The reason I say 'sort of' halfway finished is because I'm still writing more pages, which then makes the page count go up and so I'm never really halfway done...but I'd like to declare this as sort of halfway, anyway :D I have reached page 200 out of 413 (which now makes Book Two longer than Book Three... *sigh*) But it's awesome! And here's a small snippet to celebrate me finishing sort of half of Book Two :) Enjoy!
From the chapter 'The Ivalojoki'
I woke when it began to rain. Blinking rapidly a few times to clear the water from my eyes, I groaned and tried to huddle up closer to the tree trunk, but my muscles had grown stiff again during my sleep, making any movement a rather difficult and laborious process. Though the forest canopy provided some shelter from the rain, I ended up getting fairly wet regardless.
Drawing my knees slowly up to my chest, I leaned my head against the trunk, longing once again to speak with Lliam. I tried several times to contact him, but he did not once respond to me, to my bitter disappointment. I just needed to hear his voice again! Was that really too much to ask? Where was he, anyway?
I stared out at the falling rain for a while, not wanting to let myself drift into thoughts of home and of my family, for such memories would surely only make me feel worse, if that was indeed possible. It would only lead to more tears, more heartache, and more sense of failure, nothing productive or purposeful, at any rate.
My eyes began to feel heavy as the hours passed, as did my still-aching body. It would take many days for the trauma of my trip through the Ivalojoki to wear off, I knew, and just sitting in one spot for hours on end was not helping. But what else could I do? I had no way to hunt, nor any way to know if any of the plants growing in the small forest around me were edible. I had never even seen most of them, and it would be tempting fate greatly to try any of them. I was hungry and realised that I would soon need food, from whatever source, but I dared not let myself dwell on this fact; right now, there were more important things with which I could be worrying.
Leaning my head back against the damp wood of the tree, I forced all unnecessary thoughts from my head and focused on my upcoming trip to find Efroy, which would no doubt take several days, a very painful several days too, I suspected. All I could do was follow the river back upstream and hope I could recognise the place Roman had trapped us when I got there. If I got there at all. It was morbid of me to think that way, but after everything I had already been through, I would not be surprised one bit if I got waylaid or carried off on some other unwanted adventure along the way.
I closed my eyes, weary to my very bones. How had this happened to me? Or, better yet, why had this happened to me? I had never wanted to get caught up in such strange and violent events, much less had such a large role in them. My feeling of failure washed over me anew and, gritting my teeth in internal anguish and frustration, I fought to control my roiling emotions, but it was hard. So many people had been counting on me!
Finding it nearly impossible to let go of the battle within, I finally succumbed to sleep once more, completely exhausted and wishing intensely that I could go back in time to when my mother had asked me if I wanted to go to Hartford City so that I could say no.
Questions, suggestions, comments, rumours -- leave me a comment on this post! :)
