The man standing behind him was dressed all in black, with a black cloak, black doublet, black trousers and black, shoulder-length hair. A birdlike face and a nose like a bird’s beak.

And the look of a devil.

“It is us,” he confirmed with a smile, and the sight of the smile froze the blood in the deacon’s veins. “It’s been a long time, Kantor. I stopped by in Frankenstein to find out if…”

The deacon swallowed.

“Has anybody been asking after me lately?” finished the Wallcreeper.

It was a strictly observed custom that if Konrad of Oleśnica, Bishop of Wrocław, was residing at Otmuchów Castle for his amusement, the door to the bishop’s bedchamber was closely guarded and absolutely no one was permitted to open it or enter the chamber. So the bishop was dumbfounded when the door suddenly opened with a boom and a small group swept in.

The bishop cursed extremely coarsely. One of the nuns, freckled, red-haired and with cropped hair, jumped with a squeal from between his thighs. The other nun, also quite naked, concealed her head and her identity beneath the feather quilt, at the same time putting on public display something of much more interest than her identity.

Meanwhile, the crowd on the floor separated into Kuczera of Hunt, the bishop’s bodyguard, two Otmuchów guards and Birkart Grellenort.

“Your Eminence…” panted Kuczera of Hunt. “I tried…”

“He did,” confirmed Wallcreeper, spitting blood from a cut lip. “But the matter I come with brooks no delay. I told him, but he wouldn’t listen—”

“Get out!” roared the bishop. “Everybody out! Only Grellenort remains!”

The guards followed Kuczera of Hunt out, limping. Behind them, bare feet slapping, ran the two nuns, trying to hide as much of their charms as possible behind their shifts and habits. The Wallcreeper closed the door behind them.

The bishop didn’t get up but lay sprawled, only covering the very crux; that which the red-haired nun had been working on so devotedly a moment before.

“Let’s hope it is indeed urgent, Grellenort,” he warned ominously. “Let’s hope it is indeed important. In any event, I’m beginning to tire of your impudence. You don’t even bother to fly through the window or pass through the walls now. You must cause a sensation. So be it. What is the matter?”

“Oh, no. I’m waiting.”

“What?”

“Does Your Excellency,” drawled the Wallcreeper, “have anything to tell me?”

“Have you lost your mind, Birkart?”

“Are you by any chance concealing something from me, Father? Something important? Something which, though it is a closely guarded secret, may at any moment be revealed to the whole world?”

“This is nonsense! I will not listen to this!”