Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

Bokuboy

“Michelle was supposed to build me a big boat and she cancelled the order last fall.” I said.

“Why?” Donna asked and stepped inside the boat builder's building with me right behind her.

“She thought I had tried to kill her brother.” I said and she caught her breath. “After that, I did and I haven't talked to her since.”

“Oh, damn.” Alex said as the door closed behind him. “John Phelps. How could I have missed that connection? We need to leave before...”

“What are YOU doing here?” A man's voice said loudly and the three of us turned to look at John's father. He had been doing something to the side of a large boat and stopped to glare at me. His words got the attention of three other people and they stood up from inside the boat. Michelle was at the bow, her son Simon was at the stern, and Shelly hopped out of the main cabin.

“YOU!” Shelly yelled and jumped out of the boat.

“Shelly!” Michelle gasped and tried to catch her, and missed.

“You killed my uncle! I hate you! I HATE YOU!!!” Shelly said as she ran around her grandfather and over to me. “I don't care if you called me pretty!” She said and started punching me in the chest. “I never, never, never want to see you again!”

Alex and Donna looked surprised that I let Shelly get close enough to hit me.

“DON'T HURT HER!” Michelle yelled and looked like she was too nervous to jump out of the boat like her daughter had. Either that or she was too nervous about trying to attack me.

_______________

You have a minor choice to make concerning the Phelps family.

A) Push Shelly away. B) Yell at her. C) Comfort her. D) Kill her. E) Keep her. F) Choose two.

Dammit, I didn't think about this part of John dying. I thought in consternation. All right, what would a friend do? I know I did wrong by doing the right thing, so hurting Shelly more by choosing any of the other options would be a mistake. I'll choose B to get her attention and then do C.

_______________

I let Shelly pound on me a few more times, then I grabbed her arms. “SHELLY!” I yelled, which startled her, and everyone froze. “Shelly.” I said in a normal voice and she started to cry. I let her arms go and pulled her into a hug. “I'm sorry. I had to kill him.”

“N-no, you... didn't have to.” Shelly said between sobs and her arms went around me and held on.

“I did and I would do it again.” I said and she cried harder. “I let him go for trying to kill me once, then he tried again when I was with Diane. I couldn't let that happen.”

“He would never...”

“She was teaching me to read and he was jealous.” I said and Shelly gasped, as did Michelle.

“You... didn't know... how to read?” Shelly asked and looked up at me with surprise on her face, her tears slowing to a stop.

“Diane taught me the alphabet song and I bought Spencer's old books from her.” I said.

Shelly didn't try to push away or ask for me to let her go, so I held onto her.

“You were stealing his work!” Mr. Phelps said and walked towards me.

“DAD!” Michelle yelled and he stopped a few feet away. “Don't. He has Shelly.”

“I don't even know what a lumberjack does, except cut down and prep trees.” I said and let Shelly go. I was surprised that Shelly didn't let me go, too. “How do I steal that from him? I'm only in the village twice a year and I only cut down a few trees in the marsh when I need firewood. I would never take them all the way here. That's just stupid.”

“I've seen the two tables you made.” Mr. Phelps said. “They were made by a master craftsman...”

“I just stuck wood together when making a table for Diane to teach me on.” I said with a shrug. “Mack sold them the next day without telling me or paying me for it.”

Alex let out a curse. “Mack is a real piece of work, to use the CO's... the old CO's words.”

Michelle and Mr. Phelps raised their eyebrows at his words.

“He's been using your ignorance against you all these years.” Donna shook her head. “Don't worry, David. We're going to make sure that you won't be ignorant for much longer.”

“We actually came here to see if you had a suitable boat for our needs and I missed the fact that you had the same last name.” Alex said and bowed his head slightly. “We're sorry to cause you distress.”

“That monster killed my son and you're sorry about causing us distress?” Mr. Phelps snarled at us.

“That's what I said.” Alex responded. “I wouldn't have come here if I had realized it.”

“He should be hanging from a rope right now.” Mr. Phelps said.

“He technically did, since that was his sentence for killing John Phelps. When he was supposed to die, he became a conscripted member of the army. For life.”

“NO!” Shelly yelled. “No, he... he's supposed to...”

“I'm being sent away and I don't know when I'm coming back.” I said and Shelly's tears started again. “You don't want to wait four more years for your uncle's killer, do you?”

Shelly looked conflicted.

“Shelly!” Michelle exclaimed. “What did you promise him?”

“When... when I was old enough... he was mine.” Shelly admitted, her face red.

Simon looked surprised, Michelle looked scandalized, and Mr. Phelps looked murderous. Alex and Donna on the other hand, looked impressed.

“As long as I'm alive, you will never be with that monster.” Mr. Phelps said. “Let him go right now.”

Shelly gave me a longing look and let go, then she walked back over to the boat.

“There is nothing here for you.” Mr. Phelps said and looked at me. “Not for you. Not ever.”

_______________

You have another choice to make. Will it be good for you or bad for them?

A) Stay silent. B) Say something. C) Leave. D) Wreck the place. E) Burn it down. F) Choose two.

