Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

When we arrived at the old guild building, Greta burst out laughing at the frigate ship parked beside it.

“D-David! By the Son's Light!” Greta said, tears streaming down her face. “You... only you would...”

“I couldn't let the army or the navy try to steal it.” I said and she nodded as she wiped at her face. I handed her a cloth and she thanked me and wiped at her face with it. I stepped out and helped her down first, then Gella and Farra.

Greta didn't even blink her eyes at me doing that for slaves. “Gella, Farra, we can wait for formal greetings later.” She said and nodded at the two women, who nodded back. “Let's get inside and see what we can do with the place.”

“I think we should eat first.” I said and gave Jill my elbow to help her down. She clutched the bundle to her chest and didn't let it go as she accepted my help.

“Good idea. I haven't eaten all day.” Greta said and looked up at the ship. “What a sight that is!”

I told the carriage driver to take a break with us and we all went up into the ship. We were just in time for supper to be served and no one asked about Greta or Jill. We ate the food without anyone bothering us, not even Jensen, and I knew he wanted to know what was going on.

“My lord, I... can I stay here for now?” Jill asked, nervously.

“Kelly, take Jill to my cabin and send some men to unload the carriage and bring everything to my cabin as well.” I said.

The slave woman near our table stood up and left the dining room with Jill and the bundle she wouldn't let go.

I turned my head and looked at Jensen. “Walk with us.” I said as I stood and then I left the dining room with Gella, Farra, and Greta behind me.

“Group One!” Jensen said and eight men and three slaves stood, along with Molly, and they came with us as we left the ship and entered the old guild building. It was almost completely different with barricades lined across the front of the lobby and a dividing wall behind that with doors all over the place.

“We've almost got the suites built to your standards, sir.” One of the men said and ran over to the closest door behind the barricades. He opened it and showed off the inside. “This place is so big that we'll have them all done by the end of the week. No one will need to stay on the ship by then.”

“Good job.” I said and motioned to the barricades.

“Basic protection.” Several of the men said and went behind it, then lifted swords and crossbows.

“Anyone that we don't want tries to enter here are going to be in for a surprise.” Jensen said, proudly.

I smiled and nodded. They are already doing a better job protecting the place than the mages did. I thought. “I'll set up some proper wards as soon as I get Greta set up in her office.”

“Yessir.” The men said and saluted.

Four of them came with us and the slaves as we went to the stairs and went up to the next floor. This one had been even easier to convert, since it already had the divisions done. It was modifying it to suit the crew's needs that would take time.

We went up several more floors to reach the botany department and potion making department. It was in good condition, even with the occasional blood stains. Greta whispered a chant and waved her hands over the stains and the blood was washed away into the water overflow drains located all over both floors of the botany department.

“The bodies are in the botany head's office.” I said and the men went to it. One found a hand cart for moving ingredients around and they piled the bodies onto it. They took them to the stairs and dumped the cart. We all ignored the cascade of thumps that followed.

“I'll use the potion department head's office.” Greta said and led us over to it. “No one was here?” She asked when there was no blood inside.

“Most of the more powerful mages were called up to the top floor. It was mostly the underlings and secretaries left on each floor.” I said and Gella nodded.

“Convenient for me.” Gella said and went behind the desk. “We're going to have access to a lot of potion recipes now.” She said and started searching.

“I can't help convert them to make them better until I'm better.” I said and she nodded. “Try to find a list of ingredients already being stored and see what the states of them are.”

“I know what ones you have as a priority.” Greta said and nodded at the slaves.

I smiled slightly at her guessing right. “We need to get together later to come up with a way to fix this.” I said and pointed to my own neck. “I have a few ideas about it and we can probably extract some of the original potion from the damaged skin on my back.”

Greta caught her breath and walked over to me. “May I see it?”

I turned around and took off the captain's coat.

Greta pulled my shirt out of my pants and lifted it before she sucked in a sharp breath. “Oh, David.” She whispered and her hands lightly touched my back. Or I thought so. There wasn't much feeling back there and she could be slapping me hard and I wouldn't be able to tell the difference. She let my shirt go and tucked it back into my pants for me.

I turned around and put the captain's coat back on. “The slaves are at your disposal, as is Farra. If you start brewing anything, tell her to get the old man. He can brew potions at the second year level.”

