Running Waters (Working Title)
My NaNoWriMo 2007 novel -- an alternative history fantasy.
The stories are listed in proper order, from beginning to end (instead of blog order).
Rose Bainbridge is a gunwitch. Conscripted into the English King's Army at the age of 14, trained to use her magic as a weapon of war, and now making a living as a scout for colonists in the New World, Rose finds herself in the middle of a war between Old World enemies.
NOTE: This novel is incomplete, and unlikely to be completed as originally outlined.
Nano Novel – Chapter 1. Gunwitch
Nano Novel – Chapter 1. Gunwitch
Running Waters
by David Michael
Chapter 1. Gunwitch
As the drooping, moss-hung boughs of the bayuk gave way to the open sky of the lake, Rose Bainbridge picked up her paddle and began paddling. Stroke left, stroke right. Left, right, left, she kept her rhythm steady, matching the speed of the pirogue as the small boat moved across the surface of the water toward the rusted iron and smokestained concrete skyline of New Venezia.
Maybe because she was on her way to the fort, summoned by a general as if she were still under his command, or maybe because after twelve years as a soldier in the King’s army she could no longer not think like one, her motions with the paddle were precise, matching the calls of, “Left! Right. Left! Right. Left! …” that only she could hear. Nearly a decade as a free citizen-in-exile, but drill sergeants from her past remained with her, shouting at her still.
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Nano Novel – Chapter 2. Sister’s Keeper
Nano Novel – Chapter 2. Sister’s Keeper
Running Waters
by David Michael
Chapter 2. Sister’s Keeper
Rosalind gathered the hem of her skirt with her left hand and pulled it to her knees so she could climb the fence. She reached the top using an awkward one-hand-two-leg gait and found that her skirt still prevented her from lifting her leg high enough. So she pulled the skirt up even further, exposing her legs and her underclothes. The late spring wind brushed against her legs from behind, giving her gooseflesh.
“Rosalind!” Elizabeth squealed.
Nano Novel – Chapter 3. Thorn
Nano Novel – Chapter 3. Thorn
Running Waters
by David Michael
Chapter 3. Thorn
Thomas Ducoed resisted the urge to smile at the combined looks of disbelief and disgust Rose sent at him across the table. How many years had it been since they last saw each other? Fifteen? And nothing had changed. She still hated him, and he still found her stubbornness amusing, almost endearing. The muscles of her jaw tensed as they always did when she was refusing to admit he was right. She would come around–reluctantly–but not if he smiled and showed that he knew.
Nano Novel – Chapter 4. A New World
Nano Novel – Chapter 4. A New World
Running Waters
by David Michael
Chapter 4. A New World
Margaret stood in the bow, leaning against the forward rail as Puncher chugged and splashed its way across the lake. For this first part of their trip to see Da, she had decided on two things. First, she would spend the entire time on deck, looking at the water and the sky and the trees of the distant shorelines. And, second, she would spend none of that time with Janett.
Nano Novel – Chapter 5. Picking Up the Pistol
Nano Novel – Chapter 5. Picking Up the Pistol
Running Waters
by David Michael
Chapter 5. Picking Up the Pistol
Rosalind woke in the enclosed carriage, the stuffy air and the uneven rocking motion making it hard to sleep for any length of time. Even the bitter-tasting tea her captors made her drink, which made her head feel light and her arms and legs feel very heavy couldn’t totally overcome the discomforts of the wooden bench she sat on, the loneliness of being away from her family for the first time, the feelings of betrayal and abandonment stemming from that same family, and the extreme boredom of riding in a box for the second day in a row. Her journey–to wherever the Leftenant and Sergeant were taking her–which had begun with such an extreme of emotion and struggle, had become a tedium broken only by meager meals, the morning dose of tea, and infrequent, tethered stops to answer the calls of nature.
Nano Novel – Chapter 6. In the Midst
Nano Novel – Chapter 6. In the Midst
Running Waters
by David Michael
Chapter 6. In the Midst
Rose helped Chal settle Margaret into a sitting position against the fallen trunk of a tree. Then Rose propped her rifle against the trunk beside the girl, and slipped the pack off her shoulders and let it fall to the ground at her feet. She picked up the rifle again, checked it out of habit, and looked back down at Margaret.
The girl’s head lolled to one side, and she slumped against pack, eyes closed. Then her eyes popped open and she seemed about to scream. Rose reached forward, but the girl recovered herself and visibly swallowed the scream.
Nano Novel – Chapter 7. Cold Hands
Nano Novel – Chapter 7. Cold Hands
Running Waters
by David Michael
Chapter 7. Cold Hands
As they walked away from the river, Margaret held onto Mr. Thomas’s hand with both of hers, still in shock, eyes wide, hair disheveled and falling about her face and smelling of bile, hardly conscious but not daring to close her eyes. The ringing in her ears drowned out the remembered sounds of Private Tishman’s last few seconds. But if she closed her eyes, she would see those seconds all over again.
Cold hands, like long claws had come out of the darkness behind her, closed on her arms and pulled her away from Private Tishman. She screamed and screamed, calling out for Miss Rose, but the woman had already disappeared back into the cave in the middle of the river.
Nano Novel – Chapter 8. Push and Flow
Nano Novel – Chapter 8. Push and Flow
Running Waters
by David Michael
Chapter 8. Push and Flow
Chal sat on the patch of grass, her back to the bayuk channel, facing the direction Rose had gone, facing the handsome young Major Haley and the pretty young Janett. She saw them all, the two in front of her, and, not with her eyes but with the senses of the water and the grass and the trees around her, the figure of her friend getting farther away with every step. Farther away from her, and closer to the … wrongness … that accompanied Ducoed.