“The legate is the biggest thief of them all. In any case, the legate and the princes already have their silver, for we collected the tax again after the robbery. Everyone saw how it was spent—at the Battle of Tachov! What didn’t go into their pockets remained on the battlefield from which they fled in disarray, leaving everything to the Hussites! And that other tax? They’ve already forgotten about it. It’s history.”

“Unfortunately, it isn’t,” the Wallcreeper calmly countered. “The second tax was ratified by the Reichstag. Whoever stole the money played a trick on the Holy Roman Empire’s Prince-Electors, made a fool of the archbishops. They won’t just drop the matter. They’ll sniff around, delve into it. They’ll get to the bottom of it eventually—or harbour justified suspicions.”

“What will they do to me? What can they do? They’re unable to harm me. This is Silesia! My power and might are here! Maior sum quam cui possit Fortuna nocere! ”

“Quem dies vidit veniens superbum, hunc dies vidit fugiens iacentem.” The Wallcreeper retorted with an equally classical quotation. “Don’t be too cocksure, Papa. Let us be cautious. Even when the matter of the inconvenient witness is solved, one ought to think about finally closing the investigation into the theft of the tax—not by discontinuing it, but rather by capturing and punishing the guilty party.”

“Actually, I think likewise,” admitted Konrad. “According to the prevailing rumour, the tax collector was attacked and the money stolen by Reinmar of Bielawa, the brother of Piotr of Bielawa, a Hussite spy. Reinmar fled to Bohemia, to his fellow heretics. So let’s lure him to Silesia, capture him and put him on trial. Proof of his crimes will be found.”

“Naturally.” The Wallcreeper smiled. “Do we need anything more than the accused’s confession of his guilt? And Reinmar will confess to all the crimes we accuse him of. Everyone confesses in the end, after a suitably lengthy period of persuasion. Unless he unluckily dies before confessing.”

“Why ‘unluckily’? I regard it as obvious and normal that Bielawa will give up the ghost in the torture chamber. After having confessed to the robbery of the tax collector. But before revealing where the stolen silver is hidden.”

“Ah. Of course. I understand. But…”

“But what?”

“The people interested in the fate of that money might still have their doubts, I fear…”

“They won’t. They’ll find other irrefutable proofs of guilt. An empty trunk will be discovered, the same one the tax collector carried the money in, during a search of the house of Bielawa’s accomplice.”

“Brilliant. Who will that be?”

“I don’t know yet, but I have a list. What do you say to the papal Inquisitor, Grześ Hejncze?”