“Mind you don’t go too far,” he hissed.

“What’s come over you? You’ve had wenches by the score. You, Birkart Grellenort, coveted and sighed over by half of the witches in Andalusia. But until now, you’ve never become involved with any woman, you’ve never lost your head over one. Beware, for you have enemies. They didn’t defeat you with iron and may reach for other weapons. Hasn’t it occurred to you that this Pack girl might have been planted? Perhaps they want to punish you biblically, by the hand of a woman? A maiden will bring you down—as Delilah did Samson. Or Judith with Nebuchadnezzar… Or Holofernes? I’ve forgotten. Your Bible is a damned convoluted read. Too many characters, too many improbabilities and blatant fabrications. I prefer Chrétien de Troyes and the other romanceros.”

The Wallcreeper’s eyes flashed. And dimmed at once.

“Every work of literature,” he replied calmly, “the Bible, too, conceals a pearl of truth among a sea of fabrications. And here we return to our giant. When I catch him, I shall drag the knowledge from him; find out what is the truth and where it lies. For he hasn’t supposedly, but actually, come from there, from the sidereal plane, from a place we don’t know, about which we know nothing. Some people, as you know, regard that place as the province of the Highest Being, commonly known as God. Polytheists maintain that it is the domain of many gods, demigods, deities and demons. Others are of the opinion that only demons dwell there. No one knows what it’s like in actuality, because although visitors have come here from that place, no one has ever penetrated it. No one, including your fellow Longaevi and your almost almighty Nefandi—”

“So you’ll capture the giant,” interrupted the neufra. “And what then? If he’s a Rephaim, you won’t get anything out of him.”

“I shall. He’s trapped in a material body, condemned to its flaws and limitations. In particular, he feels the pain that can be inflicted on a body. Kundrie, I shall inflict pain on that body. I’ll inflict so much he’ll reveal everything to me.”

“Including how to reach the astral domain?”

“Or at least make contact with it,” he said. And immediately sprang up from the curule seat, crossed the room in a few paces, from a coffin leaning against a wardrobe to a complete pig’s skeleton, which served God only knew what purpose for the elemental.