The Most Devoted Enemy

After returning to magic station and looking behind her screen, Tanya froze like a pillar of salt.

Someone, with the head covered by the blanket, was lying on her bed. After preparing the ring just in case to throw a fight spark if required, she pulled off the blanket with a jerk. Under the blanket was revealed a beaming Bab-Yagun, in whose hands was a whole bunch of toadstools.

“Aha, here you are! ” He smiled. “Where are you roaming at night? I already fell asleep twice! ”

“Yagunchik! Marvellous that you came! You’re a true friend! ” Tanya squealed happily.

She had already forgotten all previous offences. She wanted to kiss Yagun on both cheeks — all the same a native person in this non-native, changed world!

Just that Yagun was offended for some reason.

“Why are you insulting me? What friend am I to you? I’m your enemy! Is there really any friend who would drag an entire bouquet of freshly cut toadstools into magic station in the middle of the night? On top of that what kind! With droplets of dew on the rotten stems! Only the most cursed, the most devoted enemy is capable of that! ” He stated.

“Well yes... Certainly, you’re my enemy... The most devoted enemy! I hit my head so hard that I confuse everything, ” Tanya agreed in a hurry.

She belatedly grasped that in the reversed reality all concepts were inverted: friendship is called enmity, kind — evil, and best friend — worst enemy.

“Poor Yagun, indeed in this new world he together with all white magicians were turned into zombies, moreover still a child! ” Tanya thought. Interesting, can she trust this Yagun as before? The girl hoped that at least nothing had changed in essence and the friend still remained a friend.

“Where did you disappear to? Probably walked along the corridors and defiled everything? ” The grandson of Yagge was interested.

“Eh-eh... Kind of like that...” Tanya answered carefully.

“I knew it! You were always a learned whiz. All normal magicians defile in the daytime, but the learned — not enough days for that. Not without reason that Plague points you out as an example to all. Even Shurasik envies you, ” Yagun began to nod.

Having leaped from the bed, he found a vase somewhere and placed in it his badly reeking bouquet. At the same time Bab-Yagun’s look was so proud that Tanya, fearing to offend the most devoted enemy, did not begin to throw the bouquet down from the night table.

“Did you hear the news? ” Yagun asked. “Only — ssh! — don’t tell anyone! Granny secretly told me, and she herself found out from Medusa. You’ll recount it to no one? Not even the genie Abdullah? ”

“Since when do I report to him? And then it seems he also has other problems now, ” Tanya shrugged her shoulders.

“Okay, listen, Plague-del-Cake intends to revive the stone idols and send them to subjugate the Tortoise of Eternity. Whoever subdues the Tortoise will conquer the entire world. Indeed then the Sinister Gates will really begin to fail, ” Yagun excitedly reported.

“Whatever is the Tortoise of Eternity? ” Tanya did not understand.

She, remembering, was also astonished that Yagun was courageously calling Plague-del-Cake by name. Earlier Yagun, like everyone in Tibidox, would prefer the more vague — She-Who-Is-No-More.

Yagun raised his eyebrows.

“Oh, my granny mama! But you’ve truly forgotten everything. The magic world stands on three elephants, and the three elephants on the tortoise! ”

“Yes? But I for some reason thought that the earth is round, ” Tanya hesitated.

Nevertheless, whatever one may say, she was a student with a four (out of a possible 5) in the Moscow school, and that ability cannot be quickly squandered like money. Even if you regularly gulp down medicine from Yagge’s phials.

Yagun indignantly bounced on the stool with three legs.

“Nonsense! Your moronoids don’t believe in the obvious things — for example, magic schools, and that it’s possible to fly on a vacuum! And if so, what is all their science worth? And then, only a moronoid doesn’t see the difference between a planet — perhaps Sardanapal knows it’s really round? — and the magic world. If they even intersect somewhere, then only at one absolutely trivial point in which we also live! Not unlike two straight lines! Once they met, then best of luck! Please write farewell letters! ”

Tanya was hardly listening to Yagun. She was pondering about something else. Tortoise... Three elephants... Stone idols... Are those not what she saw in the corridors of Tibidox? So, even having obtained the Talisman of Four Elements and authority over the magic world, Plague still could not open the Sinister Gates. Only now, many long years later, she is again stealing up to them already with the aid of the stone idols, which want to go to war on the tortoise!

