"God’s Warriors" by Andrzej Sapkowski, summary

The novel was published in 2004. The narrative seamlessly blends the authentic chronicle of the Hussite Wars with elements of adventure fiction and mystical medieval magic.

The work was awarded the Polish literary prizes Nautilus and SFinks. It is the second book in the Reynevan Saga cycle (also known as the Hussite Trilogy), continuing the events of the novel The Tower of Fools and preceding the final volume, Eternal Light.

Prague’s Mysteries and the Search for Salvation

In the summer of 1427, Prague was filled with the smell of blood and the smoke of fires. The neophyte of the chalice, Reinmar of Bieława, known as Reynevan, treated the wounded at the theologians’ hospital at the Church of Saints Simeon and Judith. The streets of Prague were seething with religious debate. The head of Taborite intelligence, Bohuchval Neplach, nicknamed Flutek, placed the young doctor under close surveillance. Flutek demanded the release of the money from the robbed tax collector and the identification of the traitor who had betrayed Peter of Bieława to Bishop Peter.

Soon, moderate Praguers, led by Hynek of Kolštejn, rebelled. The rebellious horsemen filled the Old Town Market, shouting "Holy Peace!" in the hopes of freeing Prince Sigismund Korybutovich and overthrowing the radicals. The conspirators were met with a devastating volley from the windows of the town hall and other buildings. Hynek was thrown from the top floor of the "Under the Elephant" building.

Reynevan tracked down a fleeing coup participant, Lord Jan Śmizcicki, in the alleys. He turned out to be a secret informant for the Bishop of Wrocław. The captured knight revealed the name of the prelate’s henchman who had murdered Reynevan’s brother: "Birkart von Grellenort."

Prague’s alchemists and sorcerers gathered in the secret apothecary "Under the Archangel." The friends attempted to free Samson Medk, whose powerful mind remained trapped in the body of a feeble-minded giant. The renowned necromancer Vincent Reffin Axleben, who had arrived from Salzburg, was unsuccessful. The sorcerer declared that only Rupilius Silesian, who resided in Trosky Castle under the protection of Sir Otto de Bergov, could solve the mystery of spiritual transmigration. Axleben warned the healer of the danger: "You must beware of the Baba and the Maiden."

The Siege of Colin and Betrayal on the Highway

Prokop the Great’s army surrounded the Catholic-loyal Kolin. Reynevan and Samson arrived at the siege camp, where they encountered Sharley. The Grand Heitman reluctantly released the physician to search for the sorcerer, ordering him to embark on a spy mission to Silesia after completing his personal affairs. Flutek gave Reynevan false news: his beloved Nicoletta (Katarzyna Bieberstein) had given birth to a son.

Along the way, the heroes stopped by the secret tavern of Friedusch Hunzleder, who ran a mobile gambling house and brothel. There, Samson saw the naked Adamite Marketa. The giant had won the slave girl in a game of dice from the innkeeper. The sharper attempted to chop off the winner’s fingers, but lost his own hand to the blows of his own axe.

The detachment split up. Sharley took the rescued girl to Prague. Reynevan trusted the Hussite centurion Vojta Jelinek, who agreed to escort him across the border. Jelinek betrayed his companion and sold him to Martaguz slave traders for five kopecks of groszy.

In the mortuary of Trosky Castle

The prisoners were driven beneath the basalt towers of Trosky Castle. The fortress’s lord, Otto de Bergow, arranged a trade for the Silesian and Lusatian nobles. The sadistic young niece of the knight Kökeritz, Dutza von Puck, stabbed one of the captives to death with a spear for fun. The girl chose Reynevan as her next victim.

The arrival of Sir Ulrik von Bieberstein and Knight Janko Schaff disrupted the execution. Recognizing the fugitive, the lords raised the ransom to a hundred kopecks groschen. The suspicious Otto de Bergow suspected the captive of being a hired killer and locked him in a deep underground dungeon: "I’ll starve you to death, Lord von Bielau."

Bleached bones lay in a stone sack. One night, a man passed through the monolithic wall. The stranger came to honor the remains with a yew branch. The young man realized that before him stood Rupilius Silesian, who had performed an astral transference into the body of the deceased servant.

A crash came from above. Samson Medoc smashed through the grating with a blacksmith’s hammer. Rupilius revealed an ancient Celtic underground passage to the fugitives, forcing them to swear to return for his library in two years. At the cave’s exit, Birkart Grellenort lay in wait for the fugitives. The wall-climber transformed into a bird and whistled for the black-cloaked riders. Samson saved his friend, forcibly lifting him onto his horse and ordering him to gallop away.

