“You can let me up now.” Gloria's father said and Annette let him go and they stood up.

“Thank you.” Gloria's mother said, tears still in her eyes. “Thank you, Marsh Man.”

“Don't step in that yellow puddle.” I said and pointed to where I threw up. “You'll get just as sick as she did.”

“I'll clean that up.” The woman in glasses said.

_______________

You have a choice to make.

A) Let her. B) Tell the truth. C) Clean it yourself. D) Harvest it. E) Leave it. F) Choose any two.

I can't let her get sick, either. I thought. I'll choose B and D. I can use it to make more before we leave.

_______________

“No, you can't handle it right.” I said and looked around. “I need something to suck it up with.”

“A small towel?” Annette offered and held one out to me.

“Maybe.” I said and knelt down, then did my best to wipe up the mess. I got most of it up and took out an empty vial, then squeezed as much of the venom out of the towel as possible.

“What are you doing?” The woman with glasses asked.

“Spider venom is one of the ingredients of spider juice potion. I can make a whole cooking pot full of potions with this much venom.”

“Wh-what?” Gloria's mother asked. “You... you gave her even more venom?”

I chuckled. “No, it has a bunch of other stuff in it. The venom just makes it go through your body like actual venom does, only instead of making you sick, it makes you better because of the other stuff.”

“How?” She asked.

“Magic.” I said and put the vial into a different pocket in my bandoleer. “I can't leave this floor.” I said and took out my knife and sliced a perfect square out of the floor around the discolored area, picked it up, and wrapped it in the towel. “Is there a fire nearby?”

The woman nodded and pointed down to the other end of the building. I carried the venom soaked things there and saw a large iron stove and piles of wood. I opened the metal door and tossed in both items, opened and closed the door a few times to get the flames up high, then closed it when both things caught fire. I watched for a minute to make sure they were burning up and nodded, then went back to the third curtain.

“Is it really that dangerous?” Annette asked.

“You might get sick for a little while from touching it, so its better if it's not around.” I said.

“Didn't you just have your hands all over it?” The woman with the glasses asked and pointed to a small bowl with water and soap.

“I've been bitten hundreds of times.” I said and washed my hands as they stared at me. “What? I live in the marsh. If I don't fight them off, they'll cover my house and claim it.”

“Then why live there?” Annette asked.

“Where else would I live?” I asked.

“Here in the village.” Annette said.

“Ha! You're funny.” I said and pointed to the Hansens. “Look.”

Annette looked at them and saw their worried faces. “You're really scared of him.”

“He killed a man and walked away... like it was nothing.” Mr. Hansen said.

_______________

You have another choice to make.

A) Lie. B) Tell the truth. C) Ignore him. D) Make a joke. E) Tell him off.

There's no point in saying much of anything, except the truth. I'm going with B.

_______________

“It was nothing.” I said and he gave me a surprised look. “He tried to kill me twice, killed Diane's husband, and sent her son off to the army, just so he could sleep with her.”

They all gave me surprised looks, except for Gloria. She laid there and just smiled at me.

The woman with glasses was the first to recover. “What about my floor?”

“Oh! I should have something in my pack to...” I started to reach for my pack and remembered it wasn't on my back. “I left my pack in the CO's office. I have to go get it.” I said and started to walk away.

“We'll leave you alone for a while, Mr. And Mrs. Hansen.” The woman in glasses said as Annette followed me. “I'll be back later to check on your daughter thoroughly.” She closed the curtain without waiting for an answer and jogged up to walk beside me. “You have to get me more of that spider venom juice and then show me how you did what you just did.”

“I can make a batch when I get back to the house.” I said. “Or if you can get a nice cooking pot, about yay-big, on a stoked fire and half filled with water.” I said and held my hands out about two feet apart to show her. “I was going to buy a few new ones from the blacksmith; but, it looks like I won't need them right now.”

“You will definitely need them.” The woman with glasses said. “I'm coming with you to see the CO.”

I led them back to the main building and as soon as I opened the door, I smelled it. My home smell.

_______________

You have a critical choice to make. Will you make the right one?

A) Yell. B) Curse like the Hag. C) Burst in and get your stuff back. D) Kill them all. E) Pick two.

These assholes need to be reminded about taking my stuff again! I thought, angrily. I choose A and C!

_______________

“YOU TOUCHED MY THINGS!” I yelled loudly and burst into a run as I activated the vigilance technique. The two women with me jumped from the yell and the secretary fell out of her chair as she tried to grab me on the way by. She missed me, obviously. I lifted my foot at the last second and slammed it right into the center of the door, the weakest part, and the door splintered in half.

