It took the three of us nearly three hours to load up the boat. When we were done, everything was covered in waterproofed tarps and secured in place.

_______________

You have a minor choice to make. Will you hamper yourself or enhance your growth?

A) Leave. B) Grab a few more things. C) Get something special. D) Lock up. E) Choose two.

Definitely C and D.

_______________

“I just have to grab the marsh panther pelts.” I said and went back inside. I ran to my work room and grabbed the large sack with the pelts in it, then ran into the kitchen. I sliced open the hidden cupboard and took out six vials of fungus powder from my secret stash and sealed the cupboard again. As I tucked the vials into my bandoleer, I decided to refill the missing potions with the ones I had stored here.

I always kept several sets of spares and stocked back up when they were empty. I was also tempted to take one of the unread books I had hidden as well. I decided not to, because it was just too risky. I still couldn't read them, anyway.

I did grab several water skins of my extract and another half dozen wooden plaques, just in case, and the two story books I had bought from Diane. I ran back out to the front of the house and put the things into the boat with the bag of panther pelts. I went back to the house and shut the door, locked it and used the locking spell as well, then applied the number ten potion to seal it.

I went back to the boat and pushed it all the way back over to the water. The four people in the boat stared at me, because I wasn't even struggling with it, even with all the extra weight in it. Before I pushed it into the waterway, I looked to see if there were any water beasts nearby. The ward on the boat was a great thing and I was tempted to just make a few to spread around to clear out an even bigger area around the house to keep the creatures at bay.

I knew that was unnecessary, since I was going to be gone for at least three months doing basic training, whatever that was. I pushed the boat into the water and climbed on, then sat on the front bench and concentrated. I activated the movement enchantment and we took off. I used more magic in the weight enchantment and the boat nearly lifted completely out of the water.

That was a bit draining, so I let it settle down a bit more and relaxed. I kept the nice balance and sped us back through the same twisting route I had taken to get there.

“We should hunt for ingredients.” Donna said.

“Do you have any more canvas sacks?” I asked.

“A few.” Donna said and showed me a bag full of them.

“I'll stop up here.” I said and slowed us down.

_______________

You have a minor choice to make. The options have changed because of your distrust for Rich and Roy.

A) Leave Donna to guard. B) Leave Alex to guard. C) Leave them both to guard.

They would only slow me down if I tried taking anyone with me. I thought. I choose C.

_______________

There were sounds of several creatures scampering away and Donna and Alex stood up to come with me.

“The two of you need to stay here.” I said.

“But...”

“I can't take the ward with me.” I said and their eyes widened. I grabbed a couple of sacks and tied them together, hung them over my shoulder, and kicked off my boots and pulled off my socks.

“What are you doing?” Alex asked.

“The boots will fill with water and muck.” I said and leapt off of the boat and onto what looked like dryer land. It was in fact bog moss and I sunk down to my knees in the soft muddy ground underneath. I easily pulled my feet out and slowly walked over to the base of a tree and the ground became firm enough to walk on without sinking.

I looked back at them and saw their expectant faces, then I turned and ran. Almost as soon as I was far enough away from the ward, I had to take out my knife and kill several large spiders. A loud snort let me know a boar was about to charge me and I tossed one of the dead spiders at it. The spider exploded in a splash of gore and innards and the boar squealed in pain as it went into its eyes.

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I didn't need the pelt, since I had so many, and I lunged at it and sliced its throat. It shook its head to get the blood out of its eyes and that drained its blood that much sooner. It dropped dead and I yanked out the two large tusks it had. I didn't know why it was valuable, since it was just a tooth, and none of the other teeth were valuable. It didn't make sense to me.

I ran on and avoided a few other little creatures that were fleeing the ward, deftly danced around the tangling vines that tried to grab me, and made my way to one of the main areas that I gathered ingredients from. It would normally take me hours to get to this point and the boat made it possible to get here in only a few minutes. It was great, because I had learned something new again.

I harvested what I could and nearly filled one of the large canvas bags. When I decided that was enough, I transferred half of the ingredients to the other bag to balance it out, then ran for another area that wasn't too far away.

Then I heard a dull roar and the sound of trees breaking. My vigilance technique let me know that it was back near the boat, so I ran as fast as I could to get back there. I didn't even consider dropping the sacks over my shoulders, because they didn't hamper my movements at all. I hopped over a smaller water area and slowed down when I reached the soft muddy area where I had leapt off the boat. I then saw a sight that I never thought I would see.

Four people were doing their best to fight off a baby marsh dragon.

