I hated their complacency. As I walked along the parapet, inspecting the defenses, I stared into the men’s faces as I passed. Lazy. Most sat, weapons strewn about their feet. The few who did stand, leaned on the parapet or fraternized with another, no one even bother to watch for their enemy. Some even slept. The sluggards! I had half a mind to blow the horn.
“New station, new nerves?” the commander asked me. I looked away from him. “Why are you so anxious?”
I didn’t answer right away. “Look around you.”
He did, slowly nodding. “I bet you believe we are sloths.”
“Aren’t you?” I asked, still not facing him. He dismissed me with a laugh.
“And what would you have us do? Be on guard always for an attack? Come now, this post hasn’t seen any action in nearly a year!”
“Perhaps,” I agreed. “But this is a strategic location.”
The commander huffed. “Perhaps it is. I doubt they know that. The enemy has all but forgotten that this place even exists.”
“Not so,” I argued, unsheathing my dagger and quickly running it across his neck. The commander slumped quietly to the ground and I grinned. “I never forgot about this place.”