In one second, I saw all of my stuff scattered around the CO's large desk, several different people had my things in their hands, and two of the male soldiers started to raise a sword and a crossbow at me. I crossed the office, had my knife out, and cut across the middle of the sword first and then cut the front off of the crossbow.

I backhanded the man with the sword in the face before he could finish his swing and I planted my foot into the gut of the man with the broken crossbow. Both men fell to the floor, unconscious. The CO had a knife in his hand and it had cut open the sealed leather pouch that I had filled with stinky mud. I brought the hilt of my knife down onto his hand and heard the crunch sound. He dropped the knife with a yell and I put my knife through his thick shirt collar and laid it against his skin.

“You took my things.” I said in a deep voice.

“David! We didn't!” Alex said and held his hands up. “We were just...”

“My pack is empty and you have taken my things from it.” I said. “Tell me why I shouldn't kill you all right now.”

“You're in the army now.” The CO said and looked at me, unafraid. “You will be court marshalled.”

“What's that mean?” I asked.

“Another trial for murder.” Alex said. “Right now, it's just insubordination.”

“Alex. That's not helping.” Donna said in a hiss.

“Who will do it if you are all dead?” I asked.

“The next CO will.” The CO said.

“What was it you said to the mayor? Your colonel won't listen to anything that happens in this backwater village?” I asked and no one said anything. “Who's going to tell them I did it if you're all dead?”

No one moved or said anything.

“Put. My. Things. Back.” I ordered and no one moved. “DO IT!”

Donna jumped, as did two of the skinny men holding my potion ingredients and vials of my number ten potion, along with the small wooden molds I used for making more ingredients. Annette had a worried look on her face and the woman with glasses stood there and shook her head.

“If you don't put his things back, I am going to personally have the Colonel dishonorably discharge each and every one of you for conduct unbecoming an officer.”

“You have no right to dictate...” The CO started to say.

“I am the ranking medical officer in this garrison and my cousin would definitely want to hear how you are abusing your authority over a new recruit that hasn't even taken the loyalty oath to the kingdom yet!” The woman with glasses spat and everyone winced. “I am ordering you to put his things back... all of them... and close that damn pouch before you do. It stinks to high heaven!”

The others started putting my things back in the wrong order.

“Stop! You're going to ruin everything.” I said, angrily.

“Recruit David.” The woman with glasses said and frowned. “Why are we calling you by your first name?” She shook her head. “What's your last name?”

“I don't have one.” I said and that got everyone's attention.

“Everyone has a last name.” Donna said as she put the carved wood coins down on the desk.

“You know my story.” I said and she nodded. “Did you know that my name was 'Boy' until I was eleven?” I asked and she took in a sharp breath.

“David isn't even your real name.” Donna whispered.

“The Hag gave it to me.” I said.

“He's the Marsh Man, so why not Marsh? David Marsh?” The woman with glasses said and I shook my head.

“The marsh is supposed to be named Drake's Marsh.” Alex said in as calm of a voice as he could. “Why not take that as a name? Drake. David Drake.” He looked at me. “What do you think, David?”

_______________

We finally got to your big name reveal! There's no need for an actual choice here. I'm just adding in my personal viewpoint.

A) Accept it and be happy about it.

You chose A! That's a great choice on your part.

_______________

I nodded and smiled a little goofy, and the woman with glasses saw it and smiled back.

“It's very nice to meet you, David Drake.” The woman said and walked across the office and held a hand out to me. She stood there and looked at my hand and at my face.

“I'm not handing over my knife.” I said.

The woman laughed. “No, this is a handshake. It's how you greet people. You've done a handshake before, haven't you?”

I thought back over what I've seen and heard over the years in town. I couldn't remember anything about a hand shake, then I remembered the story book and how the people greeted the queen. Copying the things I saw in the story book had worked for the sick girl in the 'ward', so I did it again. I pulled the knife away from the CO's neck and slid it into the sheath on my bandoleer, took the woman's hand, and bent over it to kiss it.

Her face turned bright red and she started breathing a bit more than normal. “D-David... you... how did you know I was royalty?”

“Take him!” The CO said and shot to his feet to tackle me.

He must have forgotten that his two main fighters are on the floor. I thought as my elbow shot out and hit him in the shoulder, which spun him around. I grabbed his arm like Annette had grabbed Mr. Hansen. I wrenched the arm up behind his back and slammed the CO down onto the floor. His head bounced and I knelt on his back with one knee... all while still holding the woman's hand.

“It's nice to meet you, too.” I said to the very surprised woman that wore glasses.

She stared at me as if she had never seen someone do what I just did, even though Annette had done it barely ten minutes ago. Not one person moved or tried to help the now unconscious CO.