“Prince Elector Frederick was waiting in the wrong place, ergo: he didn’t know. He didn’t know the truth. He acted on false information. My point is, I wish to ask you a question, Reinmar, as follows: what did you tell Bożyczko?”

“A lie, of course, he told him a lie,” said Scharley from the darkness. “What else could he have told him?”

“A lie would come out,” said Rixa, not giving up. “And Jutta would have to pay for it. Am I to believe, Reinmar, that you took such a risk?”

“The Elector of Saxony wasn’t waiting with the army at Kössern,” said Scharley on Reynevan’s behalf again. “He was waiting near Dornau, so he was waiting in error. You said so yourself. Isn’t that proof enough for you?”

“I’m not interested in proof, but in the truth.”

“The truth has various faces,” said Scharley, seizing Reynevan, who was about to speak, by the arm. “What face does yours have, Rixa Cartafila? Before Bożyczko hit you with the brass knuckles, you were robustly and stubbornly demanding from Reinmar information about the location of the crossing. What information were you waiting for: genuine or false? How did you intend to exploit the information, whom did you plan to give it to? And in what form—as information or disinformation? Is it worth pursuing this?”

“I want to know the truth.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“It’s in my blood. I’ll keep nagging: we are heading towards the Dominican convent in Cronschwitz, because Bożyczko secreted Jutta of Apolda there. We know it, since I intercepted the information meant for Reynevan. When Bożyczko sent that information, the actual location of the crossing was already known. It was also known then that Frederick had been misled and on the basis of that disinformation he committed a disastrous military error. In spite of that, Bożyczko gave Reynevan Jutta. He behaved like a decent blackmailer. He carried out his part of the pact, handed over what he was using for blackmail after receiving that which he wished to gain by blackmail. What, then, I ask one more time, did Bożyczko gain? Information or disinformation?”

“Let me reply one more time,” said Scharley. “What difference does it make? It’s the result that matters.”

“Not only. Loyalty to one’s principles also matters.”