Ruthless: Path of Conquest

The procession of volunteer medics marched almost silently through the night.

The mood that had settled over the group was solemn. Despite the best efforts of the Healers, hundreds of the unconscious soldiers had yet to wake up. The number of those who remained in a serious condition—though exactly what remained wrong with them, James could not yet tell—was far more than he had expected when he ordered Jeremiah Rotter to prepare the community center for occupants.

James walked through the doors of the community center and handed the two fighters he was carrying off to a pair of volunteers.

Then he made a beeline for Jeremiah Rotter.

“Your Majesty, I have tried my best to organize things according to your will,” he said as soon as James was close to him. James examined Rotter’s appearance with a single brief glance. He was visibly perspiring and looked sleepy. Almost dead on his feet. This work seemed to be the most strenuous situation James had ever observed Rotter in; he could not remember ever having seen him sweat before.

He’s tired, but clearly not at all bad at this, James assessed.

The community had donated a large number of beds, and Rotter had gotten them placed within the building in ten orderly rows. They were somewhat tightly fitted into the space so that the maximum possible number of beds could be placed, but the organizational method also included aisles between the rows of beds that were wide enough for Healers to quickly and easily maneuver.

“You’ve done well,” James said, smiling as he clapped Rotter on the back.

The man looked like he was almost ready to collapse at James’s touch, but he recovered quickly.

“Thank you,” Rotter said, beaming despite his obvious exhaustion. “Please let me know if there’s anything else I can do for you.”

I actually have lots of things for you to do. I can’t let these organizational abilities go to waste.

“I would like to collect data on our military engagements,” James said. “It should help me figure out the relative strength of our army compared with external threats generally and look for areas of improvement. So please gather as much data as you can about the people who went into the Haunted Forest—that is, the place where we just had this battle. Number of people who went in, how many were wounded, how many dead—you’ll need to confer with my mother on that last point…”

Rotter was nodding with grim determination as James spoke.

“But before you do any of that, get some sleep, man!” James finished. “You don’t have to worry about your dreams being haunted anymore. And I can’t have you passing out from exhaustion.”

Rotter let loose a burst of nervous laughter, only to quickly cover his mouth as a half dozen Healers looked disapprovingly in his direction.

“Yes sir,” Rotter said, once he had control of himself. “You don’t have to tell me twice.”

The two men walked back out of the community center.

Rotter set off in what appeared to be the direction of his apartment.

James wanted to do the same, but as he stepped through the doors, he received a telepathic message from Luna that stopped him cold.

Your loyal wolves were out hunting, my king, and we ran into a large pack of humans foreign to the Fisher Kingdom, she sent. One of them attempted to steal one of the hogs we slew. I recalled your rule about harming humans, so initially, we pulled back. Since they appeared to be on their way into your territory, however, we have surrounded them. We have the advantage of fear, but they appear to be in a formation of some sort, as if they know how to fight as a pack. In my limited experience, this is unusual for humans. The leader claims that they are simply migrating and have peaceful intentions. How would you like us to deal with them?

James frowned. Now is not the best time for me to be receiving guests, he thought. But I also can’t go murdering people just because they wandered into the area around my territory in a large group. It’s possible that they really do come in peace…

In any case, he was glad he had told the wolf pack to patrol and hunt along the outskirts of the ever-expanding borders of the Fisher Kingdom. They were a strong first line of defense.

You said the leader spoke to you, he sent back. What was your reading of him? Do you think he was lying?

I cannot tell, Luna replied in a tone of reluctance, as if admitting a failure. He is giving me strong eye contact… I need more interaction with deceitful humans to have a better read on their tells. Wolves and humans show very different body language.

Of course they do, James thought. It was slightly frustrating, simply because if he were there in person, he would know immediately if the newcomer was lying or not. But Luna did not have his Ring of Lies.

All right, he sent. Don’t start a fight. Follow them, but keep a safe distance so they won’t have reason to fear attack. Try to count the group, so I get a better idea of what I’m dealing with.

It shall be done, my king, Luna sent instantly.

