GESAR DIDN’T ANSWER STRAIGHTAWAY. IN FACT, TO BE QUITE HONEST, IT was more than two minutes before he answered.

“Anton, do you think you could-”

“No, I couldn’t,” I said.

The sky above me was gradually growing brighter. The strangely large southern stars were fading. I took another swig of cola out of my bottle and added, “Thanks for the amulets. They were all spot-on. But now pull us out of here. If one more psychopath comes along…”

“Anton.” Gesar’s voice sounded a bit softer now. “What happened?”

“I had a heated conversation with Edgar.”

Gesar paused and asked, “Is he still alive?”

“He is. He left via a portal. But first he spent a long time trying to finish us all off.”

“Has our friend the Inquisitor completely lost his mind?”

“Possibly.”

Gesar hummed something into the phone and I suddenly realized the boss was trying to think of the best way to use this information when he talked to Zabulon. Of how he could humiliate Zabulon the most with this story about his former colleague.

“Gesar, we’re very tired.”

“A helicopter will come to get you,” Gesar said. “Putting up a portal would be very difficult. Wait for a while, I’ll get in touch with Tashkent. Are you…at Rustam’s place?”

“We’re on the plateau where you used the White Mist against the Dark Ones.”

It’s not often that I manage to embarrass Gesar. I couldn’t afford to let the chance slip.

“The helicopter will be there soon,” Gesar said after a pause. “Did you talk to Rustam?”

“Yes.”

“And did he answer?”

“Yes. But not all the questions.”

Gesar gave a sigh of relief. “Well, at least he told you something… You didn’t have to…er…prevail upon him?”

“No. I discharged all four bracelets into Edgar.”

“You did?” asked Gesar, growing more cheerful with every word I said. “And what did you find out?”

“The name of the vampire who’s working with Edgar.”

“Well?” Gesar prompted. “Who is it?”

“Saushkin.”

“That’s impossible!” Gesar barked. “Absolute nonsense!”

“Then the spells failed.”

“My spells couldn’t have failed. But you could have missed,” Gesar said in a slightly softer voice. “Anton, we’ll have to do without…unnecessary delicacy. When you get here, I’ll show you something I didn’t want to show you.”

“I’m all agog,” I said with a snort.

“I’m talking about the remains of Konstantin Saushkin. We keep them here, at the Watch.”

Now it was my turn to pause. But Gesar said, “I really don’t want to distress you once again. Charred bones are not a very pretty sight. Konstantin Saushkin is dead. There can be no doubt about it. Not even Higher Vampires can live without a skull. That’s all. Now relax and wait for the helicopter.”

I cut off the call and looked at Alisher. He was lying close by, munching on a chocolate bar. I said, “Gesar told me that we have Saushkin’s remains.”

“Yes,” Alisher replied calmly. “I’ve seen them. A skull with the glass from the space suit melted into it. Your Saushkin’s dead.”

“Don’t be upset,” Afandi put in. “Sometimes with an effort it’s possible to lie under any spell.”

“He couldn’t have been lying…,” I whispered, recalling Edgar’s face. “No, he couldn’t have…”

I lifted the cell phone up in front of my face, went into the MP3 menu, and chose something at random. When I heard a woman’s voice singing along with a quiet guitar, I put the phone down beside me. The tiny speaker strained as hard as it could.

We used to rise with the dawn

And live for a thousand years.

Then someone went and stole

The fire-the flickering light.

And then some of us started praying

And others sharpened their fangs,

But we all drank from the Blue River.

But then time slipped through our fingers,

And by winter the river was shallow.

And those who had always lived here

Blamed those who had come from afar.

Some had daughters growing,

And others had sons,

But we all drank from the same stream…

“Afandi!” I called. “Do you know that my daughter told me about you? Back in Moscow.”

“Yes?” Afandi asked in surprise. “Is your daughter an enchantress, then?”

“Yes, she is,” I said. “But still a little one. Only five years old. She asked if you would give her your beads. The blue ones.”

“What a fine daughter!” Afandi exclaimed in admiration. “Only five, and already thinking about beads! And turquoise is a fine choice…here!”

I didn’t see which pocket he took the beads out of before he handed them to me. I looked curiously at the string of sky-blue pieces of turquoise and asked, “Afandi, they’re magical, aren’t they?”

“Only a tiny bit. I charmed the string so that it will never break. But apart from that, they’re just beads. Beautiful ones! I chose them for my great-granddaughter, she’s getting on a bit, but she still likes her finery. Never mind, I’ll buy her some more. These are for your daughter, may she wear them in good health.”

“Thank you, Afandi,” I said, putting the present away.

One rose higher and higher,

Another damaged his wing.

In some fields the grain swelled and ripened,

But in others nothing would grow.

One was killed, struck by a bullet,

And the other fired the gun,

But we all drank from the same stream…

After the wine or the poison potion,

Some remember their father, some their mother.

One decides it is time to build,

Another that it’s time to destroy,

But every day at midnight

He who sits by the Mill of Fate

Resolves all their arguments

And says who must go out on watch.

Alisher cleared his throat and said quietly, “Perhaps it’s none of my business-after all, musicians are pretty strange people!-but I think we ought to hold an official inquiry into that song…”

Story Three

A Common Destiny

THE TUTOR, VADIM DMITRIEVICH, LOOKED AROUND INTENTLY AT THE trainees. He was young himself; not so long ago he had been standing in their place, and now he was desperately lacking in respectability. Or at least, that was what he thought.

“We’re about to make our first field trip,” the tutor said. His hand automatically reached up for the bridge of his nose-he was always trying to adjust his spectacles despite not having any. Why on earth had he cured his own shortsightedness? Spectacles would have added to his respectability! “Andrei, repeat the assignment.”

A skinny teenage boy took a step forward and recited in a breaking voice, “We walk along the street. We examine passersby through the Twilight. If we see any Dark Ones or Light Ones, we inform you. But we pay most attention to finding uninitiated Others.”

“What do we do if we discover an uninitiated Other?”

“Nothing,” the boy said firmly. “We inform you, and then act according to the circumstances. An Other should be initiated at an appropriate moment, when he is most inclined toward the Light.”

“What do we do if we notice a criminal act committed by Dark Ones?”

“Nothing,” the boy replied with obvious annoyance. “We inform you and then contact the Watch…”

“While maintaining a safe distance,” the tutor added. “And what if we discover a crime being committed by human beings?”

“We also do nothing,” the boy replied, this time in a really somber voice. “All we do is watch!”

The other trainees smiled. In addition to the boy, there were two adult men and a young woman standing in the line. In the tutor’s opinion, those three were all destined for the fourth or fifth level. But the boy might possibly get as far as the second, or even the first. He was an excellent prospect for a Battle Magician.