I did not want us to force people to be Hussites, I wanted them to see reason and convert on their own. History is written by the victorious however and I want that to be us so the Hussite faith can emerge victorious. Ludvik, Vilém and one of his friends, Josef Turn, took charge of an army. Ludvik led the army in Morava, so he could protect Tarbor too if he needed too. Vilém took charge of the army in Hradecko, protecting our town as much as he could. Josef took the one in Wroclaw, to protect our brethren in the province where we might have the majority. It seemed that they wanted Wroclaw to become totally Hussite and not just a possible majority. Each one of them had eight to nine thousand man under their control, although they were all infantry.
I raced home, I wanted to be sure that Markéta and the children would be fine. It worried me that of the persons leading the armies, the one protecting my home was the one who didn’t want us to fight in the first place. What had changed his mind?
As I got closer to Hradecko I saw more and more destruction. Not only of Catholic property, but also that of Hussites. It seemed that the Catholics wanted to pay back some of the death and destruction that was done to them. I feared for the worst and spurred the horses to run faster, it was only a few hours ride still. The moment I came into the street of our home I knew something was wrong. First I went into the workshop and quickly grabbed a hammer, I need something to defend myself with. I heard a scream, a horrible scream of a voice I recognized, there was something wrong with Markéta. I went into our house and the first thing I saw were soldiers that held Markéta.
“Good, you’re here,” I heard a voice say.
”Now we can get rid of her too.”
I looked to the right and saw a captain making a gesture. I looked back at Markéta and could just see how one of the soldiers that held her sliced her throat.
Something snapped inside me, I stopped caring, I stopped thinking. I only felt an anger rising in me of the likes I had never felt before. Time stopped moving, and still it was over before I realised. When I came back to my senses again I only saw blood everywhere. Of the soldiers that had been here nothing was left that was recognizable. It appears that I had used the hammer that I held to beat them bloody, and far beyond that. I collapsed onto the ground and crawled towards Markéta. There she lay, the love of my life, the mother of my children. Where were my children? I looked around me and saw the lifeless body of Darina. Where were Jan and Jarek? I searched the house and found nothing. Where could they have gone? I panicked. I looked around again, there were only the bloody remains of soldiers. The captain had fled away. Might he have taken Jan and Jarek? What would I have to do now. Where should I go to now? I had to find Jan and Jarek. I decided to go to Markéta’s father, he deserved to know that had happened to his daughter and granddaughter. Perhaps he had a clue on where Jan and Jarek were, if he would be able to overcome the shock of the death of his two little girls.
I walked towards his house, thinking of how I should say that his daughter had been murdered. As I walked towards his house the people who were still on the streets looked at me with shock. I must have been because of all the blood on my clothes. When I arrived at the house of Markéta’s father I still didn’t know what to say, but still I knocked on his door. It took a minute before I heard him ask:
”Who’s there?” It seems that he didn’t feel safe at his own house, and he did so with reason. I said who I was and the door opened.
“Daddy!” Jan exclaimed. Thank God, Jan was save.
“What happened?” Markéta’s father asked.
”Who’s blood is that?”
I told him he might want to sit down.
”It has to do with Markéta, hasn’t it? She didn’t feel safe and brought the boys here. She went back to.. where is she? Oh God, is that her blood?!”
I said it wasn’t, not all of it.
”Daddy, where is mommy?” Oh God, the questions of a child, I could I ever tell him. Markéta’s father had sat down, one of the boys on either of his knees. I told them, with tears in my eyes that some soldiers or guards had killed Mommy and Darina.
”Does that mean that Mommy can’t come here? “ I said it meant that mommy will never be back, that she could never come back.
I looked at Markéta’s father and saw a broken man, his only child was no more. He had done what no parent should ever do, outlive their own child. He was not alone, as I had lost my daughter too. I was glad that I still had Jan and Jarek. I saw Markéta’s father look at them and realize that, at least, he had them too. I took Jan and Jarek from him and hugged them with all the love I could muster. I wanted that hug to last forever, so I could forget the world out there. Just a father hugging his children, not children hugging their father who’s eyes were filled with tears because their mother had been murdered.
