Priestess of Avalon Marion Zimmer Bradley.
To our grandchildren
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS.
This is the story of a legend.
The provable facts about Helena are few in comparison with the wealth of stories that have attached themselves to her name. We know that she was the consort of Constantius and the honoured mother of Constantine the Great, and that she had some a.s.sociation with the town of Drepanum. We know that she owned property in Rome and that she made a visit to Palestine, and that is all.
But wherever she went, myths sprang up behind her. She is honoured in Germany and Israel and Rome, where she is hailed as a saint in the churches that bear her name. Medieval hagiography makes her the great discoverer of relics, who brought the heads of the three Wise Men to Cologne, the Robe Jesus wore to Trier, and the True Cross to Rome.
But she holds a special place in the legends of Britian, where it is said that she was a British princess who married an emperor. She is believed to have lived in York and in London, and to have established roads in Wales. Some even identify her with the G.o.ddess Nehalennia. Did these stories arise because Constantius and Constantine both had such strong connections with Britain, or could she have originally come from that isle?
If so, perhaps it is not so great a stretch to link her with the mythology of Avalon, and add one more legend to the rest.
Marion Zimmer Bradley and I began this work together, as we have worked together before, but it was left to me to complete it. At the end of her life Marion attended a Christian church, and yet she was my first high priestess in the ancient mysteries. In telling the story of Helena, who also walked between the Christian and the pagan worlds, I have tried to remain faithful to Marion"s teachings.
In the creation of this book, Marion"s was the inspiration and origin. The historical legwork was mine.
Among the many sources which were useful I should list: Fry"sRoman Britain ; Gibbon"s cla.s.sicDecline and Fall of the Roman Empire , which includes all the gossip;The Later Roman Empire , by A.H.M.
Jones; Robin Lane Fox"s fascinatingPagans and Christians; andThe Aquarian Guide to Legendary London , edited by John Matthews and Chesca Potter, particularly the chapter on the G.o.ddesses of London by Caroline Wise of the Atlantis Bookstore. More specifically, I relied onConstantine the Great , by Michael Grant, and Jan Willem Drijvers" cla.s.sic,Helena Augusta ; and for Helena"s journey and the reinvention of the Holy Land,Holy City, Holy Places ?, by P.W.L. Walker. The hymn in chapter thirteen was written by St Ambrose in the fourth century.
I would like to express my grat.i.tude to Karen Anderson for working out the astronomical configurations in the third century skies, and to Charline Palmtag for helping me with their astrological interpretation. My thanks also to Jennifer Tifft, for enabling me to make an extra trip to England and find the chapel of St Helena in York, to Bernhard Hennen, for taking me to Trier, and to Jack and Kira Gillespie for showing me c.u.mae and Pozzuoli.
Diana L. Paxson Feast of Brigid, 2000
PROLOGUE.
249 AD.
With sunset, a brisk wind had blown in from the sea. It was the season when farmers burn the stubble from their fields, but wind had swept away the haze that had veiled the heavens, and the Milky Way blazed a white road across the sky. The Merlin of Britannia sat on the Watcher"s Stone at the top of the Tor, his eyes fixed on the stars. But though the glory of the heavens commanded his vision, it did not hold his entire attention. His ears strained to catch any sound that might come from the dwelling of the High Priestess on the slopes below.
Since dawn she had been in labour. This would be Rian"s fifth child, and her earlier babes had come easily. The birthing should not be taking so long. The midwives guarded their mysteries, but at sunset, when he had prepared for this vigil, he had seen the worry in their eyes. King Coelius of Camulodunum, who had called Rian to the Great Rite for the sake of his flooded fields, was a big man, fair-haired and ma.s.sively built in the way of the Belgic tribes who had settled in the eastern lands of Britannia, and Rian was a little dark woman with the look of the faerie people who had been the first to dwell in these hills.
It should be no surprise that the child Coelius had begotten was too large to come easily from the womb.
When Rian found that he had got her with child, some of the older priestesses had urged her to cast it from her. But to do so would have negated the magic, and Rian told them she had served the G.o.ddess too long not to trust in Her purposes.
