Instead Of Doing My Business Report On A Slow Thursday

The call of the vesper bells rang through the woods south of the monastery grounds. A stocky man wearing brown nondescript robes emerged from the edge of the woods. Dangling on a thin chain around his neck was an oak tree shaped brass pendant, signifying him as a monk. He smiled upon hearing excited voices of the villagers and his fellow brothers, "This year's autumn feast will be the best", he said to himself. All around, people were milling about. The ladies in their best dresses were carrying trays of freshly baked bread while the children are setting up the linen for the grand table at the village square. Sturdy lads were already setting up the wood to be used for the grand bonfire later in the night. Some men in stained aprons were slicing thick steaks of freshly roasted veal, while others are still turning pheasants on the spit. The grand table was was later fully laden with fruits, honey, steaming hunks of meat, boiled yams, large wooden bowls of vegetable stew, cheeses and huge loaves of warm crusty bread.

A few monks have just hauled some barrels of wine from the monastery cellar when the abbot raised his voice for everyone to hear, " It has been a very fruitful year for our humble village, the spirits have blessed us with a bountiful harvest and everybody is in good health. Even our elderly, including myself, are still still strong enough to fell an ox, " the villagers gave out heavy laughter at this statement. The abbot continued summarizing the pleasant events that happened that year, like the marriage of Matliena to Torsvein, the birth of Bartholomaeus, the twins that the village's oldest cow, Gela, calved and the time when Brother Canutus banished some Unseelie Fae that was causing unrest to the forest animals.

The festivities continued well in to the night with the roaring bonfire warding of the chill of autumn air. The merrymaking died away when the last of the wine barrels were drained. Children were tucked into bed, rubbish were fed to the bonfire and men who've had too much to drink were carted home. That's when the clatter of hooves were heard and half a hundred armored knights brandishing torches were seen approaching the village. Shouts of "Burn the heathen!", "Heretics!" and "Spawn of Darkness!" were coming from them. The knights thundered pass the first row of houses, their mounts trampling over some of the youth who were still sprawling about. In a span of a few moments, some of the houses were already burning and the slaughter of the villagers ensued. The monks supplicated to the knights for the massacre to stop but were answered by swords pointed at their throats.

By dawn, all inhabitants of the village were piled in a mass grave to be later salted and burned, the only way to permanently kill servants of the Dark. The captain of the knights was carefully looking over the map he was holding when he said in a booming voice, "Men, we may have made an error in terms of directions. It seems that the heathen village we are looking for is farther east from here." One of the younger knights stood up from his saddle and voiced out, " Captain, with all due respect, this is the third village we have had a mistake of burning and you tell us that this is yet another 'error'?" The captain, who was openly weeping now, let out a long sigh and said, " Aye lad. More innocent blood is on our hands again. It seems that the Enemy has tricked us once more...but will we let ourselves be fooled by the Dark? Will we let the Enemy and his servants suffer to live when we are very close to sending them back to the pit where they belong?! Will we stay here and wallow in guilt or do we ride forward and burn the nest of these serpents?! What say you?!", the captain's question cut through the cold air of the morning. All the knights straightened on their mounts, pulled their visor down and responded, " We ride!". The captain spurred his horse forward, " The next village going east is, without a mistake, the one we have been searching for. Leave no men standing. Burn everything to the ground!", he commanded. "For the Light!". roared all of the knights in unison.