The Silver Sword by Angela Elwell Hunt

on Petrov’s table. “I had a dream tonight—a familiar dream, for it has visited my sleep many times. In my dream I revisited the place where my mother died, and Cardinal D’Ailly was there.”
    â€œYou cannot believe what you see in dreams,” Petrov countered, shaking his head. “The devil plants false ideas and feelings while we sleep.”
    â€œIf it was not D’Ailly, it was a cardinal like him; they are much the same.”
    Petrov blinked at her in bewilderment, then loosely crossed his arms. “The cardinals are not
all
evil, little one. There are some who love God more than power or the pleasures of this world. Yet they wear the robes of cardinals, too.”
    â€œStill—” She drew a long, quivering breath, barely mastering the passion that shook her. “I will not suffer them. No more. Not any longer.”
    â€œAnd what will you do?” he asked, managing a half-laugh. “We all suffer them, little bird. There are some like Master Hus who dare to try to change things, but he is working from within the church. We do not know enough to challenge the churchmen. We are uneducated—”
    â€œI am not uneducated,” she interrupted, cutting him off with aglance. “And I do not know what I will do. But we will sleep on our problem, and if God is good, perhaps he will provide an answer.”

    Petrov’s answer, when morning came, was simple and direct. “We should work within the civil law as Master Hus works within the church,” he told Anika. And though she had her doubts about the wisdom of his plan, she washed her tears from her face, then took Petrov’s arm and went to the town hall to meet with the council of magistrates. In the same council chamber where Anika had heard the magistrates falsely promise a fair trial for the three students, she and Petrov reported the events that led up to Ernan O’Connor’s death.
    The chief magistrate, a haughty man with craggy features, stared at Anika from across the table. “You are aware, of course, that Lord Laco and his son will have to be summoned to give their account of the incident,” he said, his mouth pulling into a sour grin. “If their stories do not mesh with yours, Cardinal D’Ailly himself might have to be consulted. And we have heard on good authority that the cardinal is en route to Rome.”
    â€œConsult with whomever you have to,” Petrov answered gruffly. “Anika and I do not fear the truth. Master Hus will account for our characters. The girl, her father, and I have had many dealings with him.”
    At the mention of Hus’s name, Anika saw the chief magistrate’s eyebrows slant together in a frown.
It was a reasonable idea, Sir Petrov,
she thought, silently following the knight from the council chamber.
But the chief magistrate’s hatred for Jan Hus is a living thing, and it will consume us if we are not careful.

    Before the day ended they received a summons to appear before the council the next morning. Anika felt her skin crawl with revulsion when she walked through the chamber doorway on Tuesday morning and saw Lord Laco, his son, and the two knights who had been in attendance on the day of her father’s murder. One of the knights wore a thick bandage around his forearm, and bluish green bruises mottled the other’s face.
    â€œSir Petrov, did you cause so much damage?” Anika whispered, staring at the other knight’s puffy face.
    â€œI only wish I had,” Petrov answered, a muscle quivering in his jaw. “The brute has been in a yard fight, or else he has deliberately punished himself to elicit mercy from those who will judge us.”
    With a thickly beating heart Anika wound her way through the crowd of observers. Master Hus had volunteered to face the magistrates with Anika and Petrov, but all three of them knew his presence might only muddy the waters. And so Anika and Petrov stood alone