Greta let a smile appear on her face. “You've been passing your knowledge on.”

“Once I found a good student.”

“Good. Letting your knowledge disappear would be a shame beyond everything else that's happened.” Greta said and reached up to cup the sides of my face. “When you come back from clearing out the garrison, you're joining me here for a silent vigil.”

I opened my mouth to protest and she kissed me to stop me from speaking.

Greta broke the kiss and squinted her eyes at me. “It's not an order. You know I would never say such a thing to you.” She let my face go and smiled. “I am asking you as your friend to come here and spend an appropriate amount of time with me in contemplation. After everything that's happened, we need to rest and mourn what we've lost in our lives.”

_______________

You have a minor choice to make. It will change your relationship with Mage Marks, no matter what you choose.

A) Refuse. B) Kiss her. C) Ignore her request. D) Agree. E) Kill her. F) Claim her. G) Choose two.

That's some weird choices, considering what Greta's done for me. I thought. Well, she's showing me compassion, so I should show her some in return. I'll choose two, D and B.

_______________

“All right.” I said and Greta let out a sigh of relief, then I put my arms around her and kissed her.

“MmmHMM!” Greta moaned before her arms went around me and she kissed me back. It was quite different from kissing Helena or Diane, so this was a slightly new experience for me.

After a couple of minutes, Greta came back to her senses and broke the kiss as she covered her mouth with a hand. “D-D-David!”

“You should invite Jill.” I said and walked out of what was now her office.

Gella came with me and she shook her head at me. “My lord, you give her the wrong idea.”

“I distracted her from her grief.” I said.

“And your own.” Gella said. I didn't respond and she didn't expect me to.

We left the botany floor and went down the stairs. We had been long enough with Greta that the cart of bodies was already on the ground floor with two other carts of bodies.

“Keep up the good work.” I said and tossed each man a gold coin.

“Yessir!” The men said and saluted.

Gella waited while I made several protection wards and mounted them above the front doors. We left the building when I was done and the driver was already there waiting with the carriage.

“Where to, my lord?”

“The army garrison.” I said and I handed Gella inside before climbing in myself.

We were there in almost no time at all and we stepped out to see the gate was crushed. I gave Gella a look and she nodded. We drew our swords as we ran inside and saw several bodies wearing military uniforms scattered about. Neither of us missed the hoof prints and we ran towards the main area where we could hear the sounds of battle.

The armored horsemen from the castle that we had met earlier were squaring off with an army platoon. Fifty men had been whittled down to only thirty and two of the twelve horsemen were dead. The lieutenant that had tried to assault my ship was commanding them, so I motioned for Gella to flank from the right.

I ran to the left and our glowing swords cut the soldiers down. The armored horsemen accepted the advantage and smashed through the center of the formation and trampled the lieutenant. Gella and I cut the last of the army men down and sheathed our swords.

The head of the horsemen trotted over to us. “Thank you, my lord.”

“I was coming to kill them anyway.” I said and he smiled. “You're here delivering my orders from the queen?”

“Yes, my lord. We were denied entry and destroyed the gate.” The man said. “We took out the mages first, because they were the most dangerous, then we were caught in close combat with the soldiers.”

“Are there many soldiers left here?” I asked and looked around. It was pretty deserted for an army base in the capital.

“Only the essentials. Most have been sent to the various battles around the borders.” The man said. “Other nearby countries have taken advantage of the war starting again to attack us.”

I ignored that and pointed. “The CO should be in there.”

“Men!” The armored horseman shouted and he trotted his horse over to the building. He dismounted and the rest followed him. He turned his horse around and slapped its hind-quarters.

“NNEEIIIGGHHH!” The horse yelled and kicked backwards with both feet.

The door shattered and several screams came from inside. Not all of them were women.

The armored men stormed inside and after a minute and several sword clashes, one came back out.

“Sir!” He saluted the head horseman. “CO and XO secured.”

The head horseman nodded to me and we entered the building. Several people were dead, two secretaries restrained, and the doors to the two offices opened with two men held at sword point.

“You were foolish to ignore the queen's orders, Denash.” The head horseman said.

“I told her and I'm also telling you. I won't risk my men by defying the Mages Council.” Denash spat.

