_______________

You have a minor choice to make. Please don't make it a disgusting one. You're going a bit too far.

A) Toss it. B) Keep it. C) Make stew. D) Do something fun with it. E) Give it back. F) Run.

Ha ha! I know what choices you mean are too far. I have a neat idea, so I'm choosing D.

_______________

I held the hand by the fingers and gave it a few squeezes to let the blood drain out, then I used a fortifying potion on it and held it in the same shape that you used when saluting, a completely flat hand with the thumb held close. I thought that was fitting, since I could use it instead of saluting myself. After a couple of minutes, the hand seemed to wither slightly and then it hardened up like petrified wood.

I needed something to tie it around my neck and remembered the canvas bags had ties. I took the one that used to have my stew in it and pulled out the cord. I tied it around the wrist and would have to wait to drill a hole through it. Of course, that reminded me of Mr. Phelps. I need to ask the CO if she was keeping him until a trial is held. If not, then I would have to visit him myself.

I went to the bath house and no one was there, which was great. I sealed the door and stripped off, then did my best to clean myself. I wasn't going back to the marsh for a while and I wouldn't have to worry about making myself match the smell until then. When I was done, I dried off with a towel and did what the CO said and burned my old uniform after taking the decorations off of it.

It was then that I realized I didn't have another uniform to change into. I hung the preserved hand around my neck and opened the door. I sealed it again and looked through all the rooms for anything that remotely looked like a uniform. I didn't find anything, so I opened the door and stepped out. Two soldiers, one a woman and one a man, came around the corner of the building. The woman gasped and the man looked angry.

“YOU! Get some goddamn clothes on!” The man said.

“I need another uniform.” I said.

“You get them at the PX!” He said loudly.

“Where's that?” I asked.

The woman pointed. “Th-third building.”

“Thank you.” I said, like Alex had told me to do, and turned to walk away.

“Oh, god!” The woman gasped.

“What is it?” I asked and turned back.

“Your... your back.” The woman said, her voice sad. “It's not as bad, but...”

“The Hag said the meat's not as tender there.” I ignored the look on her face and turned and walked away. I went to the third building and saw the big 'PX' written on the door. I went inside and the woman behind the counter jumped when she saw me.

“By the Son's Light.” She whispered. “You're naked and... oh, god.”

“I need a uniform.” I said and told her the measurements. “Underwear and boots, too.”

The woman nodded several times and put it on the counter. “Rank and name?”

It took me a second to remember what the CO said. “Private Drake.”

The woman wrote it down. “It will be deducted from your pay.”

I was pretty sure I wasn't getting paid, so I stayed quiet and attached my decorations to the new shirt. I picked up the underwear first and put them on. The woman seemed to relax after that and I finished getting dressed.

“Thank you.” I said and she smiled at me.

“You're welcome.” She said. “If you need anything else...”

“Canvas bags and a small hand drill?” I asked.

She handed me six bags. “You'll have to go to the maintenance building to see if they have a hand drill for you.”

“Where's that?” I asked.

“It's on the far side of the garrison, near the back and the farthest spot away from the front gate.” She said. “It's to keep them as far from a breech of the gates as possible. That way, they can stay in service longer to repair things.”

“Thank you.” I said and left there. I thought about going back to get my things in the bath house, then decided I would only be a couple of minutes. It would take someone at least that long to cut through the door. I walked across the garrison and to the building at the back.

Inside were a bunch of things. Tables, leather pieces, grommets, tools of all kinds, large square stones for some reason, axes, saws, and a bunch of other things that I didn't know and couldn't name.

“What can we do for you?” A man asked and came over to me. There was only one of him and I looked around. He laughed. “I meant 'we' as in the maintenance department.”

I gave him a confused look.

“Never mind. What do you want?”

“I need a drill this big.” I said and held up my hand to shake my finger, the ring finger.

“Whoa!” The man jerked back. “Where did the smallest one go?”

“I don't know for sure. I think the Hag ate it.” I said and the man's face drained of color. “The drill?”

“Th-this way.” He said and led me over to a bench with a bunch of them on it. “What's it for, anyway?”

“Drilling a hole.” I said and he laughed.

“In what?” He asked and I took the makeshift hand necklace off. “Say, that's a nice carving.”

“Thank you.” I said and untied the cord. He handed me the drill and held the hand up on the side for me. I held the drill and spun my hand around like a crank, which quickly went through the wrist of the petrified hand.

“Geez, you're fast, kid.” The man said. “Mind giving me a hand making more holes?”

“I need to go to the CO for a report.” I said.

“Ah. Well, if she doesn't keep you too long, come right back here, will ya? I could use a hand.” He chuckled and gave me a salute. I held the petrified hand up in a salute and he laughed. “Smart, kid. Smart.”

I slid the cord through the hole and tied it, then hung it back over my neck. It hung down at a good distance and when I tested it to use it as a salute, it worked and there was still some slack on the cord. I left the building and went back to the bath house. There still wasn't anyone there, so I cut open the door to the room I used, gathered my things up, and left to go back to the main building. No one was there, not even the secretary, so I used the vigilance technique and knocked on the door.

“Come in.” The CO's voice said. It was a little shaky and I heard two people taking half a step towards the door.

_______________

You have a critical choice to make. It will change your standing in the army.

