Nightwatch

What for? Darkness and Light, what for? Neither the young vampire nor this young Other, the kid, were worth that kind of effort!

«Egor!» I shouted.

I was begi

«Egor!» I took a step through the mist. I could hear muffled blows behind me—the snake was pounding someone against the roof, clutching his body in its jaws… and I knew whose body it was…

Time down there moves even more slowly, and there was just a tiny chance that the kid might not have lost consciousness yet. Struggling to make anything out in the gloom, I walked toward the spot where he'd dived down to the second level of the Twilight, and I didn't spot the body under my feet. I stumbled and fell, then got up, squatting on my haunches, and found myself face to face with Egor.

«You okay?» It was a stupid question to ask, because his eyes were open and he was looking at me.

«Yes.»

Our voices had a hollow, rumbling sound. There were two fluttering shadows right beside us: Bear was still tearing at the vampire. She was really holding in there for all she was worth!

And so was the kid!

«Let's go,» I said, reaching out and touching his shoulder. «It's… tough being down here. We could get stuck here forever.»

«So okay.»

«Don't you understand, Egor! To be dissolved in the Twilight means suffering, eternal suffering. You can't even imagine what it's like, Egor! We're leaving!»

«What for?»

«To stay alive.»

«What for?»

My fingers wouldn't bend. My pistol felt heavy, cast out of ice. I might last another minute, or two…

I looked into Egor's eyes.

«Everyone decides for himself. I'm leaving. I've got something to live for.»

«Why do you want to save me?» he asked curiously. «Does your Night Watch need me?»

«I don't think you'll join our Watch,» I said, surprising even myself.

He smiled. A shadow slowly ran through us—Semyon. Had he spotted something? Was someone in trouble?

And there I was, wasting my final strength trying to prevent a little Other from committing esoteric suicide—when he was doomed anyway.

«I'm leaving,» I said. «Goodbye.»

My shadow clutched hold of me, freezing to my fingers and growing onto my face. I began tearing myself out of it in jerks, and the Twilight hissed in displeasure at such behavior.

«Help me,» said Egor. I only just caught the sound of his voice; I was almost out already. He'd left it until the very last moment.

I reached out and grabbed his hand. I was already being torn out, the mist around me was melting. All my help was purely symbolic; the boy had to do the real work for himself.

And he did.

We tumbled out into the upper layer of the Twilight. The cold wind struck me in the face, but this time it felt good. The listless movements on every side were transformed into a furious struggle. The blurred tone of gray looked bright and colorful.

Something had changed during those few seconds we'd spent talking. The vampire was still twitching under Bear… that wasn't it. The young warlock was lying on the roof, either dead or unconscious; Tiger Cub and the witch were rolling about nearby… that wasn't it.

The snake!

The white cobra was expanding, inflating to fill a quarter of the roof. As if it had been pumped full of air and it was rising, or flying up of its own accord into the low sky. Semyon was standing by the twined coils of the fiery body, half-squatting in one of the ancient combat stances, with small orange spheres streaking from his palms into the clump of white flame. He wasn't aiming at the cobra, but at someone else underneath it, someone who should have been dead a long time ago but was still struggling…

There was a sudden explosion!

A vortex of Light and scraps of Darkness. I was tossed onto my back and as I fell I hit Egor and knocked him down, but just managed to grab hold of his hand. Tiger Cub and the witch, locked together, shot across to the edge of the roof and froze against the barrier. Bear was torn off the vampire, who was badly mauled but still alive. Semyon staggered but stayed on his feet, protected by a dimly glowing defensive shield. The only thing blown off the roof was the unconscious warlock: On his way he broke through the rusty bars of the barrier and plunged downward in a helpless bundle.

But Ilya just continued standing where he had been, rooted to the spot. I couldn't see any defenses around him, but he just gazed curiously at what was going on, clutching his wand.

The remains of the fiery cobra soared upward, spreading out into glowing clouds, melting away, scattering in showers of sparks and fine rays of light. Beneath this fireworks display Zabulon slowly rose to his feet, extending his arms in some complex magical pass. He'd lost his clothes in the struggle and now he was completely naked. His body had changed, assuming the classical features of a demon: dull scales instead of skin, an irregular skull, covered with some kind of matted fur instead of hair, close-set eyes with vertical slits for pupils, a massive, dangling male member, and a short forked tail hanging from the base of his spine.

