Bookworld Online: Marsh Man

The first warning shot got their attention by blowing out the front gate. The second shot blew up the hastily abandoned guard station. The third shot made a statement as the group of mages that had arrived were incinerated where they stood.

No fourth shot was needed.

A white flag was flown from the top of the main administration building and I took that as a sign that they were surrendering.

Dana caught my arm before I took us inside. “David, what did I say about being suspicious of things that could concern you?”

It had been eleven days ago and the last bit of knowledge that she had imparted to me.

“You're right.” I said and activated the protective enchantments on the tank, obscuring it and making people ignore it. I quickly drove us through the destroyed gate and dozens of screams came from the ranked soldiers that were prepared to attack us as soon as we came through the opening.

I brought us into the middle of the base and then activated all of the weapons around the sides. Sixteen shots of half-size Kracken Tubes flew out of the launchers and lit buildings, carts, soldiers, and horses on fire. I felt a little bad about the horses as I quickly reloaded with the log rolling mechanism and showed Dana how easy it was.

The main administration building was fairly undamaged, so I turned the tank to face it and shot one of the long barrel Kracken Tubes from the tank's roof. It slammed through the front doors and went right into the CO's office, since they were all constructed the same, and then it exploded. The back of the building disappeared in the fireball and that fire caught several other buildings on fire before the building itself collapsed and burned as well.

“By the Son's Light.” Dana whispered.

I drove around the base and the solders were pushed around and squished by the enchantments, making me shooting them a superfluous act. I saved myself the ammo and kept driving. It was almost like a game as I hunted down the last few soldiers and took them out. Dana didn't ask me why I did that, because she knew that the normal soldiers would continue fighting without countermanding orders.

I drove over to the PX and hopped out of the tank. Dana didn't try to stop me. I entered the burning building and it was empty, so I cast cooling charms and water spells to put out the fire. I went behind the counter and cancelled the enchantments on the large safe with the money inside, then used my sword to slice the hinges off of the door.

I carried the sacks and sacks of gold crowns back to the tank and loaded them inside. Dana's eyes were wide as I did this, her face a little sour at me looting the place, and I took her hand to distract her and then kissed her deeply.

“Mmmm.” Dana moaned and then she gasped and broke the kiss. “David!”

“I'm returning it to the Queen. It's already stolen money that's rightfully the kingdom's.” I said and she looked both happy and relieved. “I have a couple more stops and then we can go.”

Dana nodded and watched as I picked through the base to gather any money or enchanted weapons, especially from the mages contingent. I wasn't surprised that I found some magic books and I took them as well.

“We're going to run out of room in here if you take any more.” Dana said.

“This is the last of it.” I said and put the sack of books on her lap. “The townspeople can have everything else.”

“The townspeople?” Dana asked as I deactivated the protective enchantments and slowly drove us out of the base. Swarms of people were already looting the soldiers of their things. Weapons, boots, money, and anything else that they could take that might be valuable. “Oh. I see.”

“Don't forget, the mages didn't care about the normal people.” I said and stopped to open the side door. “Hey! The mess hall kitchen and pantry are untouched!”

“YAAYYYY!” The people cheered and a surge of them ran into the base.

I closed the door and drove us out of the town and back towards the capital.

“That was very nice of you.” Dana said.

“I just remembered what the base would have requisitioned from the locals to keep the soldiers fed.” I said and she put a hand on my shoulder. “Most smaller towns can't support even a small garrison, which is why they are almost never deployed there.”

“The larger the town, the bigger the garrison needed.” Dana said.

“The more mouths to feed, bodies to dress, and soldiers to move around. It all adds up.” I said and she leaned forward to kiss my cheek. “When they went independent and couldn't bring in anything from the surrounding areas, I bet the people here were becoming quite desperate for relief.”

“You've been thinking about this for a long time, haven't you?” Dana asked.

“Ever since I became a conscript and was forced to create another garrison inside hostile territory and then ordered to move them there through the marsh.” I said. “Ester's Village couldn't support the troops of the garrison before it was reinforced. After it was, they pretty much stripped the farms to feed themselves.”

“Oh, no.” Dana whispered.

“Gary was in charge of the food shipments and because of my number ten potion and his knowledge, we made the garrison enough money to buy the food the men needed to live and to keep them living in the new garrison.” I said. “Once the war was put on hold, the garrison in the village was reinforced again and the people prospered.”

“They were at a sustainable level by then.” Dana guessed and I nodded. “The constant visitors would help a lot, too.”

“Anything people not from there found, became a novelty. Food, products, and services. New things have always made people go places to see it and to buy it, according to Helena.”

“That was why she was in charge of the business side of things?” Dana asked.

“No, her mother propositioned me and said only an entrepreneur would gain access to her body.” I said and Dana caught her breath. “I told Helena that I would never be one.”

Dana was quiet for some time as we drove back to the capital. “That's why you always have someone else take over any of the money making deals. You promised her you wouldn't do it and you never have.”

