Day Watch

Yura shook his head skeptically.

"I must admit the Ukrainian didn't strike me as capable of that. In order to snatch Power from the Light enchantress right under Gesar's nose, you have to be Zabulon at least. And have the right to a first-level intervention…"

"What have rights got to do with it?" A

"A

The silence in the room was like outer space.

"And you didn't say anything?" A

"What's the point of making our young people nervous? I'm sorry, Deniska. We're already at a disadvantage as it is. First-the chief isn't here, and second-we've just had two pretty unsuccessful years… How many times have we been forced to give way to the Light Ones during those two years? Five, ten?"

"So we're trying to avoid defeatist attitudes, are we?" Yura inquired acidly. "Keeping quiet about things? Protecting the young people from pernicious influences? Well, well…"

"What's the point of just saying 'well, well'?" Edgar snarled. "Why don't you try suggesting where we go from here?"

"The chief left you in charge," Yura said indifferently. "So you do the thinking."

"You and Kolya refused, that's why he appointed me," said Edgar, turning gloomy and sulky. "Some fighters you are…"

"Hey, boys, just shut it, will you!" said A

"Okay, let's forget it," said Yura with a wave of his hand. "You're asking me what we do now? Nothing. The Ukrainian can't go too far out of Moscow. I think he has the Talon with him. If he hasn't done anything yet, it means the time still hasn't come. We wait until he comes back. He has to come back-the Talon has to be in Moscow within the next two days. Otherwise the probability peak will have passed, and it will just be a powerful artifact, nothing more."

Nikolai nodded approvingly.

Edgar looked closely, first at one magician, then the other.

"Then we wait," he sighed. And he added: "Yes. Our Ukrainian friend has turned out to be cu

"Ne kazhi gop," Kolya advised him. "That's Ukrainian for 'don't count your chickens'…"

"A

"You're an idle lazybones, Shagron," said A

Shagron gri

To my great amazement, it was warm in the tent all night long. Of course, we slept without getting undressed-I just took off my jacket and my shoes and climbed into the sleeping bag I was offered. The tent belonged to the bearded Matvei, and it could have held three or even four people if necessary, but there were just the two of us. The next tent was about twenty meters away. Immediately after everyone wandered away from the campfire, I could hear the birthday girl moaning sweetly in it, wrapped in someone's tight embrace-so we weren't the only ones who were warm. It was strange. As a southerner, I'd always thought it was cold and miserable in the forest in winter.

I'd been wrong. Maybe it was cold and miserable in the forest, but man can bring his own warmth and comfort with him anywhere he goes. Of course, nature has to suffer a bit as a result, but that's a different matter. A different matter altogether…

Matvei woke up first. He crawled out of his sleeping bag, stopped at the entrance for a minute as he fiddled with his stylish mountain boots (far superior to my clumsy, thick-soled shoes), unlaced the flap, and went outside. A breath of frost immediately licked at my face. At the same time I felt against my chest the elongated object that the Vikings had passed on to me at the airport. I hadn't taken a proper look at it since then- there hadn't been any opportunity.

And I also realized that overnight the cocoon, which hadn't been fed any further energy, had melted away. I could feel a breath of Power from the object. Or rather, not Power, but power. If there had been even one Other there, he couldn't have helped sensing the Talon.

I pulled the long, curved object-a case?-out from under my sweater. It looked like a scabbard for a dagger, but it opened like a bivalve seashell. That is, of course, if there are any shells like that in the sea-thirty or thirty-five centimeters long, and narrow.

The case was locked in the Twilight, so no ordinary person could possibly have opened it. Crossing my eyes, I moved closer to the entrance of the tent and threw the flap back a bit so that there was more light.

Inside, lying on dark red velvet, there really was a blackish-blue claw from some huge beast. It looked as sharp as a Circassian dagger-stretching along the entire length of its curved i

But then, what kind of beast could have had talons like this? It would have to be some kind of legendary dragon. What else could it be? But did dragons ever really exist? I rummaged through my memory, trying to find an answer to this question, and shook my head doubtfully. Witches and vampires were one thing-they were just Others-but dragons…

The snow squeaked under Matvei's feet as he walked back from the stream. With a regretful sigh, I slipped into the Twilight for a moment, closed the case and stuck it back under my sweater.

"Awake already?" Matvei asked as he came closer.

"Uh-huh."

"You weren't cold, then?"

"No. It's incredible. I thought in the middle of winter, in the forest, I was bound to feel cold. But it was warm…"

"You southerners are strange people!" Matvei laughed. "You think what we have here is a real frost? In Siberia they have real frosts. You know what they say? A Siberian isn't someone who doesn't feel the cold, he's someone who's warmly dressed!"

I laughed. It was well put. I ought to remember that.

Matvei smiled into his beard too.

"There's a stream over there. You can get a wash."

"Aha." I clambered out of the tent and took a short walk to the frozen stream. At the point where the path reached the low bank, someone had broken a neat hole in the ice: Overnight the hole had frozen over with a thin, almost transparent layer of ice, but Matvei had broken it open again. The water was cold, but not cold enough to make even my warmth-loving soul afraid of splashing a few handfuls onto my face. The wash invigorated me, and I immediately felt I wanted to do something, run somewhere…

Or perhaps it wasn't the wash at all. The day before I'd almost completely drained myself before the airport. And I'd felt exactly the way you'd expect. I'd grabbed some Power from the portal and a little bit from the enchantress, and then expended almost all of it again. But overnight I'd apparently been drawing Power from the Talon.

Its Power was the right kind-Dark Power. I hadn't really enjoyed using the Light Ones' Power-it was alien, hard to control. But the Talon's Power was like mother's milk to a little infant. It even seemed to breathe in a mysterious way that was almost painfully familiar.