“I happen to know about that,” said Reynevan, peeling off the poultice and blinking. “The guards seldom spoke to me, but one was extremely badly disposed to the Teutonic Knights and had to share his joy at the victory with somebody. And here? Did Korybut carve out a kingdom for himself from Upper Silesia?”

“Not exactly. He was residing in Gliwice, which he had captured and meant to make into his royal capital. On the fourth of April 1431, three days after Easter, the Dukes of Oleśnica captured the castle using trickery and slaughtered the garrison. Korybut was fortunate not to be in Gliwice then. But his fantasy about a kingdom burst like a soap bubble. The duke returned to Lithuania. In other words, to obscurity and oblivion.”

“Bolko Wołoszek?”

“He began ambitiously, enlarging his rule as he had planned, capturing castles and towns one after the next. But he didn’t stay anywhere long, he was always driven away. Mikołaj of Racibórz took from him his final conquests, Bytom and Rybnik, a year ago. The chariot of history came full circle and Wołoszek is where he was at the beginning, that is in Opole. And there he will stay.”

“Puchała? Bedřich? Piotr the Pole? The others?”

“Puchała invaded Kluczbork and Byczyna, from where—with one Kochłowski of Wieluń—he attacked, pillaged and burned, tormenting Silesia terribly. They fought against him, besieged him for weeks, but to no avail. Both sides finally grew weary of fighting and decided to solve the matter mercantilely. After bargaining, Puchała gave up Kluczbork for seventy-two thousand groschen and Byczyna for thirty thousand. He gave up the castles and left Silesia. He fought with Čapek’s Orphans in the Margraviate and the Battle of Danzig. But he didn’t return to Bohemia, he stayed in Poland.

“Jan Pardus is holding out in Otmuchów Castle, which he captured three years ago. While Bedřich of Strážnice and Piotr the Pole have headquarters in Niemcza and in Wierzbno, from which the Silesians are constantly trying to drive them. Unsuccessfully, for the moment, but it’s only a matter of time.”

“What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

“Weren’t you listening? The plans to conquer Upper Silesia came to nothing. Polish intervention never happened. The Silesians, left to themselves, will drive the Hussites from their lands. It’s no use the Czechs hoping for reinforcements because the situation there has changed drastically.”

“How, exactly?”