Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

“You can't do this!” The dirty man that had me tossed into the ship's hold exclaimed as five crewmen dragged him and his new bundle up onto the deck of the ship. The sixth crewman helped me stay steady as I followed.

“I'm pretty sure I can.” I said as I nodded to the side of the ship. I grabbed onto a guide rope and the sixth crewman went to the others.

“NO!” The dirty man yelled as the six crewmen lifted him and the naked body of the captain up and over their heads. They were tied together back-to-back to make sure the dirty man couldn't swim for it.

“It's all right. The water beasts will take care of you, assuming the leviathans don't swallow you first.” I said and the crewmen tossed the screaming man overboard.

The slaves working on the ship actually cheered, which was a surprise. I knew the dirty man was a horrible person and no one would miss him; but, to have anyone cheer that he was gone was a surprise.

“All right, men. The captain's cabin awaits our assault!” I said and pointed back into the ship.

“YEAH!” The men yelled and scrambled back down into the ship to be the first to get to the cabin.

I laughed at them punching and fighting as they disappeared from sight. So easily distracted. I thought and waved at the closest slave. “Give me a hand following them.”

The slave looked terrified as he shakily came over to me and held an arm out.

“Thanks.” I said and we went down into the ship and saw the crewmen banging on the captain's door, then they broke it down and flooded into the cabin.

They shouted and hollered as they 'found' things that they wanted and started to ransack the place.

“Go back up on the deck and back to work, please.” I said to the slave and he quickly abandoned me and ran. I laughed again and hobbled into the cabin to lean against the wall as the crewmen piled the captain's things onto the table. I used Sense Magic and it only lit up a few feet in front of me, so I needed to hobble around the cabin to find any hidden places or items that I wanted to keep for myself.

“I don't see his chest.” The crewman that asked me about the jobs I knew said.

“That's because it's hidden.” I said and the men stopped moving and looked at me. “Yes, I can tell where.”

“Where?” They all asked at the same time.

I waved at the table. “Finish gathering everything first. We don't want to miss anything.” I hobbled over to it and sat down in the lone chair. I cast Sense Magic and one of the things on the table, an emblem of some kind, glowed slightly. I used my Sense Enchantment ability and only got half of whatever it was. I could see what it was supposed to do, though. It was a key.

I let my eyes roam around the cabin, which was a lot easier with the room practically stripped, and I found the spot for it above the captain's bed. I hadn't sensed it on my trip around because the bed kept me too far away from it.

“That's everything.” One of the men said and dropped a golden candlestick onto the pile of items.

“All right. We can either sell all of this or you can split this up however you want.”

The men quickly picked through the pile to grab the things they had previously claimed and the pile became significantly smaller.

“Drop your things back in your own cabins and then bag the rest of this up. We'll sell the rest to split later.” I said and they ran from the room to stash their new possessions.

I sat there and waited for them to come back with a large sack and put the remaining things into it. I stood up and walked over to the bed and sat down on it, then laid back and rolled over to the head of the bed and sat up again. It was much easier to do on a soft bed. I held up the emblem and used Sense Enchantment again to find where to place the emblem.

I gained the other half of the enchantment and I made the emblem glow. It jumped out of my hand and sucked together with the other half and there was a click. The wood panel popped open on a hinge and dropped down to show off a good-sized space behind it. Inside was a nice chest and a bunch of papers.

“Gentlemen, if you would.” I said and moved out of the way as the men jumped onto the bed and grabbed the chest. It took three of them to lift the thing out and carry it to the table.

“It's really the captain's chest.” One of the men whispered.

“It needs a key.” I said and nodded to the man in charge of stripping the captain of his clothes. “Search his old pockets.”

The man dug out the captain's clothes and rifled through them until he let out a shout. He pulled out a little metal key and handed it over. I took it and used the key in the lock after sensing that there was no traps or anything. It clicked open and I slowly lifted the top of the chest. The men let out low whistles as the contents were revealed. Gold and silver coins were piled inside.

“He's either been gathering this for a long time or he's been lying about how much your cargoes sell for.” I said and the men let out curses and grumbles. “Well, it doesn't matter now.” I looked at the man that was in charge of jobs. “Want to give me a hand counting all of this? I'm not as fast as I used to be.” I held up my hands and he chuckled.

