Suddenly Gesar swore out loud. Technically speaking, I didn’t know the language that he switched into—probably it was the one they spoke in Tibet when he was a child there. But the intonation left no doubt: the boss was swearing.

“Shame on you, Gesar,” said Olga, confirming my hunch.

“Don’t you notice anything unusual?” asked Gesar.

I looked around and said: “The Twilight. Blue moss. The usual.”

“We’re on the second level,” Olga said thoughtfully. “What’s blue moss doing here?”

To be quite honest, there wasn’t a lot of moss. A few patches here and there on the road. Here and there on the walls. They were barely noticeable, because there are no colors on the second level, but they were definitely there.

Blue moss on the second level of the Twilight!

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I admitted.

“The point is that I’ve never seen anything like it either,” Gesar declared. “Except perhaps—”

He wasn’t given a chance to finish—because a fireball flared into life dead ahead of the Rolls-Royce’s windshield.

Chapter 5

Chapter 5

IF YOU WISHED TO DIVIDE ALL KNOWN MAGIC INTO TWO parts, the easiest way would be to divide it into battle magic and everyday magic. Despite the opinion common among novice Others, there would be two or even three times as much of the “everyday” variety. This is painstakingly hammered into the heads of the beginners at the very first classes in the Night Watch—magic is not intended for doing harm, for war or killing . . . for every Fireball or Viper’s Kiss you can find five peaceful spells: the Crusher for breaking down refuse, the Iron for ironing clothes, the Awl and the Drill Bit for making holes in domestic conditions, Prometheus for lighting a campfire or barbecue easily and conveniently . . .

Fairly quickly, however, the beginners realize that almost all the domestic spells work in battle conditions too. Their only shortcomings are basically that they are slower or that they consume more Power than specialized battle magic. In the time that it takes a beginner to create and adjust a Drill Bit or apply an Iron to his adversary’s face, you can fling the Triple Blade ten times over.

That’s why, after a brief period of interest in the nonstandard applications of the Crusher or the Vent Valve, most Others stop experimenting and begin using everyday magic in everyday life and battle magic in battle.

Apart, that is, from certain Others who will sooner or later earn the legitimate title of Battle Magician.