Ruthless: Path of Conquest

“When you say, ‘two neighbors we might need to go to war with,’ I guess the first thing I should ask is why,” James said. “But honestly, what I really want to know is whether they’re human or monster.”

“Still not fighting humans,” Mina said, smiling thinly. “Is that surprising? You mentioned there are hardly any human Rulers anyway.”

“But hundreds of monster Rulers,” he replied. “Which means our kind are going to work overtime to try and even out those numbers. One thing I know about people is that we rebel against constraints. I think that might be why the System scheduled this World Leaders’ Summit so far away. It’s plenty of time for some Rulers to lose their Titles. We humans would rather die in large numbers than be subjugated by some creature of another species. Most of the time, we’d prefer death to being subjects of other humans. So I suspect we’ll be fighting against other humans before you know it.”

“I was starting to worry we’d never get the opportunity,” she said drily. “Sometimes I think you want it to happen.”

James shook his head. “It’s an eventuality, but it’s going to be a massive morale crisis whenever it happens. People here will not want to fight other humans. Thanks to us, they have food and shelter and don’t have to fear wild monsters. That’s good, but the net result is that we’re barely separate from the civilization they’re all used to. It’s going to be very psychologically hard on them.”

“I imagine that’s true. I doubt you’re the only one here who’s killed other people, though, skapi.” She placed a gentle hand on his shoulder. “You’ll get volunteers if you need them. People appreciate you. They know you wouldn’t put them in danger for no reason.”

James allowed a smile to slowly steal over his face. “Thank you, my love. Enough hypotheticals for one night. Let’s talk about the wars we’re actually in for right now. We can get some sleep after that.”

“Okay.” She took a map from her bag and unrolled it on their living room tabletop. There were two ‘X’ marks at two different edges of the map.

“Oh, someone made a map of our territory,” he said, nodding appreciatively.

“Yes,” Mina replied. “Someone named Amalia. I think from your Orientation?”

James nodded and half-shrugged.

Mina continued, pointing at the ‘X’ to the South. “Here, the Hunters found a territory that seems to belong to a bunch of alligators. It’s abutting our border, and it looks like the alligators are expanding their territory everywhere that your power doesn’t reach. So—” She traced a line from the ‘X’ up and down the side of the map. “The swamp that they control is expanding everywhere along this line, but not crossing the line.”

“That sounds dangerous, but it sounds like they haven’t entered our land. We’re just worried about them expanding right next to us.”

“That’s right. We don’t know if it’s just a matter of time before they try to come in or if they will continue to respect the border. The concern is that since the monsters are extra-large alligators, a single creature entering could be dangerous very quickly.”

James nodded. “Alligators sound pretty nasty to deal with. Do we have any idea of their numbers?”

“The Hunters said there only seemed to be a handful when they looked, but we know that alligators are pretty good at hiding, especially when they’re waiting for prey.”

“That’s true. But if there were too many of them, and they’re big ones, there’s a limit to how well they can hide. They also take a couple of months to reproduce, assuming these things are like pre-System alligators, so this might not be something we need to deal with right away. There’s time to figure out if we can negotiate—or if they’re willing to just live in peace.”

Mina stared at him for a long moment, before she finally asked, “Why do you know that?”

Why do I know what?

“Oh. The alligator reproduction timeline?”

“Yes!”

“We live in Florida.”

She shook her head, seemingly smiling despite herself. “Yes,” she said finally. “Yes we do. And we’re about to try to establish a peaceful coexistence with the alligator people. Of course. All perfectly normal.”

“So, the other ‘X’?” he asked.

“That’s more immediately concerning. Dave Matsumoto thinks that something is replicating a setting from out of his Orientation. A scary place where he saw things he wasn’t comfortable describing.”

“What kind of ecosystem is it?” James asked.

“Just a forest. The ecosystem isn’t the problem, though. The issue is that people who get near that part of the border report seeing things, just like Matsumoto in his Orientation. Two of the Hunters got close to the forest, thinking they should explore that area, and they saw apparitions of some sort. I spoke with a couple of guys who were with the Orlando Public Works Department before the System, and they made a barrier with wooden stakes and caution tape so that people wouldn’t get near the forest until you were back. One of them saw something in the forest too. He kept saying a name, but it wasn’t anyone we know, and he didn’t want to talk about it. No one has been able to stand being near the border with that place for the time it would take to erect a more permanent barrier. The Public Works people who didn’t see anything said that the place gave them an ‘evil feeling’ after just a few minutes.”

Sounds like something I want to take a look at, was James’s instinctive response. But he tempered it.

“I think we’ll probably have no choice but to do something about that,” he said. “Tell me, has anyone gone in there?”

Mina bit her lip. “Not that I know of,” she said after a long pause. “But our people only started paying attention to that area once it was obvious there was something wrong there. We have a lot of people showing up here all the time—” She smiled bittersweetly—“and your monsters rescued around a hundred children while you were gone. I don’t know if you knew that.”

James smiled. “I sort of dimly realized what was happening, and sometimes I check. But they aren’t constantly reporting in. Those ones are pretty independent. I didn’t have a count on how many kids, but that’s really good to hear.”

