This short story takes place before the twins were born and before the skimmer drive was invented.

Homeland

It was growing close to dusk and people were coming home from working in the fields, closing up shops, and calling their children home for dinner.  Occasionally, someone shivered and paused as they walked through the street, wondering at the chill that ran over them.  Winter was months away.  The cats spit and hid for no apparent reason.  But on the whole, the town remained oblivious to Mihos’s presence and the reason for which he was there.

He walked barefoot and invisible, his highly embroidered robe dragging on the ground behind him.  The chill of the air did not seem to bother him; despite the fact that the thin silk garment was the only thing he wore.  Nothing in the physical realm could bother him anymore, not as a creature of the underworld.

“You’re here early,” a female voice said from behind him.  He could not be seen by people but Fastile, avatar of deceit, could hardly be considered a person anymore.

“As are you,” he replied, stopping but not turning around.  Fastile walked to stand by his side.  She was beautiful, pale-skinned with green eyes and long red hair.  Her manner and dress was that of royalty and sometimes Mihos suspected that she really was a princess in life.  It was difficult to tell where they all came from as no one spoke of their past.

“I think we are all here early,” she replied and looked up to a hill that overlooked the town, “Dnab, Enay, and Leayrn are waiting there for us.  Malek is staying in the underworld.”  She hesitated.  “Cansin is here as well.”

“Oh.”  Mihos refrained from cursing the seventh avatar’s name.  He always managed to bring trouble.

The two walked up to the hill in silence.  Leayrn was sitting at the edge, weaving grass together.  He stood up when Mihos approached and looked up at the avatar of vengeance.

“I didn’t think you’d be here until later,” he said.

Leayrn was the most unusual of the avatars.  Even Mihos, unnatural in his appearance, looked normal next to the avatar of suffering.  Learyn’s age was impossible to guess as he had a childlike form and voice but had all the mannerisms of an adult and the white hair of an elder.  His gender was likewise difficult to discern.

“Until after, you mean?” he asked softly, “No.  I’m here now.”

He turned to regard the ocean that sat beyond the town.  The other avatars walked over to join him, standing in a row and watching the sunset.  Cansin took two more steps down the hill, slouching with his hands stuck in his pockets.  The hood of his jacket was up and the sea breeze ruffled the matted fur trim.

“They’re clueless,” he remarked and laughed softly.

“It’s not a game, Cansin,” Mihos snapped, “They’re all going to die before the night is through.  Not funny at all.”

“No, you’re wrong.  It’s hilarious.”  And Cansin walked off down the hill.

Mihos only blinked.  There was a tone in the seventh avatar’s voice that he had not encountered before from that one.  An undertone of bitterness.  After a moment he felt Fastile’s hand on his shoulder and her breath on his chin as she whispered in his ear.

“Go easy on him,” she said, “This is Cansin’s hometown.”

That’s right.  Mihos often forgot that Cansin was the youngest of them and had not seen everything familiar fade away into memory.

“Should I apologize?”

“No.  Just let him be.”

And Mihos nodded.  Fastile let go and moved away.  Of course she’d know something like this.  She knew everything he should know but didn’t about his brothers and sisters it seemed.  And this was even a northern town, not far from the tundra.  Mihos had always suspected that Cansin came from a cold climate.  He should have guessed.

The moon was up and covered by clouds by the time the ship came into view.  The bell wouldn’t start ringing until it got closer and by that time the town would be in range.  Mihos could count three masts but didn’t know much else about it other then that.  He came from a people that never ventured into deep ocean.  But that was a long time ago and the world was different then.  

“We all have our tasks then,” Enay said, stepping forwards.  The avatar of indulgence sometimes acted as their leader simply because no one else would.  “Let’s go.”

The small man broke into a light jog towards the town.  In his oversized shirt with unkempt hair and thin spectacles Enay looked to be harmless.  But Mihos, if he didn’t know the reasons as to why, would have pitied any soul that fell into his hands.

Then there was Fastile.  So gentle and proper.  Walking slowly down the hill like this was a stroll to the gardens.  There were probably going to be quite a few pirates that belonged to her before the night was over.

And Dnab.  Her panthers streaked past him, black shadows vanishing into the night.  She was letting them hunt.  Of all the cats that surrounded her those two were the only ones she tolerated, because they were vicious and had a joy of the kill that she appreciated.

Leayrn followed Mihos.  Those two were not interested in the pirates but in the townsfolk.  Deceit, indulgence, wrath – all qualities that would be found in the people doing the killing and hopefully not in the ones being killed.  The townsfolk belonged to suffering and vengeance.

