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 52: She placed the book down and began to get ready for bed.
She placed the book down and began to get ready for bed. As she slipped off her clothing, bathed with the water in her wash stand and dressed for bed, Anya turned her thoughts to what would happen when her time was through.
‘Perhaps enough time has passed that I could go home,’ she thought. Anya remembered the map she saw in the library and realized how far from home she actually was. She still had the supplies hidden under her bed, but they weren’t enough to get her anywhere near Tyrin.
‘And I can’t rule out running into Lord Mathis and those who work for him if I walk thr road in that direction. Lord Mathis and his plans lay between her and Tyrin. ‘And I still don’t know why he wanted me in the tower.’
Anya knew the food the guard left for her would have run out by now. The trail rations he left would be long gone and he would have either returned as he promised or left her to starve. ‘Unless whatever they were expecting to have happen happened before I ran out of food,’ Anya thought. The thought was a new one and she turned it over as she tied the ribbons on her night dress.
‘What if the guard didn’t leave on an errand of his own, but so that whatever was expected to happen, could happen without his being a party to it,’ Anya hadn’t thought of it before but it was a possibility. ‘and a bit more likely than kidnapping me simply to starve me to death in a tower for no reason.’
Anya climbed into bed and decided to leave the book for now, occupied more with her own thoughts. Anya wasn’t sure if that particular thought changed things. ‘If something was supposed to happen while the guard was gone would he be surprised to find me gone or never return because his stint as guard was no longer needed?’
Anya snuggled down beneath the covers. The temperature had been slowly dropping for days and in the morning, Anya knew she would have to put on the heavier set of clothing that the Matron arranged for her to wear.
‘This would be so much simpler if I knew what they expected to happen,’ she decided. ‘Regardless, I can’t go bak to Tyrin yet. I can’t make it with the supplies I have and I can’t risk stopping to find work in any of the towns between here and there until I know where Lore Mathis and his people are based.’
Whatever they expected, Anya didn’t think it was her showing up looking for work. ‘Which leaves the other side of the gap,’ Anya thought. ‘Maybe I could head towards Rulash when the others leave.’ Whatever she decided, Anya wasn’t expecting guidance from the Star. She knew that whatever happened, she would be on her own once the choosing was done.
‘But some of the women aren’t chosen for a meeting with the Star,’ she recalled. She couldn’t remember which of the women told her that. ‘Maybe some of them stay and continue to work here while the others go.’
It was a possibility, and not an unpleasant one. She would miss her companions, but spending her days well fed, housed and making lace wasn’t a bad idea until she could figure out what to do. ‘I’ll have to ask if people stay tomorrow.’
Ten til Midnight 