Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

It didn't take me long to make an outer wooden shell for my foot and used number ten potion to seal it up without touching my skin. Now I had to deal with my extra toes. I couldn't put on either boot as they were, because I had previously cut out the spot where the toes were missing to make them form fitting. That meant I only had once choice if I was going to hide that I had them back.

I reached down and snapped both small toes on each foot and folded them underneath. I barely felt it in comparison to whatever it was that I had just suffered through and I pulled my pants on and slipped on both boots. I had even cut the straps that held the wooden leg on and used them around my knee, just in case anyone asked to see it.

I didn't have anything shiny to use as a mirror in my pack, so I didn't see my face directly. I could feel it with my fingers, though. Not only was the snake venom hole in my cheek gone, the long scrape from the second fang was also gone and my ear was no longer mangled. I ran my hands over my chest and felt nothing but smooth skin. It was a very odd sensation, considering I couldn't remember a time when I had smooth skin.

I had to cover my face and my ears, so I fashioned a hood with only the center part cut out where my eyes would be. I slipped it on and it covered everything. It was a little hot, so I also had to cut out the top of the head. It went from the top of my forehead to my mouth, almost like an extra wide bandana, or even a criminal mask, and I tied it securely to keep it in place.

I ignored my apprehension over being restored and hiding it from everyone, even my friends, and put my shirt on. I looked at my hands and I was sure that there wasn't anything I could do about having my fingers back, then looked at the wood pieces from my leg. I made a brace for my hands and then made small wooden sleeves for my 'missing' fingers. It would keep them straight and also cover them up.

I made it look like I had used number ten potion to give me wooden fingers and I would have to tell everyone that I had made a terrible mistake with my number ten potion while trying to repair the damage to my face, hands, and leg. It was quite believable and would also explain all of the screaming and crying.

I cleaned everything up and took out several large pieces of meat and two water skins. I was famished, now that I was paying attention to the wrenching in my guts, and I ate the meat without chewing it. I guzzled the water and sat back on the bed and took several deep breaths. I let the food settle in my stomach and wondered what day it was as I waited for dawn.

Time passed by in an instant and then the door made a significant clunk, which meant that it had been locked at some point. It clicked normally after that and the cell door opened to reveal Stan, the stockade guard. He stepped into the cell and his mouth fell open in surprise.

“Good morning.” I said and he didn't respond. “How long have I been in here?”

Stan stared at me for several silent moments and then he spoke. “Eleven days.”

“Wow, my number ten experiment on skin and flesh lasted a long time.” I said and his eyes went to my face, then to my hands. “I went through all that suffering and it didn't work.”

“But... I saw...”

“If it doesn't take, it turns to mush.” I said and lifted both feet to show that the toes of the boots were still carved out and form-fitted to my old feet. “I didn't want to cut off my fingers.” I touched one hand with the other and sighed. “I had to make them solid.”

Stan just stared at me and didn't comment.

“My face... that was the worst.” I said and touched the cloth, then I sighed again. “I won't be showing it for a while.”

Stan nodded. “I just came to check on you to see if you're okay.”

I tried to stand up and wobbled a lot. His hands darted out to catch me and held me steady.

“Thanks for looking out for me.” I said and pat his arm. “I had hoped I would be better after getting time off and it seems I've gotten worse.”

“You shouldn't have done that to yourself.” Stan said. “Everyone's been worried about you.”

“You can tell them that what happened to me... isn't something I want to talk about.”

“It's embarrassing to be weak, I know.” Stan said and helped me sit down again. “Look, you just relax and don't even think of doing whatever it was you did again.”

“If I have my way, I will never have to go through that again.” I said. “After everything I've been through in my life, once was enough for me.”

Stan nodded and stepped back out of the room.

I spoke before he shut the door. “Can I ask you a question?” I asked and he nodded. “Why did you lock the door?”

“A few people kept trying to sneak in to see you.” Stan said and shut the door.

“Who?” I asked loudly through the closed door.

“I've got a list.” Stan said with a laugh and I heard him walk away.

I only had three days left of my two week sentence, and I had been in there for a day before taking the potion. That meant it took ten days for me to completely regenerate. Ten whole days.

No wonder it sometimes felt like it was taking forever. I thought and sat back against the wall. Now I just had to wait to be released, hope to not be assigned to fight, and wait for Mage Henrietta to fulfill her part of the deal. I didn't consider not completing my part of the deal, since getting married was going to be easy in comparison to living in the army. I hoped so, anyway.

The three days passed as if they were just a breeze and on the morning of the fifteenth day, my cell door opened and both Stan and Gary were there.

“Good lord, David! What did you do to yourself?” Gary asked as he helped me stand up.

“I tried to replace my missing parts.” I said and put on my pack. It was significantly lighter with a good portion of the meat gone from it. “It hurt like hell and drove me crazy for a while.”

“I know.” Gary said and glared at Stan.

“I'm just the guard. I can't let you in without the Colonel's permission.” Stan said and stepped out of the way. “Yes, I asked.”

“I did, too.” Gary said and gave me an apologetic look. “You don't want to know what she said.”

“Now I do.” I said as Gary helped me walk out of the cell and down to the door.

“She thought that you suffering so much in jail was a just punishment.” Gary said.

“I suppose she would.” I said as Stan opened the other door for us. “Thank you.”

“While you were locked up, we had another massive battle, this time it was right at the defensive barriers.” Gary said. “Thanks, Stan. See you later.”

Stan waved to us and we walked away from the stockade towards the mess tent.

“We had plenty of warning for the battle, so all of the construction crews and the civilians had been evacuated from the nearby town and the farms.” Gary said. “The locals were shocked that we had built them shelters and I swear I had to fight off three horny women with a stick. Three!”

