Lermont answered after a moment's thought. 'A key has to have three elements. Three is a magic number, a number of Power. Three, seven and eleven.'
'Yes, prime numbers,' Semyon agreed, 'That's clear enough. But what about the third part of the key?'
'I discovered the second part by accident,' Lermont said. 'I don't know anything about the third. I can only assume that it must exist. I don't even know what it is ?an object, an incantation, a sacrifice, a time of day. Perhaps you have to enter the Twilight naked on the night of the full moon, holding a thistle flower between your teeth. Merlin was a great joker.'
We said nothing for a while. Then Lermont gave a forced smile.
'All right, my friends. I have revealed all the secrets that I had. I can't see any point in panicking ahead of time. Merlin's hiding place will surrender its secret to a Higher Other of immense power who spills someone else's blood in the Dungeons and gets his hands on the third part of the key. But what that third part is, no one knows. Let's all calm down, go inside and have a cup of tea.'
'The English tradition of tea-drinking!' Semyon said respectfully.
Foma gave him a mocking glance and corrected him.
'Not English. Don't forget that you're in Scotland now. You are welcome guests in my home?
'I have just one more question,' I said, interrupting Lermont. 'Why did you invite Egor to Edinburgh?'
'You mean the young illusionist?' Lermont asked, with a sigh. 'I decided to take out an insurance policy. If there's a serious conflict, then the first to suffer will be our Night Watch. I don't have that many battle magicians. A Mirror is the best thing that can be used to oppose?
'Oppose whom?' I asked, when Lermont broke off in mid-phrase
The distant forefather of the Russian poet Lermontov gave me a look of annoyance so intense that I felt the full force of the same hot temper that brought a premature end to the Russian poet's life.
'Merlin! Now are you satisfied?'
'You believe that he...'
'The one thing that Merlin always valued above all others was himself. And he could have given the name of the Crown of All Things to the means for bringing him back from oblivion. It would be his kind of joke.'
'Nothing of the sort has ever happened,' said Semyon, shaking his head.
'No, it hasn't. But there have never been any other magicians like Merlin. His essence ?his soul, if you like ?could be slum bering somewhere down there, on the seventh level... until a sufficiently powerful magician can reach it. To put it crudely, until a stupid body arrives to provide Merlin's black soul with a new receptacle! Would you be glad to see the Great Merlin back in the world? I certainly wouldn't! And that's the reason I need a potential Mirror Magician close at hand. Perhaps that might do the trick. He might possibly become a Mirror and destroy Merlin. What don't you like about that, Gorodetsky?'
'But you can't do that!' I exclaimed with a feeling of anguish that surprised even me. Everything was muddled together in my head ?Kostya, whom I had killed and who might still be alive; the Dark Magician Merlin, thirsting for resurrection, the totally unsuspecting Egor... 'Ever since he was a child we've exploited him for our operations! And now are we going to throw him into hell, use the lad to protect ourselves against Merlin? He's nothing but a boy!'
'All right!' said Lermont, also raising his voice. 'You've advanced a convincing argument! Now let me lay out in front of you the personal files of all the potential Mirror Magicians. Will you point the finger? Choose a different candidate? There's a girl of nine, a boy of fifteen, a young husband and father, a pregnant woman... they never live to old age in an indeterminate state, sooner or later they choose the Light or the Dark! They're all young, all of them almost children! Will you take the choice on yourself and relieve me of this appalling responsibility?'
'Yes!' I shouted, leaping to my feet. 'Yes, I will! I'll relieve you. Bring out your files, Mr Foma Lermont!'
'I'll bring them this very moment!' he said, also getting to his feet. 'You choose, you choose!'
We stood there, glaring angrily at each other, and it was a while before we realised that both of us had tears running down our faces.
Part One CHAPTER 6
I DON'T KNOW if Lermont really would have