there in the Twilight I couldn't hear the ear-splitting screech.
I'd never thought that the Special Services' light-and-sound grenades could be so devastating against Others. Only Valentina Ilinichna had managed to withdraw into the Twilight with me -in here she looked like a slim young woman no more than thirty years old.
The other Watch members were blundering helplessly around the room. Some were rubbing at their eyes, some were holding their ears. A light-and-sound grenade blinds you for ten to twenty seconds, so they couldn't withdraw into the Twilight.
'Help the boys!' I shouted to Valentina and rushed to the doors. I flung them open in the Twilight, not the ordinary world, and looked outside.
Yes, of course, they were already storming us. Clumsily and stupidly, en masse - there were dozens of Special Services men running towards the entrance, and the soldiers on the other side of the fence had started firing at the windows. The assault was uncoordinated, as it always is whenever somebody gets the clever idea of creating a joint unit of militiamen, common soldiers and Special Services. I saw one of the Special Services men throw his hands up and fall ?he had taken a bullet in the back. But he probably wouldn't have anything worse than bruising ?the troops in the assault wave were wearing bulletproof vests.
But the fact that several marksmen started aiming their shots at me was very bad news. That was either Clear Gaze or True Vision. Which was very, very serious indeed. And the bullets really were charmed up to the hilt. Not only did they exist in the real world and the first level of the Twilight at the same time, they were packed with deadly magic!
I ducked - fortunately, our enemies had not been accelerated and the advantage of speed remained with me. I waved my hand, allowing the Power to flow from my fingertips. A rain of fire fell on the earth and a wall of smoke and flame sprang up in front of the attackers. Bight - now, lads, are you ready to jump into the fire?
They weren't. They stopped (one was moving too fast and he stuck his face into the flames and jumped back with a howl), then they drew back and started raising their automatic rifles.
Naturally, I didn't wait for them to fire. I burst back into the house, on the way reducing the dubious Night Watch sign to cinders with a fireball. The adrenalin was coursing through my veins.
War games? All right, then, let's play war games!
Hang the Absolute Lock spell on the door (actually there are two of these spells, but the other one wouldn't have had any effect if it was applied to an inanimate object). Hang a Light Shield right across the walls, one that would hold against automatic fire for about five minutes. Of course, the attackers would notice that something was wrong. But there was no way that we could leave secretly now.
The two Dark Ones entered the Twilight one after the other ?they had been standing with their backs to the grenade when it exploded. The older one was about to strike the window with something, but I caught hold of his arm.
'What have you got there?'
He bared his long, crooked teeth in a grin. Well, well, an ordin ary weak Dark Magician, but what a jaw he had sprouted now!
'They'll shit themselves. Just a little bit.'
'Go ahead,' I agreed. 'Only not here. Cover your side!'
Timur entered the Twilight, followed by Alisher, who was drag ging Murat after him. Only Nodir was still rubbing his eyes, unable to recover his senses: he had been blinded worst of all.
'Alisher, let's get Afandi!' I shouted.
We walked over to the old man who was still sitting at the table, trying to suck on the mouth of a fresh bottle of cognac.
'On the count of two,' I said. 'One, two...'
We leapt out of the Twilight, grabbed Afandi under the arms and lifted him off his chair. With my free hand I managed to grab the bag with all my bits and pieces and throw the strap across my shoulder. The bursts of automatic fire thundered in my ears and the bullets jangled as they ricocheted off the Shield. The crimson flames flickered outside the windows. With a deft movement, the old man managed to get one suck at the bottle 梛ust at the moment when we dragged him into the Twilight.
'Ai!' he exclaimed in disappointment. The bottle had been left behind in the