I nodded and glanced back at her. “I knew you would understand.”

“I do.” Dana whispered. “More than you think I do.”

“I doubt that.” I said and she looked surprised. I looked back at the road, even if I could tell where we were going when I wasn't looking. “You see, while my mental faculties were failing, I completely trusted my magic to take me where I needed to go and I followed it without question.”

Dana didn't say anything.

“It brought me back to you.” I said.

“David, that... sounds...”

“Crazy.” I said. “I know it's true, because I haven't considered going anywhere near the part of the city where the police station was, until I had already fixed my slave skin. It just popped into my head that I needed to go eat at the same cafe we ate at before.”

“David.” Dana whispered.

“I know. Magic doesn't work on you.” I said and then smiled. “That doesn't mean it doesn't work on me to find me someone that could help me through the mess I was becoming. Still am becoming.”

Dana pushed the sack of books off of her lap and hugged me from behind as much as she could. “Can you feel it getting worse?”

“Yes, and no.” I said and she kissed my cheek, then my neck. “It's hard to keep track of your mental state if your mental state helps you keep track.”

Dana sighed and nodded. “Then you need to deal with the army traitors as soon as possible before you hunt her down.”

“I won't ask you to come along.” I said and she turned my head to kiss me on the lips.

“I would offer to go along if I thought I could help you more than I already am.” Dana said.

“I haven't had the time to figure out how to empower a blade for more than five minutes for others.”

Dana caught her breath. “You teasing bastard!”

I barked a laugh, which she hadn't heard from me before.

Dana kissed me again before turning my head to face forward again. “Keep your eyes on the road, even though I know you don't need to. It's just unnerving when you're not looking where we're going.”

“I know.” I said and we entered the city. It was midday, so we gained a lot of attention. It was mostly positive and with a few screams, which were also positive in their own way.

What was funny was I didn't have any of the protective enchantments active, so it was just their own fears of independently moving armored boxes that made them react. I drove to the castle and the guards at the gate pissed themselves.

“Get out and wave to the terrified armored men.” Dana ordered me and I kissed her, handed her the sack of books back because it was in front of the side door, and I stepped out to wave.

The guards visibly relaxed and then looked down at themselves.

“I'm sorry about that. There's no internal way for me to contact people on the outside. Safely, anyway.”

“I... I'll go and announce your arrival, my lord.” One of them said and took off running.

“We're going to be a while. He forgot his horse again.” I commented as I entered the tank and Dana laughed.

We sat there and once again, the armored horsemen showed up. The difference this time was nearly all of them had some kind of shaking fit. I hopped back out and waved, to show I saw them.

“I told you.” The guard said and opened the gate for me.

“We will escort you.” The head horsemen said.

“I'll drive slow enough to not tire the horses too much.” I said and he looked shocked.

“I see no horses on your armored carriage! Is it some type of new magic?”

I had to stop my laugh before it escaped. I seemed to want to laugh a lot lately. “I meant yours.”

“Oh. Then you may proceed.”

I climbed back inside the tank and drove it at a trotting pace.

“If they only knew how fast you can really go in this thing.” Dana said.

“I suspect the Queen will be trying to order me to take one of them along when I ask for a list of the rebelling army bases.” I said. “I just hope Melanie either had the baby already or is about to. We might not get the lists properly if she hasn't prepared them beforehand.”

Dana gasped. “The new prince is about to be born?!?”

“Yes, if she didn't have him already.” I said and came to a stop near the castle's front doors. The retainers and people keeping the castle and grounds maintained, stared at the tank like it was going to explode. “Stay inside. I'm activating the minor protections to stop anyone from entering.”

Dana nodded and I stepped out, then I started to pull out the sacks of gold I had acquired at the garrison. The armored horsemen stared at me as I unloaded a lot of gold crowns and then shut the door.

“I need a hand cart or most of your help carrying these inside.” I said and waved at the many sacks.

“Get a cart!” The head horseman said as he dismounted and one of his men ran off. “Take the horses back to the stable.”

Another man took his reins and the rest rode away.

“What is that... thing?” The head horseman asked me.

“It's called a tank.” I said, not bothering to explain about what it should have been called.

The man didn't say anything else as we waited for the hand cart. The other man came back with it at a walking pace and the head horseman gave him a stern look, which informed him that he should have run back with the thing. The man dropped it off and quickly walked away.

I loaded the hand cart up with the sacks of gold crowns and ignored the head horseman's disappointed sigh at his man's antics. I finished and stepped behind the handle before we walked away from the tank. When we were far enough away, I activated the protective enchantments and heard two manly yells and we looked back to see two armored men being pushed away from the tank.

“Did you order that or can I kill them immediately for trying to steal my property?” I asked him.

The head horseman sighed. He knew that no matter what he answered, he would have to deal with losing his men, so he avoided answering. “We need to go see the queen.”

I nodded and as soon as he started to lead me away, I cast Stealth and Obscure on the two men to silence and hide them, then I cast Incinerate and followed the head horseman inside the castle.