Spring 2024 - Recrudescence

“Through the Plague”

By the will of God, the plague struck that summer, and all the land turned desolate, the towns and the villages. Not a single village was spared because of our sins! Old chronicle Word had it that the plague had struck the villages nearby, places not farther than a day’s journey away, and that people were dying so fast that those who survived could hardly manage to bury them. The fearful news horrified everyone and, as was the case with every other menace — when brigands were on the rise or a war was brewing — the men gathered at the church café, and the women began to discuss the news in the village squares. Since the danger was the same for everyone, acceptance came easily, and in this atmo sphere of closeness, many could even joke and laugh. But in the eve ning, when they came home and were left on their own, the ghost of death would rise again, relentless and terrible. On the following day, each thought their neighbor was plagued, locked themselves away in their homes, and latched the doors. Everyone hid in anticipation of the toll of the bell or а lament from a nearby house. Even the weather itself was unhealthy, seemingly stifling. The air, poisoned by the heavy miasmas of carrion and dirt, was veiled with dust. The parched earth matched the dust-covered hous es, trees, and streets, and everything was dark and gray. Not a drop of rain had fallen for months. Over the mountain range, the forests were burning. During the day there was only smoke, but in the eve ning the burning line of fires blazed upon the dark shoulders of the Balkan Mountains, which rounded off in a huge circle and grew bigger. All these things, so ordinary at any other time, now took on weightier meaning as if they were portents. Fear was crippling the strength of character and clouding the minds of everyone. The terri ble disease was lurking everywhere, and everyone was trying to help themselves, as they were told they could, and should, do. Garlic be came a rare and expensive medicine. The power of magic wasn’t for 185