The Night Warden of Marrow Island – Part 2: Harbour

The night was long and salt and strangely tender. Every half hour she came down the corridor with the lantern, and the keys chinked, and her shadow passed across each grille. She stopped at each cell and inspected the man inside. She set Cormac to stand at attention against the wall and Nye to kneel on the stone, and corrected each of them in turn with a low, level word. She made them recite the rules of the fort through the doors. She made them each hold a posture for a quarter of an hour while she stood in the corridor, silent, with her back to them both.

When Nye faltered she said, without turning, "Again." When Cormac drifted she said, "Eyes forward." The sound of the sea was enormous. The walls hummed with it. Neither man had ever felt so held.

"Does Cormac wish to continue?"

"Yes, Warden."

"Does Nye wish to continue?"

"Yes, Warden."

"Say it plainly."

"I do, Warden. Thank you."

"The Warden does not require thanks." But the lantern showed a smile in the dark.

At eleven she brought them each a tin cup of water and held it to their lips with her own hands, one after the other, and said nothing. At one she sat on the bottom step of the stair, between the two doors, in her long navy coat, and read by the lantern light for an hour, as if she were guarding a very precious thing.

At three the tide turned. She felt it through the stone, a long, slow shift in the sound of the sea.

"Harbour," said Thessaly, softly.

It was her word, and she spoke it for all three. She opened both doors and the men came out in their socks, rumpled and blinking, and she took off the cap and the coat and sat on the stair in her old jumper with a flask of tea.

"How are you?"

"Moored," said Cormac, with a damp, wondering laugh. "Properly."

"Bearing true," said Nye. "For once."

"You were magnificent, both of you." She poured the tea and passed the cup. "The finest crew I have ever sentenced."

"Is there another watch?" said Cormac.

"There is a very long one in October." She smiled. "I have the keys to the east cells."

"I'll bring my boots," said Nye.

"You will bring your names," said Thessaly, "and answer to them."

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