April Novel Essential Information

Novel Title: Run

Time Setting: 2020

Genre: Thriller

Minimum Word Goal: 120,000

Timespan: April–May

Locations: Alexandria, Virginia; Columbus and Cleveland, Ohio; Portland, Oregon; Seattle, Washington; other points between Alexandria and Seattle.

Main Characters: Corbin Eastwood, DaNiel Sparling

Background Information: 

Corbin was born a few weeks premature when his mother went into shock at the news of his father’s death while he was fighting as a member of the US Army in Afghanistan.

Traumatised by her husband’s death, Corbin’s mother immediately accepted the offer from her mother to move from where she’d been living with her husband in California to her parents’ home in Virginia.

Because Corbin was a son who bore a strong resemblance to his father even as an infant, his mother found it hard to have anything to do with him, and left his care in the hands of his grandparents, who took it on willingly.

As a result of their efforts he had a fairly normal childhood, including taking up — and becoming fairly good at — baseball in the summers, while being academically average.

His mother had formed a dependency on the pain medication she was given after having experienced a minor tear while giving birth to Corbin and when doctors cut off her prescription refills she started stealing money from her job — aided by the fact that she was a cashier — to buy it off the street, and thus has developed such a laundry list of aliases Corbin’s hard-pressed to remember what her actual name is.

When he was twelve years old his grandfather died of age; the loss was hard for Corbin, leading to him quitting baseball because he couldn’t stop crying when he looked up to the seat where his grandfather had always sat and cheered him on from.

Three years later his grandmother also died, and because they were both cremated Corbin keeps their remains — among other things precious to him — hidden in his bedroom so they’re safe from his mother, who was also hit hard by the death of her parents and became destructive in her grief.

Because of his mother’s drug dependency Corbin’s three uncles had come to have little to do with Corbin and his grandparents, as they disagreed with how Corbin’s mother was being treated by his grandparents.

When his grandparents died Corbin’s uncles merely came to the house, claimed what they wanted, and left, never to be seen again.

Thus, for the past two years Corbin has been fending for himself, becoming an adept pickpocket and hacker of debit and credit cards, as well as a decent shoplifter; the speed he developed through baseball helping him to evade law enforcement when he runs the risk of being caught.

Although he makes enough by stealing wallets and hacking into the bank accounts of the victims to drain the accounts dry, Corbin dropped out of school so as to have more time in which to pick pockets, and thus actually has almost a small fortune, but no idea what he would want to spend it on.

In fact, even though he has a small fortune he continues to pick pockets and steal as much money as he can, not content that the money he has will ever be enough.

Born the youngest of three children to a real estate agent and a luxury car dealer receptionist, DaNiel has been well provided for throughout the course of his life, including being given a good education.

From a young age he took an interest in technology, and was soon taking apart household appliances to see how they worked, and sometimes even to snitch parts to make his own little devices.

Seeing futuristic technologies in Science Fiction movies prompted DaNiel to ask his dad why he hadn’t seen them in real life, and was informed by his father that many of the technologies depicted didn’t actually exist, but were made to seem real by animation, camera tricks, and other sleights.

DaNiel was disappointed by this news, but was encouraged by his dad to see if he couldn’t make some of them real, and since then DaNiel has endeavoured to do so, winning prizes at science fairs and other things for his real-life working replicas of well-known film technology.

The one technology he’s been most interested in creating is teleportation, and he’s been working on it for years at the Test House, an abandoned house in a rough neighbourhood that he decided would be a suitable location for him to work in secrecy, as well as to do tests to see if he could teleport things through walls or over decent distances.

He started small, making devices capable of teleporting pennies and marbles, then getting bigger; his first living test was a trapped rat, which survived a couple trips through the device as he tested different distances.

During his last year of high school DaNiel started building his largest teleportation device yet, capable — he hopes — of transporting a full-grown adult, which he meant to continue working on even as he went to college on a tech-related scholarship.

However, not long after he graduated, while heading home from the Test House, where he’d just completed one half of his large teleportation device, he was accosted, beaten, and arrested by a policeman for murder.

Although he had no connection with the victim, and DNA and several other usually-weighty evidences pointed to his innocence, he was convicted of the crime to life in prison, which he believes occurred purely because of his skin colour, and the fact that he was unwilling to provide an alibi, not wanting to reveal his teleportation technology to the world just yet.

