Chapter Four

Current Word Count: 20608
Words Left To Count: 29392
Days Left: 16

Chapter Four
Cenic

Aya looked down at her feet, watched as the sand blew over them onto the wooden dock. Silence seemed to consume her. Slowly she raised her head and turned around. Sand, as far as the eye could see, here and there and square hut or two, but nothing green, nothing alive and vibrant.

It was a strange thing to finally realize that she was in a new and strange land, and that she was completely alone there.

A sudden movement caught her eye. She looked over as the two fishermen who had been on their fishing boat before were now standing on the dock, looking at her with curiosity. They were both filthy, dirt on their faces, the smell of fish on them – or perhaps that was the dock itself. She didn’t know them, couldn’t speak with them, and suddenly feared them.

“Odakle ti dolazis?” One of them said, the words sounding strange, like something heard in a dream, or a nightmare.

Aya began walking, as fast as she could, past the two men, She expected them to grab her, attacked her in some way, but they let her pass. They said something more, but she didn’t catch it at all, and even if she had she wouldn’t have understood what their words meant.

Once off the dock she was between the huts, made from brick or mud, she couldn’t tell. She knew that she was on the outskirts of the city; perhaps this had once been a small village before the expanding city borders had swallowed it up. She could see Cenic to the north of her. There was a large building along the shore, a fort or a castle; it was unlike any building she had ever seen. The towers came together like a flower before opening to the sun and it was the colour of the desert.

All the other buildings were short and small, and so she continued to call them all huts.

She heard heavy footsteps then, and knew immediately that they were the footsteps of soldiers. A few of the Slavik gave her nasty glances. She knew then that the soldiers had seen the boat dock and were now coming to investigate. Aya ducked behind a hut, dead animals hung on the wall, hiding her body. She heard the soldiers stop.

“You there, peasant, have you seen anyone strange walking about?” The soldier ask, clear dislike in his voice.

“You,” came the equally mean voice, though this one was heavily accented, a Slavik.

“Watch your tongue peasant and answer my question.”

“No one strange here.”

The soldier seemed to believe his answer, because they were then moving off again. Aya crept out from her hiding place to come face to face with the Slavik man. He looked deeply unpleased. Aya realized that he had known where she was hiding, but wasn’t covering to help her. He was simply covering because he had no wish to help the Sær.

“Odalzi, sada,” he said spitefully, she didn’t understand the words, but she understood the tone and quickly took off, almost running.

(Uh-oh, I'm feeling the crunch. I'm halfway through the months and only 2/5ths of the way. WHAT DO DO!?! If I sat myself down, locked my door, and drank a case of Mountain Dew, I'd probably make it - but I have school!!! School is evil! School makes me work on stuff that isn't novels. School makes me sad. :( But happy, because I'm learning the wonders of grammar!)

Chapter Three

Current Word Count: 18267
Words Left To Count: 31733
Days Left: 23

Chapter Three
Chuyoi Chokai to Cenic

When Aya came awake she couldn’t help but smile to herself. She was lying in a nice warm bed in Chuyoi Chokai. First the first time in her entire life she had left her country. The thought sent a thrill down her spine, until she remembered exactly why she had left her country.

Her eyes opened and she looked out the window, the morning was nearly over, she had slept in. That was bad, she had wanted to set out early in the morning. Why hadn’t Kaiwa woken her up?

A sickening thought suddenly leapt at her. What if Kaiwa had left without her?

She leapt out of her bed, trying to best to ignore the suddenly cold that she felt. It was freezing in her room, and of course it would be. A few weeks from now it would be winter, and sooner than that the lakes would freeze over and it would probably start snowing. If Kaiwa were to leave her now, she might not be able to find another boat, or at least not until spring and by then…

Aya was quickly dressed. She went next door to his room, she knocked and hollered, but he wasn’t there. As fast as she could she went back to her room, grabbed her few things and ran out of the inn and full speed, ignoring the people and doorframes her shoulders were banging against as she ran.

Finally she was on the road, people busying themselves at the market, haggling in a language she had heard before but still could not understand. She ignored them. She ignored everything around her, the sound of the city, the smell of the ocean in the air. All she could think about was getting to the dock and catching Kaiwa before she was abandoned and her mission failed.

