After eating supper, I was sent to bed early. I wasn't tired, or at least I didn't think I was. I laid down and closed my eyes, then suddenly it was the next day and I was being kicked awake. At least she aimed for my foot and not my gut or groin this time.

“You need to go.” The Hag said and walked over to the bench that we prepared potion ingredients on. “Take the sacks and don't come back until you fill two of them.”

I walked over to the spot with the other potions and drank one of the spider venom ones and put the last one in my pocket. I grabbed the new hatchet, the new hand saw, and the two sacks. I hung them on my back to keep them out of the way and walked over to the Hag. I stood there for several moments without saying anything.

“What do you want?” The Hag asked and glared at me.

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You have a choice to make. Be smart and be wise.

A) Tease her. B) Hug her. C) Remind her. D) Kick her. E) Kiss her. F) Spit in her face.

Um, I think she'd like a couple of those and hate a couple of others. I'm going with C.

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“You told me to talk to you before I left.” I said and didn't look into her eyes. Sometimes I could get away with it, unless she thought I was being defiant. Then she would pound it out of me.

The Hag stared at me for a minute, then she reached behind herself and pulled out the knife she had bought at the general store, except that it didn't quite look like the same knife. It seemed to gleam in the light and looked about a hundred times sharper. I glanced up at the large knife hanging up where I couldn't reach it and back at her.

“Yes, it's just as sharp.” The Hag said and passed it to me. “This is your life.” She said and gripped my hand over the handle of the knife so tightly that I thought my fingers were going to break. “You will live or you will die with this blade in your hand.”

I felt a tingling sensation in my hand and then the knife glowed slightly. She slipped the sheath over the top of the still glowing blade, which hid it from view.

“Never take it off for any reason. Always have it on you and you will always have something to depend on.” The Hag said and let my aching hand go. “Don't lose it.” She said and turned around to face the bench. “I will take your hand if you ever come back without it.”

I stood there and trembled as the adrenaline wore off and my hand hurt.

“Go. Now.” The Hag said, her voice commanding and terrifying.

I didn't need any more incentive to move and took off out of the hut and ran around it. I made it to the first waterway that I had to wade across before I stopped. I took several deep breaths and looked at the knife in my hand. It was a good size for me and fit as if the hilt was moulded to my hand. It was then that I looked closely and saw that instead of the normal handle, it really had reformed to fit my hand.

It took me nearly ten minutes to tie it to both my waist and my thigh. It just didn't want to sit right until I angled it for an easier draw. I practised with it and could pull it out and swing it in only a few seconds. That was pretty slow, considering how quickly I could get attacked, so I grabbed a stick and probed the water, which didn't stir anything up, and waded across it. Once across, I kept an eye out for any creatures and practised pulling the knife out to attack, over and over.

_______________

Montage mode engaged. Speeding up tasks. Done. Resuming.

_______________

I watched the entire day pass before my eyes as if in a blur. I gathered ingredients, fought several larger spiders, gripping vines, and two poisonous snakes. My new knife easily cut them all apart and it made me very happy. The snakes had been near the perpetual mushroom and fungus bloom area. Apparently, it was a good area to catch smaller prey. Unfortunately, there were none around for me to catch.

I had also found a huge wide tree, one that was big enough for the Hag's use. I had chopped it down with the new hatchet and used the hand saw to cut it into three inch wide coins nearly two feet across. I left the bark on them and tied the coins together, using the thin rope I had salvaged from my last pitiful escape attempt. I had two stacks of them and then I wondered what I was going to do to get them home.

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What you choose here could change the story from here on out.

A) Take the wood. B) Take the ingredients. C) Take both. D) Take nothing. E) Do Something else.

If I had the Strength potion, I'd choose C. Not taking anything would guarantee a beating. Taking just one or the other might also make me get in trouble. I thought and looked at the last option. Yeah, all right. I'll do that. I choose E.

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I looked at the two large sacks of potion ingredients that we needed and the smaller sack of the precious ingredients, and made my decision. I needed to make two trips. I quickly moved my cut coins off to the side and hid them under some brush, just in case any large creature came along and tried to nibble on all my hard work.

I tied the small sack to my waist and then tied the two large sacks together. Now that they were technically one burden, I hung it over my shoulder and let one sack dangle down my back and one down my front. It was going to slow me down doing it this way; but, I needed at least one arm free in case I met anything along the way.

I left the area and my speed was definitely a lot slower with the off-center weight. I tried shifting it to over both shoulders and that just dragged me down even more. I should be carrying them, one in each hand for balance. I couldn't do that, so I would shift from one shoulder to the other instead.

