The Sinister Gates

Running down the stairs, Tanya hardly recognized the Hall of Two Elements. The strip of fire dividing it before... no, not died out or disappeared, but what happened to it was improbable. Indeed Tanya had never seen frozen fire. The bluish tongue of flames froze whimsically, motionless, gripped by dense ice. Certainly this fire could no longer serve as a barrier. The creation of light and the creation of dark were mixed. Firebirds, blazing, fought off the bats, and the Humpbacked Horse, jumping up high, trampled tarantulas with its hoofs.

With dozens of cobras, hissing, turning to them, the children bounced in a hurry, but the cobras were stretched out at the foot of the stairs, barring the way and not letting them into the hall. However, the snakes were not the only obstacle. The marble Atlases, seen in the distant corner where there was the invisible arch, which leads to the basement stairs, were also not sleeping. They deliberately moved close to one another, getting up so that their powerful rock bodies effectively blocked the arch.

“Well now! Here the snakes, and there the Atlases! And how will we, interestingly, get into the basement? ” Tanya asked.

Vanka looked around in a business-like manner.

“Wait, ” he said. “With the snakes, perhaps, it’ll work out, but here with the Atlases... Okay, for the time being I’ll get busy with the snakes, and you think how to convince them to move. Have in mind that these are extremely obstinate objects.”

“Interesting, how will he manage the snakes? ” Tanya thought. Meanwhile Vanka reached from his pocket the scrap of magic tablecloth and started to energetically shake it. Cutlets and pickles fell thick and fast from the tablecloth.

“What, you want to pelt the snakes with cutlets? A first-rate plan! ” Tanya snorted mockingly, but Valyalkin did not even glance in her direction.

“Well, stub! How often I had a hard time with you! At least once produce something worthwhile! Well at least a carrot or a piece of sugar! ” He begged.

Finally the tablecloth heeded his entreaties and on the steps rolled down a carrot. Vanka, bending down in a hurry, caught it and started to whistle to lure the Humpbacked Horse. First it only looked askance unwillingly and moved its long ears, but then, drawn by the appetizing sight of the carrot, in two leaps flew half the hall, swept over the heads of the cobras — and here it was already beside them, eating from Vanka’s palm.

“Climb onto its back! ” Vanka ordered.

“And we’ll not crush it? ”

“And I tell you: no. Quick! ”

Tanya climbed onto the horse, holding onto its ears with her hands, and Vanka jumped from behind, onto the rump, arms around Tanya. The Humpbacked Horse, almost completely hidden under its riders, pushed off from the stairs with its hoofs and, trampling the snakes and the tarantulas, flew across the Hall of Two Elements. Here it, playing a naughty trick, abruptly tucked in its front legs. The friends flew over its head, rolling directly to the feet of the Atlases.

“Why have you come? We’ll let no one pass! Such is the order! ” The Atlases said hoarsely.

Tanya shrugged her shoulders:

“But I also don’t want to go anywhere! As if I need this basement with the dead rats very much. Hey, weaklings! You’ll not catch me! Stone dimwits! Anti-tank hedgehogs! Blockheads! ”

The Atlases began to grit their teeth so that marble crumbs fell from them.

“Don’t think that we’re such fools... We’ll chase after you, and you’ll rush through the arch. No indeed...” the right Atlas said with a grinding sound.

“What’s your arch to us? ” Tanya said indifferently, thinking to herself that the Atlases were not quite such simple nuts. “I saw it in a coffin in white slippers... Vanka, you need it? ”

“The arch? Why, I haven’t seen invisible arches? Such a poor arch. Not without reason such weaklings were placed here to guard it. The rest of the Atlases, more powerful, stand on the stairs, prop up the arch, and these, the puniest, spend time here yakking, ” Vanka played up to her.

Here the first and only time in history the marble Atlases grew red. Vanka revealed their most vulnerable place.

