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answered.
    ‘Perhaps Count Henry is with Valdemar,’ said Anton.
    Conrad’s eyes lit up. ‘I do hope so, as I trust that the Oeselians have not killed him.’
    ‘So you can kill him instead?’ said Hans.
    Conrad grinned. ‘Precisely.’
    The brother knights arrived back at Wenden in time for Sext Mass at midday, one of seven services that delineated a brother knight’s day. Immediately afterwards the knights and sergeants were expected to repair their armour and equipment and do other necessary tasks. However, as the castle was fully staffed with armourers and blacksmiths, who took a dim view of brother knights infringing on their responsibilities, there was little to do before lunch in the dining hall, save for guard duty that every bother knight and sergeant had to perform. Master Rudolf was insistent only members of the order should stand guard over the castle, arguing that mercenaries were more likely to fall asleep at their posts. Leatherface took great exception to this, telling the master that if they did they would be hanged as punishment. Rudolf retorted that it was of no benefit hanging a man if his negligence had allowed an enemy to infiltrate the castle.
    Lunch was eaten in the dining hall, with the brother knights fed at the first sitting, the sergeants afterwards. Lukas’ young novices served the brother knights at table. Meals were always eaten in silence; the food first being blessed by Father Otto and then a clerk would read from a Bible during the meal. According to the rules of the Sword Brothers meat – mutton, goat, beef, veal – was eaten three days a week and fish was consumed on Fridays. All other meals contained only vegetables, usually in the form of broths, though there were always ample portions of bread, fruit when available, and cheese to accompany the main dishes, washed down with water.
    The Cistercian order of monks that had given birth to the Sword Brothers through Bishop Albert ate no meat and partook of sparse meals. But Grand Master Volquin and his castellans quickly discovered that the knights and sergeants of their order needed to be fed like fighting cocks if they were to defeat their enemies in battle. As usual before going on campaign, Hans, the former starving beggar from Lübeck, attempted to empty the castle storerooms of food before he departed Wenden.
    The new day dawned bright and cool, the fields around the castle white with frost and the air crisp. After Prime Mass and breakfast the three friends donned their armour in preparation for their departure. Soon the Army of the Wolf would be arriving at the castle, hundreds of men on hardy ponies that had greater stamina than the horses the order imported from Germany.
    Rudolf came to see them as they were changing into their martial attire on the first floor of the great dormitory where the brother knights slept. They all stood when he appeared among them.
    ‘Please continue with your preparations,’ he commanded.
    Just as the order believed that its soldiers should have good food so it spared no cost when it came to their weapons and armour. They may have been poor, pious knights but their equipment was among the best in all Christendom. Next to the skin were worn cotton breeches and a vest, over which was worn a quilted cotton-covered aketon that protected the vest and skin beneath from the long-sleeved mail hauberk that covered the arms, hands, torso and thighs. The mittens had soft leather palms so the wearer could grip his weapons with ease.
    ‘So,’ Rudolf said to Conrad, ‘you ride north today. How many men does the Army of the Wolf number?’
    Conrad put on the linen-covered, quilted sleeveless gambeson over his mail armour. The garment could defeat a glancing sword or axe blow and lessen the penetrating power of an arrow, though not a crossbow bolt.
    ‘Just under nine hundred men, master, including the Wolf Shields I will collect at Lehola.’
    Rudolf nodded in admiration. ‘The largest force that Livonia