Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

I woke up when someone burst in through the door of the mess hall.

“Private Drake!” The new drill sergeant said loudly.

“Yes, Drill Sergeant!” I said and stood up at attention.

“Why were you not in your barracks?” Nancy asked as she entered the kitchen.

“I was following orders, Drill Sergeant.” I said and nodded at the pans. “They should be cooled off enough to slice up now.”

The drill sergeant looked at the workbench and the lamb roasts there. “You waited here for them to cool off?”

“Yes, Drill Sergeant.” I said. “I also have most of the owlbear in the smoker.”

Nancy looked at me and she had concern on her face. “You aren't planning on staying here for as long as you're smoking the meat, are you?”

“No, Drill Sergeant. I've already warned the kitchen staff that that it was poisoned.”

“Excuse me?”

“They can't safely ingest the meat that I prepared for myself.”

She gave me a very concerned look for several moments. “So, it's true. You did have poisonous meat in your possession.”

“There's no regulation stating that I can't have my own food nor treat it the way I like it.” I said and she sighed.

“Private, you can't poison food that others have access to.” She said and looked at the empty pots. “We'll have to destroy everything you've used and...”

“Everything's treated.” I said and picked up one of the pots and put a bit of water in it to show her, then dumped it out into the drain and showed her the pot again.

“It's completely clean.” Nancy said and then shook her head. “You still used poison in the kitchen.”

“It's not poison for me.” I said and she sighed again and looked sad.

“You missed the wake up call.” She said and her face went back to normal. “We're about to start the morning jog.”

I went over to the pans on the work bench and took out a treated canvas bag and quickly sliced the roasts like loaves of bread and put it with the vegetables and everything into the bag. She just stared at me as I did it and then she stared at the completely clean pans.

“You're not planning on carrying all of that with you, are you?”

“Did they issue me a new trunk?” I asked as I hung the three bags of stew, the partial bag of lamb slices, and now the bag of lamb roasts and vegetables on my shoulders.

“Not yet.” Nancy said. “We can stop by the PX after the run.”

“I don't need to run.” I said and she widened her eyes. “The XO told you that.”

“How do you know that she told me anything?” Nancy asked.

“She wants you to teach me.” I said and walked over to the butchering room. “Do you know what I can do with these bones?” I asked as I unhooked the owlbear pelt from the wall and folded it in half to keep the almost dried bloody bottom part away from the fur.

“No, you'll have to ask the head cook what they do with them.”

I nodded and put the pelt over my shoulders. It was a heck of a lot lighter than the full bear, so I walked out of the kitchen almost completely unimpeded.

Nancy followed me and waved to the other recruits. “Go ahead and start without us. We'll catch up.”

A few of the men glared at me, so I had to assume one of them had told on me and ruined my meat.

Nancy saw me looking at them and waved for me to walk in a different direction. “The PX is over this way.”

We walked over to it and went inside.

The man behind the counter whistled as I walked in. “By the Son's Light! That's the pelt of an owlbear!” He laughed. “I can't wait to get my hands on it and...”

“It's not for sale.” I said and he looked surprised. “I haven't talked to the XO about it yet.”

“But... why else would you be here?” He asked and looked confused.

“He needs another trunk.” Nancy said.

“I want something stronger than that.” I said. “The old drill sergeant broke my old one.”

“We have a metal lock box; but, it's not very big and you won't get half of your things into it.” He said. “I doubt that you could get all of that into a standard trunk, either.”

“How many metal lock boxes do you have?” I asked.

“Four.” The man said. “They are expensive and...”

“The army garrison in Ester's Village owes me a bunch of money for my potions, so take it from that.” I said.

“We don't have the same budgets or share debts like that.” The man said.

“Then dock my pay.” I said and he looked surprised.

“Can you really go weeks without any money?” The man asked.

Nancy gave me a look that I couldn't read and then spoke to the man. “He's a conscript and doesn't get paid.”

“Well, I would be willing to trade.” The man said and eyed the pelt on my shoulders. “I'm sure that we can come to some sort of arrangement.”

“I need to speak to the XO first.” I reminded him.

“Of course. I'll be here when you get back, so there's no need to rush.” The man said and wrote out a note. “Jake, come here for a second.”

Nancy watched with attention as someone came from the back.

“Could you deliver this for me?” The man said and gave him the note.

“Sure thing.” Jake said and turned around.

“You can deliver it right here to me.” Nancy said and held her hand out. “That's an order.”

“Drill Sergeant, that's a private message. You have no right to...” The man started to say and couldn't grab Jake before he handed it over to her.

“Hmm. I see.” Nancy said as she read the quick note. “Thank you for enlightening me to your opinion of Private Drake and his intelligence.”

“That was a private message.” The man said.

“Yes, and you should have kept it private and not said anything. To anyone.” Nancy said, clearly angry. “Rest assured that I will be delivering this personally to the proper recipient.”

The man looked angry himself now. “I hope you mean the name on the note.”