I eventually made it back home without incident and instead of just opening the door, I tapped on it and held up my knife. The door opened and the Hag's angry eyes softened for a moment when she saw me with the knife out. They hardened again and she growled at me.

“Get in here with those ingredients!” The Hag barked.

I slid the knife back into the sheath and brought in the sacks. I put them down carefully, groaned at my sore shoulders, and looked over at the potion rack.

“Don't even think about it.” The Hag said and held a hand towards my waist.

I untied the small sack with the mushrooms and fungus in it and handed it over. “I found a wide tree.” I said and held my hands apart to show her. “It was a wildwood and I already made two stacks of ten coins with it.”

The Hag squinted her eyes at me. “Why didn't you take them?”

“I couldn't with the large sacks full.” I said.

“They will be useless tomorrow if you already cut down the tree!” The Hag nearly yelled.

I didn't flinch, because I had made my choice. “That's why I want the Strength potion.” I said and pointed. “I'll take the extra rope and bring back the rest of the tree if you want.”

“You...” The Hag raised a hand and then stopped. “Wait, you're going back out? Right now?”

I nodded several times.

“You're going to go and get the coins, even if I don't give you the potion?” The Hag asked.

“They weigh about the same as the sacks. I think.” I said. “I even left the bark on them so the rope doesn't dig in too far.”

The Hag's angry face became the same as it did when she gave me that odd look. “Fine.” She said and walked over to the rack and came back with the potion. “If you die on the way, don't expect me to save you.”

“I have my knife now.” I said confidently.

“You're too young to have that much bravado.” The Hag said.

I drank the potion and let the feeling fill me. “I'll be back.” I said, my voice just a bit deeper and I grabbed the small length of rope hanging by the door. I left the hut at a confident run and not a fearful one like that morning. I had completely forgotten to ask her what bravado meant and then promptly forgot that I wanted to ask her.

With strength coursing through my muscles, my thin frame easily traversed the difficult patches that I struggled with when normal. I didn't have to wade through water and jumped them instead. I did my best to not laugh as I moved at my fastest run speed. The marsh proved to be no obstacle, especially since I retraced my steps and the areas were relatively safe to pass through, because I had killed the creatures already.

I made it back to the right area and found a near-deer was starting to chew on the fallen wildwood tree. I quickly drew my knife and lunged at the beast with six antlers. I landed on its back and before it knew what had hit it, I slit its throat all the way across and clamped my arms around its neck above the cut. It gurgled and stumbled, not knowing what had happened to it, then it plopped down to the ground as its strength left it.

“Ha... ha...” I said and stood up to catch my breath.

Running and struggling to hold onto something were two very different things to do with strength. One was fun and the other was taxing. I would have to remember that in the future. I looked at my knife and it gleamed in the darkness. It was glowing slightly and I looked down at the creature.

“Was it the blood, taking a strong life, or are you just happy to be used?” I asked the knife. It didn't respond and I didn't think it would. I hadn't noticed the glow before when killing spiders and snakes; but, that was daytime and maybe I just didn't see it. Either way, I knelt and sliced open the belly. Unlike some of the smaller creatures, the Hag never used anything from inside a near-deer. She said it was a waste to try and make it edible.

I used the knife to cut the attachments like she showed me and then dumped them out. I couldn't stick around very long now, since nearly everything in the marsh would want to come after a large fresh kill like this. The thing was, now I had a problem. How do I take a tree and a near-deer along at the same time?

While I thought about it, I dug out the two stacks of coins and was relieved to see that they had been untouched by the near-deer's grazing. I set them next to the deer and used the hatchet to clear the branches off of the rest of the tree, used the rope to tie a kind of harness on the thicker end of it... and then I looked at the deer.

“Ha!” I barked a laugh and untied the harness, picked up the creature and slid it onto the tree, which just happened to fit into the cavity the removed guts had left. With a few choice cuts with my trusty knife and liberal ties with the ropes, I now had a near-deer tied to a tree with a pull harness on it. I hung the tree coins around my neck and then knelt as I put my arms through the two loops of the rope harness and hooked them on my shoulders.

I stood up and the tree lifted up behind me to my knees. I took several tentative steps to see if it was going to be okay, and thanks to my extra strength, it wasn't a heavy burden. Also, I wasn't lifting it and carrying it. I was dragging it behind me and that cut the weight down significantly. My arms were still free and I could also slip out of the shoulder loops quickly if necessary.

I walked, then jogged, then ran. I was at my normal running pace, thanks to all the extra weight, and that was fine. I would be back home long before the potion ran out.

Not even once did I wonder why, at some point, I had started thinking of the Hag's rickety old hut as home.