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 135: The woman left, her features nearly sagging with relief.
The woman left, her features nearly sagging with relief. Kasca cast a cleansing spell over the coins and through the air in the shop. Darien put the coins away in the till. “We always leave them out when we can so they are easier to clean,” Kasca told him.
“Makes sense,” he said. He looked towards the door. “Will it help?”
“It should,” Kasca told him. “The child is healthy and was still in the early stages so it should work.”
“It’s not a guarantee?” He asked. Kasca noticed the guards and the few patrons in the shop were all listening. Some weren’t even bothering to try and hide their interest.
“The healthier a person is and the earlier it is caught the better chance the medicine has of working. There is always a point where the person is too far gone for the treatment to be effective so the more people we see in the early stages the better off they will be. Although even if the treatment doesn’t save them, it should keep them from spreading the disease so that is helpful too.”
“It certainly is,” Darien replied.
Before Kasca could go back into the workroom, another person showing early signs of the Blood Death entered the shop. She stayed and treated him before cleansing and then heading back to the work room.
At the end of the day, she paid her new employees their wages and locked up. She spent a little extra time in her workroom thinking it would make up for the absences she had during the day. She deliberately answered Darien’s question where others could hear her and she suspected word would soon spread. She managed to add to her store of remedies and just hoped she would be able to stay ahead of the need for them.
“The next morning, Darien and the two guards arrived just as she was unlocking the front door. There was already a line of people waiting and Kasca could see many of them showed early symptoms of the Blood Death.
“I suspect you’ll have more order to keep today,” Kasca told the guards. They both nodded.
Kasca didn’t bother going back into the workroom. She did make certain Darien heard what she asked each patient and made certain he knew which color vial went with which type of patient. He took out a sheet of parchment and made a note of all the questions and the diagnosis.
After their last patient left, Kasca moved in a selection of the treatments to under the counter. “If you have any that are questionable or that you can’t immediately identify, let me know,” she said. “I can always stop if I need to but we are going to need more soon.” She took out a separate box. “Any coins or trade slips from those infected go in here and I will cleanse everything when there is a break in patients.”
They all knew there would no longer be time between each patient for the cleansing.
Darien nodded. He looked relieved when she left the workroom door propped open.
The day was busy. Word spread faster than she anticipated. Most were early stages but easily identifiable to both Darien and the patients. They answered the questions and received the correct vial. When there was a break with no afflicted in the shop, Kasca made certain to come forward, cleanse everything, including the coins and the box. The shop was then set up for the next round.