Only why has Plague waited all these years? The Rope had not been broken? Unlikely. She only had to take the double bass away from her favourite student Tanya Grotter and fling it, say, from the Big Tower. No, the answer has to be searched for somewhere else.

Tanya understood that she must see Sardanapal and have a talk with him. Likely, in the inverted world only three figures knew how to keep the balance on the board and remained as before; Plague-del-Cake, the academician Sardanapal, and she, Tanya, who by the will of chance happened to be on the double bass at that moment when the Rope broke.

Awakening from pensiveness, Tanya realized that Yagun was leaning over her and had been repeating something impatiently for a long time:

“Hey, hey! What, you’re not listening to me? I’ve already asked five times, what’s the matter with you? ”

“Sorry, I was distracted. Listen, Yagun, help me, be a friend...”

“What? ”

“That is, an enemy...” Tanya corrected herself. “I must slip through to Sardanapal! ”

The protruding ears of Yagun understandably flared up:

“Ah, you want to do harm to him! And it’s correct, after what this good soul did to your parents! ”

“And it’s indeed known that it’s him? ” Tanya could not control herself.

The grandson blinked in amazement.

“But who else? He, more than anyone. Would Plague-Del-Cake really begin to lie? You know she arrived flying there immediately after Sardanapal and tied up this reptile with the help of the people’s volunteer corps of evil spirits! He didn’t even resist. He was standing like a fool and repeating:

“‘Leopold, Sophia! How so? Who did this? ’ In a word, he was mocking.”

Tanya forced herself to be silent. It seemed the zombification of Yagun was stronger than she assumed. Otherwise, would he really not understand obvious things?

“Okay, let’s go to Sardanapal! We’ll taunt him. There’s likely still time before breakfast. Only remember we’re taking a risk. We have to slip past the guardroom of the cyclopes, and then immediately downward — to the basement. If we’re caught — here indeed good awaits. To gather slugs and mouse dung — it’s the least that shines on us, ” warned Yagun.

“I already gathered worms. And stinkbugs also. Therefore it’s not necessary to get into the habit particularly. And will your granny not be alarmed if in the morning she doesn’t find me in magic station? ” Tanya asked.

“Ne-a. You only have to leave her a note. Gone to, say, Supplementary Brutality and General Meanness. Or write that you’re preparing a report on Theories of Moral Tortures. Then granny will quite understand that everything in your head is in order, ” Yagun assured her.

Clearly not listening, Tanya ripped out a sheet from the prescription pad and wrote in large letters:

PLEASE DO NOT SEARCH FOR ME. GONE TO SUPPLEMENTARY BLACKGUARD. TANYA GROTTER.

Yagun shook his head.

“Not that again! What’s this Supplementary Blackguard? There is no such subject. Okay, leave it as is! Granny will figure it out. Let’s go! ”

The children slipped out of magic station and, turning immediately to the staircase of the Atlases, they made their way to the old part of the school. The Atlases were standing sullenly, supporting the massive arches of Tibidox on their shoulders. Some had time to grow long beards of stalactites. Others had broken off noses and ears. A third appeared flabby. Tanya noticed that the Atlases looked better in her reality.

“Quiet! Really, don’t you hear it? Who else happens to be roaming about at dawn? ” Yagun grabbed the girl by the hand and dragged her behind a marble leg of the nearest Atlas.

The humpbacked horse, loaded down with enormous bags of brick rubble, was coming down the stairs. The horse was dragging its feet because of the excessive weight. The hooves were battered. The formerly resilient humpbacked horse strongly resembled a sad donkey in fairy tales from the East.

Behind the horse, roughly urging it on, was the dean of Tibidox Slander Slanderych. The unshaven face of Slander, the deathly bluish radiance of his bald patch, and the new idiotic lustre appearing in the small eye-gimlets, clearly testified that in this reality Slander was one hundred percent black magician.

“Well, let’s go! Move, lazy creature! If you don’t move, you’ll go into soup for the cyclopes! ” Slander shouted.

