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 141: Her work was already in demand. The spread of the disease may have slowed, but it hadn’t stopped.
Her work was already in demand. The spread of the disease may have slowed, but it hadn’t stopped. Kasca’s routine shifted. She still worked late but the guards were no longer required to sleep in the shop below. She still kept her meals quick and light, having little time for anything more elaborate. She even took to simmering a small pot of soup on the fire in the back of the workshop, allowing it to slowly cook while she worked so she would have something warm and filling at the end of the day.
Once a week she took a bag of coins to the bank and deposited them, cleansing the bank, at least the front section, before she left. Into the bag of coins, she slipped a few of the ones she carried with her, adding them to the tally and distancing herself from her arrival at the same time. She still kept a supply of coins hidden upstairs in case something happened and she had to flee, but she no longer feared the money from the till would draw thieves.
As winter began in earnest, the business at the shop slowed. There were no more lines stretching down the street and just singular customers coming in. Sometimes they came in for the Blood Death cure, other times for throat lozenges or cough remedies. She felt a pang of regret as Darien took his leave and returned to the magistrates office, leaving her alone in the shop once more.
Kasca still spent the bulk of her day brewing potions and crafting items from her dried supplies. It was not always the Blood Death cure however. She restocked other items that were depleted and readied things she knew would be needed when winter faded and spring returned.
Her days returned to a normal schedule. She quietly worked and dealt with her customers when they arrived and the frantic pace ceased. She was well stocked and not in danger of being overrun. As a result, Kasca was able to have a more routine life. She no longer worked late and had her regular market visits. She still visited the bank once a week and assisted them with cleansing.
After hours her time was her own again and Kasca decided it was time to return to her scrying bowl to once again see the state of the world outside her doorstep. She started with the city.
Kasca allowed her magically enhanced sight to sweep through the city, looking predominantly for signs of the Blood Death. She saw people in recovery and was pleased to see nothing that looked like a new case within the city limits. She saw many people she vaguely recalled seeing in the shop looking as though they were recovering or fully recovered. It settled her mind on the efficacy of the cure and on her estimation of the infection. While it may return the following year, for now, it was under control.
All in all, the city looked settled.
Kasca allowed her gaze to return to the sanctuary. She looked in on the inhabitants. They were settled in for the winter. There were fewer than she remembered but Kasca saw no signs of the Blood Death. She noticed the missing were among the most elderly of the sanctuary’s population and thought that age and regular illness might be the cause rather than the Blood Death.
The few people who remained rattled around the place. Too few people in far too large a space. Kasca soon turned away from watching them.
