The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is a attempt to write a complete (and very rough) draft of a novel by writing for fifteen minutes each day. I have taken a timed writing from one of the daily prompts done in 2021, cleaned it up a little and used it as my jumping off point into a story. Each day I will take the last line of the story written the day before and use it as my sentence starter and write for fifteen minutes, growing the story as the year progresses.
Day 16: The little panel slid shut and as Anya tried to decide who the sisters were and if she should claim to be joining them, she heard the heavy bolts being lifted from the other side of the gate.
The little panel slid shut and as Anya tried to decide who the sisters were and if she should claim to be joining them, she heard the heavy bolts being lifted from the other side of the gate. The gate was finally opened and one of the doors creaked open. An older man with a pleasant face and rather bushy eyebrows stood at the gate and beckoned her inside.
“Come on in then,” he told her. “You are a bit late getting here, most of the others have been here a week or more. Still there is plenty of time.”
Anya nodded as though that seemed to be what he wanted and stepped through the gate. He shut the door and picked up the first of the bars to set in place to brace it shut. There were three of them. Anya doubted she could lift even one but the older man seemed to have no issues with their weight. A part of her felt a measure of security to be behind such defenses. Another part of her worried about being let out again.
With the last bar in place, the guard turned to Anya. “Right like I said, I’m the only one on shift at the moment. Didn’t think there’d be much need for the others at the moment. So I can’t exactly take you to where you need to go. But you just head straight through this arch and all the way down to the big building at the end of the main street. It’s made of gray stone with pointed arches around the windows and doors. I’m sure they’re be plenty there to show you where you need to go.”
“Thank you,” Anya said. He waved off her thanks and turned to walk away back to his post or wherever it was he waited when no one was ringing the bell. Anya turned and saw that the gate house blocking the pass indeed let out to an arch that appeared to let out into a city street. Anya took a deep breath and marched purposefully through the arch and into the city proper.
The street she was let out on was wide and looked like it had been cleanly swept. The road was dirt but the buildings were all of stone. Anya could see that the buildings were actually built into the mountains on either side, the wide road being the pass between the mountains. Anya wondered how deeply into the mountains the town went and if the mountains themselves were just shells, each containing one half of the city. All about her there were people going about their business, some were walking down the street as she was, others were darting in and out of buildings. Most paid her no attention, but a few, mostly women, offered her small welcoming smiles.
It seemed like a pleasant place, for which Anya was grateful. She kept walking down the length of the street, looking for the gray stone building with the pointed arches. Most of the buildings were stone and many of them had arches, but they were built of dark, almost black stone. At the end of the street, Anya found one building that was composed of lighter gray stone and had white stone arches over each window and door. Anya sighed with relief at finding the right building. The relief was mixed with concern as she didn’t know what to do next.
“It’s a relief that it looks like it does in the stories,” a voice said. Anya turned and found a woman who looked to be only a few years older than her, about the age of her oldest sister, smiling at her Anya smiled back automatically.
“On the road a while?” she asked.
“A while yes,” Anya replied. The woman nodded.
“Thought so. You have the look about you that says a hot bath and a good long rest will be better than all the enlightenment anyone could possibly offer. Why don’t we see about getting you there first, then. All else can wait.”
She hooked an arm through Anya’s and pulled her forward towards the main entrance to the building.
Ten til Midnight 