Ruthless: Path of Conquest

When James awakened, he felt a strange combination of sensations.

Fatigue. A combination of fatigue and muscle soreness that he had not experienced since Orientation, except in the immediate aftermath of combat.

An unpleasant cotton-like taste filled his mouth.

And the quality of the light falling across his skin told him immediately that it was mid-afternoon now. That meant he had slept for at least an hour or two. Pre-System, on the occasion that he napped, he would only rest for twenty or thirty minutes at a stretch.

Am I sick?

That was his first thought, but he immediately dismissed the idea that he had some ordinary illness.

James recalled the image of Cyrus and thought, Is it possible that scrawny bastard really did this to me? He would have to be careful not to underestimate the threat of his ilk in future.

He slowly stretched his limbs, not yet trying to rise from the bed. He had the unfortunate feeling that he would be unsteady if he tried to get to his feet too quickly. He could sense that he was alone in the room except for his one constant companion.

“You’re awake, sir?” Hester asked quietly from behind his ear.

“Sort of,” James said. “I have to admit, I’d rather be back asleep.”

“Given what you went through before you lost consciousness, I’m not surprised,” she said.

“Thankfully, Anansi was there,” James said. He paused for a moment. “You know about what I went through, then?”

“Yes, Lord Anansi told me about it while you were sleeping, when he was passing along the rest of his message.”

I must have been really knocked out to not notice how the spider on the back of my ear was burning up.

“Well, next time you report to him, please convey my thanks for his intervention,” James replied.

Without Anansi’s protection, I wonder how that would have gone… The thought was sickening. I might have become a puppet of Cyrus and his god—or angel?—demon? What was that creature Anansi distracted? I thought it might be an angel, but what would that mean?

“It was only standard, according to what he said, sir, given that Cyrus invoked the power of the being that blessed him,” Hester said.

“Well, I appreciate it anyway,” James said. “I’ve never been happier that I went with Anansi when he asked me.”

“I’ll make sure to pass that on, boss,” Hester said. He could hear the smile in her voice.

“Hester, if you know, what was that being?” James asked. “The thing that Anansi distracted so that I could survive?”

“Lord Anansi said you two encountered a lesser seraph,” she replied darkly. “One that he’s personally familiar with. Basically a mid-level angel.”

“Mid-level?” James asked.

What would a higher level angel look like?

“Yes,” Hester said. “Stronger angels can be on the same level as gods. They’re even more powerful in a setting that emulates their home territory. Lord Anansi mentioned that on a fairer playing field, he could have killed this one with little trouble. A high enough level mortal could even do it. But apparently weaker angels usually travel in groups, outside of settings like that place Cyrus brought you, where permanent harm is usually impossible to inflict.”

“I’m pretty sure I inflicted some harm on Cyrus,” James said, choosing not to follow up on the power hierarchy questions that Hester doubtless would not be able to answer anyway. She knew him well enough by now to know what information he would want to know, anyway. If there was something she could tell him about angels versus gods and other entities, she would tell him.

“Yes, Lord Anansi said congratulations on unlocking the ability to curse enemies. It’s the opposite power implied by the ability to apply blessings. All gods have it, though they rarely use it. He recommended being careful about applying it in future, though. He made a joke about not driving or operating any heavy machinery right now… I gather that it’s typically an order of magnitude more energy intensive than blessings.”

“Now he tells me,” James said, chuckling.

At least I have a better explanation for feeling like I lost a fight.

“There was something that Lord Anansi wanted to pass along, by way of advice, sir,” Hester said hesitantly.

“I’m ready to hear it,” James said.

“He just—um, he doesn’t want to tell you what to do, he was very clear about that, but—well, he knows you were inclined to let Cyrus’s followers go before, but, um…”

“He agreed with Bear before about them. And he thinks that turning the other cheek now would be a bad move,” James said, his smile growing thinner.

The truth is, I feel the same way. I felt that way by the end of my confrontation with Cyrus earlier, but I wasn’t in any condition to do anything about it. This situation is dangerous. I permanently disabled their Prophet. The only choice that didn’t involve letting people see Cyrus get away with what he did was to kill him. I probably should have just done that. There’s no reason to assume the people who choose to keep following him will appreciate my mercy—or even see it as mercy. They probably need to be dealt with, whether I like it or not. There’s every chance that they’ll come back stronger, looking for revenge, someday.

