John

the Monday before Whitsun, at Vespers

The bailiff was in the square again today looking at the young men. Sakra, if I cannot get into the woods and prove I am needed to hunt meat, he will give me a spear and send me to die fighting Cumans.

• 
  Nicholas

  If you stopped your bloody whining and learned to move quietly, maybe you would be of some use.

Nota scribaeHe was pulling at the stiff collar of his coat the whole time he spoke.

the second Tuesday after Easter, at Prime

I put on this heavy leather coat and tried to stalk a boar near the stream. Bloody hell, a whole flock of crows and finches came down to chatter at the leather. Every beast ran. Old William must have smeared it with something foul to spite us.

• 
  William

  The coat is a good one. It is not my fault you stomp through the brush like a blind ox.

• 
  John

  You cursed it, you old bastard. The birds follow me like a plague.

the Thursday of Easter week, at Sext

Standing behind this wooden stall all day, my hands smell of old blood and copper pennies instead of pine sap. Nicholas brings the carcasses and I must haggle with the Kuttenberg wives. It is not the life I wanted.

Nota scribaeDictated beside the meat stall. The smell of flies was very bad.

the feast of St Gregory, at Terce

Bread is dearer than last year and the roads are full of soldiers. If the fighting comes closer, they will take everything in the market. Father says we must shoot more deer to keep the lords fed, but I am stuck here.

• 
  Edmund

  The Lord sends trials so that we might repent. Give thanks that you have meat to sell.

Candlemas, at Vespers

Father bought me old William's hunting coat today. He says it will make a proper woodsman of me. It is heavy and smells strange, but Sakra, I will wear it if it gets me out of the market square.

• 
  Nicholas

  Do not ruin it. William kept it well when Bohushka was alive to mend it.

Nota scribaeHe seemed very proud of the coat, though it is visibly stained.