‘Well, he hasn’t managed it yet,’ I said.
‘Who told you that?’ Arina asked in surprise. ‘He has come many times before.’
‘But we’re alive! People are alive! And he—’
‘The Two-in-One doesn’t kill all the people!’ she exclaimed, gesturing abruptly. ‘He kills the Others, or almost all of them – to be honest I don’t know exactly. “Five days are left to the Others, six days to people”, right? Where does it say that everyone will die?’
‘Well…’ I said, embarrassed. ‘From the context it—’
‘Not everyone,’ Arina said calmly. ‘The overwhelming majority. Ninety-nine per cent. Or ninety-nine point nine. And a large number of animals will die too, especially the more complex ones. Do you know why?’
I shook my head.
‘Because Power will come gushing into the world. Because the Twilight can’t recycle it all – it doesn’t need that much. And if the Others, who use Power, who control it through the Twilight and bleed off the excess, are killed, then people will be swamped by Power. One by one, they will all acquire the ability to work magic. And then it will start! It’s not even like giving a man a machine gun – this is an atom bomb. Imagine you’re an ordinary man. And suddenly you find that you’re able to work miracles. Only simple ones to begin with. But what are the simplest things? Burning. Blasting. Freezing. Shredding.’
‘Everyone has enemies,’ I said.
‘Of course. And even if you don’t want to harm anyone you’ll feel frightened that they want to harm you. And you’ll start flinging magic about wildly, simply in order to defend yourself and your loved ones. Some will learn to do certain things, some will try to introduce rules and new laws, but people won’t have enough time to learn how to handle this gift: there won’t be any teachers to help them to understand how to live as Others. There won’t be any Watches. And the world will collapse.’
She paused for a moment and then went on. ‘Yes, and don’t forget about the animals. They generate Power, too. And when magic is accessible to everyone, when there’s an excess of it, the Twilight will start fulfilling their wishes. And animals have very simple wishes, Anton. Even simpler than people’s.’
‘The world will come to an end,’ I said.
‘Almost. It will go on until very few people are left and the survivors learn how to cope with their new powers. Until homeostasis is restored and people lose their magical abilities … But new Others will appear among them. They’ll be primitive and weak by our standards, but in the changed world they will be the kings and rulers. And history will embark on a new cycle. Yet again.’
‘Which brings us back to the Sixth Watch,’ I said. ‘To how you happen to know about it and what we can do.’
Arina nodded. ‘All right, only I don’t want to tell the same story a hundred times. Call the Tiger.’
‘What Tiger?’ I asked in an unnatural voice.
‘The one who brought you here. It’s not possible for an Other to enter the Sarcophagus of Time. I’m not a fool, Anton.’
CHAPTER 4
THE WITCHES WERE eating. It was probably a nervous response. I had assumed that after I disappeared with the Tiger they would start discussing the situation or would all go to their rooms. But they had decided to continue with their meal.
The hors d’oeuvres and the cognac had disappeared from the tables and entrées of every description had appeared. The meat dishes included roasted piglets, saddles of lamb and roast beef. There was poultry of all kinds, from quails to grouse and turkeys. And the fish ran from filleted trout to immense sturgeon carved into slices. The only alcohol left now was wine, but there was an incredible amount of it. The pretty young witches acting as waitresses kept bringing out dishes of oysters and prawns, which were eaten raw.
‘I’ve arrived at a good moment,’ Arina said softly.
We walked back to the same spot from which I had left, right beside the top table. Nadya was sitting in her place, having a friendly conversation about something with the witches seated beside her.
‘After you,’ I said quietly to Arina. ‘I think it’s you they’ve been waiting for.’
Arina snorted and walked up to the table. She reached her hand over Ernesta’s shoulder and took a quail off her plate.
Silence fell in the hall. All the jaws that had been eagerly grinding up food stopped moving and all eyes were fixed on the Great-Grandmother who had returned from oblivion. Only Nadya looked pleased to see me. I forced myself to smile at her in return.
‘Too spicy,’ Arina said, breaking the silence. She crunched up the whole quail – including the bones – like a wolf. ‘I see you’re gorging yourselves, sisters.’
‘Arina!’ Ernesta exclaimed, jumping up and hugging the other witch.
‘And hello to you, you old pest,’ Arina replied good-naturedly. ‘So in a tight corner you remembered me, did you?’
‘Well, as you know, my dear, we don’t have any procedure for removing Great-Grandmothers from their position if they disappear without a trace… or if they desert…’ Ernesta purred.
‘You should try deserting to where I’ve been,’ Arina retorted sarcastically. ‘So the Shoot hasn’t acknowledged another mistress then?’
Arina reached out her hand, and the pot with the wooden phallus crept across the table towards her. She gave the Shoot a gentle slap and the dry wood seemed to explode, throwing up green sprigs that transformed it into a bush, which was instantly covered in white blossom. Arina waited a few moments while the flowers dropped their petals and shrank, setting into strange fruits that looked like tiny white apples.
Arina casually picked one, tossed it into her mouth and chewed it.
Ernesta lowered her head and squatted down in a deep old-fashioned curtsy. Chairs scraped back as the witches got up and bowed to Arina, some genuflecting or going down on their knees.
‘Enough, enough,’ Arina said with a wave of her hand. ‘I have returned, sisters. No need for applause.’
‘She’s amusing,’ the Tiger said quietly behind my back. ‘It’s good that I didn’t kill her.’
‘And it’s lucky for us that we didn’t kill you,’ I added.
The Tiger smiled.
Then he leaned his head to one side, listening to something.
He frowned.
‘Daddy!’ Nadya exclaimed, jumping up and nestling against me.
Arina wiped her hands on her thighs. ‘Ernesta, did you secure the Conclave?’ she asked.
‘Arina!’ the other witch responded indignantly.
‘Easy now, I’m not blaming you…’ said Arina.
The windows in the restaurant looked out onto a mountainside with the glittering threads of ski tracks running down it and snowcats creeping across the surface on their caterpillar tracks. Suddenly the glass in one window started jangling and the witches sitting close to it all jumped up and moved away. The panes first bent inwards and then bulged outwards like sheets of polythene.
‘You have to leave,’ said the Tiger. ‘Anton, do you hear me?’
The glass gave a final rattle and then shattered into a spray of dagger-like splinters. Some of the pieces hung there motionless, suspended in mid-air; other pieces were thrown back and some simply disappeared. Every one of the witches who had come to the Conclave must have been wearing dozens of protective amulets.
Cold air blew in through the broken window.
And then the Two-in-One jumped up into the restaurant, soaring over the windowsill. He landed gently on the floor and froze.
In the few hours that had passed, he had changed fundamentally: I realised what Arina had meant when she asked if the two Others were ‘together’.