Horus is a Peregrine Falcon belonging to Jack West Jr.
History[]
Early History[]
From a young age, Horus once belonged to Colonel Marshall Judah, and whenever he was trying to make a point to his troops, Judah would beat her if she didn't do what she was trained properly. One of his trainees, Jack West Jr, didn't like his treatment of her, and so when he left Coronado he stole Horus from Judah's office.
Following this, he treated the falcon with loving kindness, which Horus reciprocated by being completely obedient and protective of Jack.
As Lily grew up, she was disappointed that Horus never played with the fake mice that she used to try and get her attention. However she learned upon throwing one at Jack that Horus, who snatched the fake mouse out of the air before it struck him, was loyal and protective of him. Max Epper told Lily that Horus obeyed Judah, her cruel master, out of fear, but because Jack was a kind master, she would die for him.
Seven Ancient Wonders[]
When the team was in Sudan looking for one of the pieces of the Golden Capstone, Horus flew above the team as they traversed the swamp, presumably to keep an eye out for enemies. When going through the tunnel, Jack kept Horus in a pouch on his chest, but for a short time handed her over to Lily while he checked one of the traps. As Jack was clamped to the floor, Horus grabbed a falling torch that nearly ignited the oil around him.
Later, Jack used Horus to disable a trap in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon to keep him and Pooh Bear from downing in quick sand, using her beak to reset the trap mechanism.
The Six Sacred Stones[]
During the chase involving the Halicarnassus and hostile forces, Horus snatched a gun from an Egyptian soldier to keep him from killing Jack and Sky Monster. But after Jack was captured, Horus was unable to follow, and returned to the team's old farm in Kenya. Soon Lachlan and Julius Adamson arrived, shortly followed by Jack and Pooh Bear.
Horus accompanied the team to the Second Vertex, but when Jack fell into the abyss to ensure the Pillar's placement, Horus followed him down, and Sea Ranger noted to the twins that they should let her as her destiny was linked with Jack's.
The Five Greatest Warriors[]
Fortunately Jack survived thanks to a Maghook, and noted her loyalty when she perched on his shoulder, as he began climbing out of the abyss.
When Jack decided to go to the sixth vertex on his own since the rest of his team was wounded, Horus was unhappily tethered to Sky Monster's arm to keep her from trying to follow.
When the crisis was over, Horus played with the fake mice Lily and Alby Calvin threw for her at Jack's new farm.
Between The Five Greatest Warriors and The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
After Jack, Zoe and Lily adopted a pair of dogs, Ash and Roxy, Horus tolerated their presence, but whenever she was harassed by the latter (usually Roxy's attempts to get Horus to play) Horus would take the poodle's favourite toy and leave it on top of a bookshelf, to Jack's amusement.
Over the next few years, a small GoPro camera fitting into a leather pouch was made to fit around Horus's neck so that she could take aerial footage.
The Four Legendary Kingdoms[]
When Jack was called to a meeting at Pine Gap, Horus traveled with him and the others to the facility on the Sky Warrior. Upon being met by Eric Abrahamson, the General inquired as to how Horus felt about the two dogs before she was left to fly around outside the facility.
While Horus was flying around outside, Jack, Lily, Sky Monster, Alby and the dogs were knocked out by a sleeping gas leaked into the facility, and were summarily taken away by a group of people led by Iolanthe. As Horus flew over them, Iolanthe spotted the falcon and ordered one of her men to shoot her down. Horus was shot in the left wing and left to crash into the desert floor.
When Pooh Bear and Stretch arrived at Pine Gap a couple of hours later and discovered their friends missing, they spotted a few dingoes moving in on the injured falcon and rescued her.
As the headed to speak with Jack's mother Mae, Pooh Bear and Stretch left Horus at a recovery shelter to have her wing looked at. When they began explaining to Mae what had happened, they showed her footage taken from the GoPro Horus had taken during the incident.
After Jack and the others escaped the Underworld, Jack was told about Horus's condition, and on the way back to the West farm they picked Horus up and brought her home.
The Two Lost Mountains[]
While Jack and the team were off undertaking the Trial of the Cities, Horus remained at the farm to recover. The minotaur E-147, who was also recovering from an injured foot, helped to look after Horus, feeding the falcon an rebandaging her wound, and came to refer to her as "the smart bird".
When the team started basing themselves at Hades's estate in Alsace-Lorraine, a private plane was arranged to fly Easton, Horus and the dogs to them. As they arrived at the estate, E-147 carried Horus in his arms, assuring Jack that she and the dogs were well.
Horus continued her long recovery at the estate over the next few weeks, and was perched nearby when Lily, Stretch and Aloysius Knight, all comatose after hearing the Siren bells' tone, were brought into a room to rest.
Later, when Yago DeSaxe and his forces invaded the estate, Horus remained perched on Lily's headboard when Alby and Easton were rushing the sleepers to the escape train below. After the team later reunited outside Dijon, Horus was likely kept on the team's newly-acquired Super Galaxy up until the team set off for the Supreme Labyrinth.
The One Impossible Labyrinth[]
After Jack had averted the Omega Event and saved the world, he returned to his farm, with the aging Horus continuing to live with him.
Equipment[]
- Go-Pro: .
Trivia[]
- Horus's name is derived from the Egyptian deity, and the name itself is thought to mean falcon.
- Considering the longest known lifespan of a peregrine falcon in captivity is 25 years, and noting that Horus has been with Jack since 1990 when he rescued her from Judah, (and even then keeping in mind that she must have been at least a few years old in 1990) Horus has surpassed this expected lifespan.
- This makes Horus' assumed age to be somewhere between 27 to 30 years old (as at the 2016 setting for The Four Legendary Warriors on to The One Impossible Labyrinth, where the former story briefly noted that Horus was an old bird).
- The Three Secret Cities is the only Jack West Jr series novel not to include Horus; after being brought back to the farm at the end of The Four Legendary Kingdoms, she was still recovering during that novel's story, as was confirmed when she returned in The Two Lost Mountains.
- Where Horus, Roxy and Ash were during the primary events of The One Impossible Labyrinth is unknown; they are not not mentioned to be with any on the teams outside the Supreme Labyrinth. As it is unlikely that they were onboard the team's planes during the approach to the Labyrinth's Gates, it is likely that they were left somewhere safe in Cairo before the team departed.