Druids (64 page)

We were waiting and watching now, gazing through gathering twilight toward the funeral pyre of the oaks.

Sacrificed, I thought. For what purpose?

The senses of my body and spirit flowed together to form a single awareness. 1 watched the blazing trees become pillars, soaring upward to meet spires of incomparable grace, crowning the ridge with a temple of flame.

I folded Briga into my arms and bowed my head over hers. We stood clasped together as the ash drifted softly down upon us.

WE CEASED TO be free people except in our hearts, and the wheel of the seasons turned. After the fall of Alesia, Caesar had all who were unfit for slavery massacred, and gave the rest to his men as plunder. For himself he kept the Aeduan and Arvemian prisoners of war, hoping to use them to compel the loyalty of their tribes. He made a circuit of Gaul, claiming submission from each of the tribal leaders in turn. When Cotuatus appeared before him on behalf of the Camutes and spat at his feet, the Roman ordered my friend beheaded.

Caesar’s interdiction against the Order of the Wise forced me and my family to live a forest life, hiding among trees and shadows. But we lived. We survived to sing again, though in subdued voices, and to raise our children.

We never learned the fate of Maia—or of Crom Daral and Baroc. Perhaps it is better so.

After ten winters I did leam, through the hidden druid network, the fate of Vercingetorix. I never told Onuava, however, who was busy with the second son she had borne me. Briga had three, and the rivalry between them was intense.

Lakutu had a dimpled daughter, who was adored by Glas and Cormiac Ru and the son of Vercingetorix.

Vercingetorix … Caesar had indeed taken him to Rome, where he kept him imprisoned for years, starving him, trying to break his spirit. When it would not be broken. Caesar finally had him dragged in chains through the streets of Rome in what was called a “triumphal procession,” and then executed.

I have met great men. Even Caesar must be given his due, in this life. But our lives do not evidence a progressive accumulation of rewards. As Menua once explained to me, a life of power is

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frequently followed by one of helplessness, a life of high rank by one of ignominy. There must be a balance. We command in one existence; we serve in another. What is left over is purged m the fire.

But life itself is immortal.

Vercingetorix no longer breathes the air I breathe, nor walks the earth I walk. Yet I go on talking to him, and he hears me. His awareness encircles me like a net wherever I go, whatever I do. Dead, Vercingetorix is more alive than ever. He is waiting somewhere m the future, like a promise.

Things he said and did come back to me. Not the splendid gestures, but the small ones: a grin, a wink. From the comer of my eye I glimpse the grace of his shadow. It is not the shadow itself, but the grace that endures. I move in and out of my soul friend, pan of his pattern as he is part of mine.

He is.

We are.

The great unfinished conversation goes on and on.

HISTORICAL NOTE

Where the great grove of the Camutes once crowned a ridge above the river Autura, the great Cathedral of Chartres now stands. Every year thousands of Gauls worship among its stone pillars as the magnificent rose window glows with the light of the Otherworid.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Classical Sources:

Ammianus Mai-Lellmus, Roman historian, died CAD 391

Diodorus Siculus, Roman historian, died 21 B c Livy, Roman historian, died A D 17

Pliny the Elder, Roman naturalist and procurator of Narbonese Gaul, died

AD 79

Posidonius, Greek historian and philosopher, died 50 B c Strabo, Greek geographer and historian, died c A D 21 Tacitus, Roman historian, died A D 120

Contemporary Sources (a selected bibliography, as many other sources were also used for this book):

Caesar, Julius the Battle for Gaul, Anne and Peter Wiseman, trans Boston GodmePsess 1980

———— The Conquest ofGaul, S A Handford trans New York Penguin Classics, 1951

Chadwick. Nora The Celts New York Penguin Books, 1977

———— The Druids Cardiff University of Wales Press, 1966

Cooperative Publication Society The Conqueror’: New York and London

1910

Cunhffe, Bany The Celtic World New York McGraw-Hill, 1979 Delaney, Prank The Celts London Hodder and Sloughton, 1986 Davis, Nigel Human Sacrifice New York William Morrow, 1981 Dottin, Georges The Celts New York Minerva Books, Ltd , 1977

———— CiMhzation of the Celts New York Crescert,nd

Elder, Isabel Hill Celt, Druid and Culdee London Covenant Pub , Ltd ,

1973

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Fraser, James G. The Golden. Bough. New York: Avenel Books, 1981.

Grolier Society. Lands and Peoples, Vol. I. New York: 1948.

Guizot, M. History of France from the Earliest Times. Boston: Aldine Pub-lishing Co., 1888.

Herm, Gerhard. The Cells. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 1976.

James, E. C-The Ancient Gods. London: Weidenfeld and Nicholson. 1960.

Jukkian, Camille. Vercmgeforix. Paris: Hachette, 1963.

Kendrick.T. D. The Druids: A Study in Celtic Prehistory. London: Methuen,

1927.

MacCutloch, J. A. Celtic and Scandinavian Religions. London: Hutchinson,

1911.

MacKendrick, Paul-Roman France. London: G. Bell and Sons, 1971. Markale, Jean. Celtic Civilization. London: Gordon and Cremonesi. 1976.

Nock, A-D. Essays on Religion in the Ancient World. Oxford: Clarendon

Press, 1972.

Nonon-Taylor, Duncan. The Celts. New York: Time-Life Books, 1974.

Piggott, Stuart. The Druids. New York: Penguin Books, 1978; New Yolk:

Thames and Hudson, 1985.

Powell, T.G.E. The Celts. London: Thames and Hudson, 1980. Raftery, Joseph, ed. The Celts. Cork, Ireland: Mercier Press, n.d.

Randers-Pherson, Jusline. Barbarians and Romans. Enid: University of Oklahoma, 1983.

Ross, Ann, and Don Robins. Life and Death of a Druid Prince. London:

Century Hutchinson, 1989.

Rutherford. Ward. The Druids and Their Heritage. London: Gordon and Cremonesi, 1978.

Sharkey, John. Celtic Mysteries. London: Thames and Hudson, 1975.

Tacitus, Cornelius. Germania, M. Hutton, trans. London: William Heine-mann, Ltd., 1980.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Morgan Llywelyn has been heralded as the high priestess of Celtic legend. She has written six novels, including the international best-seller Lion of Ireland and. more recently. Red Brunch. She lives in Ireland.