“Are you really splitting this up with us?” One of the men asked.

“It's not like I need any personally.” I said and the men exchanged looks. “I'll take a share, just because this ship is going to need a few things.”

“You're not keeping it?” One asked, surprised.

“What for? I don't need it.” I said and that really surprised them. “I'd rather buy us more food stocks, better ropes, some replacement equipment, a forge if it's small enough, and maybe a potion setup and some ingredients.”

The men's mouths dropped open and stared at me like I grew a second head on my shoulders.

“I know I have to wait for us to reach the next port for most of that, since there's nothing even close to that on this ship.” I said and then smiled. “Then again, maybe we'll get lucky and come across a ship with some of what I want.”

That made the men grin in response.

We got to work counting out the gold and silver coins. When we were done half an hour later and divided everything up into seven piles, the men stared at more gold than any of them had ever seen in their lives.

“Don't go tossing that gold around at the next port. Use the silver coins.” I warned them. “If we can buy a nice suit for this man...” I pat the man assigning jobs. “...we can send him to whatever bank or lender they have to exchange some gold for more silver.”

“I've never done that before.” The man admitted.

I chuckled. “You don't have to. I'll come along and I'll handle it. I can play the slave role pretty well when I have to.”

That made the men chuckle, too.

“Go ahead and add that to your own stashes and meet back here. We have a few things to discuss about tactics and how you assault ships when you board them.” I said and the men each took out loot sacks and added their money to them and left. “Bring chairs!”

It took a couple of minutes before the first man back was the one that helped me count. “Well, you've already made us richer.”

I smiled and waved at the spot next to me. “When are you changing the rigging on the mizzenmast?”

He put the chair down and sat down. “Right after this meeting. I won't trust the slaves to do it and I'll need at least two other sets of hands.”

“I'll help.” One of the other men said and sat down across the table. “Huh. I didn't think I'd ever sit at this table.” His hand rubbed the surface. “The captain's table.”

“It's our table now.” I reminded him and he looked startled, as did the others coming in with chairs. “There's no more captain to demand things from you. This is going to become a working man's ship.”

That made the men quite happy and they all sat down with smiles on their faces.

“This is the first thing I plan to do.” I said and started to fill them in on my ideas.

_______________

Montage Mode engaged. Skipping miscellaneous details. Speeding up time. Done.

_______________

I stood on the deck of the target ship a week later and smiled as I sliced through the arm and sword of the enemy captain. He was from the Eastern Empire, which was fitting, and I stabbed him through the heart. He dropped to the deck and I looked around. The crew and several of the more promising slaves had joined in the assault.

Getting their own swords had shocked them at first, until I pointed out that they were on a working man's ship now and things were going to be different. The only slaves were the ones already too broken to be trusted with their own welfare and they were given the easiest jobs on the ship. Everyone ate a lot better, though. That had been the very first change I made.

“This ship is ours! Good work, men!” I shouted and the crewmen and slaves cheered. “All right, check the hold for more slaves. If there's anyone you think is good enough, make the offer.”

“Yessir!” The men said and then scrambled to the ship's entrance and went down inside.

“You... won't get away... with this.” A man's weak voice said. “Pirate.”

I hobble-walked over to one of the fallen men and knelt. “Are you going to stop me?”

“The kingdom... will hear of this.” The man said.

“You're assuming there's going to be a ship left for them to find.” I said and the man looked surprised. “I'm not stupid like a normal pirate.” I pointed at my temple. “I have a purpose and I will fulfill it.”

“B-bastard.” The man spat and laid back.

“If it wasn't for the Eastern Empire, I would be happy and content living in my marsh, completely unaware of the world and how horrible a lot of it is.” I said and stood. “Unfortunately, fate seems to want me out here dealing with it, so that's what I'm going to do.”

“One man... can't make... a difference.” The man said, his voice barely above a whisper.

I grinned like the Hag. “Of course I can. I'm the Marsh Man.” I said and cackled a laugh. “I created the Kracken Tubes!”

