Voices of the Stars Read online

  Spiral Gate Books

  ISBN (Trade Paperback): 978-0692802052

  ISBN (eBook): 978-0-9983246-0-9

  Voices of the Stars copyright © 2014

  by Rowena Whaling

  All Rights Reserved.

  Cover art by Claudia McKinney, Phatpuppy Art

  Author photo by Carla Rey Lankford

  This book is a work of fiction. People, places, events, and situations are the product of the author’s imagination. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or historical events, is purely coincidental.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author and publisher.

  Table of Contents

  Dedication

  Special Thanks

  Author’s Note

  Introduction by Jack Montgomery

  Part One: Foundations

  Prologue

  Chapter 1: Igraine of the Tribes

  Chapter 2: Gwyddion, The Merlin

  Chapter 3: The Children

  Chapter 4: Morgan of the Woods

  Chapter 5: The First Battle

  Chapter 6: Endings and Beginnings

  Chapter 7: To Make a King

  Chapter 8: Vivianne, Lady of the Lake

  Chapter 9: Morgan and Arthur

  Part Two: Arthur, the King

  Chapter 10: Arthur Rex

  Chapter 11: Morgan’s Fear

  Chapter 12: Of Names, Blood, and Other Topics

  Chapter 13: Nimue, the Enchantress

  Chapter 14: Gwyddion’s Dreams

  Chapter 15: Riddle of the Ages

  Chapter 16: Bedwyr and Gwenyfar

  Chapter 17: The Royal Wedding

  Chapter 18: Harvest Festival on the Isle of Apples

  Chapter 19: An Eternal Love

  Chapter 20: Return to Gwenyfar

  Chapter 21: The Genealogies

  Chapter 22: Nimue, the Dragon Caller

  Chapter 23: The 12th Battle Strategy

  Chapter 24: The Battle of Baddon Hill

  Chapter 25: Baldric the Bard

  Part Three: The Summer King

  Chapter 26: Rest in Peace

  Chapter 27: The Nine Mother Goddesses

  Chapter 28: Branwen

  Chapter 29: Bronte

  Chapter 30: The Fortress & Liaisons

  Chapter 31: Into the Halls of Paradise

  Chapter 32: A Dream Realised

  Chapter 33: Morganna Le Faye Returns

  Chapter 34: Bedwyr – A Man of Few Words

  Part Four: The Final Conflicts

  Chapter 35: Growing Threats

  Chapter 36: Oh, Mordred

  Chapter 37: Hiding in the Prerilous Wood

  Chapter 38: The Scarlet Fields

  Chapter 39: Endings

  Chapter 40: Awakening of the Merlin

  Chapter 41: Nimue’s Letters

  Chapter 42: Queen of the Bees

  Part Five: The Child of Promise

  Chapter 43: Pieces of a Puzzle Game

  Chapter 44: The Seven Keys

  Chapter 45: Morganna Un-raveled

  Chapter 46: The Complete Memoires of Morganna Le Faye

  Chapter 47: What of Morganna’s Daughter

  Chapter 48: Rowena

  Chapter 49: Correspondences

  Chapter 50: The Brilliance Razed

  Chapter 51: The Would-Be Abbess

  Chapter 52: Across the Continent

  Chapter 53: Other Communications

  Chapter 54: Lucian Arrives

  Chapter 55: My Earnest Desire

  Chapter 56: Rowena & Gwern, The Bard

  Book 2 Excerpt

  About the Author

  Dedicated To:

  “Bobby Whaling and Yvette” – who gave my spirit a home in which to dwell and a childhood filled with love, awe, and phantasy... to my beloved Ember – Keeper of the Fire of my heart – who helps me in countless ways... And to Mystic, who shares the Mysteries...

