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 133: Marta was watched and it took three days before she was able to leave any rations for her by the stone bowl.
Marta was watched and it took three days before she was able to leave any rations for her by the stone bowl. By then Anya had figured out the rhytm of the kitchen and was able to pilfer food in ways that were un noticed. She took smaller bits from a variety of places and never from all at once. Anya also took a little more than she needed of things that might keep, like dried fruits and nuts so that if something unexpected happened, she would have enough to last herself a day or two without a visit to the kitchens and their larders.
Marta’s assistance was still appreciated and in addition to bread, meat and cheese, Marta left, extra clothing and warmer blankets. While the fire did an adequate job of heating the rooms, many of the spaces Anya moved through were chilled and she was accustomed to much more mild winters.
After using the orb to see the lay of the land outside of the hidden spaces, Anya would take differing routes back to her room. Slowly the magic was moving through the hidden spaces and Anya took great delight in seeing these spaces come to like. It was less like magic was working on them and more like they were shaking off the remnants of some sort of magic spell.
While she appreciated seeing them, Anya also monitored the progress of the magic, watching to see if it spilled out into the occupied sections. Thus far it seemed to concentrate on the hidden spaces. There was no mention of anything shifting outside of her hidden maze.
‘Maybe it is just starting with all of the hidden spaces first,’ she surmised. ‘There are a lot of them.’
While she did wander, most of her time was spent in reading and studying. She finished the books that Marta gave for her to start and snuck them back into the library. The next morning those books were gone from the table and another set was waiting. Anya took them and retreated before anyone could come looking. No one appeared to notice. In addition to the books recommended for study, Anya began working through the books she found in the hidden spaces. Nearly every rooms seemed to have at least one set of shelves filled with books. There were many duplicates and those Anya left on the shelf where they were. The rest she took back with her to her space.
The books she found quickly piled up and Anya found an adjacent room in which to stack them so she didn’t end up burying herself in books. As the other rooms cleaned and repaired themselves, Anya also found other things to add to her space. The chief of which was a large and comfortable reading chair. She brought it into her space and placed it before the fire. It was a welcome change from sitting on the bed to read and she was relieved to be able to eat her meals sitting in it rather than in bed as well.
Time passed and slowly Anya learned. She knew from visits to the stone bowl that winter snows had arrived. She spend a long time marveling at the glittering ice crystals before the cold drove her back inside. Anya read through books on flora and fauna first.
Ten til Midnight 