The Fourth Watch

The flame in the small lantern flickered as a strong wind blew, and Linda shivered. She would not have to fight the urge to lie down on the bench and go to sleep tonight. Princess Astra lay asleep on the other side of an open window. The rhythm of her breathing lifted and sank the thin blanket that covered her. Linda picked up her new shawl, and covered her head and shoulders with it.

She glanced across the pond, carefully avoiding the bonfires that had been lit. According to the official story, in keeping with the need for discretion, Astra had moved to the Water Tower because it would be easier to prepare for the wedding if the wide variety of preparations involved were removed from the normal court functions of the royal palace. Citizens and visitors alike might ask questions as to why the Home Guard or a similar detachment of soldiers would be needed to guard a princess in the midst of a peaceful monarchy. The choice of the Royal Watches to guard the princess posed one difficulty - this type of guard duty was perhaps not well suited for them.

Linda avoided looking at the fires because they served as more than a brilliant display to celebrate the wedding. Apprentices in the College of Seers had specially prepared the first so that anyone looking at them from more than a fleeting moment would become drowsy, and would not be able to cross the pond or the bridge to the Water Tower and its adjoining palace. The fancy, "decorative" fountains in the moat served the same purpose. The apprentices from the College of Seers had had been very busy.

Linda saw a light dimmer and ruddier than the bonfires shining below in the garden. It bobbed up and down a little and was approaching the building. Olivia was on her way. Linda looked forward to that. Olivia was a lively gossip, and she often made the dreary hours of the watch pass faster. Justin Magus was did not talk much. He was not part of the usual watch, but assigned to stay near this window and look for anything ususual. He had a special sort of looking glass that was supposed to make the things look bigger, and expose a peculiar light around magic activity. Linda did not know how such things worked - and that was why you had seers and mages anyway. Justin would stay at this post throughout the night.

Linda hoped that the princess would stay asleep for a while. Everyone on the watch knew that Princess Astra rarely slept completely through the night, but would wake up about two thirds of the way through the night and perhaps drink a glass of water from a pitcher by her bedside before going back to sleep. A guard on the watch would not want Astra to hear her talking if she rose for some reason. That would just not do. The ideal guard on the Fourth Watch always stayed alert, but unnoticed, by the person in her care.

The light disappeared as Olivia entered the palace adjoining the Water Tower. The suite in the Astra's new tower was said not to be as spacious as she would have liked, but the Queen's advisors agreed that it was secure. There were only two ways into Astra's rooms: a boat across the moat or pond or by way of a bridge facing the south of town. The front door of the main corridor of Astra's suite, inside the tower, was off the Nautilus stairs, a spiral staircase that snaked its way through the core of the tower to the ground. The bridge was accessed by traversing a great banquet hall that had long been disused, but had been hastily decorated with old tapestries from the early days of the Maia and even from the era of the preceding dynasty. From there, heavy oaken double doors, reinforced with steel bands and locked with a key of with an intricate pattern of teeth, blocked the way to the outside. Once this door was passed, an alcove led to the long porch. The main bedroom of Astra's suite overlooked this porch, one floor above the ground. Linda's station was here. Astra was easy to see from here. Unless someone could fly or swim across the moat, and not get dazzled and lost in the fire or fountains, the princess would be safe. Once Astra's personal maid had handed Marjorie, the watch leader, the key to the oaken door, Astra was her responsibility. It was now Linda's responsibility to make sure that she could see Astra breathing, and to ring a nearby bell at any sign that she had disappeared.

Olivia's lantern appeared on the balcony, and Linda turned her head from the princess for a minute as the lantern came nearer. As Olivia approached, she motioned to the open window of the princess's suite.

Linda whispered, "What are doing?"

Olivia whispered back, "Look at the princess, and not me!"

Linda turned her head back to the window. Olivia sat down besides Linda and edged in so that she could whisper very softly.

"Any news?"

"The princess has not woken up since she went to sleep. Other than that, nothing from there. Other than your lantern and the bonfires, no funny lights or sounds. It is just a quiet night."

"Good. I see her. I will be glad when this wedding is over. That creepy threat about not seeing the wedding night is wearing on me."

"I am glad that you said that! Me, too."

"Hey, are you going to be going to any of the events?"

"With this duty? I think that I am just going to watch the Prince and Princess parade in the Gilded Carriage from the second floor of a friend's room on Straight Street. Why? Do you have a way into the wedding itself?"

"No. But I might be able to get in to see the Doyeness draw the dominoes. I have heard that the ceremony is something to see, and they also have a big meal afterwards."

"The drawing of the dominoes sounds boring to me. A lot of old ladies talking about a lot of boring stuff. And then they are just going to say that the marriage will be happy and fruitful."

"Well, you have to educate yourself, Miss Linda. First of all, the drawing is not as simple as that. The college of seers finds out a lot of things about the future of the new couple, and it tells them what they should do for good luck. And while the Doyeness draws the dominoes, the whole college is there, and some of them are not much older than we are."

"So how are you going to get into the ceremony?"

"I know someone who can get me in."

"Who?"

"Leo the archivist. He was the one telling me about it."

"Ah, the truth comes out. You have been a busy little girl, Olivia. Aren't you aiming a little bit above your station?"

