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 62: She only had to wait until travel was more of a possibility.
She only had to wait until travel was more of a possibility. Kasca fell into a routine. She spent a little time watching those at the Sanctuary, monitoring their recovery. That Jascon was taking sole responsibility for the recovery was not a surprise. It was claimed he and his vision were responsible.
Kasca didn’t need credit, she just needed to monitor what his taking credit meant for her. At the moment attention wasn’t turning her way. She had time, but she felt it was running out. From her study of the Overlords notes, both in his keep and in the residence where he died, Kasca learned the more she visited a place, the less she needed the additions to the scrying bowl and the less exhausted it made her.
Seeing the vast library of magical knowledge the Sanctuary kept locked away, Kasca was determined to be able to enter at will and extend her knowledge. She visited, studying both the people and the place. She added to her supplies and began readying herself to leave this place. When she left her scrying bowl she practiced moving herself about the compound trying for further and further distances. She was limited by the palisade walls as she did not wish to leave just yet, but she was able to move in concentric rings around the space in longer and longer spirals. Given that the current that brought her to the shores would be of no use getting back she was concerned about the distance she could travel.
Kasca studied a map she found in the Sanctuary. She paid attention to the coast and found that her boat was where she left it. She was certain it would be able to take her to the coast and then she could follow the river to the ocean. If she hugged the coast, she might be able to make it a distance down the shore and out of the Sanctuary’s area of dominance.
Leaving before they started wandering the island again seemed like an increasingly good idea. Jascon had yet to contact her after she gave him the information. She did, when she looked in on him see him looking in the direction of the cottage, a calculating gleam in his eyes.
One morning she witnessed a meeting where they discussed getting things back to normal. Setting up schedules and returning to their individual quarters. Those the disease was going to take out were dead, their bodies and possessions burned. Those who would recover, were almost fully recovered.
As they discussed their next moves and then went to begin their own tasks, Kasca wasn’t mentioned. They were all occupied in the compound with not yet ready to leave it, but Kasca decided that it was probably time for her to leave. She composed a note of gratitude to leave on the table, packed the last of her things, including the refreshed supplies, put on her personal concealment shield in case she passed through contaminated zones and after locking things down and banking the fire, she teleported herself out of the palisade and down to the shore.
The boat was where she left it. It had been sheltered through the winter and she quickly turned it over and got into the water. She pushed the boat out into the still water of the small bay and before heading out further cleansed the boat and everything in it of contamination. If she needed to drop her shields and rest, the boat would at least provide a disease-free zone.
Kasca slowly paddled out of the bay and back into the river. It was running deep and swift with the snow melt and she was swiftly carried away from the island of the Sanctuary. The river moved fast and the buildings were soon lost to sight.
Ten til Midnight 