‘By virtue of the emergency situation, only with the knowledge and under the surveillance of a member of a Watch,’ Edgar corrected me.
‘Well, Afandi’s with us.’
Edgar sighed. I thought I heard someone say something in the background.
‘Okay, Anton. Deal with your personal business … which the Inquisition will have to deal with afterwards. Only don’t go driving through the mountains at night – you’ll end up at the bottom of a precipice.’
To be honest, I was actually touched by his concern.
‘Don’t worry,’ I said. ‘We’ll rest until morning.’
‘Okay, Anton,’ Edgar repeated. Then he paused, and muttered rather awkwardly: ‘It was good talking to you … despite everything.’
I put the phone away and said: ‘He’s strange, that Edgar. He was strange as a Dark One, too. But when he became an Inquisitor, he changed completely.’
‘You know, I think that sooner or later you’ll end up as an Inquisitor yourself,’ Alisher said in a very subdued voice.
I thought about what he’d said and shook my head. ‘No, there’s no way. My wife and daughter are Higher Light Ones. They don’t take guys like me into the Inquisition.’
‘I’m very glad that’s the case,’ Alisher said seriously. ‘Well then, shall we go?’
And at that very moment the mountains shook. Gently at first, as if the strength of the rocks was being tested. Then more and more powerfully.
‘An earthquake!’ Afandi howled, waking up instantly. ‘Out of the car!’
When he wanted, he could be very serious indeed. We jumped out of the jeep, walked a bit higher up the track and froze. The mountains were shuddering violently. Small stones began slithering down the slope and showering onto us. Alisher and I automatically erected a joint protective dome. Afandi did his bit too – he set one hand above his eyes and started surveying the night in search of unknown danger.
And he actually spotted something.
‘Look over there!’ he shouted, jumping up and down and reaching out his hand. ‘That way! That way!’
We turned round, keeping the Shield above our heads: the rocks bounced off it with a clatter. We followed Afandi’s gaze and enhanced our night vision. (Actually, after the stimulation I’d given him, Alisher didn’t need to do that.)
And we saw the next mountain, covered with thick forest, being reduced to rubble.
It looked as if mighty hammer blows were being struck from within its crest. The mountain was repeatedly jolted and waterfalls of small stones, avalanches of boulders and entire groves of trees showered down off it, rapidly filling up the ravines. In a few minutes the kilometre-high peak was transformed into a plateau of crushed stone and woodchips from the shattered tree trunks.
Then I got the idea of looking at the mountain through the Twilight.
And I saw a vortex of Power spinning above the disaster zone.
It was either the vortex of a curse that had been put on the place, or some special kind of spell that caused an earthquake. I didn’t know which. But there was no doubt at all that the catastrophe had been caused by magic.
‘They missed,’ said Alisher. ‘Anton … did you talk to Edgar?’
‘Yes.’
‘Are you sure the Inquisition doesn’t have any beefs to settle with you?’
I gulped to swallow the lump that had risen in my throat. Beefs with the Inquisition were very, very bad news.
‘The Inquisition wouldn’t have missed—’ I began and then broke off. I took out my cellphone and looked at it through the Twilight. Inside its cocoon of plastic, metal and silicon, the SIM card was pulsating with a blue light. Typical behaviour for a working amulet
‘I think I know what happened,’ I said, keying in a number. ‘And I don’t think it was anything to do with the Inquisition.’
‘Hello, Anton,’ Geser said, as if I hadn’t woken him. But then, it was still evening in Moscow.
‘Geser, I need to have a word with someone from the European tribunal. Immediately.’
‘With one of the Masters?’ Geser asked.
‘Well, not the assistant night-watchman!’
‘Wait a moment,’ Geser said calmly. ‘And don’t cut the call off afterwards.’
I had to wait for about three minutes. All that time we stood there, watching the vortex of Power calming down. The sight was like something out of a fairy tale. That earthquake had probably used up the energy of some ancient and powerful amulet. Like the ones they held in the special vaults at the Inquisition.
‘My name is Eric,’ I heard a strong, confident voice say. ‘What can I do for you, Light One?’
‘Mr Eric,’ I said, without bothering to enquire what position he held in the Inquisition: they really don’t like revealing their hierarchy. ‘At the moment I am close to the city of Samarkand in Uzbekistan. We have an emergency on our hands. Could you tell me if the Inquisition sent its staff member Edgar here?’
‘Edgar?’ Eric asked thoughtfully. ‘Which one?’
‘To be quite honest, I never knew his surname,’ I admitted. ‘A former member of the Moscow Day Watch, he moved to the Inquisition after the trial of Igor Teplov in Prague …’
‘Yes, yes, yes,’ Eric said more brightly. ‘Edgar. Of course. No, we haven’t sent him to Samarkand.’
‘Then who have you sent?’
‘I don’t know if you are aware of the fact, Anton,’ Eric said with undisguised irony, ‘but the European Bureau deals with Europe. And also with Russia, owing to its ambivalent geographic location. We have neither the resources nor the desire to take on events in Asia, where the country of Uzbekistan is located. You need to contact the Asian Bureau, which at the moment is located in Beijing. Shall I give you the number?’
‘No, thank you,’ I replied. ‘And where is Edgar now?’
‘On leave. For …’ There was a brief pause. ‘For a month already. Is there anything else?’
‘A word of advice,’ I said, unable to restrain myself. ‘Check where Inquisitor Edgar was during the events in Edinburgh that you already know about.’
‘Just a moment, Anton,’ said Eric, finally losing his cool. ‘Are you trying to tell me …’
‘That’s all I have to say,’ I blurted into the phone.
Geser – who, of course, had listened to every single word of the conversation – immediately cut Eric off and said: ‘Congratulations, Anton. We’ve figured out who one of the three is. You’ve figured it out.’
‘Thanks for the SIM card,’ I replied. ‘If it hadn’t distorted my location signal, I’d already be dead.’
‘It’s actually intended to make your voice sound convincing when you talk to people on the phone,’ said Geser. ‘The location malfunction is a side effect. I just can’t seem to get rid of it. All right, carry on the good work! We’ll get straight on to Edgar.’
I looked at the phone pensively, then cut the connection and put it in my pocket. Had Geser been joking about making my voice sound convincing, or was it the truth?
‘Edgar,’ Alisher said in a satisfied voice. ‘So it was Edgar! I knew Dark Ones couldn’t be trusted. Not even Inquisitors.’
CHAPTER 6
WE DROVE ON to the Plateau of Demons at half past three in the morning. On the way we passed an aul, a tiny settlement in the mountains – less than ten small clay-walled houses set back a little way from the road. There was a bonfire on the only small street, with people crowding round it – ten or twenty of them, no more than that. The recent earthquake had evidently frightened the inhabitants of the aul and they were afraid to spend the night in their houses.