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 131: She didn’t want to make it so costly that those who needed it couldn’t afford it, but she also didn’t want to make it so inexpensive that others thought it mere snake oil.
She didn’t want to make it so costly that those who needed it couldn’t afford it, but she also didn’t want to make it so inexpensive that others thought it mere snake oil. She thought she found a fair price between. It let her cover her costs and make enough of a profit that if thee were those who couldn’t afford the cost, she could afford to lower the rate or even give it freely . She expected that at come point she would find herself giving some away if only to contain an epidemic.
For now this man with his fine leathers and rich furs could afford what she thought of as the standard price. He placed the coins on the counter and picked up the bottle.
“The instructions,” he asked, not commenting on the price.
“You drink it,” she told him. “All of it and then you rest. Drink plenty of warm teas and eat what you can stomach while your body recovers. Stay away from ales and wines until the last traces of it are gone.”
He nodded. The bottle disappeared into his cloak and he turned and left the shop without another word. Kasca cast a cleansing spell over the coins and then the shop, removing the infection from the air. The exchange took very little time yet felt momentous. Kasca put the now cleansed coins away. She walked to the door and saw not a soul was stirring and in fact many of the shops near her had closed for the day.
Kasca decided it was a good idea and she turned her sign to closed before locking the door. “There is always the emergency bell,” she told herself. She went back to the workroom and closed the door. With it closed the firebox was finally able to remove the chill from the space.
Kasca’s thoughts however were dark and colder than the rain.
She hadn’t seen signs of the disease before this. Not since her arrival. Was it returning with the winter? She looked to her shelf and tallied the bottles of potion she had there. When she made them, she kept the batch small thinking it was only for a possibility. Thinking of how fast the disease spread she now viewed the shelf as inadequate.
‘Definitely brewing more,” she decided. Considering brewing more meant concocting several different potions ad infusing each with different kinds of magic before blending and binding them, she knew they would take time to make. ‘But if this is the start I need to be prepared.’
Five days later, the second patient arrived and she repeated the same procedure as before. This time there were others browsing at the time. While they recoiled from the man in horror, they watched and listened to every word she said as she handed him the small bottle and issued instructions. They stayed in place as she cleansed bit the money and the air of the shop.
While they looked visibly relieved, Kasca felt exposed as never before having others watch her cleansing the space and burning off the disease. ‘Magic is not the same here as it was under the Overlord,,’ she reminded herself as she swept the coins into the box and turned to helping her regular customers. She still felt her belly tremble with fear at so overt a display.