“Your good deed for the century,” Mina replied. “Your good deed that people will be talking about for decades. If anyone ever doubts your goodness, this is the thing that your defenders should bring up.”

“You’re sweet.” James thought that this would not be anywhere near an adequate defense if he gave people cause to doubt him. “How did this come up again?”

“You were asking about people slipping through the border with the creepy forest, and I was just thinking that it would be easy for one of our new arrivals to wander over there without us noticing.”

“Good point,” he said. “Maybe I should do something right now. Not go charging in, just put up a real fortification there.”

Mina nodded. “I think so. Before you do, there was one more thing.” She visibly hesitated.

“What is it?”

“Only one of the witnesses heard it. Amalia Rosario. The same person who made our map. When she stood near the border, she thought she could make out a distant sound of screaming. Don’t go in after that sound if you hear it, skapi. If you do, I’ll chase after you. And if something happens to both of us…”

James finally nodded his assent to her grim demand. He knew what would happen if both he and Mina disappeared. Their children would be orphaned, and their country would dissolve. The children would probably die, and hundreds—no, now thousands—of citizens would be left adrift and defenseless. They would probably get eaten by the alligators or possessed by demons or whatever lives in that forest.

His mind returned to the accounts Mina had relayed of the forest. A distant sound of screaming. What the hell kind of neighbor do we have?

With the discussion concluded for the evening, James began moving to secure the Fisher Kingdom against the new threats.

First, he used Dominion to refresh his aura print over the whole area—and spread it into areas that his new neighbors' auras had not yet touched. There was no sense in losing ground to them, after all. And he was relieved that the potential invaders had not actually pushed any of their respective auras into his territory. If they had tried, his aura—his hold over the land—had apparently held firm.

Then he walked out to the border with the eerie forest. Mina insisted on going with him, over his objections, but he at least persuaded her to stand twenty feet behind so that any magical effect that struck him would probably not be able to reach her.

He took a look at the stakes wrapped in caution tape that lined the area like a makeshift fence of flimsy wood and plastic.

Really, the former Public Works fellows did a good job, he thought. It was completely inadequate to keep a determined person from getting in or out of the creepy forest, but given the time constraints and materials they’d had to work with, James was pleased. Everyone is making themselves useful, finding ways to contribute. The community is almost self-organized, the way Mina’s telling the story.

He imagined he would find out just how much direction the community actually needed tomorrow, when the brunt of the responsibility fell on his shoulders rather than Mina’s.

James began focusing his mind on the problem of erecting an earthen wall in the space just behind the stakes. Rather than using the Mana imbued into the land, he gathered most of what was left in his body.

As he was preparing to raise his wall, though, he looked across the caution tape fence, and he saw into the forest.

What James saw seemed impossible. It sent a shudder through him, and he barely kept his focus on spellcasting. Now I understand what left our Hunters and Public Works people so shaken.

At the sight of that abominable image, James resolved to make the wall several feet higher and a few feet longer. It would consume almost all the Mana he had left after the last day of nonstop activity and use of Dominion, but it seemed necessary. He wanted to not only keep people from inadvertently crossing over into that evil place, but also prevent them from accidentally looking over the border.

What people see when they look across that border is just as dangerous as anything offensive that the Ruler of that territory could conjure up. He tried to imagine fighting with the apparition that had just appeared lurking before his eyes, and it seemed impossible. He would focus on what he had seen, not any enemy placed in front of him.

He very deliberately looked away from the forest as he finished charging his Mana.

Finally, he poured his power into the earth and built a mighty wall, almost twice his own height.

There, he thought, panting slightly. Now let them try to screw with us. Assuming that Mina was out of range where she stood, he calculated that no one within range of the forest’s power would actually be able to see into it now.

Unless the forest expands its border. Which it surely would.

This was going to be a difficult problem, he could tell already. Perhaps a deadly problem.

Could he lead troops into a place like this forest? If he did, would any of them come out again?

He couldn’t confidently say that he knew the answer.

My own visual distractions made the Goblin fight so much easier. I can’t imagine things would be different here, when the shoe’s on the other foot.

He walked back toward Mina.

“You saw something, too, didn’t you, skapi?” she asked softly, staring him in the face.

“I did,” James said, frowning.

She took his hand, and they walked back to the apartment in silence.

While Mina made up the bed, James prepared to shower for the first time in over a month. That was the big change to their apartment while he was gone. Mina had come up with the idea of having plumbers come and, working in conjunction with Mages, install drain pipes in as many apartments as she could. That way, if people just used magic to conjure water, they could bathe like civilized humans, without having to look for a river or something.

As someone who had only washed with conjured water for weeks, and who’d had to bathe outside whenever he wanted to clean off, James thoroughly approved.

“Hester, Roscuro, do either of you know anything about dealing with ghosts?” James asked. The water was running over his body now, warm and inviting, but he still felt a chill.

“Not much, sir,” Hester said.

Is that what you saw? Roscuro asked.

Did you not see it? James replied.

No, Roscuro replied. Which I suspect means it was not real.

“I need to talk to Dave Matsumoto in the morning,” James said aloud. “I want to know what or who other people see when they look into that forest.”