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 74: ‘It could be that the magic the lady loosed was fading,” Anya thought.
‘It could be that the magic the lady loosed was fading,” Anya thought.
The thought didn’t seem quite right. She remembered his drunken mumbling of Magnificent, an echo of the previous image the pool showed her. It had no shadows and was mush the same as the vision the lady showed.
‘I asked what Lord Mathis wanted and then I asked what he was doing,’ Anya thought. She was pretty sure those were the two ways she put them. ‘What if the first version should me what he was dreaming.’
Anya wasn’t sure about seeing his actual dreams as they took place but the pool could have shown her what he wanted for himself and why he wanted to control the potential magical power of those he locked in the tower. Thinking back on what she saw of Lord Mathis both in town before she was taken to the caravan and in the visions, Anya had no problem thinking of someone who wanted power.
‘Resurrecting an ancient Empire that has been split into different kingdoms and becoming it’s new king or emperor I suppose are quite a bit more grand than I would have expected.‘ If she thought about it, she probably would have guessed that Lord Mathis wanted money and power. Mostly because anyone she met who had any money or any power always seemed to want just a little bit more. It seemed as though Lord Mathis had more money and power than anyone in the village so it would mean that the amount he wanted would be more as well.
Returning to the Festian empire with himself as sole ruler seemed like a very large step upward. Larger than she would have suspected.
‘Maybe he is related to a king or works for one and thinks he’d not only be better but better on a larger scale.’ Anya shrugged. She didn’t see how having one half-starved magician would help him build his empire. ‘But then I don’t really know anything about magic,’ Anya thought. ‘Or building an Empire.’
She heard footsteps outside in the hall and set aside her thoughts of Lord Mathis. She unbolted her door and stepped into the hallway. There were women walking towards the dining hall, She joined them and received her cup as she had the day before, she took her seat with the others. There were fewer people about but the two she usually spent time with were there. The younger girl brightened when she sat down and the older woman looked slightly confused, but welcoming. The order was still silences so neither of them could ask why she had been chosen by the star and yet returned to the dining room.
There were fewer people here than today and she could see the empty spots at the tables. Even as she took her first sip, Anya could see robed figures arriving, moving among the seated women and choosing a few to take with them. There weren’t as many as the night before and Anya wondered if these were the woman who had been on the fence about an issue and reached a conclusion in the night. She suspected it was so.
Ten til Midnight 