The humpbacked horse barely managed the enormous steps of the staircase. When it got to the level of the Atlas, behind whose foot the children were hiding, its front legs buckled and it fell on its knees.

“Well, get up, bag of bones! You’d only gorge on hay! One would think I don’t feed you once a week! ” Slander began to yell at it, with all his might kicking the horse on its emaciated side.

Tanya saw the tears in the horse’s eyes. It attempted to get up, but it could not.

“You don’t want to get up? You don’t want to? It’ll be worse! I’ll break your spine! ”

The dean again raised his foot, but he no longer had time to kick the horse a second time.

“ Sparkis frontis! ” Without a moment’s hesitation about the consequences, Tanya quickly whispered.

A fight spark took off with a crack from her ring and hit Slander between the shoulder blades. The dean’s caftan began to smoke. Dropping his raincoat, the black magician rolled downward, counting the steps with his nose. The eyes of the Atlases followed Slander with interest. Taking into account the colossal dimension, even for the magic world, of the staircase, a long and fascinating journey awaited the dean.

But Tanya already hurriedly untied the bags, freeing the horse from the load. It gratefully moved its ears and poked its nose into her stomach.

Yagun was stunned. He could not recover in any way at all.

“Oh, my granny mama! You did this to Slander! You let out a green spark! Green! If Plague finds out, you’ll be turned into a zombie, your memory erased! White magic is forbidden! From where did you learn these spells at all? Who taught you? ”

Tanya straightened up and attentively looked Yagun in the eyes. There are moments when everything is determined. This was precisely one of them.

“Someone taught — others learned. You won’t tell Plague? No? ” Tanya asked. Bab-Yagun turned red.

“Me? Tell? How could you think that? I’m your enemy! And besides, didn’t we release the sacrificial doves from the cage! ” He exclaimed.

Tanya looked gratefully at Yagun. It seemed to her that from her soul fell exactly the same bags of bricks as those, which she recently freed from the horse.

“Sorry, Yagun. I myself don’t know what came over me. Perhaps, in truth I’ve also became somewhat crazy, ” she said.

“Forget it! Don’t get that idea into your head! But how you hit Slander with the spark! I couldn’t believe my eyes. Not without reason that everyone is so afraid of this white magic! ” Calmed down, Bab-Yagun repeated with admiration.

Noticing the raincoat that Slander dropped on the stairs, Tanya picked it up, deciding that it could still turn out useful. Unexpectedly from below a howl reached them — a terrible, spiteful howl. Likely, Slander had only just completed his extreme descent and was now in a hurry to search for someone to thank for the unforgettable trip. He clearly used one of the high-speed spells of black magic, because he was ascending swiftly, jumping over several steps and leaving a fiery track in the grey predawn air.

Tanya understood that if they did not leave, Slander would get there much too quickly. The girl threw up her hand with the ring, intending to shout Sparkis frontis, but here the humpbacked horse began to neigh and impatiently struck with a hoof.

“Look! It’s inviting us to sit on it! ” Bab-Yagun whispered.

The grandson of Yagge was short of breath. He pushed the bags down, deciding to play with the dean the interesting popular game “run away from the bricks! ” The enraged Slander solved the problem simply: with a scorching glance he incinerated the stones rolling from the top.

“I’m already on the horse! ” Tanya shouted, tearing Yagun away from his fascinating occupation.

She climbed onto the horse and gripped it firmly by the long ears. Yagun jumped up from behind. But only where did the horse get its strength from! Beating out sparks with it hooves, it raced on the stone steps. The wind began to whistle in the girl’s ears. The sensation was the same as in a dragonball game. Just that in dragonball the double bass usually flew smoothly, whereas the horse first slipped downward then made the next dizzy leap. Yes, it was an unforgettable complex exercise on a skipping horse!

“I’l-l s-oo-oo-n t-t-um-m-ble d-d-o-own! ” Yagun was sitting on the rump of the horse; therefore shaking fell onto his lot a little more.

If he could hold on for the time being, then it was only for the reason that he clung to Tanya’s belt like a tick. The prospect of passing as a brave dzhigit clearly did not seem attractive to the poor fellow.

