Night Watch at the Wooden Redoubt

Darkness enveloped the weeds around the fallen shelter. Within the hollow timber walls, the draft grew thin. I settled low onto one knee amidst the dry pine needles, resting the flat of my right gauntlet across my thigh. Through the round metal entrance ring, a single pale firefly drifted low, casting a fleeting green pulse across the weathered wood grain. I held motionless, breath held in disciplined silence, allowing the creature to pass across my field of fire unchallenged. It drifted back out into the open night. My watch holds.