Ruthless: Path of Conquest

“So, how do you want to do this, Your Majesty?” asked Rotter.

“For the Fisher Expeditionary Force, I’ll want volunteers,” James said. “A force large enough to defend itself, but the goal isn’t for them to fight. The goal is to explore and survive to report back. I already have a few people in mind. I’ll also send some creatures I control with them to be my eyes and ears—to help defend them, or so that I at least know if anything happens to them. As for the Fisher Army advancing East, I think we have several leaders for that here—”

“Your Majesty, may I request the honor of leading the Goblins alongside whatever other forces you assemble?” Duncan asked. He thumped his small fist against the table.

James grinned widely at Duncan. He hadn’t told the Goblin Overlord about his plans in advance. Duncan was just that eager to lead his people into combat—and James enjoyed seeing it.

“Permission to kick ass granted,” James replied.

“Thank you,” Duncan said. “Sitting in their tunnels with nothing to do but tinker and gamble, they’re getting soft. I know they want to see some action.”

James nodded. “I assume that Luna and the wolf pack will also want to go,” he said.

“If it is your will, my King,” Luna said deferentially through one of her three heads. Her voice was slightly deeper now, and the words rolled through the air with power.

“I assume I’ll be leading the human portion of your forces, Your Majesty,” Dave said.

“That’s correct,” James said with a nod.

“You won’t be leaving us out, will you?” asked Samuel.

“If you can keep up, you and as many of your people as would like to get some levels are welcome to go,” James said. He looked at Dave. “I would recommend planning a route East that runs along a river or two.”

Dave simply nodded.

“I think it would be appropriate for a squadron of bats to join you as well,” said Evangeline quietly. “We would like to remove any question that might linger as to our loyalty.”

“Um, I’ll take some of my squirrels and join in, too!” said Ysabel hastily, clearly worried about being the odd one out.

“I am afraid my people may be of little use in a fast march across a long distance,” said Mole Lord Magnar in a soft, subdued voice.

“That’s all right,” James reassured him. “You’re still building out the sewers anyway, aren’t you?”

Magnar nodded.

“You’re contributing in your own way,” James said. “Don’t worry.”

“This sounds like a mighty force,” said Luntz. He sighed. “I think they’ll sweep away any obstacles in their path. Again, I hate to be the skeptic—but with a force like that sent out, who’s here defending the heart of the King’s territory?”

“All the rest of us will be here,” James replied. “Including me. I know you haven’t seen me fight personally, Harry, but I’m strong enough to hold my own. Strong enough to make up for a bit of a disparity in numbers. Stronger when I’m fully recovered. And I figure that since our new Chief of Police is training his first officers, perhaps they can also serve as a secondary defense force if we need them—sort of like how the Coast Guard used to become an arm of the Navy in times of war.”

Luntz looked relieved. “So we’ll have an organized defense,” he murmured.

“As if there was ever any doubt,” said Rotter in a reproachful tone.

James just raised an eyebrow at him. We don’t need to go that far, he thought. I still want people to be able to disagree with me in these meetings, or they’ll end up expressing their disagreement where they think I can’t hear them instead.

Of course, James could see and hear anything he wanted within his borders. But he preferred to avoid the necessity of using that dystopian power if he could encourage people to express themselves openly with him.

Rotter seemed to get the hint. “I am glad that the Agriculture Chair raised these possible issues, of course,” he added. “It’s just that every citizen of this new country is a hardened veteran of some Orientation or other. We’ve continued to have new arrivals every day. The idea that we could be left defenseless just rubbed me slightly the wrong way as an administrator.” The last words came out almost apologetically.

He’s really a chameleon, isn’t he? James thought. I almost would have believed he really meant what he was saying, if I hadn’t just glared at him to get him to express that sentiment.

“Thanks, Jeremiah,” Luntz said. “And Your Majesty.” He nodded at James.

“Well, I would hate to proceed without assuaging your doubts,” James said in a sincere tone. When it came to starting wars, the Fisher King found that he was very interested in getting as close to unanimity as possible. The United States had lost several wars because of dissension from within the United States. The North Vietnamese and the Taliban were much weaker than the American military—and the conflict with the latter had not cost a large number of American lives. Yet the United States had still ended up losing both of those wars, even if it had declared victory at the time.

