Afterward the Twilight straightened out again. The levels of the Twilight returned to their old places.
Why had we decided that the Crown of All Things would join the Twilight and the real world together forever? Simply because we believed what Rustam had said? But how did he know... The Twilight would fold up—and then expand again. As it left our world, the Twilight would spread out its layers again. It was like a stiff spring: You could compress it, but it would straighten back out.
And that was interesting. I didn’t believe in a Merlin who had created a magical bomb to destroy the entire world simply for the fun of it. He wasn’t that kind of Other. But I could easily believe in Merlin as an experimenter who had invented a new amusement, but decided not to try it out.
What might happen if all the levels of the Twilight were united with the real world for a short time?
Would all Others die out?
Hardly.
If that were the case, Merlin would surely have boasted of his Power.
But he had thought up a kind of allegorical riddle for his message...
I recited the verse in a low voice as I watched Svetlana walk back quietly into the kitchen.
The Crown of All Things is here concealed. Only one step is left.
But this is a legacy for the strong or the wise—
You shall receive all and nothing, when you are able to take it.
Proceed, if you are as strong as I;
Or go back, if you are as wise as I.
Beginning and end, head and tail, all is fused in one
In the Crown of All Things. Thus are life and death inseparable.
“Trying to understand it?” Svetlana asked as she sat down beside me. “You know what I was thinking? Why did we decide that the Twilight would come together with the world forever? Most probably it would move back out again.”
“That’s what I was thinking too,” I agreed. “Like with the White Mist. But what would that lead to? Blue moss starting to grow in our world?”
Svetlana laughed. “Wouldn’t the botanists have a field day! A new form of plant life, and one that reacts to human emotions. They’d write millions of doctoral theses...”
“They’d open factories for processing blue moss,” I added. “Start spinning threads out of it, making blue jeans...”
Svetlana suddenly turned serious. “And what would happen to those who live in the Twilight?”
“The disembodied Others?” I asked.
Svetlana nodded.
“Life and death,” I said, and nodded too. “I don’t know. Do you suppose they might be... resurrected? Come to life again in our world?”
“Why not? We know they live there. I even saw one on the fifth level, when I was fighting Arina...”
“And you didn’t tell me,” I commented.
“You know it’s best not to talk about these things. It’s best not to know about it if you can’t get there yourself. I’m not at all sure that everybody ends up there, perhaps it’s only the most powerful. The Higher Ones, for example. Why should all the rest know that they won’t have any existence after death?”
“Thomas the Rhymer said that down there on the lower levels of the Twilight there are magical cities, dragons and unicorns... all the things that don’t exist in our world, but could have.”
Svetlana shook her head. “Thomas seems like a very good man to me. But he’s a bard. A poet. You can’t cure that, Anton. You talked to him when he was in his Twilight form, dreaming about unicorns and fairies and magical cities, Others who have built a world of their own and don’t live as parasites on the human world. I wouldn’t count too much on all that being true. Perhaps there are only little huts and wooden houses there. And no fairies and unicorns.”
“That’s still not too bad,” I said. “Very many people would gladly swap the heaven they desperately hope to get to someday for eternal life in a hut out in the countryside. There are certainly trees there.”
“The Other I saw didn’t look very happy,” Svetlana said. “Of course, he was... well, kind of blurred, not very clear. But that’s only natural, if his usual habitat is the seventh level of the Twilight. But he looked so... creased and rumpled. And he ran toward me, as if he wanted to tell me something. But I had other things on my mind at the time, you understand.”
Neither of us said anything for a while.
“Maybe they really would be brought back into our world,” Svetlana said. “And that might be enough to make Edgar, Gennady, and Arina work together. They must all have lost loved ones, not just Saushkin. And probably anyone who has lost loved ones would be thrown off balance by an opportunity like this.”
“It would throw anyone at all off balance,” I said.
We looked at each other in alarm. It was good that now we were guarded around the clock. It was bad that our potential enemies were three Higher Ones.
“I’ll put up a few more protective spells for the night,” said Svetlana. “Don’t think me a coward.”
“The Crown of All Things can be reached by force,” I said. “By breaking through to the seventh level of the Twilight. But I couldn’t do it. Probably Nadya could. If only I knew how to get through by using my wits... by cunning. I’d use that artifact myself. There’d be about the same number of Light and Dark magicians down there. We’d manage.”
“And what if we’re wrong and it’s nothing but a bomb that will destroy the world?”
“That’s why I prefer not to think too much about how to reach the artifact. I’ll leave that headache to Gesar and Zabulon.”
“Let’s go to bed and sleep on it,” Svetlana said. “Tomorrow’s a new day.”
But we didn’t go to bed straightaway. First Svetlana put up several new protective spells around the apartment, and then I did the same.
.
.
A COMMON DESTINY
Chapter 3
The morning turned out so fresh and clear that all of the previous day’s doom and gloom seemed to have evaporated into thin air. Nadya meekly ate the rice porridge that she didn’t like, and Svetlana didn’t say a word when I casually told her that I was thinking of going to work early. But she did suggest that I should come back home early too, so that all of us could go to watch some family movie that her friends had told her was really great. I imagined the Dark Ones who were guarding Nadya being forced to watch a romantic fairy tale in which, naturally, good defeats evil, and I smiled.
