James curled his arm around Mina as they stepped away from the crowd.
“That was amazing, skapi,” she said. “I don’t know what I expected, but every time I hear you speak in public, I think you were made for this.”
James smiled and wordlessly kissed his wife on the cheek. Her praise meant more than anyone else’s ever could.
But his mind was already onto the next task.
As they walked away from the monotheists, he reached out with his mind to the wyverns he had created.
Before the meeting with the council, he had ordered his wyverns to go and recover the body of Moishe’s companion who had fallen during their journey back to the Fisher Kingdom.
Now, assuming the mission had succeeded, he wanted all of the wyverns to return to the Fisher Kingdom so that he could decide which ones would go with the Fisher Expeditionary Force, reshuffle their Skills, and perform any other minor preparations he thought of before the monsters left to accompany Alan and Mitzi’s group.
As he made mental contact with the Great Venom Wyvern, the swiftest of his wyverns thanks to the stats it had gained from Mass Pillage, the creature reported that it had recovered the target. But James was startled to realize that Moishe’s companion was actually still somehow alive. Despite having collapsed before Moishe made it to the Kingdom—despite lying near death for days—he had survived long enough to be rescued.
Moishe will be thrilled, James thought. What the hell are these two made of?
James knew that he would survive something like being engulfed in flames for a few minutes, but as far as he knew, the man who had accompanied Moishe out of the Valley of the Shadow of Death was a more or less ordinary human. And Moishe, while deadly, was an Assassin—a Class that screamed “glass cannon” to James.
But they both had grit. Perhaps that was the key to surviving these experiences.
As he sought further details, he heard a voice and had to divide his attention to focus on both interactions.
“That was a brave speech,” Mitzi was saying from just behind James and Mina. “There were moments when I wondered if the crowd might get angry and try to rush the stage.”
“If they did, I could’ve killed every one of them even if I am in an imperfect condition right now,” James replied quietly, turning his head to better project his voice backward. “They’re all weaker than the leaders of the group were, and the leaders weren’t that strong anyway. Most of the value they bring is in their future potential if the Kingdom nurtures them, as I intend to try to nurture everyone in my territory.” The possibility of a violent reaction was one that he had considered when he was deciding to give such an emotionally fraught speech.
“I think you’ve frightened some of those people,” Alan said carefully, stepping up next to James. “Just based on the sounds of the crowd that I can still hear.” They had walked around twenty yards away in relative silence. “It was an excellent speech, but did you intend that result?”
“I did,” James said bluntly, giving Alan a thin smile. “I don’t have time to coddle feelings too much. After what we learned from Moishe, I have to push these people. I want to know how they behave under a little pressure. There are a few different ways they could react to what I said—rebellion, immigration, and loyalty—but only one of those is actually dangerous. If they leave, fine—whatever, that’s their choice. If they try to rebel, their numbers are puny, and they’re still pretty weak. I can crush them like ants without needing to call on the military. On the other hand, there is a circumstance where the speech I gave binds them more closely to the Kingdom. And I think some of them will end up wanting to show that they’re not like the leaders who demanded that people be left to burn to death.”
Plus, I’ll know if they intend to betray me before they can ever act on it, he thought. Since I don’t intend to leave the Kingdom until my body has recovered from all its recent exertions, I’ll definitely pay attention to what people are saying and doing here. I can see and hear anything I want if it’s happening within the Kingdom’s borders. If some people are plotting against me, maybe the Earth will just swallow them up.
“Some people understand the threat of violence better than any high moral argument, Alan,” said Leo, who now stood off to James’s other side. “Even if they really ought to know it from their own religious principles, it’s better if they understand that their self-interest is really on the side of obeying the authorities in the land where they’ve settled, too. I think James just made sure that none of them will ever stand by watching religious leaders lead people to their deaths again. If he succeeds, it’s more than worth whatever emotional turmoil they experience in the short term.”
Alan thought over what James and Leo had said for a few seconds silently.
