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 55: Kasca frowned, uncertain what to believe.
Kasca frowned, uncertain what to believe. She didn’t want to believe that the Sanctuary designed and let loose this disease. ‘Although if it does originate with them, then they would have had to make a deliberate choice to take it to the main island.’
The sanctuary was isolated. Since the Overlord declared it off limits no one entered and no one left. He sent patrols to be certain and then destroyed any of the ports near by. He redirected the river traffic so that it would not even flow past.
He wanted everyone to forget that the Sanctuary even existed.
‘I think he also hoped they would starve.’ Kasca knew they had the ability to produce food on the island, but suspected it was quite limited. ‘But they were a small population.’
She shook the thought away and turned her attention back to the disease. To sent it to the rest of the Island and have any hopes of getting it back to the Overlord, someone would have deliberately taken it off the island. It would not have just traveled with a trader or a bargeman simply because there were no casual visitors.
‘It could have infected he patrol of their islands first,’ Kasca thought. If she were going to try to get a disease back to the Overlord, that is where she would start. Not only would it eliminate the patrol, but someone would be sent to check.’
She could easily see it playing out. The patrol becoming infected and failing to report in, or reporting in and infecting others. ‘If they failed to report someone would have been sent and infection would be spread then.’
She knew of no one who didn’t work directly for the Overlord who would dare to go close enough to the patrol to see what happened to them. Even when she saw they were obviously dead on the road, she kept her distance.
‘It would limit the contagion,’ Kasca thought. ‘Or it would seem to.’
They either hadn’t taken into account how the staff of the Overlord’s keep functioned or didn’t think it was that virulent. From what she saw the staff interacted with more people than she would have suspected prior. ‘The sanctuary might have missed that.’
She doubted they would have expected his experiments as he attempted to find a cure for himself.
That was the part that bothered Kasca. Th experiments.
Thinking about them, she knew that if the Sanctuary did release the disease it was not unlike the Overlord’s experiments. He did not care who died as he sought to find a cure. They did not seem to worry overmuch about anyone else who may die as long as they could kill the Overlord.
It was, when boiled down, a similar thought pattern.
‘If they started it,’ Kasca thought, more than willing to give them the benefit of the doubt. It was possible that they noticed the lack of patrol and sent someone to investigate. The contagion could easily have been brought back that way.
Kasca realized her thoughts were going in circles and she was too tired to stop them. She was also willing to believe the best in the Sanctuary because like her, they too despised the Overlord. For now, she finished her meal and needed sleep. When she was rested, she could search for the spell that would allow her to contact the people in the sanctuary. For now, she needed sleep.
Friday, June 26th: Day 56: For now, she needed sleep.
Ten til Midnight 