The docks weren’t far from her motel and she reached them in record time, panting and about to collapse. There were many boats all along the docks, the fishermen returning from their morning catch and heading off to the market now to sell their hard work. It took her a moment to remember where they had docked the night before.

Finally she remembered and took off one dock. They were at the end, she knew it, but she couldn’t see if the boat was there or not because of all the other boats that blocked her view.

She stopped dead in her tracks. That was where they had docked the night before, and there was the boat just like she remembered, the eye of Uruwashii watching her.

“Kaiwa…” She said his name, barely able to catch her breath.

He sat on the side on the ship, witling something in his hand with a knife. He turned as she said his name. She dropped her things, her hands grabbed her knees as she tried to breath steady again and not fall over.

“My God… you look terrible.”

“I… ran… here…” She stood up straight, one hand on her chest, the other gesturing to him. “I though… you left…”

He looked away from her for a second and then back, a half smile on his face. “I thought about it.”

The shock was apparently in her face, but she stayed silent, her panting slowing slightly.

“I wouldn’t have, but I did think about it,” he sighed, putting his knife away. “You’ve gone past to your point of no return, and I just passed mine.”

She smiled and let a laugh out from relief. “Well thank Jirale,” she picked her things off the dock. “Now let’s get going.

(I like Kaiwa. Anyway, my counts coming along all right. Yay!)

Chapter Two - Part Deux

I liked this part of Chapter Two, so I wanted to post it as well.

Set things up: Aya is currently hidden under the cabin floor of a boat she's travelling on in oder to cross the Irare/Wo-Quo border. The stone/eye of Uruwashii refers to the stone eye that Aya finds in the first chapter that belonged to a statue of Uruwashii, the first Seiken. Random Fact: Uruwashii is in actually a chick, but in this novel they constantly refer to Uruwashii as a dude because history changed facts due to the fact that Irare is an oppressive society towards women.

~

Current Word Count: 16395
Words Left To Count: 33605
Days Left: 24

Chapter Two
Min Sen - Chuyoi Chokai

The hours passed and the sun came up, but Aya remained in darkness. She lost count of all time but knew that it was near the afternoon and soon they would be at the border and perhaps the most dangerous part of her quest. To escape from Irare by boat was something not many tried because of the border checks, but she knew this was the only way for her.

Every now and then Kaiwa would come down to tell her where along the way they were, and the boards would creak underneath him. It reassured Aya to know that he came down to check on her, but she knew that soon he would come down and tell her that they were at the border and she knew it would drive the fear into her heart.

The creaking of the floorboards came again.

"We're coming up to the border. Stay calm, and stay quiet. It might take awhile for us to get through, just stay calm."

"Ok," Aya said, clutching the eye so hard that the stone cut into her hands.

Kaiwa went away and then after some time she felt the boat come to a stop and she heard voices, she knew they were soldiers talking to Kaiwa. They spoke for some time, but Aya could barely make it out, she was pretty sure that they were asking where he was going and what he was carrying.

After a few minutes they stopped speaking and she waited again with a growing dread until finally after what seemed a lifetime she heard some people boarding. For a brief moment she almost lost her calm, thinking that they knew she was there for sure, but then she heard their voices.

"Sorry, it's just routine," the soldier said.

"That's alright, feel free to look about."

Aya was drenched in cold sweat and tried to keep her breathing low, but her heart was pounding so hard that she was sure the soldiers would be able to hear it. She could hear the soft thuds of their boots on the deck and then the sickening sound of them coming down the stairs until they were walking just above her, causing the planks to creek.

Panic washed over her, she closed her eyes and bit her lip trying to make herself disappear. She knew they'd figure it out, she just knew it! They were asking question and she knew that at any moment Kaiwa would give her away to save himself. She was going to fail! They were going to find her! Her heart beat faster until she thought it might explode. And then...

