Tauler cleared his throat and continued, “The Picards were still a thorn in Žižka’s side. Crusades were being organised against Bohemia and Catholic propaganda was trumpeting about Picardian cultism, so the Adamites were the perfect subject for them. Soon it was believed throughout Europe that all Czechs wandered around naked and fucked each other according to Jan Huss’s teachings. In the face of the threat of crusades, anarchy in the ranks could be fatal, and the Picards, let’s face it, still had closet supporters in the Tábor. Towards the end of March 1421, Žižka sent a force against Kániš’s commune. Some of the sectarians were slaughtered; the rest—a few dozen, including Kániš himself—were captured and burned alive. It happened in the village of Klokoty, on the Tuesday before Saint George’s Day in late April. The location was not coincidental. Klokoty is right beside Tábor, so the massacre could be seen from the walls. Žižka was warning the Tábor—”

He broke off and glanced at the corner where Samson Honeypot was sitting. “He’s a devil for whittling. Look at him—is it safe to give an idiot a knife? Might he cut off his hand?”

“Never fear,” Reynevan said, accustomed to questions like that. “He is, in spite of appearances, extremely attentive. Go on, Brother Berengar. What happened next?”

“They finished off more sectarians, one after the other, until only one group remained: Burján’s commune. They were hiding in the forests by the River Nežárka. It was a dreadful band, the most radical of radicals, absolutely fanatical and certain of their divine mission. They began to rob neighbouring villages and settlements—allegedly to ‘convert.’ In reality, they murdered, plundered, burned things down and committed appalling atrocities. They feared no one. Burján, their leader, who was now officially addressed as ‘Jesus’ and ‘Son of God’—as indeed Kániš had been—vouched that as chosen ones they were immune and immortal, that no blade could cut them and no weapon harm them. He surrounded himself with a harem of about two dozen women and girls. It finally went so far that…”

“Well?”

“That he began to administer Communion… Erm… By means of… fellatio. A marvellous sacrament, isn’t it? But the end of the Picardian interlude was approaching fast, Žižka was hanging over them like a hawk. In October, they were tracked down and surrounded. Burján’s Adamites put up fierce resistance, they fought like tigers. Most were slaughtered and about four dozen taken alive. They were all burned at the stake. Half of them were women, most of them pregnant. Mercy was shown: the male Adamites were cruelly tortured before being burned. The female Adamites were burned without torture.”

“All of them?”

“Not at all,” Amadej Baťa interjected with a lecherous smile.