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@evelyn @j-a-penrose @ariella-newheart @steward-of-the-pen @julia @writercatherine

*cries* *sobs* *cries some more*

I couldn’t do it, guys.

*sniffles*

I tried, I really did. I got to 30k, and then I got so busy and sick over the month I couldn’t do much more. I’m sorry!!

My final count is 37,500, from all of the writing I did both by hand and on my computer, from every spare moment at work and every break between school assignments.

Favorite Segment: 

“We need supplies,” Drent continued, grunting as he pulled Rona further away from home and deeper still into the forest behind Vorok’s stiff, tall form. “And food, plus water. How long are you planning on traveling? Where shall you go?” He panted again and shifted Rona around beside him. “And there is the problem of the phoenixes. We need protection from them.”

Vorok suddenly stopped at the clearing, and turned around, an odd smile on his face. “Don’t worry, Drent,” he said in a smooth, otherworldly voice. “The phoenixes are not our enemies. They shall protect us. They shall take us to their master. There, with him, we will find refuge.”

Rona’s face drained. Her eyes widened, and her breath stuttered in her lungs.

“You mean…?” Drent’s hold on Rona loosened as he gasped in shock.

“Yes.” Vorok nodded once with utmost sincerity. “We will flee the Territory first. Perhaps in passing a village, we can acquire some supplies before word gets out that we’ve gone missing. After that, we’ll head north, to the Dogmouth Peninsula in Kildonia. There, we can hire a ship to head west…to the Western Continent, and to the master of the phoenixes.”

The Western Continent? To Sescapa Mordoc himself? Our greatest enemy? Rona nearly fainted. She struggled to understand why her brother had suddenly turned to the Faulted Soldier, or what he hoped to achieve by searching for the Enemy’s home. Her mind came up dry.

“And…what of Rona?” Drent sounded reluctant. “Is she to travel with us for all those moons? All that way?”

Vorok approached Rona, his eyes lit up with a red undertone in the milky moonlight. He eyed her contemplatively.

Rona shivered with a sudden chill. It felt as if her brother was not looking at her. Someone far more sinister was eying her through his eyes. She cowered underneath the heartless gaze and looked away.

“Yes,” Vorok suddenly decided, tilting her chin back to his face, smiling like a snake. “Perhaps, when she reaches Sescapa Mordoc, he can…enlighten her about certain things.”

Rona couldn’t take any more. With a fierce screech, she bit Drent’s hand and jumped to her feet. As Drent pulled his hand away from her mouth with a shout, Rona kicked her brother in the stomach, screaming at him in every Ordombé word she knew. “Hatchusev, hatchsev!!” she finally ended with. “Madness, madness!!” She then turned and fled, struggling to balance without the use of her arms as she once again crashed through the bushes and leaped over logs and boulders.

Then her ankle caught on a root, and she fell. Instantly, Vorok was once again upon her. He crushed his forearm to her windpipe and settled his full weight on her ribcage. Rona’s voice died once more.

“Vostiburem an kuraldegash! Daughter of swine!” he roared, and raised his fist to backhand her.

Drent finally caught up. “Wait, my lord! There is a better way.” He approached Rona, and with a final look of apology, squeezed the sides of her neck.

Rona gasped as she felt the pressure build in her temples. Her vision swam.

Vorok’s victorious smile was the last thing she remembered.

Then Rona drifted into the depths.