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 42: She relinquished her outdoor garments, hanging her cloak on the peg by the door as she began her day.
She relinquished her outdoor garments, hanging her cloak on the peg by the door as she began her day. Warmed from the fire, Kasca went though her normal routine. The long scrying of the day before left her with a slight headache. Today she would study and recover. With luck, she would find the information to help her with her efforts.
She made her tea and ate her breakfast as her afternoon meal simmered on the edge of the fire. There was no more snow but the wind moaned around the cottage. There would be little time spent outside today. When she completed her morning chores, Kasca took the books down and began thumbing through them. When she found a reference to scrying, no matter how brief she stopped and read it through. Much of what she read, she already knew.
Still she found some useful information. One of the most useful bits was that she could slip through the book the same way she slid down a hallway. Instead of entering a room, she would co through the cover to each page. According to the author who penned the variation few used it because such a thing was exhausting and time consuming.
“I have the time,” Kasca told herself. “If I find something it might be worth the energy.”
One of the other things Kasca found was something she hadn’t really noticed before. The books came from the Sanctuary library. They were marked on the inside of the cover. There was an inventory number that corresponded to a ledger so the book could be found by someone doing research. She wasn’t certain if these were permanently removed or if someone borrowed them from the Sanctuary library and they were forgotten in the haste to make this cottage secure.
“At least if I need to I may be able to visit the Sanctuary library.” Each of the books had several blank pages at either end and in one Kasca noticed small bits of the back page were torn out in small fingernail sized chunks. It was in the volume that mentioned both using an object to go to a specific place as well as the small footnote regarding looking through books.
‘I bet someone tried it.’
Looking at the page again, she realized the footnote was added in someone else’s hand, the writing not quite a match for the rest of the page. It was interesting to speculate as to why whoever added it couldn’t simply go to the Sanctuary Library, but for now, she was glad a notation was added.
She Took the books back to the shelf placing them where they belonged one by one. For now, she needed to spend the day recovering. In the morning she would once again visit the Overlord’s keep. Since she had her own memories to guide her and did not need the addition of an item to the bowl she knew she could expend less energy with a general search. Later if something were to be found, she could employ other tricks.
‘Need to know what to search first,’ she thought.
The day passed quietly. Her headache faded and she felt rested and relaxed. She tried not to worry over much about what was going on outside the four walls. She knew it was bad, but she needed a break from thinking about death, if only for a day. The next morning Kasca woke, recovered from her efforts and ready to return to the search.
Ten til Midnight 