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 173: She pulled her hands from its surface and opened her eyes.
She pulled her hands from its surface and opened her eyes. With her hands no longer touching the surface, Anya felt the cold. She shivered. Her mind was whirling but she knew pondering her thoughts in the cold was not a good idea. Hoping that her feet would warm as she moved, Anya left the room and wound her way through the corridors until she found the room with the two circles. Her body was still cold but the thought of moving the circles closer to her guarters was a good one.
‘Then I only have to move between two rooms unless I am using the rob which means less of a chance of getting noticed.’
While Anya didn’t think anyone had noticed her before, she wanted to be extra careful if Lord Mathis’ man was in residence. She remembered how he sniffed the air like a hunting dog and shivered from more than just the chill in the room. Anything she could do to help convince him that she was no longer here sounded like a good idea.
Anya entered the room with the circles. The day before she had not noticed them until she activated them by accident but now there was a faint tracing of the circles on the floor. It was as though someone came in and placed a thin metal ring on the floor. She ran the toe of her boot over the edge of the ring but she couldn’t feel it. The floor felt smooth and even.
Anya took a deep breath and stepped into the circle.
Nothing happened.
Anya frowned and looked down at the circle. “Right,” she recalled. “He said I had to activate it. Even though I didn’t the first time.”
Anya wondered if that was some sort of safety feature so someone like her could find it in the first place and wondered why it didn’t automatically come on. ‘Something to ask later.’
Remembering Deran’s comments, Anya took a deep breath. “Recaros,” she said.
The ring began to glow a bright white. The bright whit ring turned blue and then faded back to white. Anya looked away from the circle and over to the second one. This time she watched as Deran was formed from bits of light. She could still see through him to the wall behind, but whatching him coalesce from pin pricks of light sent from the circle around him made her feel better about knowing where he came from.
“Good morning,” Deran said to her. “You look well rested.”
“And ready to move the circles,” she said.
“What is your hurry? “ he asked. “Or did you get too chilled yesterday?”
“I will need to restrain my movements for a little while so I won’t be coming down this corridor. I would like to move the rings before then,” she told him.
“Something has happened?” he asked.
Anya told him of the conversation she overheard. To her surprise, he smiled.
“t doesn’t seem all that amusing to me,” Anya commented. His smile fell.
“No I did not mean that,” he corrected. “Having someone searching who intends harm is never a good thing. I was amused by her dreams. This Matron must have had a good telling off from the Star to act so quickly.”
“In her dreams?” Anya said.
Ten til Midnight 