Since his conviction his parents have been desperately appealing to higher and higher courts for the other evidences to be considered over his skin colour and lack of alibi and his sentence to be overturned in favour of convicting the real criminal, while DaNiel himself has been snitching parts from his cell and elsewhere in the prison to assemble the other half of his teleportation device in a bid to either get out of prison or die trying, and at the moment he is getting close to completing the platform, which he’s deliberately making so that it will self-destruct as soon as it sends him to freedom.

Pronunciation:

DaNiel: dahneel

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 15

Word Total: 90,007

Year to Date: 270,020

Summary of Events:

Aline paid a visit to Adrien and told him that she was suspicious they were being followed by a spy who was burning all the places they visited that were important to the defence of Trempré. Étienne was woken in the middle of the night and discovered Beaudroit was on fire; he immediately sought for Gisèle, but only found her when he was shown the recovered bodies of the dead; learning from Commandant Bouchard that the Mardeaux had burned the town, Étienne attacked them in a grief-driven fury and ended up being knocked unconscious by a flying piece of broken spear. Aline was woken by scraping at her window; she opened the window, admitting a man who bound her, gagged her, and then dragged her to the front door, where he roughly shoved her boots on . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Left foot up,” she was ordered.

Once again, Aline obliged and winced, displeased by the roughness with which her footwear had been shoved onto her feet.

She was then hauled to her feet roughly and left to stand while she heard the chair being put back, then she heard the sound of a cloak being removed from a hook and felt the movement of air as it was brought around over her shoulders and secured.

Her upper arm was again seized and the front door opened, through which she was pulled, turning to the right, which meant north.

Aline paid attention to every turn, finding that the clear night sky, although without much of a moon, actually provided enough light for her to be able to see buildings about her as she was pulled through the streets of Trempré.

As she was towed along she tried to get a good look at the person who had grabbed her, but he had a cloak on and the hood over his head, obscuring himself from view entirely as he hauled her up to the bank.

Suddenly the man turned to face her, his face obscured by his hood, which covered his head well. He produced a thick cord and wrapped it about her neck before tying it to something on a wall behind her.

If she dared struggle she could choke herself to death, and she didn’t exactly want that, but yet she also wanted to get away.

With her secured, the man then made his way toward the bank, Aline listened and watched. She heard the sound of glass shattering, then she shuddered at the sound of a profanity.

She was able to see the figure heft himself in through a window and waited anxiously; was he robbing the bank? Why? Who was he?

Suddenly Aline noticed light and her stomach contracted in horror. Fire. The spy. She had been captured by the spy, and he was lighting the bank on fire, just as she’d suspected, and he was going to make his getaway with only Adrien the wiser.

Soon the amount of light increased and the glow grew; suddenly flames flashed up the wall she could see, the flames seemed to be spreading with alarming speed.

The man then came to the window, his hood down, the orange backlighting showing his hair to be brown. He jumped out of the window, drew the knife — which glinted orange — and cut the rope behind her neck.

He turned his head to look at the fire and the orange glow from the windows illuminated his face, prompting a wave of horror and betrayal. Adrien.

Throwing his hood up again, as well as hers, Adrien towed Aline through the streets of Trempré, Aline had no idea where they were going, tears flooded her eyes and streamed down her cheeks; she felt utterly betrayed. Adrien was the spy. She had been directly helping the spy, and now he was taking her captive.

Next Post: 31 March.

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 14

Word Count: 84,006

Summary of Events:

Étienne ended up capturing the owner of an unidentified, untrained horse he and Lazare had rounded up before reinforcements had come, as it was discovered the owner was allied with Mardeaux and had no intentions of leaving without the horse. Aline overheard conversation in the church foyer after the service was over that made her realise that every single place that had burned down in Trempré was a place she had guided Adrien to, making her worry that a Mardeaux spy was following them around. Étienne was granted leave to visit Gisèle, whom he joined for vespers at a convent southeast of Beaudroit before they returned to the rooming house . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

He let Gisèle off at the front door before taking his charger to the stables and untacking him again before heading up to the room, where, this time, Gisèle was waiting for him, looking as beautiful as ever in the soft candlelight.