“Be a man! ”

“W-wh-a-at’s th-a-at f-f-o-or? P-per-haps y-y-o-ou’l-l ch-ch-a-an-ge s-se-at? ” It reached her crossly from behind.

The proposal was purely rhetorical. Yagun knew very well that to change seats at this speed was impossible. Suddenly the horse stopped as if rooted to the ground. In front, the crackle of black magic spells prevented it from skipping further.

“Aha! The little cow is out of gas! It won’t go any further, ” Yagun commented.

Looking around, Tanya realized that they had managed to traverse the whole of Tibidox and now they were located in its oldest part, on the staircase leading into the basement. The close presence of the cyclopes gave out a sharp smell of sheep.

Yagun, wobbling, climbed down from the horse.

“My, oh my! As if they were grinding me up in a mixer! ” He grumbled. “Neither speed nor comfort — only shaking! A pity flight spells are blocked in Tibidox. Otherwise I wouldn’t clamber up on this donkey for the world! ”

The humpbacked horse quickly turned to the impudent person behind it. Before the children had time to grasp what it was doing, Yagun went “oh” and doubled up. The horse looked around and started to neigh merrily. Then, beating out sparks on the stone, it pushed off with its hind hooves and skipped away.

“Here’s one more point for you in favour of vacuums: vacuums don’t kick like that! ” Yagun stated, apprehensively feeling the place of injury.

Manoeuvring with difficulty between black magic spells, Tanya and Bab-Yagun made their way to the basement stairs. There was a guardroom right by the stairs. And near it, leaning on a poleaxe, a very strong cyclops in sheepskin was dozing. A knocked up shiner under his eye clearly testified that Usynya, Gorynya, and Dubynya also existed in this world.

Unnoticeably slipping past the cyclops, the friends stepped onto the dark staircase — damp and narrow. White slugs crept along the moist walls, and stinkbugs swarmed in the deep crevices. Yagun lit a lamp, foresightedly taken from magic station. The ray snatched out a part of the wall, a white icicle of stalactite, or an islet of bluish moss, in which worms were stirring.

“A well-known little place! In the previous reality Professor Stinktopp sent me here to gather worms and stinkbugs for griffins! ” Tanya recalled.

The lower they descended, the colder it became. Black magic barriers already could not be walked around as upstairs. They twinkled in front with non-fading curtains. Moreover, if the curtains by the guardroom were violet, then these were already pouring off a lilac colour.

Yagun stopped.

“I didn’t know that they extended them here. These are much nastier than the violet ones. Have to go back, ” he said guiltily.

“Go back? Why? ” Tanya did not understand. Instead of an answer Yagun removed a fatty worm from the wall and threw it through the curtain. Flying through the flaring up lilac barrier, the worm was wrapped in a dense radiance for a moment. When it fell onto the step on the other side, Tanya saw a large scorpion.

“Did you see that? ” Yagun asked.

“Aha! ”

“My point exactly. It acts not only on worms. The same will happen to us. Even worse. One fourth-grade fellow had a date, lost his way, made a detour along the forbidden corridor at night and ran into such a spell, ” explained Yagun.

“And then? ”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing happened? ” Tanya did not understand. Yagun hesitated.

“Nothing was left.”

Suddenly Tanya discovered that she kept on carrying something in her hands. Slander’s raincoat. And what if? The solution was simple and soothingly customary. A minute later, muffled in the raincoat together with Yagun, she had already satisfactorily fooled all the spells. The lilac and violet barriers died out one after another and flared up again, only after letting them past.

Bab-Yagun could not believe his eyes.

“How did you think of it, Baby Grotter? ”

“It’s your trick. You once taught it to me. True, you usually let loose the raincoat to float ahead, but, in my opinion, it’s unimportant, ” said Tanya.

“I let loose the raincoat to float ahead? ” Yagun asked again in distrust.

Tanya understood that in this world he did not know about the book of Hugo the Sly or the most cheerfully adjusted magician. It only remained for the girl to feel sorry for Yagun.

The stairs suddenly concluded at a low door, bound by a sheet of iron. From the narrow latticed window, through which nothing could be seen, vague sounds reached them.