The man's face showed surprise... and stayed that way as the life left his eyes.

I hobble-walked towards the ship's cabins to start my search and continuously cast Sense Magic and Sense Enchantment. I needed the practice and also wanted to see if this ship had anything of real value. The sounds of battle reached my ears and after a minute, the crewmen and slaves cheered. It took me another minute to reach them and saw a mage in Eastern Empire robes on the floor.

“I... got him.” One of the slaves said, his arm bloody and burned.

“You did.” I said and knelt. I put my hand right on the charred flesh and the slave hissed. “You still have feeling, so it's not so bad.” I let his arm go and searched the mage's robes. I pulled out several potions and scrolls. I opened each potion and smelled them. “Here we go. It's not too strong, though.”

“What... is it?” The slave asked.

“Minor Healing Potion.” I said and had him drink the whole thing. Unlike mine, applying it topically wouldn't do anything except waste it.

“What are the others?” One of the crewmen asked.

“I think I smelled fireweed, so they could be immolation potions.” I said. I remembered the smell from using those potions when fighting the dragons. “Don't ransack the cabins yet. If this mage has anything in his, it could be dangerous for anyone to search.”

“You heard him. Search out any crew that weren't up on the deck and get rid of them.” One of the crewmen said. “The water beasts are going to be well fed today!”

“YEAH!” The others yelled and split up to search the rest of the ship.

“How is the arm?” I asked the hurt slave as I stood.

“Not too bad.” The slave said and rubbed his hand over it to flake some of the charred skin off. “I'll have these scars for the rest of my life.”

I smiled and pat his shoulder. “You rescued other slaves. There are worse reasons to be scarred.”

The slave chuckled and stood up. “Good point. We came across him trying to cast a fire spell at the slave hold.”

I nodded and we both worked to get the cage door opened. It required brute force because the idiot mage had broken off the key in the lock. I was tempted to use my sword, then decided I needed to keep it for as long as possible. With no way to repair it, I had to limit how much I used it and what I used it on. I didn't bind it, however. I didn't have enough magic strength to power the binding spell.

We eventually pried the door enough that the lock popped and the slaves inside were terrified. We didn't say anything and just left the door open and walked away. I was going to make the offer to join our crew and decided that they needed time to adjust being freed first.

“How? How do you have weapons?” One of the bolder women asked.

“How else can we raid ships and kill slavers?” The slave with me asked back.

That seemed to shock them completely.

“Do any of you know which cabin belonged to the mage?” I asked and one of the younger women raised a hand. “Dear lady, please allow me to escort you there.”

It was neat to see an albino blush. “I-I-I'm no l-lady.”

“Are you the only woman from your family here?” I asked, the same as I had a young woman back at the academy. She nodded, the same as the student did, so my response was the same. “Then you are the lady of your family here.”

She didn't lose the blush as I held my hand out to her.

“Please excuse my missing fingers. I lost them as punishment for defying my first owner.” I said.

The young woman's hand took mine and she held on tightly, probably tighter than she would if I had a whole hand. She had a look on her face as if she would hurt the one that hurt me.

“Thank you.” I whispered to her as she stepped out of the cell. I braced my arm for her to take and then hobble-walked down the hallway.

“Why are you walking funny?” She asked as her blush faded.

“I lost all my toes as well.” I said and she gasped. “I rigged up a pair of boots to simulate toes and it kind of worked. It's still awkward to walk with nothing to really push off with.”

She looked down at my feet and then she blushed again.

“What is it?” I asked.

“You... you should learn to walk like a proper lady.” She whispered.

I brought her to a stop and turned her to look into her eyes. “Explain.”

“A lady... she... her shoes...” The young woman stammered at my intense look, took a deep breath, and then explained it properly. They practically walked on the fronts of their feet, because their shoes didn't allow the normal toe push movement that a boot would.

I blinked my eyes at how I had been trying to simulate a normal foot and all I needed to do was change the footwear I wore. I barked a laugh at the simplicity. “Help me find a good pair of replacement shoes and show me this walk.” I said and the young woman smiled at me with a nod.

What followed was the oddest lesson I had ever experienced.