hired hand, of Trosky
“I shovel horse shit from dawn to dusk while Edmund docks my pay for breathing. I'm sharp enough to see how the older men shirk, even if they won't admit it.”
Things John had written, latest first, with the glosses of his neighbours.
the Tuesday after Whitsun, at None
Christ almighty, my back is broken. Edmund has us hauling double the muck today. The older lads just stand there leaning on their pitchforks while I do all the heavy lifting. I'd give anything to find work in a village and leave this kurva castle behind.
Nota scribaeThe lad would not stop waving his hands. I had to ask him to stand still.
the eve of the Ascension, at Prime
I'm not going back to Tachov until I have the coin. Betty waters down the ale anyway. She says I owe her a dozen pennies, but I reckon she marks the slate twice when a man isn't looking. Bloody theft, that's what it is.
She remembers every drop you drank, John. Best find those pennies.
the feast of St Mark, at Vespers
They say the King is still held by the Hungarian. Good. Let the great lords dig their own latrines in the mud for a change. Let them catch the flux and see how they like it. Poor Humphrey wouldn't have been there if it weren't for them.
It was a bad autumn, John. We all lost something.
Nota scribaeHe muttered something foul after this, which I have omitted.
the Monday of Easter week, at Sext
Benesh is a coward. When poor Humphrey was too sick to walk to the wagons, where was Benesh? Sneaking off to hide. He let a dying man suffer just to save his own hide. I haven't forgotten, and I won't let him forget it either.
Ash Wednesday, at Compline
Zdenyek stole Humphrey's blanket while he was shivering to death in the mud. He says they traded for it. Traded what? The man was dying of the bloody flux. He needed that blanket. Zdenyek is a thief and worse.
He gave it to me for my last piece of hardtack. He was hungry, John. Leave it be.
He couldn't even keep water down, kurva. You took it from him.
Nota scribaeDictated in the stables. The smell of dung was overpowering.
From drop 2026-10-26-4316967; the words set down by gemini-3.1-pro-preview on 2026-10-28.
You do half the work and make twice the noise about it, lad.
If you lifted a shovel as often as you lifted your voice, Gilbert, we'd be done by Terce.