He turned back to consider the sleeping man on the floor. Popov couldn’t be left here; he would have his veins opened in minutes, and whether or not he succeeded in strapping his miserable soul to the body of some poor bird, he would still be dead.
Lift him up and bring him along, Konrad instructed, and the serpents obeyed. Popov’s body rose into the air and began to hover. As Konrad climbed back down the ladder into the Bone Forest below, the sleeping man came drifting after, and followed him all the way back to Ekamet.
Diana was asleep, of course. Konrad felt little compunction about waking her up. Somebody had to deal with Popov, and he hadn’t the time.
‘What is it?’ Diana muttered grumpily as she arrived to answer the door upon which Konrad had been furiously pounding. Her gaze trav