However, the angle of the candle in the room, compared to the angle of the candles at the chapel, caused Étienne to see something he hadn’t previously; Gisèle’s abdomen was in the slightest of ways distended.

Stepping forward slowly, Étienne put one hand beneath his wife’s shoulders, the other gently on her abdomen, which was firm in its distention, just as it looked in the light.

“There is no doubt now,” Gisèle said softly, a smile on her face and delight making her whole countenance seem to glow independently of the candle.

“Non,” Étienne agreed. “No doubt at all.”

Gisèle leaned her head against Étienne’s chest, uttering a happy sound as she did so.

Étienne removed his hand from her abdomen and slid away from her touch, still troubled within himself as he thought about the nearness of the enemy while his wife was now unquestionably with child. What should he do?

“You have the sash,” Gisele said quietly, staring in awe.

Grateful for the distraction, Étienne nodded. “Le Comte de Mariveuve gave it to me when he came to inspect us.”

“Why?” Gisèle asked, looking up at Étienne’s face.

“Because he was pleased and impressed by my humility in serving Commandant Bouchard as he recovers,” Étienne replied.

“Recovers?” Gisèle asked. “What happened?”

“His arm was cut deeply by an enemy in battle,” Étienne replied. “By the grace of Dieu it is as if he suffered a little surface cut. I have been writing everything for him, helping him dress, tending his horse, and helping him mount since then.”

“Ah,” Gisèle said. “Why?”

“I felt it was my duty,” Étienne replied. “He has shown me such mercy I needed to repay him.”

“And it has gotten you promoted,” Gisèle said.

“Without even trying,” Étienne replied.

Suddenly confusion came over Gisèle’s face. “But you weren’t even a Sous-Commandant?”

“Non,” Étienne replied. “I was promoted past Grand-Chevalier and Sous-Commandant.”

“Papa and Maman will be pleased to know their son-in-law is a Chevalier-Commandant,” Gisèle said. “Now you are the second-highest ranking man in the entire camp, are you not?”

“Oui,” Étienne replied.

“The piété helped,” Gisèle said.

“I’m sure it did,” Étienne agreed.

“You don’t believe me, do you?” Gisèle asked.

“I do,” Étienne replied.

“Your piété made you willing to serve your Commandant as you are,” Gisèle said.

“I know,” Étienne replied. “But I did not come here to talk of piété and promotions, I did not come here even to talk of unborn children. I came to love you.”

“But they are reasons for celebration,” Gisèle said.

“They are,” Étienne agreed.

“The best celebration being love,” Gisèle added quietly.

Étienne smiled and moved in to kiss her, holding her close against himself.

Pronunciations:

Sous: sooh

Grand: grahn'

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 13

Word Count: 78,143

Summary of Events:

Aline's excursion with her niece, nephew, and Adrien was discovered by Joanne, who got upset and made Aline stay home and do all the housework while Joanne did all the errand-running, which left Aline unable to find out what the latest fire claimed as soon as she wanted to. Étienne and Commandant Bouchard were participating in matins at the chapel tent, although Étienne was starting to get bored and wishing it was almost over . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Over the murmur of about a hundred men praying, though, Étienne heard the sound of running feet.

“Dieu forgive me for interrupting,” came a loud voice. “It is necessary that Commandant Bouchard come at once.

Étienne lifted his head and looked at Commandant Bouchard, who murmured a few more words before Étienne heard a quiet amen.

Getting to his feet, Étienne put a steadying hand around Commandant Bouchard’s upper arm before walking alongside Commandant Bouchard out of the tent, following the chevalier who’d interrupted them.

“I am sorry Commandant,” the chevalier said.

“There is no need to worry,” Commandant Bouchard replied. “Not on my part, but you may want to ask Père Trudeau if some penance would aid your disquiet.”

“I go at once mon Commandant,” the chevalier said.

“Very good,” Commandant Bouchard said.

Immediately the chevalier turned and departed while Étienne and Commandant Bouchard continued to Commandant Bouchard’s tent; inside they found a well arrayed man Étienne quickly recognised as the Comte de Marieveuve, in whose Comté Sécurniché was within; Sécurniché being the town over which Gisèle’s father Athanase was Seigneur.

“Comte de Mariveuve,” Commandant Bouchard said, bowing low. “What brings you to my camp?”