The key to winning wars, he thought, was to maintain the public will to fight. Starting out by getting genuine assent from key stakeholders rather than sleepwalking them into a war was an important part of that.

“When do you want us to leave by?” asked Dave.

“Just as soon as people can be ready,” James said, deliberately leaving it open-ended. There was no rush to go out and conquer the world; it was a priority, but the only reason to do it quickly rather than taking their time was simply to reduce the number of Rulers James would encounter at the World Leaders’ Summit. He had the feeling that Rulers still on their thrones after that event would be far more difficult to displace than those James had taken out so far.

“I understand,” Dave said. “I’ll consult with Harry on the subject of food for the army.”

Luntz nodded.

“Did you need anything else from us, Your Majesty?” asked Rotter.

James shook his head. “That was all. I’ll speak to council members individually about their tasks and progress over the next few days. Um, also, I would ask that council members not tell others about the story of what happened to Moishe Rose just yet. I want to address that in my own way, and I think it’s an incredibly delicate subject. I don’t think there’s anything else we need to discuss as a group right now. Unless someone else has something?”

A number of heads shook from all around the table.

Good.

“Then this meeting is adjourned,” he said.

DaSilva rose from his seat at the end of the table, and James quickly got up to speak with him.

“I hope things in your new role are getting started on the right foot, Chief DaSilva,” James said.

“They are,” DaSilva said. “Recruitment has been going well. And Your Majesty is welcome to use my nickname. Leo is fine.”

“All right. Leo, I don’t know who you’ve recruited so far, but I was hoping that we might get beings of various species resident in the Fisher Kingdom into the police force.”

Leo gave him a look, almost as if the Police Chief wanted to laugh.

“Your Majesty, are you about to initiate an affirmative action policy for nonhumans?” he finally asked in a lowered voice.

“Oh no,” James said, laughing. “I just want to make sure that you let all the nonhumans know they can be part of the police force, too. I’m not asking you to set quotas or lower requirements for them, except to the extent that certain requirements might be physically impossible for Goblins or some other species to meet. I think the advantage of having some police who behave differently than humans would will be to our advantage, especially because I assume we’ll eventually have criminals, and not all of them will be human. The squirrels and bats can fly, and I can only assume that would make it difficult for you to catch squirrel or bat criminals without squirrel or bat police.”

Leo snorted quietly. “Fair enough. I was half joking anyway. I actually had a few Goblins volunteer themselves already. They seem like good guys. Former King Duncan has been very eagerly looking for work to give his people, you know. He really meant what he said earlier. Idle hands being the Devil’s playthings, I sort of get it.”

“Yeah, I can imagine,” James said slowly. He really didn’t quite get it. For him, all his idle moments when he wasn’t taking care of his family or the Kingdom would naturally be devoted to fighting and training. The concept of “idle hands” was one that had lost most of its salience for him.

“How much do you know about Goblin society?” Leo asked.

“Really just what my weapon told me,” James said, holding up the wrist where the Soul Eater Orb was currently sitting in the form of a small bangle.

“Uh, is that a riddle—or do you just mean you know about killing them?” Leo asked.

“Oh, no, it’s weirder than that,” James said. “Believe it or not, this object is actually a living, thinking organism from another universe. In his world, Goblins also existed, so he gave me some pointers on how to secure their loyalty to the Fisher Kingdom.”

Leo stared at him for a moment. Just long enough for James to hear how much crazier his explanation sounded than what he’d initially said. He thought about clarifying further, but recognized that might only make things worse.

“I guess I lived to see the time when I no longer have the first clue what’s going on,” Leo said. “But I’ve actually seen and heard of things that are just about as strange as what you just described, now that I think about it.” He shrugged. “The more you live alongside the absurd, the more you adjust. I hope.”

“Yeah, that’s been my experience,” James agreed.

“So, what did the weapon tell you, anyway?” Leo asked.

