The Valley

The Valley is the story of a young Druid priest’s boyhood and coming of age in a secluded society where oracles are called on to mediate the rifts between the mortal and the spirit worlds, and bards cite ancient myths to settle villagers’ disputes. Llwddawanden is a hidden valley sanctuary where the remnants of a once powerful pagan cult carry on their ancient ritual practices despite the inexorable spread of Christianity. Cut off from the outside world by both geography and conviction, the Druids of Llwddawanden continue to venerate the Great Mother Goddess and to view themselves as the first-born and favorite of Her mortal children. ​ Herrwn, the shrine’s chief priest, has the responsibility of overseeing the education of Caelym, the orphaned son of the cult’s previous chief priestess, as well as adjudicating disputes brought before the shrine’s council—two tasks that grow more difficult as the rivalry over which of the three highest priests will claim Caelym as his disciple grows, and as mounting conflicts within their upper ranks threaten to rend the fabric of a society that has endured for more than a millennium.