A small sphere appeared on the palm of his hand. One half of it glowed brightly and the other half was black, as if it was sucking the light into itself. The sphere revolved slowly, with light flowing into darkness and darkness flowing into light.
‘One clarification,’ I said. ‘What does “If I help you to obtain” mean? When’s that?’
‘When we have the Crown in our hands.’
‘I don’t agree,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘There’s a serious chance that you’ll be killed trying to obtain the Crown. But the Cat can only be removed by the person who put it on. I don’t fancy the prospect of spending the rest of my life with no magic and this piece of garbage round my neck.’
Edgar thought about it. Or, more likely, he pretended to think about it. He had probably decided long ago just how far he was willing to move.
‘Let me clarify, he said, looking at the sphere of Light and Dark spinning on his palm. ‘I shall order the bomb in Moscow not to be detonated just as soon as we all believe that what you tell us is the truth. I will remove the Cat before we set out to obtain the Crown. But you will be with us, bound by an oath not to obstruct us. That is as far as I can go.’
Now it was my turn to demonstrate the workings of my thoughts. Was I or wasn’t I prepared to accept such conditions? If I was going to tell the truth, then I probably ought to do a bit more haggling …
‘Another clarification,’ I said. ‘You will not only remove the Cat, you will also allow me to withdraw to a safe distance. I do not wish to be obliged to join battle on your side against my own will!’
‘Battle?’ Edgar repeatedly curiously. ‘You probably don’t mean against the members of Lermont’s Watch?’
‘No, I don’t,’ I said, with a smile. ‘You’ll have enough problems without them, believe me.’
‘All right,’ said Edgar. ‘I will allow you to withdraw to a safe distance before we set out to obtain the Crown. But afterwards you will be obliged to come back and do battle with Gennady. He … wants that very much.’
‘Agreed.’ I held out my hand and said, ‘I swear on the Light.’
A sphere of fire appeared on my hand and immediately disappeared again. The Cat round my neck tightened in annoyance – and relaxed again. It wasn’t my magic: the Primordial Power itself decided whether or not to affirm a magician’s words.
‘Gennady, do you confirm Edgar’s commitments?’ I asked.
‘Yes.’ He didn’t swear on the Dark. The Primordial Power only rarely descends to vampires. But I believed him. After all, the most important thing for Gennady was to get his son and wife back. Revenge was secondary now.
Suddenly realising that the Sphere of Silence would not prevent passengers from observing the strange lights, I glanced around.
No, everything was in order. The passenger on the other side of the aisle was sleeping. His neighbour by the window was working on his laptop. What fine fellows these businessmen were …
‘It is not possible to get through to the seventh level,’ I said. ‘There is no way. Only a zero-point magician can do it … or an Other who has dematerialised and withdrawn into the Twilight.’
Gennady tensed up. Edgar asked in an icy voice:
‘And is that your advice?’
‘No,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘Merlin explained everything quite marvellously. You simply got hung up on your own idea about the seventh level of the Twilight! Well, not only you,’ I added self-critically. ‘Merlin didn’t simply give instructions on how to obtain the Crown! He was writing about the problem in general! About how it was possible to meet one who had withdrawn!’
Edgar and Gennady exchanged glances.
Yes, that had been meant to hook them. And it had.
‘Proceed, if you are as strong as I,’ I declaimed. ‘What’s that about? It’s about travelling to the seventh level, where those who have withdrawn live! But if you don’t happen to be a zero-point magician, what then? Then you need the artefact created by Merlin. The Crown of All Things. And where do you get it? The inscription on the sixth level reads: “Go back, if you are as wise as I”! And what do we have on the fifth level?’
‘The guard. A golem in the form of a double-headed snake,’ said Edgar, screwing up his eyes.
