I felt the last vestiges of the convulsions ease away and let out a long and drawn out sigh as my body finally relaxed. The funny thing was, even though it had taken nearly all night, I wasn't tired. I was laying in a huge puddle of sweat, though.

That was a rough one. I thought and looked at my hands. I made them into fists and I could feel quite a bit stronger than before. My timeline for taking the potion last year was in late fall or early winter. It was now just the start of summer, so I was about four months too early. I'll probably have to wait that much more next year to make up for it.

I started to sit up and heard several pops in my spine and one in my elbow. I sighed again because I had gained a bit of stiffness as well. I took another number four potion and sipped a little bit to clear out the worst of it as I sat back down on the floor. I would just have to be a little careful about what I do for a while. I couldn't have my joints making that popping noise all the time. That would be really annoying.

There was a knock on the door and a woman spoke. “Recruit David?” She asked. “God, that sounds so stupid.” She said with a huff. “Can I come in?”

“Sure.” I said.

The door opened and Annette stepped in, then she caught her breath at the sight of me.

“D-David!” Annette said, her face red.

“What?” I asked and stood up. My knees didn't pop and I was glad for that.

“Oh, god.” She whispered and turned her head. “You're naked and you...”

“David?” Diane asked as she opened her eyes. They fell upon me and my erect state. “Is... is it bigger?”

“Huh?” I looked down at myself. “No?”

Diane reached out and just as she was about to grab me, she saw Annette and jerked her hand back. “What are you doing here?”

“I was ordered to retrieve Recruit David by the CO.” Annette said and didn't look. “I didn't know...”

Diane sighed and nodded. “David, wipe yourself off and put your uniform back on.”

I picked up the edge of the blanket and quickly dried off as if it was a towel, then put on my underwear, pants, socks, shirt, and boots. “Will you be here when I get back?”

“I don't think she will be allowed back in here.” Annette said. “A... a few people complained last night about the noise.”

Diane's face flushed red from embarrassment. “I'll wait for you at my store, David.”

I nodded and she waved me close. She pulled me down into another serious kiss and let me go. I put on my bandoleer and picked up my pack, then Annette led me from my cell and out to the guard. We both put our hands to our head as we passed him and he did the same, then he gave me a hand signal. We left the building and walked across the garrison.

“Annette? What's this mean?” I asked and showed her the signal the guard did.

“That's a thumbs up gesture.” Annette said. “It means approval or good job.”

“Does everyone do it?” I asked and looked at it. Mine was a little different because I had a finger missing.

“Sometimes. It's usually reserved for when you don't want to say anything out loud.”

I nodded and we went into the main building. The secretary there caught her breath and stared at me. I guess without my long messy hair, I look different.

“He's expecting you.” The secretary said.

Annette nodded to her as we walked by and then we stopped to let Annette knock on the door.

I nodded to the secretary as well and she looked at my pants. I thought they might be crooked, so I reached down and felt that I was hanging off to the side. I used both hands to fix the situation and she stared at me doing it.

“Enter.” The CO barked loudly and the secretary jumped slightly and her face flushed red.

Annette opened the door and we went inside. Lt. Alex and Sgt. Donna were there, as were three other people that I didn't know. I put my pack down on the sole chair in the office, just like I had the last time I was there.

“As of this morning, you are the property of the Gulf Kingdom.” The CO said. “The idiots of this village thought that killing you would get rid of their problems, not realizing that they were creating so many more.” He explained. “They honestly thought that removing you would make everything go back to normal.”

“What does that mean?” I asked.

“Exactly.” The CO said. “I'm glad you understand. There's no such thing as 'back to normal'. You live, you work your ass off, and you keep on living. The circumstances may change, details that make things more difficult, people live, people die, and you keep trying your best to keep on living.”

That part I understood. I had been through a lot to get to this point.

“I had intended to send you off as soon as possible to get you into basic training, then Lieutenant Smith came to see me yesterday.” The CO said. “He had some... interesting things... to tell me.”

I knew what he meant. “Yes, there are fifty crates of potions and thirty six potions in each crate.” I said.

“He also said you made them.” The CO said.

I nodded. “All I did was read, make potions, and practice carving.”

“I want those potions.” The CO said.

“No.” I said and everyone in the office took in a sharp breath, except the CO.

“I am sending a group in to...”

“They'll all die.” I said.

The CO squinted his eyes and looked at Alex.

“I swear that he said he was going to go home to get them.” Alex said. “He just needed a bigger boat.”

