PEOPLE OF THE FOREST HOUSE
Lhiannon, Priestess of the Oracle, High Priestess of Vernemeton （the Forest House）
Huw, her bodyguard
（Helve, High Priestess before Lhiannon）
Caillean, a senior priestess assisting Lhiannon
Latis, the herb mistress
Celimon, instructor in ritual
Annis, an old deaf woman who serves Eilan during her pregnancy
Lia, nurse to Eilan’s son Gawen
DEITIES
Tanarus, British thunder god, equated with Jupiter
The Horned （or Antlered） One, archetypal god of beasts and woodlands with many local variations
Don, mythic mother of the gods, and by extension, the British people
Cathubodva, Lady of Ravens, a war goddess similar to the Morrigan
Arianhrod, Lady of the Silver Wheel, maiden goddess associated with magic, the sea, and the moon
Ceres, Roman goddess of grain, agriculture
Venus, Roman goddess of love
Mars, Roman war god
Bona Dea, the Good Goddess
Vesta, goddess of the sacred hearthfire of Rome, served by virgins
Mithras, a Persian hero-god worshipped by soldiers
Jupiter, king of the gods
Juno, queen of the gods, his wife, patroness of marriage
Isis, an Egyptian goddess worshipped in Rome as protectress of commerce on the sea
PLACES
Britannia Superior—southern England
Mona—the island of Anglesey
Segontium—a fort near Caernarvon
Vernemeton （most holy grove）—the Forest House
Hill of the Maidens—Maiden Castle, Bickerton
Deva—Chester
Glevum—Gloucester
Viroconium Cornoviiarum—Wroxeter
Venta Silurum—Caerwent
Isca Silurum—Caerleon
Aquae Sulis—Bath
The Tor—Glastonbury
The Summer Country—Somerset
Isca Dumnoniorum—Exeter
Lindum—Lincoln
Londinium—London
Britannia Inferior—northern England
Eburacum—York
Luguvalium—Carlisle
Caledonia—Scotland
Bodotria estuary—Firth of Forth
Firth of the Tava—River Tay
Sabrina Firth—Solway
Trimontium—Newstead
Pinnata Castra—Inchtuthil
Mons Graupius—location uncertain, perhaps near Inverness
Hibernia—Ireland
Temair—Tara
Druim Cliadh—Kildare
Germania Inferior—upper western Germany
Colonia Agrippensis—Cologne
the Rhenus—the Rhine
PROLOGUE