“That would be more difficult,” Konrad said firmly. “Who knows better than you that the Devil himself couldn’t keep up with all the factions in Bohemia? That there’s no way of guessing who is siding with and against whom, or if Monday’s ally is still loyal on Tuesday. Pope Martin and King Sigismund want to negotiate with Hussites. Sensible ones—like you, for example. Do you think there was a shortage of volunteers to assassinate Žižka? We didn’t agree to that course of action. The removal of certain individuals threatened chaos, complete anarchy. Neither the king nor the Pope wishes for that in Bohemia.”

“Talk like that to Legate Orsini, but spare me such platitudes,” snorted the Czech disdainfully. “And apply your supposedly competent brain a little, Bishop. Think about common concerns.”

“Somebody is meant to die: your foe, whether political or personal. What does that have to do with us?”

“I told you,” the Czech ignored the mockery again, “that both the Taborites and the Orphans are looking at Silesia greedily. Some of them want to convert you, others simply to rob and pillage. They’ll set off any day now, they’ll soon be here with fire and sword. Pope Martin, who desires Christian reconciliation, will pray for you in the distant Vatican. Sigismund, who wants a settlement, will froth at the mouth in far-off Buda. Albrecht the Austrian and the Bishop of Olomouc will sigh with relief that they’re not being invaded. While here, the Taborites and the Orphans will be beheading you, burning you in barrels and impaling you—”

“Yes, yes.” The bishop waved a hand dismissively. “Let it go, I can see it in paintings in every church in Wrocław. You want to convince me, if I understand right, that the sudden deaths of a few selected Taborites will save Silesia from invasion? From an apocalypse?”

“Perhaps it won’t. But it’ll delay it, at least.”

“Without obligations or pledges, who do you have in mind? Who ought to be removed? I meant—excuse the lapsus linguae—who are we to include in our prayers?”

“Bohuslav of Švamberk. Jan Hvězda of Vicemilice, the Hetman of Hradec. Also Jan Čapek of Sány and Ambrož, the former priest of the church of the Holy Spirit. Prokop the Shaven—”

“Not so fast,” the Wallcreeper instructed reproachfully. “I’m writing them down. Please, though, m’lord, confine yourself to the area around Hradec Králové. We’d like a list of the active and radical Hussites from the regions of Náchod, Trutnov and Vízmburk.”

“Ha!” shouted the Czech. “Are you planning something after all?”

“Quiet, m’lord.”

“I want to take some good news back to Prague—”

“And I’m telling you to be quiet.”