“So I ran as fast as I could to the town hall and submitted a report,” continued the tax collector. “They’ve probably already been caught; the torturer is stretching them on the wheel in a dungeon as we speak. And do you see the scheme here? Those two scoundrels and that third one, the whippersnapper, were surely spying for the Raubritters and telling the gang who to waylay. I feared they were already lying in wait for me somewhere on the road. And my escort, as you see, is barely adequate! The bloody Ziębice knighthood prefers tournaments, banquets, and dances, blow them! So I’m afeared, for I want to live, and it would be a shame for this coffer containing more than five hundred grzywna to fall into those bandits’ hands when it’s meant for a holy cause.”

“Of course it would be a shame,” threw in the goliard. “And the cause is both holy and good. Which is why I advised you, sir, to avoid the main roads and steal through the forest unseen, to reach Bardo in no time.”

“And may God bless us and keep us,” said the tax collector, raising his eyes to the heavens. “And the patron saints of tax collectors, Adauctus and Matthew. And Our Lady of Bardo, who’s famous for her miracles.”

“Amen, amen,” chimed in the pilgrims walking beside the wagon. “Praise be the Blessed Virgin Mary, guardian and intercessor!”

“Amen!” called the Friars Minor in unison, walking on the other side.

“Amen,” added Sir Hartwig, and the plain Jane crossed herself.

“Amen,” said the tax collector, closing the subject. “Bardo’s a holy place, m’Lord Hagenau, clearly favoured by Our Lady. Did you know that she’s said to have appeared again on Bardo Mount? And weeping again, as she was in the year 1400. Some say it is a harbinger of misfortune that will soon visit Bardo and the whole of Silesia. Others say the Blessed Virgin is weeping because faith is weakening and the Schism is spreading. The Hussites—”

“You never stop,” interrupted the goliard. “You’re always sniffing out Hussites and heresy. Could the Blessed Virgin Mary be weeping for other reasons altogether? Perhaps her tears fall because she sees priests engaged in simony, lecherous debauchery and thievery rather than praying and living in poverty, and the Church of Rome wielding power and spoiling to enter war and politics instead of serving the faithful? Not to mention apostasy and heresy, for what is acting contrary to the Gospels if not heresy? Perhaps Our Lady weeps at the sight of the holy sacraments turned into a conjuring trick at the hands of sinful priests. Perhaps she shares the outrage and sadness felt by many when they see the Pope, who is wealthier than the magnates, building the Church of Saint Peter not with his own money, but with the money of the impoverished faithful?”