Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

The plan was simple. Lure the Empire Navy ship out into open waters, use the assault boat to soften it up, follow up with the cannons on the ship with the enemy crew distracted, then board and clear the place. Everything should have gone fine... except that we didn't know that the enemy ship was carrying an entire group of mages. Eight of them. They started chanting and casting fireball spells and lightning spells.

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You have a critical choice to make. Will you risk your life to prove you really do want to make the ship the best pirate ship on the open seas or will you prove that you're a coward for the rest of your days?

A) Attack. B) Use a Kracken Tube. C) Flee. D) Rally the crew. E) Do something stupid. F) Choose two.

Oh, it's like that now? I thought. Okay, I have only one real response to that, so I think I'll enhance my standing with the crew. I'll choose two, C and E.

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I was nowhere near strong enough yet to cast dispel spells as many times as I wanted. I couldn't even cast two in a row without a slight rest in between. So, there was only one logical solution.

“Where are you going?” One of my three man crew asked as I whipped the boat around a fireball and turned us away from the enemy.

“You'll see in a minute.” I said and sped us back to our ship.

“They are coming to bear on us!” One of the others said.

“In a few minutes, that won't matter.” I said and started to evade the cannonballs being shot at us. We made it out of their range just as the full broadside came to bear on us, which was exactly what I wanted. “Pull us up!” I ordered and came to a stop by the ship.

The ropes descended and we tied them on to the assault boat, then we were lifted up and pulled onto the deck.

“What happened? Are you turning coward?” One of the newest rescued slaves asked.

My hand shot out and whacked him on the side of the head and dropped him to the deck, unconscious.

“Shut up! I need Molly, Gella and Hanna here NOW!” I shouted and everyone jerked at my command voice. It carried a bit farther than they thought and the three women came out from below deck at a jog. “Ladies, I need you to power the other three movement wards, Hanna and Gella on the sides and Molly, you on the back.”

“Yessir!” They said and went inside the ship to their assigned stations.

I felt the enchantments power up and I took over the main full one. I almost shivered at the borrowed power and let it fill me up. My body remembered this strength and my feral smile like the Hag's came out.

“Secure the deck! Pull the sails! Then get below or hold on!” I ordered.

The men quickly did so. Most stayed up to watch when they were done.

“Here we go!”

The men all gasped as I turned the ship on my own and then they let out 'ooo' sounds as I brought us up to cruising speed. With the sails closed, I had nothing holding the ship back, so I poured on the speed.

“WHAT are you DOING?!?” Jensen yelled.

“I'm showing you all what a reinforced bow spirit is really meant for!” I shouted back and took aim.

Cannons fired at us and I easily shifted the boat slightly and let the cannonballs glance off the hull. The enemy mages saw the ship coming for them and they literally started screaming, because their piddly little spells wouldn't do anything to save them or stop the ship. Some were smart and jumped. The others ran.

“Hold ON!” I shouted and slid us to the exact center of the other ship's side and then dropped the weight enchantment I had been practising with. I had completely forgotten I was playing with it until now. It was a neat time to discover I could use two enchantments, because our ship dipped down at the last second and the tree-thick spear at the front of the ship pierced the side of the enemy ship.

*KRA-CRASSHHHH!*

Wood splintered and buckled as our ships slammed together... and then our ship kept going. It crushed the side of the enemy ship and pushed the other ship apart, thanks to the wide front wedge shape, and the bow spirit split the other side of the ship and our bow cracked the other ship in half.

I ended using the movement enchantment and activated the weight one, to stop pushing down on the enemy ship that was only held together by the keel. In fact, my ship was mostly held out of the water and our main deck was about five feet above the enemy deck.

“Grab your weapons and let's go! Take out any remaining mages first!” I shouted and pulled my sword as I ran to the side of the ship and leapt over it to land on the enemy deck. I had chosen the harder side, because that was where I saw two of the mages going. They were collapsed on the deck, terror on their faces, and I grinned at them.

“NOOO!” One of them yelled and held up his hands to cast lightning at me.

I dispelled it and he started crying until I ran him through with my glowing sword. He looked almost happy at the glow and then I yanked it out the side of his chest and through his heart to decapitate the other mage. I didn't pause to make sure he was dead and moved on to the crewmen starting to regain their feet after the impact of having a ship bigger than theirs smashing into and through their ship.

The other crew and slaves from my ship were soon there and we made short work of the men that still had some fight left in them. We weren't surprised that they were the navy men that wouldn't give up and kept sending slaves and crewmen after us while their ship started sinking. We saved the slaves, thanks to my skin color matching them, and they changed sides immediately.

“We have secrets that they can't have!” The captain shouted at the men around him. “Rush them and give me time to destroy everything!”

“Thanks for telling us.” I said and cut open the door, kicked it in, and threw my sword at the captain.

“GAH!” The captain grabbed his chest as the sword ran him through, even without me touching it. He fell backwards and the sword embedded him into the floor.

“Anyone else want to keep fighting?” I asked.

The five remaining navy men exchanged looks, drew their swords, and took fighting stances.

“Idiots.” I said and waved my hand over them. I could only light on fire one small item of clothing each on them and they yelled and started to dance around to put it out. “Take them out.”

“YEAH!” Their former slaves rushed into the compartment and hacked them apart with their own discarded swords.

I turned to the men from my ship. “Standard protocols. Basic search of the holds and general areas. Don't enter the cabins until I clear them of magic. We don't know where the mages stayed or if there's one or more still here.”

“Yessir!” The men said and split up as I turned back to the slaves.

“Don't bother looting yet. We're splitting everything anyway.” I warned them as two of the slaves started to strip the captain. I walked over to them and made the blade glow without touching it.

