‘I thought Merlin’s grave was in Brittany,’ said Semyon.
‘No, it lies to the south of Edinburgh. Near the little town of Peebles, at the confluence of the Tweed and the Powsel. It’s not very far from here.’
‘And what does this Rune consist of?’ I asked.
‘A stone. Charged to the hilt with magic and scratched all over with almost illegible signs. Merlin’s Rune …’ Lermont hesitated and looked round us all, but continued nonetheless ‘… is the key, or rather, the main part of the key that allows access to a hiding place that Merlin once set up on the bottom of a lake. The lake has vanished long ago, but the hiding place, of course, is still there.’
‘A hiding place in the Twilight?’ I asked.
‘Yes.’
‘Fifth level?’
Lermont sighed.
‘I could get down to the fifth level myself, my young friend. Or I could call in Geser. Or Andrew. Higher Ones can be found who are capable of reaching the fifth level. But this hiding place was made by Merlin. It’s right down at the very bottom. Which means it’s on the seventh level.’
‘Oh, my sainted aunt!’ Semyon exclaimed in delight. ‘The seventh! So the seventh level does exist! It’s not a fairy tale, then?’
‘It exists all right. Only I don’t know anybody alive on this planet who is capable of getting there …’ Lermont shrugged and spread his hands wide.
‘What about the key? And the Rune?’
‘As for the Rune … I’ve read the inscription – it gives instructions on how to get past a sentinel on the fifth level. But after that you have to go further. I can’t do that.’
‘Have you at least tried?’ I asked.
‘What for?’ Lermont asked, throwing his hands up. ‘Why go down into the Twilight for Merlin’s heritage? Anton, you must have some idea now of what he was like … do you think there’s anything good down there?’
I shrugged.
‘The hiding place is believed to contain the Crown of All Things,’ said Lermont. ‘Sounds tempting, doesn’t it? But somehow I think that the Crown of All Things is really the End of All Things.’
Semyon opened his mouth to say something, but then changed his mind.
‘And what are the other parts of the key?’ I asked. ‘Merlin’s Crystal Mace? Or perhaps Merlin’s Old Shoe?’
Lermont shook his head.
‘That’s the most unpleasant part of the story. You’ve already realised that Power goes pouring down out of our world to the lowest level of the Twilight from the spot above the hiding place, haven’t you?’
‘Yes.’
‘Well then, if you try to enter the Twilight when you’re inside the Dungeons you can only get as far as the third level. After that there’s a barrier, a whirlpool of Power. It’s simultaneously a load that holds the hiding place down at the bottom of creation and a defence against the curious.’
‘Not too many of the curious would even be able to get down to the third level…’ Semyon mumbled, scratching the back of his head. ‘Sorry, I’ll keep quiet!’
‘Well, Merlin’s Rune won’t help you get past the third level,’ Foma went on. ‘I was certain that no one, apart from me, knew the secret, and I only discovered it by chance when there was an accident beside the bridge: a young woman fell and ruptured an artery on a sharp metal rod …’
‘Blood,’ I said.
‘Yes,’ Foma said. ‘If someone dies from loss of blood, then the Twilight is temporarily saturated with energy. The whirlpool on the third level calms down and you can get past it and go on deeper.’
‘Does the person have to die?’ I asked.
‘I don’t know. I haven’t checked, as you can understand. Preserved blood is no use, we know that for certain. That’s why the killing in the Dungeons put me on my guard. But the protective spells on Merlin’s grave hadn’t been touched. No one had approached the grave, no one had tried to open it. And I relaxed, I put it all down to coincidence. But last night I decided to go to the grave.’
‘And you found it had been opened using a remote-controlled device?’ I said. ‘Right? Something like those robots they use at nuclear power stations.’
‘How did you know?’ Lermont asked.
‘Yesterday someone shot at me with that,’ I said, nodding towards the tripod with the rifle, which Semyon had leaned against the outside of the arbour. ‘An automatic radio-controlled shooting device.’
Lermont glanced at the weapon without the slightest interest. He smiled bitterly.
‘We’ve got old, Anton. We pride ourselves on having got old … Geser, Al-Ashaf, Rustam, Giovanni, me – all the other ancient ones who remember the world without electricity, steam trains and gunpowder. The oldest magicians who know the most and are almost the most powerful. We have underestimated the new generation. Rockets, robots, telephones…’ He chewed on his lips and looked at his neat little house, with the same melancholy expression that I had sometimes seen in Geser’s eyes.
It’s probably that melancholy look that allows me to forgive Geser for everything he does in his job as head of the Night Watch.
‘One of the young generation,’ Foma went on. ‘One of the young generation, who know how to use technology and are not afraid of it.’
‘I think I know who it is,’ I whispered. ‘Kostya Saushkin.’
‘The Higher Vampire who took the Fuaran?’ Lermont asked with a frown. ‘I know that story. But he was destroyed!’
‘Nobody saw the body,’ I said. ‘In any case, he wouldn’t be afraid to go down after Merlin’s legacy. And he’d use technology without the slightest hesitation. And as well as that, he must hate me. Enough to try to shoot me. It was my fault! I sent him off to die. He survived – and decided to take his revenge.’
‘Anton, don’t be in such a hurry,’ Semyon said reasonably. He explained apologetically to Foma: ‘Please don’t be angry, Mr Lermont! Anton is still young and hot-headed. Yesterday he thought that Kostya was dead. Now all of a sudden he’s changed his mind. But what we have to worry about is something else. What do you think, Mr Lermont? Has the villain of the piece already found Merlin’s hiding place?’
‘Merlin was a magician of the old school,’ 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?’