Azi ghafari quarantino6/24/2023 I was to be moved to another cabin for a two-day examination before I could enter the city of Ragusa. I watched the priest has he sprinkled holy water on my skin after the plague doctor had examined me. His announcement pushed me out of my reverie. “This one is clean” the plague doctor said to the priest who had now entered into the room. It was the last I heard as I and father took to flight in the woods. “Who’s there? “ one soldier had asked peering into the darkness. In anxiety, I steeped on a dried twig which cause a soldier to turn. Father’s breath was jagged at this moment, even my knees were weak. I still remember the huge rats that scurried along the camp, eating the decaying flesh of Mogol soldiers. Just across the wall were a dozen of soldiers, I recognized Jannibeg immediately, he was with a handful of his men, they seemed to be loading the body of a dead soldier on a catapult, and with all the strength they had, they hurled it over the magnificent wall into the besieged city of Kaffa. “The men are cursed ‘ father concluded in a fright. “Don’t touch anything, “ Father had commanded. Putrefying stench filled the garrison-’ Maisma' father had called it. In the tents were bloodied men covered with dark sports all over, swellings could be seen on their skins which further burst open to produce yellow bloodied liquid. Only a single camp fire was left burning. The garrison was almost deserted with bodies littered all about. It took us ten days to travel to kaffa, the place I first witnessed the black death itself- Artra mors. Four fortnights had passed without the Mogol soldiers asking for their regular supply. I had followed father to supply the dried peas. Mother had eight children, with five dying before they celebrated their second birthday. Sometimes I followed him, and other times I stayed home to till the land with my two brothers. Every fortnight, Father would deliver dried out peas for the soldiers at the garrison, and in turn we got paid in lands that were used to plant more peas. Father was spared given his affiliations with the most influential pea farmer’s daughter, he was considered a Mogol. The Mongols didn’t want to trade no more with the foreigners, Janniberg, the Khan of the golden Horde waged war against the foreigners. Trouble had broken between the local Mogols and the foreign settlers in kaffa. It started with the Mogol soldiers who were besieging the walls of Kaffa. Father would go on for months and then return with goods from Ragusa, a place he promised he'd take us, A placed he never did. I was there when the artra mors started. Father had met mother in Kaffa, she was the daughter of a local influential pea-farmer and they had moved out of Kaffa to settle in a pea farm on the outskirt of the city It was what mother had wanted. There was always something new in Kaffa, be it a tunic or some new kind of food. I could still remember it's ancient walls, fortified by two concentric stone walls. Foreigners moved into Tartar and the city thrived. Father was a merchant who brought wool, flax and dried nuts from Ragusa to kaffa-which was then slowly turning to a center of commerce given it's proximity to the seaports. The tubes on his nose reminded me of the scarecrow we had in our little village in Tartar among the people of Mongol. On his nose was a long tube with little holes allowing just enough air in. He wore huge spectacles strapped to his head, and for a moment he looked like a misplaced ' kamelon'. Metal strings were attached to the tip of his fingers, and a thick cloth was worn across his face save for his eyes and nose. He was dressed in a heavy black cloak and his hands were adorned with black gloves which covered the entirety of his elbow. The first appearance of the plague doctor would put even the black death to a fright. His footsteps were loud owing to the metal boots worn which were a knee long. Sometimes, the bread had molds on them, and the berries were too dry. I rose to my feet after hearing the approaching footsteps of the plague doctor. The food was dropped a distance from the ship and then we came out singly to pick our ration. Only a dozen of us made it to Ragusa that rainy morning. Old ships and Cabins were also used to hold a number of us in and our food was given to us by slaves of the plague doctors, for this slaves were never allowed inside the city. Half of the crew and passengers had died on board and their bodies hurled into the ocean on the instructions of the priest. We were eighty persons in number that left kaffa six months before. I was among the six that barely survived the quarantinio. It was the fortieth day, of been held up in the ship that conveyed us from Kaffa, to Ragusa.
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