Ruthless: Path of Conquest

The descent brought Mina, Alice and Zora down just a few feet from a massive, run-down mansion.

“I never knew there was anything like this in the area where we had our apartment,” Mina said. “It’s strange—” She giggled as she realized what she’d just said. Then she shook her head. “Do you think she built it for herself?”

“Wraiths are pure evil,” Zora said, her voice a slightly melancholy whisper. “They create nothing new or good. They only twist and pervert what others have made. It probably came back with her from her Orientation.”

“At least we know we’re the good guys,” Alice said.

“Yes,” Mina agreed. I was never actually uncertain of that, though. “Let’s see if the front door is open.”

She began walking toward it, but Zora grabbed hold of her arm.

“Slow down,” she said quietly. “There’s every chance the Wraith has boobytrapped this place, assuming it really is her hiding spot. We have all night.”

Mina had a bad feeling that the Fisher Kingdom’s soldiers did not have all night if nothing was done to help them. But she left it unspoken. She already knew what Zora would say to that. Our mission is more important. It was true, too. There was no argument to be made.

Still. She had an uncomfortable feeling that it was going to be a bad night for the Fisher Kingdom’s army.

As she had these thoughts, Zora was quietly chanting a spell, gathering brown-colored Mana around herself.

Earth, just like James, Mina thought. Not for the first time, she wondered if Mana affinities were related to the personality of the person concerned.

Then the glow vanished from around her body, and a massive earthen tendril rippled forth from the ground. It lunged forward and smashed into the mansion’s front door, caving it in with a single thrust. Through the now permanently open doorway, Mina could only see darkness.

“Well, there we go,” Zora said contentedly. “I guess the front door wasn’t rigged.”

Mina looked at her mother-in-law in awe. That thing was so fast! I don’t think I’ve ever moved water at that speed before, and earth is so much heavier. I can’t imagine that was easy to learn.

As she stared at Zora, the older woman was crouching low to the ground. Then she ended up sitting down.

“I’m too old for crouching,” she said. She began chanting, and another color of Mana slowly came to surround her. This one was a vile shade of green that reminded Mina of radioactivity.

Necromancy, Mina knew in her bones. Zora was raising the dead. Is that really wise, in this place? But Zora knew the enemy best. If she thinks this is safe…

“Um, Mom, what are you doing now?” Alice asked.

Zora continued chanting and ignored her daughter as best she could.

“Well, she’s a Necromancer,” Mina said. “I’m guessing she’s doing some Necromancy.”

“Oh, yeah,” Alice said. “She did mention that. I’ve never actually seen her use it. We weren’t together for most of Orientation. When we did get together near the end, she already had her blessing and her undead creatures. But then she abandoned them before we got here. It’s just really easy to forget that’s her power.” There was a slight undertone of disgust in her voice.

Finally, the chanting stopped, and the eerie green glow dissipated.

What exactly did she do this time? Mina thought.

And then the ground wriggled and moved beneath her feet.

Mina let out a high-pitched, girlish scream like she hadn’t since she was a teenager, and she ran from whatever was moving below her to hide behind Zora.

Her mother-in-law looked amused. “They’re my pets, dear,” she said mildly. “You don’t have to be afraid of them.”

Mina looked where she’d been standing, and she saw rodents crawling from the disturbed earth. Partially decomposed rodents, skeletal rodents, and rodents that were just recently dead with all the fur and flesh still on them all arose from the soil, and lined up in a neat row. Good little soldiers waiting for orders. Mina counted thirteen of the creatures. And every one of them had a slight green glow in their eyes.

“Mama got a good batch this time,” Zora mused. She cackled quietly to herself as she looked over her undead forces.

Alice and Mina exchanged looks. Mina was relieved that she wasn’t the only one disgusted by the creatures.

I’m so glad that James didn’t become a Necromancer. Though it feels very in-character for him to want to.

“Go forth, my little ones,” Zora said. “One by one, into the mansion. Find me the Reliqua—or rather, find me something shiny or glowing. Bring it to me if you can, or if you cannot, lead me to where you found it.”

I need to start pulling my weight, Mina thought. If I have to tell James that all I did on this mission was follow his mother around and watch while she solved every problem—the thought was simply unacceptable.

As she was considering how she might contribute, the first creature in line, a rat with half its fur rotting away in patches, rushed forward into the mansion.

As it got a few feet beyond the threshold, something glowed in the darkness for a moment—Mina saw an outline that resembled the Phantasms she had fought in Carol’s Dungeon!—and there was a distinct otherworldly screech.

“Well, that one’s dead for good now,” Zora said. She looked down at the other rodents. The next one in line was about to rush forward. “Don’t the rest of you go just yet!” she nearly yelled. She turned to Mina. “The one downside of being a Necromancer. They’re quite stupid.”

“What do we do now?” Alice asked.

Mina was already gathering Fire Mana around herself, a smile touching the corners of her lips. “We fight, of course,” she said. “We destroy them all.”

“We’d better move quickly,” Zora said. “It’s possible the denizens of this forest will notice all the magic we’re using and figure out what our game is.” Then she began chanting, too. Shortly after, Alice joined her.

But it was Mina who led the way into the mansion. Mina who had practiced the quick and silent application of her magical power. She quickly finished charging a relatively large share of her available supply of Mana, and dozens of fireballs materialized around her, floating in the air around her body, ready to be hurled.

Then she entered. The hallway came to life with the spectral glow of Phantasms, and as each one appeared, Mina cut its life short. I’m so glad I spent that time in the Dungeon, she thought. I’m so glad I practiced so hard.

