The Dark Age (series)
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The Dark Age is the series of novels by Mark Chadbourn which follows The Age of Misrule and is followed by Kingdom of the Serpent. It is set in Britain around the beginning of the third millennium. While the previous series was a clear fantasy story, the second has strings of gothic horror and existentialism woven into it.
The Dark Age consists of three novels: The Devil In Green, The Queen Of Sinister, and The Hounds Of Avalon.
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[edit] History of story
Although not following directly onwards from The Age of Misrule, The Dark Age is a continuation of the world established by the end of the original trilogy.
The original Brothers and Sisters of Dragons have gone from simple men and woman fighting against evil, into modern day legends as the world tries to recover from "the Fall" - the failing of technology and the downfall of modern civilisation. Left to adapt to new rules, new powers and a lack of modern living, Great Britain faces many struggles in surviving this new age of civilisation.
[edit] Overview
The three books of The Dark Age weave together to form one larger story, but independently they not only act as individual stories, but successfully show three different areas of life which have faced tremendous problems coping with the changes to the world, namely religion, medicine and the Government respectively.
[edit] Plot
[edit] The Devil in Green
Britain is in turmoil. With the Fall (as the return of the Tuatha De Danann is now known) technology began to fail, and spirits began to roam the countryside. Given the dangers, the various Christian Churches of Great Britain have banded together at Salisbury for mutual self-defence. They are aided by the reformed Knights Templar, a military force which protects the priests.
One of the Templar's newest recruits is a man named Mallory. Cynical, unbelieving, and philosophical, he stops outside Salisbury to save a young man, Alan, from highway-spirits. They are informed that 'something is stirring' by the highway-spirits. From there, they make it to Salisbury Cathedral. Both are accepted into the Templars.
While training as Templars, Mallory and Alan hear about a recent fight with witches outside Salisbury. That night, they sneak out into town, where they meet Sophie, a hippie woman. Sophie leads them to her camp outside town, where they are welcomed. Sophie introduces herself as a shaman. But when the paganist hippies, who were attacked by Templars recently, discover Mallory's allegiance, they turn them out. Mallory goes back to the Cathedral, just in time to see a squad of soldiers bring an artefact into the grounds, along with several fatally-burnt Templars.
Mallory's first mission is to find a monster, somewhere to the north of Salisbury. The six-man team sets out, but in an attack, Mallory is separated from the others. He wakes up in the Far Lands (the Otherworld), where a mysterious woman tells him that he is a Brother of Dragons, gives a sword called Llyrwyn and warns that the monster will kill him and his friends if he is not careful. He returns from the Otherworld, finds his friends, sees a severed left hand on the ground, and returns to the Cathedral. They are astonished to see that the Cathedral is now very fearsome-looking, with strange protrusions on the roof and a barricade on the door. They are allowed inside.
It seems that, since the group left, the cathedral has been beset nightly by occult forces - mysterious naked women, little men on charging horses. Mallory worries about the monster, when the leader of the Church is killed by a savage attack. The new leader, Stefan, describes himself as a 'Fundamentalist', and hopes to reform the Church using a newly recovered artefact - the bones a St. Cecil, which he recently recovered for the Church.
As well as the protrusions from the roof, there are new buildings on the cathedral grounds. Mallory enters them, where he meets the spirits of former monks of the cathedral. They claim that a great wrong has been done by the Churchmen, and beg Mallory to stop it.
With the food running out, tensions in the cathedral are running high. A split is developing between the fundamentalists and the lenient priests. After sneaking out again, Mallory broaches the idea of an alliance between the Church and Sophie's camp - protection for food. A tunnel is begun.
While the tunnel is being constructed, a Fabulous Beast attacks the cathedral. It is fought back with machine-guns. There is much rejoicing from the priests, who call it a 'serpent', but Sophie warns Mallory in a dream that the Beasts are a part of the natural balance, and the death of one will have grave repercussions.
Mallory realises that one of his friends is being possessed by the monster (All of his friends came back with their hands, so where did the other hand come from?) Hemingway, his officious sergeant, begins to go mad.
The tunnel is finished. However, as Mallory is talking with Sophie, the elite Templars, acting on sealed orders, storm the camp and drive away the hippies, taking all of the stored food. Mallory and Sophie are knocked unconscious. When Mallory wakes, he is in a cell. Stefan justifies the double-cross by claiming that since the Church must survive to spread the word of the One True God, it has precedence over other religions. In particular, precedence over the Sophie, whose occult abilities mark her as a witch.
Before she can be executed, Sophie escapes. The hippy camp, which was previously untouched by the attacking spirits, is now destroyed. In desperation, most of the priests turn to Stefan, who initiates a campaign to destroy 'godlessness'. In particular, technology, non-Christian religious texts and homosexuals are destroyed or imprisoned. As well as this, Stefan claims that the power of the late St. Cecil lets him look into a man's soul and find undisclosed sins.
