The night had mostly passed by the time Alex, Donna, and Rich stumbled into the distance I could hear. Over ten hours had passed since I had arrived on the boat the evening before and I didn't look up at them as they walked closer. I didn't want them to know how far away I could see and hear them.

“I hope you can pilot the boat with your hands tied behind your back.” Rich said with a smile as they approached the boat. “Refusing a commanding officer's order is a crime, as you very well know.”

“I'm getting a court hearing anyway.” I said without looking at them. “If Lt. Smith wants to tie the hands of the only person that can take us out of here, that's just another stupid decision he's made so far.”

“David, don't be like this.” Donna said. “It was very important what we just did.”

“I'm just the Marsh Man, Sergeant Simms. You know that I don't know any better.” I said and kept my eyes forward.

“Why is Roy tied up?” Alex asked.

“I did that when I went to rescue you from your stupidity of leaving me behind, so he wouldn't get himself killed by trying to follow me.” I said. “You can add saving his life, and yours, to the charges.”

Alex sighed and waved for them all to climb onto the boat. “Roy, don't attack him.”

“I've been here since you left and I haven't eaten.” Roy said as Alex untied his hands. “He has, though.”

“David, why didn't you let him eat?” Donna asked.

“I wasn't stopping him.” I said and kept looking forward.

“Let me hit him, just once.” Roy said and stood up.

“I'll remove your hand if it comes anywhere near me.” I said and this time I did look at him. “That's the penalty for stealing.”

Donna took in a quick breath. “D-David, please understand. We didn't steal your potions. We'll pay for them when we get back to base and file the requisition form.”

“Do you know how expensive snake juice is?” I asked her and she looked confused. “I didn't think so.”

“That's enough.” Alex said. “David, take us out of here and back to the garrison.”

_______________

You have a choice to make.

A) Do it. B) Don't do it. C) Fake it. D) Tell the truth. E) Take them back to the other place.

Well, this is quite the mess. I thought, sadly. I better tell the truth. I choose D.

_______________

“I can't.” I said.

“WHAT?!?” Rich yelled. “You just said...”

“I don't know where we are or what direction to go.” I said. “I can't remember how we got here.”

Roy and Rich looked angry and Donna held a hand up to stop them from talking.

“I'll handle this.” Donna said and came over to me and sat down. “David, please listen to what I'm going to tell you.” She took out a circular thing and opened it. Inside was a disc with letters on it and it was floating in something. “This is a compass. As long as you have one, you'll always know where you're going.”

“How?” I asked.

“That's what I'm going to explain.” Donna said and told me all about the little device and how it worked, its functions, and how to use it alone and with a map. She took out a map and opened it to show me how she had used the compass to take them to where they needed to go and then again to get back. She didn't need to reference the map to get back.

“Where can I get one?” I asked.

“You have to complete the scout training program.” Donna said. “Not everyone is qualified for it, since it takes some specialized skills and discipline to...”

“I followed your tracks all the way to wherever you went, erasing them on the way, and came back.” I reminded her. Donna opened her mouth to respond and Alex tapped her shoulder.

“Show him what direction the garrison is.” Alex said.

“Right.” Donna said and adjusted the device to point it in the direction we needed to go, apparently SSW, or South South West, and several notches and degrees towards the left. “You follow this line and keep it on this notch. When you deviate, turn when appropriate and put it back there.”

“Will that work?” I asked.

“With me to help guide you, yes.” Donna said. “Like I said, it does take specialized skills. I'll use the compass and you pilot the boat. I'll tell you when we have to divert to get us back on course.”

I looked where she had it pointed and it was ground. I turned and the waterway we were on went for a short ways and turned towards that direction.

“I don't want you worrying about getting lost, so I'll be right beside you as you drive the boat.”

“All right.” I said as I sat down on the front bench and put my hands behind my back.

“What are you doing?” Donna asked.

“I'm waiting for Alex to tie my hands.” I said.

“Just drive the boat.” Alex said and sat down.

So, I did. The dawn started to break over the horizon and Donna guided my half-speed driving. I was lucky that I didn't have to replace the movement enchantment after all of the magic that I had shoved into the thing. I didn't push it, especially since I was using waterways and shallow pools that I had never seen before. The hazards could be many and varied, so caution was in order for the day.

That's how long it took to get us back into familiar territory. I stopped a couple times to eat, since I couldn't keep up my vigilance technique going for too long and also didn't want to exhaust my magic again. I didn't try to hop myself up with direct fungus powder, either. Getting a subtle boost from the remains of the meat stew was all I wanted to chance for now. The others got out of the boat to 'stretch their legs', whatever that meant, and I continued on.

Once I was back in waterways that I had used before, I picked up speed and Donna had a hard time keeping up with me. She would barely have the words 'turn right' out of her mouth when I did it and sped down to the next spot and she had to give a new direction. It was a bit funny, then she devolved into just using hand signals for right, left and straight. I gave her a smile and picked up speed.

When we came to the main harbour, I slowed us way down and she let out a sigh.

“Now my hand is sore.” Donna said and rubbed it. “David, that was much too fast for me to keep up.”

“Was it?” Alex asked and she looked at him with wide eyes. “You adapted and changed to hand signals. That was a lot more efficient than speaking the words, wasn't it?”

“Yes, but...”

