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 100: On one of the side streets, Kasca found what she thought might be suitable.
On one of the side streets, Kasca found what she thought might be suitable. The shop was, narrow and long. It had several signs in the window. One was a painted symbol letting her know the shop was available for purchase or rent. There were smaller signs that predated it advertising the need for healers.
Kasca understood the need and the progression. Healers were called to the homes of the sick or the sick visited them. With so much contact, especially with a disease as virulent as this one, she knew many of the healers would have quickly taken ill.
‘Shortage of healers,’ Kasca thought. In a way it made her feel like a vulture swooping in to take advantage of someone’s misfortune. ‘But I am a healer and I might be able to help.’ Like the coins, it was a necessity.
Kasca took a deep breath and let her sight into the shop. It was clear no one had been in the shop for a while. Many of the jars were empty and looking in the back work room, Kasca could see that whoever was working there last did their best to try and alleviate symptoms even if they couldn’t cure the disease. She saw the ingredients she would use to calm the redness in the sores on the skin and the elixirs she would create to soothe the throat and ease the breathing. None of the items were touched by magic and she knew that they would only help soothe for a short time.
‘But they tried, and that is what I am doing as well,’ she decided.
Thinking this could work for her, Kasca spent the next few days looking at what she would need to purchase the property as well as how much it would cost. The long and narrow shop had living quarters above so she would not need to find a second place to live. She saw the prices and realized they were much lower than she expected.
She could buy the property outright instead of renting. She read through paperwork and saw what she would need to present the magistrate when attempting to purchase the building. It wasn’t all that much beyond coinage. It took a few days of study but in the end Kasca had a plan.
She left her cave and slipped back down to the road. When she arrived, Kasca had to wait by the city gates until a group arrived seeking passage. Then she slipped in ahead of the wagons and entered the city.
At first it was daunting being around people. She kept reminding herself that there were no dead in cages outside the gate and while strange, they were not at the moment hostile. She knew she needed to relinquish her shields in order to approach the market and purchase what she needed, but Kasca found herself reluctant to do so. She lurked on one of the lesser used side streets and watched.
Kasca told herself it was just because she had not spent much time with people in a long time. She found the conversation and activity strange after so long alone. No matter what she told herself, she felt the thread of fear running through her.
‘I can’t stay in the alley forever,’ Kasca thought. It took longer than she thought to convince herself to lower the shields and step into the market.
Ten til Midnight 