His Wraith-induced visions of the future flashed through his mind—in particular the one in which Mina was murdered by humans wearing an unfamiliar religious symbol that seemed to combine elements from Christianity, Islam, and Judaism.

“Not only would Lord Anansi consider it a bad move, but even out of character, sir,” Hester said. “He gently reminds you of the way you handled the centipedes, the coyotes, the Moloch cultists, and even the Wraiths.”

“Yes, I know, Hester,” James said gently.

I can’t let the fact that they’re human beings compromise my decision making. Humans are just as big of a threat as anything else in this world. Don’t treat them differently just because they remind me of plenty of people I’ve met in the past. Decent people who just had more intense religious beliefs than me or Mina.

“Let me think about what to do a little bit,” he added.

His mind was moving quickly through options and their various pros and cons.

“Neither Lord Anansi nor I would ever presume to give you orders, boss,” she replied in a soft voice. “It’s your journey, and your story—you’re the one who has to live with your choices.”

Oh, don’t I know it. The System insisted on reminding me of choices I made a decade ago when it initiated me…

“Hester, I have one big question. It’s about the angel.”

The spider simply waited silently.

“Does the existence of angels imply the existence of the, uh, big guy? The boss of the angels?”

“The short answer is, ‘it’s complicated,’” Hester said. “But Lord Anansi spent most of the transmission to me explaining. He knew you would want to know, and he felt you were entitled.”

“If it’s complicated, the answer must be yes,” James said, tilting his head.

“Yes and no,” Hester said. “You know that some gods are fueled by faith, while others run on sacrifices or are closely affiliated with something in the human—and nonhuman—experience.”

James nodded.

“Well, the specific being you’re asking about is a uniquely large concept. That particular deity’s faiths insist that He is not only a god, but the only god—responsible for everything. That’s more than a little unusual. The way Lord Anansi explains it, that’s such a heavy burden that this particular entity only exists in universes where he obtains the faith of a vast supermajority of all intelligent life forms. In the handful of universes where He holds sway, He is the only deity. The other gods are completely shut out, and they don’t even know what goes on in those places. Conversely, there are also some universes that He is shut out of, and then there are a vast number of more recently integrated universes where the entity in question lives a sort of half-life—insufficient faith to truly make His presence felt to the degree it probably is in those places where He is the only deity.”

“So, in my world, all He can do is send angels?” James asked.

“Pretty much,” Hester said. But James noted she did not sound completely certain.

He waited for her to volunteer clarification, but she did not. And he decided to let the matter go for now. He knew there were some things that the Spider God could not tell him, which necessarily meant some things that Hester couldn’t tell him either—and might not know.

“Thank you for the explanation, Hester,” James said finally.

“My pleasure,” she replied. “I didn’t know most of this stuff myself before this transmission from Lord Anansi. There was one more thing. He wanted you to know that you won’t have to worry about the Moloch cult anymore.”

“Oh, that’s great news!” James said. “I would have figured they might come back for some kind of revenge, but I guess that’s been taken care of…?”

“Lord Anansi has your back, James,” Hester said in a warm, confident voice.

James smiled, but his expression soured slightly as another thought occurred to him.

Wait, what happens to the dead? I know there are death gods, and I know there’s Yahweh—or a kind of Shrodinger’s God who simultaneously exists and doesn’t exist—but where is my father’s soul? He died before the System, as a Christian. Does that mean his soul is in the biblical God’s hands, or one of the myriad death gods? How had I not thought about this yet?

James still remembered his father’s face, though it had been almost two-thirds of James’s lifetime since they saw each other. His firm but gentle, lightly accented voice. His kind eyes. The stubble on his chin.

The question of what had happened to his father’s soul was almost painful to think about, and it was too much to deal with at this moment when he had pressing problems. He forced himself to push it aside for the moment along with his other questions.

I promise, I haven’t forgotten you, he thought. I’ll never forget you.

It was time to get up and deal with the problems at hand. Cyrus was the first thing he needed to deal with. These revelations only made him and those aligned with him into more threatening future enemies.

James pulled himself to a seated position, and the bedroom door suddenly swung open.

“I knew it!” Mina exclaimed, standing in the doorway with James Junior in her arms. “I was sure I heard your voice in here. We were all so worried. I’m so happy you woke up.”

She rushed forward, pushing the door closed behind her, and enfolded James and the baby in her soft, warm embrace.

