My Dear You,

Sorry for all those messages yesterday . . .
I hope I didn't overdo it.
I know you're busy.


Into Milan Today

I don't have much time
because we're packing up
to go through the gates
and enter the city!

I'm excited!

and I have no idea what to expect!


The Witch's Company is Looking for Us

This is weird

We heard
from one of the Free Lances of the Veneto

that the Witch herself
of that other Witch's Company
(now working for the pope)
is looking for us!

Regine got that sparkle in her eye
and said

"Let it be known ---
I'll take her on
one-on-one,
any place, any time!"


Tough Guys Sobbing
Around the Campfire

It was drinkin' time last night
after the Tournament

We hung out with the White Company

and learned something sobering

First you should know
that Hawkwood has a reputation for
being uprighteous and moral

Anway

We had honey beer
and we all got loaded

(honey beer tastes like spoiled raw cookie dough)

and Skip dared to put into circulation
at just the right moment
the word "Cesena"

I jumped, because he had talked about
guys fighting over that word

. . . but this time



there was a long silence

and then they started to talk

O, did they talk!

Cesena is a town.

It seems that when
Capitano Giovanni Haukebodde
and his White Company
were contracted to the Pope
they were ordered to the town of Cesena
to "assist" Robert of Geneva
and his guys from Brittany
who had just captured it.

The townspeople had fought back
against Robert's looting
but he tricked them into
laying down their arms
by swearing "on his Cardinal's hat"
that they would be safe.

What they needed the White Company to do
was to help "administer justice"
to the unarmed people of Cesena

A contract is a contract.

The men around the campfire went quiet

Me and my big mouth

I go "Ummm . . . how many prisoners
did you get for ransom?"

They shook their heads.

"How many women got out?"

They shook their heads.

Then two of them started crying.

In other words --- no survivors

Then one guy slowly started gesturing
with his finger pointed up
making a circle all the way around himself
like a picket fence

In other words ---

--- bodies on pikes all around the town walls

Typical contractor company shit.

*pause*

shit

Agggh!


Sorry, babe.

I just had to stand up from the laptop
and shake off the willies

Sorry to dump this on you

Fucking White Company!

They were supposed to be cool!
Oh, well.

This job sucks.


Now I got myself all bummed out


sorry


People.

Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.