‘Head and tail, all is fused in one!’ I exclaimed triumphantly. ‘It’s not just a guard, you idiots! It’s the artefact’s wrapping, its protection. Did you read fairy stories when you were children? The death of Kashchei is in the egg, the egg is in the duck, the duck is in the trunk … It’s the same principle. And by the way,’ I added in a sudden access of inspiration, ‘I wouldn’t be surprised if, when you rip the golem in half, some other vile beast crawls out of it. Or even flies out of it. It will probably try to get away, so be prepared to take down a fast-moving flying target!’
‘Thus are life and death inseparable,’ Edgar said and started thinking.
‘The death of the golem is a new life for the withdrawn,’ Gennady whispered. ‘Edgar, could this be true?’
Edgar thought. He was trying to remember something.
‘By the way, the Crown is probably the golem’s activator. Merlin inclined towards simple and elegant solutions.’
‘There have been two cases in history when a golem-guard also served as the casing for what it was guarding,’ Edgar said. ‘And the first to use this cunning trick was one of Merlin’s pupils.’
In my own mind I gave thanks to this unknown magician for so aptly confirming what I had said. But outwardly all I did was to nod pensively.
‘There, you see. Merlin probably told him about his own idea. Or perhaps he helped his teacher to make the snake-golem.’
Edgar nodded and said:
‘If only we had the Rune … It was the simplest thing in the world to neutralise the golem with it.’
He believed me.
‘It’s your own fault,’ I said. ‘Instead of organising secret societies, you should have opened up your ideas for general discussion. All Others have lost someone at some time …’
‘You have no idea how strong the bureaucracy is,’ Edgar said in disgust. ‘The discussion would have gone on for a hundred years. And in the end they would have decided not to do anything.’
‘That can’t be right,’ I blurted out.
‘You’re simply too young … and too remote from the administrative structures. Gesar and Zabulon would agree with me.’
I shrugged. Perhaps they would.
I wondered if Gesar had anyone to grieve for. He loved Olga, and now she was with him. He had even managed to make his son an Other. But surely, over thousands of years the Great Gesar must have lost loved ones, friends, children. And some of them must have been Others, not ordinary people. Others who had withdrawn into the Twilight.
And Zabulon? Of course, as he now was, Zabulon didn’t love anyone. But could that always have been the case? He had been a child once, the same as all other children, except that he had been a potential Other. He happened to have taken the path of Darkness. But it wasn’t possible that he had never loved anyone! Even Dark Ones can love … even malicious and heartless ones like Alisa Donnikova …
An interesting little situation. In principle, the activities of the ‘Last Watch’ worked to Gesar’s and Zabulon’s advantage! Any Other of any serious age had to be delighted by the idea of bringing back the withdrawn.
Although, of course, they could never admit it openly.
CHAPTER 5
THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT handed out the lunches. I was offered cognac again, but I refused. Enough already. I had to be in good form in Edinburgh.
Behind me Edgar ate with a hearty appetite. Gennady prodded pensively with his fork, picking out the pieces of meat. When his gaze fell on me I completely lost all desire to eat my meat. It even cost me an effort to get the salad and a piece of cheese down. It was really rather annoying that everything tasted so good. I ought to have ordered the vegetarian lunch.
Saushkin took a flask out of his pocket. He unscrewed
the top and took a gulp, then he put the flask away, ostentatiously licking his dark-stained lips.
‘You know, Edgar, there’s one thing that surprises me,’ I said in a quiet voice. ‘I thought you always had a dislike for bloodsuckers. Not to mention vampires who violated the Treaty … And you removed a criminal’s registration seal?’
‘Calm down, Anton,’ Edgar said soothingly. ‘When Gennady killed those Light Ones on the boulevard, it was only self-defence. And in Edinburgh … well, that was unfortunate. But it was self-defence too in a certain sense. Gennady didn’t even drink the boy. He didn’t like the idea of drinking one of Kostya’s friends, so he poured all the blood away …’
‘And how did he reach the Higher level?’ I asked, looking at Gennady.
The vampire opened his mouth just a crack, extending his fangs. He shook his head.
