Close To The Otherworld

Dahut, IV, 1.

Queen Fennalis is aged:

"''Tis high time I got out of the way, and ready I am to go. A kind of adventure, drawing close to the Otherworld. I begin to make out its shores.'

"Dahut's ideas widened. 'In dreams?' she breathed.

"'Often I cannot be sure if the glimpses come when I sleep or wake.'" (p. 83)

Observations

"Otherworld" could just mean some other realm but, of course, it was widely believed not only that there is another realm but also that each of us enters it temporarily in dreams and eventually at death.  Indeed, this belief is deduced from experience. We not only leave our bodies - so it seems - while asleep but also can dream about, i.e., meet, the dead.

The King of Ys assumes an Otherworld, including a hereafter, as a fictional premise.

If, as I believe, there is no hereafter, then those who expect to enter that realm will never know that it does not exist. That is logically odd. If you predict an eclipse at noon tomorrow, then, at 12:01, if there was an eclipse, then we will know that there was one and, if there was no eclipse, then we will know that there was not one whereas, if there is a hereafter, then we will know that there is one but, if there is no hereafter, then we will not know that there is not one. Some would argue that this makes the question meaningless. I do not. But it is logically odd.

Intelligence And Extrapolation

Dahut, II, 1.

Gratillonius' intelligence service includes Rufinus and Apuleius. Niall will attack again. Stilicho, effective dictator of the Western Empire, has been able to make only a patchwork peace with Alaric the Visigoth, must deal with trouble brewing in Africa and will need troops for protection against the Eastern Empire as well as against the barbarians. In particular, Britannia might be stripped of its defenders. 

"'If Rome collapses, Scoti and Saxons will swarm into Britannia, Franks and their kin into Gallia. They'll breed like cockroaches.'" (p. 39)

How long will Ys, on its peninsula of thinly populated and defended Armorica, survive? Not long, we know. Meanwhile, Gratillonius does what he can - as our leaders fail to do now? The Andersons show us the end of an age and we live in one.

Daybreak

Poul and Karen Anderson, Dahut (London, 1989), I, 1.

This volume opens:

"Day came to birth above eastern hills and streamed down the valley. It flamed off the towers of Ys, making them stand like candles against what deepness lingered in western blue." (p. 25)

What a great beginning. 

It is the feast of Lug. Red-robed men with a hammer-bearing leader climb the wall of Ys at High Gate and sing to "...Taranis of the Thunders..." (p. 25) At the Temple of Belisama by Elven Gardens, women sing to the Goddess. The captain of a ship leaving the harbour kills a black cock and chants that Lir's will be done. All Ysan sea captains are ordained priests of Lir. By the Challenge Oak in the Sacred Precinct, Gratillonius, Father in the Mysteries, calls:

"'Hail, Mithras Unconquered, Saviour, Warrior, Lord, born unto us anew and forever...'" (p. 27)

At the Forum, in the former temple of Mars, Christians sing triumphantly.

If I were there, I would invoke whatever gods may be and meditate on the wall or, if permitted, in one of the temples. I hail the worshipers across the centuries.

Change And Purpose

Gallicenae, XVII.

Times continue to change as Ys interacts with Armorica and Hivernia. Tommaltach the Scot returns. Corentinus is invited to debate in the Symposium. (More satisfactory than preaching in the Forum.) Young Carsa spends time in Ys under the guidance of Corentinus but seeing a lot of Dahut. Apuleius visits. Gratillonius revives the yacht race, long abandoned because of pirates.

At the start point of the race:

"...where the land bent abruptly north, was a fine broad bench." (2, p. 374)

I think that this should be "beach." 

Ys seems to have nowhere to go but up. The Queens know that the Gods have a purpose for Dahut hidden from mortals and maybe even from Themselves. That purpose can be either a new age or an end.

According to one school of Jewish thought, there is a potential Messiah in each generation. Dahut may be a potential new Brennilis for a beginning, an end or both.

Ys In The Wider World

 

Gallicenae, XVI.

Ys continues to take its place in the wider world. Gratillonius must insist that Ysan merchants do not evade Roman customs. There is too much hostility toward the city already.

Gratillonius trains Cynan in sword-fighting and converses with Maeloch. The latter waits beside:

"...the smoke-darkened relief of a scene in an ancient tale - the hero Belcar combating the demonic mermaid Quanis -" (2, p. 355)

That is prophetic of what Dahut will become, especially since Maeloch ponders Dahut's odd behaviour while he waits and she greets him later.

The narrative broadens out well beyond Ys. A young man with a religious vocation, called Sucat, tells Martinus how he escaped from enslavement in Hivernia and how he feels that the Hivernians cry out for the Light. Martinus renames Sucat for history:

"'...you'll reach the forefront of ministry; you will be Christ's patrician.'" (3, p. 362)

Salomon

Gallicenae, XV, 3.