Here Fogus sneakus would not work and, using it, Tanya only painfully hit the back of her head and a shoulder against the door.

“Strange trick! It usually worked for me, ” she was astonished.

Yagun with distrust nudged the door with a foot and suddenly smiled.

“Aha, I understand! Here indeed is really infernal craftiness! Only Slander and Plague-del-Cake could hit upon this abomination.”

“What? ” Tanya asked with horror.

“This! Here is established a universal exit from all magic. And it means, the door can only be opened with the most absurd and improbable of all methods, ” Yagun said with indignation.

“With what? ”

“What do you mean with what? ” Yagun was astonished. “What, didn’t you live with the moronoids? With a key, of course! And I’m even thinking, what’s dangling on the side of the cyclops! Well, hand the raincoat over here! ”

Having taken Tanya’s raincoat, Yagun threw it on and rushed to the stairs.

He took the lamp away with him. Tanya remained alone in the blind alley by the iron door. The fireflies maliciously blinked with their greenish backs. The last one decrepitated by the violet curtains. Heavy drops plopped down from the ceiling. Tanya carelessly took a step toward the stairs. A stinkbug crunched under her boots. Almost choking, the girl plugged up her nose her fingers.

The minutes stretched on, thick like chewing gum sticking to the sole. It seemed to Tanya that it would be possible to get there and back ten times already in this time. Where is Yagun? And what if he gets caught or returns with cyclopes?

When hasty steps were finally heard on the stairs and Yagun appeared, Tanya almost rushed to his neck.

“Sorry for taking so long. The cyclopes had changed guard. Instead of that one another is already sitting with the key. Had to wait till the door of the guardroom was opened slightly, and only then use hap-tsap, ” the grandson of Yagge explained.

The key turned in the lock with a grinding sound. The low door was opened. Stepping in, Tanya found herself in a tight prison cell. Hoar frost lay on the walls. It smelled of rotten wood.

A rusty cage occupied approximately a fourth of the prison cell, and in the cage, stooping and holding his knees, sat a thin old man. Only by the moustaches and the beard, which had become even longer now, could Tanya recognize the academician Sardanapal.

“Well, here he is, the murderer! You can taunt him, ” said Bab-Yagun.

In his voice, however, confidence was not heard. And also on the whole the grandson of Yagge tried to keep nearer to the doors.

Touched by pity, Tanya took a step towards the cage. Ten years of imprisonment! How unlike this Sardanapal was to that robust, strong academician, whom she saw very recently — before the match with the Invisibles! Her eyes pinched suspiciously.

Sardanapal made threatening gestures with a finger.

“Only no need for tears! I knew that you’d come. Knew it all these years...”

“How did you survive here? ”

“I survived because I’m immortal, ” said the academician. “I’m even flattered that I’m the only one Plague did not know how to turn into a zombie and I remained myself. And indeed she tried — you can believe me. But nothing worked for her. I had time to think about a lot of things. We aspire to something, we gamble on magic, at the cost of inconceivable efforts we reach the desired — and suddenly we understand that what we have reached is no longer necessary and is actually attained by selling the soul. Any, even the most useless moronoid is a thousand times happier than a magician most successful in magic. And still... I waited! ”

“Waited? For what? ”

“For you. I waited for you to become the other one and come down here. I waited and hoped. I then lost hope, again found it, and again waited. But you were walking there, upstairs, running to lessons, cramming Dark Magic, Technique of Evil Eyes, General Theory of Curses... And it was most intolerable! ”

Tanya began to shake her head in distrust. In her the thought even flickered: has the academician gone crazy in imprisonment? She clearly remembered how recently Nightingale had instructed them before the match with the Invisibles, and Sardanapal on the judicial stand had tried to seem severe, but they knew exactly which team he rooted for!

“You’re mixing up something. How could I be walking there, upstairs, while you were languishing here? I only showed up here last night! ” Tanya said.

The academician smiled sadly.

At the same time Tanya recalled her diary with a three for worm studies, recalled the magpapers, and her confidence ran dry. But what if... what if everything is exactly so? What if she was spending all these years in Tibidox?

“So I was here? Yes or no? ” She asked.

Sardanapal nodded.

