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 96: It was only when it was no longer in her sight and she was once again alone on the open road that Kasca allowed herself to think about what she saw.
It was only when it was no longer in her sight and she was once again alone on the open road that Kasca allowed herself to think about what she saw. That the people put into the cages took injuries was not all that surprising when she thought about it. ‘Even if it was a sort of holding cell to ensure they weren’t infected, some of them would not have gone into the cages willingly.’
The clothing was a mix of what she thought of as standard for her people and clothing that belonged locally. ‘So even if they were all strangers to this town, they weren’t all from home.’
She wondered if they were put there after they started showing signs of infection or if the town was already infected when these were picked as the scapegoats. There was no way to tell now.
‘But some of those wounds were grievous and anything of value was taken from them.’
Kasca knew that many types of items could carry the disease. ‘If the valuable items were taken and brough back into the town then their attempts to keep the contamination out were pointless.’
Her thoughts turned these points over, but in the end she did not know the specific course of events. ‘For all I know they could have been criminals and had no valuables on them at the time they were put into the cages.’
She somehow doubted it, but was willing to let it go. She didn’t know the towns name and was content to leave it behind her.
She continued on. Her path took her towards a village that had no palisade walls. Even though she could see a few people moving about their movements were both labored and furtive. Anyone leaving one of the cottages stepped out and fairly raced through the village to their destination in a shuffling and shambling half run. She decided it was best to go around.
Kasca kept moving. She rested for a short period around mid day but did not reel like eating. She rested only to give her body a break and then she moved on. When looking for her pathway she picked several spots that were possibilities for resting the night. As she drew close to the end of her day, Kasca found herself avoiding all of them. They were too close to the villages and towns for her comfort. Half abandoned places were more dangerous than fully abandoned ones and most of those she past not only had the physical warnings of the dead, but signage posted letting her know visitors would not be welcomed. Instead, after passing the last palisaded town, Kasca slipped into the woods.
She found a hollowed out log that was half concealed under a pile of rocks. Making certain no one was around, she crept inside and settled herself in the back. Her shield ensured that any small critters moved out of her way leaving her for the night. She added an additional shield over the opening, but just inside so the magic would draw no attention.
Ten til Midnight 