What purpose was there in this child"s birth? The Merlin"s old eyes scanned the heavens, seeking to comprehend the secrets written in the stars. The sun stood now in the sign of the Virgin, and the old moon, pa.s.sing him, had been visible in the sky that morning. Now she hid her face, leaving the night to the glory of the stars.
The old man huddled into the thick folds of his grey cloak, feeling the chill of the autumn night in his bones. As he watched the great wain wheel ever further across the sky and no word came, he knew that he was shivering not with cold, but with fear.
Slow as grazing sheep, the stars moved across the heavens. Saturn gleamed in the south-west, in the Sign of Balance. As the hours drew on, the resolution of the labouring woman was wearing away. Now, at intervals, there would come a moan of pain from the hut. But it was not until the still hour just as the stars were fading that a new sound brought the Merlin upright, heart pounding-the thin, protesting wail of a newborn child.
In the east the sky was already growing pale with the approach of day, but overhead the stars still shone.
Long habit brought the old man"s gaze upward. Mars, Jupiter and Venus stood in brilliant conjunction.
Trained in the disciplines of the Druids since boyhood, he committed the positions of the stars to memory. Then, grimacing as stiffened joints complained, he got to his feet, and leaning heavily on his carven staff, made his way down the hill.
The infant had ceased its crying, but as the Merlin neared the birthing hut, his gut tensed, for he could hear weeping from within. Women stood aside as he pushed back the heavy curtain that hung across the doorway, for he was the only male who by right could enter there.
One of the younger priestesses, Cigfolla, sat in the corner, crooning over the swaddled bundle in her arms. The Merlin"s gaze moved past her to the woman who lay on the bed, and stopped, for Rian, whose beauty had always come from her grace in motion, was utterly still. Her dark hair lay lank upon the pillow; her angular features were already acquiring the unmistakable emptiness that distinguishes death from sleep.
"How-" he made a little helpless gesture, striving to hold back his tears. He did not know whether or not Rian had been his own child by blood, but she had been a daughter to him.
"It was her heart," said Ganeda, her features in that moment painfully like those of the woman who lay on the bed, although at most times the sweetness of Rian"s expression had always made it easy to distinguish between the sisters. "She had laboured for too long. Her heart broke in the final effort to push the child from the womb."
The Merlin stepped to the bedside and gazed down at Rian"s body, and after a moment, he bent to trace a sigil of blessing on the cool brow.
I have lived too long, he thought numbly.Rian should have been the one to say the rites for me .
He heard Ganeda draw breath behind him. "Say then, Druid, what fate the stars foretell for the maid-child born in this hour?"
The old man turned. Ganeda faced him, her eyes bright with anger and unshed tears.She has the right to ask this , he thought grimly. Ganeda had been pa.s.sed over in favour of her younger sister when the previous High Priestess died. He supposed the election would fall on her now.
Then the spirit within him rose in answer to her challenge. He cleared his throat.
"Thus speak the stars-" His voice trembled only a little. "The child that was born at the Turning of Autumn, just as the night gave way to dawn, shall stand at the Turning of the Age, the gateway between two worlds. The time of the Ram has pa.s.sed, and now the Fish shall rule. The moon hides her face-this maid shall hide the moon she bears upon her brow, and only in old age will she come into her true power.
Behind her lies the road that leads to the darkness and its mysteries, before her shines the harsh light of day.
"Mars is in the Sign of the Lion, but war shall not overcome her, for it is ruled by the star of kingship.
For this child, love shall walk with sovereignty, for Jupiter yearns towards Venus. Together, their radiance shall light the world. On this night, all of them move towards the Virgin who shall be their true queen. Many will bow before her, but her true sovereignty will be hidden. All shall praise her, yet few will know her true name. Saturnus lies now in Libra -her hardest lessons will be in maintaining a balance between the old wisdom and the new. But Mercurius is hidden. For this child I foresee many wanderings, and many misunderstandings, and yet in the end all roads lead to joy and to her true home."
All around him the priestesses were murmuring: "He prophesies greatness-she will be Lady of the Lake like her mother before her!"
The Merlin frowned. The stars had shown him a life of magic and power, but he had read the stars for priestesses many times before, and the patterns that foretold their lives were not those he saw now. It seemed to him that this child was destined to walk a road unlike that which had been trodden by any priestess of Avalon before.
