“Saint Irenaeus,” he continued, “maintains that the Antichrist will come at the end of the world, reign for three and a half years, build a temple in Jerusalem, vanquish the kings by force, torment what is sacred and lay waste to the entire Church. According to the prophecy of the Revelation, he shall be known by the number 666 and his names shall be Evanthas, Lateinos and Teitan. Nonetheless, the martyr Hippolytus links the number 666 to the names Kakos, Olicos, Alittis, Blaueros, Antemos and Genesiricos. 666 also refers to the Turkish name of Mahometis when written using the Greek alphabet. And one may also conclude that if we subtract from 666 the number of fish Peter caught in the Sea of Galilee, and then multiply it by the number of sailors on the ship on which Paul sailed to Italy, and we divide it by the length of the ark in God’s temple according to the Book of Exodus, the words ‘Ioannes Hus apostata’ written in Cappadocian emerge. All of which demonstrates the inordinate shamelessness of the heretics who revere that Huss. Oh, you wretched envoys of the Antichrist! The Antichrist reveals his secret in you when you reject the sacrament and the offering; when you blaspheme the One God in Three Persons and the Blessed Virgin Mary; when you deny divinity to the Son of God and attribute it to the Antichrist; when you sow all kinds of discord, crime and abomination; when you sully the whole truth of the sacred Catholic faith. May God have mercy on you!”

The scribe put down the sheet of paper and glanced nervously at the face of Bishop Konrad, which remained inscrutable.

“Good,” the bishop finally said, to the relief of the scribe. “Very good. Very little to correct, indeed. Where you call the Hussites ‘wretched,’ add ‘O Czechs, you despicable Slavic nation.’ No, no, ‘base and despicable…,’ that’s better.”

“‘Base, despicable and contemptible,’” corrected the Wallcreeper. “That will be even better.”

The scribe paled and went as white as the sheet of paper he was holding, for he had seen what the bishop—who was sitting with his back to the window—hadn’t seen. Namely, the bird that had alighted on the windowsill turning into a human being. A man with black hair, dressed all in black, with a kind of avian physiognomy. And the gaze of a demon.

“Write the homily out.” The bishop’s harsh order shook the scribe from his stupefaction and brought him back to his senses. “Once you’ve written it, take it to the chancel, have them copy it and distribute it to the churches for priests to use in their sermons. Go.”