Siege's End

To say that carrying another person in an attempt to flee slowed down the Crown Prince of Hyperion would be an understatement. As much as Acinonyx tried to flee the city that his own paterfamilias had ordered to be burned, the fact was he was not as fast as he thought he was. Even as he approached the gates, Falco and his companions were not far behind and waiting for them was none other than Falco's caracal Kenneth.

More annoyed by anything else, Acinonyx screamed: "Get out of the way!" Too arrogant to just walked around the caracal, the Crown Prince of Hyperion was about to kick the feline, which his cheetah Paris knew would simply retaliate with a scratch on the leg.

"Hold, Acinonyx!" came a voice, deep and smooth. Freezing, Acinonyx watched as Achilles, the imprisoned mentor of Falco stepped out of some nearby shadows. He was two and sixty twelvemonths of age, stood at a height of five feet and eight and a half inches and was equally as lean as his pupil. He had been a member of Aether's native populace and was thus, olive skinned with wavy white hair that had been black in his youth, high cheekbones and almond-shaped blue eyes. He was quite bearded since he had been imprisoned in the Fane of the Earth Bull and over his right eye was a horizontal scar. Humbly dressed in a blue tunic that had seen better days, he stared at the Crown Prince of Hyperion, glaring at him so intensely that Acinonyx immediately put Rowena down.

When Falco, Minos, Buri and Qing arrived, those who knew Achilles were amazed to see him. Still alive and having escaped from the Fane of the Earth Bull with the coming of Siege's End. Falco had hoped his mentor still lived, but to hope and to actually see the hope a reality were two different things completely. Minos had not entirely been sure if Achilles had still lived or not, while Buri believed his old friend had long since died in his cell in the Fane of the Earth Bull.

Drawing his sword, Acinonyx asked: "Are you going to kill me with your magic, Achilles?"

"I'll kill you anyway I can, Acinonyx, but I will kill you."

"Ah, so your pupil quoted you. How nice." Commented the Crown Prince of Hyperion. "But I am sure you know, that the Goddess of Love smiles upon me and you are unarmed. You can't win."

Achilles merely responded: "So let it be written." Thus began the battle between the two of them. Acinonyx charged with every intention to bring his brand down upon Achilles' cranium. The old man merely grabbed the Crown Prince of Hyperion by the wrist and uttered: "You are four decades younger than me! What is the matter, Acinonyx? Can't you kill an old man with your bare hands?" He then placed his free hand upon the throat of the younger man and slowly proceeded to squeeze until Paris came to his master's aid and bit Achilles on the leg.

As the old man released him, Acinonyx prepared to strike down Achilles, only for Minos to run forward with a sword of his own. Clad in the scale armour of the Hyperionite Steed, the former Clergyman of the Earth Bull blocked Acinonyx's blade.

Surprised, Acinonyx asked: "You?" Then laughing he added: "What can you possibly do? A former priest who struggled with even the simplest of spells?"

Taking hold of the Crown Prince of Hyperion's brand, Minos uttered: "I've been practicing since I left the Priesthood of the Earth Bull."

Falco could do naught but smile. He knew the trick well any clergyman could do it and now a former clergyman such as Minos could too. The sword turned into a snake and before the transformation was complete, Minos had already removed his hands from the serpent. It was a spell anyone could do, but the fact was just as likely to bite the one who had transformed it.

Acinonyx had realized what was going on as well and had dropped his transforming brand, but by the time it hit the ground it was too late. The serpent turned and bite him upon the leg, the fangs going through the horse-skin trousers. After that, the serpent proceeded to slither away.

Knowing that expiry was upon him, Acinonyx grabbed a sword from a fallen soldier and ran Minos through. As the former Priest of the Earth Bull fell to the ground, the dying Crown Prince of Hyperion then turned to Falco and growled: "If I am to die, then it will please me to know I shall be taking Rowena's other husband with me!" Running forward, Acinonyx lifted his brand aloft, but ever the fool, he did not begin bring it down until it he was close enough for Falco to reach him with his own brand with his broken, half-rusted blade. Half-rusted it might have been, but it was still strong enough to break through the scale armour of Acinonyx and so when Falco thrust the brand of his great-grandfather into the stomach of the Crown Prince of Hyperion, the results were fatal. Dropping his weapon, Acinonyx fell to the ground. With a piercing pain in his stomach and venom coursing through his veins, his last words were: "It can't end like this!"

