The Breaking Dawn (The Kingdom of Mercia Book 1)

The Breaking Dawn

A Historical
Romance set in Anglo-Saxon England

Book #1: The
Kingdom of Mercia

Jayne Castel

Historical
romances by Jayne Castel

The Kingdom of the East Angles series

Night Shadows (prequel novella)

Dark Under the Cover of Night (Book One)

Nightfall till Daybreak (Book Two)

The Deepening Night (Book Three)

The Kingdom of the East Angles: The Complete Series

The Kingdom of Mercia series

The Breaking Dawn (Book One)

Darkest before Dawn (Book Two)

Dawn of Wolves (Book Three)

All characters and situations in this
publication are fictitious and any resemblance to living persons is purely
coincidental.

The
Breaking Dawn
by Jayne Castel

Copyright
© 2015 Jayne Castel. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be
reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any
means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without the prior
written permission of the author.

Edited
by Tim Burton.

Cover
photography courtesy of
www.istockphotos.com
.

Maps
courtesy of Wikipedia.

Excerpt
from the poem 'Marwnad Cynddylan' (Canu Heledd).

Visit
Jayne’s website and blog:
www.jaynecastel.com

Follow
Jayne on Twitter at: @JayneCastel

***

For Celia – Hoghatch
Lane won’t be the same without you.

And for Tim. With
love.

***

Contents

Maps

Historical background to
The Breaking Dawn

Glossary of Old English and Welsh words

Cast of Characters

Prologue – The Promise

BOOK ONE: MERCIA

Chapter One – Battle Lords

Chapter Two – A Meeting at Market

Chapter Three – The Queen’s Guests

Chapter Four – Awake in the Night

Chapter Five – Seward’s Shame

Chapter Six – The King’s Return

Chapter Seven – Ill-tidings

Chapter Eight – Nón-mete

Chapter Nine – Cyneswide’s Word

Chapter Ten – Rodor Makes a Pledge

Chapter Eleven – The Journey West

Chapter Twelve – Travelers in the Woods

Chapter Thirteen – An Honorable Man

Chapter Fourteen – Temptation

Chapter Fifteen – Drefan of Chester

Chapter Sixteen – The Kiss

Chapter Seventeen –
Homecoming

Chapter Eighteen – Keeping Secrets

Chapter Nineteen – Alone in the Woods

Chapter Twenty – Unsaid

Chapter Twenty-one – Consequences

Chapter Twenty-two – Newcomers to Weyham

BOOK TWO: POWYS

Chapter Twenty-three – The Long Ride West

Chapter Twenty-four – Unwelcome

Chapter Twenty-five – A Lament for Cynddylan

Chapter Twenty-six– Dylan Swears an Oath

Chapter Twenty-seven – A New Beginning

Chapter Twenty-eight – Blood at Lichfield

Chapter Twenty-nine – Healing Hands

Chapter Thirty – Survivor

Chapter Thirty-one – Pengwern

Chapter Thirty-two – Heledd

Chapter Thirty-three – Servitude

Chapter Thirty-four – Jealous of a Dead Man

Chapter Thirty-five – Want

Chapter Thirty-six – Tainted

Chapter Thirty-seven – Different Worlds

Chapter Thirty-eight – The Prince’s Consort

Chapter Thirty-nine – Last Words

Chapter Forty – The Peace-maker

Chapter Forty-one – No Friendship between Kings

Chapter Forty-two – The Crowning of Cynddylan

Chapter Forty-three – The Feast

Chapter Forty-four – Truths

Epilogue – A Spring Visit

Historical Note

More works by Jayne Castel

Free Kindle Bonus:
Night Shadows

About the Author

Historical
background for
The Breaking Dawn

Although
you don’t need to be a history buff in order to enjoy
The Breaking Dawn
,
I thought a little historical background might help set the scene.

In
the 7th Century, England was not as we know it today.

The
Anglo-Saxon period lasted from the departure of the Romans, in around 430 A.D.,
to the Norman invasion in 1066 A.D.

My
novels currently focus on the period from 600-700 A.D. This is a significant
century, sandwiched between the departure of the Romans, and the first Viking invasion
in 793 A.D – a period in which Anglo-Saxon culture flourished. The British
Isles were named Britannia (a legacy of the Roman colonization) and split into
rival kingdoms.

In
this novel, we focus on two of them: The Kingdom of Mercia and The Kingdom of
Powys. The Kingdom of Northumbria, and The Kingdom of the East Angles, are also
mentioned.

Glossary of Old
English and Welsh words (in alphabetical order)

The
words below are all explained, as you encounter them, throughout the story.
However, I have included a list, for reference.

beth
– What (Welsh)

cariad
– darling (Welsh)

Cymraeg
– Welsh (language)

Cymry
– Welsh (people)

ealdorman
– earl

Englisc
– English (language)

fæder
– father

Fy arglwydd
– My Lord
(Welsh)

fyrd
– a king's army, gathered for
war

geburs
– peasants

handfasted
– married

heah-setl
– high seat
(later called a ‘dais’) for the king and queen

hōre
– whore

Hwaet?
– What?

Maes Cogwy
– the Welsh
name for Maserfield, location of a famous battle

mōder
– mother

Nithhogg
– a
fire-breathing dragon that lived in the underworld

Powys
– Wales

thegn
– a king’s retainer

theow
– a slave

thrymsas
– Anglo-Saxon
gold shillings

Thunor
– Thor

wealca
– a tube linen dress with
shoulder straps attached with broaches

Wes hāl
– ‘greetings’
in old English

Winterfyllth
– Anglo-Saxon
Halloween

Woden
– the Anglo-Saxon father of the
gods (Viking: Odin)

Wyrd
– fate

Cast
of characters

Merwenna
–
young Mercian woman

Beorn
–
Merwenna's betrothed

Seward
and Aeaba
– Merwenna's brother and sister

Cynewyn
(pronounced
Sinwin
) and
Wilfrid
– Merwenna's parents

Cynddylan
(pronounced
Sindylan
) – Welsh prince

Gwyn
–
captain of Cynddylan's army

Owain
–
Welsh warrior

Penda
– King
of Mercia

Cyneswide
(pronounced
Sinesweed
) – Queen of Mercia

Cyneburh
(pronounced
Sinber
) and
Cyneswith
(pronounced
Sineswith
) –
Penda’s daughters

Paeda
(pronounced
Peda
),
Wulfhere
and
Aethelred
– Penda’s sons

Rodor
–
Penda’s right-hand-man

Caedmon
–
Mercian warrior

Drefan
of Chester
– cloth merchant

Heledd
–
Cynddylan’s sister

Morfael
–
Cynddylan’s brother

Elfan
–
Cynddylan’s uncle