guard at the lower bailey, of Trosky
“I am stuck on this whoreson rock watching the mud freeze, waiting for pay we will never see.”
Things Jezhek had written, latest first, with the glosses of his neighbours.
the eve of Pentecost, at Vespers
Adam wants this iron lamp back because Tuma is checking gear. He can go whistle. It is my night watch, and if that whoreson sergeant catches me in the dark, I am the one fined. Adam owes me for what happened at the pond. Let him pay the fine.
Nota scribaeHe held the lamp tightly to his chest the whole time he spoke.
the second day of May, at Prime
Still no pay since Easter. Tuma docked me three groschen for sleeping on watch. I would not sleep if I was not shivering all night. Denis had the right idea slipping away in the dark. I hear he is in Prague by now, warm and drinking good ale.
Maundy Thursday, at Sext
Cook gave us thin cabbage and salted pork again. The pork tastes like a boot. Richard is whining over a ruined tunic like it is the end of the world. Nicholas is coughing his lungs out in the corner. I would rather be on the wall in the wind.
It was good wool, Jezhek, not that you would know what that is.
Nota scribaeDictated in the guardhouse. The coughing in the background was very loud.
the feast of St Gregory, at None
Hynek is telling anyone who will listen that I should have been watching the ice. The whoreson set a pace fit for a horse in the pitch dark. I will not take orders from a man who marches his own patrol to death and cries about it after.
Candlemas, at Compline
We just got back from Nebakov pond. We were walking the bank in the dark and Prokop went through the ice. He is dead. The cold took him under. The water was black as hell. I am not going back out there in the dark. Never.
Christ almighty, rest his soul. And he still owed me four pennies.
Say a prayer and get by the fire, lad.
Nota scribaeThe man was shaking so badly he could barely stand.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
It is Hynek's lamp, Jezhek! Tuma will take half my month's pay!
Give it back, you coward. Or are you afraid of the shadows?
Come try and take it from my hands, you whoreson.