They gasped and jumped back as I grabbed the handle and pulled it out. The captain was dead and I shoved the sword through his neck to decapitate him anyways.

“Everyone up on deck. If you carry the bodies up before stripping them for the nicer clothes, we'll have a nice bonfire.” I said and they let out appreciative sounds and grabbed a body each. I went along the cabins in the ship and one had a protective ward around it. It felt familiar and different, which meant it was one of the derivatives from the old enchantment book I had back at the Henrietta Longshore Estate.

I used Dispel on it and it snapped apart. Once it did, I felt two people were inside. “If you don't attack, I promise you that I will let you live.”

“You give your word?” One of the men asked.

“As long as you do not trick me, I swear that I will not strike you down.” I said.

After a minute, the door slowly opened. Inside was an older man and a young woman. Both had white skin like me, which meant they were slaves. When they saw my face, the young woman started crying.

She dropped to her knees and hugged herself. “Finally.... finally... my prayers... finally...”

“We were owned by the Mages.” The older man said and knelt by the young woman. “We did our best to keep them happy.” He said and hugged the slave girl. “Any way we could.”

I stepped into the room and I could feel several enchantments and concealing spells. I could also feel something from both slaves. I reached for the young girl and touched her forehead as I shared my magic with her.

She gasped and looked up at me with shock on her face. “You! YOU!”

“Yes. Me, too.” I said and let my magic flow through her.

She shivered as her own magic flowed around mine, as if tasting it, then she latched onto it like it was a lifeline. “Oohhhh, master... master... please... fix it!”

I followed her thoughts and found something inside her chest. It was attached to her with magic and it was a physical block on her magic. I had never encountered anything like it before and then I realized what it was.

“The Hag.” I said.

“Y-yes, she... she...” The young girl shivered.

“I bet you tasted better than I did.” I said and she caught her breath.

“How did you know?” She asked.

I sheathed my sword and tapped my hand on my own chest. “Guess what I have here?”

She gasped and her eyes widened. “But... but... your magic! How... you're so strong!”

I couldn't stop my chuckle and let her forehead go. “This? It's barely ten percent of my capacity.” I didn't bother telling them that it had taken me months to get it to this point.

Both the older man and the young woman caught their breath.

“Open your mouths.” I ordered and both of them did so without question. I reached into the young woman's mouth first and probed the gland under her tongue. It was minuscule, barely enough for a single small pot of number ten potion. I checked the older man and his was a bit smaller.

They both closed their mouths to stare at me, as if I had found their deepest and darkest secret.

I smiled at them and took out a water skin, then bent low to give them an up close view as I opened my mouth. I lifted my tongue and then used the muscle to squeeze my gland and the huge amount of extract squirted out into the water skin. It was the only thing that hadn't regressed when the Hag did whatever it was she did to me.

“You're him.” The older man whispered. “You're really him.”

“Master, the slave rescuer.” The young woman said. “Please, can you help us?”

I reached for the older man's forehead and my magic went right to the thing lodged into his heart. His magic avoided mine completely, which wasn't a surprise. “I'll need time.”

“We are yours forever, Master.” The young woman pledged.

The older man sighed. “She has not survived her ordeals completely intact.”

“It's all right.” I said and let his head go and touched hers again. “We'll work on it while I train you.”

“T-t-train?” She asked, as if it was a very confusing concept.

“You are strong with magic and I suspect the Hag knew this.” I said. “What was once hers is now mine. Her marsh lands, her marsh home, her techniques and recipes that I've improved, and now her former slaves.”

“What is your name, young man?” The older man asked.

“You can call me David for now.” I said.

The older man gave me a critical look. “What other names do you have?”

“There's too many to mention right now.” Jensen said from behind me. “David, we've got everything but the cabins secured.”

I nodded. “I want the two of you to stay here until I return.”

“NO!” The young woman gasped and grabbed onto me.

“I'm only checking the insides of the cabins for hidden places like the ones in here.” I said.

“Let him go, Farra.” The older man commanded.

Farra flinched and then resolve filled her eyes as she resisted the order. “I am never letting him go.”

The older man sighed in resignation.

“I'll escort her properly.” I said and held my arm at the right position.

She let out a squeal of delight, something that startled the older man immensely, then she was on my arm and her bent spine seemed to straighten out. She looked proud and gave me a smile that would light up a darkened room. In fact, she actually was lighting up the room slightly.

“This way, my lady.” I said and waved at the doorway. She nodded and we left the cabin the mages used and went around the other cabins to discover their secrets. She quickly picked up the spells I was using to detect spells and enchantments and she started to assist me with them. She couldn't cast them herself yet and instead shared her magic with me to make the spells expand in area.

Farra was quite happy when we found three hidden caches of items and gold coins with her help. The captain's cabin actually had the ledger and a fairly large chest of coin for pays... for this ship and three others. It was delivering it to the next port of call for distribution, which meant we now had three new targets of the Empire and a schedule for their routes.

Once we had that, I handed it over to Jensen and I took Farra back to the cabin the mages stayed in. It took the both of us nearly half an hour to detect, dispel, and unlock everything. Once we did, the treasure of gold we had found in the captain's cabin, paled in comparison. It wasn't gold, though. No, it was something that was much more valuable to me than gold could ever be.

We had found ten books filled with magic spells, practical enchantments, and potion recipes.

I quickly cut open a canvas bag I had made and wrapped the books up, sealed them so that only I could open it without damaging the contents, and gave Farra and the older man a normal smile.

“Let's get you to the ship and started on your new lives.” I said.

The both of them gave me happy smiles in return.