Hades Daughter (79 page)
Authors: Sara Douglass
Tags: #General, #Fiction, #Historical, #Fantasy, #Great Britain, #Epic, #Science Fiction, #Fantasy fiction, #Labyrinths, #Troy (Extinct city), #Brutus the Trojan (Legendary character), #Greece
Mostly, however, he thought of Cornelia and of the Game. How he had betrayed both of them, one way or the other. How he had allowed his stupidity and his pride to dictate his actions when he should have listened to his reason and to his heart.
He reached the station, and saw that it was closed. He would have to find a cab to take him back to Highbury.
Skelton turned back to the street. He crossed his arms, as if against the cold, but his hands moved to his biceps as if he sought those ancient golden bands that had once adorned them.
Asterion had four of them. The other two…
“Cornelia,” Skelton whispered,
“where are you?”
“Gone,” whispered Asterion, rising out of the shadows behind Skelton.
“Gone.”
LOSSARY
ACHATES
: first-born son of cornelia and brutus.
ACHERON, RIVER
: a river of the western coast of Greece, the Acheron rises from
HADES
’ Underworld, then flows underground for many kilometres, eventually rising to the surface and emptying into the Ionian Sea close to the city of
MESOPOTAMA
.
AEGEAN SEA
: the sea which lies between the eastern coast of Greece and the western coast of present-day Turkey (ancient
ANATOLIA
).
AEGEAN WORLD
, the: a term that refers to the ancient lands and civilisations grouped about the
AEGEAN SEA
. Principally the Greek (or
MYCENAEAN
) civilisation; the Cretan (
MINOAN
) civilisation; and the Trojan civilisation.
AENEAS
: a hero of the Trojan war against the Greeks and beloved of the gods, Aeneas was the son of a goddess,
APHRODITE
, and a mortal man, Anchises. Aeneas fled the destruction of
TROY
to Alba on the River Tiber in Italy. He is the great-grandfather of
BRUTUS
. Aeneas is now dead.
AERNE
: the
GORMAGOG
(living representative of the stag god
OG
) of
LLANGARLIA
. His son by
BLANGAN
is
LOTH
. With
GENVISSA
he has three daughters.
AETHYLLA
: a Trojan woman from
MESOPOTAMA
, companion to
CORNELIA
.
ALBION
: an ancient name for the main island in the British Isles.
ALDROS
: captain of
BRUTUS
’ warship.
AMORIAN
: son of
GOFFAR
and king of
POITERAN
.
ANATOLIA
: now known as Turkey. On its west coast stood
TROY
, as well as many other magnificent cities.
ANDRON
: the dining room of a Greek house. Generally the room where men gathered to talk.
ANTIGONUS
: brother of
PANDRASUS
, father of
MELANTHUS
, Peleus and Andronus.
APHRODITE
: goddess of love, mother of
AENEAS
and great-great-grandmother of
BRUTUS
.
ARIADNE
: Mistress (or High Priestess) of the
LABYRINTH
on Crete. Ariadne is the daughter of King Minos and half-sister to the Minotaur
ASTERION
. Her lover is
THESEUS
, and her sister is Phaedre.
ARTEMIS
: Greek virgin goddess of the moon and of the hunt, sister to Apollo.
ARIADNE’S DANCING FLOOR
: the labyrinth as laid out in a pattern in a stone dancing floor. See also
LABYRINTH
.
ASSARACUS
: a Dorian Greek of the city of
MESOPOTAMA
. Born of a Trojan mother, Assaracus is allied with
BRUTUS
.
ASTERION
: the name of the Minotaur at the heart of the Cretan labyrinth, son of King Minos’ wife and a white bull, and thus half-brother to
ARIADNE
, the
MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH
.
AUROCHS
: massive prehistoric cattle.
BLADUD
: a Llangarlian warrior.
BLANGAN
: daughter of
HERRON
and
AERNE
, sister to
GENVISSA
, wife to
CORINEUS
, mother of
LOTH
.
BRUTUS
: son of
SILVIUS
, great-grandson of
AENEAS
. An exiled Trojan.
CADOR
: son of
ERITH
.
CATASTROPHE
, the: in the late Bronze Age the cities and civilisations of the
MINOANS
(
CRETE
), the
MYCENAEANS
(Greece) and the Anatolians (Turkey) suffered a catastrophe so severe it destroyed most cities and ended higher civilisation: for instance, Greeks lost the art of reading and writing for almost a thousand years. Some of the cities destroyed during the Catastrophe were
TROY
(the most famous of all), Knossos, Tarsus, Pylos, Iolkos, Thebes, Midea and Nichoria. Although there are many theories, no one truly knows what precipitated this catastrophe.
COEL
: a Llangarlian warrior and nobleman, son of
ERITH
.
CORINEUS
: a Trojan of the line of Locrinus, husband of
BLANGAN
, the leading citizen of the city of
LOCRINIA
.
CORNELIA
: a Dorian Greek woman, daughter of
PANDRASUS
, princess of
MESOPOTAMA
.
CRETE
: large island in the central eastern Mediterranean. It is the centre of the
MINOAN
civilisation and the home of the
LABYRINTH
; its capital is Knossos.
DANCE OF THE FLOWERS
: one of two dances involved in creating the
GAME
, the Dance of the Flowers is performed at the end of the ceremonies and enchantments used to establish the
GAME
.
DANCE OF THE TORCHES
: the magical dance used to commence the
GAME
.