The creaking went away, and the soldiers and Kaiwa went back up the ladder to the deck. Aya opened an eye, only to find darkness, but also silence. They were leaving, and they hadn't found her. Aya felt herself relaxing, her heart started to slow down and she could breath easy again. They hadn't found her... This was it, the moment had passed and now she could make it to Nan Riku. She was going to make it.

Time passed by as the boat slowly inched past the border and then maybe an hour later she heard the creaking of Kaiwa's feet.

"It's safe," he said. Then she heard a crack and one of the boards was lifted free, light flooded in and she saw Kaiwa's face and smiled.

"We made it!" She wanted to reach up and hug him, but the boards prevented this. "Hurry up and get me out of here!" She urged, still smiling. Kaiwa himself had a grin on his face.

"I was so worried, I thought for sure they'd figure us out."

"You were worried? My heart almost burst through my chest!"

Kaiwa finally got enough boards up and with a hand, helped her out of there. She sat on the floor, letting her feet fall into the hole. Kaiwa looked her over and saw the eye still clutched in her hand.

"What's that?" He asked, pointing.

"Oh!" Aya had forgotten she was still holding it. She held it forward, and noticed for the first time that her hand was bleeding from a sharp edge. "It's an eye from a statue."

"You're bleeding!" He said, he reached for a box and in it found some gauze. "Give me your hand."

"I was clutching it too hard," she explained and he wrapped the gauze around her hand. "I think he's watching over me..."

"He?" Kaiwa looked up inquisitively.

"Oh, the eye belonged to a statue of Uruwashii."

"I know that statue, in Mizu Tokai, I saw it once when I was younger... Sær destroyed it?"

Aya nodded sadly.

"Your lips bleeding too," he reached out and wiped some of the blood off with a cloth.

"Didn't notice," she took the cloth and held it to her lip.

"I didn't think anyone could get so damaged all by themselves in a hole for less than a day.

Aya smiled. "I was so scared."

Kaiwa paused and looked up at her nervous face. "You're very young, and you're taking the whole world on... It's very brave."

She smiled shyly. "Thank you."

"Here, give me the eye," Kaiwa held out his hand and Aya gently handed it to him. "This should be somewhere important."

That evening, as the sun began to set in the city of Chuyoi Chokai and the markets began to close and the nightlife came to life, one final boat came down the river from Irare, two people on its deck, and on its mast, gleaming in the dying light of the harbour, was a white stone cut into a mast. The stone of Uruwashii, watching the road ahead.

(There ya go, that's me trying to be suspenceful. Is it working? I'm entirely sure how good my 'suspence skills' are, but I try, really I try. *Cries* WHY MUST YOU JUDGE!?!)

Chapter Two

Current Word Count: 14908
Words Left To Count: 35092
Days Left: 25

Chapter Two
Min Sen - Chuyoi Chokai

Kaiwa had been born along the shores of the Unabara, quite like he had said. It was a small village near the border of Sær that had long ago perished in the war. He had not been there though. When his village had been raped and pillaged he had been sailing the Kaiyou.

Sailing was all he ever knew. While the people of Mizu Tokai knew the way of the Seiken, they only knew the water. For years he had sailed around the Unabara, and when that became too small he sailed all the lakes, and then one day he found his way to the Kaiyou and he almost never looked back. But he had. One last time to see the Unabara as the moon was full above it, making it shine like silver.

This was to be his last voyage from Irare.

There had never been a place for Jirale in his heart, because it was so full of other things. While the idea of smuggling a woman out of Irare didn't bother him, the sheer logistics squandered his mind. How could he possibly sneak a woman out of the country by boat? They searched him every time he left, and entered.

Although security was lax during the war, the soldiers of course would still search you, sometimes more thoroughly now that it was wartime, but the soldiers were more concerned with finding spies and secrets leaked from Sær rather then smuggled women. After all, hundreds had already managed to make their way to Wo-Quo.

It could be possible.

He told her so as they stood outside of the bar, away from prying eyes and ears.

"It could be possible, but it's futile," he added, knowing in his heart that she'd only be going to her doom. "For that I don't wish to take you."

"Please, I must reach Nan Riku. I must try. Please," she wanted to fall to her knees and plea for her very life, but she stood straight, because she had to stand strong.