James leaned in close and whispered. “To dominate them with fear.”

Leo gave a low whistle. “Well, I think it worked, if that’s what you did,” he said slowly. “Duncan seems very loyal to you. I really just wanted to know if Goblin society is nepotistic—or how their hierarchies work in general. The Overlord wanted me to give his brother a job, too—and he specifically wanted to try and make sure his brother outranked the other Goblins.”

“Oh,” James said. He was quiet for a moment, then added, “So, did you?”

“Yes,” Leo said. “I never wanted to be high brass in the Orlando Police Department—I was happy as a Detective—but it seems to me that there’s always some politics in upper level administrative positions. Duncan has a thousand Goblins under our feet. He seems like a good person to have owing me a favor or two.”

James nodded and smiled. He liked this. Despite being a brass tacks kind of guy, the Chief of Police seemed exactly the right amount of flexible for James to work with.

I’m glad Mina spoke so highly of him. I would never have offered him a job just based on fighting him, but he seems very well suited to do this work.

“Did you have any specific criteria for people when you were recruiting?” James asked. “How does that work?”

“A basic physical fitness test, which everyone easily passed,” Leo said. “Then some general questions about character and life history. I told everyone that I wasn’t going to hold a criminal past against them if they admitted it up front—and I meant it. Only one guy had a history, and I’m not holding it against him—” He looked at James cautiously—“unless you object, of course.”

“Is it a crime of moral turpitude?” James asked.

“Did you get that out of a statute book, counselor?” Leo replied, chuckling.

“Guilty. Sometimes I forget that I’m not a lawyer anymore.”

“I don’t know about that,” Leo said. “Lawyers ruled the world before the System. It seems to me that your legal skills are still serving you just fine. You were just lawyering the whole room, after all.”

James gave Leo a small, knowing smile.

“We have to perpetuate the logocracy,” he said.

“I know you’re waiting for me to ask what that means,” Leo said, “and you’re correct that I don’t know.”

“Rule by words,” James said. “That’s the only way lawyers can hold power. The only thing we’re good at is stringing together words.”

“Some people would say that a country should be run based on ideals,” Leo said. “In that sense, rule based on words isn’t such a bad idea. It sounds a lot like the rule of law that we’re trying to restore.”

James thought about shaking his head. That was not what he’d meant by rule of words. It had been said before that totalitarianism was rule by words, because under such a system, ideas no longer mattered—only how they were expressed. Whether or not the framing of the idea was to be punished.

But he didn’t.

“I don’t disagree with you,” James said. “Anyway, you can take the lawyer out of the law firm, but maybe not the law firm out of the lawyer. If I’m long-winded sometimes, you can just shoot me a look and yawn.” James pantomimed covering his mouth to stifle a yawn.

“You’re a pretty different kind of leader than most in the world before the System,” Leo observed. “Um, did you actually want to know more about the one ex-con who I am provisionally allowing to join the police force?”

“I’ll trust your judgment until I’m given a reason to doubt it,” James replied. “We need officers, and given that you guys are basically a backup branch of the military as well, you might also want to get some part time or reserve members, too. So I’ll try not to put too many restrictions on hiring for right now. My hope is that you can police your own. The law enforcement in our little society has to be trustworthy and respected. If that aspect is dysfunctional, my throne might start to look a little less secure. So, I hope you’ll be careful in how you use your authority.”

“Yes, sir,” said Leo, looking like he wished he was just a Detective again—which, of course, only made him seem more qualified to be Chief to James. “How is Yulia doing, by the way?”

James successfully kept himself from laughing at the sudden change of subjects and instead gave Leo the full update on the Robard household, from how excited Yulia was to become a teacher to how much she had been helping with the children to the power of the bonding experience that Yulia and Mina had shared in their Orientation.

“She has been a bit lonely, though,” James finished. “She hasn’t been spending a lot of time with people her own age—”

He cut himself off.

He recognized that Leo was looking, rather insistently, at something or someone behind James. After a few seconds of this, the Fisher King turned around.

Alan stood there wearing a pleasant smile.

“James, do you have a minute for me?” he asked.