Edra Stonewatch's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

Edra found the barracks captain at the duty board. He did not look up when she stopped in front of him. She had come to demand the road patrols, the escort work, any post where a lord might see her act. She said as much, plain and steady. The captain finally glanced at her tusks, then went back to his chalk. "The board stands as it is," he said. "Morning gate suits you." He had no reason to move her, and they both knew it. She pressed harder. She named the empty slots on the roster. She named the patrols going to guards greener than her. The captain set down his chalk. "You want a post," he said. "Find someone fool enough to trade you for it. Then I'll ink it. Not before." He turned away. The board would not change for her. It would only change if she changed it herself. That trade seemed impossible. No guard would swap a road patrol for a boar-faced gatekeeper's slot. Then Edra thought of one who might. She went to find the youngest recruit in the barracks, a thin boy with untidy hair named Evan Tremway. He flinched whenever a captain barked. He had drawn a night patrol through the outer lanes, and the fear of it showed on his face. She found him hunched on a bench, gripping a stale crust he did not eat. "You have the night lanes," Edra said. Evan looked up at her tusks and swallowed. "I know," he said. His voice shook. "There are stories about those lanes. Thieves. Worse." He would not meet her eyes. "I asked to be moved. They laughed at me." "Trade with me," Edra said. "You take the morning gate. Nothing happens there. A grain cart. A toll. You'll stand it easy." Evan stared at her. "You want the night lanes? The bad post?" "I want a post where things happen," she said. Hope broke across his face, then doubt. "The captain won't allow it." "He will if we both ask," Edra said. "He told me to find someone willing. You're willing." Evan gripped the crust tighter, thinking of the dark lanes, then of the quiet gate she offered. He stood. "Yes," he said. "Yes. Take it." They brought the trade to the captain together. He looked from the boy's eager face to Edra's, and he shrugged. "Your funeral," he said. He struck her name from the morning gate. He inked it beside the night lanes. Evan let out a long breath and thanked her twice. Edra walked out with the new post fixed to her name. She had the patrol she wanted at last. But the night lanes were the lanes green recruits feared, where thieves worked and worse waited. She had traded a safe post for a dangerous one, and no lord would ride those dark streets to watch her earn a thing.