"How do you know that I won't kill you once we leave here? How can you trust me?"

She paused, looking up at him with desperate eyes. "You smell like the Unabara... my home..."

He felt pity for her more than anything else. He saw that she tried to be strong, and he saw that she was strong in her heart, but also weak because her plight was so futile. It would probably kill her if he left her on the shore and sailed to the Kaiyo without her. It would probably also kill her when she reached the south and was turned away with snarls of laughter... Yet she knew this and still tried so hard, and so he pitied her.

"Don't you get it? You'll die."

"And if I stay?"

"You'll live."

"You don't honestly believe that, do you?"

He sighed, looking away.

"You know as well as I do that we're being exterminated! The second the front fails, every man, woman and child will be murdered!"

Kaiwa turned back. "Keep your voice down."

"I don't care if I die. You shouldn't either."

"When I got to the front on my ship, I got off and walked to my hometown and it took me five days of hiding and dodging to make it past the Sær army and to my destroyed village... Do you know what I realised?"

She shook her head.

"Death. You're right; they will kill you if you stay or if you leave. They've gone insane with power. They used to dilute themselves and others by saying they were trying to liberate our country from our crude ways... But it's all just to please a blood lust. I saw that as I stared at the ash and carnage left from the village. No one can stop them. Not me, not you, not some foreign army."

He turned and began to walk away. Aya saw everything slipping away from her, all her hope and passion. She couldn't let him win.

"No... you're wrong," she whispered, choking back on the tears. "You're leaving Irare because you're frightened, and you should be, but we can't give up. We can't give up!" She began to follow him. "I won't let my brother die! I won't let anyone else die! I won't have my home destroyed, my lake polluted with their filth. I will fight until I am dead as well! You can't tell me it's not possible!" She grabbed his arm and he was forced to stop. "You can't tell me that I will fail! You can't tell me that I'm throwing my life away! Because I will not!"

Kaiwa looked up at her, her determined eyes piercing into his soul, and suddenly he wished with everything in his heart that she was right. Her fate was clear to him, that she would die no matter what he did, that thousands would and had, no matter what he did. What would it hurt to take her to Nan Riku? What would it hurt to let her hold onto her hope for just a small while longer? And what if she could actually make a difference?

"It could be possible..." he repeated to himself, trying to think of a way to hide her on his boat. "We'll need supplies, it will take us at least a week to get there."

Aya caught her breath and a smile spread across her delicate face. "You'll take me."

"There's no other choice for me. You must travel to the south and I must take you there, even if you do fail."

"I cannot fail. Not now."

(This is actuallt an interesing chapter - I think - 'cuz it's all about trying to smuggle someone over the border. Only they're trying to get out, rather than get in. I like showing two sides of the coin. Yes Sær's evil, but she just as likely to be killed by her own people. Oh the tragedy! In orther news, I wish I had more time to write. I have a lot of schoolwork, not enough time to write!)

Chapter One

This novel is titled The Last Stand. It belongs in the world of Jirale. It's basically the sequel, or at least it takes place after the events in Jirale. Mainly I just wanted to explain how the war ends, because Jirale never *really* explains that.

This is just the first bit of Chapter One, I won't be posting entire chapters here, because you guys won't read entire chapters...

Also, A LOT of names differ from The Last Stand and Jirale (in fact, pick any story from Jirale and there will always be name changes because I just can't make up my mind).

Check out my profile on NaNoWriMo.

~

Current Word Count: 14398
Words Left To Count: 35602
Days Left: 28

Chapter One
Mizu Tokai - Min Sen

Aya Mizuno sat beside her brother Ken on the shores of her city, Mizu Tokai. Before her to the east was the great lake Unabara that she had lived next to her entire life, and now only small portions of it still belonged to her and her people. For over a thousand of years her people had lived on this shore and sailed this lake, but now Sær was taking it over piece by piece. Their border surrounded Mizu Tokai. If they travelled south along the Unabara, they would come face to face with Sær’s army, if they went too far east on the Unabara, there waited Sær’s armada.

