«The prism of power?» I asked rhetorically. «Alisa Donnikova, you have performed a magical intervention of the third level.»
«Fourth,» she replied quickly.
I shrugged.
«Third or fourth, that's of no real importance. It still means the Tribunal, Alisa. You're in big trouble.»
«I didn't do anything.» The witch was trying hard to look calm. «I have personal permission to carry the prism. I didn't make use of it.»
«Alisa, any higher magician can extract all the information from this thing.»
I reached down toward the ground, forcing the blue moss to part and the prism to jump up into my hand. It was cold, very cold.
«Even I can read the history from it,» I said. «Alisa Donnikova, Other, Dark Witch of the Day Patrol, fourth level of power, I hereby formally accuse you of violating the Treaty. If you offer resistance I shall be obliged to eliminate you. Put your hands behind your back.»
She obeyed. And then she started talking, quickly and urgently, trying desperately to persuade me:
«Anton, wait, please, listen to me. Yes, I did try out the prism, but you must understand, it's the first time I've ever been trusted with such a powerful amulet! Anton, I'm not so stupid as to attack people in the center of Moscow, and why would I want to? Anton, we're both Others! Can't we settle this amicably? Anton!»
«Amicably?» I said, putting the prism in my pocket. «Come on, let's go.»
«Anton, a fourth-level intervention, or third-level! Any third-level intervention carried out in the interests of the Light! Not like my stupid game with the prism, a genuine intervention!»
I could understand why she was panicking. This business could easily end in dematerialization. A Day Watch agent sucking the life out of people for her own personal ends—that would be a tremendous scandal! They'd hand Alisa over without the slightest hesitation.
«You have no authority to make such compromises. The leader of the Dark Ones will not ratify your promise.»
«Zabulon will confirm it!»
«Will he?» I was staggered by the certainty in her voice. She was probably Zabulon's lover. But even so, it was surprising. «Alisa, I once made an amicable agreement with you.»
«Yes, and I was the one who suggested overlooking your intervention.»
«And do you remember how it all turned out?» I asked with a smile.
«This is a different situation; I'm the one who's broken the law,» said Alisa, lowering her eyes. «You'll have the right to strike back. You don't need permission for third-level Light magic, do you? Or for any Light magic? You could remoralize twenty blackhearted scoundrels and turn them into righteous men. Incinerate ten murderers on the spot! Prevent a catastrophe, create a localized time warp! Anton, isn't that worth overlooking my stupid trick? Look around, everyone here's still alive! I hadn't done anything yet. I'd only just started…«
«Everything you say can be used against you.»
«Yes, I know, I know!»
There were tears glittering in her eyes. Probably quite genuine ones too. Beneath her nature as a witch she was still a perfectly ordinary girl. A pretty girl frightened by the mistake she'd made. And was it her fault that she'd ended up on the side of the Darkness?
I felt my emotional shield starting to buckle and shook my head:
«Don't try to put pressure on me!»
«Anton, please, let's settle this business amicably. Wouldn't you like the right to a third-level intervention?»
Oho, wouldn't I just? It was every Light Magician's dream to be given carte blanche like that! Just for a moment to feel that he was fighting like a genuine soldier and not sitting in the trenches, being eaten by lice and gazing dejectedly at the white flag of truce.
«You have no right to make such proposals,» I said firmly.
«I shall have!» Alisa shook her head and took a deep breath. «Zabulon!»
I waited, clutching the little combat disc in my hand.
«Zabulon, I summon you!» Her voice had become a high-pitched screech. I noticed the human shadows around us beginning to move a little faster: A vague, inexplicable feeling of alarm was making the people lengthen their strides.
Would her summons reach the head of the Dark Ones again?
Like that time at the Maharajah restaurant, when Zabulon had almost killed me with Shahab's Lash?
But he hadn't killed me. He'd missed.
Even though the whole operation had been planned by Gesar, and Zabulon really seemed to believe that I was guilty of killing Dark Ones.
Did that mean he'd already had other plans in mind for me?
Or had Gesar intervened, secretly and unobtrusively, diverted the streaks of lightning away from me?
I didn't know. As always, I didn't have enough information for analysis. I could have come up with thirty-three different explanations, all contradicting each other.
I was almost hoping Zabulon wouldn't respond. Then I'd be able to pull Alisa out of the Twilight, call in the boss or one of the operatives, hand the fool over to them, and receive a bonus at the end of the month. But what did I care about bonuses right now?
«Zabulon!» There was genuine supplication in her voice. «Zabulon!»
She was crying now, without even realizing it. The mascara had run under her eyes.
«Don't waste your time,» I said. «Let's go.»