She advanced to the end of the front hallway and, looking by firelight, she found herself in what appeared to be the ill-preserved remains of a stately Victorian mansion. It was just what it had appeared to be on the outside, with the exception that there were several Phantasms floating around. Mina killed them all in a flurry of fireballs. Magic is the best.

“Well, that was impressive,” Zora said from behind her. She was no longer glowing, but she held a ball of lightning in her hands, and more lightning lay around her shoulders like a scarf.

Alice was still quietly chanting. A pure white light glowed all around her.

“What next?” Mina said.

“Well, my pets are looking around the mansion now, but I imagine they’ll run into more trouble in other rooms, away from your protection,” Zora said. “Perhaps more intense trouble closer to the goal we’re after. So we need to look for ourselves, too.” She blinked. “Yes, one of my creatures just died again. They’re not very strong, and these things seem to have an ability that slowly saps the soul of energy. My rodents barely have souls in them to start with. We might consider burning down this whole building to get to our goal. But there are always pros and cons to that approach.”

“What are the cons?” Mina asked.

“You miss out on a lot of loot,” Zora said. “This Sister Strange might have some spellbook that would save your life someday.” She shrugged. “Or something that would come in handy for me, Alice, or James. Fire isn’t very discriminating.”

Mina shook her head. “I’m not worried about acquiring stuff right now,” she said. “This thing is threatening my home.” Her voice shook slightly.

“Hm,” Zora said, her voice soft and gentle. “Have you been worrying that she would invade the baby’s dreams, Mina?”

“A little bit,” she admitted. “I didn’t want to worry James with the suggestion, especially because he’s been fighting her ever since we knew she was a threat. But I do wonder, with how much the baby sleeps, if the idea hasn’t crossed her mind. He seems so peaceful, but I really have no way of knowing.”

“So that’s why the urgency,” Zora said empathetically. She placed a soft hand on Mina’s back.

“Well, no,” Mina said quietly. “Not exactly. Right now I’m worried about James’s soldiers getting killed.”

“That’s fair, too,” Zora said, shrugging. “Burn the house down, then, my dear, if that’s what you want to do. It’s of no great value to me. Use your flames, though. I’m going to save my Lightning Mana to destroy the Reliquary after the fire goes out. If I was the Wraith, I wouldn’t make my soul’s hiding place something easily damaged by fire. Imagine getting wiped out by a random forest fire.”

“Then me torching the house might actually slow us down?” Mina said. “If the Reliquary survives that, we’d have to wait for the fire to go out to get it.”

Zora nodded. “That’s a good point. Then we search. I suggest we start by following where my creatures are dying the fastest.”

The three women marched up the central staircase. Alice was still chanting, and the white light around her body only grew stronger, slowly but steadily, until she became hard to look at.

They walked onward, up the stairs. More Phantasms presented themselves, but Mina slew them each of them with a single blow to the head.

The women went from door to door in the upstairs hall, Mina killing Phantasms wherever they encountered them—until finally they found themselves in front of a door that Mina felt contained an ominous presence. She touched the door handle, and she almost instantly recoiled as if at the touch of something evil. She had to force herself to grasp the knob again. It felt very cold and somehow clammy. She had to resist the urge to shiver as she touched it.

“I think this is it,” Mina said somberly. She saw Zora simply nod in her peripheral vision.

Mina swallowed. She wanted to throw open the door—but another part of her wanted to run from this room, out of this mansion, and back to her own home with her sister and her baby.

There was a sense of intense pressure coming from something behind this door, and Mina felt the fear and self-doubt in her heart multiply with each second her hand remained on the knob.

She gritted her teeth.

By an act of sheer willpower, she forced herself to turn the knob all the way. But she couldn’t go that one step further. She couldn’t make herself push the door open, though she tried to force herself until her jaw hurt from clenching it too long, and her eyes were teary.

Then Zora pulled her to the side and kicked the door open, and the room was exposed to view.

It was a vile little place, filled with cobwebs, rotted out furniture, and the festering corpses of dead animals. All this Mina knew at a glance. But mainly her eyes were drawn to the three vile figures who loomed before them.

They looked just like the illusion James had created to depict Sister Strange in the Council meeting that morning.

“There are two of her,” Mina murmured, stunned.

And behind them, she could see three glowing rocks that emitted a strange almost black light.

“Well, there are two Dream Wraiths here, at least,” Zora muttered.

One of the two women let loose a shrill laugh that pierced Mina’s heart and made her want to fall to her knees in despair.

“Did you think that someone could be called by the name Sister Strange and be the only one of her family?” the figure asked. “Silly woman, we—”

“Sorry, we’re not here for your life story,” Zora said. Lightning shot from her fingertips to the glowing rocks in three thick glowing lines, and the rocks shattered instantly on impact.

“You horrible woman!” one of the figures shouted.

“The Reliquaries!” the other screamed.

Then they threw themselves forward, hurling their bodies at Zora.

Mina reacted quickly, shooting fireballs at their heads. With all the practice she’d had, they were both perfect bulls’ eyes. The ethereal matter of their heads shattered on contact with the fireballs, but then they slowly started to rebuild themselves.

“What are we going to do?” Mina asked. “If headshots don’t kill them—”

A blinding light erupted from beside her. Blazing white engulfed the entire room.

Mina was blind for several seconds. She wondered if she should flee, but she didn’t hear the sounds of Zora and Alice running, nor did either of them grab her and pull her away.

Finally, she blinked and she could see again. The two twisted evil spirits were gone. Nothing was left of them. Alice had apparently walked past Mina into the room and was already poking around the enemies’ belongings, while Zora was blinking, clearly still waiting for her vision to return too.

“Did we win?” Mina asked.