Once Serin had left, I reached for my clothes and started to get dressed. Ella was still sat in the middle of the tent, naked.

She looked at me disappointedly. “Are you going to leave me like this?”

I nodded slowly. “Sorry, I’d like to continue. I can’t skip my turn on watch, the others need to rest too.”

Her eyes widened longingly. “But…”

“Don’t worry, we can continue this another time.”

A smile reappeared on her face. “I hope so.”

“We will.”

I continued to dress. Once fully clothed, I moved to the front of the tent to find my boots. I turned back to check on Anya. She was still out of it.

I looked to Ella. “I need to go now, but can you make sure she wakes up soon?”

She pulled the bed covers up to her shoulders and nodded. “I’ll make sure she gets up.”

“Thanks. I’ll see you later.”

Once I had my boots on, I climbed out of the tent and headed towards the campfire. Both Serin and Ceraphine were sat there waiting for me to relieve them.

I waved as I approached. “Sorry about the wait.”

Both girls looked up as I spoke.

Serin smiled and patted the ground next to her. “It’s okay, it’s only just time to swap.”

I eased myself down onto the floor next to her. “I didn’t mean to keep you up.”

She laughed. “We could hear you were, um, busy…”

Ceraphine drew a little closer to us and the fire. “What happened to Anya? She was supposed to be keeping watching with you.”

“She seemed a little tired. I’m sure she’ll be along soon enough.”

“She got the lucky draw and then decided to not show up for her first shift. That girl!”

“Sorry, I suppose it’s my fault.”

“No, I expect you wanted to sleep too.”

“You two can go and get some rest, I’m okay to take the watch on my own for now.”

Ceraphine got to her feet. “I think I’ll take you up on that.” She yawned and turned to Serin. “Are you coming too?”

She shook her head. “I think I’ll stay up with Theo for a little while. You go on ahead, I won’t be far behind.”

“Okay.”

Ceraphine left the two of us sat by the fire and headed back to one of the tents where the other girls were sleeping.

It was a little cooler here in the foothills than it had been on the plains. I warmed my hands on the fire and listened to it crackle.

After a while, I turned to Serin. “You know, you really don’t have to sit up with me.”

“I know.” She smiled and shuffled closer, then leant her head on my shoulder. “I wanted to sit up with you.”

“Was there something you needed to talk about.”

She shook her head. “No, not really.”

I put my arm around her. “And everything is, okay?”

She looked up at me. “Yep… I just wanted to sit like this for a while.”

“Okay.”

She huddled a little closer. “It’s not often I can get you alone now.”

“You know I’ll always make time for you if you wanted.”

“I hope so.”

We stayed like that for some time. Serin half fell asleep, it had been over an hour when she finally pulled herself up.

She yawned and stretched. “I should really go and sleep properly.”

“You should.”

She got to her feet. “Night Theo.”

“Night.”

Then Serin wandered back to the tents.

I was left alone sat around the fire. There had been no sign of Anya. I could have easily gone and woken her, but I decided against it. I was more than happy to take the watch by myself.

Other than the crackling of the fire and the odd animal call, it was a quiet night. My watch went past uneventfully.

When the time came to wake Altria and Enna, for their time on watch I was ready to go to sleep. I quickly woke the pair and grabbed one of the spare blankets.

When the two girls finally got out of bed and joined me at the fire, I was half wrapped up in the blanket.

Altria gave me a funny look and almost laughed. “You cold?”

I rolled to my side. “Not really. I just thought I would sleep out here by the fire.”

“Oh, not going back to those girls?”

“I thought I’d get more sleep if I stayed out here.”

She laughed. “You’re probably right. I kind of feel sorry for them, they all tried so hard to get the first turn.”

Altria sat down near the fire, just to the right of me and Enna sat down next to her.

Enna leaned forward to speak to me. “I hope they didn’t wake you up and try to force themselves on you. I’ll have to have a word with my subordinates later.”

“Oh no, no. They didn’t do anything I didn’t want. That’s not why I’m not going back. I just think that everyone will end up getting more sleep if I stay out here. We’ve still got quite a bit of ground to cover tomorrow.”

“Okay… But if they do bother you, just let me know and I’ll make sure they’re dealt with!”

“Scary!” Altria said with a laugh.

I laughed with her. “Thanks Enna. I’m sure that won’t happen though.”

After that I covered myself up properly with the blanket and tried to sleep. Altria and Enna spoke a little while they took the watch, but they were pretty quiet and before long I was fast asleep.

When I woke the next morning, the two girls were still sat in front of the fire. It was light, but I could tell that it was still early morning. No one else had left their tents to join them yet. I hadn’t been uncomfortable during the night, but I felt stiff after sleeping on the floor.

I sat up, stretched, and yawned as I tried to shake off some of the stiffness. “Morning you two.”

Altria and Enna looked like they had barely moved from where they were sat when I had fallen asleep. Probably just to collect wood and feed the fire.

Altria turned and smiled. “Morning Theo. You should probably try and sleep for a little longer, it’s still really early. I doubt anyone else will be up for a couple of hours.”

“Not sure I could fall back asleep now.” I stood up and pulled the blanket up to my shoulders. Then went and joined the two girls round the fire, sitting next to Altria. “I’ll stay up, but one or both of you can go and get a little more sleep if you like?”

Altria shook her head. “I’m okay.” She turned to Enna. “What about you? You’d get a good couple of hours in now if you went now.”

Enna placed her hands behind her and leant back a little. “I don’t feel particularly tired, I think I’ll stay up with you two. If you don’t mind that is?”

Altria laughed. “Of course, not.”

The three of us sat around the fire for the early hours, while we waited for the others to wake.

Low cloud and a little mist had hung over the small wood when I first woke, but as the sun climbed higher in the sky this begun to clear. After an hour I could see the sun appearing through the edges of the clearing. It looked as if it was going to be a pleasant day ahead.

At least another hour passed before any of the others rose from their sleep. The first to climb out of their tent was Serin.

She sat on the edge of her tent for a moment and finished putting on her boots. Once she was finished, she walked over and joined the rest of us at the fire.

“Morning.” She sounded half asleep. She noticed I was sat with the two girls and turned to me. “I wasn’t expecting you to be up so early.”

“I slept out here.”

Serin shot a glance to Altria.

She waved her hands. “Hey, we were on watch, Theo was sleeping.”

Serin laughed at herself. “I see, good.” Then she sat down near the fire joining the rest of us.

Not long after Serin had joined us, Beth followed with Aetherin. After her Liz and Celine were close behind. Then the harpy girls filed out one after the other. The last of them to join us were Anya and Ella. They both still looked tired as they slowly wandered to the fire.

Seeing this, I turned to Enna.

She chuckled to herself, already guessing what I was thinking. “Don’t worry, those two are always like that in the morning.” She said reassuringly.

Hearing that I relaxed a little.

With everyone awake and now around the fire, it was time to prepare breakfast.. After that we would plan our next steps for the day ahead.