By the time night fell, we were all mentally exhausted. We were all making fun of each other and chasing one another around. Nate and I had to go check in with Mary and get our meal before we head to the gate to switch with the guards on duty. Waving goodbye, I hugged Shelby and Tatum one more time, thanking them for the gift. I also hugged Conner wishing him a happy birthday. My mom stopped by the town square earlier giving me her present, which was an elk hide jacket with wooden buttons so it would close.
Nate and I walked into the town center to find Mary waiting with two plates of food and some weapons. She smiled as we entered, "Good evening you two, I hope your day wasn't too exhausting that you can't do your duty tonight."
I swallowed, " No Mary, we are perfectly capable to work tonight's shift."
Mary nodded, "Okay good, eat up."
What we had for dinner was a simple honey-glazed fish with some fruit. Both Nate and I handed Mary our canteens so she could fill it up with water as we ate. When Mary left to let us eat, Nate spoke to break the silence, "So are you excited for tonight Arden?"
I shrugged, "Not really, I do like the peace and quiet that night brings, but I know I'm going to be exhausted for a couple of days after."
Nate nodded in agreeance, "Yeah that's me too. But at least I have you with me tonight, when you're there I'm more likely to stay awake."
"When you're there, I don't get the peace and quiet that I like."
Nate smirked, "Aw, you hurt my feelings. But I don't understand why we have guards always posted. We haven't seen anybody else for years."
I nodded, "That is true, but you can never be too careful."
Before Nate spoke up, Mary walked in with our canteens. "Are you two done eating? Done, good. Well suit up and get out there."
Nate and I put our dishes on the table in front of us as we grabbed weapons. For guard duty, we are usually suited up with different weapons just in case any animal or human tries to get into the Burrow. The things that guards carry are bow and arrows, a sword, a small knife, a horn to alert the other guards if there is any danger. There are usually about 10 guards during the day and about 20 at night. Each guard pairs up with another guard and they each have a section of the wall to protect. I strap the sword around my waist. Grabbing the small knife, I put it under my shirt. I now have another small knife because of my friends but having two won't hurt. I filled my quiver up with arrows as Nate was finishing up getting ready. I put on the light breastplate that guards wear for extra protection. I put the knife that Shelby and the others got me in my boot.
After a couple more minutes, we were ready to go. Nate and I headed towards the door, but Mary stopped us. "Oh, I almost forgot, happy birthday Arden."
As usual, Mary is a business first and play second. I turned around smiling at her, "Thank you, Mary!"
We stepped out the door as I heard Mary calling at us, "Stay safe you two!"
Nate chuckled, hollering back to Mary "Together, we are always safe."
I muttered under my breath, "I wouldn't be too sure about that."
Nate snapped his head at me, "What did you say?"
"You heard me."
He sighed, running his hand through his hair, "This is going to be a long night, by arguing, it is going to be even longer. What I'm asking is for you to stop with the snarky remarks just for tonight. They're really hot, and I would rather bicker with you, but we need to take this seriously."
This is a side of Nate that I don't see very often, his seriousness. Although he thinks it's a waste of his time, he truly does care for the Burrow. So, when we are on guard duty, he keeps his flirting to a minimum and pays attention to his surroundings. If only he was like this more often, then I probably would be head over heels for him. When he is serious, we have really good conversations. He's never serious if there's more than one person there. He's serious when it's just the two of us, but when we meet up with the other guards, he goes to his usual cocky self.
I nodded, "Okay, I'll keep my snarky comments to myself as long as you keep your perverted comments to yourself."
He looked at me for a couple of minutes until he gave in, "Fine, for the Burrow's sake I'll keep my comments to myself."
I smirked, "Good Nathaniel."
We finally got the wall. When we got to the wall the other guards were waiting for us. You could tell that some of them were impatient because they had their hands on their hips. They didn't say anything though. The head of the guard is Hugh. Hugh was one of the smaller men of the Burrow, he only stood a head taller than me. Hugh was 35 years old, married with three kids. He has pitch black hair with dark brown, almost black eyes. Hugh is quiet and reserved but he can be loud when he needs to be. He has been the head guard for about three years now. He spoke, his voice ringing out throughout the area because of the quiet night time, "Partner up and then come see me get your posts for tonight."
Nate instantly grabbed my arm and dragged me up towards Hugh. So much for peace and quiet tonight. We stood in front of Hugh as he eyed us, almost amusingly, "Now I hope you two will do your duty tonight instead of being distracted."
I gasped, "Don't worry if he tries anything I'll throw him off the wall."
Hugh chuckled and Nate looked offended, "Well okay, I'll make sure and give him a long walk back to the ladder, your positions for the night post 15."
Nate nodded, "Okay Hugh thanks for that. And for the record it wouldn't be me trying anything, I'm too irresistible."
Hugh shook his head, " Oh I don't have any doubts about sending you two up there now."