“Definitely. I just want to find out how things are going. Maybe there’s been some kind of breakthrough.”
“They would have called you,” said Svetlana, scattering my idle dreams like smoke.
But that didn’t spoil my mood. I got ready quickly and grabbed my briefcase full of papers (oh, yes, even Light Magicians have to do their paperwork), then kissed my daughter and my wife and left the apartment.
On the next floor down Roma, an amiable young lummox who had been working in our Watch for about two years, was making lively conversation with a thin, pretty young woman, one of the Dark Ones Zabulon had assigned to guard us.
I greeted them both and walked on, shaking my head.
That was the way romances with unhappy endings got started. The way it had happened with Alisa and Igor...
The weather was so good that for a second I hesitated, standing outside the door of the building and wondering if I ought to walk to the metro. On the other hand, I really didn’t want to go into the metro at all. Those hot trains, those jostling crowds—the rush hour in Moscow ends somewhere around midnight.
No, the car would be better. Svetlana wasn’t planning on going anywhere. And if I checked the probability lines, I could skip past the traffic jams and be at work in only twenty minutes.
I removed the protective spells that wouldn’t have done me
any harm but would have made sensitive drivers give my car a conspicuously wide berth, and got into the driver’s seat. I turned the key in the ignition and closed my eyes to check the best route for me to drive. The result was rather discouraging. For some reason all the probabilities were centered on Sheremetievo Airport, which was crazy, since I had no intention of going there!
I suddenly felt something fluffy wrap itself around my neck, and an amiable voice with a slight drawl asked, “Does the king have a long journey to make today?”
I looked in the rearview mirror and didn’t like what I saw.
I didn’t see Edgar. But I did see the thing that he had thrown around my neck—a silvery strip of fur. It didn’t look much like a decorative neckpiece; there was something predatory about it... as if there were lots of tiny teeth hidden under that gray fur.
And I also saw Gennady Saushkin, sitting on the right side of the backseat. The vampire’s face was composed and impassive.
“What’s on your mind, Edgar?” I asked.
“That’s none of your business,” Edgar replied with an ominous laugh. “Don’t even think of withdrawing into the Twilight and don’t try any spells. That little ribbon around your neck exists at every level of the Twilight... at least as far down as the sixth. And it will rip your head off if you use even a trace of magic.”
“I won’t test it,” I said. “So now what?”
“Maybe you’d like to invite us back home?” the invisible Edgar asked.
“Surely you don’t think that I’d give you Nadya,” I said. I didn’t feel afraid, I was simply astonished by the question. “You can kill me.”
“I wasn’t really counting on it,” Edgar said, “but Gennady insisted on the question being asked—he’s very keen to make use of your little daughter.”
“The way he made use of his own son?” I asked, unable to resist, and I was rewarded with a vicious scowl that erased everything human in the vampire’s face.
“Quiet now,” said Edgar, nudging my shoulder. “Don’t get carried away, or I won’t be able to hold Gennady off. He’s very upset with you. Can you guess why?”
“Yes. Why don’t you make yourself visible? It’s not a pleasant sensation talking to empty space.”
“Drive out of the lot,” Edgar said, laughing. “I wouldn’t like your bodyguards to notice us... We’d finish them off before they even knew what hit them. But Svetlana’s a different matter. I’m afraid she might prove too hot to handle.”
Gennady scowled again, demonstrating that he had a full set of teeth and his four canines were larger than the average human size.
“I’m sure she would,” I said quite sincerely. I stepped on the gas and drove the car gently out of the parking lot. Maybe I should crash into a post? No, that won’t rattle them, they are prepared for tricks like that... “For Nadya’s sake she’d grind you into dust.”
“That’s what I think too,” Edgar said as politely and peaceably as ever. “The last thing we need is a rampaging woman on our trail. And whether or not your daughter can get through to the seventh level of the Twilight still remains to be seen. The chances are no better than if we give you a good shaking up.”
I snorted. “I’m afraid I’ll disappoint you there. I can’t do what’s beyond me. I’m a Higher Magician, but not a zero-point one. You have to be Merlin to get through to the seventh level.”
“I told you we have to take the girl,” Gennady said in a quiet voice. “I told you he couldn’t do it!”
“Cool it!” Edgar reassured him. “He can. He’s just not motivated enough yet, but we’ll help him, and he’ll manage just fine.”
“Try it,” I said. “But where should I drive?”
“Sheremetievo, where else?” Edgar laughed. His invisibility was gradually peeling away and he was appearing by stages, first as a transparent outline, then acquiring colors. Gennady still hadn’t fully revealed himself and I could only see him in the mirror. “I think the quickest way will be around the ring road, right? And try not to waste any time. We have a flight to Edinburgh in an hour—I think we’ll get there before anyone misses you. I don’t really want to waste the last charge in my Minoan Sphere on a portal to Scotland. But bear in mind that if you’re late for the plane, we will go through a portal.”