“Yes.” Nancy said. “I mean the old CO. The man who has been dismissed from his post and sent to the front for mistreating Private Drake.”

“Wh-what?” The man asked, very surprised.

“Didn't you hear about the event last night?” Nancy asked. “I thought it would be all over the base by now.”

“I heard about it.” Jake said. “Nearly all of the enlisted soldiers are talking about it.”

Nancy smiled. “I suppose an officer with your family's standing hasn't had a chance to mingle with the soldiers on a casual basis yet to hear the news.”

The man's face became a blank expression.

“Don't worry. I'm sure the XO, the now acting CO, won't look unfavorably on a member of the PX that has been ripping people off.”

The man didn't say anything in response.

“You're not even going to deny it?” Nancy asked, surprised. “I was only making a blanket statement and had assumed it was only Private Drake.” She shook her head. “Please expect a few visitors to check on things here in a few minutes.”

The man nodded and Nancy led me out of the PX and over to the main building. She only waved at the secretary to be quiet as she passed and knocked on the XO's door.

“Come in.” The XO commanded.

Nancy opened the door and stepped into the office as she saluted. I did as well and Anna smiled as she returned it.

“It seems Private Drake is helping me root out even more hidden mistreatment.” Nancy said and quickly explained what happened at the PX and showed her the note.

Anna looked at me with a sad smile. “It seems you are a vexing problem that just keeps expanding.”

I wasn't sure what to say to that, so I stayed quiet.

“I'll send a few trusted people over to check everything.” Anna said and wrote out several notes herself. “I might as well have them audit the Purser Office, too.”

Nancy nodded and took the notes to give to the secretary, without shutting the XO's door, then she knocked on the CO's office and delivered the note. There was a loud clatter of something and a door slamming. Nancy came back with a huge smile on her face.

“Message delivered.”

Anna chuckled at her drill sergeant's antics. “You're not supposed to enjoy antagonizing senior officers like that.”

“It's one of the little joys I have in life.” Nancy said with a smile and then frowned. “Now I don't know what to do with Private Drake's things.”

Anna wrote out another note. “Have two of the metal lock boxes delivered to the barracks and let him store his things. I'll also issue orders to everyone that if they touch his things without his permission, they will be kicked out and their families will be disgraced publicly.”

Nancy's eyes widened. “That's a little harsh, isn't it? You know there's at least two people in his barracks that hate him.”

“Yes, and they are a liability because of it.” Anna said. “Their anger at him is distracting them from doing their best, making them a danger to themselves and to others, even though they know it was their friend's fault for attacking first.”

“I'll be keeping an eye on them and I'll stick to my plan of keeping them too tired to do anything.” Nancy said.

Anna nodded and smiled. “Would you be so kind as to do the same for Private Drake?”

“I've had someone working on that since yesterday.” Nancy said. “I hope they'll be done by the time the morning run is over.”

“I'm glad.” Anna said and looked at me. “Can we discuss the owlbear pelt and the ram horns now?”

I nodded. “Do you know how much they are worth?”

“Yes, and I suspect that the PX officer did as well.” Anna said and told me the shocking price of an owlbear's intact pelt. “Obviously, I can't allow that kind of money to be floating around the base for people to steal, so I'll have the Purser Office set aside the proper amount of money for your use. Just go there and get it whenever you want or need money.”

I nodded.

“However, don't just take it out because you can. If you don't use it all up by the time your three months is up, then you can withdraw all of it and head to your next assignment.”

I nodded again and she smiled.

“Then I'll leave you both to get back to work.” Anna said. “Dismissed.”

“Ma'am.” Nancy and I said as one and saluted, then Anna returned it. Nancy and I left the XO's office and went back to the PX. I didn't have them deliver the metal boxes and took them myself. Each was about half the size of a trunk, so two of them together would be big enough to replace what I had lost. They were twice as heavy as a trunk, too. The solid metal felt nice and we brought them to the barracks.

“As soon as you put your things away, get back out here for your run.” Nancy said and stopped outside the barracks door. “I want to gauge your performance, which means that I'll be the one to decide if you actually need to run or not.”

I nodded and took the metal boxes inside. I used my knife to cut out the sides that would be touching when they were placed side by side and used some number ten potion to stick them together. I let that sit for a minute and then used a few drops of number ten potion to stick the now large metal box to the floor.

I quickly treated the inside with waterproofing potion and then put in the bags of food that I had, then folded the pelt up and barely fit it into the top of it. When I went to close it, it wouldn't. I frowned at it and looked at it, then chuckled because I had left the top of both lids intact and hadn't cut away what was now a divider in the middle. I sliced it off and closed the trunk and locked both locks.

I slipped the keys onto my cord necklace and then used the lock spell and put several drops of number ten potion on the lid to seal it. I smiled down at the now quite secured metal box and left the barracks.

“All right, Private Drake. Start off running slow and I'll keep pace to see your form and posture.” Nancy said. “I'll tell you if there's corrections needed.”

“Yes, ma'am.” I said and we started running.