“Hey kid, time to get up.” I felt a gentle nudge with a boot toe, and was on my feet in a flash. Still hyped a bit from our sparring earlier, I was in a crouched, defensive position ready to attack before I came to my sense. “Easy there, you ok?”

I shook my head, forcing out the images of the guard’s heart racing as he had immediately taken a similar stance, though his hand was on the hilt of his sword. “Yeah, sorry about that Carl. Guess that sparring with the ladies was a bit too intense.”

“No worries, happens to all of us at some point.” He said calmly as I stood up. We walked to the edge of the camp along the road, staying mostly silent. Once we were just outside of the firelight, he spoke up again, “Right. So, guard rotation. Hopefully it will be the most boring time of your life, because if it isn’t then something is going wrong. You see something dangerous, you give a whistle. Now, a couple of pointers.”

He pulled me over to the side of the road opposite the campfire, and turned back to look at camp. “First, don’t look at the fire, and don’t stay in the light. It kills your night vision, and you won’t be able to see anyone coming up. The fire also backlights you, giving your enemy a lovely target to shoot at. Second, we have a third of a circle of the camp. There are two others that have the same thing. Trust your guards. They’ll watch their area; you stick to yours. Above all else, don’t get into a routine. Routines get guards killed. If I know you go off every half hour to take a drink, you can bet your ass that once that half hour hits I’ll be slipping through the lines to get into camp. Once that happens, people die. Questions so far?”

“I thought guards would stay in one spot?” I asked, confused.

“Ah, that. No, it isn’t a very good idea, even on supposedly safe posts. See, if you stay in one spot, you can’t cover your entire area. There are always blind spots that someone could hide in. Use them to get close, and bam. People die. So, how good is your woodcraft?”

“Nonexistant.”

“Figures. Nothing wrong with that, just something to work on. Guards have to be adept at moving quietly sometimes. Soft feet in the woods, avoid twigs and leaves if you can. We can get a lot of practice on that, but a few extra things before we begin our rounds. If you need my attention, double tug the back of my shirt. You don’t have any metal bits on you, which is perfect for night work. Notice how I have anything that can jingle on me wrapped in rags? Always make sure that you are covered like that.”

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“Ok, but isn’t it a bit annoying?”

“Oh absolutely!” He said, smiling and trying not to chuckle. “But it is better to be annoyed every time and alive on the one time you need it, than not to be and end up dead. Enough talk now, let’s start walking our rounds.

The night was tough. For four hours, we moved around at random times, searching for anything looking to harm the camp. I was able to get a small bit of control over what I was calling my vampire vision, finding small bits of life in the woods. Something I was rather grateful for, and hadn’t realized yet, was that I didn’t notice anything smaller than a large mouse in that vision mode. So though the forest was teeming with insects, I could still tell that there was a rabbit den a few yards away. Of course, once I stopped concentrating on it to make sure that I wasn’t stepping in leaves it went away. The only things that were interested in the camp were a pair of bats that ended up flitting around and snacking on the insects drawn by the light.

“Right, time to head on back.” Carl whispered, shaking me from the daze I had dropped into. “Not bad rookie. First time guarding, and you stayed awake and mostly alert. Before we go back in, things you’ll want to work on. You spend too much time looking down while moving. You need to get to the point where it is natural.” He held up a hand to stop my immediate interjection, continuing, “I know, you are just starting. But if I don’t tell you what needs improving, then I have failed as a teacher. So. Moving silently while looking. Once you get to where you are going, I like your technique. You start close, and work your way out. I’ve known guys who did the opposite, but personally I would rather know about closer threats first. You don’t feel a need to chat, but you did start to daze a few times. That isn’t great, but is understandable for the first time. We are also on the shit shift, and you’ll find out fairly quickly that getting your sleep broken up isn’t a very fun thing. As for when you are paying attention, I was impressed. Not many could catch an owl in flight, but you tracked it almost immediately. Overall, you pass, middle of the pack. Last thing before we pack in for the night. Sift changing is staggered. You don’t want all guards replacing each other at the same time for obvious reasons. I’ll get our replacement; you head on to bed. Pleasure working with you.”

“You too.” I said around a yawn. I tried practicing moving through the camp without looking down, but there were just too many people when I started getting near my bedroll. It didn’t take but a few minutes for my head to hit the pillow before I was out.