It took me two more trips back to the garrison to get more supplies before I had enough time to stop at the next relay post to prep the two potions that I needed to make my foot. I made a pot of waterproofing potion, since I didn't have any more fortifying potion left to mix into it, and a pot of number ten potion. I checked my right boot and it was clear of any dirt inside, so I treated it with the waterproofing potion.

I had previously cut it and formed it to my mangled foot, so the inside was nearly the exact shape of my old foot. I poured a pile of number ten potion and then slid my peg leg into it, after detaching it from my stump. Luckily, the boot came right up to the edge of the harness, which meant I could fill it the rest of the space and it would merge the wood and the leather straps together, even better than the normal fasteners.

No one asked me what I was doing. I let the healing potions brew while my new wooden foot set. I gave up on making it out of wildwood, even though it would be much stronger than the wood that Greg had used. I couldn't order anyone to venture into the woods to find me the right tree, since most of them didn't know what to look for and my official command power had been greatly reduced.

The relay post was half built by the time my new foot had set and I had to use my knife to slice part of the back of the boot open to get the foot out. Once it was, I saw that it was a reasonably good copy of my old foot, just without the toe shapes because it was filled in flat.

I had learned how to make hinges a long time ago and how to use rivets and metal fasteners to make moving parts, so I carefully cut out where the foot was attached to the ankle a third of the way in, then left a stub that went several inches up into the ankle, and cut off the other side. I quickly cut a circular hole and inserted the metal fastener to test the fit.

It looked fine, so I cut out a small bit off the ankle in the back to allow a small tilt in that direction, then trimmed off a bit more than that on the front. I tried the movement and compared it to my normal foot's movements and it was close enough for forward and back movements. I attached it permanently and filled in the hole with number ten potion to make sure it was strong enough.

I did the same technique with the toe piece and the toes now moved up at a forty-five degree angle, simulating a toe's actual movement. I added a piece of a broken crossbow's bow part on top of the foot, because it was springy, and it would keep the foot in a flat shape until pressure was applied. I carved out the wood to set the bow piece in level, and I had a working foot.

When I was done, a few of the construction crew were staring at me like I had shown them something amazing. I slid the wooden foot into the boot and used some cord to tie the boot in place. I had been tempted to use some number ten potion to seal it permanently, then decided that I would eventually want to take the boots off of my feet at some point.

The new wooden foot was a bit heavier than the peg and that didn't bother me, because now I was a lot more stable. I could walk on my own without help and I practised for the rest of the time I had before the next batch of potions was ready. I infused them and put them into the remaining empty vials. I had now used up all of the general health potion bottles and filled them with healing potions.

I had made enough to give one to each soldier in the brigade and with that task complete, I only had driving the boat left to do after packing up all of the pots and potion ingredients. I also had to wait. When I relayed the previous work crew to the next build site, Gary came over to me as the men unloaded the second boat of the supplies that they needed.

“David, how are you doing?” Gary asked and sat down to rest.

“My ankle is still sore.” I said.

Gary barked a laugh and pat my knee. “You should pop the peg off and relax for a while.”

“I'd rather help if I can.” I said.

“David, you can barely stand, let alone...” Gary looked down at where my peg was supposed to be and saw the boot. “What did you do?”

“I made a new foot.” I said and then showed him it.

“Good god.” Gary said in a low voice, barely above a whisper. “How did you make it?”

I told him what I did and he reached for it and played with it to see the range of motion.

“This is amazing, David. Truly amazing.” Gary said. “How long have you been thinking about this?”

“Since this morning when you gave me the peg.” I responded and he looked shocked.

“I can't believe...” Gary shook his head and smiled. “All right, let's see how well you can move on that thing.”

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I put the boot back on and I walked a little lopsided, since the foot didn't really work like a real foot and only simulated the movement. Putting the springy bow piece in it was definitely better than just having the thing flopping around every time I moved my leg.

I helped where I could, as long as it didn't require a lot of extensive movement, and Gary kept a close eye on me. With an extra set of hands, we finished a little sooner than we normally would have and loaded the boats back up with the tools and skirmish teams and went to the next site. We passed Mage Henrietta on the way and she waved to me. I waved back and continued on.