“Is your champion here?” Leayrn asked in a low voice.

“No, I’ll involve him later,” Mihos replied.  “Yourself?”


“I don’t have a champion currently.  I’ll take the left side of town and bring your souls along with mine if you’ll take the right and do the same.”

“Agreed.”

The two nodded to each other and split up.  The roar of the cannons filled the air before Mihos had gone three paces and he paused a moment and closed his eyes.  Screams filled the air.  People were running from their houses.  And from the sounds of the shore – brief violence, moving rapidly from place to place.  The town didn’t stand a chance.  Not against the likes of these.  

“Which is why we’re here,” Mihos whispered, “because we’ve all seen enough.”

He quickened his pace towards the sound of the fighting.  A building crumbled before him, torn apart by a cannonball.  Small shapes were huddled together in the ruins and further along was a man, struggling against the pirate’s sword through his chest, reaching out towards the broken building.  Mihos walked forwards and took his hand and the body stopped moving.  The pirate let it slide off his sword and turned away to find someone else.

“My family!” the soul screamed and Mihos held him back with one arm.  For seeming so frail Mihos was infinitely strong.

“They’re dead,” Mihos said calmly, “As are you.  Peace.”

“My family!  They’re… let me go to them!”

And he collapsed, sobbing, and Mihos lowered him to the ground.  The huddled shapes in the ruined building just watched.  Those would belong to Leayrn.  He’d take them along in a moment.  But for now, he must tend to the one that was his.

“They-they-“

“They killed you and your family and will kill almost all the inhabitants of this town,” Mihos said, “Look at me.”

And the man looked.  Stared in awe.

“We will be taking many of them tonight.  But not all belong to us, not yet.  They can though – I am vengeance incarnate.  Just say the word.”

“They killed my family,” the man whispered.

“Then I will drag them into the underworld for you.”

He let go and the man ran to the huddled shapes in the smoking ruins.  Gathered them into his arms.  Mihos looked around.  The buildings had been set afire now and the flames would spread rapidly.  Everything was chaos.  There was a sharp scream from the street to his right and Mihos turned to look.  A black shape appeared – one of Dnab’s panthers – and it was dragging a pirate by the arm.  Still alive, no less.  After a few more yards the body stopped moving and the soul continued to drag along the ground, still screaming.  Mihos smiled thinly.

“Good kitty,” he whispered.

A gesture and the man and his family faded from the mortal realm and sunk into the underworld.  The shades would take care of them then.  He’d deliver the ones that belonged to Leayrn after this was all over.  There was still much left to be done.

Mihos could smell death.  It did not have the rotting stench as was characterized but for him, it was the scent of incense.  He moved from place to place, soul to soul, banishing the ones that would not leave so easily into the underworld to be cared for later.  Sometimes he stopped and talked to one or two, gentle and calm, but blunt about what had happened and what was going to happen.  At one point he caught sight of his sister Fastile.  Gentle, beautiful Fastile.  She held a man at arm’s length by his hair in one hand and with her other she held a rapier.  The man was still alive and would probably be alive for far too many minutes more.  Gentle, beautiful Fastile.

Mihos and the other avatars had grown tired of this.  Too many ports sacked and razed to the ground.  Too many disquiet souls.

Well, it ended tonight.  And those that were not brought into the underworld here and now would come later, when Mihos released his champion to finish off those that escaped and were deserving of judgment.  He could probably even have one of his brothers’ or sisters’ help, although champions were notorious for not cooperating.  They could make an exception this time though.  Mihos would make them work together.

It was directly after he banished the soul of a child to the underworld that he saw Cansin.  The avatar was standing in the doorway of a burning building and after a moment he vanished into the interior.  Physical harm could not come to him so Mihos only stood still and watched.  Cansin did not emerge, not for long minutes while the support beams burned through and the building finally collapsed in on itself.  And in the middle of the swirling flame and collapsing debris was Cansin, hood back, head up, and arms up over his head, hiding his face from everything but the sky.

“It happens,” Mihos whispered to him, far too soft for the avatar to hear, “We know it does.  Better than anyone.”

He turned abruptly, leaving the seventh avatar alone to mourn.  Summoned his spear to hand.  There were protocols, rules they all tried to follow.  But he was an avatar and had been one of the ones who made and agreed to uphold the rules.  He could break them.  For tonight, there was some vengeance of his own he wished to see fulfilled.  He, too, would hunt this night; as the town that was Cansin’s home burned down around him.

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