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 35: She traced a line across the map trying to figure out the course the caravan took.
She traced a line across the map trying to figure out the course the caravan took. She knew they were following the road and she thought she knew where they stopped to eat. Anya tried to remember what happened, but after she was drugged she could remember nothing until she awoke in the tower. Anya tapped the map, noticing that the caravan passed close to the river Fes. She knew of the river but had no experience with it herself. She knew from tales that it was swift moving and there were many tales of lives lost by those who tried to sail it.
‘But it is navigable,’ she reminded herself. ‘And if it runs this way,’ Anya traced her finger down the line of the river watching it cross from Dovish into Hemeral. Anya’s finger stopped moving as she saw some markings on the map. She looked closer and saw that the markings were labeled. ‘Ruins of the Haverdown.’
‘A boat would have traveled faster than I could walk,’ she thought. Anya didn’t know how long she had been unconscious but she suspected that a few days was possible while a few months wasn’t. ‘That would account for the distance. But why would someone kidnap me and take me to Haemeral? And what is Haverdown?’
Anya frowned and moved back from the maps. The light was fading and she decided that perhaps it was time to leave the library. She looked at the books on the shelf below the map. She saw several featuring Dovish and Hameral. She looked over to the map featuring Rulash and saw that many of the books below had the name of Rulash printed on the spine.
‘So I suppose they grouped books with maps,’ Anya thought. ‘At least on this set of shelves.’
She recalled the Matron saying she might want to look into Rulash but at the moment Anya was more concerned with What the Ruins of the Haverdown were and why she had been taken there.
‘After all if they are ruins then maybe it is something that happens each year and I was taken for a recurring event. If I could find out why I was taken, then I can figure out how to avoid being taken again.’
It seemed like a plausible thought and Anya began looking through the books reading through their titles to find anything that might relate. As the light faded she found a book entitled Ancient cities of the Festain Empire.
‘I wonder if it is Fes like the river,’ Anya thought. The light was nearly gone now so she hurriedly scrawled her room number on the slip of paper, placed it where the book was on the shelf and walked back towards the door. She pulled the curtain closed, taking the remaining light form the library and left.
The corridor was straight but darkening quickly. Anya hurried her steps and found the scarred door. There was little light but there were no turns. Anya found the stairs and descended. Ahead of her were the more occupied areas and more light. Any looked around and followed the numbers to the room she had been given during her stay.
Everything was as she left it, albeit a lot darker. Anya left the door open so she could see her way to the lamp.
Ten til Midnight 