‘His son left the recipe for “Saushkin’s Cocktail” in his notes,’ Edgar said coolly. ‘Sure, Gennady increased his level illegally. But he didn’t have to kill any people to do it …’
‘Are you sure about that?’ I asked, looking at Gennady. His fangs were moving further and further out. I wondered what Schrödinger’s Cat would do if someone tried to bite me though its fluffy body.
‘It’s true, isn’t it?’ Edgar asked, reaching out one hand and taking Gennady firmly by the shoulder. ‘Or is there something I don’t know about my comrade-in-arms?’
‘He’s lying,’ said Gennady. ‘He’s trying to set us against each other.’
‘I don’t think so,’ said Edgar, still holding the vampire’s shoulder, and perhaps even applying a little pressure to it now. ‘You’re very agitated, Gennady. Calm down.’
‘I’m perfectly calm,’ the vampire hissed.
‘Have you killed people?’ Edgar asked imperturbably. ‘There wasn’t any recipe for a cocktail e-mailed to you by your son, was there?’
‘Yes, I’ve killed some,’ Gennady said. He took the flask out again and shook it. ‘But there was a cocktail! This is it, Kostya’s cocktail. I didn’t check the mail, I had too many things on my mind! So I only read the letter in the spring, and by then it was too late … So what now?’
‘They found fifty-two bodies drained of blood in his apartment. Perhaps you were wondering what had got the Watches so het up? His own kind are ready to tear Gennady to pieces now. They’ve been left without licences for five years!’
‘That’s Gesar being too modest again,’ Edgar commented. ‘In his place I would have demanded ten. It’s outrageous. I had my own suspicions on the matter. Outrageous! Gennady, that’s not the way to do things! We’re all one team!’
‘Are we still one team?’ Gennady asked.
Edgar sighed.
‘Yes. What’s done can’t be undone … But why did you do it?’
‘How was I to know that you would come and find me?’ the vampire asked. ‘I wanted my revenge on Anton. And how can a weak vampire take his revenge on a Higher One? I had to build myself up. It’s all his fault!’
This was an excuse that would never go out of fashion, I thought. Not only among the sons of Darkness, but among the most ordinary of human scum.
‘It was all his fault! He had an apartment, a car and an expensive cellphone, and all I had was three roubles, chronic alcoholism and a hangover every morning. That was why I waited for him in the gateway with a brick …’ ‘She had long legs, she was seventeen and she had a handsome boyfriend, and I had impotence, a porn magazine under my pillow and a face like a gorilla’s. I just had to attack her in the hallway when she walked in, humming to herself, with her lips still hot from kisses …’ ‘He had an interesting job, work assignments all over the world and a good reputation, and I had a degree diploma that I’d bought, a petty job working under him and chronic idleness. That was the reason I fixed things so that he would be accused of embezzlement and kicked out of the firm …’
They’re all the same, these people and these Others who are desperate for glory, money or blood and have discovered that the shortest path is always the Dark one.
There’s always somebody who was getting in their way and somebody who was to blame …
Probably when Gennady Saushkin wanted to save his little son he really was trying to do good. He didn’t have a soul, but in his mind and his heart he simply couldn’t accept Kostya’s death. Just as he didn’t want to accept it now. And the Dark way had proved so simple and so short …
For a long time he had teetered on the very brink, if a vampire still has that option open to him. He hadn’t killed people. He had even tried to be honest and kind, and he had managed it. He had even managed to bring Kostya up almost as a human being.
But what makes the short roads different is that you have to pay a levy for using them. And on the Dark roads they like to announce the charge at the end of the journey.
‘Are you satisfied with his explanations?’ I asked.
‘I’m disappointed,’ Edgar replied. ‘But there’s nothing to be done about it now.’
‘There are some things that you can’t put right,’ I agreed.
But to myself I added: ‘And there are some that you can.’
The Twilight customs counter at Edinburgh was empty. There were some forms lying there, and even a search amulet, glowing an even, milky-white colour. The last Other to pass this way had been a Light One. There were no Others on duty.
