On the night of the seventh of November, the required individuals came to a meeting at an agreed place, which was a penitentiary cross at the edge of an oak wood in the Tąpadła Pass that separated the Ślęża massif from Radunia. They were the “reactivated” agents that the Vogelsang considered the most reliable and were needed to accomplish a special assignment. Precautions were taken, naturally—the presence of a turncoat among the agents could still not be ruled out. Only one member of the Vogelsang was waiting for the agents at the Tąpadła Pass—Rzehors was selected by drawing lots. If it went off without any surprises, Rzehors was to lead the group eastwards, to some shepherd huts where Reynevan would be waiting. If there wasn’t an ambush there, either, the group would continue to the village of Będkowice, where Bisclavret would be waiting. He had drawn the shortest straw.

But everything went smoothly and in the course of just a single night the Vogelsang had increased to nine men. Nine very different men. A bookkeeper from Wrocław; a stallholder from Prochowice; a carpenter from Trzebnica; an apprentice mason from Środa Śląska; a teacher from Kąty; the steward at the monastery grange in Lubiąż; an esquire once in the service of the Bolz family from Zeiskenberg; a former monk from Jemielnica, currently a seller of indulgences; and on top of that—in some ways the crowning achievement—the priest of the Church of the Heart of Jesus in Pogorzela.

Travelling by night—the unit was too large to be able to ride by day without arousing suspicion—they reached Rychbach, and from there headed to Lampersdorf and the Jugów Pass in the Owl Mountains. There, in a forest clearing outside the village of Jugów which gave its name to the pass, they met a squad that had come from Bohemia. The squad consisted of fourteen professionals. It wasn’t difficult to guess what profession they were members of. Reynevan didn’t actually have to guess. He knew two of them by sight from White Mountain, where they were being trained in the execution department.

The group leader was a friend of his.

“Urban Horn,” said Łukasz Bożyczko. “The squad was led from Bohemia by Urban Horn. In person.”

Gregorz Hejncze, Inquisitor a Sede Apostolica specialiter deputatus at the Wrocław Diocese, nodded to indicate he had guessed as much and that it came as no surprise. Łukasz Bożyczko cleared his throat, judging he could continue with his report.