‘Tiger,’ I said. The final seconds of his life were draining away, but I had to ask this. ‘Remember what you called me at the Sarcophagus? You were wrong. I’m a Light One.’
‘I didn’t say you were a Dark One…’ the Tiger laughed. ‘Ask Zabulon. He’ll explain.’
The Tiger stretched, dropped his cigarette and ground it out thoroughly with his foot. He raised his head and looked up at the sky again, smiling.
Then he sank down and sat on the ground.
Of course he wasn’t human. But he died like a man, in every sense of the word. Unlike the Two-in-One, his body remained lying there. The glassy flesh darkened and started bleeding.
I hugged Nadya and held her close, then looked at Arina, who had come over to us.
‘Take out the Minoan Sphere,’ I told her.
‘Where to?’ the witch asked softly.
‘The Day Watch office. To Zabulon.’
Arina froze with the Sphere in her hands.
‘Are you sure?’
‘Absolutely. And don’t try to run away – you’ll be ashamed for the rest of your life.’
‘As if there was much of that life left…’ Arina muttered.
Oh, how they gaped at her!
Our two Great Higher Ones: Gesar and Zabulon. The Son of Tibet and the Son of Judea. The Light One and the Dark One.
She sat there modestly, opposite them, wearing a business suit that looked surprisingly appropriate in Zabulon’s office. The witch Arina: the head of the Conclave of Witches.
Zabulon was still in his incredibly maniacal mood. It wasn’t obvious at first glance, but then he kissed Arina ceremoniously on the hand and complimented her in French.
‘Comme vous êtes charmante!’
‘Ah, you old rogue,’ Arina replied flirtatiously.
Gesar said nothing, but sat there glaring at the witch, while she studiously ignored him.
Olga sat in the corner of the office, breathing smoke from her cigarette into an expensive Japanese air purifier and watching Gesar intently. Arina cast a fleeting glance at her before speaking again.
‘Stop that now, Boris. I forgave you a long time ago.’
Gesar turned as red as if he was about to have an apoplectic fit, but still didn’t say anything.
Svetlana simply sat at one side with her arms round Nadya. She hadn’t asked any questions when we appeared in Zabulon’s office, she’d just taken her daughter and hugged her.
Maybe she already knew everything anyway. Maybe they’d been tracking us and they’d seen it all.
I couldn’t care less if they had.
‘I promised Arina that she wouldn’t be harmed, that her freedom would not be restricted and that she would not be forced to do anything she found offensive,’ I said. ‘She has promised to tell us everything she knows about the Two-in-One and the Sixth Watch.’
‘We’ve discovered a thing or two as well,’ Gesar said reluctantly. ‘A thing or two… Go on, Arina.’
‘The Two-in-One is the purger of human civilisation,’ said Arina. ‘To be more precise, when the human race violates the age-old balance between good and evil the Twilight starts suffering. So when the equilibrium is disrupted the Twilight tries to restore it. And since the Twilight reflects the moral and ethical condition of humankind, it is biased towards evil and the methods it uses are not the kindest. It sends the Two-in-One, who purges.’
‘How?’ Gesar asked.
‘In the simplest way possible, from the Twilight’s point of view. The Two-in-One kills the Others. Either all of them or at least the overwhelming majority – I don’t think he really needs to drag the final vampire out of his coffin or the final shapeshifter out of his burrow. In normal circumstances we Others maintain the balance of Power; we use up the excess. Which means that people aren’t able to make use of magic, which spares them the temptation of dangerous toys.’
‘If we die, then the people will kill each other,’ Gesar said pensively.
‘Yes. The vestiges of civilisation that remain are very simple, but strangely enough the balance between good and evil is restored.’
‘What’s so strange about that?’ Zabulon exclaimed gleefully. ‘It’s not evil to smack your neighbour over the head with a club, make him work in your field and make his wife warm your bed. That’s normal, natural behaviour. Basic practicality. Animals are also beyond good and evil – when a wolf kills a hare, it doesn’t feel any hatred. Evil is when you convince your neighbour that he ought to work in your field, give his wife to you and sing your praises at the same time.’
‘Thank you, we get the idea,’ Gesar told him, in an icy voice.
‘The Two-in-One was the first emanation of the Twilight, the first agent of its will,’ Arina continued. ‘He concluded the very first, most ancient covenant between the Twilight and the Others. We Others maintain the equilibrium between good and evil, allowing the Twilight to lead a calm and comfortable existence. But if evil becomes dominant, the Two-in-One comes and makes us pay the bill. And now that time has arrived.’
‘And what if good becomes dominant?’ Nadya asked quietly.
‘Unfortunately, my girl, that has never happened,’ Arina replied. I thought I caught a note of genuine compassion in her voice. ‘At least, it has never happened on a global scale. Although we have tried to make it happen, of course. Throughout history new religions have been invented, new ethical principles, new variations on the social contract…’
‘Communism was a stupid idea, though,’ said Zabulon, keeping his voice low to avoid an unnecessary argument.
‘Are you sure the time is here?’ Gesar asked Arina, ignoring Zabulon. ‘But why am I asking…? He wouldn’t have appeared otherwise… Why do you know about this? Why don’t we know? Why is there nothing in the archives of the Inquisition? Who cleaned out every last mention of the Sixth Watch and the Two-in-One?’
‘Do you really not understand, Gesar?’ Arina asked. ‘Honestly and truly?’
Olga stubbed out her cigarette with an abrupt movement and got up.
‘We cleaned it all out. Isn’t that right, witch?’
‘Of course,’ said Arina. ‘It was a secret, naturally, but there was the Watch of Six, which kept the secret, and there were documents in the archives. And the Higher Ones knew, including you and Zabulon.’
‘I have already reached that conclusion by logical deduction!’ Zabulon put in. ‘If there is information that I am obliged to know, but I don’t know it, then the only possible explanation is that I made myself forget it. I couldn’t have been influenced from the outside! Discard the impossible and the improbable must be true.’
‘Thank you, we appreciate your opinion,’ said Gesar. ‘When did this happen? Who was involved?’
‘The full membership of the Sixth Watch. And all the Higher Others were in the know.’
‘Why was it done?’ Gesar asked.
‘It was 1914,’ Arina stated simply. ‘A hundred years ago. You began an experiment, with a world war and a revolution in Russia. We all know that the experimenter influences the results of the experiment, if he knows basically what is happening. You wanted to turn humankind towards the good and you were afraid that your knowledge of the Two-in-One would prevent you from doing what… what was necessary.’
‘Who is “you”?’ Gesar asked indignantly. ‘Is that me? Or Zabulon?’
‘You and Zabulon, among others. Essentially all the Great Ones were involved, but it was you and Zabulon who insisted on holding the experiment in Russia. And at the very last moment, by the way! France was the favourite, with Germany and Great Britain hot on its heels. The United States was excluded from the start – their previous experiment with the Civil War was considered a failure. But you insisted that Russia must be the guinea pig.’