If the invasion of the Haunted Forest wasn’t enough to deal with in one night, now we have some random bunch of humans stealing into the border regions. It’s hard to believe they’re just peacefully migrating. Anyone who knows anything about how the System world works would make the choice to hunker down and stay in one place. Find somewhere you can fortify. Otherwise, you’re just going to keep running into the territories of different species of beasts. The only reason to travel in such a dangerous environment is that you’re actively looking for a fight.

He returned to his apartment and, because he had returned before Mina and Yulia, he checked on the children. James Junior, Abhi, and his siblings were all asleep. James used Dreamwalk to quickly confirm that they all appeared to be enjoying calm, peaceful dreams.

Everything is the way it should be, he thought.

His protective instincts satisfied, James moved to the living room and opened up telepathic channels to Goblin Overlord Duncan, Mole Lord Magnar, former Red Flying Squirrel Queen Ysabel, and former Sewer Alligator Monarch Samuel. There was still no new leader of the bats, as far as he knew, and at any rate, he did not want to interrupt their period of mourning unless he absolutely had to.

He explained to each of the leaders individually what he needed. It wasn’t much.

Just a hundred or so of your fighters. I want to put together a small show of strength, so that some new arrivals know that we are not undefended. We don’t know their intentions yet…

They each reacted supportively, in their own way.

You can count on us, Your Majesty, sent Duncan in a grave tone. No one knows how to present an intimidating facade better than a Goblin.

We will be there, sir, sent Magnar.

You got it, boss! sent Ysabel in a chipper voice.

If you want, my kids and I could just go over and eat them all, Samuel sent. He sounded conversational, as if he was not proposing to go and wipe out a bunch of people who had not done anything to deserve violence. I know I lost to you, but we’ve dealt with our fair share of trespassers in the past.

Thank you, Samuel, but I’m not sure I want them dead quite yet, James sent. If you feel up to it, I wouldn’t mind you personally joining us, though. In case things actually take a violent turn. He liked where the kaiju-sized monster’s head was, though.

Samuel accepted the invitation.

“Sir, may I ask, what exactly are you doing?” Hester’s tinny voice rang in James’s ear like a little bell that only he could hear.

James had been walking back and forth in the living room as he telepathically chatted with his middle managers—or, from a more ancient perspective, the feudal lords who made his Kingdom possible, and might one day allow him to become an emperor.

He stopped now and quickly explained the situation to the little spider. Everything he had said or heard about the intruders up until now had been entirely telepathic, which was why she had not realized what was going on.

“Very interesting,” Hester said quietly. “I think I need to report this to Lord Anansi. It sounds like a significant development in your story. Is that all right?”

James sometimes wondered whether Hester would refuse to report something to the Spider God if he asked her not to. She was a direct descendant of Anansi, so her first loyalty should logically be to him, but her life’s mission now was to serve James and become part of the transcendent narrative that his journey was meant to become. So faithful service to James was the sole way that she could become immortal in the sense that mattered most to her as a follower of Anansi.

It had not mattered so far, as James’s goals and Anansi’s plans had not deviated. Yet.

But the higher I rise in the world, the more likely we are to differ in our visions of the future…

“Yes, go ahead and report it,” James said. There was no reason to lie to Anansi about this. If there had been, he would have thought long and hard before telling Hester anything.

The spider went quiet for a while, and James imagined she was in some form of communion with Anansi, although she did not burn hot on his flesh as she did when she was receiving a divine message. So the communication was only one way for now.

The next hour flew by.

Luna reported back that the strangers had brought only a little over a hundred people, and James told his subordinates to scale back the size of his welcoming crew accordingly.

Mina and Yulia returned home, and James explained the situation to them.

“It sounds like you have this under control,” Mina observed. She was tired, James could see. He guessed that she and Yulia had used up close to their entire reserves of Mana healing people, mainly because they had been among the first people on the scene with healing abilities.