I could screw them over so much if I speak. I thought with a bit of satisfaction. I just have to mention the blacksmith and Alex will cut them off from everything that the army is buying or would ever buy from them. I looked at Shelly's sad face and decided that I didn't want to hurt her anymore. I'll choose A and C.

_______________

I clamped my mouth shut and didn't speak in response, because it didn't deserve one. I gave Shelly a sad look, turned around, and walked over to the door.

“You know, the blacksmith said almost the same thing.” Alex said.

“Alex.” Donna whispered. “Let's go.”

Alex nodded and they followed me outside. When we were partway up the road, he spoke again. “David, why didn't you say anything?”

“I didn't want you to cut them off from the orders the army made.” I said and he gave me a surprised look.

“How did you know?” He asked.

“You're a new garrison that's apparently on the edge of the kingdom. There's water access, if you're careful; but, the boats can't be too big or they won't get down the channels.” I said. “They don't have to be flat bottomed like the one I need and they can hold more stuff and people without tipping. Of course you ordered boats.”

“I think the one they were working on was the first one.” Donna said. “Imagine cancelling the order now? After them doing all that work?”

Alex sighed. “Yes, I suppose you're right.”

We walked up the main road to go back to the garrison and I had a neat idea.

_______________

You have a major choice to make. This will change how things progress, for both you and the army.

A) Tell them your neat idea. B) Stay silent and do it yourself later. C) Forget about it.

Wow, okay. I thought and read the options again. I glanced at the two people near me, two people that even though they knew about me and saw how damaged I was, were still treating me better than nearly everyone else in the village. I think... I think I'm going to trust them. I thought with a little trepidation, because like the choice said, it will change everything. I choose A.

_______________

“I have a question.” I said as we approached the garrison. I reached out and touched their arms and came to a stop. They did as well. “What happened to John's property that's past the Addams farm?”

“As far as I know, nothing.” Alex said. “Why?”

“Well, I noticed that the garrison is built out of all the local wood that no one else builds with.” I said and Alex nodded. “The last time I was there, John had stacks and stacks of logs, trees, planks, and firewood.”

“How does that help us?” Donna asked, curious.

“If we can't buy a boat, we can just build one ourselves.” I said.

Alex gave me a surprised look. “I saw the boat you came here in.”

“I've used it for two years and it hasn't leaked yet.” I said and they both gave me surprised looks this time. “It's solid wood and it's waterproofed.”

“That's what you did to the canvas bag!” Donna said and I nodded. “You have a potion that waterproofs things.”

“Is it more of your marsh magic?” Alex asked and I nodded. “What else can you do?”

“Remember the door on my cell that wasn't a door anymore?” I asked.

Alex took barely a second before his mouth dropped open and he had to grab onto Donna for support. “Oh, god.” He whispered. “Oh, my god.”

“Alex! What is it?” Donna asked, her voice full of concern.

“He... he can merge things together.” Alex said. “Oh, dear lord.” He shook his head. “You can't, can you? Tell me you can't.”

I didn't move my head or opened my mouth.

“Alex?” Donna asked.

“He can put things together and they become a single thing.” Alex said. “Two pieces of wood become one. Two more pieces added on to that become one.”

“Roofs are pointed.” I said and pointed to the closest building that we could see over the garrison's walls. “The top point of my roof is 60 feet high.” I said and they stared at me.

“Wh-wh-WHAT?!?” Donna exclaimed.

“Well, I didn't want to live in a hut anymore, so I made a house. The walls are ten feet high and then I made a roof. I didn't know how to do it, so I made it look like it did in a story book.”

“We... we need to see that house.” Alex said and gave himself a shake. “Let's go see what the deceased Mr. Phelps left in his yard.”

The three of us walked past the garrison and continued on to John's place. It was only accessible by a small road and we went down it. The place was packed with year old wood and only three quarters of the stacks of planks were there.

“Donna my dear, I need you to go to the CO and ask her to assign us to the mission, then I need you to get her to claim these abandoned resources.” Alex said.

“I think Michelle the boat builder is using them.” I said and pointed to the planks. “If she's making boats for the army, we should leave those.”

“If we do that, what will you use?” Donna asked.

“I can use everything else.” I said and pointed to the merged stack of bare logs. “I did that to him when he tried to kill me the first time.”

Alex and Donna walked over to it and saw that it wasn't a stack of fifty logs anymore. It was just one mass of bumpy wood.

“I can make planks myself.” I said and walked over to another stack of logs, took out my knife, then used my magic to charge the blade. I stuck it in and sliced the log down the length and part of the log fell off. I did it back the other way and the other side of the log fell off to leave a perfect plank.

“I'LL BE RIGHT BACK!” Donna yelled and took off at a run.

I winced at the sound. “She didn't have to yell. We're standing right here.” I said and rubbed my ear.

“You don't like women yelling?” Alex asked and I shook my head. “I guess that's understandable, considering how you grew up.” He said and looked at the plank. “You've done that before.”

“A lot. You wouldn't believe how many I needed to make four sides of a triangle 60 feet by 60 feet.”

“Wait, what?” Alex asked. “There's only three sides to a triangle.”

“Not if you do two sides twice, six inches apart, and fill in the space with magic potion to merge them.”

Alex stared at me with a blank face for a few seconds, then he let out a long stream of curses that would have made the Hag proud.