between two Fuilrix brothers.”
“Between Tarvus the Blood Prince and Artaius?” Penny was thinking privately that her family was even more messed up than Zoe’s.
“Yes,” Bowen said.
“And the Blood Prince won in the end,” Zoe asked, “dooming the people of Galatania to an eternity of darkness and tyranny?”
“That’s a bit melodramatic, don’t you think?” Erasmus sounded supremely irritated.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Bowen said. “A decade or two at most. He had a son who inherited the kingdom when he died.”
“Erick the Addled,” Erasmus said with a curt snort of laughter.
Bowen nodded. “He was quite mad... tried to learn all of his father’s magic and scrambled his brains.”
“And the Phoenix?” Ellen seemed ready to get back on topic.
“There is plenty of historical evidence that the Phoenix lived,” Bowen said. “Enough to convince most historians anyway.”
“I saw a temple to her once,” Erasmus said. “Up in the northern arc.”
“A temple,” Penny repeated, trying to decide if their legs were being pulled.
Erasmus gave a sharp nod. “I was traveling with a company of merchants and we camped near it, fled the next morning just ahead of a band of berserkers who decided to let us go and burn the temple to the ground.”
“Ooookay,” Katie said.
“And her last reliable sighting was at a border dispute between two towns on the edge of the Dead Lands,” Bowen continued, as if there had been no interruption. “Just before the Blood Prince deposed his brother.”
“So the Phoenix is... was real,” Penny said, arriving at the point she thought they were trying to make.
“Yes,” Erasmus and Bowen said together.
“And Ronan’s theory,” Bowen said, “is that this is the grove from the story I’ve just told you. This is where the Blood Prince killed her.”
“And that,” Erasmus said, pointing back over his shoulder with his cane at the old, twisted ash tree, “was her rod from the Tree of Life.”
Penny was about to ask what the Tree of Life was supposed to be, then decided she’d just Google it. Fascinating as it all was, she was an eye blink from passing out.
“Ronan thinks she’s still here,” Katie said, also apparently more than ready to arrive at the point of the night’s lesson.
“Don’t you?” Bowen raised his eyebrows in a burlesque display.
Penny thought about the strange lady she’d met when they made the circle, the woman sheathed in flame, and thought the others were remembering her too.
Penny believed.
Ellen, who had been silent for the past few minutes, began to snore gently from her seat near the dying fire.
They decided to call it a night, or early morning as it was, and meet the next night at midnight. Penny returned, desperate for a few hours of restful, and hopefully dreamless, sleep, but awoke late the next morning feeling as though she hadn’t slept at all.
* * *
The Gallic Wars and the Land of the Midnight Sun
Rome’s war against the Gallic tribes and the consolidation of Gallic lands led to an uprising among the subjugated Gauls under their leader, Ambiorix, and the later rebellion by Vercingetorix, chief of the Arverni tribe. The final battle of the insurrection took place in the besieged city of Alesia, where Vercingetorix chose to stand his ground and fight rather than flee. Though there were a number of lesser uprisings, this marked the end of the Gallic Wars.
During this war a number of Gallic tribes simply vanished, assumed destroyed or assimilated into other tribes. Many of these tribes had taken the opportunity to flee while the main Roman force was engaged in Alesia fighting Vercingetorix. They gathered on the island of Britannia with members of the Druid priesthood to prepare for their escape to a land where the Romans could not follow. While still awaiting the arrival of the final lost tribes, the gathered Gauls fought a final battle against Roman soldiers at a site now called
“Between Tarvus the Blood Prince and Artaius?” Penny was thinking privately that her family was even more messed up than Zoe’s.
“Yes,” Bowen said.
“And the Blood Prince won in the end,” Zoe asked, “dooming the people of Galatania to an eternity of darkness and tyranny?”
“That’s a bit melodramatic, don’t you think?” Erasmus sounded supremely irritated.
“Oh, I wouldn’t say that,” Bowen said. “A decade or two at most. He had a son who inherited the kingdom when he died.”
“Erick the Addled,” Erasmus said with a curt snort of laughter.
Bowen nodded. “He was quite mad... tried to learn all of his father’s magic and scrambled his brains.”
“And the Phoenix?” Ellen seemed ready to get back on topic.
“There is plenty of historical evidence that the Phoenix lived,” Bowen said. “Enough to convince most historians anyway.”
“I saw a temple to her once,” Erasmus said. “Up in the northern arc.”
“A temple,” Penny repeated, trying to decide if their legs were being pulled.
Erasmus gave a sharp nod. “I was traveling with a company of merchants and we camped near it, fled the next morning just ahead of a band of berserkers who decided to let us go and burn the temple to the ground.”
“Ooookay,” Katie said.
“And her last reliable sighting was at a border dispute between two towns on the edge of the Dead Lands,” Bowen continued, as if there had been no interruption. “Just before the Blood Prince deposed his brother.”
“So the Phoenix is... was real,” Penny said, arriving at the point she thought they were trying to make.
“Yes,” Erasmus and Bowen said together.
“And Ronan’s theory,” Bowen said, “is that this is the grove from the story I’ve just told you. This is where the Blood Prince killed her.”
“And that,” Erasmus said, pointing back over his shoulder with his cane at the old, twisted ash tree, “was her rod from the Tree of Life.”
Penny was about to ask what the Tree of Life was supposed to be, then decided she’d just Google it. Fascinating as it all was, she was an eye blink from passing out.
“Ronan thinks she’s still here,” Katie said, also apparently more than ready to arrive at the point of the night’s lesson.
“Don’t you?” Bowen raised his eyebrows in a burlesque display.
Penny thought about the strange lady she’d met when they made the circle, the woman sheathed in flame, and thought the others were remembering her too.
Penny believed.
Ellen, who had been silent for the past few minutes, began to snore gently from her seat near the dying fire.
They decided to call it a night, or early morning as it was, and meet the next night at midnight. Penny returned, desperate for a few hours of restful, and hopefully dreamless, sleep, but awoke late the next morning feeling as though she hadn’t slept at all.
* * *
The Gallic Wars and the Land of the Midnight Sun
Rome’s war against the Gallic tribes and the consolidation of Gallic lands led to an uprising among the subjugated Gauls under their leader, Ambiorix, and the later rebellion by Vercingetorix, chief of the Arverni tribe. The final battle of the insurrection took place in the besieged city of Alesia, where Vercingetorix chose to stand his ground and fight rather than flee. Though there were a number of lesser uprisings, this marked the end of the Gallic Wars.
During this war a number of Gallic tribes simply vanished, assumed destroyed or assimilated into other tribes. Many of these tribes had taken the opportunity to flee while the main Roman force was engaged in Alesia fighting Vercingetorix. They gathered on the island of Britannia with members of the Druid priesthood to prepare for their escape to a land where the Romans could not follow. While still awaiting the arrival of the final lost tribes, the gathered Gauls fought a final battle against Roman soldiers at a site now called
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