  Thanks To:

  The Great Teachers who inspire... to Solitaire who took my hand at

  the beginning... to Lord Serphant for sharing The Dream, to Katherine

  Lohr, who gave the gift of hypnosis to me, to Silver RavenWolf who

  elicited from me the promise to write a novel, to B. Willie Dryden who

  walked a long part of the winding path with me…

  To Carla Rey Lankford, who captures beauty, to Kia for your help and love,

  to my sisters Dahlia and Gwendolyn and to all of my family and friends of

  the Village of Dragonstone who have shared the Magic with and encouraged

  me: Avalon, Covenant, Denise, Divana, Eagle, Eclipse, Ember, Fle, Gwyddyon,

  Jacquelyn, Ken, Lazarus, Mystic, Pat, Persephone, Raymond, Star and Witness...

  to Wanda, Patricia, Kay, Gypsy Ravish, John Wisdom Gonce, and Jack

  and Lesley Montgomery, for your help and support… To Corinda Carfora and

  Anthony Ziccardi for believing in me

  And to my sister Anastasia… who showed me ‘the other side of the mirror.’

  Special Love to Meghan (Ashira), Mikie, Mightor, Miss Pusskins, and Chance...

  Author’s Note:

  These histories are, of course, translated from their original languages into our commonly spoken tongue. You will note that I have used the device of capitalising many words that are not normally capitalised in the English language. The reason for this is to keep the reader’s thoughts set in the characters’ understanding of the Sacred Nature of all Creation, and that every endeavour under the Sun is a reflection of what the Gods taught us to do “In the beginning” – at the Cosmogenesis. Thus – Hunter, Weaver, Healer, Seer, Priest/ess and so forth will also be capitalised to remind the reader of the respect accorded these vocations and pursuits. All Magical actions or psychic phenomena such as Dreams, Visions, and Casting of Spells, as well as all Divine names and principals such as Love, Death, Time, Night, etc. are likewise capitalised, as opposed to dreams – as in an aspirations. Please note, too, that I have used British spellings. Oh, yes – and as the plural of “Wolf,” I have used “Wolfs” – just because.

  On names... Pendragon is the traditional spelling of what is understood to be the surname of Uther, coming from French romances written six to seven hundred years after Post Roman times. However, the gist of this novel is that Morgan's Histories tell the "true" stories and not the layers of legends added long after the fact. The fact is that Brythonic and Old Welsh descriptive names were broken down into the two or three words that they mean. As an example, the modern name Johnson would have been written and spoken as John’s Son in the Brythonic tongue. The name of one character in my book is – Rhodri ab Naw Caw which means: Rhodri = Circle or Wheel ruler... Naw = “Legendary son of Seithved,” seventh son of a ninth son... Caw = full of joy. The Ap – means from or son of. So, in the case of Pendragon, I am using Pen Dragon. Pen means chief or high and Dragon (Draig or Dragwn), of course, means Dragon, but the title Pen Dragon was used to denote Chief Battle Commander. The Brythonic or Old Welsh name reads as Pen Draig or Pen Dragwn.

  On proper pronunciation of Brythonic words... the absolutely correct pronunciation is unknown. However, for some sense of clarity, you might try using Welsh rules of pronunciation. There are many good sites on the internet to help with this, as well as to bring a little joviality into your day. This will help greatly in the reading of this book. As an example, understanding why Annwyn (Ah-noon) rhymes with ‘Moon’ in the opening poem “My Mother taught me how to thread a needle...”

  Every time I travel in Wales, I and my companions have uproarious fun trying to pronounce the Welsh street, town, or farm names written
on sign posts along the very narrow, low stone-walled Welsh country roads or, for that matter, along the modern motorways, too. It’s impossible, of course, to pronounce them using English rules! We always get a bonus laugh when hearing the way the words are actually supposed to sound in the beautiful, lilting Welsh tongue.

  Have fun!

