afraid to badmouth Zabulon. 'And what shall I tell Gesar?'

'I'm not sending him any greetings,' Arina said contemptuously. 'What business could a village idiot like me have with great Tibetan magicians?'

I stood there, looking at this strange woman – so beautiful in her human form, so repulsive in her true shape. A witch, a mighty witch. But I couldn't say she was spiteful or malicious – she was a jumble of just about everything.

'Don't you get miserable here on your own, Grandma?' I asked.

'Are you trying to insult me?'

'Not in the least. I have learned a few things, after all.'

Arina nodded, but didn't answer.

'You didn't want to seduce me at all, and you don't have any physical desires left,' I went on. 'It's not the same for witches as for enchantresses. You're an old woman and you feel like an old woman, you couldn't give a damn about men. But then, you could carry on as an old woman for another thousand years. So you were only trying to seduce me for sport.'

In the blink of an eye Arina was transformed, changed into a neat, clean old woman with ruddy cheeks and a slight stoop, bright, lively eyes, a mouth with only a few teeth missing and tidily arranged grey hair. She asked:

'Is that better?'

'Yes, I suppose so,' I said, feeling slightly disappointed. After all, her previous form had been very attractive.

'I used to be like this . . . a hundred years ago,' said the witch. 'And I was the way you first saw me . . . once. I was so lovely at sixteen. Ah, Light One, what a happy, beautiful girl I used to be! Even if I was a witch . . . Do you know how and why we age?'

'I heard something about it once,' I admitted.

'It's the price for moving up in rank.' Once again she used the old-fashioned word that had been displaced in recent years by the term 'grade'. 'A witch can stay young in body. Only then you'll be stuck on third rank for ever. We're more closely linked with nature, and nature doesn't like falsehood. Do you understand?'

'I understand,' I said

Arina nodded:

'Well then, Light One . . . be glad that your wife's an enchantress. You've dealt fairly with me, I won't deny that. Would a present be all right?'

'No,' I said and shook my head. 'I'm on duty. And a present from a witch . . .'

'I understand. I don't want to give you a present. It's for your wife.'

That set me back. Arina hobbled spryly across to a trunk bound with strips of iron, standing where there had been an ordinary chest of drawers before, opened the lid and put her hands inside. A moment later she came back to me, holding a small ivory comb.

'Take it, watchman. With no spite or dark intent, not for sorrow or for care. Make me a shadow if I lie, may I be scattered in the air.'

'What is it?' I asked.

'A wonder.' Arina furrowed her brow. 'What do they call them nowadays . . . an artefact!'

'But what's it for?'

'Don't you have enough power to see?' Arina asked slyly. 'Your wife will understand. And what do you want explanations for, Light One? I'll just lie, and you'll believe me. You're not as powerful as I am, you know that.'

I bit my tongue and said nothing. After all . . . I'd insulted her a few times. And now I'd been given the answer I deserved.

'Take it, don't be afraid,' Arina repeated. 'Baba-Yaga might be wicked, but she helps fine young heroes.'

What was my problem, really?

'It would be better if you handed over the werewolves,' I said, taking the comb. 'I accept your present only as an intermediary, and this gift does not impose any obligations on anyone.'

'A cunning young fellow,' Arina chuckled. 'But as for the wolves . . . I'm sorry. You understand, I know you do. I won't give them away. By the way, you can take the book. Borrow it, to check. You have that right, don't you?'

It was only then I realised I was still holding Fuaran: fantasy or fact? in my left hand.

'For expert examination, temporarily, within the terms of my rights as a watchman,' I said glumly.

The old harridan could lead me by the nose. If she hadn't wanted me to, I wouldn't have noticed the book I'd accidentally stolen until I got home. She would have had a perfect right to complain to the