I am sorry, I think I went a bit mad there. I’ve calmed down a bit now, and I think my terrible depression has passed – for the time being at least. Reading back what I’ve been writing for the last few weeks, I feel ashamed. Ranting and raving isn’t going to get me home, nor is the pathetic blubbering I started to indulge in. This was intended to be a report of what I found and where I’ve been, in the hope that the team might be able to recover me. The sort of thing I’ve been writing recently is no use to anyone, so I’ve just gone back and wiped everything, from the time I first started to feel insane – or trapped, or whatever the mood was.

Right, so where were we? Two months ago, it seems.

Well, briefly, as you may guess, I was found out, trying to impersonate a priest. My Latin wasn’t up to it, nor was my history – and in particular my history of this world. I fell down trying to impress a local law officer (?Sheriff/bailiff – not quite sure of his title) by talking about a trip to Rome, and meeting the Pope.

It seems the Pope isn’t in Rome – hasn’t been there for centuries! The capital of the Church is in Constantinople. My memory of church history in the early centuries is a bit hazy, but I suspect the East/West split between the church never took place here. So I wasn’t trying to impersonate a Roman Catholic, but an Orthodox priest. I guess, now, far too late, that that is what Samuel meant, when he asked if I was from Nople – not the name of a local lord, but Constantinople.

Anyway, caught out, I went on the run. In a densely wooded area, that wasn’t too hard, except for the problem of getting food. I survived, although I started to despair, thinking that I’d never get home. That’s when the madness set in.

I really can’t describe what the last couple of months have been like. Anyway, I woke up a couple of days ago, to discover that another sending has brought me here.

It’s summer. I’ve got work, harvesting in the fields, which provides food, somewhere to sleep, and a few pennies to my name. I can at least get my breath here. I feel reasonably safe.

I’ll try to write some more in the next few days. I need to get some sleep now – harvesting here means 12-14 hours labouring in the fields.