The fifteen minute novel writing experiment is an 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 216: The threat of Lord Mathis made it not enough.
The threat of Lord Mathis made it not enough. She needed to look into more than the basics despite the slow and steady progress Marta and Deran wanted. Anya refilled her mug. A part of her knew they were right. That she needed to take it slow and that some things might be beyond her level of skill right now.
‘Maybe Marta won’t think the bowl is beyond my skill though,’ Anya thought. Surely she will see the need of it.
Beyond convincing Marta to retrieve books that she might believe too advanced, Anya was worried about stepping on Marta’s toes. The Matron had become annoyed enough with her loss of sight that she was willing to risk exposing Anya to have her sight back. Would Marta see Anya asking about the basin and seeing far away images as intruding on her domain?
While she was still hidden, Marta was still her supplier of food. At the moment angering her would cause some practical difficulties. While Anya was certain she could sneak into the store rooms, she knew that in time someone would notice.
‘Maybe the books I need will be back here and I won’t have to ask her to get extra books,’ Anya thought.
Realizing that her mind was going in circles, Anya shifted such thoughts to the side. She wiped off her hands and pulled the book she was currently working her way through to her. The book wasn’t actually one of the lessons either Deran or Marta planned. As she passed most of Deran’s tests earlier and had yet to trade out the books Anya finished for Marta’s studies, she decided to indulge herself with one of the earlier histories of the mountain.
This history book was preserved as all of the others were with magic and some sort of resin that made the pages slightly thicker and slick to the touch. Because the pages were a little thicker than intended the book always looked half open instead of closed and seemed to invite her in, even when it was closed.
After her dream where the deepest parts of the mountain began coming to life, Anya found the book almost as if it had truly called to her. Given the dreams, Anya wasn’t willing to bet it hadn’t.
‘Although with Marta and Deran setting me lessons and Me looking for others on my own I really hope Bendeasa doesn’t start setting me lessons as well.’
Deran mentioned that the large room with the troughs were for agriculture. With them and the specific mix created for them, food could be grown indoors and kept safe. Initially the thought was to have a food supply that could not be trampled or stolen by marauding armies. While the House was built in the mountains, their food came from the plateaus to either side. At the time of the first temple’s building there seemed to be a multitude of wars where soldiers from both sides passed through. If the harvest was not brought in and secured before they marched, then the armies, regardless of which side, would simply take what they wanted, often crushing the rest under foot as the marched.
‘And if they were enemy armies, they burned what they didn’t take so nothing would be left behind,’ Anya read. She could see why securing food would be a necessity. As they experimented, they found some interesting things out.
Ten til Midnight 