“You lie! ” The Atlases simmered. “Come closer so that I could crush you like pitiful insects! We’re the strongest of all — my brother and I! Those on the stairs hold only the arch, but we hold the stairs, and other Atlases, and the arch... The entire Tibidox stands on us!

Tanya with affected indifference sat on the floor.

“Well, so you two hold it together, not alone! One probably will be too weak. The nose will slip down to the heels, and the ears will entangle... Here you, Right-hander, ” here she poked the right Atlas with a finger, “probably indeed punier than Left-hander. How strong he is over there! ”

The right Atlas got so mad that even the ceiling began to shake, then the left swelled up from pride. Noticing this, Right-hander got even more infuriated.

“Ah well, go away! ” He began to roar at his brother. “I’ll show them who’s a weakling! Let go of the ceiling, I’ll support everything alone! The entire castle! ”

Left-hander shrugged his shoulders, let go of the arches of Tibidox and clumsily took a step from the pedestal. Now the entire monstrous weight of Tibidox turned out to be on the shoulders of his brother. That one sagged, strained, but maintained. The rock spheres of his muscles swelled.

“Well now, I showed you? Showed you? ” Right-hander wheezed.

“Smart fellow! Now I see that you have earned your kasha! ” Tanya shouted and, slapping the Atlas on the leg, rushed after Vanka into the invisible arch.

The deceived Atlases began to roar, but it was too late. The children began to go down. In the gloom of the basement red pupils flared up here and there.

“Oho! How many evil spirits here! And from where did they crawl out one after another? ” Vanka whispered.

“Go quietly, do not make abrupt movements and confidently look along the sides! Then the evil spirits will not attack! ” Tanya recalled one of the lessons of Medusa. She took a deep breath and took the first step towards the red pupils.

After the first step it was the second, the third... “Only don’t be frightened! I’m not afraid... I’m... I’m not...” Tanya repeated to herself, trying to look above the red pupils. That Vanka was beside her gave her courage. When they were a step or two from the evil spirits, those suddenly rushed with a peep to the sides and yielded the way.

“It worked! ” Not being able to control herself, Tanya exclaimed.

“Don’t be too happy, ” Vanka said softly. “Look around! ”

Tanya looked around. Behind them along the corridor crawled hundreds, thousands of red flames. It seemed the evil spirits were driving them on, and, if they plan on turning back now, the vile creatures would not allow them.

“Yes, Plague-Del-Cake made an excellent effort... At first they did not admit us into the basement, and now they’ll not let us out from the basement, ” Tanya said apprehensively, pulling the magic ring on her finger — the only thing that could at least somehow protect them from the evil spirits.

They turned the corner, made their way to the second invisible arch discovered by Bab-Yagun earlier. Suddenly someone moved in the gloom, and a scorching fiery tongue was directed towards them.

“Duck! ” Tanya dropped to the floor, pulling Vanka with her. Their hair almost got singed, a jet of fire swept over them.

The friends raised themselves on their knees. An enormous dragon barred the corridor. Golden scales were gleaming dimly.

“Mercury! ” Tanya recognized. “It’s Mercury! ”

Hearing its name, the dragon raised half-closed eyelids, and a new jet of fire forced them against the floor. The evil spirits around the corner squealed in alarm, not daring to appear.

“How did it turn up here? ” Tanya whispered, estimating that they in no way would manage to go around Mercury. The dragon stopped up the passage exactly like a plug.

“Someone let it out of the hangar... Or even burrowed a way through from there... Look, a spear is sticking out of its nose. Someone aspired very much to anger it...”

Tanya stared. So it was: in the nose, next to the nostril, in one of the most vulnerable places of a dragon, the shaft of a spear was sticking out. The dragon was breathing hoarse, occasionally breathing out jets of flame.

“It’s in pain! Here’s a wretch! ” Vanka continued. “Must pull the spear out of it. Then it, possibly, will agree to let us pass... I’ll go for it! ”

“Don’t even think about it! It’ll incinerate you! ” Tanya was frightened.