“Well, I think you do have to test them,” he murmured finally. “Some of them were involved in what happened to young Moishe. It’s not easy to forget that.”
“I don’t intend to,” James said. “And I’m optimistic you’ll have a few more volunteers for your expedition after this.”
“Hopefully people we can trust,” Mitzi said from just behind them. “Considering what you were just saying about rebellion, it doesn’t sound like you have complete confidence.”
“If they try to betray you, my creatures will kill them,” James said, half-turning his head to better project his voice in her direction. “I do think you might end up being glad you have some of the monotheists with you, though. I’m optimistic that they can smooth any interactions you might have with their coreligionists. Since your mission is a non-violent one—exploration and ideally acquisition of some resources—I think having some people with a foot in both worlds could end up adding some value.”
He thought of Yulia and her quiet religiosity, as well as her peacemaker personality—though he hoped he was never in the position of needing her to act as mediator between himself and some religious group.
“You intended to get them volunteering specifically to join us, then,” Alan said. The sentence was structured like it should have been a question, but there was no doubt in the old man’s voice.
“Correct,” James said. “I felt that you should have some additional help.”
Alan nodded. “You manipulated their emotions,” he said quietly.
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“That is what politicians do,” James replied.
It’s literally my Job.
“That’s true,” Alan said. “Some of your decisions would be too difficult for me to make. I can’t say you’re wrong, though.” He shrugged and looked as if he had decided not to worry about it.
James thought that was a little strange. He recalled a time when he imagined Alan would have criticized him for behaving ruthlessly with the monotheists. But maybe the old man had just been through so much since the world turned upside down that the decency at his core was giving way to pragmatism.
If so, all the better. He’ll give more actionable advice if those pesky morals are less of a consideration.
As they continued moving back toward the center of the Kingdom, James went over the information the Great Venom Wyvern had transmitted to him. It did not have any clear grasp over how the human it carried had survived the flames. James didn’t even know the man’s name, because Moishe had skipped over their introduction in the abbreviated flashback of the dream, and the wyverns all lacked the Identify Skill. All the creature could give James were the shallowest details of the man’s condition: he was covered in obvious, severe burns, and both his breathing and heartbeat were incredibly weak.
“Alan, we’re getting an injured person coming,” James said. “The other guy who was with Moishe. It turned out he was still alive.”
“Right, I’ve got plenty of Mana if he needs healing,” Alan said immediately.
James summoned Gupta and Zirndorf through his communication power, too. From the sensory information he was getting from the wyvern, he suspected the new guy would need all the help he could get—especially because James did not intend to offer further blessings until he was in better condition. He didn’t want to risk prolonging his diminished condition.
If he just recovered for a bit longer, he knew he would be strong enough to use Blessing of the Fisher King and Dominion without ruining his strength for the remainder of the day. The value of his own power to the Kingdom’s security was greater to him than the value of a slightly speedier recovery for the stranger. It was a harsh calculation, but the growth of the Kingdom through Dominion was obviously much more important than the survival of one man.
As James and his companions stepped into the courtyard, Gupta and Zirndorf rushed out of their apartments to meet them, breathless, immediately responsive to the King’s command. Although James had requested their presence for a completely legitimate—indeed, potentially a very important—reason, there was something pleasantly exhilarating about knowing that they had come in such a hurry at his beckoning.
“Thank you for getting down here so quickly,” he said. “You have a few minutes before my creature gets here carrying the patient—” An idea struck James mid-sentence that he should create a permanent, flying ambulance system using creatures from his skin, but he did not allow it to slow him—“so now would be a good time to figure out where to take him and how best to treat him. Whatever you guys did for Moishe should help. This fellow went through the same thing.”
“Another burn victim?” Gupta asked. “Was there a second fire, or—?”
“He is burned, yes,” James said. “He’s been laying out there, clinging to life all this time.”
James heard Gupta mutter something that sounded suspiciously like “Impossible!” and resisted the urge to tell the man of science that the impossible was completely possible in the times that they were living through.
