Day Watch

There was absolutely no emotion or other coloration in his voice; his tone was strictly informative. And it would have been stupid to suspect an Inquisitor of sympathizing with one side or the other. "In the name of the Treaty," he declared, "tomorrow at dawn there will be an extended session of the local board of the Tribunal, under the patronage of the Inquisition. The subject is a number of actions taken by Light Others and a number of actions taken by Dark Others which are incompatible with the stipulations of the Treaty. Attendance is compulsory for all who have been informed. If anyone who has been informed fails to attend or arrives late, it will be regarded as an act incompatible with the stipulations of the Treaty. Until the session starts all magical interventions at the fifth level of Power and above are prohibited. May Equilibrium triumph."

When he finished his speech, the Inquisitor turned around unhurriedly and walked out into the lobby, to the elevators. The warlock cast a fleeting glance at his superiors and closed the door behind him. He regarded it as his duty to show the Inquisitor out. The office was quiet for a while; even the technicians and their notebooks had fallen silent.

"Just like in '49," A

"Let's hope so," the magician Yura said in a low voice. "Let's hope so, A

Chapter five

–«¦»-

Everybody gets the feeling sometimes that what is happening just at the moment has already happened before. There's even a special term for it, deja vu, a kind of false memory.

The Others have it too.

Night Watch agent Anton Gorodetsky was standing in front of the door of his apartment and struggling with his memories. He had hovered in front of this open door in exactly the same way before, wondering who could have got inside. And when he went inside that time, he'd discovered that his uninvited guest was his sworn enemy, the chief of the Day Watch, known to the Light Ones by the name of Zabulon.

"Deja vu," Anton whispered and stepped inside the door. The defense system remained silent again, but there was definitely a visitor in the room. Who was it this time?

Anton squeezed his talismanic medallion tightly in his hand as he entered the room.

Zabulon was sitting in an armchair and reading the newspaper Arguments and Facts, wearing a severe black suit, a light-gray shirt, and black shoes with blunt, square toes, polished so that they shone like mirrors. He took off his spectacles. "Hello, Anton."

"Deja vu…" Anton muttered. "Well, hello."

Strangely enough, this time he wasn't scared of Zabulon at all. Maybe that was because the last time Zabulon had conducted his surprise visit in an entirely correct ma

"You can take my amulet. It's in the desk-I can sense it."

Anton let go of the talisman hanging round his neck, took off his jacket, and went across to the desk. Zabulon's amulet was hidden in among some papers and all the other office clutter that inevitably seems to appear out of nowhere.

"Zabulon, you have no Power over me," Anton declared in a voice that didn't sound like his own.

The Dark magician nodded in satisfaction. "Excellent. Allow me to compliment you. That other time you were trembling like a withered leaf. But today you're calm. You're growing, Anton."

"I suppose I ought to thank you for the compliment?" Anton asked coolly.

Zabulon threw his head back and laughed soundlessly.

"All right," he said a few seconds later, "I see you're in no mood to waste time. Well, neither am I. I came to offer you the chance to commit an act of betrayal. A small, calculated act of betrayal from which everyone will benefit, including you. Sounds paradoxical, doesn't it?"

"It does."

Anton looked into Zabulon's gray eyes, trying to understand what trap he'd fallen into this time. Trust a human being half way and a Light One a quarter of the way, but don't trust a Dark One at all.

Zabulon was the most powerful-and therefore the most dangerous-Dark One in Moscow. And probably in the whole of Russia.

"Let me explain," said Zabulon, without hurrying, but not hesitating either. "You already know about tomorrow's session of the Tribunal, do you not?"

"I do."

"Don't go to it."

Anton finally decided to sit down, on the divan by the wall. Now Zabulon was on his right.

"And for what particular reason?" Anton inquired.

"If you don't go, you and Svetlana will stay together. If you go, you'll lose her."

Anton felt a sudden burning sensation in his chest. It wasn't a question of whether he believed Zabulon or not. He wanted to believe him. He wanted to very much.

But he couldn't forget that Dark Ones can't be trusted.

"The leadership of the Night Watch is pla

"Strange," Anton said thoughtfully. "The head of the Day Watch asking for help from a Night Watch agent. Very strange."

"Well, your help isn't absolutely necessary to us. We could manage on our own. But if you help yourself in the first instance, then you will also help us. And Svetlana, and everyone else who will inevitably suffer from the next global experiment."

"I don't understand-how can I help myself and Svetlana?"

"What don't you understand? Svetlana is potentially a very powerful enchantress. As she grows stronger, so the gulf that separates you grows wider. Her Power is the factor that is shifting the balance in the favor of the Light. If Svetlana is deprived of her Power for some time, equilibrium will be restored. And there will be nothing to keep you apart, Anton. She loves you- anyone can see that. And you love her. Surely you wouldn't sacrifice your happiness and that of the woman you love to the Light? Especially since the sacrifice is meaningless in any case. That's why I'm proposing you commit this little, perfectly painless act of betrayal."

"Betrayal is never little."

"Sometimes it is, Anton. It most certainly is. Loyalty itself is built up from a series of little, calculated betrayals. You can trust me on that-I've lived in this world long enough to be quite sure of it."

Anton paused for a while before he spoke. "I'm a Light One. I can't betray the Light. By my very essence I can't do it-and you should understand that."

"No one's trying to make you go against the Light. And what's more, if you do this, you'll be helping many people. Very many people, Anton. Isn't that the goal of a Light magician-to help people?"

"And how will I be able to look my colleagues in the eye?" Anton asked with a bitter laugh. "After that?"

"They'll understand," Zabulon said with an assurance that seemed strange to Anton. "They'll understand and they'll forgive. And if they don't-what kind of Light Ones are they?"

"You're good with the sophistry, Zabulon. Far better than I am, no doubt. But just because you call things by different names, it doesn't change their essential nature. Betrayal is always betrayal."

"All right," Zabulon agreed with surprising readiness, "then betray love. Basically, you have a choice between two betrayals-surely you can understand that? To betray yourself or to prevent yet another cycle of bloodshed from happening. To forestall the inevitable battles between the Watches or to allow them to happen. Or haven't there been enough deaths for you yet? You went out on patrol with Andrei Tiu