“Yes, girl, you have lived these ten years here, in the new reality. You lived them anew. I alone, besides you, it goes without saying, remember that moment when in the middle of the match you collided with Puper. The Rope broke — and everything began here... Indeed I’ve warned your great-grandfather Theophilus so many times not to use mystical objects for his instruments, especially those that can break or crack! But did he really listen to me! The old man was obstinate, whimsical! ”

“Come! Come! I’ll ask you not to make personal remarks! It’s necessary to know how to fly! ” The ring on Tanya’s finger creaked in the familiar voice.

Sardanapal frowned; however, he did not begin to argue with the ring. Especially as it already struck up in an undertone: “ There is a cliff on Volga..., ” contriving simultaneously to translate it into Greek and ancient Norwegian.

“And then the spirit received unlimited power, ” the academician continued. “Even Slander’s cloaks already could not serve as protection. Everything was spinning just like in a tornado — players, balls, spectators. Believe it, huge dragons were flung and hit the sand like helpless lizards. And all this time I heard laughter — disgusting, hoarse laughter. It seemed the laughter and the tornado became a thing united. When the laughter calmed down, the tornado immediately began to weaken. I tried to stop all this, cast spells, but everything was in vain. My magic was powerless. A flying bench hit me. After coming to, I saw that I was standing in a demolished house, and in my arms was a tiny baby.”

“A baby? ” Tanya again asked. “What baby? ”

Sardanapal looked at her affectionately and flicked his moustaches.

“And you still ask what baby? You! ”

“Me? Why me? ” Tanya doubted.

“Because ten years ago you were a baby... Remember, time turned backwards. What’s ten years for the Snake of Eternity? An insignificant, almost imperceptible scale somewhere by the tail. Specifically, it was also split by the turbulent spirit, to which the Leech and the broken Rope gave power. I also became ten years younger, though I hardly felt the change. The Ancient One always said: ‘When you’re past nine hundred, you have to forget about the cake with candles. Otherwise the water-sprites will decide that a fire has started.’”

The academician gripped the bars. Tanya saw that the ring of the Soverign of Spirits had disappeared from his finger.

“Now Plague has it. Both the ring and the talisman. Plague has everything, ” said Sardanapal, guessing her thoughts. “But listen, while they haven’t disturbed us. I stood with the child in my arms and could not be rid of the thought that all this had already taken place once. The baby, the demolished house... All around was the taiga wilderness. Outside evil spirits swarmed and hissed. They were scrambling over each other and looking at us. I clasped you to my chest and stepped into another room — into the laboratory of Leopold. More precisely, what was once the workshop. I already surmised what I’d see there and it was painful for me, ” continued Sardanapal.

Tanya’s throat seized up.

“My parents were there? ” She quietly asked.

“Yes, Leopold and Sophia. It was already impossible to help them. I was late again, both in this and the other reality... And Plague was already standing by the empty case of your double bass. She was smirking. The Talisman of Four Elements lay on her palm. Plague demanded that I handed her my ring of the Soverign of Spirits. ‘If you don’t — I’ll kill the girl! ’ She threatened. I obeyed. I knew that as long as she had the talisman, none of my magic would be able to harm this reptile. I threw my ring to Plague, and she put it on her bony finger. Then she gave a sign, and I was attacked by the evil spirits. They pulled you out of my arms, and there you were already with Plague-del-Cake. How I remember this terrible moment now! She looked directly at you, but you for some reason didn’t even cry... I’ll memorize this moment for life: the evil spirits were carrying me off and you were in the arms of this monster, this decaying murderer... And later she accused me of the death of Leopold and Sophia and turned everyone, who didn’t want to believe this, into zombies.”

Sardanapal turned away and struck the bars of the cage with his fist. A stream of water flowed from the ceiling directly onto the academician, but he did not even move. Then his moustaches sprung into action and, having dried the academician’s wet face, shook off the water droplets onto the beard.

“Fortunately, Plague did not kill you. Didn’t even try. She probably remembered how she ended up in the other reality. Besides, she had the talisman and also all the power that it gave. Plague-del-Cake became the mistress of the situation. How could a girl not even a year old hinder her? No, her new plan was much meaner. She brought you up. You became her favourite student. The best of all. The only one who, besides Plague herself, could shoot out three red sparks and without fear use any of the hundred forbidden spells. Even the spell of chaos.