“What council?” The head horseman asked and tossed the scroll of orders onto the man's desk. “If you had taken your head out of a magic user's ass for only a second, you would have read that before ignoring it.”

Denash huffed and didn't pick it up. “The supposed queen can take that worthless piece of paper and put it with the rest of her illegal orders.”

The head horseman sighed. “I knew using reason with you wouldn't work.” He said and picked up the paper and unrolled it. “By Royal Order of the Queen, Her Highness Ellen Rivers, all mages are declared rogues to be placed under arrest and returned to the capital for questioning. Any who refuse this lawful order will be killed immediately and without questioning for innocence.”

Denash's face drained of all color.

“Yes, you idiot. You ordered your men to die at our hands because you wanted to save them from dying at the hand of mages.” The head horseman said. “Your incompetence has cost the capital it's ready force for keeping the peace.” He nodded at the horseman with the sword. “Remove his head.”

“NO!” Denash gasped and then his head was on the floor.

The head horseman looked at the XO, who looked guilty. “You facilitated his stupidity and sent orders to refuse the queen's order to the other garrisons on behalf of the mages, didn't you?”

The man nodded and didn't try to lie.

“I would ask you to send another, except they won't believe it.” The head horseman said and the XO shook his head. “I would arrest you and let you stand trial for all the men you have killed.” He nodded at the other horseman. “I was ordered to remove anyone helping the illegal mages.”

The XO's head was on the floor to join the CO's in death.

“Clean up this place as much as you can. If anyone else refuses our orders, remove them.” The head horseman said and his group of remaining horsemen spread out through the base to do as ordered. He turned to look at me. “After she finished screaming at me, the Queen said you were going to be right.”

I nodded and left the building with Gella beside me. Removing the headaches before they ruined everything was the right decision. Only those loyal to the country and not the mages would be useful in the future. We climbed into the carriage and I told the driver to take us to the docks.

“My lord?” Gella asked.

“We need to bring in Lady Ming and the other ship of slaves.” I said and she nodded. Leaving them out there unprotected could be a disaster waiting to happen, especially if any enemy ships appear. Or other friendly ships. They didn't seem too keen on foreign ships being in their waters or near the capital.

We arrived at the docks and the spot I had made by crushing the other ship was still there. The bodies weren't, which meant they had been left there for me before. When I ignored them and didn't claim them for looting, they were removed and looted by someone else.

I stepped out of the carriage and walked over to the closest ship and held up a gold coin. “I need a flag message sent to the clipper ship in the harbour.”

“Sure.” A man near the side of the ship said and held a hand out for the coin.

“Cheat me and you lose the hand.” I said and he immediately pulled the hand back and walked away. “FLAG MAN!” I yelled and one of the men stood up to look at me. “Want to make a gold crown?”

“Hell yeah!” He said and ran over to me with his flags.

“Tell the clipper ship on the edge of the harbour to come in and dock.” I said and waved the coin. “Cheat me and you lose a hand.”

The man laughed. “Like I'd want to lose my job for a single coin!” He walked over to the front edge of his ship and started to flip the flags in what I assume was the right signals. A couple of other ships helped and the clipper had the flag man signal back confirmation. “They're on the way.” He said as he walked back over to me.

I pulled out another coin and gave him both.

“Thank you, sir!” The man said and saluted before he went back to his other duties.

I walked over to the empty dock spot and held a hand up. “Minor Fireball Barrage.”

Three fireballs a foot wide shot out of my hand and flew several hundred feet into the air. I ignored the surprised yells and did it again with three fireballs and then shot a single one. It was the signal to the slave ship to dock because it was safe to do so. The fireballs landed harmlessly in the water and everyone relaxed.

I stood there and waited to see who would arrive first. The fast clipper that had to go slow through the traffic or the large heavy ship that wouldn't slow down until they were near the dock. Gella stepped out to wait with me with her hand on the hilt of her sword.

“You know when I fix you, you're going to be too strong for normal opponents.” I commented.

Gella smiled at me. “I'm too strong for them now. If you somehow fix me, I might be too strong for strong opponents.”

“I can make you stronger than that.” I said. “Much stronger.”

“My lord.” Gella said and leaned against me briefly, then straightened up. “I am your sworn sword.”

“You will become one of the sharpest swords I've ever made.” I said and felt Gella's hand take mine.