DEIMAS
: leader of the Trojans enslaved in
MESOPOTAMA
.
ECUB
:
MOTHER
of a village near
MAG’S DANCE
.
ERITH
: mother of
COEL
, and
MOTHER
of a Llangarlian House.
GAME
, the: in the ancient world most major cities were protected by a mysterious rite called the Game. The Game was based on the secrets of the
LABYRINTH
, originating within the Cretan Labyrinth before its secrets were shared among the Bronze Age Greek
and Anatolian worlds. The Game is controlled by a
KINGMAN
and
MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH
. For each city there is a slightly different version of the Game; thus the Game used to protect Troy is known as the Troy Game. The Mistress of the Labyrinth and the Kingman work the magic of the Labyrinth mainly through the performance of two dances, the
DANCE OF THE TORCHES
and the
DANCE OF THE FLOWERS
.
GENVISSA
: daughter of
HERRON
, and the current
MAGALLAN
(female representative of the goddess
MAG
) of
LLANGARLIA
.
GOFFAR
: king of
POITERAN
.
GORMAGOG
: living representative of the god
OG
, also called the Giant of Madog. The current Gormagog is
AERNE
, father of
LOTH
.
HADES
: god of the Underworld.
HERA
: wife of Zeus, queen of Olympus, first among all the female gods, and patron of
CORNELIA
, princess of
MESOPOTAMA
.
HERRON
:
GENVISSA
and
BLANGAN’S
mother, and a former
MAGALLAN
.
HICETAON
: one of
BRUTUS
’ commanders.
HOEL
: son of
ERITH
.
IDAEUS
: one of
BRUTUS
’ commanders.
JAGO
: a young Llangarlian warrior.
LABYRINTH
: the symbol of the labyrinth occurs throughout the ancient world, never more so than in the
MINOAN
civilisation of
CRETE
where it was deeply associated with both political and religious cultures. The ancient labyrinth is a unicursal labyrinth, not a maze. There is a single pathway leading into the heart, with no dead ends or false turns. When the labyrinth is laid out as a stone pattern in a floor it is called (and used as) a “dancing floor”, thus in
Hades’ Daughter
the labyrinth on Og’s Hill (see
THE VEILED HILLS
) is occasionally referred to as
ARIADNE’S DANCING FLOOR
.
KINGMAN
, the: Kingmen were the princes of the ancient world who were trained in the skills of the
GAME
. They knew the dances and the paths of the
LABYRINTH
, and were trained to combat whatever it was they encountered in the heart of the labyrinth.
LEVANT
, the: the Holy Lands, specifically what is now Israel and Lebanon.
LLAN
: the great river of
LLANGARLIA
. Now called the Thames.
LLANA
: the eldest of
GENVISSA’S
daughters.
LLANBANK
: the market town on the eastern shores of the
LLAN
across the river from Thorney Island.
LLANGARLIA
: the prosperous country in the south-east of what is now England, encompassing the south-eastern counties and centred on the Thames (or
LLAN
) Valley. It is a matriarchal society, governed by the
MOTHERS
of each House, or tribe. Llangarlia is a pre-Celtic society; the Celts did not begin to infiltrate the British Islands until some six hundred years after the events of
Hades’ Daughter.
LOCRINIA
: a Trojan city on the west coast of the Iberian Peninsula.
LOTH
: sometimes called the Llangarlian Bull, son of
AERNE
and
BLANGAN
, heir to the title and position of
GORMAGOG
.
MAG
: the mother goddess worshipped by the Llangarlians, Mag is particularly associated with the waters of the land, with birth and with growth. She is the mate of
OG
, the stag, forest god of
LLANGARLIA
. Mag’s high priestess among the Llangarlians is known as the
MAGALLAN
.
MAGALLAN
: the high priestess of
MAG
in
LLANGARLIA
. The current MagaLlan is
GENVISSA
.
MAG’S DANCE
: Stonehenge in Wiltshire.
MAIS
:
MOTHER
of a Llangarlian House, allied with
LOTH
.
MAURITANIA
: a land in North Africa, close to what is now Morocco.
MAZA
: a porridge made of flour, honey, salt, oil and water. One of the staples of the Bronze Age Greek diet.
MEGARON
: the throne room of a Greek palace.
MELANTHUS
: son of
ANTIGONUS
, nephew of
PANDRASUS
. Melanthus is the erstwhile lover of
CORNELIA
.
MEMBRICUS
: companion and former tutor to
BRUTUS
, Membricus is a visionary and a seer.
MERIAM
: a midwife on the island of
NAXOS
.
MESOPOTAMA
: Dorian city on the River
ACHERON
on the west coast of Greece. Ruled by
PANDRASUS
.
MINOANS
: people of the Minoan culture on
CRETE
, centring on the city of Knossos.
MISTRESS OF THE LABYRINTH
: the High Priestess of the
LABYRINTH
, keeper of its secrets.
MOTHER
:
LLANGARLIA
is a matriarchal society. Each tribe, or House, is led by its senior Mother. Each year at the time of the
SLAUGHTER FESTIVAL
, the Mothers attend an Assembly on Tot Hill within the
VEILED HILLS
to discuss any problems that affect Llangarlian society.
MYCENAEANS
: Greeks of the proud Mycenaean culture belonging to the east coast and Peloponnese of the Greek mainland. The culture centred on the city of Mycenae and reached its height just before the
CATASTROPHE
of the late Bronze Age.