“What has happened to you Bouchard?” the Comte asked.

“L’Hérétiques have been attacking regularly, and I was wounded deeply,” Commandant Bouchard replied. “It was noticed and tended to swiftly, for which I am very grateful, although I still shan’t be able to use it for a long time.”

The Comte nodded. “And who is this?”
“Chevalier Étienne Beaugenièvre,” Étienne replied, bowing low. “I am Commandant Bouchard’s aide until he is well enough to resume his regular activities.”

“You are married to Seigneur de Sécurniché’s daughter, are you not?” the Comte asked.

“Oui mon seigneur,” Étienne replied.

“You are more youthful than I expected,” the Comte said. “But I am pleased to see this humility you are displaying.”

“Mon seigneur,” Commandant Bouchard said. “May I ask why you have come?”

“I was sent by Duc Louis to perform an inspection,” the Comte replied. “He is troubled that reinforcements are being requested again, although considering the lack of men I have seen so far, I am not altogether surprised, yet already once in these last months this camp was already destroyed. What is going on?”

“L’Hérétiques mean to take Beaudroit,” Commandant Bouchard replied plainly. “At our last estimate their strength is about one thousand five hundred, while ours has been depleted to about one thousand two hundred by repeated skirmishes with them, for they were at two thousand five hundred strong when I came.”

“It is strange for them to go over the hills instead of taking the flats,” the Comte said.

“I agree,” Commandant Bouchard replied. “But it is clear that their intent is to take Beaudroit, and we cannot hold it. Not with this force.”

“If you have one thousand two hundred men, though, why is this camp so empty?” the Comte asked.

“It is matins,” Commandant Bouchard replied.

“Ah, I am sorry,” the Comte said.

“It was nearly finished,” Commandant Bouchard replied. “I am sure you will be forgiven.”

Pronunciations:

Marieveuve: mahreevuhv

Comté: cohmtay

Sécurniché: sehkuhrneeshay

Athanase: ahthahnahz

Seigneur: sehnyer

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 12

Word Count: 78,033

Summary of Events:

Étienne and his comrades engaged in battle with the Mardeaux once again, but this time they were called to retreat, not the Mardeaux, and Étienne discovered Commandant Bouchard had received a severe wound to his right forearm. Adrien needed help finding the weaver's so Aline went to help him, bringing her niece and nephew along because Joanne was busy. Étienne had volunteered to help Commandant Bouchard while his arm healed, which some were purporting Étienne was only doing to get promoted, led by the man Étienne had flogged for condemning the previous Commandant, which was more punishment than the man should have received, for which Étienne felt badly . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“I understand, you were inexperienced, and, having seen much of the men you commanded in these fifteen weeks, I can see how your hold over them would’ve been tenuous, you needed a way to enforce your authority over them,” Commandant Bouchard said. “I do think that Cavalier Drouin believes that I beat you for your lust for power, for he was not well enough to be present and hear the actual sentence.”

Étienne nodded.

“Many of those men you commanded have been persuaded to agree with him,” Commandant Bouchard went on. “And now the men that I brought here are believing them for they know nothing of your brief period of command.”

“And they speak ill of me, all?” Étienne asked.

“Oui, unfortunately,” Commandant Bouchard replied.

“Is there any way we can inform them otherwise?” Étienne asked.

“I do not know,” Commandant Bouchard said.

“Even if I were to make grand overtures of submission they wouldn’t be convinced?” Étienne asked.

“Non,” Commandant Bouchard replied. “If anything such would persuade them that what they believe about you is true.”

Étienne sighed. It seemed that the opposition never ceased.

“This troubles you greatly,” Commandant Bouchard said.

“As much as there are men who claim me to be a living saint, I feel that there are a lot more men who would rather me not exist at all,” Étienne replied. “Many resent the fact that I have achieved what I have when I am so young, while they are Paresseux, they want to be rewarded when they do nothing, and they attack me when I get rewarded for putting in effort that they’re not willing to.”

Commandant Bouchard nodded. “I have seen an unusual amount of men who were under your command who are besieged by Paresse,” he agreed. “I do believe that this unit was one of the most impie units I’ve ever seen the remnants of, if I were not here to see it I would not believe it.”

“We had no prêtre with us until you brought Père Trudeau,” Étienne replied.