Realising the insanity of the situation, Mallory tries to sneak out, with Sophie's help. When Alan tries to come with him, he reveals that he killed his girlfriend in an argument. Disgusted, Mallory abandons him.
Sphie and Mallory travel north, but they get lost in the woods. There, they meets the Horned God of Nature(Cernunnos), who tells them that they must go back, for the sake of existence. He also asks Mallory about the last night before the destruction of London.
Mallory agrees to go back with Sophie. Outside the cathedral, they are confronted with horror: the priests, desperate with hunger, have begun crucifying sinners, including Alan. Sophie stays to care for him, while Mallory goes inside. There, he is told that the Lenient priests have lost all power to the Fundamentalists. He also receives final proof as to the nature of the 'artefact' - it is the egg of a Fabulous Beast.
On the way to defeating Stefan, Mallory must enter the mysterious new building again. There, he is confronted with his past - once, he became indebted to a London gang-leader. To balance the debt, the man gave him a choice - shoot himself in the head or watch the gang rape his girlfriend. He chose to shoot himself in the head, but after he pulled the trigger, the gun somehow morphed into the dragon that destroyed London. Confused, he no longer knows what he is, but he knows that he is needed.
Mallory kills Stefan's guards, then confronts Stefan. Stefan again justifies his actions by claiming that since the Church must survive to propagate the word of God, no sins can be committed in its name that will not ultimately be forgiven. Shocked at his action, Mallory throws him in the crypt of the Church, where the ghosts of the monks kill him.
Mallory is now confronted by the monster, a shapeshifter who shares its body with Hemingway. As the killings became more common, Hemingway was driven mad by the creature. Mallory is unable to stand against the monster, but with help of Sophie and Cernunnos, the monster is killed by a quick-growing group of trees.
The egg is claimed by Cernunnos, who says that without the love of another spirit, the newly-hatching Beast will die, along with any hope for the future. But then, Cernunnos fuses the hatchling with the dying Alan. It heals him, and he now has a connection to the earth energy which the Fabulous Beasts represent.
In the aftermath, the heroes discover that Sophie is also a Sister of Dragons. With the Lenient priests now firmly in control, the remaining Fundamentalists depart for 'godlier climes'. Cernunnos informs them that the monster is the first herald of the Lament-Brood, a force from the edge of existence who were summoned by the Fall. He also promises that he will aid them and the Christians when the time comes: after all, they live on one of his former holy sites and worship the world of which he is a part. Mallory and Sophie set out to find the rest of the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons.
The title refers to Cernunnos: although he is worshipped by the pagans as a nature god and part of life, the Christians portray him as the Devil; hence, 'the Devil in Green'.
[edit] The Queen of Sinister
Caitlin Shepherd is a country GP in the aftermath of the Fall. Her town is being decimated by a strange and universal sickness, she rarely sees her young son Liam, and her husband Grant is becoming distant. Her closest friend is Mary, a local wise woman, whose herbal remedies complement Caitlin's dwindling medicines.
Caitlin begins seeing visions of a boar-headed knight. She goes home to find her husband and son dying of the plague. As she buries them, some part of her mind breaks.
Meanwhile, Mary has been contacted by a man named Calder. He says the plague is magical in nature and that he can take Caitlin (a Sister of Dragons) across the worlds to fix it. On the way to the cromlech they use, they meet two black adolescents, Mahalia and Carlton, whom they save from dead horsemen. Crossing over, they also meet Mark, an architect whose daughter went missing around a standing circle.
Meanwhile, Mary has discovered the truth of the plague: it is caused by devils. This is why the medicines failed. Realising that Caitlin may be in danger, she sets out after her.
On the other side, Caitlin's friend find a city ruled by Lugh, the Celtic god of the Sun. His Court is under siege in part of a civil war between the Tuatha de Danann. One side thinks that the humans may soon rise above the Tuatha and destroy them. The other believes that the Tuatha have to grow and change as well. The split has destroyed many lives. As well as this, the Lament-Brood have besieged Lugh, with the help of his foes, and are demanding that he turn Caitlin over to them for slaying.
Mary has tracked Caitlin to the standing circle, but is being chased by the Bone Man, a revenant. With the advice of a group of spirits called the Elysium, Mary pushes the monster back. She has been informed that if she fulfils one of the prophecies of Merlin, she can save Caitlin.
Caitlin has made two discoveries. Firstly, Calder lied to her: he only wanted her help to take him to the Otherworld, the Land of Always Summer. He has no intention of helping her further. Secondly, Mahalia has found a kidnapped human boy of her own age in the dungeons. He calls himself Jack. He knows a way out, if they will free him.
