Nanowrimo 2021 Days 20 + 21 - Word Count and Favorite Bit (Patreon)

This weekend I added 3004 words to Seek the Oasis, bringing my total word count to 34,004.

She slowed as she approached the gate’s mountain, a wave of exhaustion taking her as the past four days of travel hit her all at once without the magical energy to sustain her. Her limbs felt heavy and stiff, just flexing her hands took a herculean effort. Sonnak was not much better, panting heavily. She took a moment to catch their breaths, but only a moment.

The climb felt arduous, each step taking the effort of dozen and adding to their exhaustion three-fold. But she could not stop. Even when Sonnak refused to go any further, she simply slid out of the saddle and hefted him over her shoulders. He protested noisily, barking and wuffing in her ear, but Aysel would not be convinced. He would not move, and she would not leave him behind. This was their only solution.

With gritted teeth and burning shoulders, Aysel dragged herself up the mountain on lead legs. Her heart jumped into her throat when a particularly ill-placed step on a loose rock sent her sliding back down a few inches. Her vision was starting to lose focus, blurring at the edges as sweat rolled down the side of her face.

She collapsed to her knees when she finally reached the gate, barely catching herself with her hands. The loose pebbles stunk as they scraped her hand. Sonnak scrambled off her shoulders, whining anxiously. Hooves stamping, he looked from Aysel to the gate and the mountain pass beyond it. His nose twitched. Something was there. Something familiar? He wasn’t growling, so Aysel figured it had to be at least vaguely familiar to him.

“Asli?” she called, voice cracked and strained. Her throat was parched. Did she even drink these past few days? She couldn’t remember. “Asli! Malai! Anyone?”

Her arms shook with the effort of holding her weight. The blurriness crept farther in from the edges of her vision, followed closely by shadows. The sounds around her were faded and muffled, almost impossible for her to comprehend. Exhaustion unlike anything she’d ever felt consumed her. Her arms gave out, and the darkness took her.