A) Open the door. B) Give a warning. C) Be cautious. D) Attack. E) Run. F) Smash the door.

G) Yell. H) Kill them all. I) Attack if attacked. J) Choose two. K) Choose Three. L) Do nothing.

Jesus. I thought. Okay, okay. I have to think about this.

A timer popped up on the side with ten seconds on it.

Dammit! I'll choose three! B, C, and I!

_______________

“The two people that just took a half step towards the door and everyone else in the room. If you attack me, I will kill you.” I said as a warning and waited for a second as I slipped off my overloaded pack. They took a step back and I stepped aside and opened the door as I did so. A two foot glowing ring of something passed out the open doorway.

“Dammit!” A man's voice said loudly.

I leapt back into the doorway and saw the man in robes with a hand out, palm towards me. In the next second, I was across the room and had another hand to add to my collection and then I sliced his throat.

“ARG-gGglug!!” The man gurgled as he died.

I lunged at the closest swordsman that was poised to strike.

“STOP!” The CO yelled and my knife was a quarter of an inch in the man's chest above his heart. “It wasn't an attack! It was a binding spell!”

“How is binding me up not an attack?” I asked and didn't move.

“I didn't want you maiming any more of my soldiers!” The CO exclaimed.

“That's not true.” I said. “You want me confined and tried to attack me to do it. I warned you, over and over.” I turned my head to look at her. “Whose fault is it that none of you are treating me fairly?”

“That's... not true.” Sandra said, her voice softer than the commanding one she had just used. “You aren't following the rules.”

“What rules?” I asked and she looked surprised. “All I've seen is people stealing from me and saying I should accept it. I've had someone I thought was teaching me the proper way to act, act so stupidly that he nearly got three people killed. If I hadn't cleared away all the creatures on the way back to the boat, they would have died.”

“That's why you ran ahead?” Sandra asked.

I nodded. “I can't fight off a bunch of creatures or keep them safe with them stumbling all over the place.”

Sandra sat down and waved at the other swordsman. “You can go.”

“Ma'am! He killed Kyle! You can't just...”

“He warned us, several times.” Sandra said with a sigh. “It's my responsibility for the mage's death.”

“He was... only confining...” The one I had my blade in said.

“If you breathe too deeply, my knife will pierce your heart.” I said without looking at him.

“David, please let him go.” Sandra said. She stood up and walked over to us. “I'll heal his wound and you can sit down.”

“It's a magical wound.” I said and pulled the knife out.

The blood started to seep into the man's shirt immediately. Sandra took in a sharp breath and cast the same sealing spell to stop the bleeding, then she cast a healing spell. I knew this because she said the names of them and then chanted for some reason. It was really odd, since the Hag never said anything and neither did I.

I stepped out of the office and squeezed the blood out the hand I had taken from the mage and quickly treated it. This one I made into a fist, for no particular reason, and stuffed it into my pack. I brought my overloaded pack into the office and propped it against her desk.

“Head over to the medical building to rest.” Sandra said to the swordsman, who nodded, and he left. She turned around and looked at the dead mage. She sighed and waved to the second swordsman. “Please take him to the medical building. I'll take care of it later and perform the proper rites.”

“Ma'am.” The swordsman said, gave me an angry look, then picked up the mage's body. He left, struggling slightly with the awkward weight, and Sandra walked over and closed the office door. She walked around the desk and sat down. She took in a deep breath and looked into my eyes.

“You have done serious harm to your fellow army members.” Sandra said. “Harm that I can have you hanged for.”

_______________

You have a minor choice to make. It will change how well you can repair the damage of what has happened.

A) Stay silent. B) Argue. C) Remind her of everything. D) Run. E) Kill her. F) Choose two.

I'm going with B and C this time.

_______________

“No, you can't. You said you needed me.” I said.

“David...”

“I don't know why, though. You have potion makers and lots of soldiers. The old CO said he was saving me from a fake trial and then said I was the property of the Gulf Kingdom and was conscripted.” I said. “Does that mean I'm a slave again? I thought you hated slaves and slavery.”

Sandra closed her eyes and took several deep breaths. “You're not a slave. Slavery is an abomination to civilization.”

“I can't leave. People keep taking my things. I can only get clothes when I need them and I have to pay for them. If I do something that someone with more decorations thinks is wrong, I am punished.” I said and she looked surprised. “How am I not a slave?”

“Most people who join, do it for a term of service. You're supposed to be able to go home afterwards.”

“The CO said for life or until the king grants me leave.”

“If you had it, you would go back into the marsh and disappear, wouldn't you?”

“I don't have to worry about people hurting me there, except the Hag. She never pretended to be my friend first, though. She was mean right from the start.”

Sandra let out a long and drawn out breath. “David, I'm sorry. This... transition... has been difficult for all of us, not just you.”

“I don't understand.” I said.

“I'll explain what I mean, right after you tell me everything that happened since I sent you to get those large stew pots.”

So, I told her everything. I didn't leave anything out, except opening my secret stash. I only said I retrieved more potions and then later I explained that they had been taken and then wasted, because they hadn't been administered properly. I also told her how expensive the snake juice was, because the ingredients to make it only bloomed once a year and only for a week.

She was shocked, to say the least. I didn't tell her that it was the same rare ingredients that the strength potion needed, either. They didn't know about my other potions and I was going to keep it that way, because I wasn't going to let them take those on me, too.