Many People

In The King of Ys, Volume IV, The Dog And The Wolf, some chapters or chapter sections begin with a change of time, place and person:

"Publius Flavius Drusus, old soldier, came in from his farm..." (IV, 1, p. 81)

"Titus Scribona Glabrio, civil governor of Lugdunensis Tertia, received Quintus Domitius Bacca, his procurator..." (V, 1, p. 96)

"Tera, who had kept sheep and led rites among those folk who sparsely dwelt in the hinterland of Ys, knew she would never know peace in Aquilo." (VIII, 5, p. 166)

"Immediately after Easter, Evirion Baltisi travelled overland..." (IX, 1, p. 170)

"Late on a drizzly day, Bannon of Dochaldun reached the cabin." (X, 1, p. 189)

"Eochaid maqq Endae held an islet in a narrow bay of the Alban Dal Riata coast." (XVII, 2, p. 333)

"Flavius Vortivir, tribune at Darioritum Venetorum, was a hard man but righteous in his fashion." (XIX, 2, p. 375)

"...Brick and tile, the house of Septimius Rullus was among those that had escaped conflagration." (XX, 3, p. 397)

"There were three who sat behind a long table in a room of the basilica: the Duke of the Armorican Tract, the governor of Lugdenensis Tertia, and his procurator." (XXI, 5, p. 422)

"'Hail, Caesar!' boomed the deep young voices.

"From the towertop where he stood, Constantinus saw widely over those domains that were his." (XXI, 6, p. 425)

"There was a man named Catto who was a fisher at Whalestrand..." (XXIV, 1, p. 468)

Half of these characters are here introduced for the first time. The narrative has progressed a considerable distance from the immediate aftermath of the destruction of Ys. We are not sure how much time elapses but we remember that Gratillonius and Verania will have both a son and a daughter before this volume concludes. The text communicates the sense that the consequences of earlier dramatic events spread outwards affecting more and more people while at the same time the contemporaneous withdrawal of Rome is of even graver significance. Gratillonius, like Dominic Flandry, resists the descending darkness.