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THE WITCH ARINA WAS BREWING A POTION¡ªJUST LIKE ANY SELF-respecting witch is supposed to do in her little house in the forest¡ªstanding by the Russian stove with the oven-fork in her hands, holding a cast-iron pot that was giving off clouds of greenish fu:

Spindle tree, white furze¡ªa pinch, Rocky cliff sand¡ªquite a sprinkling Heather branch and skeleton of finch Pustule squeezings¡ªjust an inkling

Edgar and I went in and stood by the door, but the witch didn’t see with her back to us, shaking the pot and chanting:

More white furze and spindle tree, Three tail feathers froar cleared his throat and continued:

Kneecaps frole?

Arina started violently "Oh, good heavens above!" she exclaimed

It sounded perfectly natural but so us

"Hello, Arina," Edgar said in an expressionless voice "Inquisition Please stop working your spells"

Arina deftly thrust the pot into the stove and only then turned around This time she looked about forty¡ªa sturdy, full-fleshed, beautiful countrywoman¡ªand very annoyed She put her hands on her hips and exclaimed peevishly, "And hello to you, Mr Inquisitor! But why interfere with the spell? Ale’s feathers all over again?"

"Your ditties are no redients and the right sequence of actions," Edgar replied iht footfall potion¡ªmy words could not possibly have interfered with it Sit down Arina Why not take the weight off your feet?"

"How’s that supposed to is?" Arina replied sullenly and walked across to the table She sat down and wiped her hands on her jolly apron with its pattern of daisies and cornflowers Then she glanced sideways at ar asked uide You don’t mind, do you?"

"If I did mind, you’d have ended up in the swahtly offended tone "Well, I’ar What business is it that brings you here?"

Edgar sat down facing Arina He put one hand in under the flap of his jacket and pulled out a leather folder Where had he ed to fit that under there?

"You were sent a summons, Arina," the Inquisitor said in a soft voice "Did you receive it?"

Arina started thinking hard Edgar opened his folder and showed Arina a narrow strip of yellow paper

"1931!" the witch gasped "Oh, all those years ago No, I never received it I’ve already explained to the gentleht Watch that I went to sleep The secret police were trying to frame me"

"They’re not really the ar "Very far from it, in fact So, you received the summons"

"I didn’t receive it," Arina said quickly

"You didn’t receive it," Edgar corrected hier never ca could have happened to a civilian employee in the bleak Moscow forests"

Arina didn’t say anything

I stood by the door, watching I was curious An Inquisitor’s job is like any watch special about this situation A Dark Magician interrogating a Dark Witch And one as far ar couldn’t fail to appreciate

But he had the Inquisition standing behind him And when you’re faced with that, you can’t count on any help from your "own" Watch

"Let us consider that you have now received the suar went on "I have been instructed to conduct a preliminary intervieith you before any final decisions are taken so"

He took out another piece of paper, glanced at it, and asked, "In theat the First Moscow Bread Combine?"

"I was," Arina said, and nodded

"For what purpose?"

Arina looked at ar "Answer the question"

"I was approached by the leaders of the Night Watch and the Day Watch of Moscow," Arina said with a sigh "The Others wished to verify how people would behave if they attempted to live in strict conformity with co, and the Inquisition supported their request, I agreed I never have liked cities, they’re always"

"Please stick to the point," Edgar told her

"I carried out the task I was given," Arina said, and finished off her story in a rush "I brewed the potion, and it was added to the fine white bread for teeks That’s all! I was thanked by the two Watches, I left my job at the bakery, and went ho absolutely"

"You can write about your difficult relations with the organs of state security in your ar suddenly barked "What interests me is why you altered the forlittered with fury and her voiced thundered as loud as if she were King Kong’sman! Arina has never ar remained absolutely unimpressed "I didn’t say you made a mistake You deliberately altered the formula And as a result" He paused dramatically

"What as a result?" Arina asked, outraged "They checked the potion when it was ready The effect was exactly as required"

"As a result, the potion took effect iht Watch has never been a collection of fools and idealists The Light Ones realized that all 10,000 experimental subjects would be doomed if they made an instant switch to coradually, so that the remoralization would peak at full power ten years later, in the spring of 1941"

"That’s right," Arina said soberly "And that’s the way it was made"

"The potion had an alar "We couldn’t work out as happening at first, but after one year the number of experimental subjects had been reduced by half Less than a hundred of theed to overcome the remoralization to demonstrate ," Arina exclai her hands up in the air "Oh, hoful I feel so sorry for the poor people" She sat down Then looked across atfor the Dark Ones too?"

