Dawn of Avalon
Authors: Anna Elliott
Copyright © 2010 by Anna Elliott
Kindle Edition
Published by the Author
ISBN (ePub format) 978-0-9829560-2-1
ASIN (mobi format) B0042P5CXY
All rights reserved.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Please report errors to Anna Elliott at [email protected] so that they can be corrected in future versions. Anna would also love to hear your comments.
This project was made possible by the selfless contributions of many parties. The free software packages Inkscape and GIMP (GNU Image Manipulation Program) were used in the graphical design process. The map of Britain is based on raw data courtesy of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency. The cover design is based on
La Belle Dame Sans Merci
by John William Waterhouse. The harp vignette is loosely based on the
Queen Mary
harp in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh.
The
T
WILIGHT OF
A
VALON Trilogy
“Elliott brings the Arthurian world to rich life, creating a Britain both familiar and distinctly alien to fans of medieval romances.”
—
Publishers Weekly
“Passion, conflict, danger and magic combine for an irresistible love story that will keep you turning the pages!”
—Michelle Moran, author of
Nefertiti
&
Cleopatra’s Daughter
“… a worthy addition to the Arthurian and Trystan and Isolde cycles … This Isolde steps out from myth to become a living, breathing woman and one whose journey is heroic.”
—Margaret George, author of
Helen of Troy
“… unique and delightful … filled with passion, courage, and timeless magic.”
—
Library Journal
“… reinvigorates the celebrated romance between Trystan and Isolde. ”
—
Booklist
“Strongly recommended.” (Editors’ Choice Review)
—Ray Thompson,
Historical Novels Review
“Our heroine has the spunk of a woman of our era, and this Isolde is one we can all admire and aspire to.”
—Anne Easter Smith, author of
The King’s Grace
and
Daughter of York
a story of
M
ORGAN AND
M
ERLIN from the
T
WILIGHT OF
A
VALON universe
author of
The
T
WILIGHT OF
A
VALON Trilogy
from Touchstone (Simon & Schuster)
- Cover
- Copyright Page
- What Others are Saying
- Title Page
- Table of Contents
- Author’s Intro
- Map of 6th-c. Britain
- Prologue
- Part I
- Part II
- Part III
- More by Anna Elliott
- About the Author
O
NE OF MY FAVORITE characters in my
Twilight of Avalon
trilogy is Isolde’s grandmother, Morgan. (Or Morgan le Fay, as she is commonly known in later versions of the Arthur legends). Morgan’s aging voice came to me very clearly as the narrator for the prologues of all three books. And after I’d finished writing the trilogy, she still haunted me. Myrddin (or Merlin), the famous enchanter of King Arthur’s court, rather haunted me as well, and I couldn’t stop wondering what Morgan and Merlin might have shared when they were young, before Morgan’s brother Arthur ever famously became King of Britain.
So here is
Dawn of Avalon
, the first part of their story and a prequel to my
Twilight of Avalon
trilogy. In Arthurian legend, Merlin is famous for ‘having lived time backward’ and being able to See the future as clearly as the past. In the earliest versions of the legend of the dragons at Dinas Emrys, Ambrosius Aurelianus, a famous war leader, digs up the dragons at King Vortigern’s command. Geoffrey of Monmouth, whose version of the King Arthur legends I loosely follow, changed Ambrosius Aurelianus to a mysterious enchanter Merlin, giving me the inspiration for the Merlin of
Dawn of Avalon
.
I hope you’ll enjoy reading Morgan and Merlin’s story. It was a pure joy to write, and I find now that I’m not quite so haunted by them anymore. I think (I hope) they’re happy with the prequel that I gave them, happy that they had the chance to live out their one perfect day.
Although the vast majority of my research comes from books, there are a couple of websites I can recommend to anyone curious to learn a bit more:
For more on the legends associated with Dinas Emrys (called Dinas Ffareon until renamed after Merlin), see:
www.celtnet.org.uk/legends/dinas_emrys.html
For more on the etymology of Merlin’s name, see:
medievalscotland.org/problem/names/myrddin.shtml
To learn more, visit me on the web at:
Happy reading!
ROLOGUE
P
AIN. He was awash in a black sea of it, and each wave gnawed at his every muscle and nerve.
“I said, what is your name?”
The voice made the blood pound blackly behind the pain that had centered itself in his skull.
“Are you one of Uther’s scabby whore-son cowards? Answer me!”
The prisoner’s eyes were still closed, but he could see the other man against the blackness of his lids: a long, flat, gray-skinned face, like a slab of stone marking some ancient warrior’s grave.
By rights, Vortigern ought to have moss-grown spirals tattooed across his forehead.
Dirty straw rustled as Vortigern took a step forward, and the prisoner forced his eyes open, tensing his muscles and clenching his teeth against another blow.
But the boy stood, blocked Vortigern’s way. The scrawny, dark-haired boy the prisoner could remember coming every day with food and salves.
“No.” The lad had a pale, soft-looking face. He might be—fourteen? Fifteen? His eyes looked older than that, but his cheeks were still smooth as a girl’s. “You’ll only drive him unconscious, and then he’ll tell you nothing at all.”