additive miner of Kuttenberg, of Kuttenberg
“I pull silver from the dirt, brother, when the foreman points my way. Just a man with a sharp eye, a quick tongue, and a run of bad luck.”
Things Albrecht had written, latest first, with the glosses of his neighbours.
the Tuesday after St Philip and St James, at Compline
Ernest is weeping into his thin ale again, wailing that his mother Vendula must be dead of the fever or taken by soldiers. I told him to shut his mouth and pass the jug. Up in heaven she will not have to listen to his whining.
Nota scribaeDictated at the tavern. The man spoke quickly and drank from another's cup while doing so.
the eve of St George, at Sext
They say the king's half-brother has soldiers on every road, and now Casper the pawnbroker has locked his heavy doors against them. How am I to get inside his stone house before the muster? I am a dead man, or at least a flogged one.
Christ almighty, you pawned the padded gambeson I bought you? The levy is called, you fool!
A man must eat during the fast, William. I meant to redeem it. Have a little faith, brother.
Nota scribaeHe asked that I write this softly, as if the bailiff might hear the ink drying.
the third day of Easter week, at Prime
Standing shivering in the morning air at the gates of the Italian Court, waiting for Prokop to give the nod. He looked right past me again. Down to the flooded tunnels to haul broken stone in heavy baskets for three groschen a week. Bloody hell.
A man who stinks of cheap ale at dawn does not get to hack at the rock face. Learn to haul.
Aye, my back is broken from those baskets. The water is freezing today.
the second Wednesday of Lent, at None
The lower galleries are flooded again and work has dried up. No wage, no bread. I took a certain piece of war gear down to the pawnbroker. He gave me a pitiful fraction of its worth, but the roasted meat I bought tasted like salvation.
Eating roasted meat during Lent? The Lord sees everything, Albrecht.
Candlemas, at Vespers
Havel is a good brother for lending me his fine mining pick to show the foreman. But the haft was splintered to kindling! I spent the evening whittling a new one. I reckon I have the right to keep it until he pays me for my good woodwork.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
You have a stone for a heart, Albrecht. My mother is all I have left.
And I have a terrible thirst, brother, yet you do not see me crying about it.