James nodded. “I’ll probably call a council meeting in the morning about this group. They seem to be pretty cohesive. It might be dangerous to accept a large group of new people who have a stronger loyalty to each other than they do to the Fisher Kingdom. We haven’t taken any groups this large into the Fisher Kingdom before, besides monsters. They seem to have fallen in line pretty well, which is not my experience of humans. I want to consider this carefully from more than one angle, so I need the best possible advice.” He smiled. “Which means you should get some rest. I’ll want your judgment most of all. I’ll join you when I’ve established some ground rules with the new arrivals.”

He took a step toward the stairs, then thought better of it. He turned around again and looked into his wife’s eyes. “Thank you for all of your hard work this evening,” he said. He looked at Yulia. “Both of you.”

Yulia smiled. “All I did was heal people,” she said.

“And babysitting,” James replied. “Don’t forget that. It was very important!”

She laughed.

“Seriously, if you guys hadn’t shown up after the battle, we would have a lot more dead people on our hands,” James said. “I was just about tapped out on Mana when I saw you, Yulia.”

“You have enough in case this encounter with the strangers turns violent, skapi?” Mina asked, a little wary.

“I recovered some,” James said, “but I was planning on feeding them to Samuel if they become unruly.” He gave Mina a slightly twisted smile, and she rolled her eyes but smiled back.

“Good luck,” Yulia said. She stepped in and hugged James. “Remember, violence isn’t always the answer…”

She moved back, and as James and Mina looked on, slightly surprised, she quickly withdrew and went to bed.

“That was a little different,” James said.

That’s the most opinionated Yulia has ever been about anything in the Fisher Kingdom other than rescuing children, he thought. It’s a very mild, reasonable opinion, but it feels like a first.

“Different in a good way, I think,” Mina said. James looked and saw that she was smiling. “I told you how comfortable she was acting as an interspecies diplomat with the pixies. Maybe she feels good about engaging in diplomacy generally now.”

“Well, that would be a useful function for someone to fulfill,” James said thoughtfully.

A nice, friendly face for people from other territories to encounter, so they won’t think the Fisher King is some sort of horrible monster. That could work. Speak softly and carry a big stick. I’m the big stick already.

“I’ll try not to slaughter them all,” James said. “That way, we can do some diplomacy later.”

Mina gave him a chaste kiss on the cheek. “Do your best,” she said. “And good night.”

She vanished into the bedroom, and James was alone.

He descended the stairs. As he reached the bottom, he felt it.

The visitors had entered his territory. With his aura spread over a wider area than ever now, they were still at some distance from the main buildings of the Fisher Kingdom—but not as far as he would prefer if they turned out to be hostile. His power had spread unevenly, the shape of it influenced by the powers and territories of the Rulers he conquered.

His territory had begun as a vaguely circular shape around his body. Two-dimensional and almost perfectly round.

But Samuel’s swamp, the Bat Queen and former Squirrel Queen’s tropical forest, and now the Haunted Forest had distorted the shape of his holdings until they looked like a gerrymandered political district—and occupied three dimensions of space, extending slightly into the sky and beneath the Earth.

The visitors had come through one of the border regions where his territory was relatively small. James had yet to fully spread his aura through the region where the hogs lived.

It was as if they had sensed and avoided entering his aura for as long as they could.

I wonder what it feels like to enter my territory, James thought. There was no one he could ask except these newcomers and perhaps others who had arrived similarly recently. He knew that aura had a mild oppressive effect on uninvited guests, and he was fairly certain that the effect was growing gradually more powerful, the longer he continued overlaying more and more aura in his territory and defeating other Rulers.

James reached out with his mind and verified that the land had sent out the usual message to the intruders, urging them to surrender to the Fisher King or his representatives.

Then he opened the door and went out into the open. The sun was just beginning to rise. A dim yellow halo illuminated James’s allies, who had gathered in front of his apartment.

A mismatched, ferocious band of monsters. Goblins, giant moles, oversized squirrels, and even more gigantic alligators.

The Fisher King smiled at the sight of them.

“Let’s go,” James said.

For these allies, no other words needed to be spoken.

James’s squad of monsters marched after him into the dim early morning light.