Coyote
Hey there, ho there, hi there!This is my latest entry. It's sort of a sequel to my story Cormak. I finished it just now after a bit of procrastination. Five years for a sequel. O_o Well, it'll give you something to read while you're waiting for the next Fenris Chains story. I'm sure I can get it down in less than five years, what do you say?As always I must ask that you not copy my work without my permission, as it is most certainly a product of my own genius. It's in short supply, so I can't really afford to lose it. ;)Anyway, without further ado, I present you with the story! I hope you'll enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. Comments, reviews, critiques and insults are welcome!=========Wretches! Insects! Scum! He was mine before he was yours! I loved him first!----Coyote, god of intrigue, lies and illusions sighed angrily as he paced back and forth in the large office, waiting for his uncle to arrive. He had received a summons and had come at the specified time, but his uncle was very busy and had kept Coyote waiting for over three hours. Any other time he would have put off the summons until the last moment. As soon as he had arrived, he realized that his prompt arrival would be an indication that he knew why he had been summoned. This did not serve to improve his mood.The walls on either side of the fireplace held a series of thin bookshelves, filled to the brim with thick leather-bound tomes. Though the shelves were small, and didn't look like they could hold very many books, they actually held far more than just what one could see by looking. A book for every person that ever lived. A book for every person that might have lived but didn't. A book for certain people that could have lived one life but chose another instead. Untold billions of them, and Letum could quote specific passages from any page in any book at any point. A large tome sat open on the desk, facing away from the seat behind the desk and towards him. It had been that way when Coyote had arrived and he had not given it more than a glance; He wasn't a naturally curious person."You have much to answer for, nephew."
Coyote jumped. Letum, god of life and death, had suddenly appeared behind the desk. Letum always insisted on corporeal manifestation, claiming it made his cataloging easier, so he normally would have entered through the door. That he had chosen to directly manifest meant he had meant to unnerve Coyote. As the god of intrigue Coyote spotted that thread easily, but he wouldn't take the bait as easily. He turned to face his uncle and narrowed his eyes. Letum had chosen to manifest in the form of one of his father's creations, the Nojin. Specifically, a Tigris. If Coyote had to guess, a member of House Ak, whose destruction he himself had not hours ago engineered. Coyote's own body was modeled after them in similar fashion, though a coyote,
obviously, rather than a tiger."What ever do you mean, uncle?" Coyote said with forced nonchalance.Letum stared dispassionately at his nephew. "Do not attempt to lie to me, Jaresh." Coyote winced at the use of his birth name, which he avoided as much as possible. "I know, as your father may not, that you tricked him into killing those Nojin. Tonneau is capable of many things, but he is not given to mass murder based on the rejection of a single mortal.""Just because he never has before doesn't mean he never would. Extraordinary circumstances." Coyote said as convincingly as he could.Unswayed, Letum continued on. "The people with the motive and means to manipulate Tonneau is a list of three. Your grandfather, Malum, your uncle, Shiinae, and you. It took no time to determine that both Malum and Shiinae were standing before Atavus-Who-Is-King when the event took place, and even now our family gathers to see the fate of your father who, in his grief, has thrown himself on my father's mercy, begging for death. But you, alone among us, are absent. Why is that?""Why are you wearing that shape?" Coyote demanded in an attempt to distract his uncle.Letum grunted in annoyance. It was clear that he recognized the ploy for what it was, but he went along with it anyway. "You will recall, nephew, that I value sacrifice as a holy act, and include it among my spheres of influence."It transpires that among the Tigris there was, until this day, an individual who possessed the remarkable ability to see the future. It was not strong; only enough to see perhaps two minutes ahead. His son was listed among the ranks of House Ak, by virtue of the child's mother, though he was not. When he foresaw Tonneau's destruction of the family and when he realized the implications of just that family being destroyed, this Tigris, Kalanir, fell to his knees and prayed to me to take his life instead of his son. Such a sacrifice is rare; to brave the wrath of the gods in the place of another. To accept a punishment rightly dispensed, as far as he knew, out of love."I accepted this sacrifice, and wear his form to honor it, as I shall until he passes from living memory."Letum clasped his massive paws together in front of him and leaned forward. "Now. Let us revisit the matter of your father."
Coyote tried to remain stoic, but it was a losing battle. He was too much his father's son. "Why them, uncle?" he cried, whirling on Letum. "Why not me? I loved him first! They scorn his gifts, throw their lives away in his name for no better reason than miniscule theological differences! They don't deserve his love! Yes, I engineered their deaths! I showed my father that they would willingly abandon him as soon as praise him! I am a god! I will not be passed over for such worthless creatures!"Letum jumped to his feet and slammed his hands onto the desk, his
patience nearly reaching its limit. "Being a god does not mean you are free to exercise petty vengeance upon mortalkind!" He shouted, his tail lashing furiously. His eyes were slitted and his ears were flat against his head.Coyote jumped back. It was rare for Letum to yell, and Coyote felt he was dangerously close to pushing his uncle too far, but he gathered his wits anyway and defiantly said, "Being a god means having the authority to do as we please at any point for any reason."Letum tried to reform his patience. "We are gods only because we are worshiped, nephew. It was those self-same mortals you so despise that first called us gods. Who first looked to us for guidance in their lives.""Preposterous. Atavus-Who-Is-King told me himself that we have been gods for as long as we have existed." Coyote said dismissively.
Letum returned to his chair and sighed. He stared up at Coyote and said, "We have always been what we are, but prior to the rise of mortalkind, we had no name for ourselves as a collective. We never before saw any need for one."He gestured to the book that sat on the desk. "Look at this book, nephew."Coyote stepped towards the desk and read the contents of the book for the first time. It was filled with names. Probably the life stories attached to those names too."The names and histories of every person you killed today is recorded in this book, nephew. Pick it up. Feel the weight of those lives."Coyote did as he was told. It was heavy, too heavy for him to carry with one hand. He tried to increase his strength, but this had no noticeable effect on the book's weight."From now until I decide otherwise, nephew, you will carry this book with you where ever you go. If you would, you might take the time to read the lives you have destroyed. Mothers, fathers, sons and daughters. You may find some sort of perspective from reading them. Until I relieve you of it, it remains with you." Coyote felt a cold grip on his wrist and heard a clink of metal on metal. He didn't have to look to know that his arm was now chained to the book.
"Now begone from here, nephew, before I change my mind." Letum said."You mean you're not going to tell?" Coyote asked incredulously.For the first time, Letum smiled. "I know better than most that sometimes what Atavus doesn't know is best left that way. Make no mistake, though, your grandmother already knows and she will tell Malum soon enough. Malum will intercede with his brother on Tonneau's behalf, so you may yet find a way to redeem yourself to him."You are to be stripped of your domains and given new ones. Something innocuous that will keep you out of trouble. But you are never to tell Tonneau what you have done. I fear it would destroy him."Coyote turned and left Letum's study by the door, and then moved to his own Place, a small space
he'd carved out for himself that was his alone. He was disappointed but not surprised to learn that the book had made the journey with him."No time like the present, I guess." He found a chair and sat down. A table appeared before him, on which he laid the book and opened it to a random page.