“Never mind what impression I give.” Reynevan frowned. “I heeded your advice and I’ve got a grip. And thus, I declare: we have our orders. The Orphans are depending on us, we must help them capture the town. Let us check all the gates.”

They did. Reynevan, Scharley and Samson inspected the wall from the Bridge Gate to the Castle Hill. Their survey left them pessimistic. The Bath Gate was barred securely using stones and timbers and a squad of soldiers was encamped outside the parish church as well. Companies of mercenaries were stationed at the other gates, the Green and the Czech.

They met Bisclavret at the agreed location, in the back of a bakery in Grodzka Street. Apart from news that the Water Gate and the Przyłęcko Gate were manned by large units of guards, Bisclavret brought some rumours, mainly from the front. It was confirmed that Prokop had left Nysa and led the Tábor north towards the Odra. The mission of Horn and Drosselbart must have succeeded, for the Taborites hadn’t attacked Ziębice, Strzelin or Oława. That fact was widely commented on and opinions varied. According to some, Jan of Ziębice and Ludwik of Oława had committed treason. By negotiating with the heretics, they had proved to be no better than the traitor Bolko Wołoszek and those spies swinging on nooses from the Bridge Tower. There were also those who thought that the dukes had acted judiciously and by negotiating had saved the goods and lives of many people. If only other men, they added pointedly, though softly, could demonstrate similar good sense. The latter opinion was clearly beginning to prevail when news arrived in Kłodzko of the plunder and utter destruction by fire of Niemodlin after Bernard, the Duke of Niemodlin, Wołoszek’s uncle, had rejected the invitation to parley with Prokop the Shaven.

But it was the Orphans marching from the south who worried the townspeople more acutely than Prokop’s Taborites. News about the Orphans had just reached them and caused a considerable commotion, for it was understood that the entire country south of Kłodzko was in flames and running with blood, and the Hussites were pushing north unchecked. Refugees and eyewitnesses told in trembling voices of the fall of Homole Castle, which guarded the Lewin Pass and was thought to be impregnable. Two other fortresses that were supposed to have stopped the invaders—Štěrba and Karpno—had been captured and reduced to ashes. Lewin, Mezilesí, Schnellenstein, Lądek and numerous villages had gone up in smoke. Terrified refugees and eyewitnesses told how anybody who hadn’t fled was slaughtered and the citizens of Kłodzko were close to sheer panic.

Bisclavret rubbed his hands together, but his joy was short-lived. They arrived at the town square just as Sir Půta of Častolovice addressed the crowd gathered there. Prior Vogsdorf was standing beside him.