  Rowena

  Introduction by Jack Montgomery

  In these days of “Games of Thrones,” The Lord of the Rings” and “Hunger Games,” it is hard to imagine what new mythic, fantasy saga could possibly be told, and even it told, would be interesting enough to draw and hold a jaded fantasy reader’s attention. There are two basic types of fantasy novels being produced nowadays: one that are the sole product of the author’s imagination like the Lord of the Rings and those with a connection to a defined historical or mythical person or period. While both types can be enthralling, the ones with a historical connection can be enchanting at a deeper level as they have an anchor in the common memory and can inspire further research and study. “Voices of the Stars, is an enchanting saga which is built thematically upon the Arthurian legends and yet is not explicitly tied to those 13th century stories. For a historically based novel to work as fiction, it must go beneath the surface of the historical events and probe the shadowy depths of the agendas, motives and passions that generated those events. “Voices of the Stars” accomplishes this task in several ways including character development, thematic harmony and poetical/lyrical addendums.

  What makes a good fantasy novel truly enchanting is the depth of character development that draws the reader deeply into the lives of the characters and lets them feel empathy for their situation. Author Rowena Whaling has done a magnificent job of character development in “Voices of the Stars” as she develops the story of Morgan of the Woods and in the words of the main character “weaves, entwines and spreads like the gossamer threads of Arachne-ultimately and forever changing the meaning of events as they truly were.”

  The elements of magic, myth and the supernatural are also woven together into this epic story with great care to create a unique harmony of the historical and the mythic that carries the reader into the mist-shrouded world between the worlds where Druids chant, dragons fly and the god and goddess make their ethereal presence known. There are also the all-too-human elements of love, violence, sex, relationships and betrayal to mention a few that let the reader further enter into the inner world of the characters. This literary treatment gives the characters humanity and makes them believable.

  One further positive literary element found within “Voices of the Stars” is the author’s use of epic poetry and songs throughout the texts. The author, a gifted songwriter and musician has been producing her own musical magic for decades and weaves this element into her storyline with literary grace and elegance.

  All of these elements combine in Whaling’s epic story to create a story that will excite you, prompt tears of joy, or simply arouse your sense of wonder. “Voices of the Stars” takes one on a spiritual as well as literary journey and will inspire you to read more about the Arthurian legends as well. The second book of the trilogy”Rowena of the Glen” continues the saga to a new time and place. Whaling is to be commended for her masterful work and I am certain that she will eventually have a place among the great fantasy novelists of our time.

  Lyrics of the following of Rowena Whaling’s songs appear in this book by special permission of The Romance Of Rowena Music, ASCAP: “All Time Is Now,” “Branwyn’s Song,” “Bella Morte,” “The Creature,” “Dark Music,” “I Dance Thee,” “Lost,” “Trance Dance,” “Your Eyes,” “Persephone Arise,” “Golden Chances,” and an excerpt from “This Machine Kills Fascists” by R. Whaling & B. Willie Dryden.

  Oh Lady of the withering Dream

  The potent Art remains…

  Yet is ever receding

  From Mankind’s world of fame...

  Oh beauty of the Moonlight’s beings

  Your shadow’s kiss now wanes...

  Forgotten abandoned Enchantments…

  In ruins they lie unclaimed…

  Oh, Lady of the countless Stars

  Do men forget your dance?

  They march to the drums of War Gods

  Devoid of all romance...

  Oh why is this thing happening?

  Will you ever return again?

  Oh Radiant Light – to spin and twirl

  To ancient Love’s refrain…

  VOICES OF THE STARS

  My Mother taught me how to thread a needle...

  ‘But first,’ said she,

  ‘We must put thread to spool...

  By three, then seven, then thirteen twines...

  By three, then seven, then thirteen Times...

  With fingers do we wheedle...

  By three, then seven, then thirteen twines...

  By Hum and tap and spoken rhymes...

  By three, then seven, then thirteen Times

  By hand we make what is needful...

  By three, then seven, then thirteen twines...

  By the Magic of Annwyn

  By three, then seven, then thirteen Times...

  Beneath the thirteen silver Moons...’

  Prologue

  In the dark and loathsome hours immediately proceding the Death in battle of Mordred, son of Morganna (she called Le Faye) and of the mortal wounding of Arthur, the King, the three ladies: Vivianne, Lady of the Lake; Nimue, the Enchantress; and Morgan, Priestess of the Great Goddess and daughter of the Seer, Igraine – retrieved Arthur from the bloody battlefield and laid him upon a pallet. By Saxon ship they travelled to the port from whence a punt could cross the marshy Waters of the Inland Sea to bring Arthur home to the Isle of Apples. There, it is said, that by their Magics, they even now keep him suspended ‘twixt Death and life in waiting for a fairer Time for the King to return to these Fair Isles of the Britons – to once again bring back the old ways.

