kids, awkwardly clutching automatic weapons. All sorts of forces had been brought together to capture us. Everything that had been close at hand.
That wasn't a problem. Even without my help, Alisher could brainwash a hundred or two hundred attackers. Unfortunately, every man in the cordon was protected by magic spells.
Every Other is capable of shielding himself against the influence of magic and of shielding others. He doesn't even have to be at a very high level in order to apply protective spells to a hundred people. To put it simply: magic that is controlled by reason is more like a knife than a grenade launcher. And what you need to protect yourself against is not the heavy armour plate of a tank, but a light bulletproof vest made of Kevlar. By striking with raw Power in the form of a Fireball, a White Lance or a Wall of Flame, I could burn out an entire city block. And equally powerful amulets and spells would have been required to protect anyone against the strike. But in order to subordinate the attackers to my will and scatter them, first I would have to strip each one of them of his protection. And that was far from simple. There are dozens of different kinds of mental Shields, and I didn't know which kind had been used. Most likely (at least, this was what I would have done) each individual Shield was made up of two or three spells chosen at random. One soldier, for instance, has the Shield of Magic and the Sphere of Calm. Another has the Sphere of Denial, the Crust of Ice and the Barrier of Will.
Just try finding the right approach for each one! And from a distance!
'They followed me,' Alisher explained while I, protected by my own Sphere of Denial, stood at the window and studied the warriors who had surrounded us. 'I don't know how, but they followed me all the way from the airport. I always had the feeling I was being followed, but I couldn't spot anything. And then, when I was leaving my acquaintances' house... they tried to arrest me. About twenty men. Not a single Other. I tried to shield myself from them, but they could see me!'
They could see me too. Not all of them, but a few soldiers had clearly spotted me despite the magic. That meant that they had been charged with search spells as well as protective spells. Glance of the Heart, Clear Gaze, True Vision - the magical arsenal is quite extensive. Light Ones and Dark Ones have been thinking up ways to deceive each other for thousands of years.
And now it had all been turned against us.
'How did you get away from them?' I asked, moving away from the window.
'Through the Twilight. Only...' Alisher hesitated. 'They were waiting for me there, too. There was someone keeping watch on the second level... I got out as fast as I could.'
'Who was it on watch? A Light One? A Dark One?'
Alisher gulped and smiled awkwardly.
'I think it was a deva.'
'Nonsense,' I exclaimed, suppressing the urge to swear. 'Devas don't exist.'
'They don't exist in Moscow, but we have them here,' Timur stated with absolute certainty. He caught my gaze where it focused on the door leading to the Dark Ones. 'Anton, believe me. It's not them! They have no reason to attack us, and to involve people as well! The Inquisition would have their heads!'
I nodded. I wasn't even thinking of suspecting the Samarkand Day Watch.
'Get in touch with the top management in Tashkent. Tell them to stop these men!'
'How?' asked Timur, puzzled.
'By human methods! Phone calls to the ministers of defence and internal affairs! And get on to the Inquisition, quick!'
'What shall I say? 'Valentina Ilinichna asked, taking out an old mobile phone.
'Tell them we have a critical situation here. An alpha-prime viola tion of the Great Treaty. The provision of information concerning Others to human beings, the involvement of human beings in confrontation between the Watches, the illegal use of magic, the illegal dissemination of magic, violation of the agreement on the separation of powers... in brief, violations of clauses one, six, eight, eleven and fourteen of the Basic Appendix to the Treaty. I think that will be enough.'
Valentina Ilinihcna was already making the call. I looked out of the window again. The soldiers were waiting, sitting on the picket fence. What were the walls made of here? If they really were compressed reeds, bullets would go straight