Henry was inclined to agree with Capon's assessment, however, there was still the danger that one of the men inside would wake up, go out into the courtyard and sound the alarm. They had to hurry. But first they returned to the gate. It had been agreed that they would meet with the pair who were to eliminate the guards on the southern and eastern walls. The men were already waiting for them there. One of them was sitting on the steps, holding his arm, but Henry's concerned question was waved away. When they confirmed that everyone had done their task, Henry suggested an idea which had been nagging him for a while:

"I think we should try to capture Toth." Stunned silence followed. Then Sir Capon said:

"Have you lost your mind, Henry?! This is not what we have agreed on."

"I know. But what if they discover us when we are running away with Lady Stephanie and Sir Radzig? It would be better to have our own hostage, wouldn't it? A dagger on Toth's neck will guarantee our safety," said Henry with conviction.

"Only if it works. And Robard swept this idea off the table as too dangerous," Capon replied, but it sounded weak, as if he was just saying what was expected of him. Henry sensed an opportunity.

"But Robard isn't here. So far everything have gone smoothly and we know that Tóth has no guard with him... "

Capon hesitated for a moment, then gave in. "To hell with you, Henry! All right, we'll do it. What is your plan?"

"It's quite simple. I'll go get Lady Stephanie and my father. I can handle one guardsmanmyself and then me and fatherboth can help Lady Stephanie. You, Peter and Vítek," he nodded at the mentioned men, "will capture Tóth. Three men must be more than enough." Henry spoke quickly to make up for the time lost by their quarrel. "Adam will keep watch by the gate. If they sound the alarm, you'll open it and run for help." The man with the injured hand nodded.

"Good, I like that. Finally, I'll show my uncle that I'm not the good-for-nothing he thinks I am," Sir Capon got excited about Henry's plan. "Where are we going to meet?"

"Here at the gate, again" replied Henry. In his enthusiasm, he forgot about his promise that he would look after Capon and consciously defied Sir Robard's order. Asking for forgiveness was always easier than begging for permission, as he had had the chance to see several times. They didn't wait any longer and set off.

Henry needed to get to the gallery leading around the walls to the tower first. So he climbed to the roof of one of the wooden sheds that stood glued to the wall and from there he reached the beams supporting the stairs. He had to try several times before he was able to pull himself to a beam. Then he climbed over the railing and after a few steps stood at the entrance to the tower. He took several deep breaths and pulled out a set of lockpicks. With a barely audible creaking, he started to work. After a while, he heard a faint click and thanked God for bringing him together with the miller Peshek. When he had first learned to pick locks from him, even in his wildest dreams he could not have imagined what this skill would be useful for. He hid his lockpicks and impatiently threw the door wide open. There was a terrible creak.

Henry's heart almost stopped from fright and he was immediately drenched in cold sweat.

"Is that you, Wenceslas?" A voice sounded from above the stairs. "Are you going to relieve me already?"

Henry looked around wildly. Where to hide?

"Hey, come upstairs. You know we aren't supposed to take eyes off him," said the guard from the floor above him.

So Henry prepared his dagger and went up with sweaty hands and his heart pounding.

Radzig Kobyla had found himself in many precarious situations during his life, but he did never felt so helpless before. Or foolish. The reckless stunt he had performed during the attack on Talmberk was something he would have expected of Henry rather than himself. Apparently, the rashness that his son often displayed was an inherited trait. He himself had overcome and tamed it over the years, or so he liked to think. When it manifested itself once in a while, it usually happened at the most inopportune moment. He really outdid himself this time. And so he was sitting here the second night in a row, with his hands tied behind his back and relentless thoughts that kept him awake. He did not worry about his life; he knew that Istvan would not kill him outright, but he was worried about Henry. The last time he saw his son's face, there was a mixture of anger and determination and it was clear to him that Henry would try something stupid. He could only hope that Hanush with Divish and Robard would keep an eye on him.

In the end, sleep overcame him. But barely a moment passed and a voice of the guard sitting near the stairs woke him from his sleep. Radzig blinked, trying to adjust his eyes in the torchlight. Changing of the guards didn't make sense to him, it was too early. And obviously his jailer thought so too, because he stood up and glanced around, looking for his hourglass. When he finally spotted them, he cursed because it was overturned.

Radzig grinned a little maliciously at the man's clumsiness. But then the smile froze on his lips for he had just seen his son on the stairs. He tried his best to control his expression so that he did not give him away. However, the guard must had heard something because he turned.

