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 66: Time had blunted the destruction and she could not tell the difference between what the Overlord destroyed and what time weathered.
Time had blunted the destruction and she could not tell the difference between what the Overlord destroyed and what time weathered. Still Kasca was glad when she made it past the destroyed and abandoned settlements leaving them behind her.
The was on the river for five days before it petered out into something her boat could not navigate. She pulled it to shore and strengthened her personal shields. Not only would it keep her hidden if anyone was looking, but it would keep the disease out if she managed to come into contact. She had several bottles containing the cure, but she felt it would be better not to use them.
Kasca continued on foot, finding herself in an area that was more familiar to her. She was still in the Central zone the Overlord created to make certain that he could watch each of the sectors. In the past she had come this far South when the patrols were more numerous and she needed to give his keep a wider berth.
She was relieved to see some of the landmarks still standing. On her third night walking, Kasca found one of the hidden mining entrances. This was not a silver mine, but rather a lead one. It lasted longer than the silver minds and was never really run fry, more sealed shut before the Overlord could locate it. There was no passage through the minds as they did not delve too deeply, but she knew that they were used as hidden caches for runners, the food and water put under a preservation spell inside the sealed mine.
Kasca wasn’t certain if the supplies were still there, but she needed a place to spend the night and figured that once inside the mine she could at least drop her shields and give herself a rest. ‘Need to cleanse the space first,’ she reminded herself.
In this area being seen was less of a concern than the disease was. She didn’t know if those who were contaminated came in contact with the supplies or not. ‘If I cleanse the space before dropping my shield it should be fine.
Out of habit, Kasca looked around to make certain she was unobserved. No one was about and she quickly opened the mine’s entrance, slipping inside. She sealed the door and when solid rock was once again behind her. She used her fire strike to light the small lantern she carried with her gear. The mine was a big cavern with a few smaller branches that didn’t delve too far into the earth. Mining was just getting started when the mines were sealed against the overlord. There were boxes and crates of supplies all glimmering under a preservation spell.
Kasca set the lantern down and cast the cleansing spell watching it dance over the stone, the silver of the lead in the walls picking up the shine of the spell. There were several sparks of red dancing over the supplies proving they were contaminated. She watched the spell burn them off, the sparks turning blue and then while as the area was cleansed of contamination.
When Kasca was certain there was no disease remaining she slowly lowered her own shields. While her magic had gotten a lot of practice and strengthened because of it, Kasca was relieved to let the spell drop. It was like carrying an object that wasn’t necessarily heavy but became tiresome when it couldn’t be put down. Relieved, if only temporarily of the burden, Kasca began looking over the area.
Ten til Midnight 