_______________

You have a critical choice to make. This will change how things progress for you in the army.

A) Leave them. B) Help as much as you can. C) Yell and make noise. D) Try to get to them.

Ah, dammit. I thought and read the options again. There's really only one thing I can do. I choose D.

_______________

I started to wade across the soft muddy ground towards the boat. I didn't bother asking why they had left the boat and had crossed to the other side, because the baby dragon was stuck in the soft mud. It's two front feet were buried up to its chest and it couldn't pull them out, even with flapping its small wings. It's own weight was keeping it in place, as were the two large trees that had fallen on top of it.

“This... isn't so... tough!” Rich said as he lunged forward and slid his sword under some of the harder scales on the creature's back to stab it.

“Alex! Try for the eyes!” Donna said and dodged to the side as a wing tried to sweep her away. She plopped down into the mud and crawled away a short distance, then grabbed onto one of the many tree branches within her reach and pulled herself up and out of the mud.

“What do you think... I've been doing?” Alex huffed and swiped at the dragon's face. It closed its eyes as the sword skidded over the scaly surface without doing any damage. It used a wing to swipe at Alex and it clipped his arm with the thin sword. “ARGH!” He yelled as his arm and the sword snapped and the now broken sword tip was lodged into the crook of the wing.

“ALEX!” Donna yelled and made to jump for him.

“NO! Stay... there.” Alex cradled his broken arm and moved back. “Roy... left flank.”

I made it to the boat and climbed on.

“One distraction coming up.” Roy said and held his shield to his chest, did a short run and dropped to the ground onto the shield, and slid towards the dragon's underside. He lifted his sword and shoved it as he used his momentum to push it all the way in.

“NO!” I yelled; but, it was too late.

“RROOOWWWUUUUUULLLLLLL!!!” The baby dragon let out a blood curdling howl of pain.

“RUN!” I yelled and the four of them looked at me. “The mother! SHE'S COMING!”

“RRRROOOAAAARRRRRRRRR!” A deafening roar pierced the air and I winced as it pierced my ears, too. I had to keep the vigilance technique going, though. I couldn't drive the boat safely, otherwise.

The four soldiers lost all of the color in their faces and then scrambled as quickly as they could to the muddy ground. They crawled across it easily, much quicker than I could have walked across it, and they swam a bit when they reached the water. I pulled them into the boat as quickly as I could, tossed their bloody weapons as hard as I could into the mud, and started the movement enchantment.

I didn't bother trying to go slow. Oh, no. Nope, nope, nope. I used as much magic as the enchantment could hold. The boat barely skimmed the water as I took us on as straight of a course as possible. We had to be very, very far away before the mother showed up or we were going to be very, very dead.

“S-s-slow... down.” Alex said and tried to sit up. He grunted in pain and Donna helped him.

“Not... until we are...” I weaved us through a narrow passage and tried to ignore the sound of dozens of trees smashing. There was another loud roar and I took us down a different waterway.

“Land ahead!” Roy said and pointed.

“Not... stopping!” I said.

I put as much magic into the weight enchantment that I could spare and the boat rose up just enough to let the front of the boat hit the moss covered outcropping without stopping us. The bottom of the boat scraped over the rocks and things and we launched into the air about a foot off of the ground. We went about fifteen feet and barely missed a tree before we hit the ground, bounced, and flew another ten feet before we hit water again. Screaming creatures scattered everywhere, too.

I had to take a really sharp turn then, since it wasn't a through path or had a deep waterway, and everyone held on for dear life as the boat nearly tipped over.

“I'm really glad this boat has a flat bottom!” Roy said as we finally straightened out. “We would have wrecked on that thing!”

“David!” Donna said. “DAVID!” She yelled and grabbed my arm. “That's enough!”

“Are... are you sure?” I asked and I felt really weak. I lost the vigilance technique and the boat sunk down into the water as my magic faded. The boat nearly came to a full stop as it dipped down into the water after going so fast, then it bobbed up and back down again. “I'm... tired.”

“Pull us over to the side, David.” Donna said. “I have to tend to Alex's arm.”

I nodded and my head dipped a little. I managed a tiny little bit of magic for the movement enchantment and pushed us to the side of the wider waterway. Roy hopped out and tied the boat up as I pulled out a healing potion from my bandoleer. I felt Donna take it from my hand and she let my arm go. I laid down on the bottom of the boat and closed my eyes. I was exhausted and needed to sleep. I didn't even feel it when someone put a blanket over me.