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 23: Instead, she turned her attention to the books on the shelf.
Instead, she turned her attention to the books on the shelf. It was a rarity to see books displayed any more. The overlord closed the schools and restricted educational access so that he could control the flow of knowledge. Reading and writing were taught in secret and books hidden.
Many of her town’s books were permanently moved to the same hiding cache where they hid food from the overlord’s collectors. Here there was an entire shelf.
‘And not just regular books,’ Kasca saw. While there were literary works which she suspected she would enjoy during her two week confinement, there were also books of magic. Those disappeared long before any of the schools were closed. The Overlord would brook no magic other than his own.
Kasca learned the few spells she knew through word of mouth. The village elders teaching all those born Touched with magic. Those classes were even more secret than anything else and were conducted in a secret location hidden with magic that the other villagers were not told about. They may know where the food was stored, they did not know where magic lessons were given.
No one wanted to risk a spy.
The memorized spells were passed down and there were only a handful. ‘I arrived under a concealment charm so they know I have magic,’ She reminded herself as she looked around guiltily. ‘They told me someone under a concealment charm would check on me.’
Still when she took the book of magic off the shelf, Kasca found her gaze slipping to corners and eyeing the locked door to make certain she was truly alone.
‘Given the quarantine I am more alone than usual,’ she reminded herself.
Kasca took the book from the shelf and walked back to the bed. She tried to make herself sit at the table, but it seemed too open. The bed was in the corner, solid walls behind her and a clear view of the rest of the room. Even though she knew no one would sneak up on her, she felt better sitting cross-legged on the bed with the book in front of her.
Kasca opened the cover. The light spell was the first she found. It had the spell she learned but variations to change the color that she didn’t know. Kasca turned the page wondering what else the book held. She found the concealment spell she used a few pages in and next to it was the spell that would allow her to see through the concealment spell. Given everything that was going on, Kasca thought adding this to her repertoire was probably a good idea.
‘This way when someone does come to check on me I can see them.’
Before she started working, she looked through the rest of the book. There were spells she hadn’t dreamed existed and some she heard only whispered of in stories. Kasca felt her excitement growing.
‘At least I will be able to put my time here to good use,’ she thought. The spells were useful in general and would likely help her on her way home. She could then add them to the collection of spells the town had so that all their Touched could have them. It would make them stronger and be extremely helpful should the Alliance not go as planned.
Kasca turned back to the concealment spell and the spell allowing her to see through it and began her studies.
The days slipped past. Kasca did the necessary things to keep body and soul together. She ate she slept, she cleaned both herself and the cottage. She processed what little remained in the garden. Mostly Kasca studied the books that were left on the shelf.
Ten til Midnight 