Firebird Locations with Juliette Cross

Submitted: 9th April 2025

Firebird – Juliette Cross

Are you ready to enter the world of FIREBIRD

There’s not many fantasy novels on The BookTrail – hard to map for one – but Firebird has that magical mix where we head to ancient Rome and there are DRAGONS there!

Locations in Firebird

Firebird Juliette Cross

So, fellow Firebirders, we have a quest to solve so let’s march onwards…

Carpathian Mountains (c) Wikipedia

Locations in Firebird

The Carpathian Forest, Dacia (modern-day Romania)—Where Malina meets Julian for the first time

This place and scene in the prologue was essential to this story. I wanted readers to first see Malina happy and whole amongst her sisters and her homeland of Dacia (now Romania) beneath the Carpathian Mountains. Before Romans invade her family village and take everything away from her, she is young, daring, and reckless, which is exactly why she is bold enough to flirt with a dangerous centurion come to see their dancing show.

Locations in Firebird

This moment is also important for Julian, because he feels an instant connection to Malina, as does his dragon. So much so, that this brief encounter sets in motion their destined path together. Years later, when he sees her amongst the battlefield in Gaul, his dragon reacts instantly, sealing both their fates.

Locations in Firebird

The Forum, Rome, Italia of Ancient Rome—Where Julian takes Malina to find and buy Enid from the slave market

The Forum of Rome played an integral part in the lives of Ancient Romans. In Firebird, it is the same. Vendors and merchants sold everything here—luxury imported goods like carpets and silks, pottery, spices, fruit, meat, animals, bread and grain, body oils for bathing as well as human slaves. Just about everything you can imagine was sold and bartered for in the Forum.

Not only was it a place of business, but many sacred temples and statues revering their gods and victorious emperors were here. It was also an assembly place where the praeco, essentially the news announcer, would tell the people what was happening around the Roman Empire.

Locations in Firebird

Ruins of an ancient Roman imperial residence

While I included all of these aspects in the Forum of Firebird, I reimagined it with a touch more brutality, including the Wall of Traitors and the Wall of Victory—both of which included the heads of traitors to Rome and kings who they conquered. This was important to remind all Romans what might happen to them if they went against Caesar.

Romulus and Remus

Locations in Firebird

I also included the statue of the she-dragon suckling Romulus and Remus, the first noble Romans to be given the ability to transform into godlike dragons. These scenes in the Forum are essential in the world-building of my reimagined Ancient Rome.

Locations in Firebird

The Colosseum, Rome, Italia of Ancient Rome—Where Julian fights Ciprian in the arena for the entertainment of Caesar and the people

It is well-known that the Colosseum was a place of both entertainment and politics in Ancient Rome. There were many emperors throughout history who used the arena as a way to gain favor with the populace. The gladiator games appeased the Romans and entertained them so they could escape from their daily lives for a while.

It was also a symbol of Roman power. The Colosseum itself was a feat of architectural greatness. It glorified the sophistication of Rome as a superior power of the world. While some emperors used this famous arena as a way to gain political favor with the people, others simply enjoyed the bloodiness of the games.

Locations in Firebird

The scene I’ve set in the Colosseum is different than what the people might have witnessed in Ancient Rome. An emperor never had two of his generals battle out their own differences on the Colosseum floor (as far as I know). But my emperor Igniculus is interested in seeing which of his great generals—one of them Julian, his heir to the throne—will be the superior in combat. Igniculus also thrives on blood and violence. It feeds his own dark cravings.

Locations in Firebird

This scene is told from Julian’s POV, so we understand that even warriors in the arena can win the power of the people. When the crowd cheers on Julian as he points a sword to wounded Cirpian’s throat, the masses roaring and encouraging him to kill Ciprian, when the emperor directly forbade it, we see for the first time that Julian could possibly win the hearts of these people and reign over them.

Locations in Firebird

All in all, these places of Ancient Rome where I’ve blended history and imagination serve as powerful components of THE FIRE THAT BINDS. This world enfolds one we know with one we’ve never seen to tell a story of defiance, freedom, and love.