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Authors: Dayanara Sanar Ryelle
Early One Morning
Cover design © 2013 D.S. Ryelle
Copyright 2013, Dayanara S. Ryelle; all rights reserved. Published by DarkMoon Publishing, a division of DarkMoon International, in association with Amazon Publishing, Inc. DarkMoon and the DarkMoon logo are trademarks of DarkMoon International.
No part of this book may be reproduced, in whole or in part, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form, by any means: electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise; without written permission of the publisher.
Other Books by D.S. Ryelle
Ophelia
Barefoot on the Couch
~*~
As Catriona Cassidy
Broken Road
To Greg Hicks:
This is the path upon which I found you;
may you one day backtrace it,
and find that I left it much the same.
And to Bill Johnston:
The sun no longer rises
quite like it did when
you were here.
I love you
and miss you
and I thank you
for being one of the greatest influences
on my young life.
Table of Contents
If you’ve read my books before, you know I generally take care with the nuances of historical fiction. I may ignore the subtleties of language (who wants to read “thee” and “thou” in the twenty-first century, anyway, besides my beloved Shakespeare nerds?) but I’m always cautious to research whether cities existed, who ruled when and that sort of thing.
But this isn’t one of those books.
Early One Morning
is based on the concept behind
The Testament of Mary
. Knowing that
Testament
treated Mary of Nazareth as a normal woman who was suffering over the fact that her son was executed (never mind that he was “arrogant” and “more than a little crazy.”) I decided to take that moment in time and make it my own…my own language, my own characters, everything. If Colm Toibin had the temerity to have Mary laying praise at the foot of an Artemis statue, why couldn’t I throw in a little Paganism for myself? Add some of the literary concepts from Elizabeth Cunningham’s
Maeve
saga and the faces from the 2013 miniseries
The Bible
and I had an excellent foundation.
Enter Gaia Julia Gregorii, known as Julia Templa to her friends and fellow priestesses. At twenty-eight, she is the high priestess of the Temple of Isis, tucked away on the north wall of Jerusalem. The Romans have tolerated the temple for fifty years, as long as the inspectors can come by at any time to verify that the priestesses are burning incense to Emperor Tiberius. After holding the office for seven years, Julia—like the other residents of Jerusalem—feels the pull of Yeshua ben Miriam, and one holy week is all it takes for her life to change forever.
By the way, if you can understand Roman naming conventions, you’re a genius. I’ve read the instructions time and again and I’m
still
lost, so I invented my own.
I realized halfway through the first draft that I’m off a day on the execution schedule. By that point, I couldn’t be bothered to fix the whole slant of my story, so we’re calling it creative license.
Also, if anything seems anachronistic, bear in mind that it may not be the object as you’re used to thinking of it. For example, the “tea tray” in
Day of Venus
is a round, clay disk with clay cups and a clay pot filled with an infusion of jasmine. Think of things that could have been made with what was available, not as we currently know them.
Dayanara
August 2013
* historical figure
() deceased
Priestesses
Aliyah:
(16 CE) the youngest of the priestesses, Aliyah ran away from home rather than have her
bat mitzvah
.
1
(17)
Aurelia:
(11 BCE) the assistant healer, who hails from Egypt. (44)
Claudia:
(9 BCE) one of the priestesses who has mixed Roman and Jewish blood. (24)
Hadas:
(10 CE) chief healer; the only Gentile the Jews will see. (23)
Julia:
(5 CE) High Priestess of the Temple of Isis, Jerusalem and a second generation Jerusalemite. (28)
Livia:
(7 CE) the maiden; Julia’s second. Unlike Julia, Livia was born in Rome. (26)
Sabrina:
(11 CE) one of the priestesses who has mixed Roman and Jewish blood. (22)
Tatiana:
(12 CE) one of the priestesses who has mixed Roman and Jewish blood. (21)
Ziva:
(6 CE) priestess who is best at interpreting dreams. (27)
Romans
*Pontius Pilatus:
(15 BCE) a member of the Pontii clan, Pilatus was the Roman prefect in charge of Judea from 26 – 36 CE. (53)
2
*
Drusilla Claudia Tiberii:
(9 BCE) his wife, a distant relation of Emperor Tiberius. (47)
3
Mihalis:
Claudia’s chamberlain.
Caius:
Claudia’s master of the wardrobe.
