I continued my telling of the story and she wasn't surprised when I confirmed the Eastern Empire's clothing and mannerisms of the people I had seen. I saw the look of disapproval when I refused Alex's orders, then I described all of the creatures and things I had killed on the way back and used the protection ward to drive others away.

Sandra Rivers, the CO, stared at me and was quiet for several minutes. I was done talking and stayed silent as well. Several different expressions tried to show themselves on her face and she quickly blanked her face each time.

“David, I have to think about this. I'll write out the report for you and then I'll compare it to the other four I have.”

“Why?” I asked.

“It lets me build a cohesive account and fills in the other parts that you weren't present or awake for.”

“I don't understand.” I said.

“I know you don't.” Sandra said. “Come back here in an hour and I'll be ready to explain everything to you. What the rules are, what we expect from you, and especially what you are prohibited from doing.” She said. “You will also be accompanied by a guard at all times. Dismissed.”

I stood up and used the petrified hand hanging around my neck to salute her. She took in a sharp breath and closed her eyes as she saluted back. I picked up my backpack and left her office. The secretary was still missing and when I stepped out of the main building, the swordsman that had glared angrily at me before was waiting for me.

I walked by him and he followed me all the way to the maintenance building at the back of the garrison. I went inside and the man there greeted me warmly.

“Just in time.” The man said. “You can leave your pack in the office over there. It's much too dangerous to work around here with all of that on your back.”

I took the pack to the office and left it on the chair. When I turned around to leave, the swordsman was right there and blocked my way.

“You won't get away with what you did.” The man growled at me.

“Do you want to die, too?” I asked him.

“The CO should put you out of our misery.” He said.

“What's that mean?” I asked.

“It means keeping you around is too dangerous. You're more trouble than you're worth.”

“Then contact the king and tell him to pardon me from conscription.” I said and his eyes widened. “Now step aside or I will remove your legs.”

“That's enough.” The man said and grabbed the swordsman by the shoulder, turned him around, and flung him towards the door. The swordsman barely kept his footing as he stumbled and staggered. “You're stopping the maintenance department from doing their work.”

“I'm his guard! I have to stop him from doing more harm!”

“You're causing him to do more harm, you idiot.” The man said and the swordsman looked angry. “Get outside and guard the damn door, since that's something you can easily understand.”

The swordsman gave him a stern look, did an about face, and walked over to the door and stood in front of it. The man huffed and walked over to the door and shut it.

“Damn young punks. Only thinking about their own feelings and not the needs of the army.” The man said and walked back over to me. “Come over to the workbench and we can get started on those holes.”

I nodded and followed him. We went to the bench and there were several things that needed very specific holes. One even needed ten of them for something called 'nuts and bolts'. He held the wood steady and I started using the right sized hand drill for it.

_______________

You have a minor choice to make. It's impact will affect only you.

A) Ask questions. B) Work silently.

That's a really simple choice. I choose A.

_______________

“What did you mean about the needs of the army?” I asked.

The man huffed. “We're languishing out here at the bumfuck end of nowhere.” He said and pointed to the next spot for a hole. “Resources are scarce, money even scarcer, and we're rationing what we brought with us and combining it with what we can get from the locals.” He chuckled. “I mean, we used up prime farm land to build this monstrosity of a garrison out of wood that was plentiful and horrible.”

“You noticed?” I asked and he laughed.

“Who do you think has to walk around fixing all the damn holes and breaches every few days?”

I gave him a confused look.

“Ha ha! Me! It's me.” He said and pointed to a new spot.

“So there's no one else working here?” I asked.

“Nope. Not enough people to keep a watch on everything, do patrols, hunt animals for food, and keep everything up and running.” The man said. “I always say 'we' so that it sounds like there's someone else here.”

I nodded and finished the next hole. “What are nuts and bolts?”

The man laughed again. “You keep drilling holes like that and I'll tell you everything I know about performing maintenance.”

I nodded and we worked for the next hour straight as he told me all about the things he did, the tools he worked with, and the things he built, maintained, and kept ready for when the army needed them. What he was building now was something called a catapult. He showed me the plans and the parts we were working on today.

“What's it for?” I asked.

“Long range bombardment of the enemy.” The man said. “It's also something to keep the troops busy while we wait and see what the Colonel says about the marsh. They can use it for target practice and it helps them work on their cooperation when they gather materials to launch and to operate the thing.”

“I need to report to the CO again.” I said.

“Not a problem. I'll get a couple of the lads in here to help me put the thing together, now that we've done all the hard work.” The man said and clapped my shoulder. “Make sure to tell her what you did here.”

“Yes, sir.” I said and used the petrified hand to salute. He laughed and waved me away. I went to the office and grabbed my pack and put it on, then went to the door. I opened it and the swordsman was still standing there. The maintenance man strode over and hauled his hand back and punched him right in the back of the head.

“AHH!” The swordsman said and was pushed forward. He quickly turned around and drew his sword.

“Go ahead and I'll make you eat that sword.” The maintenance man growled.

The swordsman thought about it for a second and then sheathed his sword. “Why did you punch me?”

“Because you're in the goddamn way and making a nuisance of yourself.” The maintenance man said. “I am giving Private Drake explicit permission to continue to hit you in a similar manner every time you block him or get in his way.”