Instead, James simply stood in silence while Gupta and Zirndorf conferred with each other, gave Alan instructions, and waited for James’s creature to arrive. Mina and James stood nearby, since they both had Laying on Hands and therefore might make themselves useful if the injuries could be partially ameliorated with that Skill.
And then the Great Venom Wyvern appeared, shooting through the sky like a missile shaped by a demon. As it spotted James and his party on the ground, the King sent a last command to the creature, ordering it to land in a specific spot, set the human down gently, and refrain from harming anyone.
Its descent was both swift and majestic, reminding James of the dragons of mythology that he thought he had semi-consciously referenced in his mind when shaping the creature.
Zirndorf and Gupta both visibly stepped back from the monstrous behemoth as it drew close to the ground. They did not narrow the distance until, responsive to a new order, the wyvern took flight once more, leaving the human on the ground.
Identify.
Wolfgang Mannheim, Lv. 8.
At least now James knew a name for the man.
As he watched Gupta, Zirndorf, and Alan begin their work—a healthy mixture of healing magic and traditional medical practice including the use of bandages and disinfectant—he saw the man’s eyes fluttering.
James took a step forward. If Mannheim woke up, he wanted the chance to ask the man how he had survived for so long—if he knew. If James could bottle that sort of resilience and distribute it, his Kingdom would be invincible.
As the Fisher King took another step toward the stirring man, no one around him reacted. They were all as transfixed by the scene as James, if not more so.
Mannheim’s eyes finally opened, moved in a frantic fashion up and down, side to side, as if struggling with some painful form of compulsion—and then locked onto James’s own eyes. James now stood directly ahead of Mannheim, just a few feet in front of him—as close as he could get without getting in the actual Healers’ way—and he suddenly had the absurd sense of being in a staring contest with a sick, perhaps dying, man.
James could feel the man forming the intention to say something—could see the hands that had laid limp at Mannheim’s side rising and clenching as he tried to focus and get the words out. James saw Mannheim’s lips move—there was an “F” sound in the first word he wanted to say. But then Mannheim’s eyes closed, and his body shuddered.
“Whoa,” James muttered. Then, louder, he said, “Hey, is our guest still alive?”
“Heart still beating,” Zirndorf barked, not looking up from his healing work. “If you’re not helping, please back away, sir.”
James listened to him. He stepped back. The hands currently healing Mannheim’s battered body seemed more than enough to him. If someone started to run low on Mana, he would step in.
Failing that, he would simply watch.
The emergency application of Laying on Hands lasted for several minutes. It was easy to tell that two of these men had been medical professionals prior to the System’s arrival. They found the places on Mannheim’s body that needed the most attention and were most vital and focused their efforts there, then expanded them to other places, then returned and went over the vital regions again.
As James observed, he took mental notes—he never knew when he would be in the position of having to heal other people again. Mina watched, transfixed, too.
Finally, the process was done. Mannheim was stable enough to be moved, as Gupta briefly explained.
James and Mina withdrew to their apartment, while Gupta and Zirndorf carried the wounded man away, Alan following close behind them.
The wyverns entered the master bedroom through the same window they had left through before, though with greater difficulty this time. They seemed to have grown larger.
The Fisher King quickly read through some of their memories and realized that in addition to Mass Pillaging the bodies of the dead, the Great Venom Wyvern had also eaten the meat from Cyrus and his allies and shared it with its fellows.
That showed more independent agency than James had been conscious of assigning them, but he took it as a good thing. He was no Doctor Frankenstein to reject his monsters when his experiment had, in fact, succeeded far beyond his expectations.
James petted each of the creatures appreciatively—it would be good to create positive emotional associations for them with their master, in case he ever lost his complete control over them for any reason—and he began his modifications.
“Let’s see what you got, beastie,” he murmured to the Great Venom Wyvern.
It had used Mass Pillage to take Stats from most of the monotheists—and Talents from Cyrus Berberian and Christopher Smith.