Owain, son of Urien of Rheged, was born of a line of kings and warriors-men whose names rang like iron against the Northumbrian shield. His father, Urien, was the lion of the North, a warlord whose galloping hosts and fierce generosity lived on in the praise of bards. Yet Owain, though heir to that fire, carried within him not only the courage of a warrior but the heart of a lover.

It was love that led him to the Lady of the Fountain, a woman whose beauty was as untamed and secret as the waters she guarded. Their meeting was not merely chance but fate, the kind that tests men with both battle and longing. And as in all true romances, danger rose to meet him-serpents twisting in the darkness, as if the very earth spat forth its venom to keep them apart.

But Owain was never alone. By his side walked a lion, fierce and loyal, a reflection of the wild strength within him. Together, they fought as one-blade and claw cutting through the serpents’ coils, each strike a vow that neither death nor darkness could tear his heart from hers. When the last hiss faded, he stood, bloodied but unbroken, and she came to him, her hand trembling as it touched the lion’s mane before resting against his own.

In that moment, amidst the silence of the fallen beasts, the truth of their love shone brighter than any blade: it was not mere chance or victory that bound them, but a love fierce as the lion and unyielding as steel-a love that, like Owain himself, could slay every serpent in its path.