“… Dzierżka, the widow of Zbylut of Szarada, who changed her name to ‘Dzierżka of Wirsing’ after her husband’s death, took over his stud and trades in horses. Is it right for a woman to make her living from industry and trade? To create competition for us—honest Catholics? Why does she prosper so, eh, when others do not? Because she sells horses to Czech Hussites! To heretics!”

“… it was only just passed at the Council of Siena and confirmed by royal edicts that all trade with Hussite Bohemia is forbidden, and that anyone who trades with Hussites will be punished monetarily and corporeally. Even that Polish pagan Jogaila punishes anyone who consorts with heretics, or sells them lead, weapons, salt or provisions with infamy, exile, loss of office and privilege. And here, in Silesia? The proud merchant lords disdain the embargos. They say profit is the main thing, and you can trade with the very Devil if it brings a profit. Do you want names? Let’s start with Tomasz Gernrode of Nysa, Mikołaj Neumarkt of Świdnica and Fabian Pfefferkorn of Niemodlin. And there were plenty of witnesses when Hanusz Throst of Racibórz accused the clergy of dissipation in the Moor’s Head in Wrocław, vicesima prima Iulii, at eventide…”

“… and they say: Urban Horn. They know him, he’s a rabble-rouser and a troublemaker, and probably a heretic and a convert. A Waldensian! A Beghard! His mother was a Beguine, they burned her in Świdnica after she confessed to vile practices under torture. She was named Roth, Małgorzata Roth. I saw that Horn, alias Roth, in Strzelin with my very own eyes. He incited the people to rebel and mocked the Pope. That Reinmar of Bielawa, a distant relative of Otto Beess, canon at Saint John the Baptist’s, was travelling with him. Bad as each other, both converts and heretics…”

Dusk was falling when the last petitioner left the Church of Saint Maciej. The Wallcreeper exited the confessional, stretched and handed the bearded Teutonic Knight a piece of paper covered in writing.

“Is Prior Dobeneck any better?”

“He is still laid low with sickness,” replied the Hospitaller. “In practice, Grzegorz Hejncze, also a Dominican, is the Inquisitor a Sede Apostolica.”

The Hospitaller’s mouth twisted slightly, as though he could taste something unpalatable. The Wallcreeper noticed. And the Hospitaller noticed that the Wallcreeper had noticed.

“A stripling, that Hejncze,” he explained a little hesitantly. “A formalist. Demands proof of everything, only very rarely does he send anyone to be tortured. Keeps finding suspects innocent and releasing them. He’s soft.”

“I saw the remains of fires behind Saint Wojciech’s.”