After press-ganging Calder into rejoining them, the group sets out for the House of Pain, the heart of the plague, which is beyond the Otherworld, on the layover between it and the world of the dead. Caitlin now wants to bring her child and husband back from the dead.
The death, it seems, hit Caitlin's mind quite hard. She now has four other people in her: Amy, a six-year-old; Briony, a chain-smoking harridan with a persecution complex; Brigid, a wise old hag; and the Dark One, whom the others fear and try to suppress.
Out in the forest, the group stops for a bit. After straying off the path, Caitlin finds Jack Churchill, the Giant Killer, asleep in a tomb. She is attacked by malignant shades, but saved by a Tuatha. He warns her not to leave the path again, then offers her group the use of his rivercraft. But after a day, they are attacked by human-hating Tuathas, and their host is killed. Caitlin is swept overboard into the real world, and the group carries on to the House of Pain without her.
Caitlin appears in the middle of Birmingham. She is taken in by a man named Thackerey, who likes her, and his friend Harvey. Birmingham is factionalised: the southern suburbs are armed and impassable, the eastern approach is run by an unsavoury group. The city centre is run by a gang lord named Bright who hoards all the food and keeps the populace in line with his thugs. During a raid, Thackerey saves Harvey and Caitlin (who is still catatonic from the passage), and is taken prisoner. This act of kindness pushes Caitlin to embrace the Dark One in her head, who calls herself Morrigan, and is unstoppably violent. Singlehandedly, she storms Bright's shopping centre palace, killing Bright and most of the guards in the process. She thanks Thackerey, who is now firmly smitten, and makes her own way back to the Otherworld.
Mary has made it to Bath, where she is greeted by a spirit who asks her to choose between two masks: one of her own face, one blank. She chooses the blank, symbolising her devotion to her religion, and is accepted by the Goddess. The Goddess then asks her to tell her most hated secret. If she does, her love for the Goddess will be proved, and Caitlin can be helped - but if she fails, she will be killed. Mary acquiesces, and tells of how she blew off her dying mother to get high in some field. She has hated herself for it ever since. This is enough, and the Goddess agrees to help Caitlin with a boar-headed knight. Mary sacrifices her life to ensure that Caitlin gets further help from the war-spirit called the Morrigan, confident in her friend and the Hereafter. (one aspect of the magical forces is that they are not strictly linear in time, and the help promised now has, in a sense, already been given).
Caitlin finds herself in a desert of the Otherworld, and beats a sand-djinn in a fight. The djinn promises aid and safe passage for herself and all her kind who follow after. He also promises to take her to the House of Pain.
Meanwhile, Caitlin's friends have found a remnant of the druids, still alive in the Otherworld. In the last days before the Roman destruction of the Druids, they sent eight of their number across the worlds to save their knowledge for future generations. They are fed and watered, and travel the last leg to the House of Pain. But disaster strikes and Carlton is killed. The group vow to carry on, in his name.
Caitlin and her friends meet up at the House of Pain. The House is guarded by the Lament-Brood. However, with the Morrigan's help, and the army of sand-djinns that Caitlin has brought, they enter the castle. Here, Calder intends to make his last stand against the Lament-Brood.
Caitlin faces the House of Pain, and is faced with a choice: if she agrees to give up her role as a Sister of Dragons, she can live here forever with her son Liam. Heartbroken, she agrees. But she feels she has made the wrong choice, and is soon confronted by the boar-headed knight. She is holding Liam back from his ultimate fate in death, simply for her sake. As well as this, the boar-heaed knight is the ghost of Grant, her husband. Together, they destroy the enchantment which powers the plague, and Caitlin surrenders Liam to Grant's care, and they both pass over. Grant tells Caitlin, "Don't mourn me forever, someone will come for you."
Calder's plan is scuppered. Mahalia shoves him into a cupboard until the fight is over. The group finally realises that Mark killed Carlton because he thought they were slowing down. Mark is a government agent who had been assigned to that cromlech, in the event that someone would try to pass over. Now, he is going to kidnap Caitlin and take her back to his superiors so she can protect them from the Lament-Brood. Jack kills him, and the group all go back to the real world.
Caitlin has left the castle, but hasn't the heart to go to her friends. Then she is greeted by Thackerey and Harvey, who came through to the Otherworld by the help of the boar-headed knight, and were guided to the house by the sand-djinns. Caitlin is struck by Thackerey's kindness, and the three go in search of a way home.
[edit] The Hounds of Avalon
The British government has set itself up at Oxford after the fall of London. It is trying desperately to maintain some form of the pre-Fall existence. However, reports have now reached them of the Lament-Brood, amassing an army of zombies in Yorkshire with soul-destroying powers.
In the governments employ are two friends: Hunter and Hal. Hunter is a soldier who does not respond well to authority. Hal is a clerk who follows his paperwork. However, both become involved in the disaster facing the country.