"I have no idea what you are talking about. I am just trying to improve myself." "I would say so," replied Linda, in a mock-sarcastic voice. "Isn't he a little old for you?"

"You filthy-minded little girl," replied Olivia, bantering back. "It is not like I am trying to marry him. I really am interested in the old traditions. And besides that, he is not that much older. He could do a lot worse than me."

"You would have to pry him from his books, and away from Checkers."

"Checkers is not around. I will bet you did not know that."

Linda shook her head. Olivia continued, "She has quietly gone north with the Doyeness herself and some gentleman from Gana. They are not expected back until late tomorrow. But you need to get going now. I have the keys. You need to report in, or the Watch Lookout is not going to be happy."

"Oh, Marjorie. Yes. She thinks a lot of herself, doesn't she?"

Olivia shrugged her shoulders. "She is trying to do her duty. She has different ways than our old boss did. She is the one who gets in trouble if something goes wrong."

Linda scratched her initials on a wax tablet, and said, "Good luck." as Olivia had assumed her duty.

Linda picked up her lantern and walked down the long balcony. Long before she reached the bridge, she ducked into a dim passage. She set the key into the ward and turned it. When she opened the door, and another sentinel was on the other side, holding a small lamp.

"What took you so long? If Marjorie finds me off my post, she is going to report us."

"Don't worry about it, Diana."

Linda locked the door from the inside and handed the key to the other sentinel. The vaulted ceiling of the Old Great Hall loomed above them. It had been used as a banquet hall, dance floor, or place of assembly and it dominated this part of the Old Palace. During the day a diffuse light came from skylights from the arched ceiling. But the two women were now in almost total darkness, with Diana's lamp providing a dim circle of light. Even at a quick walk, it would take them three minutes to get from one end of the Great Hall to the other.

Astra's suite of rooms was on the right of the hall. The footsteps of the two guards echoed. Diana was the first to come on a marble step.

The entryway to Astra's room was lit with tallow candles protected from any breezes by a flared glass bulb. There were some airy tapestries from the days of the first Queen of the Maian house with a scene of farm animals and horses in a meadow that Astra liked. Diana took the stairs two at a time, and when she reached the alcove, she let out a breath, as if she were relieved to see that the Chief Lookout was not there.

"I wish Silvestra had waited a year before becoming deciding to become a mother. She was one of us."

"Maybe we could encourage Marjorie to do the same."

"Ha! That cow? Not in Themscyria. Maybe if she went back to that barn in South Manurepile where she came from. She has the rank of Lookout, but really doesn't fit in, does she? She even smells of cow patties. And she isn't very bright, is she? Why did she get assigned to our watch?"

"Shh."

Linda turned around, and saw the Watch's Chief Lookout ascending the stairs. She was stout and muscular, as many of those of farmer stock were. She was certainly not fair by the standards of Themyscira, with a face reddened by the sun, and a bit of jowl that made her jaw larger than the court ideal of beauty. Her hair was always a bit unkempt, with a strand or two that would not stay down. Her best feature was her large eyes, but even those were a drawback when she tried to assert command, as they seemed to be always wide and innocent, like she was in a perpetual state of surprise.

She did not seem to catch Diana's carping, or if she did, she did not let on. She simply turned to Linda, and said, "Guardian, have you seen anything unusual?"

"No, Madame Lookout. I am surprised, to tell you the truth."

The Lookout nodded once and turned to the both. "Has Astra stirred since the last change?

The two ladies answered in unison, "No, Madame."

"Be especially cautious over this next shift. She is overdue to wake, and you need to be watchful, yet discreet."

"Yes, Madame."

There was an awkward silence as the Lookout stood still. Had she heard Diana's talk? Did she detect something that seemed a bit wrong? Was she just lost in her own thoughts? The two guards stood by uncomfortably until Marjorie said, "Linda, you better go upstairs and listen. Please hand me the keys. Diana, please walk with me to the next post by the balcony."

"Yes, Madame."

Diana signed the tablet then picked up the pace. She stayed silent on the long walk in the dim building. The next post was quite literally a fancy group of holes in the wall, well away from Astra's suite and closer to a short balcony wall overlooking a room below. This niche smelled of ammonia and pine resin, and had a muted but unpleasant scent. The guard that she was relieving was understandably at the balcony, and as far away from the gardarobes as possible. Diana took advantage of her posting and sat down on one of the seats above the holes and read some of the graffiti. "Baroness Pulcheria was here." "Claudia loves Sully." There was one of historical interest, an angular scrawl from another era that declared, "Special Delivery to the Duke of Hercania" with an arrow pointing down. A later correspondant had crossed out "Duke of Hercania" with "King of Hespan." Diana finished reading, cleaned herself up with some pine-scented bark that she pitched through the hole.

Diana left the niche for the cleaner air of the far end of the great hall. She recognized Aphelia, a newcomer to the Watch whom she did not know well. Marjorie said a few words to her, and handed her the key. And so the circle continued, as the key worked its way down through the posts in the Water Tower until it worked its way back to Olivia.

At dawn, Astra's personal maid came to open the door and enter so that she could minister to her mistress. The Lookout of the First Watch came to meet the sentry at the key point, just outside of Astra's window.

Marjorie had taken the responsiblity of guarding Astra's window, as had been planned. The woman guarding the door leading to Astra's suite was

1. Linda.
2. Olivia.

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