Once again, they drew straws. Once again, he got the short one.

“Oh, lucky me, get to spend a night freezing my buttocks off up on the wall,” Dolorous Edd muttered as he left, shaking his head.

It was a freezing winter morning, and his body was aching as he went up to the Wall. Up there, another man was pacing. Edd nudged him brusquely. “They’re waiting for you. Go on, boy.” The boy went, scowling.

The charge came. He was the last man standing, just like he said he would be. Just this once, he would have preferred loosing.