“David... I mean, Recruit Drake.” The woman with glasses said and turned her hand to shake. “I'm Captain Sandra Rivers, cousin to the Colonel, Emily Rivers.”

“What's a cousin?” I asked and looked at what she was doing with my hand. “What are you doing?”

“This is a handshake.” Sandra said. “You don't know a lot of things, do you?”

“I'm the Marsh Man. I don't know any better.” I repeated what I said to the girl in the ward.

“But, how can you...” Sandra shook her head. “I'll worry about how you learned what you know later.”

“The Hag taught me.” I said. “I've been coming to the village twice a year for...” I flicked the fingers on one hand. “...six years. I'm not counting this year because I didn't buy supplies and leave twice. I always talk to Diane and she taught me how to count to a hundred years ago and last year she taught me the alphabet song so I could start reading.”

That surprised everyone, especially Lt. Alex.

Sandra nodded, as if that was an acceptable answer. “You can stand up now.”

“What about him?” I asked and let the CO's arm go as I stood up.

“I think we can hold a trial for the both of you.” Sandra said and several people sucked in breaths. “I believe my cousin will be a little bit upset that he manipulated events to get a forced conscription admitted into our garrison.”

No one countered her accusation.

“Recruit Drake, please pack your things up properly and then make a trip to the blacksmith to get the pots you need.” Sandra said and I started packing my pack. “Lt. Smith and Sgt. Simms will go with you to help carry everything.”

“Who's going to run the garrison?” Annette asked.

“I will be the acting CO until I can send word to the Colonel.” Sandra said and looked at me. “You have my permission to commandeer the appropriate space you need to make me those potions. When you do, report back here to this office with them and we can discuss your future with the army.”

“What's to stop him from just running away?” One of the thin men asked.

Sandra glared at him. “If you idiots didn't give him so many reasons to leave, he wouldn't try it!” She spat and made him flinch, then she took a deep breath and looked at me. “As acting CO, I will see that you are taught what you need to know... mainly checking your reading and writing... and then I will give you a comprehensive knowledge base of what life is like in the Gulf Kingdom.”

“Captain, Drake's Marsh isn't actually a part of the Gulf Kingdom.” Annette said and we all looked at her, even me. “I checked it. It's unclaimed territory.”

_______________

You have a choice to make. Will it be a good one?

A) Stay silent. B) Yell. C) Claim it. D) Fight your way out. E) Leave.

Definitely C! I choose C!

_______________

“I claim it in the name of David Drake!” I said loudly and nearly everyone jumped. “It's my marsh. I live there and I own it.”

“That's not normally how that works.” Sandra said with a smile. “It's usually a king or a kingdom's representative that claims land and takes possession of it.”

“I've lived there all my life and it's mine.” I said.

“According to one of the witnesses that couldn't testify at your trial, you were born in the village.”

“I was sold to the Hag for two copper coins.” I said.

Sandra's face went angry and Donna and Annette let out gasps.

“You were sold into slavery.” Donna whispered.

“Slavery is an abomination to civilized man.” Sandra said. “I am ordering the Hag be brought in and she will be tried for her crimes.”

“That's never going to happen.” I said. “She'll kill anyone coming for her.”

“Even you?” Alex asked.

I shook my head. “I'm not stupid enough to try and attack her.”

“Why not?” Sandra asked.

“She can move quicker than the eye can follow when she's serious. I'd be dead before I finished the thought of attacking her.”

Sandra and Donna exchanged looks.

“I'll change my order to the Hag being a person if interest that we want to talk to.” Sandra said. “We can still investigate her and not have to worry about her attacking.”

I gave her a wide eyed look for a moment, then shrugged. “She'll know it if you lie.”

“Like you do?” Donna asked.

“She taught me.” I responded.

“I'll organize a small team to go into the marsh.” Sandra said and looked down on the floor. “Not them, since they are going to need me to tend to their injuries.”

“You're going to get them killed.” I said.

“No, I won't... because I'll be sending you in as well.” Sandra said.

“I can't...”

“You will prep them and tell them what to expect, what to do, and how to act.” Sandra said. “Unlike him...” She pointed to the CO on the floor. “...I understand the valuable resource you represent.”

“What's that mean?” I asked.

“It means you.” Sandra said with a smile. “You are very important to me, to the army, and to the kingdom as a whole, because of all that special knowledge that you have up there.” She reached up and touched my forehead. “No one else here knows as much about this area as you do.”

“The Hag...” I started to say.

“I doubt she knows more than you about the marsh.” Sandra said. “Where to find the ingredients for the potions or where to go to avoid the dangers. That's all you, David.”

_______________

You have a minor choice to make concerning Captain Sandra Rivers.

A) Stay silent. B) Reluctantly agree. C) Tell her she's crazy. D) Kiss her. E) Deny it. F) Choose two.

Okay. I thought and read the options again. I don't want to get a swelled head about it, so I think I better chose E and B.

_______________

“No, the Hag taught me all about the marsh and the ingredients I had to find. If she hadn't...” I stopped talking and thought about it. She did teach me about the marsh; but, once she told me what to look for and where to look for ingredients, I was all on my own, usually for days at a time. I was the one who hunted and harvested them, and I was the one that discovered the fungus blooms and mushrooms. “I... I guess... maybe... it really was me.”

Sandra nodded and put a hand on my shoulder. “Of course it was all you. You're wonderful.” She said and then waved at the pile of mud on the desk. “Can you get that stinky thing out of here?”

“I need another canvas bag.” I said and saw Donna flinch slightly, I assumed because she had told me that I didn't need any more than one.

“I'll be back with a couple of them.” Donna said and left at a fast walk.

“Can I ask you why you are carrying it around with you?” Alex asked.