”You have to take revenge for her. Tell me everything, how did it happen?”
This was not a story for young boys to hear, they shouldn’t dream nightmares for the rest of their lives. I put them in another room and let a maid look after them. I came back to Markéta’s father and told him everything that I could remember. When I was done he asked me how the captain looked like. All I could remember was that he was bold with a black moustache, with a look in his eyes that he cared of nothing but himself.
”I know that bastard, a real Catholic zealot. He and his boys always took an extra look at my wagons after they knew I had become a Hussite. Make him pay, make them all pay for what they have done! I know you are not a man of violence, but this calls for a fight. Come to the meeting place in two hours. Watch the boys and try to explain a bit to them what happened. My maid will watch the boys until we return, and the stable boys can protect them. Right now, they need their father, their daddy.” I saw a determined look in his eyes, although he had just lost his daughter, he held dealt with crisis’s before. He was taking action for as much as he could.
I tried to explain to them as best I could, but how do you tell your children that their mother and little sister were dead and that they would never return. Time will have to tell how they’ll react and how they’ll cope with it.
I didn’t want to leave them behind, but I had to take revenge for Markéta and Darina, I had to make sure my children would have a future. I left them in hands I knew I could trust, we had been there often and the maid and all the workers loved Jan and Jarek. They would protect them and people would think twice before they would enter the house of the wealthiest merchant in town.
When I arrived at the meeting place it was absolutely packed to the brim. There must have been hundreds of people in there. I moved to one of the sides where a few tables had been put together to make a makeshift podium. I had to push a bit, but people tried to clear a path for me as best they could. As I came close to the podium I saw Markéta’s father, he saw me too and beckoned me to come closer.
”Your time has come, I have made preparations and we should be able to burry Markéta and Darina at the end of the day. I know it is quick and that you have almost no time to say your goodbyes, but we couldn’t leave her laying in your house. They need, no, they deserve a proper funeral. Now though it is time you made speech, rally them for a fight, rally them for revenge.”
I nodded and climbed onto the tables, I hadn’t prepared for this. I didn’t knew what to say, but when I started the words came on their own.
”MY FELLOW HUSSITES!” I began, and the talking stopped. People turned and looked at me.
”Today the Catholics have shown what kind of people they are. What they will do when they have power in their hands. They are not afraid to use it for their own good, they are not afraid to use force, they are not afraid to misuse their power. Today they have killed my wife and daughter, they have killed Markéta.”
I let a silence fall and heard the inhales of shocked people, people from whom most had learned to read from Markéta.
”They didn’t kill her on a battlefield, or in a fight with the guards. No, they came to our house, to a place that we deemed safe, where we felt secure. Before Markéta’s eyes they murdered our daughter, and when I came home they murdered Markéta before my eyes. They have slit their throats before they eyes of those who loved them most.
Some of them got what they deserved, but their leader got away. I know he will lead other man against us, and he will not be afraid to murder you in your own home. He is not alone however, he is inspired by the Catholic clerics. Who have tricked Jan Hus before and murdered him when he thought himself save. We can no longer tolerate such men to have the power our country, to have power over us. They are not afraid to kill innocent women and children. We must act, we must take revenge for all the harm they have done to us. We must take control into our own hands. We must fight for our right to follow the true path of God. We must fight against the corrupt and power hungry Catholic church. We must fight the crusade they have started against us and take the fight to them. FOR GOD! FOR JAN HUS! For Markéta.”
“FOR GOD! FOR JAN HUS. FOR MARKÉTA!” The crowd cried out loud after me. ‘
Forth we went, with Markéta on our shoulders. We buried here and gave her the respect she deserved. Darina was buried in Markéta’s arms, a mother protecting her daughter, even in her grave.
We marched and called forth all the Hussites we could muster, from Hradecko we went to Wroclaw, to release our Hussite Brethren from their Catholic oppressors. The King thought our rebellion would die down on his own, never has he been so wrong.
And so, I, Viktor Purkune, lead sixteen thousand man to fight against our Catholic oppressors, to take revenge for Markéta, and Darina.
This was one of the hardest chapters to write, you probably see why.
