“I do, I do,” snorted the Czech. “Why wouldn’t I, after what befell Piotr of Bielawa and Lord Bart and those other merchants Pfefferkorn, Neumarkt and Throst? A demon, an angel of vengeance, is abroad in Silesia, striking from a clear sky at high noon. People are frightened—”

“And so they should be,” the bishop interrupted calmly.

“And the results can be seen with the naked eye.” The Czech nodded. “The Karkonosze passes are deserted, very few merchants travel to Bohemia. Our spies don’t go on missions to Silesia as willingly as they once did, and the formerly clamorous emissaries from Hradec and Tábor have also quietened down somewhat. People talk, the matter becomes a rumour and grows like a snowball. Apparently, Piotr of Bielawa was cruelly stabbed to death. They say not even a sacred space could save Pfefferkorn, for he met his death in a church. Hanusz Throst made off at night, but the angel of vengeance kills not only at noon, but also in the darkness. And the fact that I’ve given you their names, Bishop, shows they are on my conscience.”

“I can hear your confession right now, if you want.”

“Thank you,” replied the Czech, who must have heard the mockery but ignored it. “But I am, as you know, a Calixtine and Utraquist, so I do not acknowledge auricular confession.”

“That’s your business and your loss,” Bishop Konrad commented coolly and a little disdainfully. “I wasn’t offering you a ritual but peace of mind, which doesn’t depend on doctrine. It is your right to decline it, but then you’ll have to cope with your conscience by yourself. But I will say that the deceased were at fault. They had sinned. And as Paul wrote to the Romans: ‘For the wages of sin is death.’”

“Regarding sinners,” said the Wallcreeper, “it is also written there as follows: ‘Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling block, and a recompense unto them.’”

“Amen,” the Czech added. “I regret that the angel or demon only watches over Silesia, for there’s no shortage of sinners back home in Bohemia. Some of us there, in Golden Prague, pray morning and evening for certain sinners to be struck down by holy lightning or caught by a demon. If you want, I’ll give you a list.”