“What?” Commandant Bouchard asked, looking appalled. “There was no prêtre?”

“Non,” Étienne replied. “I don’t even know if there was a prêtre when I came here.”

Commandant Bouchard groaned and put his forehead into his hand.

“It is no wonder?” Étienne asked.

“None at all,” Commandant Bouchard replied, his voice shuddering.

Étienne nodded.

“I had heard reports that Commandant LeBlanc was not all that pieux,” Commandant Bouchard said, raising his head out of his hand. “But this? I didn’t realise this.”

“I’m sorry,” Étienne replied. “I should have mentioned it sooner.”

“It’s not your fault,” Commandant Bouchard said, shaking his head. “Piété is not easy, I will be the first to tell you it’s not, however, I will also be the first to tell you that the effort is supremely worthwhile.”

Étienne nodded.

“If we do not fight this war for Dieu, then what do we fight for?” Commandant Bouchard asked. “It is no Holy Cause if we do not fight for Dieu.”

Pronunciations:

Drouin: drooah'

Parreseux: pahrehsuh

Paresse: pahrehss

Impie: ahmpee

Prêtre: prehtrh

Père: pehr

Trudeau: troodoh

Pieux: pyuh

Piété: pyehteh

Dieu: d'yoo

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 11

Word Count: 66,008

Summary of Events:

Aline pretended she was going to exchange vegetables with a neighbour in order to visit with Adrien, whom she hadn't seen since the last fire had occurred, but she'd wanted to tell she'd recovered from the exhaustion she'd felt afterwards. Étienne was granted leave to visit Gisèle again, as six weeks had passed, and was slightly troubled to learn — considering the proximity of the Mardeaux to Beaudroit — from her that she was certain she had conceived a child. Another smith and his family were killed in a fire that also claimed the life of the saddler who'd lived next door, troubling Aline; Adrien took her for a walk in an effort to comfort her, heading straight north from her house . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

They lapsed into silence and kept walking down the street until they’d reached the north side of Trempré, where Aline had never been before, and thus she was surprised to see a wall blocking her view of the countryside.

“Interesting, isn’t it?” Adrien replied.

“Why is it only here?” Aline asked.

“To give the appearance of being completely fortified, I guess,” Adrien replied.

“It seems foolish not to fortify the whole city,” Aline said.

“Indeed,” Adrien agreed.

They turned east and walked along the wall, which had towers at the corners and even ran to the south a short distance before it ended; although Aline noticed that it didn’t end as neatly as she would have expected, instead the wall looked like it was partially finished, with bricks stepping down all the way from the top of the wall looming high above her to the ground.

“It looks unfinished,” Aline said.

“It does,” Adrien agreed. “I wonder when it was started and when it stopped.”

Aline nodded.

“It didn’t look like anyone was posted on it, what do you say we climb it?” Adrien asked.

“Climb it?” Aline asked.

“Oui,” Adrien replied. “Come.”

She followed Adrien to the foot of the brick stairs, where he reached his leg up in a bit of an exaggerated step to get onto the first brick, he held out his hand.

Aline took it and was grateful for the help, as it was a bit higher of a reach fo her, considering she was a good head shorter than him.

Gasping, she managed not to scream as Adrien put his hands about her sides and lifted her up onto the next brick; it didn’t take them too long to reach the top of the wall, where the vista was more breathtaking than Aline had expected as they stood on the completed portion of the rampart.

Golden hills rolled away as far as the eye could see, dotted with clusters of grey deciduous trees and dark green conifers mostly in somewhat straight lines dividing fields, although where natural ravines and creeks flowed they cut more undulatory trails, and in the low spots they were more round clusters.

L’Abris were too far to the south to be seen, but to the north Aline could see something quite in the distance.

“What is that?” she asked, pointing.

“The front,” Adrien replied.

“It’s that close?” Aline asked.

“That’s not really close,” Adrien said.

“It has to be less than a day’s ride,” Aline said.

“It’s very possible,” Adrien replied.

“That’s closer than I thought it was,” Aline said.

“Well, there has been an offensive,” Adrien said.

“Obviously against us, not for us,” Aline said.

“Obviously,” Adrien agreed.

“Then it’s very important that we restore the arsenal,” Aline said quietly. “And the fact that we’ve lost two smiths is even worse.”