"The babe is healthy and well-formed?"
"She is perfect, my lord." Cigfolla rose, cradling the swaddled infant close to her breast.
"Where will you find a nurse for her?" He knew that none of the women of Avalon were currently feeding a child.
"She can go to the Lake-dwellers" village," answered Ganeda. "There is always some woman with a newborn there. But I will send her to her father once she is weaned."
Cigfolla clutched at her burden protectively, but the aura of power that surrounded the High Priestess was already descending upon Ganeda, and if the younger woman had objections, she did not voice them aloud.
"Are you sure that is wise?" By virtue of his office, the Merlincould question her. "Will the child not need to be trained in Avalon to prepare for her destiny?"
"What the G.o.ds have ordained they will bring to pa.s.s, whatever we do," answered Ganeda. "But it will be long before I can look upon her face and not see my sister lying dead before me."
The Merlin frowned, for it had always seemed to him that there was little love lost between Ganeda and Rian. But perhaps it made sense - if Ganeda felt guilt for having envied her sister, the babe would be a painful reminder.
"If the girl shows talent, when she is older, perhaps she can return," Ganeda continued.
If he had been a younger man, the Merlin might have sought to sway her, but he had seen the hour of his own death in the stars, and he knew that he would not be here to protect the little girl if Ganeda resented her. Perhaps it was better that she should live with her father while she was small.
"Show me the child."
Cigfolla rose, flipping back the corner of the blanket. The Merlin stared down at the face of the infant, still closed in upon itself like the bud of a rose. The child was large for a newborn, big-boned like her father. No wonder her mother had fought such a grim battle to bear her.
"Who are you, little one?" he murmured. "Are you worth so great a sacrifice?"
"Before she died... the Lady... said she should be called Eilan," Cigfolla answered him.
"Eilan-" the Merlin echoed her, and as if the infant had understood, she opened her eyes. They were still the opaque grey of infancy, but their expression, wide and grave, was far older. "Ah... this is not the first time for you," he said then, saluting her like a traveller who meets an old friend upon the road and pauses for a moment"s greeting before they continue on their separate ways. He was aware of a pang of regret that he would not live to see this child grown.
"Welcome back, my dear one. Welcome to the world."
For a moment the baby"s brows met. Then the tiny lips curved upward in a smile.
Part I
THE WAY TO LOVE.
CHAPTER ONE.
AD 259.
"Oh! I can see water gleaming in the sun! Is it the sea?" I dug my heels into the pony"s round side to bring it alongside Corinthius"s big horse. The beast broke into a rough trot and I clutched at its mane.
"Ah, Helena, your young eyes are better than mine," answered the old man who had been tutor to my half-brothers before being given the task of teaching the daughter Prince Coelius had inadvertently got upon a priestess of Avalon. "A blaze of light is all I can see. But I think that what lies before us must be the levels of the Summer Country, flooded by the spring rains."
I brushed back a wisp of hair and peered out at the landscape. The waters were broken up by hummocks of higher ground like islands and divided by winding rows of trees. Beyond them I could make out a line of hills where Corinthius said there were lead mines, ending in a bright haze that must be the estuary of the Sabrina.
"Then we are almost there?" The pony tossed its head as I squeezed its sides and then pulled back on the rein.
"We are if the rains have not washed out the causeway, and we can locate the village of the Lake folk that my master told me to find."
I looked up at him with swift pity, for he sounded very tired. I could see lines in the thin face beneath the broad straw hat, and he sat slumped in the saddle. My father should not have made the old man come all this way. But when the journey was over, Corinthius, a Greek who had sold himself into slavery as a youth in order to dower his sisters, would have his freedom. He had saved a nice little nest egg over the years, and meant to set up a school in Londinium.
"We will come to the Lake village in the afternoon," said the guide who had joined my escort in Lindinis.
"When we get there, we will rest," I said briskly.
"I thought you were eager to come to the Tor," Corinthius said kindly. Perhaps he would be sorry to lose me, I thought, smiling up at him. After my two brothers, who cared for nothing but hunting, he had said he enjoyed teaching someone who actually wanted to learn.
