Well, it's certainly been a while since my last entry. I won't go back and try to fill in all the holes, there's too many of them, but I will mention some of the more important happenings.

First off, the court cut our budget again. Apparently the fools think we can clothe, feed, house, train, and equip an army on thin air. I don't know how they got it into their heads that we don't need money, but it seems to be there. Anyway, I'm scrounging up every last coin I can get my hands on and getting rather creative in the economic side of things. Still, I'm having to refuse to reenlist some of my men. Its a blasted shame.

That brings us to more recent evens (mainly caused by the aforementioned). The most notable of these is that another of those strange writings has been found. Some random girl on the street handed it to me, saying she'd gotten it from some kid. Anyway, it's definitely one of the same sort we've been seeing lately. I'm having my secretary make a quick duplicate of it before I present it to the court. Hopefully that will convince the pot-bellied fools that there's more at stake here than a bit of prestige. What's more is that this was found in the city. Now, some trader could have brought it in, sure enough, but it seems more likely to me that there's an enemy in our midst. Maybe several of them. It's quite a disquieting thought. I pray I'm wrong.

In other news, I seem to be dropping ever lower in that eternal popularity contest. In the past week, two women have completely torn into me for no apparent reason. Is it so strange to think that it must be tied to the fact that I wear a uniform and have a sword on my hip? Granted, one of the women had a relative involved in that southern fiasco that happened a few years back and the other met me while I was in a rather foul mood, but still. I mean, it's not like I have been involved in any massacres or thefts, I don't slap children or spit on the elderly. Heck, I don't even collect taxes! Still, I'm getting the feeling that if things keep going this way, I may give the local tax collector and lawyers a run for their money.

The one thing in all this was that the second person, the woman who caught me when I had a headache, was one of those naive politicians. She said a few things to me... some I won't even mention here for fear of what eyes may see this, but one of them was that she'd be willing to help me get on the better side of the court. I wonder if it's possible and if she'd really help me. I doubt it. All those people seem to have forked tongues.