declaimed. 'What's that about? It's about travelling to the seventh level, where those who have withdrawn live! But if you don't happen to be a zero-point magician, what then? Then you need the artefact created by Merlin. The Crown of All Things. And where do you get it? The inscription on the sixth level reads: "Go back, if you are as wise as I"! And what do we have on the fifth level?'
'The guard. A golem in the form of a double-headed snake,' said Edgar, screwing up his eyes.
'Head and tail, all is fused in one!' I exclaimed triumphantly. 'It's not just a guard, you idiots! It's the artefact's wrapping, its protection. Did you read fairy stories when you were children? The death of Kashchei is in the egg, the egg is in the duck, the duck is in the trunk... It's the same principle. And by the way,' I added in a sudden access of inspiration, 'I wouldn't be surprised if, when you rip the golem in half, some other vile beast crawls out of it. Or even flies out of it. It will probably try to get away, so be prepared to take down a fast-moving flying target!'
'Thus are life and death inseparable,' Edgar said and started thinking.
'The death of the golem is a new life for the withdrawn,' Gennady whispered. 'Edgar, could this be true?'
Edgar thought. He was trying to remember something.
'By the way, the Crown is probably the golem's activator. Merlin inclined towards simple and elegant solutions.'
'There have been two cases in history when a golem-guard also served as the casing for what it was guarding,' Edgar said. 'And the first to use this cunning trick was one of Merlin's pupils.'
In my own mind I gave thanks to this unknown magician for so aptly confirming what I had said. But outwardly all I did was to nod pensively.
'There, you see. Merlin probably told him about his own idea. Or perhaps he helped his teacher to make the snake-golem.'
Edgar nodded and said:
'If only we had the Rune ... It was the simplest thing in the world to neutralise the golem with it.'
He believed me.
'It's your own fault,' I said. 'Instead of organising secret societies, you should have opened up your ideas for general discussion. All Others have lost someone at some time...'
'You have no idea how strong the bureaucracy is,' Edgar said in disgust. 'The discussion would have gone on for a hundred years. And in the end they would have decided not to do anything.'
'That can't be right,' I blurted out.
'You're simply too young... and too remote from the admin istrative structures. Geser and Zabulon would agree with me.'
I shrugged. Perhaps they would.
I wondered if Geser had anyone to grieve for. He loved Olga, and now she was with him. He had even managed to make his son an Other. But surely, over thousands of years the Great Geser must have lost loved ones, friends, children. And some of them must have been Others, not ordinary people. Others who had withdrawn into the Twilight.
And Zabulon? Of course, as he now was, Zabulon didn't love anyone. But could that always have been the case? He had been a child once, the same as all other children, except that he had been a potential Other. He happened to have taken the path of Darkness. But it wasn't possible that he had never loved anyone! Even Dark Ones can love... even malicious and heartless ones like Alisa Donnikova...
An interesting little situation. In principle, the activities of the "Last Watch' worked to Geser's and Zabulon's advantage! Any Other of any serious age had to be delighted by the idea of bringing back the withdrawn.
Although, of course, they could never admit it openly.
Part Three CHAPTER 5
THE FLIGHT ATTENDANT handed out the lunches. I was offered cognac again, but I refused. Enough already. I had to be in good form in Edinburgh.
Behind me Edgar ate with a hearty appetite. Gennady prodded pensively with his fork, picking out the pieces of meat. When his gaze fell on me I completely lost all desire to eat my meat. It even cost me an effort to get the salad and a piece of cheese down. It was really rather annoying that everything tasted so good. I ought to have ordered the vegetarian lunch.
Saushkin took a flask out of his pocket. He unscrewed the top and took a gulp, then he put the flask away, ostentatiously licking his dark-stained lips.