Just at that moment a Dark Portal opened only two meters away from us.
First there was a blast of cold that chilled me to the bone, and I started thinking fondly about the heat in the human world. The moss burst into flames and burned all the way down the street. Naturally, Zabulon hadn't set it on fire deliberately; it was just that the opening of the portal had spilled so much Power that the moss couldn't assimilate it all.
«Zabulon,» whispered Alisa.
From out of the paving stones about five meters away a ray of violet light shot up into the sky. The flash blinded me and I automatically squeezed my eyes shut. When I looked in that direction again, there was a bluish-black bubble hanging in the gray mist, with something looking vaguely like a man clambering out of it, bristling with spiny scales. Zabulon had responded to the summons by traveling through the second or third level of the Twilight. The time we were moving in would have seemed as slow there as human time did to us.
I suddenly had the old feeling of powerlessness that I thought I'd come to terms with a long time ago. The abilities that Zabulon or Gesar used so casually were so far beyond me that I simply couldn't comprehend them.
«Zabulon!» Still holding her hands behind her back, Alisa dashed toward the monstrous creature and pressed herself against it, burying her face in the bristly scales. «Help me, help me!»
Of course, Zabulon hadn't appeared in demonic form just to make an impression on me. In human form he wouldn't have survived a minute in the deep layers of the Twilight. And he'd probably have to travel for hours, if not days.
The monster cast a baleful glance at me from its narrow slits of eyes. A long, forked tongue slithered out of its mouth and slid across Alisa's head, leaving a trail of white slime on her hair. A scaly hand with long claws took hold of Alisa by the chin and gently lifted up her head. Their eyes met. The exchange of information was brief.
«Little fool!» the demon roared. The tongue withdrew into the mouth and the jaws clacked shut, just missing it. «Greedy little fool!»
Well. So much for my right to a third-level intervention.
The demon's short tail lashed Alisa across the legs, tearing the silk dress and knocking her to the ground. The monster's eyes flashed; the witch was enveloped in a blue glow and she froze.
So much for the help Alisa had wanted.
«May I take my prisoner away, Zabulon?» I asked.
The monster stood there, swaying on its crooked paws, with the claws on its toes sliding in and out. Then he took a step and stood between me and the motionless young woman.
«I ask you to confirm the legality of the arrest,» I said. «Otherwise I shall be obliged to summon help.»
The demon began transforming. The proportions of its body changed and its scales disappeared, its tail was drawn back into its body, and its penis stopped looking like a club studded with nails. Finally clothes appeared on Zabulon's body.
«Wait a moment, Anton.»
«What should I wait for?»
The Dark Magician's face remained inscrutable. Presumably in his demonic form he felt far more emotions, or at least he didn't feel any need to conceal them.
«I confirm the pledge made by Alisa.»
«What?»
«If this matter is not made official, the Day Watch will accept any magical intervention you make, up to and including the third level.»
He seemed to be absolutely serious.
I gulped. A promise like that from the head of the Day Watch…
Never trust the Dark Ones.
«Any intervention up to and including the second level.»
«Are you that eager to avoid a scandal?» I asked. «Or do you need her for something?»
A tremor ran across Zabulon's face.
«I need her. I love her.»
«I don't believe you.»
«As the head of the Moscow Day Watch I ask you, watchman Anton, to settle this matter amicably. It is possible, since my ward Alisa Donnikova had not yet caused any significant harm to humans. As compensation for her attempt» —Zabulon laid strong emphasis on the last word—«to perform a magical intervention of the third level, the Day Watch will accept any Light intervention that you may perform up to and including the second level. I do not ask for this agreement to remain secret. I do not impose any restrictions on your actions. I confirm that for the offense she has committed Day Watch agent Alisa will be severely punished. May the Darkness bear witness to my words.»
A faint trembling. A rumbling under the ground, the roar of an approaching hurricane. A tiny black ball appeared on Zabulon's open palm, spinning rapidly.
«What do you say?» asked Zabulon.
I ran my tongue over my lips and looked at Alisa's magically frozen body. She was a real bitch, no doubt about it. And I had a personal score to settle with her.
Maybe that was why I didn't feel like settling this business with a compromise? Maybe it had nothing to do with the danger of an agreement with the Darkness? Alisa had tried to use the prism of power to extract part of the life energy from humans. That was third– or fourth-level magic. I'd be able to perform a second-level intervention, and that was a very, very big deal. A genuinely massive intervention! A city without a single crime for a whole day. A brilliant and unequivocally good intervention. How many times in the history of the Night Watch had we needed to make a third– or fourth-level intervention but didn't have the right, and we'd had to just go ahead and risk it, terrified by how the other side might respond?