Adrien said nothing, not that Aline blamed him; what was there to say? It was clear that the Mardeaux were nearer than she’d thought, and that made the fires in Trempré all the more troubling, all the more devastating; they were in very significant danger.

Pronunciation:

L’Abris: lahbreeze

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 10

Word Count: 60,055

Summary of Events:

Étienne discovered the troublesome cavaliers who'd resented his interim command were trying to do something to him and, restraining one of them, sent a trustworthy cavalier to get help, only for that cavalier to be murdered by the troublesome cavaliers. Aline reeled over the news that the smith, his family and — at present — fifty other people had died in the fire, contrary to what she had hoped. The troublesome cavaliers were shipped off for trial by Duc Louis and Étienne was taken to Commandant Bouchard's tent to talk about his distress over his part in the trustworthy cavalier's death . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“You do understand things happen by accident, do you not?” Commandant Bouchard asked.

“Oui,” Étienne replied.

“You did not know that they were lurking outside the tent waiting to kill you,” Commandant Bouchard said. “Why do you blame yourself?”

“I knew they were mad at me, that they didn’t like me,” Étienne replied. “I should have expected it.”

“Had they attempted such a thing before?” Commandant Bouchard asked.

“Non,” Étienne replied.

“Then I see no reason why you should have,” Commandant Bouchard replied.

Étienne wanted to argue, but he had no argument, so he just stared at the rug just ahead of Commandant Bouchard’s well-worn brown leather boots.

“If you want to become a Commandant in this army you need to be able to handle this,” Commandant Bouchard said.

Étienne looked up at Commandant Bouchard. “What do you mean?”

“To be a Commandant is to send men to their death,” Commandant Bouchard replied, a serious and seemingly paternal look to his face. “We give orders to attack, to kill, fully knowing that the same order has been given on the other side, and as a result our men, too, are at risk of being killed. We cannot burden ourselves with the guilt of it, even though we are responsible, in part, for their deaths, as we ordered them to go where they could get killed.”

Silently Étienne gazed at Commandant Bouchard, whose facial expression was grave, and yet also looked as if he were haunted, seeing some sort of spectre in his mind’s eye.

“You, and your comrades, as well as I, we swore to defend our land from those who would take it from us, and would defile it, to uphold the Holy Cause, even if it cost us our lives,” Commandant Bouchard said. “We chose to forsake safety, health, comfort, and even life, we swore to obey orders, even though we could possibly not succeed in carrying them out by virtue of our death at the hands of another. I do not know who will live or die after each battle, so I send all of them. If I could know who would die I would not send them, but I do not know, so I send them all.”

Distress came over Commandant Bouchard’s face and he raised a hand as if to shroud his face, or maybe hold it in place so that it wouldn’t crumple.

It had never occurred to Étienne that it could be hard to be a Commandant, but as he watched Commandant Bouchard struggle he began to think of all the bodies that they had removed from the battlefield and sent home in flag-draped coffins to families who would mourn the losses for months and years. Commandant Bouchard was, in a way, guilty of sending those men to their deaths, but since he hadn’t known they would die he couldn’t really be blamed.

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 9

Word Count: 54,047

Summary of Events:

Aline ended up running into the woman most intent on marrying her off while at the butcher's and got into an argument because the woman thought she should be at least planning a wedding, if not married already. Étienne fought in another skirmish that was surprisingly more tough and exhausting than the previous ones had been; in fact, he fell asleep during matins because he was so exhausted. Aline was woken by the smell of smoke and discovered that a part of town very near where she lived was on fire, and she set to helping put out the blaze with Adrien, who helped her haul the kitchen washbasin filled with water . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

Adrien guided her as to where to throw the water and the flames hissed and sputtered, but unfortunately seemed largely unaffected by the dousing.

Nonetheless, Aline and Adrien continued fetching washbasins full of water and throwing them at the flames while others continued with their buckets — although with each subsequent load Aline noticed more and more pairs of people hauling washbasins between them, suggesting to her that the idea was catching on.

After a few loads, however, Aline’s arm started to get tired, and she was reluctant to take the basin up again after it’d been filled.

“Here,” Adrien said. “Let’s switch sides.”

