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 60: She didn’t know if those in the Sanctuary trusted visions more than outsiders or if Jascon had plans of his own.
She didn’t know if those in the Sanctuary trusted visions more than outsiders or if Jascon had plans of his own. ‘Something to watch,’ Kasca decided. If they weren’t willing to acknowledge that she helped then it didn’t argue well for their treatment of her once they recovered.
‘Certainly practicing the transportation spell.’ She decided.
She listened to them discuss Jascon. While they were willing to believe in his vision, a lot of that willingness was born of desperation. They considered Jascon high handed and knew he was a bad man to cross, but the disease had taken so many of them that they were willing to grasp any chance at a cure.
Kasca found herself liking Jascon less and less the more she listened. ‘Maybe it’s personal and only these two don’t like him,’ she thought trying to give him the benefit of the doubt.
Once they collected their supplies Kasca remained in the storage area. The infected were the ones who touched the supplies. That meant she couldn’t be certain they were not contaminated.
‘But I do have the clearance spells I learned from the Overlord’s journals.’ He specifically designed them to work from a distance so that he could remove contamination from items. Kasca decided it was worth a try. Since the others so recently collected he supplies she knew they would not be back any time soon.
She focused and sent the clearance spells to the storage area. She focused on the space and concentrated on burning off all of the contamination. To her surprised Kasca saw little red gold sparks dancing through the air of the storage area. They were concentrated on the spaces where the two men sent for supplies moved and hadn’t really travelled deeply into the space yet. AS they burned off the sparks turned from red to yellow to blue.
When they reached blue the contamination was removed. ‘Just like the Overlord’s notes,’ Kasca thought. Still to be safe, Kasca decided to transport supplies from the back of the cupboard and this farthest away from contamination.
Kasca worked slowly. It took a lot of energy and most of the day, but she managed to collect all the supplies she needed to effect a cure for herself. When the elements were gathered, Kasca found she had little energy for anything else. She collapsed in front of the fire and contented herself with bread dipped into the last of her previously prepared soup.
Once rested, she began to slowly replicate what she learned of the Overlord’s cure, using the ingredients and magic to create a batch for herself. She bottled it and set it to the side to use if it became necessary. It took three days to make and once it was ready, Kasca slipped back into the Sanctuary.
Once there she watched and listened. As with the Overlord’s keep, she found it easier to visit each time. She suspected that after a while, she would be able to visit without the use of the scraps of paper. ‘After all I am on this island and the sanctuary is just an extension of space on this island.’
She set the thought aside and watched. They too managed to create the cure. Many were beyond help, the disease too advanced for the potions to work. Others began showing signs of improvement. Bottles of the cure were created for those who were uninfected, but Kasca saw that they remained in their isolation.
Ten til Midnight 