«Begone!» cried Zabulon. «Begone!»

The things that must have been going on at that moment in the human world… Outbursts of deadly depression and blind, irrational joy, heart attacks, ludicrous behavior, quarrels between best friends, betrayal by faithful lovers… People couldn't see what was happening, but it touched their souls.

But why?

Why did the Day Watch want all this?

And at that moment I suddenly felt calm, a state of icy, rational composure I'd almost forgotten.

It was all one complex maneuver. If we started from one simple idea, made one initial assumption—that everything was happening according to Day Watch's plan—and then co

My thoughts were moving as fast as if I were acting as a brainstorm conductor, co

Day Watch didn't give a damn about the girl-vampire…

Day Watch wouldn't risk open conflict for the sake of a kid with potentially great powers. Day Watch had only one reason for doing all this.

A Dark Magician with monstrous reserves of power.

A Dark Magician who could reinforce their position, not only in Moscow, but right across the continent…

But they'd already achieved that goal; we'd promised to hand over the Dark Magician…

The unidentified magician was the only unknown in the equation, the X. We could designate Egor as Y: His resistance to magic was far too high for any novice Other. But on the other hand, the boy was an already known quantity, with just one indeterminate factor…

And that had been deliberately introduced into the problem, to make it more complicated.

«Zabulon!» I shouted. Behind my back Egor was scrabbling and sliding on the ice as he tried to stand up. Semyon was backing away from the magician, still maintaining his defenses. Ilya was observing everything dispassionately. Bear was closing in on the twitching girl-vampire as she tried to stand up. Tiger Cub and the witch Alisa were moving toward each other again. «Zabulon!»

The demon looked at me.

«I know who you're fighting for!»

No, I didn't know yet. I was just begi

The demon opened its jaws—they shifted to the left and the right, like a beetle's. He was looking more and more like some giant insect; his scales had grown together into a single carapace; his genitals and tail had retracted; new limbs had begun to sprout from his sides.

«Then you're dead.»

His voice was the same as before; in fact, it sounded even more thoughtful and intelligent. Zabulon stretched his arm out toward me—it extended in jerks, growing new joints as it came.

«Come to me…« whispered Zabulon.

Everybody froze—apart from me. I started walking toward the Dark Magician. There was a trace left of the mental defenses I'd nurtured for years and years. There was just no way I could not obey Zabulon.

«Stop,» roared Tiger Cub, turning away from the battered but still snarling witch. «Stop!»

I really wished I could do as she said, but I just couldn't.

«Anton…« I heard someone say behind me. «Look back…«

That was something I could do. I turned my head, tearing my eyes away from the gaze of those amber eyes with the narrow, vertical slit pupils.

Egor was still squatting down; he didn't have the strength to get up. It was amazing that he was even conscious at all… after all, the external input into his energy reserves had been shut off. The external input that had attracted the boss's attention, that had been maintained from the very begi

The small ivory medallion on a copper chain dangled from Egor's hand.

«Catch!» the kid shouted.

«Don't take it!» Zabulon ordered me. But he was too late; I'd already bent down and grabbed the amulet as it came flying toward my feet. The carved medallion burned my hand when I touched it, as if I'd picked up a live coal.

I looked at the demon and shook my head:

«Zabulon, you no longer have power over me.»

The demon howled and came straight at me. His power over me was gone, but he still had plenty of strength.

«Tut-tut!» said Ilya.

A wall of white flame cut across the space between us. Zabulon howled as he hit the magical barrier and the sheet of pure white light flung him back. He shook his scorched paws, looking ridiculous now, not terrible at all.

«A complex move,» I said. «But elementary really, isn't it?»

Everything on the roof went quiet. Tiger Cub and the witch Alisa stood side by side, not even trying to attack each other. Semyon looked at me, then at Ilya, and I couldn't tell which of us had surprised him most. The girl-vampire was crying quietly, trying to get up. She was in the worst state of all; she'd used up all her strength in surviving the fight with Bear, and now she was struggling to regenerate. With an incredible effort she left the Twilight, becoming a vague silhouette.