Aline agreed and found that she didn’t feel so tired in her other arm, and they took to switching sides after every second load to keep their arms from tiring.

It took a long time before finally it seemed like the flames were really succumbing to the water being thrown at them from washbasins, or being beat onto them by soaked blankets that some people were willing to risk in the effort.

Personally Aline would never have risked a blanket in a firefighting effort, she would’ve been more like the others who used empty grain and flour sacks to beat back the fire, those sorts of things were much more expendable than blankets, especially considering that winter was not all that far off.

The sun was starting to rise in the east when, finally, it seemed the worst of the flames had been defeated and Aline collapsed wearily against Adrien. She had never felt so spent in her life.

“It’s like war,” Adrien said.

Tiredly raising her head off of Adrien’s chest, Aline looked around; the sight was haunting.

Black, burned wood, was in piles everywhere, some parts still resembled houses, while others toward the centre of the of the fire — where orange glows remained, as well as people actively throwing water onto them — was nothing more than ash heaps.

“Did they get out?” Aline asked.

“Who knows,” Adrien replied. “I wouldn’t go looking.”

“Non,” Aline agreed. “I wouldn’t dare.”

“Come, I’ll take you home,” Adrien replied quietly.

Aline turned to look at where the fire was still being fought and suddenly noticed the blackened stone chimney that still stood — as many around them did — where once a wall had been built up alongside it, it was different from all the others, and Aline felt a horror in her.

“La forge,” she whispered.

Adrien turned and looked, he said nothing.

“How did it happen?” Aline asked.

“I don’t know,” Adrien whispered.

“Now the other smiths are going to have to work even harder to make all the weapons we need,” Aline said.

“Come,” Adrien said. “Let’s go.”

Aline let Adrien guide her away, distraught to think that one of the forges had been lost, and that it certainly appeared to have been the epicentre of the fire, suggesting that an accident had happened in the shop that had caused the blaze; she hoped the smith and his family had gotten out, it would be terrible if they had died in the blaze.

Pronunciations:

La forge: lah fahrzh

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 8

Word Count: 48,059

Summary of Events:

Following the third skirmish in a week with the Mardeaux — who were sending steadily more numbers each time, but still coming out the losers — Étienne was summoned to Commandant Bouchard, who informed him that he would only be allowed to see his wife once every six weeks, starting that night. Aline worked in the kitchen, watching smoke billow from a fire that had been burning since before dawn; Adrien stopped by, curious about it, and when Aline had no information for him he went to investigate, and revealed to her that the arsenal — which held weapons and armour for the men of Trempré to use if the town came under attack — was what was on fire, which left Trempré effectively defenceless. As soon as the sun set Étienne set out for Beaudroit, where he found his wife very anxious, and to whom he gave a summary of the developments, including revealing the suspicion he and Commandant Bouchard had that the Mardeaux were after Beaudroit . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“They are after Beaudroit?” Gisèle asked.

“Of course,” Étienne replied. “Why wouldn’t they be?”

Gisèle clutched Étienne, pressing her head into his shoulder. He could feel her anxiety. He leaned his head onto hers.

“The extra strength has been here one week, though,” Gisèle whispered. “Why did you not come? I feared you lost.”

“I am under punishment,” Étienne replied.

Gisèle released him and stared at him with extreme distress. “What have you done?”

“My absence while my unit was destroyed did not reflect well on my character to Comte Everard,” Étienne replied. “He accused us of Luxure.”

“But we are man and wife!” Gisèle protested.

“I told him that,” Étienne replied. “In fact, I lost my temper at him.”

“And that is why you are punished,” Gisèle said.

“In part,” Étienne replied, keeping his gaze down at his knees, where he’d dropped it when he’d confessed his loss of temper.

“In part?” Gisèle asked, soft fingers coaxing him to raise his head and turn it toward her. “What do you mean?”

“Commandant Bouchard is more devout than Commandant LeBlanc,” Étienne replied. “Although he agrees that love between a man and wife is not Luxure, he believes that I have faltered in my piety, and my commitment to the oath I swore to Duc Louis, he believes that my desire to love you is a master over me, that I lack total self control.”

“And so he is punishing you?” Gisèle asked.

“I see it that way,” Étienne replied. “Comte Everard had ordered me banned from seeing you for six months, and Commandant Bouchard has elected to amend that order in an effort to build up my self control so that I am master over my desire to love you.”

