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 64: Once certain she was no longer within the tower, he raced for the door.
Once certain she was no longer within the tower, he raced for the door. Anya watched as he searched the grounds looking for signs of her. As she was certain the only signs she left were water marks from her time below the tower, she doubted he would find them. The only sign of how she escaped was the gate and that was half submerged. She wondered if they would find it and what would happen when they did.
The guards search turned up nothing. He searched the half tumbled down buildings near the tower but didn’t go near the one where she emerged from the water. When he was satisfied she was not lurking in them, he returned to the tower and took another slower look around. He shifted around stored objects and caused dust clouds to fly up, but didn’t go down near the gate. As he searched, Anya realized the water was higher than when she left. In fact the water completely obscured the opening for the old sewage tunnels.
Anya frowned.
“Something wrong?” The woman asked.
“Has there been a lot of rain?” Anya asked.
“Yes,” the woman said sounding surprised. They are entering their rainy season. We are protected from much of the storms here, the mountains helping to shift them away, but they see rain most days at this time of year.”
Anya nodded. The flood waters hid her escape route and at the moment that route was impassable due to the flood waters. It was possible they might not find it.
‘Which means they won’t seal it off and it might be useful for the next person they put in the tower.’
Satisfied that Anya was not in the tower or among the ruins, he ran back to the wagon. He untethered the horses from the post and climbed up into the seat. He turned the wagon around and headed back the way he came. Again time seemed to speed up. Anya watched as guard drove the wagon back the way he came. In time the wagon pulled up to a country estate. It was a grand house, far grander than any Anya had ever seen. It was also isolated. There were trees surrounding it. Some showing the signs of once being used as orchards. Much of the house looked abandoned and all but a small garden used for growing items for the kitchen was left to fill with twisted weeds and unchecked growth.
The guard entered the estate and pulled the wagon to a standstill. He tied up the horses and made his way inside. As he walked Anya studied the surroundings. The manor was grand. Its walls were rightly paneled and delicate murals were painted on the plaster. But there were no curtains at the windows, no tapestries on the walls or soft rugs under foot. Most of the rooms the guard passed were empty and bare.
Finally the guard came to an occupied space and signs of life could be seen. There was a fire in the large fireplace and a few scattered chairs for comfort. A rug had been placed upon the floor but for the most part even here it looked half abandoned. As the guard entered Lord Mathis looked up. The lord was seated in the grandest chair in the room and was drinking from a large ceramic mug.
To Anya it looked more like he was squatting in the manor house rather than actually living there and she wondered if he was truly its master.
Ten til Midnight 