The Black Death

[Chapter 1] Risky Reward

The Sun reached its peak as it shown on the diseased England below. For the time being, the plague seemed to have slowed down, yet the damage was long-lasting. Lords donated extra to the Church with the King's note. It was a Sunday, the day of rest. The people sat in pews, listening to the finishing sermon by the priest, Kesar.

"... In the lord's name, Amen."

"Amen," The rest of the church unanimously spoke. Although the turnout rate was high, the reduced population was noticeable, people were dead or too sick.

"Alright, now before you can go, I have received a message from the lords-  I mean our lord from above," Kesar looked at his hand, "Tell people to not demand extra pay-" He faked coughed, "Do not demand extra pay. I know it is tempting as there are fewer of you, but God by the King and his subjects don't want you doing that."

He looked at the occupants of the church, they were not as uptight as they once were. The room fell into silence as they gazed upon Kesar.

"That's it," He began walking to the back part of the church as a small chatter emerged in the room.

He was in the lounge for the priests, in there were 2 other priests, George and Phil, their prostitutes were pleasing them unsexually, for now. The air shifted into smoke and funk. Kesar smiled as he took out his pipe, a woman approached him as he did so, helping him to unbutton the top of his shirt.

He sat down with her on one side of his lap.

George asked, "Hey, how did the sermon go?"

"Oh," He laughed, "You wouldn't believe it!" He took a puff of his pipe, "I almost read the Bible!"

The room exploded in laughter, Phil carried on, "Oh you should have seen mine when I read it!"

"Go on."

"I was on about the 8 commandments,"

"Wait, wasn't it 10 or 12 or something?" Kesar asked.

"Does it matter?" George responded.

"Anyway, I was on about thou shall not kill and whatnot, till this one motherfucker pointed out that he had to fight in Normandy when he was called up. Would he and everyone there go to Hell?"

Kesar curious asked, "And what did you respond with?"

"The plain old usual of just pay me money and you'll be forgiven. And guess what?"

"He gave you money?"

"EVERYONE gave me money. Ooo hallelujah did I enjoy myself that week. But turns out someone saw me go into a broth, so it was an awkward Sunday."

"So? What are they gonna do? You got God on your side," George responded with a chuckle.

Just then, they heard a commotion outside. A messenger was hauling a crowd of listeners. Kesar decided to button himself up and go outside to investigate.

"FROM THE KING! FROM THE KING! GATHER AROUND, FROM THE KING! FROM THE KING!" He banged on his drum as he stood up on a box, "FROM THE KING! FROM THE KING! GATHER AROUND, FROM THE KING! FROM THE KING!" He played his drum again.

Kesar voiced to the increasingly large crowd, "What's the message?"

"His majesty wants soldiers to defend England and his territories! A threat from an unknown nation is spreading across Europe, he needs an army! Join, honour yourself and your Hundred!"

"Hey!" A man spoke from the crowd, "We have already done our service, go to another village!"

"His majesty knows of this! He is rewarding service with 18 silver pounds!"

The crowd gasped yet the messenger was not finished, "And 3 Gold crowns!"

The crowd gave an even bigger gasp, one woman even fainted. He walked up to the church and put up a poster beside the door, "I'll be back in a week."

Just like that, he walked off to deliver his message to a new bunch of people. The crowd immediately rushed to the poster for more information, yet not one person noticed the fine print at the bottom, only rewarded to surviving soldiers.

One of the people in the crowd was Kurg. The message like to most people did not escape his mind.