Reynevan urged the bay through a meadow yellow with mullein and violet with lupins. He felt like laughing and shouting for joy. Adèle—his Adèle—had outwitted the Sterczas. They thought they had her cornered in Ligota, but she had deceived them and fled, at night, on a grey mare, with her plait flowing in the wind…

Just a moment, he reflected. Adèle doesn’t have a plait.

I must control myself, he thought soberly, spurring his stallion on. For Nicolette, the Amazon with a tunic as bright as straw, doesn’t mean a thing to me. Indeed, she saved me, confused my pursuers, and I shall repay her when the occasion arises—why, I’ll fall at her feet. But I love Adèle and only Adèle, the lady of my heart and my thoughts. I am definitely not enthralled by that fair plait, nor those azure eyes under that sable calpac, nor those cherry lips, nor those shapely thighs, gripping the sides of her grey mare…

I love Adèle. Adèle, from whom all of three miles separate me. Were I to ride at a gallop, I’d reach the gates of Ziębice before the clock strikes noon.

Easy does it. Keep a cool head. First of all, I must visit my brother, as he is on my way. Once I’ve freed Adèle from her prison we shall flee to Bohemia or Hungary and I might never see Peterlin again. I have to say farewell to him, explain things. Ask for his brotherly blessing.

Canon Otto forbade me. Canon Otto ordered me to slink like a wolf, avoiding well-trodden paths. Canon Otto warned me that my pursuers might be lying in wait for me in the vicinity of Peterlin’s estate…

But Reynevan had a solution to that, too.

Reynevan headed up a stream, hidden among the bulrushes and barely visible beneath the canopy of alders, until it joined the Oława. He knew a way that led not to Balbinów, where Peterlin lived, but to Powojowice, where he worked.

The first sign that he was close to Powojowice came from the very stream Reynevan was riding beside. First, it gave off a faint smell, then a more intense one and finally began to stink. At the same time, the water changed colour to a dirty red. Reynevan left the trees and saw the reason—some way off stood several huge wooden frames with lengths of cloth hanging from them. The colour red predominated—indicating that day’s production—but there was also sky blue, navy blue and green fabric.