“How is he doing it?” Gisèle asked.

“After tonight I will not see you for six weeks, and again, for seven months,” Étienne replied. “Dependent upon my conduct, I may be allowed to see you every three weeks thereafter, but he refuses to let me see you more often than every fortnight, and if he finds my conduct to be poor he will increase the amount of time between our visits in an effort to force self control onto me.”

Gisèle looked somewhat saddened. She looked up at him. “You gave an oath to fight.”

“I know,” Étienne replied. “It is not easy, though, to think of being apart from you for so long.”

Nodding, Gisèle moved in close and kissed his lips softly. “Let us not waste what we are given then.”

Étienne rose to his feet, snatched his wife into his arms, and kissed her passionately, he had no intentions of wasting a second of this night, he wanted as many seconds to treasure over the next six weeks as possible.

Pronunciations:

Gisèle: zhihzehl'

Luxure: luhkzyuhr

LeBlanc: lehblahnk

Inexplicable Incidents: Day 7

Word Count: 42,076

Summary of Events:

M. LaFleur came by just as Aline was finished hanging laundry, needing her help finding another place in Trempré, and as they walked he convinced her to start calling him Adrien, seeing as she had no problem with him calling her Aline. Étienne and his comrades were roused by a call to arms before dawn and clashed with a surprisingly small force of Mardeaux soldiers, whom they managed to hold off until the soldiers retreated at dawn. Joanne having recovered fairly well from her miscarriage, Aline was able to get more housework done because she didn't have to mind the children, thus she had some free time, and so she went to wander about town, soon finding Adrien, who had finished helping M. Cournoyer bring in the harvest and thus had nothing to do for a few hours . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

“Then let us explore,” Adrien said.

“Well, where do we start?” Aline asked.

Adrien was silent for a moment, surveying the bustling streets around them, full of mostly women and elderly people about their day-to-day business.

“How about we start by you showing me all the places you know, and then we go from there to the places that neither of us know?” Adrien suggested. “Show me your favourite places.”

“I don’t know that I have favourite places,” Aline admitted.

“Really?” Adrien asked.

“I’ve been too busy doing housework to be able to find places that I might like to go,” Aline said. “And I’m not really one who enjoys buildings, I like being out in the woods and such, but there aren’t a lot of woods around here.”

“Indeed,” Adrien agreed. “But what about businesses you like to go to because the people are nice, are there any of those?”

“Oui,” Aline replied.

“Then let us start there,” Adrien said.

“I don’t have money to buy anything,” Aline said.

“And we’re not shopping,” Adrien replied. “We don’t have to go in the businesses, we just have to look at them. Besides, you don’t really want to introduce me to everyone, do you?”

“Non,” Aline admitted.

“They wouldn’t leave you alone if you did,” Adrien said.

“Exactly,” Aline agreed.

“So?” Adrien asked. “Where do we start?”

Aline looked around for a moment before leading the way to the librairie, where she looked in the window somewhat longingly at all the books; she hadn’t realised how much she would miss reading until she’d left Abondelle to help Joanne, but now she hadn’t read in ages, as she hadn’t the time to do so, and she yearned to read again, to disappear from the world for a few hours into the pages of a book.

“You like to read?” Adrien asked.

“Oui,” Aline replied. “Not all the time, but more than I am reading right now.”

“What do you like to read the most?” Adrien asked.

“Most anything,” Aline replied. “When it comes to stories. I also like to read about other countries.”

“Do you wish to travel someday?” Adrien asked.

“Maybe,” Aline replied.

“If you could pick one place in all of Ureonaiea, where would you go?” Adrien asked.

“Aifos, I think,” Aline replied. “It sounds so beautiful and peaceful.”

“It does?” Adrien asked.

“Oui,” Aline replied. “I know they’ve gone through their troubles in the past, but right now, particularly compared to us, they are living in idyll.”

“You want peace then?” Adrien asked.

“Oui,” Aline replied. “The way it is told of in the books makes it sound so wonderful, I don’t think I want anything else half as much as I want peace.”

Pronunciations:

Librairie: lihbrahree

Abondelle: ahbohndehll

Ureonaiea: yoorahneighah

Aifos: ayfohss