Sergei Lukyanenko - 04 by Last Watch

Author:Last Watch [Watch, Last]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2011-02-15T22:51:40.766000+00:00

AFTER EDINBURGH I OUGHT TO HAVE BEEN EXPECTING SOMETHING like this.

But instead I had relaxed. The streets smothered in greenery, the splashing of the water in the irrigation ditches, the noisy Eastern market and the severe outlines of the domes of the mosque, the Dark Ones on the other side of the wall, and the overwhelming hospitality of the Light Ones…it was all so completely different from Scotland. I thought the only problem I’d have to deal with would be finding the old magician; I wasn’t expecting any more cunning tricks involving human beings.

The building was surrounded by about a hundred men. I could see militiamen among them, and well-equipped soldiers from the Special Forces, and young soldiers—skinny, pimply 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 and others against the influence of magic. 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 it is not the heavy armor 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 be 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 Shields, and I didn’t know which kind had been used. Most likely (at least, this is 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 kept having the feeling I was being followed, but I couldn’t spot anything. And then, when I was leaving my acquaintance’s 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.

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