“I assume that Arina’s waiting for you in Edinburgh?” I asked.
“You just drive,” Edgar ordered. “And in the meantime I’ll explain why you’re going to help us.”
“Very interesting,” I said. There was a cold sensation spreading through my chest, but there was no way I was going to show any fear. But what difference did that make? Vampires can sense fear instinctively. It’s hard to shield yourself from their perceptions, even with magic.
“You’re going to do your best for your daughter’s sake, of course,” said Edgar. “For your daughter’s and your wife’s. That wouldn’t work with a Dark One, but it’s just the trick for Light Ones.”
“You’d never get to my family.”
“Perhaps I wouldn’t—on my own. Gesar and Zabulon would fight with everything they’ve got. I counted six bodyguards. How many do you know about? The two young fools on the staircase?”
I didn’t answer.
“I expect there are at least eight, or even twelve,” Edgar said thoughtfully. “There’s no point in guessing: Both the old farts have decided to play it safe. But if there was an explosion beside your house... not an ordinary explosion, but a nuclear one... Then even any Higher Magicians there would be killed. Hiroshima demonstrated that quite clearly.”
“You wouldn’t go that far, Edgar,” I said. “You’re a Dark One, but you’re not a psychopath. An atomic bomb in the center of Moscow? Just to kill my wife and daughter? How many people would be killed? And what if somebody panics and decides it’s a nuclear attack, and it starts a world war?”
“Right! That’s the most important point.” Edgar laughed. “Even if Gesar senses that something’s wrong and moves your family far away from Moscow, to some secure vault in Ufa, for example, that won’t fundamentally change the situation. Your actions will still decide the fate of hundreds of thousands or even millions of people. Not bad incentive for a Light One, is it?”
“Edgar,” I asked. “What’s happened to you?”
“Nothing,” said Edgar with a nervous, unnatural laugh. “I’m just fine!”
“Have you lost someone, Edgar?”
The question was a shot in the dark. But when Edgar didn’t answer, I knew I’d hit the target. I’d finally begun to understand something about what was going on.
“My wife,” he said eventually. “Annabel.”
“You said you were in Crete with her,” I recalled.
“I was. Exactly a year ago. We were walking to the beach from the hotel... There was a truck driving past us. The driver lost control and ran into her at eighty kilometers an hour. There was no time for me to do anything.”
“You loved her,” I said, amazed.
“Yes,” Edgar said, nodding. “I loved her. I’m not Zabulon, I can love. Or I could.”
“I’m very sorry,” I said.
“Thank you, Anton,” Edgar replied in a perfectly normal voice. “I know you really mean that. But it still doesn’t change anything... in the way things are between us.”
“Why did you turn against everyone? Why did you involve people?”
“People? What difference does it make how we use them, Anton? We live off their energy. Why shouldn’t we use them as cannon fodder too? And as for why I went against everyone... that’s the wrong way of putting the question. I’m not against them, I’m for them. For all Others, if you like. Dark Ones and Light Ones. When we achieve our goal, you’ll understand. Even you’ll understand.”
“That’s not what we agreed,” said Gennady.
“I remember
what we agreed,” Edgar snapped. “We do what we planned. And then you challenge Anton to fight. That’s right, isn’t it? You wanted an honest duel?”
“Yes,” Gennady said rather doubtfully.
“Well, if you’re so certain that I’ll understand,” I said as I turned onto the ring road, struggling with the temptation to swing the steering wheel hard and throw the car off the over-pass, “then you could tell me what it is you’ve planned. And then maybe I’ll help you voluntarily.”
“I thought about that,” Edgar said with a nod. “From the very beginning, I thought that of all the Light Ones I know, you were the sanest. But I happened to find myself working with Gennady here. And he was absolutely against it. He doesn’t like you. And you know why: You killed his son. His wife laid herself to rest because of you. So how could we take you into the Last Watch?”
“A very romantic name, by the way.”
“That’s Gennady, he’s a great romantic.” Edgar laughed. “No, we weren’t going to touch you. Revenge is a fine thing, but only if you’ve got nothing else left... Then Gesar had to go and send you to Edinburgh!”
“Did you kill Victor because he recognized Gennady?”
“Yes,” said Edgar, nodding. “It was an improvised move. Gennady got nervous. He thought Kostya’s old school friend couldn’t have turned up by accident, that we were being followed. It was a mistake, of course. But we did discover how to open the barrier on the third level. We didn’t have precise information about that before then.”
“But you knew about the golem on the fifth level?”
“Oh yes!” said Edgar, laughing again. “After Annabel was killed I was transferred to work in the secure archive. You know... to settle down and get over my pain in a quiet job... If only you knew, Light One, what they have hidden away in the strong rooms at the Inquisition! I had never even suspected that things like that could be created. I tell you honestly, in the last hundred years, the quality of magic has actually deteriorated. We’ve been spoiled by using human things. But we used to have things that were like telephones and cars and airplanes... they weren’t just like them, they were better. We could have founded a civilization based entirely on magic!”
Last Watch Page 31