“In actual fact, honoured guests,” said Kolúch, wiping the table with a hat left behind by Father Buzek, “we’re some way short of outright victory. We’re sitting and feasting at Michalovice, which was seized, as Brother Čapek said, from Sir Jan Michalec. We’ve captured Mladá Boleslav, Benešov, Mimoň and Jablonné. But Michalec didn’t flee far, only to Bezděz. And where is Bezděz? Go over to the window and look northwards and you’ll see it, a mere two miles away, over the river. Two miles! When one of us sneezes, Lord Michalec in Bezděz shouts, ‘Bless you!’.”

“Unfortunately,” Štěpán Tlach said gloomily, “Lord Michalec has no blessings for us, but would rather wish us damnation. But we cannot march on Bezděz, it’s impregnable. We’d barely chip its walls.”

“That is the truth, unfortunately,” Vojta Jelínek said over his shoulder as he pissed into the hearth. “And there’s no shortage of other castles and lords nearby who wish us a cruel death. Petr of Vartenberk menaces us every other day from Děvín, a stone’s throw away. Six miles from here is Ralsko, lorded over by Sir Jan of Vartenberk, known as Chudoba…”

“You’ve met Bohuš of Kováň, Lord of Frýdštejn,” added Čapek. “You know what he’s capable of. And there are others…”

“Aye, there are,” Kolúch growled. “We do hold the more strategic castles: Vartenberk, Lipý, Český Brod, Bělá pod Bezdězem and of course Michalovice. Most of the length of the trade route is still controlled by the papists and the Germans. The Lords of Dohna control Falkenberg and Grabštejn castles. Mikuláš Dachs, a client of the Lusatian Bibersteins, is the burgrave of Hamrštejn. That old brigand Hans Foltsch, a mercenary from Zgorzelec, has designs on Roimund Castle. The brothers Jan and Jindřich Berk of Dubá control Tolštejn—”

“Kinsmen,” boasted Brázda of Klinštejn. “The Ronovic family, as I am.”

“Kinsmen like you exercise the Berks’ hounds,” interrupted the old woman at the spinning wheel.

“Of the brothers from Dubá,” snorted Jan Kolúch, “Jindřich is particularly ill-disposed to us, for we took Lipý from him. It’s said he vowed in the church in Žitava that he wouldn’t eat meat until he ejects us from Lipý Castle. I’d say his fast will last a long time.”

“Indeed!” shouted Štěpán Tlach, slamming his fist down on the table. “Damned be any man who tries to remove us. Just let him try! We, the Orphans, stand firm here!”

“Aye! We stand firm!”