  But Morganna grieved excessively and she fled Northward to the Snowy Mountains of Gwynedd. There she saw a strongly built house which was pleasing to her, so she conjured upon the house and family which therein lived a great Charm of invisibility and forgetfulness so that no one passing should ever see it again. And what is more, with her Spells and Incantations, all that ever existed of that house, family, and Animals would be forgotten by any who had ever known them. Furthermore, if a Hunter or a wanderer should, by chance, happen upon the house and walk into it, he would immediately forget that it had happened. That family and their Animals, Morganna turned into her servants. And there, Morganna Le Faye grieved and waited...

  What lies within these vellum pages is a history written in the tongue of the Britons which I, Morgan, have written down in order to preserve the truth of these matters – because, it is a fact that legends of the simple folk, as well as songs and poems of the Bards, gallop into fancy like Warhorses to the smell of blood. What begins as a simple circle Weaves, entwines, and spreads like the gossamer threads of Arachne – ultimately and forever changing the meaning of events as they really were. So, now, in my very old age of eighty-three years, but still of clear thought and memory, I have completed the writing and compiling of the truth as it happened; through five generations of histories, the length and breadth of the Isles of the Britons, even through the continent which lies across the Eastern Sea. I shall give it into the hands of one whom I would trust with my very life and all I hold Sacred. With Divine assurance I know that these histories will last through the millennia...

  Morgan

  When my Mother Igraine was fifteen years, she was married to Gorlois, the Dux of Dumnonia, and later had two daughters by him. The eldest was Morganna and seven years later, she gave birth to me, Morgan. In a very eerie way, both of her daughters resembled her exactly. In Times to come, my sister and I would be confused in legend and in lore. Even now, as I am nearing the end of my life, this has begun.

  Now, it so happened that my Mother Igraine was of the Old Dark Tri
bes; those here long before the Romans had invaded, or even before the Clansmen had arrived upon our shores. People of the Old Tribes are of smaller stature and much darker than either of the fair skinned or light eyed invaders of our lands. My Mother Igraine was, already in her fifteenth year, darkly mysterious and exotic: black hair, black eyes and lithe as the Faye – or so it is told – and was acclaimed as being exceedingly beautiful. And so, I suppose, were we.

  When the Dux of Dumnonia first laid his eyes upon Igraine, he Loved her and would have her as his wife. He was a Briton of the Clans’ and Roman blood who lived in the Roman style. His fortress lay upon a rocky promontory facing the Western Sea in the land of Dumnonia. Now, he honoured the ancient Goddess of the Old Tribes and their Spirits of Tree and Stone and Spring. But then, he also respected the Druids and the Gods of the Clansmen. However, being a military Commander allied with Rome, he himself worshipped and made sacrifice to the Eastern God Mithras, as well as the Sky Gods of the Greeks and Romans.

  Beyond the deep Love Gorlois came to have for my Mother Igraine, she represented great political gain and riches for him. You see, she was the daughter of one of the wealthiest Chieftains and most respected blood lines of the old race, who were not – in spite of commonly held opinion – impoverished savages hiding and living in the secret Woods and Mountains of the wilderness, wearing flea-ridden and filthy Animal skins. No, far from that...

  Had not the Clans travelled for centuries and thousands of leagues across many rich and intellectual lands in search of the mysterious Isles of the West? ...the Isles of the Hanging Stones and of gold... and of the people first descended from the Gods inhabiting the land which had once flourished beyond the Western edge of the known world? ...of that which was “the Island of advanced civilization, science and the known Cosmic Mysteries, the Island which sank beneath the Western Sea and whose people sent out one hundred boats in all directions to preserve their race of God-like ones, as well as their vast knowledge?”