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a powerful wizard. Have you really never heard of him? ’ 40
    ‘ No, ’ said Fain, and began to feel numb. He was choking, his throat a fizzing absence. Black blood filled his mouth. ‘ I mean yes, ’ he said, and swallowed. ‘ A strange gremlin creature once mentioned him to me. ’
    ‘ Sit down, young man, you look ill. And let me read your palm — I will see all of your past and future in it! ’
    Before Fain knew what was happening, the old hag had his palm unrolled and was tracing lines in it. Her finger began tracing circles and she started to shudder and shriek. ‘ Spirals! Spirals! ’ She bolted up and whirled around the room, batting at invisible designs and knocking over the furniture. She pointed at him. ‘ He ’ s Fain, a spiral beyond his life! ’
    What with a crone babbling words weird as green carrots and pointing his way, Fain attracted the attention of a ready mob, at the head of which a hod carrier stated their case: ‘ I know of a jackass called Fain who pulls spuds in a village miles from here. And I ’ ve heard tell of a wizard called Fain who wears fine clobber and spends gold like a penny. Which might you be? ’
    ‘ Fain the Sorcerer, ’ said Fain, without thinking or standing.
    ‘ That ’ s the Fain who abducted the princess, according to the King ’ s soothsayer Charlie. ’
    ‘ Already? ’ Fain blurted.
    ‘ Hold him! ’ shouted the hod man, at which Fain became as thin as soup and then vanished altogether, his chair tipping back to hit the floor.
    But Fain, standing to dash invisibly from the inn, found that he was plunged into darkness. He realised he was blind, and with a screech of fear, re-materialised again, rubbing his eyes. The mob, surprised but with motives supported by what they had seen, rushed at him. Fain ducked aside, disappearing. ‘ Where are you? ’ roared the hod man.
    ‘ Over here, ’ Fain called from the door, unable to lie. He reappeared, mortified. Throwing gold with one hand and sardines with the other, he faded away again. Someone entering the door was pushed aside by thin air and, believing that he was under attack, threw himself at the hod man.
     
     
     
     

CHAPTER 14
    In which Fain visits the Pyramid of Puva
     
    ‘ It seems, ’ Fain thought, walking away from the inn a day earlier, ‘ my powers make it more difficult than ever to be among my fellow men. ’
    Why had he been blind when invisible? Fain realised it must be to do with the light which brings pictures into the eye to be captured there. If the eyes are invisible the light will pass straight through without stopping. ‘ Perhaps I need some guidance from a wizard mentor such as this Drake I keep hearing about. ’
    Fain bought a horse, a travelling sack, rope, a lantern and other supplies, and left Envashes town. Reaching the cave in the forest, Fain found the old man sitting nearby, with the vase still in place. ‘ You! Old idiot! Need any help with the vase? ’ He dismounted and smashed the vase with a single kick.
    The greybeard shouted ‘ Damn you, I will cook you fine! ’ or something like that, grinning. ‘ This urn is enchanted, and it falls to you to receive its final three wishes! ’
    ‘ Tell me, old man, are you Drake the Adept? ’
    ‘ No. You have two wishes left. ’
    Fain was about to curse, but had to hold his tongue because the wishing was in play. ‘ I want to be able to become invisible at will, including my clothing, while still being able to see. I want to visit the place in the picture in the Duke ’ s Tongue Inn in Envashes town — not the picture of the black whales, not the one of the jouster with fruit on his lance, not the one of the pig, I mean the picture of the triangular building in the forest, and I don ’ t want to be inside the painting itself, but at the location which inspired the picture, and fully clothed please. ’
    ‘ You choose well, young stranger, ’ cackled the old lunatic.
    And though Fain had intended to go back in time