“It’s good to see you, too,” he said, hugging her back weakly. His arms seemed to have lost most of their strength. He sensed that if he desperately needed to, he could muster a minute’s worth of furious fighting power, but there would be a cost to it. He could not safely exert himself right now, beyond sitting up and gently holding his wife. There was going to be a real, significant hangover from using Curse of the Fisher King on Cyrus.

And just when I needed to be at a hundred percent, James thought.

“Are you all right, skapi?” Mina asked softly, her voice right next to his ear. She settled her body onto the bed, sitting beside him rather than letting him hold her up. James figured she could tell from his weak embrace that he was not quite himself.

“I’m pretty weak right now,” James admitted. “I don’t know if it will be hours, days, or longer before I recover. I’m pretty sure I could defend myself if I had to, for around a minute, but after that I would pass out. I think I’m going to be doing mostly administrative tasks for a while.”

“As long as you don’t think you’re dying, or something, I’m happy,” Mina said brightly. “If you need to pass out again, go ahead and rest. I’ll take care of everything out here.”

“Thank you, Mina,” James said. “I don’t think I’m anywhere near dying. I need to take care of some business, though. Can you get some of our people for me?”

She hesitated. “Are you sure you’re up for seeing people? I know you don’t want anyone to know that you’re in sort of a weak state.”

“It’s fine,” James said. “The people I’m thinking of are capable of keeping a secret.”

“Actually, there were already some people waiting to see you,” Mina said. “I closed the door when I came in, because I wanted to make sure you were ready to receive company before I let them get a look at you.”

“Who are they?” James asked.

“Jeremiah Rotter, Damien Rousseau, and Dave Matsumoto,” she replied.

James’s eyes widened slightly. Interesting. Two of them are people I already wanted to see.

“There’s another piece of news,” Mina added. “One of your friends from Orientation arrived. Someone who Rotter said was a close ally of yours. A man named Moishe Rose.”

“That’s great news,” James said, a smile slowly spreading across his face.

Wait. Is that the person Bear said would arrive? Didn’t he predict something about a friend of mine showing up and corroborating his advice? James’s memory was slightly fuzzy from physical weakness and from having just woken up, but he was almost certain that this fit with Bear’s prediction.

“It’s not such great news, skapi,” Mina said quietly, her expression turning sad. “I’m afraid that he lost consciousness just after he made it over the border. He was apparently pretty badly hurt. The wolves recognized his scent and dragged him to within the settlement, and Camila Rodriguez has been taking care of him. But I understand he hasn’t woken up yet.”

James nodded. Hopefully I can help with that if Camila’s healing isn’t enough. If not, I doubt Bear would want the guy who can provide his testimonial to languish in a coma for too long. Maybe he can do something.

“Thank you for giving me both the good and the bad news,” he said. “Is there anything else I should know before I talk to our guests? What are they here for, anyway?”

Mina shook her head. “I don’t know. They didn’t seem entirely comfortable with telling me, and I decided not to press.”

James raised an eyebrow. Do they think they have a higher security clearance than my wife or something? What can’t they discuss in front of her?

“Well, you’re definitely staying in the room for the meeting, then,” he said.

“That suits me fine,” Mina replied quietly. “Do you want to do it here or go into the living room?”

“Where are the kids and Yulia?” James asked. “Not in the living room?”

“No, they’re playing in the children’s room,” Mina said. “We had a late lunch, so I think they’ll probably be too tired to interrupt a meeting in the living room even if they wanted to go in there and play. I can also ask Yulia to make sure they stay where they are.”

“Still probably better to do it here,” James said after a moment. “I know you don’t like having people in our private space—” He saw Mina’s eyes already darting to the few bits of mess around the room, and he smiled involuntarily—“so you can tidy up a little if you want to, but yeah. I think this conversation is going to be quite adult. I don’t want any chance of the kids overhearing it. I like using the living room as a buffer space for that.”

“I understand,” Mina said quietly. “Well, we don’t have much in this room anyway. We’ve owned hardly any possessions ever since we came back to Earth. Not so much to move around.”

She nevertheless proceeded to spend the next several minutes cleaning the room while James played with the baby in the bed.

Finally, Mina conjured James a cup of water before she opened the door and invited Dave, Damien, and Rotter inside.

The three men entered the room nervously—perhaps guiltily, James thought.

Then again, maybe he was reading too much on their faces.