The guards on top of the wall dropped down a ladder for all of us to climb up onto. One by one everyone climbed up the ladder heading to their positions. Being on post 15 means that we have a long walk before we reach our post. While we were walking, serious Nate was in action so we were just talking about the hunt yesterday. Nate spoke astonishingly, "Seriously though, I've never seen a shot like that. You were hauling some serious ass to get a good angle on that doe. And to believe that you hit it directly in the heart. I'm not going to lie, that took some serious guts and aim."
I smiled, "Why thanks. I don't know what came over me though, I just knew that we needed two. I wasn't going to let that doe go no matter what!"
Nate looked over at me, "See that's the attitude that everyone in this damn village needs to have! Like I have seen some of these people at work, they do not give 100 percent, sometimes they even give up."
"Even though you jack around, when it comes down to it, you take your jobs very seriously."
"Really? Why thanks, that is so kind of you."
I snickered, "I know, no matter how many times a girl says no, you just never let it sink through that skull of yours."
"Hey! I thought we agreed on no snarky comments!"
"I did agree to that, but we are not at our post yet."
Nate grimaced knowing that I had a point, "Fine."
For the rest of the walk, we were silent. You could faintly hear the voices of people in the Burrow and the footsteps of our feet. Since it is night time, there aren't very many animals out. Every once in a while, you would hear a wolf howl. What seemed like forever, we finally made it to our posts. The guards that were at our post was Kelly and Mason. Kelly was about 5'10 short curly blonde hair and light blue eyes. Kelly and Mason are best friends, so it's no question that they are at the same post together. Kelly is married with one kid, he was about a year younger than Mason. Nate walked up to Mason and Kelly giving them both high-fives, "What's up guys?"
Kelly spoke in a bitter tone, "Nothing, just waiting for some kids to show up so I can go get something to eat. What about you?"
Nate just sighed, "Well, we're here now so getting to walking. Or if you would like I could give you a push off the wall so you can get food faster."
Kelly glared at Nate, "No, I'm good thanks. Let's get going, Mason." As they walked past us, Mason shot me an apologetic look. I could hear Kelley muttering about dumb kids.
There were a couple of minutes of silence as Nate and I walked through our post. "So how was your birthday?"
"I guess it was okay. Oh, and thanks for the present, you really shouldn't have."
Nate scoffed, "Are you kidding, it was the least we could do. Both Conner and you have made our lives better." He paused for a second and then continued, "I got to admit, I love the Burrow but there aren't very many options?"
"Options for what?"
"Everything: jobs, houses, girls."
I groaned, "I should've guessed, you are always thinking about girls!"
"Who doesn't? Trust me though, there are limited choices in the Burrow!"
"No, there are plenty of pretty girls in the Burrow, but I can understand everything else."
He sounded offended, "Pretty doesn't mean perfect! I mean all the girls are either sisters to me, gross, stuck-up, and even unclassy."
"Really? I thought that you liked everything that walks? It sure seems like it the way that you flirt with all of them."
"What can I say, I'm just nice to the ladies? I can't help that the girls come to me and I definitely won't turn down a pretty girl. But Arden, everyone in this damn village expects you to marry the person that you first date."
"And you don't like that?"
"Hell no! You can't be expected to fall in love with the first person that you have a relationship with. After a couple of weeks, months, and even years you can grow apart with the person that you meet. When I date, I test the waters to see if that girl is right for me. Plus, when I marry, I want to marry a girl that I will love forever. You should never have to force yourself to say I love you."
I was getting curious now, "You have dated a lot of girls though, you think that you would've found your girl by now? You dated that one girl, oh what was her name? Carla? With the red hair?"
"Carla was nice, but I can't argue with her without her crying. Sometimes she would just agree with what I was saying even though she didn't like it."
"Why would you want to argue with a person you're dating?"
"It's not like real arguing, plus someone that doesn't stand up for their beliefs isn't a person worth dating. If couples are completely the same, it's a boring life. They don't have any differences. Differences in a relationship allow the other person to step outside their comfort zone and grow. Plus to some extent, arguing is healthy for a relationship, it shows that they still care for one another."
There was a wolf howling in the distance. "That's a really good analogy. But seriously though, with your looks, I'm surprised you haven't found a girl yet."
"Well, the girl that I'm interested in won't even glance my way."
I was shocked, a girl that's not interested in Nate, "Really who-
I was interrupted when Nate grabbed my arm and forced me into a squat position.
I looked at him, his brown eyes were trained on something in the distance. I whispered, "What is it?"
He pointed, eyes never leaving whatever he was staring at, "Look."
I looked to where he was pointing and I was shell shocked. Out of all of my years of guarding the wall, something that I, anybody has never seen lays before me. What I see sends chills down my spine. Never in my life did I think I could feel both pure curiosity and unadulterated fear. I have felt fear before when we came across a grizzly bear when we were hunting. It was a really close call and all of us have scars, mines on my upper arm and Davis has scars all over his body because of it, it took ten arrows to kill the beast. I was worried about us then, but I knew the danger. What lies before us can be anything, and that's why I think I'm shaking. I grab onto Nate's hand for support; he was shaking too. What lies before us is a fire. And what's even worse, is that I can see human silhouettes around it.