‘You take it for her,’ Kesha said calmly. ‘I don’t need it, after all.’
I looked into his eyes – and ‘worried’ became ‘terrified’.
‘How do you mean?’ I asked in an artificially cheerful voice.
‘Uncle Boris told me everything. About the Twilight Creature that’s hunting me. And how you won’t be able to stop him.’
‘Why?’ I asked – of course, the question wasn’t meant for the boy. ‘Why?’
But Kesha answered anyway.
‘He said that was his last chance to motivate me. That I have to pluck up my courage and make a prophecy. Then the beast will leave me alone.’
‘And so?’
‘I can’t do it, it doesn’t work,’ said the boy, lowering his eyes guiltily. ‘I tried really hard, honest I did! I’m sorry …’
He was even apologising to us …
‘So what then?’ I asked.
‘Uncle Boris said that if I couldn’t manage it, there was no point in worrying. I ought to go to bed and get some sleep, maybe the creature won’t come after all. And then everything will be all right, and in the morning I’ll definitely manage it.’
‘But you didn’t go to bed,’ I said.
‘I’m afraid,’ the boy replied simply.
‘Did you really try hard?’ I asked.
‘Yes – do you think I’m a fool? But Uncle Boris said that if there was no hope I shouldn’t waste my time trying any more.’
He looked up at me and said: ‘You go now, it’s all right. I’ll play for a while and go to bed.’
‘If there’s no hope …’ I said. ‘If there’s no hope …’ I slapped at my pockets. Took out my phone. ‘Hang on a moment, Kesha …’
Generally speaking, phoning your ten-year-old daughter at midnight is not the most pedagogically correct decision. But before I could even call, the phone jangled in my hands and I raised it to my ear.
‘Hello?’
‘Daddy, were you going to call me?’ Nadya’s voice was not even slightly sleepy and it sounded very, very eager.
‘Yes.’
‘Are you doing battle? With that creature?’
‘No, Nadya, we’re not going to fight a battle with it. We wouldn’t be able to beat it.’
‘What if—’
‘And you’re not going to fight a battle with it either!’
‘But you do want me to come, don’t you?’
‘Yes, only not to fight a battle at all, but to …’ I began.
There was a breath of cold air. A dark, glowing oval with a belt of white sparks round it appeared in mid-air. Nadya stepped out of it, barefoot and wearing nothing but her pink pyjamas.
‘… give Kesha some hope,’ I finished, gazing at my daughter.
‘Daddy, I managed it just like Gesar!’ Nadya exclaimed joyfully. ‘Oh, hi!’
No, Nadya wasn’t embarrassed. But Kesha blushed and lowered his eyes.
‘Nadya, I’m afraid we’ve got almost no time left,’ I said. ‘Perhaps only a few hours. Kesha has to make his first prophecy. He knows how to do it. But it’s not working for him. I think you can help him somehow.’
‘Maybe I should give him a kiss?’ Nadya asked in an innocent voice. ‘To inspire him. That always helps in the cartoons!’
Why, the little … the little … no, not witch, of course. But she does have a bit of the witch in her. Like every woman.
‘I’m afraid kisses won’t do it,’ I said. ‘Nadya, talk to the boy. Try to understand what the problem is. I … I won’t be far away. I’ll be back in five minutes.’
I walked out of the room, closed the door behind me and thought that in just a couple of years’ time I would be more wary of leaving my daughter alone with little boys. Would you believe it! ‘I’ll kiss him!’ I ought to throw that TV out …
‘Anton!’
I walked into the room where Gesar, Alisher and Jermenson were sitting. There seemed to be more cognac in the bottle than before, which roused my suspicions. Glyba had gone off somewhere, but the Kazakh White Magician’s replacement by Alisher had not affected the way the group was passing the time.
‘There was some kind of … movement …’ said Gesar, gazing at me. ‘Tell me, you haven’t done anything stupid, have you? Like teleporting the lad away from here?’
‘No, it was Nadya,’ I said. ‘I called her … to talk to the boy. She’s known all her life that she’s an Other. Maybe she can give him some ideas?’
‘A truly devoted father,’ said Gesar.
‘Well, that’s what you wanted, isn’t it?’ I asked him. ‘When you told the boy that there was no hope, that he should give up trying?’
Gesar shook his head slowly.
‘No, Anton. Thank you for valuing every word I say so highly, but it wasn’t a hint. I simply said there was no hope. I wasn’t thinking of your daughter …’
‘But how lovely that would be …’ Jermenson said thoughtfully. ‘A pity …’
And then I felt the ‘movement’ that Gesar had mentioned. As if the Twilight had swayed, splashing out energy, and then frozen.
‘I’ll go and give Nadya’s ears a tweak,’ I said.
‘It’s not good to tweak little girls’ ears,’ said Gesar, getting up. ‘And that’s not her.’
‘It’s the Tiger,’ said Jermenson. He got up too.
‘Anton, take your daughter and leave,’ said Alisher, pulling a bracelet made of three intertwined rings – gold, silver and copper – out of his pocket. He threaded his left hand through it and dangled it in the air, as if he was gauging an invisible load.
‘What are you doing?’ I asked. ‘You said …’
‘Never mind what we said,’ Jermenson replied, with a shrug. ‘And anyway … if we can spin things out for an hour or two, that could decide everything. He won’t come through the Twilight, Gesar?’
‘No,’ Gesar said firmly.
‘Perhaps we should ask the Inquisition after all … or Zabulon …’
‘I asked. A quarter of an hour ago. Help was refused.’
‘Then it’s up to us,’ Jermenson declared cheerfully. ‘A very curious experience altogether … wouldn’t you say so, Ali?’
‘For sure,’ said Alisher, and shook the hand with the bracelet. His body was enveloped in a white glow. He shook his hand again and the glow faded away.
‘Yes indeed,’ said Jermenson, beaming. ‘I thought there was nothing left that could surprise me, but this Tiger really is a new experience in my life.’
And at that very moment there was a loud crash above us. Rumbling and powerful – as if something had exploded. The magicians raised their heads and listened.
‘Semyon,’ said Gesar. ‘I told him not to interfere … It’s a pity we don’t employ corporal punishment in the Watch.’
‘We could introduce it,’ Jermenson said brightly.
‘He’s not overdoing it,’ said Alisher. ‘But the guys don’t want to surrender the office without a fight. Even if it is only symbolic …’
Gesar looked at me.
‘Anton, your task is simple. After the Tiger comes down the stairs and appears at that end of the corridor, we’ll have from three to five minutes. You can do something – to ease your conscience. A spell or two, only try not to nettle him … And then grab your daughter and leave. She knows how to open a portal.’
‘I can do that too,’ I said without any real conviction.
‘Good. Then leave. And don’t even try to take the young lad with you. No pointless heroics. You’ve still got a long life ahead of you.’
‘All right,’ I said, nodding, disgusted to realise that I really meant it.
‘We’ll do everything we can to try to delay him, and then leave,’ said Gesar, either just for me or for all three of us. ‘A few minutes might be some kind of help …’