Tanya shuddered.

“And I played rottenball? Threw rotten meat with worms into the skulls? ”

“And threw rather well. Better than the others. I didn’t see it myself, but the cyclops who brings food to me told me. He goes to all the matches. On those days I sit without dinner.”

“And I actually fell because I collided with the skull? Not with Puper but with a skull? ” Tanya was in doubt.

“Yes. The world had become a different one, but the specific key events nevertheless remained unchanged. For example, your fall during the match and the Rope breaking. Everything happened precisely on that day and in that hour as in the primary reality! It happened as I had hoped. The Snake of Time cannot stand paradox! No more than on a tiny scale of its tail! The existence of two different Tanya Grotters was an absurdity. Two Tanyas — two reflections of the whole — entered the fight and — glory to The Ancient One! — the better one won! Falling on the sand next to the broken double bass, you were already the previous one! The other one disappeared, after leaving you her body. I hope at least that Plague-del-Cake hasn’t understood this yet.”

Tanya and the academician Sardanapal involuntarily glanced at the door.

“But why didn’t Plague open the Sinister Gates? Didn’t she become the lady of chaos? ” Tanya asked.

“I’m sure we must say thanks to Medusa and all the white magicians for this. Plague didn’t immediately succeed in overcoming them and turning them into zombies. For several days they protected Tibidox from the monstrous army of evil spirits, which Plague gathered from all the lands. By joint efforts the white magicians had time to put on the Sinister Gates serious spells, which Plague, till now, hasn’t succeeded in dealing with, ” Sardanapal said this and grew gloomy. “But there exist another threat. The cyclops said that bloody victims have been brought to the stone idols all these years. Pigeons, rabbits, cats... Plague knew, if this is done every day in a row for ten years, the idols would come alive.”

“And Plague will send them to war on the tortoise, on which the magic world stands? Yes? ” Tanya quickly asked.

The academician was startled.

“Where do you know it from? ”

“Yagun said that Plague intends to do this. Yagge told him.”

Sardanapal for long kept silent.

“Yes. Ten years have already passed. It means she began to bring victims immediately. It’s earlier than I thought. The truth is I suspected this, but didn’t think that everything would happen so soon.”

“And if the idols kill the tortoise? What then? ” Tanya asked.

The academician sadly waved with a moustache.

“It’s impossible. The tortoise is immortal. Moreover it’s as enormous as hundreds of planets! But for Plague’s goal, it’ll suffice if the tortoise simply stirs, turns slightly, or crawls away a little.”

“And then? ”

“Then everything will snap into action. The entire world order. The Sinister Gates will collapse. First of all Plague, it goes without saying, will destroy all the moronoids — giving them out as victims to the spirits famished for bodies. Then she’ll seize the magicians — leaving only those whom she trusts completely. It’ll be the end of everything... Only one way to stop Plague. You must not be frightened and crush...”

The academician did not have time to finish. Yagun jumped into the prison cell.

“I hear steps! Someone is coming down here! ” He shouted, beginning to slam the door.

Even without Yagun Tanya had already heard the footfall of many feet. It seemed the staircase was shaking. The guard veils crackled and burst with the ringing of glass. It was obvious that the one who broke them went right through them, not fearing the magic.

The children began to rush around the narrow chamber. It was already clear to them that there was no other exit from here.

Something pricked Tanya in the leg. It was Hugo the Sly’s ring, packaged in the prophecy of The Ancient One, releasing a spark.

“Professor, you keep this! ” Taking out the ring, Tanya transferred it to Sardanapal.

He deftly caught the ring with his right moustache, looked around knowingly, and quickly hid it in the folds of his clothing.

At the same moment the door was torn from the hinges by a powerful impact and, miraculously not touching Tanya and Yagun, slammed into the wall.

Two stone figures, roughly hewn into shape, stepped first into the jail and immediately froze on both sides of the entrance.

And behind them, dried joints squeaking, a bent old woman in an orange raincoat took a step...