“Then what's the problem?” The CO asked and looked at me.

“None of you are prepared for life in the marsh.” I said and saw a few people frown. “This isn't the marsh. This is the mainland. The marsh...” I shook my head. “You haven't even taken any general health potions and I doubt any of you would survive an encounter with a spider, a snake, or even a tangle vine.”

“We can take care of ourselves.” One of the three new men said.

“The marsh is different. If a water beast shows up, what do you do?” I asked.

“We shoot it.” Another said. “That's what crossbows are for.”

I shook my head. “They are ambushers and will tip the boat before you can shoot it.”

“Then what do you do?” Alex asked.

“I either go slow and pound them with the end of a metal pole until they are dead, or run the boat over them and then pound them with a metal pole until they are dead.” I said and saw the disbelief on their faces. “They take some prep work to eat properly, too. The spines can kill you if they prick you.”

“You weren't joking about that?” Annette asked. “You really eat those things?”

“I eat a lot of things to survive out in the marsh.” I said. “The supplies I get in the village aren't enough to live on by themselves and neither are the things out in the marsh.”

“Which is why you keep coming back here.” Alex said in understanding.

The CO was quiet for several minutes. “What would it take to get those potions?”

“Buying them from Diane.” I said and he gave me a surprised look.

“That's all?”

I nodded. “I'm not selling them to Mack anymore, because he cheated the Hag and me for years and only gave us one in ten for the potions.”

“One in ten? What's that?” The CO asked.

“He made ten times more than what he paid for them.” I said and several of the people there let out curses.

“Now I need to know how much he was selling them for.” The CO said.

“The general health potion is three silver and the healing potion is thirty silver.” I said.

“By the Son's Light.” Alex said and turned away with a scowl on his face. “We've been paying him the price the kingdom sells them for.”

I looked at the CO and he knew what I wanted to know.

“We pay just over three times that.” The CO said.

I lifted my hands and flicked my fingers really quickly to count. “You pay almost a gold piece for them?!?” I asked and missed the surprised looks on the other people from seeing me count so quickly.

“We pay an actual gold piece for healing potions, thirty silver for the general health potions, and anywhere from fifty to sixty silver for antidote potions.” Alex said. “The whole damn village is ripping us off.”

“What's an antidote?” I asked.

“You don't know?” Annette gasped. “How do you survive getting poisoned if you don't have the antidote?”

“Oh! You mean venom juice.” I said and plucked a vial from my bandoleer. “I always carry a couple of vials of both spider juice and snake juice.”

“We'll continue this meeting later.” The CO said as he stood up and glared at me. “Major Williams! Take him right to the infirmary!”

“Sir!” Annette put her hand to her forehead. “Let's go!” She turned on her heels and grabbed my arm, then dragged me out of the office, past a surprised secretary, and out of the man building. She broke into a jog and I did as well. We arrived at a building that looked like the others, except that there was a big red and white cross painted on the door. She didn't even knock and dragged me inside as we passed a surprised guard that didn't even have time to shout at us.

“What are you doing?” A woman wearing glasses asked as we burst into what I would later learn was a 'ward'. It wasn't the same ward I made, though. It would take me a while to figure out that it was the same word and it could mean different things, depending on what you were referring to.

“Where's the Hansen girl?” Annette asked.

“She's taken a turn for the worse, I'm afraid.” The woman said. “Even with my healing magic, I can't slow down such a concentrated dose of death spider venom.”

“Where?” Annette asked again.

“Third curtain. Her parents are in there with her right... hey! You can't go in there!” She said as Annette dragged me past her and to the third curtain. She yanked it open and a startled man and woman stared at us. Both they and the child had dark hair.

“N-n-no! You can't have her!” The woman hugged the very sick child on the bed. “I don't care how sick she is! I won't give her up to the Hag for any amount of gold!”

_______________

You have a critical choice to make.

A) Bluff. B) Tell the truth. C) Push her out of the way. D) Comfort her. E) Distract her.

I honestly don't care about the mother. I thought and looked at the cute little girl that had been brave and waved to me last year as she passed me on the road. I want to choose C. I really do. I read the options again and sighed. I better choose D, because I don't want to hurt the girl.

_______________

I tapped Annette's hand on my arm and she let me go. I stepped over to the bed and I put my hand on the woman's shoulder. “You're hurting her.”

“Wh-what?”

“Get away from my wife!” The man said and started to walk around the bed. In the next moment, he was face down on the floor and Annette had his arm braced and had a knee on his back.