Meanwhile, Mallory and Sophie are gathering artefacts to fight the Lament-Brood with. They meets the Lost Ones, followers of the late Ryan Veitch, who are growing in number. They escape, but at a tomb they are attacked by an SBS team, led by Hunter, with capture orders. Sophie is shot, presumed dead. Mallory is uncommunicative.
But Sophie is not dead. The tomb was built on a connection to the Otherworld, and she fell through that. Here, she is looked after by Ceridwen and Dian Cecht. She meets Caitlin Shepherd, who gave up her right to be a Sister of Dragons in extenuating circumstances. With Sophie's help, Caitlin tries to contact the Sacred Feminine for help, but is only able to reach the Morrigan, the darkest aspect of same. the Morrigan possesses Caitlin, giving Caitlin something to help the brothers and Sisters of Dragons with.
Caitlin, Sophie, and Caitlin's friends appeal to Lugh, their host, to let them return to Oxford. However, Lugh followers and the rest of the Tuatha De Danann are engaged in a civil war over what can be done to the humans. A siege has begun, and while the humans can escape to the Real World, the Tuatha will soon lose the city and be forced to retreat.
Hal has several encounters with mysterious beings who acknowledge him as a Brother of Dragons. During one of these, he saves the life of a fairy with his natural energy. For this, the regulars of an Otherworld pub called the Hunter's Moon promise to help him whenever he needs it. Using their help, he uncovers a link between the Lia Fáil and the paintings of Shugborough House.
Hunter travels north to fight the Lament-Brood. However, his squad is decimated by the reanimated dead, and he is only rescued by the White Walker, a being who seeks to end the Fimbulwinter, which has recently begun. Snow has begun falling over Britain in the middle of summer, and the Lament-Brood uses the intense cold against their human foes.
Meanwhile, Kirkham, a scientist for the government, has developed a theory to explain the Fall: the universe has become attached to a brane universe with a higher energy. As well as this, the magic which has been used since the Fall is apparently merely the focusing of consciousness to alter the 'superstring' nature of reality using conscious thought.
Hunter returns to Oxford, the only survivor of his troop. He contacts Mallory, and the two men, thinking that they are the only Brothers of Dragons, hit on the idea of contacting the last group for help. Hunter breaks Mallory out and goes to Lincoln to get Laura DuSantiago and Ruth Galagher; Mallory goes to Salisbury to get Shavi.
The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons, past and present, regroup near Oxford just as the Lament-Brood arrives at the city. They manage to hold back the Brood for a time, especially with the arrival of the remains of Lugh and his followers. However, when Hal is accused of killing the Prime Minister, the group abandons the defences to find him. They find their way to the prison, where they are confronted by Reid, a government agent.
Reid explains that the government has become partially irrelevant since the Fall. As well as this, life is less stable and people cannot be fat and rich. The Lament-Brood, rather than wanting to destroy life, simply want to return the world to the state it was in before the Fall. Shocked by his callous and horrific nature, the Brothers and Sisters of Dragons can only watch as Kirkham uses his knowledge of supersymmetrical theory to do just that...
...and the world changes to the apparent reality. There is insurgency in Najaf. The poverty gap is widening. The Brothers and Sisters of Dragons inhabit menial, soul-destroying boring lives - except Hal. Somehow, Dian Cecht, the last of his kind, had anticipated Kirkham, and used a collection of artefacts the government had hoarded, has protected a piece of reality from the Lament-Brood. Hal has worked out the riddle - the missing Brother of Dragons, Jack Churchill, is lost in time and space. His destiny is as yet unfulfilled. Hal now has a choice - cross the barrier, and gain a normal life at which he has much practice, or follow Dian Cecht, find Jack, and attempt to fix the world. Grinning, Hal follows Dian Cecht.
[edit] Characters
- Mallory is the first Brother of Dragon during the Dark Age. A cynical man, he was once a student of the Classics. In the aftermath of the Fall, he became a member of the reformed Knights Templar. The Tuatha call him the Dead Man.
- Sophie Tallant is a priestess for a group called the New Celtic Nation. When last seen, she and Mallory had hit the road looking for the other Brothers and Sister of Dragons.
- Caitlin Shepherd was a country GP. Some time after the Fall, a mysterious plague hit the south of England. Travelling to the Otherworld for answers, she agreed to a sacrifice - her status as a Sister of Dragons in exchange for a cure. She has not taken it well. The Tuatha call her the Broken Woman.
- Hunter is a Special Ops field leader for the remains of the SBS. His best friend is Hal.
- Hal is a silent office-drone in the reconstituted British government. Withdrawn, his role in the coming conflict is unknown as yet. However, the Tuatha call him the Shadow Mage.
- Mary is an old witch who knows Caitlin. Self-loathing and alcoholic, she sacrificed her life to bring the Goddess (the sacred fememine) back to the world.
