Rowena Keeps Watch

The Never Ending Quest - Episode 7750

When it got dark enough that they had to make camp, Fred told Rowena: "Wen, until we have left the Shreken safely behind us, we will need to continue to keep watch at night. But now there are only two of us instead of four. I can't stay awake all night and then spend the day travelling, so are you willing to take a share of the watchkeeping?" "Of course. I'll take the first watch if you like." "Good. You see that bright red planet there?" And he pointed southeast. "Vulcan. I can recognise the planets and the major constellations, so you can use their names and I'll understand you. Yes, I can see Vulcan." "Well, when it is above that solitary tree there, then about four hours should have passed. Wake me then for my watch - or before, if anything out of the ordinary happens, of course. Not that that is very likely whilst we are still in the valley."

So Rowena kept watch and kept their fire going, for the fire's advantage in frightening away animals outweighed any slight risk of brigands seeing it. The howls of the wolves seemed closer tonight than they had been the previous night, but were still not close enough to pose any threat. After a couple of hours had passed, Rowena found herself getting sleepy. I'm too comfortable, she thought. So she got up and walked around for ten minutes, and when she sat down again she chose a spot further from the fire, so that the autumnal nip in the night air would help her keep awake.

She managed to stay awake, and her watch passed without any alarms. She handed over to Fred, whose watch was equally uneventful. Rowena's watch had lasted about four hours, but Fred let Rowena have six hours' sleep before he woke her, as dawn broke. Rowena still felt tired. Even six hours' sleep was less than she was used to. Her tiredness soon wore off, though.

They resumed their journey after they had breakfasted. Rowena had hoped that, with the dwarves gone, Fred might be more communicative, but she was to be disappointed. When she attempted to get him to talk about his adventures he said: "Perhaps in a day or two, Wen. I don't feel like it yet."

In the early afternoon they reached the head of the valley, and set foot (or rather, their horses did) on Tumbar's Road. The way now lay uphill, but not so steeply as to trouble their horses. That, of course, was why Tumbar's Road was where it was, taking advantage of crossing the Shreken at its lowest point for a hundred miles in either direction. The road's surface was gravel, to prevent the vegetation reclaiming it too readily, so it was important that horses using it should be properly shod. The gravel of this section seemed to have been replenished fairly recently, so the going was quite good.

After travelling the road for a couple of hours, Fred and Rowena breasted a slight rise, and saw the first of the forts that guarded the road, a few hundred yards ahead of them.

  1. As they approached the fort, Fred became concerned, for no-one challenged them.

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JH

2/27/2000 11:28:44 AM

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