NOVELS OF THE IRISH CENTURY
1916: A Novel of the Irish Rebellion
1921: A Novel of the Irish Civil War
1949: A Novel of the Irish Free State
1972: A Novel of Ireland’s Unfinished Revolution
1999: A Novel of the Celtic Tiger and the Search for Peace
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.
AFTER ROME
Copyright © 2013 by Morgan Llywelyn
All rights reserved.
Cover art by Gregory Manchess
Map by Jon Lansberg
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
www.tor-forge.com
Forge® is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
The Library of Congress has cataloged the print edition as follows:
Llywelyn, Morgan.
After Rome / Morgan Llywelyn.—1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-0-7653-3123-6 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-1-4299-8740-0 (e-book)
1. Wroxeter (England)—History—Fiction. 2. Great Britain—History—To 1066—Fiction. I. Title.
PS3562.L94A69 2013
813'.54—dc23
2012027562
First Edition: February 2013