“You can't do that!” The swordsman said.

“Do you want him to refuse a direct order from a superior officer?” The maintenance man asked.

The swordsman closed his mouth and didn't respond.

“Carry on, Private Drake.” The maintenance man said and saluted.

I used my own hand this time to salute. “Thank you, sir.”

He laughed and waved me away and I walked back towards the main building. The swordsman followed me and grumbled under his breath the entire time. I entered and the secretary was back in front at her desk.

“She's ready to see you, Private Drake.” She said and waved me through. “Not you.”

The swordsman grumbled and stopped by her desk. I shut the door and took off my pack, leaned it against the desk and sat down in the chair.

Sandra took a deep breath and let it out. “What did you do for the last hour?”

“Worked in the maintenance department. They needed help over there.” I responded.

Her face broke into a brief smile. “You must have impressed ol' Gary if he let you inside.”

“All I did was drill holes for an hour.” I said with a shrug.

“Wait, what?” Sandra looked surprised.

I told her all about what I did in the building and what he was building.

“Are you serious? He said he's assembling it already?” Sandra asked and I nodded. She was quiet for a few moments and then she nodded. “All right. I'm assigning you to the maintenance department. Your main task will be to cut up all those logs at Diane's place. You are to build a new wall, using your marsh magic, on the inside of the one we have already. I want it solid like your new boat and not flimsy like it is now.”

“I don't know if there's enough logs to do that.” I said.

“I assume you know how to cut trees down?” Sandra asked and I nodded. “That saves us waiting several days for someone to come out here and do it for you. You don't need to worry about that for now. Do the front of the garrison first and you can work backwards from there.”

“Okay.”

“That's during the normal work hours during the day. In the evenings, you'll report to me here for lessons in reading, culture, proper etiquette, and everything else I can think of.”

“What about basic training?” I asked.

“The next session starts in just over a week. I really should have sent you off already; but, the report on what you can do with your boat has given me some spare time to teach you what I can before sending you off.” Sandra said. “Yes, you'll be taking your boat. I'll also be sending someone along to keep an eye on you to make sure you're okay.”

“Not the guard.” I said.

“No, the specialist is staying here. I'm sending Lieutenant Smith and Sergeant Simms with you. They are in need of new training as well. They will be just as busy as you.” Sandra said and opened up a drawer to take out a book and put it on the desk. “Right now, I'll go over the basics of army procedure along with the rules and regulations.” She gave me a stern look. “I want you to listen closely, all right? Once I read this, you'll understand what you have been doing is wrong.”

I nodded and picked up the chair and walked around the desk. I put the chair next to hers and sat down.

Sandra gave me an odd look for a few seconds, shrugged a little, and pointed to the book. “Let's read it together and you can point out the words that you don't understand.”

I nodded and that's what we did for the next few hours. It wasn't that large of a book; but, I didn't know a lot of the words or what they meant. I asked her about everything and by the time we reached the end of the book, she finally understood exactly how much education that I lacked. That was a new word for me, too. Education.

“Now do you understand?” Sandra asked me as she closed the book.

“Yes. It's exactly like I thought. Anyone with more decorations can order me to kill myself and won't get in trouble for it.”

“That's not what I just taught you.”

“Yes, it was. Chain of command. I know how it works. The ultimate responsibility is the commanding officer, no matter what their rank is, unless they are under orders from their commanding officer, then they are responsible.”

Sandra looked at me with a slightly sad face. “David...”

“When you ordered that mage to restrain me, it was your fault he died.” I said. “You knew I was dangerous and you put them in danger. Alex knew it was dangerous to go through the marsh with no real supplies, protection, or even enough people to survive. He did it on his own initiative, so he was responsible for anyone that was injured and might have died.”

“Rich.”

“If they didn't have my potions on them, he would be dead. The rock was this big.” I said and showed her the same hand shape as Alex showed Rich.

“So, you understand why he took them.” Sandra said.

“Yes. It doesn't make it right, especially since I can't replace them.”

“You gathered a lot of ingredients.” Sandra said and nodded at the overloaded pack.

“That's barely enough to make another series of batches of number ten potion.” I said. “Even if I use my trick to make more, I don't have the pots and space to make more than one batch at a time.”

“I told you to requisition the space and resources you needed.” Sandra said.

“You mean steal someone else's space and things.” I said and she sighed.

“That's not what I meant.” Sandra looked at my face and sighed again. “All right. Talk to Gary. See if he can assign you some unused space to build something by the maintenance building.”

“I'll need to go buy more pots and things.” I said and stood up.

“Stop by the purser and get an equipment stipend.” Sandra said and wrote out a slip. “He's in the building beside the PX.”

I nodded and took the slip before I picked up my pack.

“You need quarters to store your things, too. Unfortunately, I agree with the old CO. You can't be allowed to bunk with the other soldiers for now.”

“I'll put a bed in the new thing I build.” I said.

Sandra nodded. “Good luck... and please, don't kill anyone for insulting you.”

“It's all right. Warrant Officer Gary has corrected my understanding of appropriate force response.”

“Well, that's a relief.” Sandra said and saluted. “Dismissed.”

I used the petrified hand to salute and left her office.