Before Sær had begun advancing north, Mizu Tokai had been the largest and greatest in all of Irare. It was said to have been discovered by their God, Jirale himself, after the first Great War. The first Seiken, a warrior trained in the arts of Irare also lived in Mizu Tokai; and together with the son of Jirale, set out and defeated the demon Yousei that plague their country hundreds of years ago, so the stories went. From this city their country Irare was united, and it stood tall and proud with its great towers cut from the white stone found around the Unabara and spanning ports which once held the greatest ships on sea and sky.

Now only a shadow of a once great city was still alive. The towers were almost all crumbled, and the port stood nearly empty. They were under constant barrage and threat by the Sær army, which had been steadily advancing North along the Unabara, now trying to take a key city of Irare. If they fell, the coast and all of the Unabara would belong to Sær and nothing would stop them from heading west and taking the capital, Sujou.

Most of Irare's army and the handful of highly trained warrior Seiken who still lived were protecting Mizu Tokai. Ken Mizuno was one such Seiken who had been fighting non-stop for nearly three years now, waiting for aid that might never come. He was on a leave of absence, visiting with the remaining member of his family, his little sister two years younger than him. It was the first they had seen of each other in months.

"We sent a messenger or two," Ken started talking as he stripped off his armour, getting ready to bathe in the lake. He turned to Aya. "They were supposed to follow the mountains south until they reach Nan Riku."

Aya thought that over, thinking about the far away country Nan Riku, though named Jugo Zemlya by the natives, and South Land by those from Sær. The country lived up to its name, for it was found just south of Sær. The mesengers were going there to ask for help. Wo-Quo, the country to the west of Irare would not help them, afraid that Sær would then turn their attention to them as well. Their only hope seemed to be in this small country found far, far from their own home. "Do you think that the Nan will help us?"

Ken shrugged and, now naked, he went into the cool water, the blood and dirt collected from war washed from his body. Years of pains seemed to disappear as the Unabara washed over him. "If Wo-Quo won't come to our aid... we have no one else to ask help from."

“I wonder if anyone from Irare has even travelled there, at least recently."

"Delegates some years ago I imagine..."

Aya let her brother swim around some more in silence. She knew that he rarely had a chance to leave the front and come north to see her or to be able to wash himself. Aya could remember a time when their entire family had been together, swimming and laughing on the shore of the Unabara. Her parents, now only two more victims in this horrible war and her younger brother Subaru. Subaru was not dead, true, but she had not seen him for 11 years and only knew him now from letters - letters which had not come now for months.

She closed her eyes and imagined what it would be like if they won the war. Maybe Subaru would then be able to come home, with all the other Seiken that had been training with Yuuki, a great Seiken of his own time. The new and old Seiken would meet and make sure that Sær never attacked again. Subaru and Ken would return home because there was no more fighting and they could be a family together. They would live happily ever after. Though she couldn't help but wonder how long it would take for this war to end... and would the end come because they fell?

"We won't hold out much longer, will we?"

"We will... maybe six more months at the most."

Aya felt the cold of autumn bite at her suddenly. "Six months?"

"More and more men die every day, there are maybe a dozen Seiken left and Sær are more ruthless than ever. Supplies will also run out soon, Sujou and the Mizuumi have given us all the support that they can and the cities to the south are too concerned with keeping Sær from attacking their borders to help us... Time is running out."

"What about help from Shino Boku?" Aya asked, referring to the people who lived deep in the forest between Sujou and the Mizumi, west of where they lived. They were a tall a graceful people who had long ago began living above the ground in the trees. Once there had been a need for that, when the Yousei had lived in the forest.

"They say they can't help us yet, that they're not ready for a war."

"And who really is?" Aya held her tears back. "I wish I could help."

Ken rose from the water, reaching for his curved sword, the sword of a Seiken, and armour once more. "I know."

~

(In the end of the chapter, Aya is getting ready to leave Irare and get help.)

At it again...

Well then, I have started a new novel for good ol' Nanowrimo. Nothing to post today though. I think I'm gonna post a part of a chapter each day, maybe a paragraph or a scene. This novel's a little quiet compared to the one I did last year. At least, it starts of quiet, because for the first act of the novel she's basically by herself... but it's all cool.
-LS