Another Biblical reference: Apuleius' son is named Salomon, after Solomon. Apuleius must explain the reference to Gratillonius. The Andersons explain in a note that early Christians made little use of the Old Testament except for some lyrical and prophetic passages.

The earliest New Testament canon, compiled by Marcion, was only "Gospel and Apostle," comprising Luke's Gospel minus OT references, and Paul's letters. "Gospel and Apostle" contrasted with "Moses and Prophets." Marcion regarded the OT and NT deities as distinct and opposed so Christianity synthesizes Judaism and Marcionism.

Young Carsa In Ys

Gallicenae, XVI, 1.

This chapter section presents a beautiful account of Ys as experienced by a young mariner visiting the city for the first time:

green waves darkened by kelp, white on rocks

hundredfold fowl

gulls

terns

guillemots

puffins

cormorants

seals

dangerous reefs

dark rose sea wall between two promontories

on it, a frieze of fabulous creatures

battlements

turrets

gleaming glass on spires

the tidally closing gate

harbour

docks

warehouses

ships

boats

tugs

a robed official

guards in Ysan armour

longshoremen

hawkers

whores

entertainers

spectators

runners for inns, speaking some Latin

unfamiliar, elongated, sleek, swirling, surging proportions and artwork

throb

clamour

activity

prosperity

bright garments jewellery

folk clean, well-groomed, lean, energetic and dignified

Celtic and Phoenician features

women's equality

free servants

hostel room fresco of ship and blue-cloaked, star-holding woman

(Star of the Sea)

common room food

marinated mussels

leeks in chicken broth

fried plaice with thyme and watercress

hazelnuts in white bread

sweet butter

blue chees

honeycake

mead

an invitation to meet the King

Ysan marines

Roman guards

labyrinthine paths

flowerbeds

hedges

topiaries

bowers

scenes of wild beasts in forests on palace walls

bronze boar and bear before the staircase

copper roof

an image of an eagle with outspread wings on the dome

gilt wings blazing at sundown

the centurion/prefect/King

two of his nine wives

an old scholar

the head of a mercantile house

Rufinus

a visiting Scot

Princess Dahut...

Wind In Aquilo

Gallicenae, XV, 3.

When Gratillonius and Apuleius walk to the latter's farm:

"Wind boomed.... A buzzard rode watchful upon its torrent.

"Apuleius must raise his voice against the noise." (p. 334)

And he must inform Gratillonius of Imperial forces ranged against him. Gratillonius is regarded as "'...the King of that nest of pagans...'" When Apuleius says this:

"The wind slipped fingers under Gratillonius' cloak." (p. 335)

The main problem is that Stilicho:

"'...intends that his will, and none other, shall prevail everywhere in the West.'" (ibid.)

However, the wind blows both ways. Apuleius gives Gratillonius a horse called Favonius, meaning:

"'...the west wind that brings the springtime.'" (p. 343)

- and hopes that the horse will bear the King to his own springtime.

The Narrative Continues To Broaden

Gallicenae, XV.

Whether sequentially or concurrently:

Dahut is trained in the Nymphaeum;

Rufinus visits Hivernia/Eriu;

Gratillonius revisits Aquilo and learns about events in the Empire, East and West.

Gratillonius has strengthened the Western Empire but also:

"'...strengthened Ys. The city that once lay veiled is today chiefest in Armorica, its brilliance and prosperity outshining any of the Western Empire. Nonetheless, it remains as alien, as un-Christian, as the seat of the Sassanian King.'" (3, p. 338)

That is strange because Ys will return behind its veil so that, in later centuries, it will be the subject-matter only of legend and fiction. At this stage of the Anderson's The King of Ys Tetrolgy, the narrative has broadened out as shown in this post and the process continues when Chapter XVI opens:

"Tiberius Metellus Carsa was of Cadurcic descent, but his family had long dwelt in Burdigala and mingled its blood with others that pulsed in the city." (1, p. 344)

How he bears on Ys, time will reveal.

Over A Decade In Ys

Gallicenae, XV, 1.

This chapter and chapter section open:

"It had become clear to the Nine and many others that Dahut would embark upon womanhood in her twelfth year." (p. 319)

Twelve years have elapsed since Dahilis gave birth near the end of Volume I. Notionally, Gratillonius and his Romans are merely stationed in Ys. Factually, they have settled down and are becoming Ysans. Gratillonius, Adminius and Budic have married. Gratillonius is the King as well as the prefect, the centurion and the Father of the Mithraeum. Other characters have settled subsequently: Corentinus in the former Temple of Mars and Rufinus at the top of the Polaris tower. We would appreciate a much longer series presenting a month by month account of lives and interactions in Ys, especially in the light of the knowledge that it will all end and soon.

The Terran Empire need not fall in the lifetime of Dominic Flandry but the legend of Ys decrees that Grallon is its last King.