Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

I stood there for several minutes and watched the main building burn. I had to use my fire suppression a few times to make sure the commander of the station's body was still mostly intact in his chair. I didn't bother using a mage shield to protect him, since I didn't want to give people the wrong impression. I wanted them to know that he was inside while it burned and not placed there afterwards.

It only took a few minutes more for the dried wood to burn down enough that the roof was gone and most of the walls were a charred ruin. I extinguished the fire completely and went over to the side of the building to turn the man's chair to face the canal and any boat that approached. That was the whole point of doing this after all.

I went back over to the ambush site and quickly gathered up the daggers from the soldiers, now that I had bags to carry them. I tied them over my shoulders and looked at the three dozen mangled bodies. I shrugged my shoulders and just left them there, sure in the fact that something would probably come and eat them. That reminded me that I should probably replace the expired protection ward I let burn in the fire.

I shook my head at their stupidity for not sending requests to have the wards recharged. Of course, that was assuming anyone reminded them that they needed it or that they existed in the first place. They were listed in the deployment plans, under the safety features, so maybe the new people had no idea that they needed them.

I walked over to the water canal and the nice boat launch ramp they had made. I saw my boat in the distance and waved to it before hopping into one of the mages guild built skiffs. It felt so weird when I used the movement enchantment and it was barely operable.

They can't be using experienced enchanters to make them. I thought and used the rudder to steer the boat. I rode it near my boat and came to a stop. “Please deactivate the pendant.”

“How do I do that?” The healer asked.

“Stop feeding it magic and it should fade. You can also use a bit of magic to deactivate it by concentrating on stopping the effect.”

The healer suddenly appeared in front of me and I moved the boat I was in over to her. “You can see me now?”

“Yes, and I'm also not forced to move away from you.” I said and tied the new boat to mine as I climbed in. I went to my pack and took out a small protection ward and charged it up.

“What are you doing?” The healer asked.

“I forgot that the wards for the relay stations are either expired or expiring soon.” I said and moved my boat over to the relay station and slid it partway up the launching ramp.

“By the Son's Light.” The healer gasped as she saw the burned wrecks of buildings. She followed me out of the boat and I heard her sigh as she saw the lone body sitting in a chair facing the water with a sword sticking out of his chest.

“Don't feel bad for him. He took a bribe from the mages to have me killed.” I said and pointed to the notes pinned to the man's chest. I used a drop of number ten potion to stick the small ward on the underside of the chair and nodded. The body should be safe for however long it takes for the army to send someone to check why he's not answering any mage messages.

“Why?” The healer asked.

“The most logical solution would be greed. It might not have cost him anything if he got away with it.” I said and waved in the direction of the ambush site.

She gave me a curious look and then followed me over to the spot. “Oh, no.”

I explained what they had waiting for me and that I had dealt with them appropriately. She didn't cry or anything, either. “You've seen a lot of this.”

“Yes, and...” She stopped talking and looked at my face. “I didn't think I'd see it this far from the front.”

“If you're assigned here for the next month, you're going to see a lot more than this.”

“No! I thought this was it! Aren't you done?” The healer asked, almost desperate.

“I'm done with stopping the thieves. Now I'll be trying to fix all the damage they've caused to my marsh.”

“You can't kill them all for that! It was done long before you came here!”

“I don't have to kill them personally, since the wards that are protecting them from the creatures in the marsh are going to fail very soon. All I have to do is wait and the marsh will take care of them for me.”

The healer looked shocked at my words. “You... you're going to let them die? Aren't you going to warn them or something?”

I waved back at the relay station. “I'll drop you off at the first relay station and you can do whatever you want.”

“No, take me to the town. I can't call anyone from the relay station. You killed all of the mages there.”

I smiled slightly and nodded as I led her back to my boat.

“Are you taking the army's boat, too?” She asked as she climbed in.

“No, it's a very poorly made substitute for the real thing.” I said and untied it from the back of my boat and then used my magic knife to slice it up into pieces before tossing them aside. It didn't even have a weight enchantment, so the mages guild were really cutting corners making them for the army. The healer stared at my knife and didn't comment about how easily I had dismantled the skiff.

