Morning all and welcome to the Fifteen Minute Novel. Here I take the start of a story idea and work on it for fifteen minutes a day. I started with an old writing prompt that interested me, cleaned it up a bit to fit the basic outline of the story I want to write and then set aside fifteen minutes each week day to see it grow. Each morning’s writing starts with the last sentence of the day before. And so now we have the story of Kasca…
Day 13: The village was built on a rise and had a good view of the land below.
The village was built on a rise and had a good view of the land below. She knew there were farmhouses dotting the landscape. While night had fallen it was a new night fall. There should be those still sitting up in their homes. Some might be reading or sewing by candle light. Others might have some other small task or simply be readying themselves for bed.
Looking out over the landscape, Kasca could see no lights. Someone should have been doing something after nightfall. Instead there was only darkness.
Past the farmland, Kasca could see the glittering of the river as it made it’s way further south. It licked up flashes of light from the moonlight. It was the only light she could see for miles. Kasca knew that the road wound though the farmland and to the river. There was a small cluster of buildings for those needeing to do business on the river. It was a smaller cluster than it once was.
At one time if could almost be called a village in it’s own right. ‘Laran,’ Kasca recalled from maps. It was never large but there was enough trade and good transport to keep it going in season. The overlord controlled the trade now and all shipments went to his stronghold and were then sent out to their destinations from there.
Kasca was certain there was still some smuggling going on at the former port of Laran but most of the buildings were unoccupied. The patrols went through the area regularly before looping back through the farmland to head back to the stronghold. Given the dead beasts on the road, she doubted the patrols were regular. Deciding she needed distance from Neva and it’s dead, Kasca headed to the road and walked briskly down. With the moon high and darkness shrouding the landscape, Kasca decided to drop her concealments. It would conserve her energy.
If she saw movement, heard any sounds or came near the dead, she would put her shielding back in place. ‘And not stop to eat or drink anything.’ She wasn’t certain what sort of contamination reigned but she would use her own supplies rather than risk restocking here.
She moved quickly through the open road, descending the hill and dipping into the farmland. Despite the open fields there were thickly planted hedgerows and a few looming trees once she was on the flat ground and Kasca felt less exposed. She came upon the first of the farm sites and saw no light, no movement. She slipped on her concealment and crept closer. The sign for death and illness were painted on the doors and in the yard outside the barn she found the charred remains of the barnyard animals. Kasca returned to the road and kept moving. Each time she came upon a farmhouse she did the same.
She shielded herself from both observation and contamination and investigated. Each time, she found only death. There was some relief in reaching Laran. It had long been mostly abandoned and did not look freshly emptied. Outside one abandoned hulk of a building she found three dead beasts. They were drier, more desiccated than those on the road before Neva. The sign for death and illness was painted on the one occasionally occupied building.
Ten til Midnight 