Edgar pulled me into the Twilight. I still couldn’t use magic, with that damned Schrödinger’s Cat squirming on my neck and occasionally sticking its claws out. I took one look at Gennady and turned away. He was an appalling sight. What was it that Zabulon had said about human children playing at vampires? They ought to be shown what a vampire really looked like. Cheeks eaten away by ulcers; earthen-grey skin; vacant, cloudy-white eyes like hard-boiled eggs with the shell removed.
We walked past the counter and through a door that was closed in the real world, into some kind of service corridor. We went into a small room that was either a poorly furnished janitor’s office or a store for lumber that was already worn out but not yet written off. Chairs with their backs torn off and broken legs, shelves full of dusty boxes and jars, rolls of murky-coloured flooring material.
Edgar jerked me by the shoulder and pulled me back into the real world. I sneezed. It was definitely a temporary store for junk. I blinked as my eyes grew accustomed to the dim lighting – the windows were completely shut off by blinds. I laughed. Well now, I could award myself another point in this game.
Sitting in a chair that was better preserved than all the others was a beautiful woman with black hair. The simple everyday clothes – trousers and a blouse – seemed entirely inappropriate on her. She ought to have had a long dress that emphasised her femininity, or something light and airy, white and transparent, or nothing at all.
But she would have made any clothes look good. Even a hobo’s old suit.
I admired her once again. Like that first time when our paths had crossed.
‘Hello, Arina,’ I said.
‘Hello, sorcerer.’ She held out her hand, and I pressed my lips to the palm.
Even though I had seen her in her Twilight form.
Even though I knew that this magnificent body, so healthy and overflowing with vitality, only existed in the human world.
‘You’re not surprised,’ said Arina.
‘Not a bit,’ I said, shaking my head.
‘He knew,’ Edgar put in. And from the way he spoke I suddenly realised that he was not the most important member of the trio. Maybe Edgar was the one who had stirred everything up in the first place, and he had supplied the Last Watch’s battle magic, but he wasn’t the most important one there.
‘Svetlana guessed?’ Arina surmised.
‘We decided together,’ I said. ‘By the way, you’re a Light One now, aren’t you? Pardon me, but I won’t risk looking at your aura – I’ve got this little kitten dozing round my neck …’
‘Yes, I am,’ Arina said calmly. ‘But you
already knew that Great Ones can change colour, didn’t you?’
‘Merlin changed,’ I said casually. ‘I have a question for you, witch, or whatever you are now. Healer?’
Arina didn’t answer.
‘You gave a promise to my wife. Swore an oath. That for a hundred years …’
‘I would not cause harm to anyone, neither Others, nor people, except in self-defence,’ Arina continued.
‘Surely changing your colour hasn’t released you from your oath.’
‘But I haven’t killed anyone, Anton. I fitted out Edgar and Gennady, but that’s a different matter altogether. That didn’t violate the oath.’
‘Svetlana took pity on you,’ I said. ‘She took pity on you.’
‘Perhaps she was right to, Anton,’ Arina said, smiling. ‘Look, I’ve become a Light One. And I haven’t harmed your wife and daughter, have I?’
‘And what about the nuclear weapon that Edgar is threatening to explode beside our house? In how many hours’ time?’ I asked, looking at the former Inquisitor.
Edgar raised one hand and looked at his watch. He said:
‘The thing is, Anton, that to be really interested in the success of our venture, you had to feel a real personal involvement.’
Before he had even finished speaking, I felt a heavy throbbing in my temples and a mist seemed to obscure my vision.
‘The explosion took place five minutes ago,’ Edgar said dispassionately. ‘I haven’t broken my oath – the time was set yesterday … And don’t get emotional, please. If Schrödinger’s Cat finishes you off, you won’t be able to help your wife and daughter.’
I had no intention of using magic.
The dead always have trouble with taking revenge. Especially dead Others. I didn’t need that kind of trouble.
I kicked Edgar. Maybe not as elegantly as Olga kicked open the lock on Saushkin’s door. But I think I kicked harder.