“You won't have to be that good with anyone except David, so it's okay.” Alex said and stood as I brought us through the harbour and over to the dock. I parked right beside my old boat, that was surprisingly still there, as were the poisonous snakes I had left on the tarp. I was glad that my little strategy had worked.

Roy tied the front of the boat up to the dock and climbed out to stand there and waited. I didn't know what for, though. He should have gone to get the large hand cart. Rich climbed out next and stood there as well. It wasn't until Donna and Alex climbed out that they stepped back and looked ready to leave.

_______________

Choice of options suspended. Due to the previous choices you have made, you are going to automatically distrust other members of the military, until they prove their worth to you.

_______________

“Are you going to search them again for stealing my things?” I asked and both men gave me angry looks.

“I don't think that's necessary.” Alex said.

“Why? They've proven they will take bits of anything that there are a lot of around.” I said and waved at the piles and piles of expensive things in my boat. “I don't want to have to count everything again, just to accuse them later and have them lie and say they didn't take anything. Again.”

Alex sighed. “David, this is not the place to do this.”

“When should it be done? When they have a chance to hide whatever they took?” I asked.

“I don't have to stand here and take his accusations.” Roy said. “I want him charged with conduct unbecoming.”

“David...”

“I don't want them helping move this to Diane's store.” I said and walked over to the dock. “Even if they didn't have anything on them now, which they do, I don't want thieves stealing from me anymore.”

“What?” Donna looked at me in surprised. “What do they have?”

“Several of the boar tusks that I brought back to the boat are gone.”

“We threw them away.” Rich said.

“Oh, for god's sake.” Alex said with a sigh. “I'm registering a fine of three month's pay for you both.”

“WHAT?!?” Rich and Roy yelled.

“You can't do that!” Roy said.

“They aren't worth nearly that much!” Rich said.

“I know that, you idiots!” Alex said with squinted eyes. “You've done much more harm with your antics than even I thought was possible!”

“You can't blame us for...”

“David has never called me lieutenant or Donna sergeant. He's always used our first names and he's always looked at us when speaking. Now, he's distancing the only two people that have been nice to him in the army and it's all your goddamn fault!” Alex said, clearly angry. “How else did you think him distrusting army personnel was going to go? Hmm? Tell me!”

Roy and Rich didn't say anything in response.

“I order you to tell me what a man that has been treated unfairly for all his life, was going to act to people stealing from him! TELL ME!” Alex yelled.

The two men clamped their mouths shut and didn't respond.

“Drop your packs right now.” Alex said and they did. “I'd ask you to empty your pockets; but, you don't want to show the ill gotten goods and will refuse.” He said and waved up the road. “I'm ordering you to proceed directly to the holding cells without deviation. I'll know it if you go anywhere else.”

“Sir, you...” Roy started to say.

“Zip it!” Alex snapped. “Once the CO finds out what you've done, I doubt a three month pay fine is going to be the least of what's going to happen to you. Dis-MISSED.”

Both men looked angry and saluted, then they jogged up the dock.

Alex sighed at their retreating backs and turned to face me. “David, I'm sorry about that.”

“You're not giving me the money you're taking from them, are you?” I asked.

Alex sighed. “No, that's not how it works.”

Donna touched my arm. “Let's get the cart and load it up for Diane.”

I nodded and went to go get the large hand cart and brought it back. It could hold a lot of stuff and the three of us filled it to a good height. “Someone needs to stay and watch the boat.”

“I'll stay.” Donna said. “We all stink right now and the less of us inside her store, the better.”

“That's a good point.” Alex said. “I'll stay outside and watch the cart.”

I nodded and pulled the cart all the way up the main road to her shack. I noticed that there wasn't a good clear area and the shack had to be moved out of the way. I stepped over to the shack and pushed on the side of it. It didn't move, which meant it was more stable than I thought it was, then I remembered how we had lifted the boat.

I quickly ran over to the woods, chopped a six inch wide tree down, then cut off the stump to make something for me to pry up with. I used my knife to carve out a wedge on the end of the tree, cleared a good amount of branches from it, then lopped the top off. I ran back to the shack and Alex stared at me for a moment, then I put the cut stump down as a base, put the tree over it and under the bottom of the shack, and pushed down.

Alex laughed as the shack tipped right up and I used a hand to push it over onto its side. “Nice going.”

I smiled and tossed the tree aside, then pulled the cart over into the now cleared area. I knocked on the shop's door and Diane opened it.

“David!” Diane exclaimed. “What...”

I pointed. “I have stuff for you to sell.”

“Oh... oh, David.” Diane whispered, her voice trembling slightly.

“We have to finish unloading the boat quickly.” Alex said. “We need to report to the garrison.”

“I'll help.” Diane said and carried some of the furs inside. “Just put it anywhere and I'll sort it out later.”

I nodded and pilled everything just inside the door. “We'll be back with the next load in about ten minutes.”

“The... the next load?” Diane asked, her eyes wide.

“I think there's four, maybe five more cart loads.” Alex said. “It's hard to tell. Both the room he had everything in and the boat we brought it in are huge.”

Diane's eyes went to the huge pile of things and then she stared at me. “P-please, h-hurry.” She said, her face slightly red and she bit her bottom lip for some reason.

“I'll make sure he does.” Alex said and led me outside, then we went back to the boat to get another load.