I gave her a thumbs up gesture and she smiled. I turned to look at the dark haired woman. “Miss, please. I am here to help her. I'll try, anyway. I need to look at her; but, you're crushing her and that's not helping her get better. I'll do what I can for her, I swear.”

“You... aren't going to... steal my Gloria and... and do things...” Her eyes looked at my damaged face.

“Steal her? For what?” I asked, confused. “She's just a little girl.”

The woman gave me an odd look for a moment and eased her hold on the girl.

I eased her away from the bed and looked at the girl. Her skin was the same telltale sickly green that I had been several times in my life, which meant that she was suffering from a severe spider venom overdose.

“Where's the bite?” I asked and the mother pointed to her leg. I checked it and I saw the space of the punctures. “Whew, it's just a small spider. Barely a foot wide.” I said and the parents, Annette, and the woman with glasses stared at me with wide eyes. “She would have died right away if it was any bigger.”

“Oh, god!” The mother gasped and started crying.

“It's okay. I'll have her fixed right up.” I said.

_______________

You have a choice to make.

A) Just do it. B) Have fun. C) Be ruthless. D) Scare the parents. E) Lie and let her die. F) Steal her.

Wow, those are some really dark and evil choices. I thought. You've got a supervisor checking on you or something, don't you? I asked with amusement. Well, I'm not a masochist like that other army guy said. She's just a sick little girl and I won't hurt her, so I'm choosing B.

_______________

I leaned over to look into the little girl's eyes. “Hhhhiiiii, there.”

“Hhhhhiiii.” The girl responded and I smiled at her.

“Do you remember waving to me last fall?” I asked her and she nodded. “Well, I heard you were sick, so I came right over.” I took out the vial of spider juice. “This is going to taste really bad.”

The girl's face changed to a frown.

“You'll start feeling better almost right away and I'll give you a really nice tasting one in a few minutes.” I said. “Will you take a sip to try it?”

The girl nodded and I popped the cork and tipped her head up to let her take a sip. “Ugghhh!”

“I told you it was awful.” I said. “How's your belly?” I asked and tickled her a little there.

The girl giggled and the sickly green color faded a little.

“Okay, another sip and then I have to look at your leg.” I said and she took another sip and gagged. “It's just as bad the second time, isn't it?” I asked and she nodded. “It never gets better, no matter what I add. Frogs, weeds, flies, and even worms! It never tastes any better and I don't know why!”

The girl giggled again.

“I'm going to do something to your leg, so try and not kick my face off. I only have one.”

The girl nodded and I moved down to her leg.

“It tastes bad doing it this way, too.” I said and bent over her leg as I took out my knife.

“NO!” The father said.

I ignored him and made a tiny little cut where the bite was, let my magic flow into the wound as if I was infusing a potion, then I locked my mouth over the wound and started sucking and pulling the poison back.

“No! Stop! You can't drink her blood!” The mother exclaimed and started hitting me.

I ignored her and no one stopped her. After about ten seconds, I stopped sucking and threw up on the floor. “Yep, it tastes awful.” I looked at the girl and saw her surprised face. “Feeling better?”

The girl nodded and her face was only barely green.

“Just give me a second and I'll have that good potion for you.” I said and took a drink of the spider juice, then put my mouth over the wound. I pushed the spider juice inside with my magic and her light green leg changed color back to normal as the potion spread out. I took out the partially drunk healing potion and my old stub knife, then made a whole bunch of tiny cuts across the small incision I had made. I rubbed some of the potion over it and the wounds closed right up.

“By the Son's Light, I didn't know you could use it topically like that.” The woman in glasses said.

I stood up and held the potion out to the girl. “Try this. It always tastes great.”

The girl drank some of it and she took in a huge breath and let it out. “Hey, it really does!”

“I'm the Marsh Man. I know my potions.” I said with a grin and she giggled. “Did you have a general health potion yet this year?” I asked and she shook her head. “It's a good thing I always keep a spare.”

The girl took the general health potion and drank it all in one gulp. “That one wasn't as good.”

“My hands were cold the last time I milked a near-beaver.” I said and put the empty potion vials away.

“You didn't!” The girl giggled.

“I tried... it's just too bad it was a boy.” I said and she burst out laughing.

“You... tried to milk... a boy!” The girl rolled around on the bed in fits of laughter.

“I'm the Marsh Man. I don't know any better.” I said with a shrug and she kept laughing.