Running over to Minos, Falco said to his friend: "Everything will be alright, Minos. I can heal you! Achilles can heal you too!"

Shaking his head, Achilles uttered: "I wish it were so, Falco. I may have learned healing magic and by learning it taught it to you, but even a master of such magic cannot heal one who is fatally wounded."

Smiling, Minos said to his Divine Deucalion: "Goodbye, Falco... if the gods are kind, perhaps my ka will be able to walk out of the Underworld and visit you and Rowena sometimes." His eyes closed, his breathing ceased and Minos was no more. For a time, he had been a blackguard, but eventually he became a champion.

Turning away from his deceased compeer, sorrow in his heart, Falco looked at Rowena, his Rowena. Her heart was no more devoid of sorrow than his and while they did embrace, happy to at long last be reunited, the fact was their reunion was bittersweet.

When all was over and Ascanius was crowned King of Hyperion, a sobbing could be heard. It did not belong to any mortal, but to the Goddess of Love. Acinonyx was dead and Falco and Rowena were together once more. Furthermore, she could be seen being dragged away in chains by the Great Mother and the Goddess of Wisdom and when finally, her sobbing and wailing could no longer be heard, a great cheer went up. The siege was over and while those who had died liberating Hyperion from Leo's tyranny would be given funerals worthy of monarchs, those who had died trying to make sure Hyperion died with him would not be. Into a great pit were the bodies thrown, those of Leo, Pardus, Acinonyx and the leopard Hector as well.

And the cheetah Paris? Much like the maneless white lion Priam, he had vanished following the death of his master. No doubt he had fled to the wilderness to live out his days as a wild cheetah. If they would ever see him again was a matter of debate, but all agreed that Priam would be seen again at some point. It might have been in a day, a week, a month, a twelvemonth, but all agreed that Priam would be seen again, no doubt spreading terror across the land.

While celebrations and funerals worthy of monarchs were held side by side, Falco, Rowena and Kenneth all sat on the beach. Staring out to sea, the two humans were exhausted. At long last they were reunited, but at the cost of so many lives and now that they were reunited where were they to go? Stay in Hyperion? No... Hyperion could never be in home, but still the question was where would they go? Did Aether even still exist?

Looking to Rowena, Falco asked: "Now what are we to do?"

Equally as uncertain, Rowena gave her husband a small smile and replied: "Live, I suppose."

Sighing with a tired expression, Falco lay back and said: "Live... It has been a while since either of us simply lived... Three twelvemonths I'd say."

Laying beside her husband, Rowena kissed his cheek. "Well, we can now, Rowena."

"Wonderful. Any ideas where? My mind keeps returning to the question of if Aether even still exists. Are we even Falco and Rowena of Aether anymore?"

"No matter where we are, we always shall be. As long as we are together, that is fine with me."

Turning his head to look into her reddish-brown eyes, Falco said to his wife: "I love you, Rowena."

Smiling as she gazed back into his mismatched eyes, Rowena uttered to her husband: "And I love you, Falco."

For the first time in a long while, husband and wife kissed beneath a clear blue sky with the sound of the waves washing upon the shore being all they heard. Looking to his master and mistress, Kenneth walked off, looking to find himself a mate of his own.

Thus ended the tale of the Siege of Hyperion, the Abduction of Rowena of Aether, the Fall of Leo or whatever else fabulists, poets and historians would refer to it as. From them on, Falco and Rowena lived peacefully and happily. They did not stay in Hyperion, nor did they go to the Ulgen Khanate, but they found land to call their own somewhere in the Cambyses Empire with their friends Achilles, Scholastica, Xe-tian and Hilda accompanying them along with anyone else who wished to join them.

There on that piece of land, which even Darius recognized as belonging to Falco and Rowena, a settlement was made and a son was born to the Last Divine Deucalion of Aether and his Queen and for Kenneth, who did find himself a mate, he fathered a litter of kittens.

It may not have been an entirely happy ending, but there was happiness nonetheless.