1 The Abduction of a Queen
A twelvemonth had passed since the expiry of Tigris, son of Conall. His son Falco, now seventeen, ruled Aether as the Divine Deucalion with his childhood compeer Rowena as his queen. The twelvemonth had proved to be a happy one with no trouble from the Priesthood of the Earth Bull, Aether's patron deity who was imprisoned neath the small volcanic island. Yet even for all the happiness, in the hearts of Falco and Rowena was a fear of the Earth Bull's inevitable escape from his prison and whatever destruction he would bring to Aether.
Such fears were soon banished as the day came when Acinonyx, Crown Prince of Hyperion, abducted Rowena as well as a few other women from the palace. Falco's elder sister Eithne, the exiled princess of Leto Scholastica, the younger sister of the Earth Bull's high priest Taurus Minor Pasiphae and a few others had been abducted.
On a great trireme did Falco and a party of companions set forth from Aether in pursuit. His brother-in-law Columba, his mentor Achilles, his friend Frumentius, Scholastica's elder brother Alboin, even evil-hearted Taurus had joined the expedition with two of his priests Minos and Sarpedon in attendance. Other included the frail cupbearer Lysander, the hunchbacked dwarf Itzcoatl and Buri, the ambassador from the Ulgen Khanate.
As Falco paced back and forth upon the deck of the ship, the young Deucalion wondered if this was some plan the Crone of Fate had devised for him to not be able to prevent the Earth Bull's escape. Alas, he knew not.
At seventeen twelvemonths of age and a height of five feet and five inches, Falco was a lean young man with a hooked nose and a square jaw. Being descended from immigrants rather than Aether's native populace, he was a ruddy skinned individual with short, curly red hair and mismatched eyes, the left being blue and the right green. Wearing only a red loincloth and a gold signet ring with the image of a bull's head upon it. Looking at him, one would hardly think he was the Divine Deucalion and yet, by the right of succession he was. Menes, the Commoner who became the Divine Deucalion of Aether, had neither children nor living relatives so he had named his highly competent prime minister Conall his successor. After Conall, his son Tigris became the Divine Deucalion of Aether and thus, there stood his son, Falco upon the deck of a trireme, out on a mission to rescue his beloved Rowena.
Feeling his caracal Kenneth rubbing against his legs, Falco knelt down and gave the feline a pat on the back. It was a calming moment for both of them, but ultimately, it was one that was doomed to interruption.
"Look!" Itzcoatl exclaimed. Falco looked to the hunchbacked dwarf and saw him pointing to the sky. "What is that?"
Both Falco and Kenneth looked to the sky and saw something that they knew not for they had never seen its likeness before. It appeared to be a serpent, winged and covered in green feathers.
Immediately, Falco looked to his mentor Achilles, the eldest of them at one and sixty twelvemonths. Surely, he must have known what it was. The old man merely sat there on the deck, an expression of complete and utter bafflement upon his countenance.
