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 20: In addition, the cottage contained a bed, well covered with blankets a small table to serve as a kitchen workspace and two chairs.
In addition, the cottage contained a bed, well covered with blankets a small table to serve as a kitchen workspace and two chairs. It was everything Kasca could need for a stay in isolation. It was clean and comfortable. She was a little concerned that the food was more than she would need for just two weeks.
‘But it could have been stocked for winter or more than one person,’ Kasca was willing to admit. She let her pack slide to the floor. She kept her cloak on however and moved to the kitchen to pick up one of the large kettles. She then took it back out to the ewers of water. They were a recent addition and the dirt mounded around their bases to keep them in place was freshly placed.
Like the palisade it seemed to have been added as a concession to the situation. She went to one of the ewers where there was a dipper attached. She pried off the lid and dipped a measure. She sniffed it and muttered a short spell over the water to decide if it was clean or contaminated. It proved to be clear sweet water. Relieved, Kasca took a deep drink. She had been rationing everything as she traveled, including water. She had no knowledge of the disease stalking the land and did not want to risk falling ill. She needed to get news of the Alliance and the post harvest plans to whoever needed to know them and then find a way home.
She could do neither if the contamination took her. As Kasca drank she realized how thirsty she had been. When the edge was taken off her thirst, her belly reminded her she shorted it meals as well. For now it was content with the water, but she knew food would soon be a priority. She filled the kettle she brought with water and resealed the ewer. She took the kettle into the cottage and over to the hearth.
Kasca soon had a fire going with the items left for her use and set the kettle on. As she waited for the water to heat she took a basket outside and picked some of the ripe apples. When she returned with the basket, Kasca closed the door on the outside world and finally slipped off her cloak. She hung it on a provided peg by the door and after checking to see the apples were not poisoned, she began to eat them. The apples filled the emptiness in her belly and she felt her exhaustion begin to burn. She promised herself a better meal once she slept.
The water was not boiling, but the fire managed to take the chill off both it and the cottage. Kaska poured some of the water into a large bowl before putting the kettle next to the fire to continue to warm.
Kasca peeled off her travel worn garments, removing them fully for the first time since she left home. She shivered as the air hit her skin and pulled a soft cloth from her bag. She dipped it in the warm water and cleaned herself as well as she could.
When she finally felt clean again, Kasca pulled fresh clothes from her pack and dressed. Clean and dressed, she emptied the bowl out of the back door and rinsed it with clean water. Clean and with something in her belly, Kasca was finding it hard to keep her eyes open. She latched the doors and crawled into the bed even though the sun was still in the sky.
Despite the strange place, she fell asleep almost instantly.
Kasca did not dream. For her that was a rarity and as she blinked blearily awake she realized the lack of dreams was a sign of just how hard she pushed herself.
Ten til Midnight 