Silesian Roads and the Mystery of Nicoletta

In the forests of Reynevan, Janko Schaff intercepted him, hoping to uncover the secret of the missing taxes. Chaplain Zwicker saved the detachment from reprisal when he attempted to summon Grellenort’s assassins with a magical amulet. Enraged, Schaff strung the traitor up on a tree branch.

In Swiebodice, Reynevan cleverly provoked a brawl in a tavern by loudly accusing his companions of heresy before the holy fathers of the Inquisition. Taking advantage of the confusion, he fled into the night. In the darkness, a stranger in a black cloak attacked the fugitive. He turned out to be Gelfrad von Stercza.

The knight revealed the terrible truth about the fate of his wife, Adela. Prince Jan Ziembitsky had thrown his tiresome lover into the town hall prison, where the guards had set up a secret brothel. The defiled woman hanged herself with her belt. Stercha made Reynevar swear vengeance on the prince and released him: "Hodie mihi, cras tibi."

In the morning, Agnes de Apolda, hiding under the name of the Green Lady, caught up with the young man. She delivered the captive to Jan Biberstein at Stolets Castle. The citadel’s master threatened to fill the kidnapper with gunpowder and shoot him out of a cannon.

The nobleman’s daughter entered the hall with a baby. The physician was dumbfounded. The girl turned out to be a short, completely unfamiliar young lady. It turned out that the young man’s true lover in Goleńskie Bory was Jutta de Apolda, who had concealed her identity, and the true father of Katarzyna’s child was young Wolfram Pannewitz. Agnes de Apolda freed the shocked Reynevan, forbidding him from seeking contact with her daughter.

The Rebirth of Vogelsang

In a tavern in the town of Niemcza, Reynevan met the vagant Tybalt Raabe and the Mamun Jon Malewolte. With the Mamun’s help, they managed to neutralize an ambush of spies in the village of Gdzemezh. Soon, the surviving members of the secret Taborite sabotage network "Vogelsang" arrived: Drosselbart, Bisclavret, and Zhehors.

Using an ancient ritual, Malevolt showed the healer a vision. Jutta was in the Poor Clares’ convent in Bila Tserkva. Meeting at the edge of the forest, the lovers swore fidelity to each other: "Montségur lives."

In early 1428, a massive army under Prokop the Great invaded Silesia. Reynevan and Horn convinced Prince Bolko Voloszek to betray the Catholic alliance and withdraw his army from the ford across the Stradun River. Głogówek fell, and Głucholazy, Prudník, and Otmukhov were set ablaze. Under the walls of Nysa, a Czech wagenburg utterly routed the army of Bishop Konrad and Puta of Častolovice.

Hussite troops under the command of Jan Kralovec stormed Kłodzko. Vogelsang’s sabotage inside the citadel failed due to betrayal. Fleeing through the city’s sewers, Reynevan joined the besiegers. Kłodzko held out, but troops of orphans stormed the monastery in Kamieniec, where, on Reynevan’s orders, they beat Abbot Nicholas Kappitz, responsible for Adela’s death, to death with rods. Then Frankenstein fell, where the physician personally shot the informer Andrzej Kantor with a crossbow.

The death of the prince and the capture of his beloved

The campaign ended. That summer, Reynevan spent time recovering from his severe wounds in Bila Tserkva near Jutta. The monastery secretly professed heretical doctrines of the free spirit and eternal femininity. In the fall, Vogelsang’s scouts again enlisted the physician in sabotage operations.

In December, the Královec orphans again approached the Kłodzko Basin. Suddenly, Stenolas and Prince Jan Ziębický burst into the Poor Clares’ monastery. The soldiers captured Reynevan and Jutta. Ziębický demanded that the Hussite army be lured into a trap at Nowa Ruda, threatening to hand over the defenseless captive to the executioners.

Reynevan reached the orphans’ wagenburg near the village of Stary Velislav. Duty and conscience prevailed. The young man warned the Czech heitmen of an ambush: "Jan Zembitsky is coming at you from the north with a thousand heavily armed cavalry."

On the night of December 27, 1428, the Silesian knights recklessly attacked the wagenburg, which was ready for battle. Cannon fire and a Taborite counterattack swept away the attackers. Jan Ziembitsky’s cavalry became bogged down in a swamp near Schwedeldorf. Reynevan overtook the wounded prince and plunged a spear into his chest, avenging Adela’s death.

The victory proved bittersweet. The horseman rushed to Ziębice to rescue his beloved. At the city gates, the road was blocked by an envoy from the Inquisition, Łukasz Bożyczko. The deacon, with a smirk, announced that Jutta de Apolda had been taken to a secret refuge and would remain a hostage to Reynevan’s loyalty. An icy December twilight descended over Silesia.