"I will have the rest of my life to enjoy Avalon," I answered him. "I can wait a day longer to arrive."
"And start your studies once more!" Corinthius laughed. "They say that the priestesses of Avalon have preserved the old Druid wisdom. It consoles me a little for losing you to know that you will not spend your life running some fat magistrate"s household and bearing his children."
I smiled. My father"s wife had tried to convince me that such a life was a woman"s highest hope, but I had always known that sooner or later I would be going to Avalon. That it was sooner was due to the rebellion of a general called Postumus, whose war had cut Britannia off from the Empire. Unprotected, the south-eastern coasts were vulnerable to raiders, and Prince Coelius had thought it best to send his little daughter to the safety of Avalon while he and his sons prepared to defend Camulodunum.
For a moment then my smile faltered, for I had been the apple of my father"s eye, and I hated the thought that he might be in danger. But I knew well enough that while he was away from home my life there would not have been a happy one. To the Romans I was my father"s love-child, without maternal relatives, for it was forbidden to speak of Avalon. In truth it was Corinthius and old Huctia, who had been my nurse, who had been my family, and Huctia had died the winter before. It was time for me to return to my mother"s world.
The road led downwards now, winding gently back and forth across the slope of the hill. As we emerged from the shelter of the trees, I shaded my eyes with my hand. Below, the waters lay upon the land like a sheet of gold.
"If you were a faerie horse," I murmured to my pony, "we could gallop along that shining path all the way to Avalon."
But the pony only shook its head and reached for a mouthful of gra.s.s, and we continued to clop down the road one step at a time until we came to the slippery logs of the causeway. Now I could see the grey stalks of last summer"s gra.s.s waving in the water and beyond them the reedbeds that edged the permanent channels and pools. The deeper water was dark, charged with mystery. What spirits ruled these marshes, where the elements were so confused and mingled that one could not tell where earth ended and the water began? I shivered a little and turned my gaze to the bright day.
As the afternoon drew on towards evening, a mist began to rise from the water. We moved more slowly now, letting our mounts choose their own footing on the slippery logs. I had ridden horses since I could walk, but until now, each day"s journey had been a short one, appropriate to the strength of a child.
Today"s ride, the last stage in our journey, had been longer. I could feel the dull ache in my legs and back and knew that I would be glad to get out of the saddle when the day was over.
We came out from beneath the trees and the guide reined in, pointing. Beyond the tangle of marsh and woodland rose a single pointed hill. I had been taken from this place when I was barely a year old, and yet, with a certainty beyond memory, I knew that I was looking at the holy Tor. Touched by the last of the sunlight, it seemed to glow from within.
"The Isle of Gla.s.s..." murmured Corinthius, eyes widening in appreciation.
But not Avalon... I thought, remembering the stories I had heard. The cl.u.s.ter of beehive huts at the foot of the Tor belonged to the little community of Christians who lived there. Avalon of the Druids lay in the mists between this world and Faerie.
"And there is the village of the Lake people-" said our guide, indicating the trails of smoke that rose beyond the willows. He slapped the reins against his pony"s neck and all of the horses, sensing the end of their journey, moved forwards eagerly.
"We have barge, but crossing to Avalon needs priestess. She says if you are welcome. Is important to go now? You want that I call?" The headman"s words were respectful, but in his posture there was little deference. For nearly three hundred years his people had been the gatekeepers for Avalon.
"Not tonight," answered Corinthius. "The maiden has endured a long journey. Let her have a good night"s sleep before she must meet all those new people in her new home."
I squeezed his hand gratefully. I was eager to get to Avalon, but now that our journey was over, I was painfully aware that I would not see Corinthius again, and only now did I realize how fond of the old man I really was. I had wept when my nurse died, and I knew that I would weep to lose Corinthius as well.
The Lake people made us welcome in one of the round thatched houses set on poles above the marsh.
A long, low boat was tied up beside it, and a creaking bridge connected it to the higher ground. The villagers were a small, lightly-built folk, with dark hair and eyes. At ten, I was already as tall as a grown woman among them, though I had the same dusky brown hair. I watched them curiously, for I had heard that my mother had been like them in feature, or perhaps she and they were both like the people of Faerie.