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 124: “I think I can find a hidden space if I can find clean bedding and a working fireplace. The hidden spaces are pretty cold.”
“I think I can find a hidden space if I can find clean bedding and a working fireplace. The hidden spaces are pretty cold.”
“I would imagine so,” Marta agreed nodding. “We can at least move the bedding into the hidden up, study area and I can tell anyone who asks that it was taken down once this suite was no longer occupied. In fact it might be better if we move anything related to you into the study and out of sight. That way it will look like you just left.”
Marta nod. “Yes, she said. “We had tea after dinner and you seemed unsettled. Then when you don’t appear for breakfast I will check on you and find you gone.” She looked at Anya. “Do you think you could find the platform with the stone basin we used during the Season?”
Anya closed her eyes and thought of the space Marta was referring to. There were pathways that connected her to them, ways she could use to reach the platform. She opened her eyes. “I think so,” she said.
“Good no one uses it in winter as it is too cold, but it is near enough to my quarters that I can get there with no one remarking on it. Besides, I enjoy using it to look at the night sky even in winter. I can leave food beside the stone basin, in the shadows after meals. “
Anya nodded again. “That seems like a good idea.”
“At least until we figure things out. And in the quiet you would have plenty of time to study, even if you can’t prove you have magic through crafting or using any ancient artefacts.”
Anya decided not to mention the orb or anything else she found in the hidden spaces. Now warmed from the fire, Anya gathered anything that belonged to her and put it into the hhidden study. She cast longing glances at the large tub she had yet to try out and hoped that at some point she might be able to return and try it out. From the cabinets she took all of the extra blankets and clothing she had been given figuring that if she couldn’t find a working fireplace she would need all the extra layers she could get.
Anya then gathered the books she brought into the room and piled them on the now clean work top in the study while Marta stripped the bed. To Anya’s surprise she not only pulled off the blamkets but once they were piled, She began removing the mattress from the bed frame.
“It wouldn’t be left in the room once it was unoccupied,” marta explained. It would be taken down to storage with the others no longer used during the off season.”
“Oh I see,” Anya said. It was a relief to realize that she would not be huddled on the stone floor for the night. She moved the blankets in and Marta helped push the mattress into the hidden study. Even though she couldn’t see the door or the space beyond, with Anya tugging on one end she could guide the visible part of the mattress into the space where it wa disappearing.
By the time everything was moved, the kettle was boiling. Marta threw the herbs into the water to steep and carefully handed the hot kettle to Anya to take with her. “I’d sent the chair as well, but I thinks someone might notice,” Marta told her.
Ten til Midnight 