If she was lying, it was very convincing I shrugged

"Everything was done correctly," Arina said stubbornly "The basic ingredients were mixed into the flour do you kno difficult it was in those years to carry out any subversive activity? The retardant in the potion was plain sugar" She suddenly flung her hands up in the air and stared at Edgar triury years, the workers at the bakery stole the sugar That’s why it worked too fast"

"An interesting theory," said Edgar, shuffling his pieces of paper

"I’m not to blame for any of this," Arina declared firreed If the wise men of the Watches failed to think of a simple hitch like that¡ªthen whose fault is it?"

"That would be all very well," said Edgar, lifting up another sheet of paper "Except that you conducted the first experiment on the workers at the bakery Here’s your report¡ªrecognize it? After that, they couldn’t have stolen the sugar So there’s only one explanation left¡ªyou deliberately sabotaged the operation"

"Why don’t we consider some other explanations?" Arina asked plaintively "For instance"

"For instance¡ªyour friend Louisa’s report," Edgar suggested "About how, during the operation, she happened to see you in the coician near the stand at the racetrack About how you argued and haggled for a long tie, and you nodded, and then you shook hands Louisa even heard the words: ’I’ll do it, and in less than a year’ Let me remind you that for the duration of the experiment you were forbidden to have any contact with Others Weren’t you?"

"Yes," said Arina, bowing her head "Is Lushka still alive?"

"Unfortunately, no," said Edgar "But her testimony was recorded and witnessed"

"A pity" Arina muttered She didn’t say exactly why it was a pity But it wasn’t too hard to guess that Louisa was fortunate not to be around any longer

"Can you explain which Light One you met with, what you promised to do, and what you received from him?"

Arina raised her head and smiled bitterly atin a s Like that kettle"

"Arina, I aar "In the name of the Inquisition"

"Try it, second-ranker," Arina said derisively

And she disappeared

"She’s withdrawn into the Twilight!" I shouted, tearingaround forsure that the witch hadn’t averted our eyes

We appeared at the first level alar¡ªould the Twilight world transform him into?

It wasn’t too bad He’d hardly changed at all His hair had just thinned out a bit

"Deeper!" I waved ar made a movement of his head, raised his open hand to his face¡ªand his palm seemed to suck all of hiimmicks

At the second level, where the house turned into a log hut, we stopped and looked at each other Of course, Arina wasn’t there

"She’s gone down to the third level" Edgar whispered His hair had completely disappeared and his skull had stretched out, like a duck’s egg But even so, his face was still almost human

"Can you do it?" I asked

"I ar answered honestly Our breath turned to steam It didn’t feel all that cold yet, but there was an insidious chill in the air

"And I ed it once," I admitted

We hesitated, like over-confident swimmers who have suddenly realized that the river in front of them is too turbulent and too cold And neither of us dared take the first step

"Anton will you help?" Edgar asked eventually

I nodded Why else had I coo" said the Inquisitor, gazing down intently at his feet

A few moments later we stepped into the third level¡ªa place where only first-level o

The witch wasn’t there

"Well that’s inventive" Edgar whispered The house of branches really was impressive "Anton she built this herself she stays down here for a long time"

Slowly¡ªthe space around us resisted sudden movements¡ªI walked over to the wall, parted the branches, and looked out

It was absolutely nothing like the hu across the sky, like steel filings suspended in glycerine Instead of the sun there was a broad cloud of crih in the sky¡ªthe only spot of color in the hazy gray gloom And on all sides, as far as the horizon, there were low, contorted trees, the same ones the witch had used to build her house But then, were they really trees? There were no leaves, just a fantastic tangle of branches

"Anton, she’s gone deeper Anton, she’s beyond classification," Edgar said behind ray skin, a bald, elongated skull, sunken eyes But still huar asked and bared his teeth in a smile He shouldn’t have, his teeth were sharp cones, like a shark’s

"Not great," I admitted "I suppose I don’t look any better?"

"It’s just the appearance," Edgar replied casually "Are you holding up okay?"

I was holding up My second i o to the fourth level," said Edgar His eyes were huleam in them

"Are you beyond classification then?" I asked hio back!"