We camped at the last spot when it was completed and I wasn't surprised when one of the guards stood near my bedroll. I wasn't allowed to sleep in the boat, as if they were afraid that I was going to run off with the thing. The idiots wouldn't have been able to stop me at all if I was going to run. I didn't tell them that, though. They were afraid enough already.

Time passed by in a flash and by the end of the week, all fourteen relay points were built, had the limited protection wards on them, and the other mages and I started transferring the soldiers all along the route as the construction crews built the new and quite expansive garrison near enemy territory. I had left Gary there with all twelve large stew pots full of number ten potion and he used them to fill the outer wooden walls as it was being built.

I brewed more potion each time I dropped off a boatload of troops, then left again to get more troops. Thanks to the relay posts, the necessary breaks between boatloads were particularly short. It kept the other mages from getting exhausted and also kept the troops from having too much travel time at once. A few of them weren't fussy about travelling on the water, so they were always kept in the center of the boats and away from the water... and me.

I never slowed my boat down and only the troops that enjoyed the water were allowed to ride with me. I still took breaks, though. I wasn't stupid or tried to rush, because the plan was made the way it was for a reason. I couldn't show up before my scheduled time without messing something up and I definitely couldn't show up later, because that would make things a lot worse.

Not having any antivenom for either snakes or spiders was a deep concern for me and I kept expressing this every time I had to return to the garrison to continue the troop relay to the new garrison. The CO acknowledged my concerns and the Colonel told me to get on with the mission. She didn't do that personally, though. She was too busy to listen, even after a few soldiers were stupid and had ventured outside the protected area and were bitten.

I didn't bother rushing them back to the garrison, because there wasn't anything anyone could do for them. The healers could only knock them out and heal the damage and the poisoned soldiers were loaded onto my boat. I went back to the garrison for the next load of troops and the sergeant on the dock that was following Donna's pre-planned deployment, had them offloaded and brought to the medical wing.

They were the first casualties of the new phase of the war and wouldn't be the last.

I left again and did the same travelling for another week. Despite the warnings, orders, and even danger signs, normal soldiers still tried to go off on their own into the marsh. By that time, the death count reached twenty and the new garrison was completed. All of the relay stations went into lock down after that, with no one in or out except for official movements, because the soldiers needed to be protected from their own stupidity.

When the first thousand troops had assembled in the garrison, Colonel Rivers was there to take command. She ordered Mage Henrietta to gather up the combat mages as an adjunct to her ready fighting force, then gave out the orders to begin the attack. The army's precious scouts, wearing protection wards, spread out to clear the way for the assault force coming behind them.

It worked even better than they had hoped as the creatures fled the marsh and slammed into the enemy's camp. Spiders, snakes, boars, near-deer, croc-lizards, and even rabbits and ducks swarmed over the completely unprepared closest tent encampment. They didn't even have guards out on patrol like the last time and had no idea that anything was coming. It was a complete slaughter.

The Colonel wasn't finished with just one victory, though. With the new tactic to flush creatures into the enemy, her battle plan changed and she used those creatures as battering rams. The poisonous ones were the worst, because it didn't matter if they damaged the enemy troops or not, as long as they were bitten and poisoned.

The enemy tried to fight the animals and did make some progress, until the combat mages cleared away their defenses and the animals had free reign over every encampment that was encountered. More animals were gathered and herded together to keep the momentum up as more troops were delivered to the garrison. They were sent out after their fellows and the new front of the war grew and grew, until they reached the first town.

After a quick scouting mission, it was determined that there was almost no military presence at all in the entire town. The regular soldiers easily overcame the resistance and spread out to entrench the troops to give them a solid foothold in the Eastern Empire. The few rich families there, which included the region's governor, were quickly taken captive and their homes and riches were looted for the garrison.

Food warehouses were soon discovered and their contents were appropriated for the troops, considering the logistics of having food brought all the way from the old garrison to the new one. It was an essential part of the plan to quickly acquire resources to establish a new supply chain in the foreign land. Everyone involved were very surprised at how easy it was to establish.

By the time the next thousand troops had been delivered, the last of the brigade, the previous troops had already secured three towns, one of which had a very large shipping industry and over a dozen military ships. The combat mages, the modified catapult crews, and the skirmish teams banded together and made very short work of sinking every single ship, killed every enemy soldier in the garrison stationed there at the docks, and burned it all to the ground.

The initial stage of the Colonel's absolutely crazy and insane mission... was a complete success.