I smiled like he expected me to. “What was the enemy strength?”

“It was... a lot more than ours. A whole lot more.” Gary said, his voice low.

“I assume we survived.” I said and he laughed a little.

“We did much better than that. The enemy was slaughtered.” Gary said. “The kracken tubes were a complete surprise to them... and to us, frankly... since none of us had ever seen them used against people.”

“Only dragons.” I said and he nodded. “Did the enemy rout?”

“According to the troops I talked with afterwards, the enemy officers ran before the shooting started.” Gary shook his head. “The enemy troops were left to fend for themselves, right up to the last man.”

I stumbled a little and his grip on my arm tightened to hold me steady. “How many?”

“Ten thousand men was the last count, according to the staff sergeant I talked to. The kracken ammunition doesn't leave much when it hits a partially armored or unarmored person.” Gary said. “I really miss Donna. She was so easy to talk to. These new people are real dicks and treat other enlisted soldiers like crap.”

I nodded my head. She wasn't as damaged as Alex was; but, dragon acid was not something that a normal person could take much of without suffering long lasting effects. She had been hurt and burned all over when she rescued Alex. After spending a lot of time with expert healers, she still had to accept a medical discharge. Both she and Alex retired to his family's estate in the capital to take care of each other.

“On the plus side, the enemy is scared of us. Genuinely scared.” Gary said as we stepped into the mess tent.

“DAVID!” “DRAKE!” “DAVID!” “DRAKE!” “DAVID!” “DRAKE!” The men and women chanted and slammed their hands and drinks onto their tables as they yelled each word.

“Hey! I said NOT to do that!” Gary said loudly and everyone laughed.

“What happened to your face?” Someone asked.

“I tried to fix the damage I had and it hurt like hell.” I said. “Hopefully, I can do something with it later. For now, I have to keep it covered up.”

A lot of people nodded, which meant word about my episode had spread already, perhaps all the way to the top of the command chain.

“We saved the place of honor for you.” One of the men said and waved at the middle table. On it was a tray of food, a plate of cookies, and a piece of cake.

“Don't mind the extra food. Lady Rivers sent it over for you.” Gary said and sat me down on the chair and sat down next to me. “I'm not sure why she chose cookies and cake, though.”

“She wanted to show everyone that things can be normal here, and it's all thanks to Private Drake making those wonderful weapons.” A woman said and came over to me. She had a rounded face and short curly black hair. She also wore mage robes and lightly touched the clean canvas cloth on my face. “I would offer you a kiss if you weren't promised to Mage Henrietta already.”

I glanced at the guys around me and knew that they wanted me to do it. The funny thing was, I recognized her voice. “I'm not discharged yet, so I can't be officially engaged until...”

The woman darted forward and pressed her lips to mine, then she kissed me passionately as she knelt. She wrapped her arms around me and moaned as she really got into it. The guys around us let out whoops and hollers as she did, clapped hands, and shouted encouragement. It took the woman a couple of minutes to remember that we weren't alone, then she broke the kiss and her face was bright red.

“Thank you.” I said, since that was the polite thing, and she nodded as she let me go.

“I'll let her know that you liked the cake.” The woman said as she stood, then she quickly walked out of the mess tent.

“He didn't eat it yet.” Someone said and a few people laughed.

“She needed the excuse to leave fast, stupid.” Someone else said. “You saw her red face.”

“Yeah! If we had stayed quiet, I wonder how far she would have gone?”

“Oho! Imagine that!” Another guy said. “We'd get to see...”

“That's enough.” A stern voice said from across the mess tent and everyone fell silent. It was the new staff sergreant. “You will refrain from speculating about what might have happened if she had looser morals.”

“But, that's half the fun.” Someone said sadly and a few people laughed.

The man smiled briefly and then coughed. “Carry on, Private Drake.”

“I don't have another woman near me to kiss.” I responded.

It was quiet for about three seconds, then they all laughed.

“Go for it, Hisson!” Someone said and pat a woman's shoulder. Her face went bright red and she ducked down as everyone hollered and shouted for her to do it. A few other women were encouraged to do it as well and they all refused.

“I'll do it.” A very familiar woman's voice said.

“Gillis!” I exclaimed in surprise as I turned my head to look at her, because she was at least a week early. She had a guard behind her, too.

“Hi, David.” Gillis said as she walked into the mess tent and everyone fell silent as she did, because she wasn't wearing an army uniform like the last time we had all seen her. She wore a fancy ankle length dress with a thick crinoline, which was a stiffened understructure that was used to make a long skirt stand out. She looked like a prim and proper lady and she couldn't kneel like the mage had.

Gary offered me a hand and I stood up shakily to receive her.

“Congratulations.” Gillis said and leaned in to give me a kiss. No one hooted or hollered, because that was not something you did with someone of her stature. Fortunately for them, Gillis smiled just before our lips met and she kissed me just as enthusiastically as the mage had. In fact, she was even better at it, which was a surprise, because she never once tried to kiss me during all those times we had bathed together.

Gillis broke the kiss and the place was still eerily silent. “I heard about your troubles in the stockade when I stopped by the command building to drop Mage Henrietta off.” She said and waved at the table. “May I sit and...”

Gary was up and out of his chair faster than I had ever seen him move before. That made everyone laugh and he held it for her.

“Thank you, Gary.” Gillis said and we sat down. “Please eat and you can fill me in on what happened while we were away when you're done.”

Gary sat down beside her and everyone started to eat. It stayed quiet and Gillis wore an amused smile the entire time, because she knew the silence was because of her and who she was.

I was glad that she had finally come to grips with who she was and had accepted that was how things were always going to be for her. She was who she was and that was that.