Well, whatever stomach bug Georgia had the other day, Allison has now, so I'm doing solo parenting. Got a few good hours of work in between taking Georgia to preschool and heading off to pick her up, so managed to beat the day's quota, but not by much.

35,891 / 100,000 (35.9%)

Today's writing included a pivotal scene, as Artor, Galaad, and the others enter the "hedge of mist" that Geraint has told them about, and find themselves in the Summer Lands. Then, of course, they stop for lunch, because, really, who wouldn't?

After lunch, they start doing a bit of exploring, and encounter some of the natives, which brings us to today's sample.

The seven had so far encountered no living thing in the Summer Lands, save the unearthly silver-branched glass-apple trees, but after a time they came upon a herd of strange creatures, the likes of which none of them had ever seen.

There were some dozen of the beasts in all. They seemed an unlikely mixture of badger and lizard, with white fur over their round bellies and fierce-looking talons on the tips of their narrow feet, their protruding snouts ending in a long, spiraling horn. These horned beasts munched contentedly on a pasture of the bright-red heath, and paid the seven no mind.

A short while later, they encountered a flock of birds that stood on tall, thin legs, their snow-white feathers sticking out in all directions, that regarded them with cool, emotionless gazes. As the seven drew near, the ungainly birds opened their enormous beaks, emitting ear-piercing shrieks, and then ran away, feathers ruffling, their long legs carrying them in prodigious strides across a hillside and out of sight.

If there had remained any doubts that they now walked in decidedly unearthly lands, such had long been dispelled. The seven had managed to become somewhat accustomed to whatever element of the environment had unmanned them beneath the silver trees, but they were still queasy, even slightly disoriented. Fortunately for them, the worst effects of the condition seemed to ebb and flow like waves, such that while any one of them was suffering the worst of it, another was in a better state, and so together they were able to advance across the Summer Lands without overmuch delay.

They hoped aloud that these difficulties would wane and pass as they spent more time in this climate, but as yet there were no signs of any general improvement. As it was, they counted themselves lucky that none of the fauna they had encounter had yet proved hostile to them.

Then they reached the shore, and fortune, it seemed, was no longer with them.