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 34: The bumps she saw could have been a rash.
The bumps she saw could have been a rash. It could have been an allergic reaction or simply stress causing his skin to break out. ‘It could also be a sign of the infection spreading.’ She didn’t know but she did know that at the moment, she was not infected. She didn’t know what would happen to the Sanctuary, but she knew the palisade around the cottage was barred on the outside.
Kasca found she didn’t mind being locked in all that much. If she needed to, there were ways she could escape. It would cause damage to the palisade, but she could do it. She didn’t see the point at the moment.
She did find herself bothered that it could be opened from the outside because it could let others decided to come in. ‘That might be something to remedy.’ She decided. She also realized it wouldn’t be too difficult to bar the entrance from this side. Thinking of the rash on Drax’s skin, she decided it might be a good idea to bar the gate before this cottage became considered the last safe place.
Kasca put on her winder gear and went to inspect the gate from this side. She crunched through the snow and as she approached she realized it would be easier than she thought. Whoever built the gate decided it should be bolted from both sides.
‘Either that or they were so used to building palisades that bolted on the inside that they built it that way and then added the outside one after.’
Regardless of intentions, Kasca was pleased the gate could be barred from her side. The bar she needed was set into the wall and locked into place. The locking mechanism was stiff from the cold and it took all of Kasca’s effort to shift, however once it was in place, she felt better. She trusted those at the sanctuary but knew that desperate people did desperate things. She wasn’t certain how desperate people could become.
Chilled now, but feeling safer, Kasca returned to the cottage. She warmed up by the fire but found her thoughts still dark and chilling.
Ignoring thoughts of those at the Sanctuary, Kasca tried to think of the Overlord. He was either dead or he fled. In the time line Kasca could determine then his keep was infected fairly early on. With the collectors coming and going, the patrol moving about and the central nature of his organization, she couldn’t tell if the Keep was the origin of the disease or simple quickly contaminated.
‘I imagine as those working for the Overlord are the only ones who get travel passes, they are the ones who spread it.’
Kasca found her thoughts turning back to the Overlord himself. She did not see him in the keep which meant he was either dead or he fled. ‘If he fled the contamination then either he took it with him or he escaped before he could become contaminated.’
While Kasca wouldn’t mind seeing the Overlord contaminated and dead, if he fled he would have fled to somewhere outside his empire. To a place the disease had not yet touched.
They were an island nation. A very large island, but an island nonetheless. If the contamination was here, then there was the possibility it would remain here. If someone contaminated managed to flee the island, the disease could easily spread throughout the continent engulfing the whole of Garondia.
Ten til Midnight 