I pushed my boat backwards down the ramp and hopped in, then sat down and took off at a moderate speed. The healer has tensed up at first, then relaxed because I wasn't going too fast for her to handle.

“Are you really going to let me warn everyone?” The healer asked in a soft voice.

“Why wouldn't I?”

“Well, won't they try to charge the wards or have them replaced?”

“It honestly doesn't matter.” I said and her eyes widened. “Hundreds of people are going to lose their lives, no matter what you tell them.”

“What? Why?”

“I've lived in the marsh nearly my whole life. I know for a fact that it can kill me without warning, even though it seems like I can survive anything.” I said and she nodded slightly.

“So, what does that mean for everyone else?”

“Unlike nearly everyone else, I respect the danger it represents.” I said. “You'll see why when we reach the first relay station.”

The healer blinked her eyes a few times and then her eyes widened. “What did you do?”

“Me? Nothing. I ran as soon as I could.” I said and she didn't believe me. “We'll be there in two hours and you'll know what I mean.”

The healer didn't say anything about the doubled time to return and stayed quiet for the whole ride back to the first relay station. When we reached it and I slowed us down, she gasped at the sight and shot to her feet.

“No! What's going on? That shouldn't happen! The mages...”

“...have been stupid by annoying them and not killing them, probably for quite some time.” I said.

A full brood of death spiders had overrun the station. All of the boats were gone and webbing was everywhere, as were several wrapped bodies. The main building was partially torn down and several of the five foot tall spiders were posed on it as they spun their webs to make a formal nest.

“That happened even quicker than I thought it would.” I said and managed to not shiver as dozens of large spider eyes caught sight of me and made my vigilance technique waver from it.

The healer turned her head to glare at me. “You led them back to the station!”

“No, I didn't. I did my best to muddle my trail after I ran from them. I'm not stupid enough to lead spiders directly to where I'm going. The big ones are fast when moving in a straight line.”

She lost the glare and plopped down onto the seat beside me. “Then how?”

“I'd say the commander of the station sent someone to look for the bodies of the mages and the soldiers they had as guards. Unfortunately, they probably did what you accused me of and ran right back to the station after discovering the brood.” I said as I added power to the movement enchantment and the boat moved on. We were soon out of sight and I relaxed as all of those eyes lost sight of me. “The jumping spiders are the worst, because you can't tell which ones will do it until they are already jumping on you.”

The healer shivered and she involuntarily grabbed onto my arm and held on. “All... all those people.”

“Don't worry. Most of them got away.” I said and she looked surprised. “You didn't notice that all of the boats were gone?”

The healer took a deep breath and let it out. “They retreated to the garrison.”

“If they were smart and followed proper procedure.” I said and she nodded.

She fell silent again and held my arm all the way back to Ester's Village. I pulled up to the dock and once again, there was barely enough room for me to fit. She let my arm go and stood, took another deep breath as if she was steeling herself for a confrontation, and stepped out of the boat.

“Good luck getting them to listen.” I said and she stiffened for a moment, then she walked on down the dock. “She didn't even say goodbye.” I joked and pulled back out, turned the boat around, and left the harbour at a slow speed.

I entered the waterway that would eventually lead me back to my house and I picked up speed when I was out of sight of the dock and all of the people there. Even though I hadn't been there in a long time, I remembered where to go and sped all the way back to arrive at a very familiar sight. A water beast was in the waterway in front of my house.

I chuckled as I cut the weight enchantment and rammed into the thing at full speed. The loud thump was quite satisfying and I brought the boat to a stop. I turned around to look and the water beast was floating upside down in the water. I didn't even have to beat it with the metal pole to finish it off, so I brought the boat over to it and grabbed it by the tail, then took the boat and the water beast onto the dry land beside the waterway.

I walked over to the house and saw that some mosses and grasses had grown up around it in thick clumps and felt that the protection wards were quite weak. I looked up and I didn't see any webs, which was a relief. I quickly gutted the water beast and hung it up to bleed it out, unlocked the door to my house, and went inside.

I was finally home.