Calista:
Claudia’s slave in charge of cosmetics.
Nadia:
Claudia’s jeweler.
Melinda:
Claudia’s hairstylist.
Mikel:
administrator in the prefect’s absence.
Jacobus:
centurion in the prefect’s personal guard.
Lucius:
a scribe who works for
Domus
Pilatus.
Constantina:
wife of Lucius.
Analenya:
(1 CE) chief priestess of Jerusalem’s College of Vestals. (32)
Gaia Julia Gregorii:
Julia’s full Roman name.
Gaia Minerva Claudii:
(11 BCE – c. 33 CE) Julia’s mother. If Minerva is still alive, she has probably moved back to Rome. (49)
(Gaia Paulina Severide):
(45 BCE – c. 7 CE) Julia’s grandmother, who got the format of her surname changed after rendering great services to the Old Republic. Paulina retired in Jerusalem at age 45. (83)
Jews
*Yeshua ben Miriam:
(1 BCE – 33 CE) teacher and healer who stirs the interest of the Sanhedrin. (33)
*Caiaphas:
(26 BCE) high priest and leader of the Sanhedrin. (64)
*Mary Magdalene:
(10 CE) follower of Yeshua, sometimes known as the thirteenth disciple. (23)
6a
First Hour of the Morning
7a
Second Hour of the Morning
8a
Third Hour of the Morning
9a
Fourth Hour of the Morning
10a
Fifth Hour of the Morning
11a
Sixth hour of the Morning
12p
First Hour of the Afternoon
1p
Second Hour of the Afternoon
2p
Third Hour of the Afternoon
3p
Fourth Hour of the Afternoon
4p
Fifth Hour of the Afternoon
5p
Sixth Hour of the Afternoon
6p
First Hour of the Evening
7p
Second Hour of the Evening
8p
Third Hour of the Evening
9p
Fourth Hour of the Evening
10p
Fifth Hour of the Evening
11p
Sixth Hour of the Evening
12a
First Hour of the Night
1a
Second Hour of the Night
2a
Third Hour of the Night
3a
Fourth Hour of the Night
4a
Fifth Hour of the Night
5a
Sixth Hour of the Night
First Day of Saturn – I
“My Lady, we must beg you not to go.”
“He angers everyone who hears him speak!”
“There could be a riot!”
“You could be trampled even if they’re calm.”
“He’s too popular for his own good!”
“Complaints won’t change my mind, ladies.” Julia examined her reflection in the bronze mirror Aliyah held and finally accepted the shawl Claudia had been offering for the last ten minutes. “If he truly is a prophet of the Hebrew god, it is my duty to welcome him to Jerusalem and to become familiar with the foundation of his teachings.”
She gave Hadas, Ziva and Aliyah pointed looks. “You, out of all the priestesses, should understand.”
“The Romans won’t like this,” Tatiana warned. “Pontius Pilatus will be furious if he hears you went anywhere near the Hebrew teacher.”
“Pilatus gets ‘furious’ about a lot of things,” the high priestess replied. “If I worried every time the prefect had a bad mood, I would have no life.
“Livia, you’re in charge.” Julia breezed out of the sanctuary, but Aurelia was waiting for her in the portico.
At forty-one, Aurelia was easily the oldest of the priestesses and occasionally used her age to play the role of mother. She did so now, placing her hands on Julia’s shoulders.
“Why are you so desperate to see this rabbi? This is Jerusalem. There are more than a hundred rabbis in this city. Why this one?”
“I hear the stories they tell. This Yeshua ben Miriam…he’s not like the others.”
“What you hear is what Aliyah repeats after sweeping out here. You’re twenty-eight and the high priestess…don’t you know better than to listen to the tales of little girls?”
Julia gently moved out of Aurelia’s grasp. “I’ll be back for evening prayers.”
“They say he’s going to process into the city tomorrow.”
“
Tomorrow?
Is he
mad?
Tomorrow’s the start of Passover week. Even if he doesn’t piss off any of the common rabble, he’ll still have to deal with the Sanhedrin.”
Julia was trying her best to listen to the rabbi’s teaching, but she couldn’t help overhearing the two men nearest her.
“On the purest, whitest donkey they can find,” the first continued. “I heard they’ve already rented a room for the holy days and only his closest disciples are invited.”