“It's so I can go back into the swamp after taking a bath.” I responded and he gave me a surprised look. “Soap and things smell really bad in the swamp. The last time I was here, I didn't think to bring any and I was constantly attacked by everything, even near-deer and marsh boars.” I said and told them about the boar charging off of the bank and into the water to try and get me, then I told them about the snakes, spiders, tangle vines, and all of the other creatures I had to fight to get back home.

“Here.” Donna said and handed me three of the folded bags.

I tucked two of them into my pack and then took out a vial of number five waterproofing potion. I poured about a quarter of the potion inside and then swirled it around. I made sure to cover it all and let it soak in, then went to the desk and carefully lifted the large leather pouch that had been cut open and slid the whole thing into the new bag. I pulled the drawstring closed and then put a single drop of number ten potion on the top to seal it.

Everyone had stood there and stared at me as I worked and didn't say anything, even when the smell of the mud was cut off. I put the new canvas bag into my pack into the proper spot and then closed it up. I sealed it with number ten potion, too. It wouldn't stop someone from cutting my pack open; but, it would slow them down if they tried to open it normally. I wasn't allowing that to happen again.

My knifed-pitchfork was propped against the wall and I put it back into the holder on the side of the pack, then slung the pack onto my back. It wasn't leaving my sight ever again.

“David, can I ask what those potions are for?” Sandra asked.

“No.” I responded and she gave me a surprised look. “You're being nice and I don't want to lie to you.”

Sandra let out a soft laugh. “All right. I guess that's fair.” She said and walked behind the desk and sat down. “You have your orders. Please fulfill them and come see me.”

I put my hand to my forehead and she did the same. I left her office and Alex and Donna came with me. We left the garrison and went to the blacksmith. He had six of the cooking pots that I wanted and he tried to charge me an outrageous price for them.

“Either buy them for that price or get out.” The blacksmith spat at me. “They told me it was you that said I was overcharging them!”

“You were.” I said. “Like you're overcharging me now.”

“I'm the blacksmith here and I set my prices, not you.” The blacksmith said. “If I want to overcharge for my work, you have no right to tell me that I can't.”

“I do and I've told you this already.” Alex said.

“I'm not selling to you, I'm selling to him.” The blacksmith said.

“You're selling to the army.” Alex corrected.

“He hasn't even done basic training yet.” The blacksmith said with a cruel smile. “After he does that for three months, he can come back as an army man and then you can force me to lower my prices. Until then, he can pay or he can go.”

“I'll buy them.” Donna offered.

“I'm sorry, those particular items are reserved and aren't for sale.” The blacksmith said. “I also won't sell them to anyone else until such time that I believe it appropriate.”

Donna had an angry face and Alex looked like he was going to strangle him.

_______________

You have a critical choice to make about the blacksmith. Make it a good one.

A) Stay silent. B) Yell. C) Leave. D) Taunt him. E) Wreck everything. F) Choose any two.

Oh, I definitely want to taunt him and leave right afterwards. Thanks, guys! I choose D and C.

_______________

“If the only blacksmith in the village doesn't want to sell to the army, then we can't make him.” I said. “We just have to go to the next village and give them our money.”

“Ha! It's just cooking pots. I'll make that sale up by tomorrow.” The blacksmith said.

“Not from us you won't.” Alex said and smiled at me. “You're right, David. The army can't be bothered with such a hard person to deal with. I think we will be taking all of our future business elsewhere.”

“Wh-what?” The blacksmith looked at us with shock on his face. “But... we agreed on...”

“I'm cancelling our contract. I never thought of going somewhere else to get better pricing.” Alex said with a laugh. “Come on, David. Let's go see about that boat we need.”

The three of us walked over to the door.

“Wait! I'll sell them to you!” The blacksmith said desperately as Alex opened the door. “A discount! I'll give a discount! On everything!” He nearly shouted as we stepped out.

“Well, that went better than I thought it was going to.” Alex said and shut the door. “Thanks for the idea to go somewhere else, David.”

“The next village was where I was going to go to get supplies after I cleaned up.” I said with a shrug.

“Then I caught you.” Alex said with a chuckle and pat my arm. “I'm glad I did, too.”

“Why?” I asked as we walked down the road towards the dock.

“You've already helped us more than anyone else in the village and you let us know we were being ripped off, just like you were.” Alex said. “Now you're going to make up more spider juice potion, just because Sandra asked you to.” He let out a laugh. “I just wish you had been here the very first day we came here. You could have saved us from so many problems before we made so many mistakes.”

“We did make a lot of assumptions and nearly all of them were wrong.” Donna said and her face went red. “David, I... I'm sorry we went through your things. The CO wanted to see what you had been hiding. When we started going through everything and saw the rare ingredients you had, as well as engraving tools and the wooden plaques that were unlike the normal ones that our enchanter had seen before...”

“I'm sorry, too.” Alex said, his voice sincere. “It was fascinating to find all that stuff inside the homemade pack of someone living in a monster infested marsh.” He said and we stopped outside the boat builder's building. “I never imagined one person being able to use it all.”

“I don't understand.” I said.

“Most people dedicate themselves to only one thing. Hunting and gathering, making potions, enchanting, fighting...” Alex started to say.

“...going off topic.” Donna interrupted and he laughed.

“Sorry, dear.” Alex said. “Anyway, people call it a profession and only do that one thing and nothing else. You're the first person I've seen that can do multiple things.”

“I haven't done everything in front of you.” I said and he laughed again.

“Just having the things on you lets me know that you know how to do it, at least a little bit.” Alex said and Donna coughed at him to get his attention. “Right, right. We can talk more later. Let's go inside and see about finding a boat.”

I nodded and he opened the door for us to go inside.