"What are you…" In the middle of the sentence, he found out that the figure on the stairs was not his friend Wenceslaus and his hand went to a mace behind his belt.

Henry hurried to him, grabbed the handle of his half-pulled out mace and struck the man in the face with the hilt of his dagger. Well, he tried. Radzig saw the man to jerk his head and the weapon slid harmlessly on the mail coif. Yet the blow shook the man. He staggered, took a step back and tripped over the chair he had been sitting on earlier. Unfortunately, he pulled Henry to the ground with him, because Henry did not have time to drop the mace. The wooden planks rumbled as two heavy bodies hit them.

Radzig, meanwhile, stood up determined to help his son in some way. He ran to the fighting men. They let go of the mace that was useless to them on the ground and were wrestling for the dagger. Once Radzig was near them, he kicked the guard in the head. That was enough to distract him for a moment. Henry freed his hand with the weapon and thrusted it in the man's eye socket. He breathed hard for a moment, then released the dagger and stood up shakily. Before he could say anything, Radzig spoke first:

"There is another one upstairs."

His son paled and stared at him. Then he turned quickly, picked up the mace from the floor, and ran to the stairs, just in time. Another guard was already running down. Henry halted, raised his hand and with a single blow smashed the man's knee. He fell to the ground screaming. There, Henry finished him of with a second blow to the head. Then he dropped his mace and turned back to Radzig. Disgusted expression was replaced by an embarrassed smile.

"Father!"

Hans Capon, with Peter and Vítek on his heels, hurried to the main building. At the back, he heard a faint rustle as Henry tried to climb the tower. And then they were standing in front of the door to the banquet hall. There was some kind of silent agreement behind him and he suddenly found himself behind both guards. Before he could protest, Peter took the handle. It was unlocked. Hans watched him to peer carefully into the room, then Peter gestured for them.

The room was empty and only embers smouldered in the fireplace. They headed to the left, to Sir Divish's bedchamber. There Peter tried slowly and very carefully to open the door. This one was locked as expected.

"What now? We can't kick it out," whispered Hans, pointing to the hinges - the door opened towards them.

"If I may, sir," said Vitek, "I have some lockpicks."

"Get to work!"

Vítek took Peter's place and started poking in the lock. Hans tried to see something, but the passage to the door was narrow and the shoulders of the men in front of him were wide. However, he heard the lockpick breaking quite well.

"Fuck!" said Vítek. "What if he heard us?"

"Go on, we can't back down now," Peter urged, stretching his arms. Hans was shifting his weight. Soon, more pleasant sound was heard. Faint click of an unlocked lock. Vítek hid the lockpick and then they burst in.

Much later, when it was all over, Hans Capon wondered if they could have done it differently. Had they overlooked some possibility? Some way to get Istvan and avoid what had happened. But he never thought about it for too long fearing that the answer would be yes.

Istvan Toth was already waiting for them. Vítek, who went first, collided with him and got stabbed in his belly. With a moan, he slumped to the floor, right under Peter's feet. Peter tripped over him and, while falling, instinctively grabbed what was closest to him, which happened to be Toth's shirt. There was a bang as they both landed on the wooden frame of Divish's bed, followed by an angry yelling and calls for help. Hans circled the moaning Vítek, slid along the wall and threw himself on the ground, where he vaguely sensed Istvan's writhing body. The Hungarian was trying to throw off the senseless Peter.

What followed was a short, ugly brawl, unworthy of both noblemen. In complete darkness, they were fighting like little boys, weapons long forgotten. Driven by the desire to end the fight as quickly as possible, Hans Capon eventually resorted to something really low. He rolled Toth over him and then kicked him in the groin with his knee. The Hungarian nobleman screamed and fell on his side, hands instinctively thrust between his legs. Hans pulled a dagger from his belt, knelt beside Toth and pressed it to his neck. Toth immediately froze, but continued to gasp as he tried to overcome the pain.

And it was just in time. Men with torches and weapons in their hands appeared in the doorway. Hans got up quickly and pulled Toth to his feet. He was well aware that his hold on Toth was the only thing preventing an utter disaster.

"Let us through," he ordered, trying hard to suppress the shaking of his voice. The guards retreated and he and his prisoner entered the lighted dining room. However, he stopped immediately and his eyes widened - on the opposite side stood, in the hands of one of the men, Lady Stephanie with a dagger on her neck.

"Shit!" he swore, and Istvan Toth in front of him started to laugh.