“I hope not. How lucky that Tararakh recently taught me how to calm dragons, ” said Vanka.

However, there was no confidence in his voice. No one knew how Mercury would behave, dragons are not predictable. Especially injured and frightened, and stuck in a tight basement.

“Well, let’s... Wish me luck... If something happens to me, you can keep my soccer shirt, ” Vanka said quietly and got up.

Mercury followed him intently with its non-blinking yellow eyes, ready to breathe out flame as soon as Vanka would take a step. The spear trembled in its nose.

“ Valerianus psychopathus! ” Vanka uttered. “ Valerianus psychopathus! ”

The heavy eyelids of the dragon were lowered. Instead of flame it was breathing out puffs of smoke. Vanka sighed and in a hurry screened himself with his hand. Tanya saw that his hand was covered with burns.

“Calm... calm... I will not harm you... I know, you scorched me by accident...” Vanka said with a faltering voice. “ Valerianus psychopathus! ”

He approached Mercury and, looking firmly into its eyes, seized the shaft. The dragon guardedly waited.

“Now it’ll be painful, but not for very long. You’ll endure it? Only don’t take it into your head to breathe fire... I’m not smeared with vampire bile, I’ll quickly perish... Clear to you? ”

Dragon raised its scaly head, opened the mouth slightly. Its double tongue touched the shaft slightly and immediately hid.

“Now good! I count to three and pull... One... Two...”

Tanya closed her eyes tightly. She heard how Vanka shouted “three” and how the dragon began to roar. And then a long, scorching jet of flame swept over her head. Mercury could not stand the pain.

Opening her eyes, she saw that Vanka was lying on the ground, covering his face with his hands, next to him the spear rolled around, and the dragon, soiling its leathery wings, crawled away in the passage opened by the evil spirits leading into the hangar. Not waiting till its tail had disappeared, Tanya rushed to Vanka. He was alive, although his whole face was covered with blisters, and the charred robe was hanging by shreds.

“I’m lucky that I fell when I pulled the spear. It only barely saved me, ” bending over from the pain, Vanka whispered. “What a fool, I should have said Painus suppressus, then Mercury would feel nothing. Why did I forget? ”

Tanya helped him sit up. Vanka groaned when she touched his hands.

“Wait, I’ll take you to magic station...”

“No need. I myself... Go, the way is free. Don’t let She-Who-Is-No-More open the gate, ” Vanka whispered, pressing his back against the wall and releasing a green spark onto the evil spirits showing themselves from the corner. They hid themselves with an unpleasant chirp.

“ Sparkis frontis! ” Vanka whispered, throwing several sparks after them.

Tanya tarried. It was necessary to choose. If Plague opens the Sinister Gates, then there will be nothing already. Neither Tibidox nor Vanka nor Bab-Yagun. Then the magic station also would not help.

“Fine. Wait for me. I’ll be soon! ” She decided and, looking around at Vanka, quickly went forward.

Soon she was already by the second invisible arch discovered by Bab-Yagun. Squeezing her fist tightly so that the magic ring would not jump off, Tanya took a step through the spectral stone. A familiar short corridor led her into the smoky hall.

Usynya, Dubynya, and Gorynya were lying side by side next to the bonfire, and the enormous gouty soles of one of the cyclopes protruded from a distant corridor. Likely the guards fell where Wooden Fiend overpowered them. The flame of the bonfire appeared frozen same as in the Hall of Two Elements. It seemed this fate befell all the fires in Tibidox, only not spreading to the dragons.

“Probably Sardanapal was also here with his potion! ” Tanya thought.

She irresolutely entered the hall and looked around. The Sinister Gates were still closed, although the terrible gnash and roar from the other side shook them incessantly. An open rock coffin stood near the gates themselves. Tanya’s heart became clogged with uneasiness. How she wanted now to turn and run away! But it was not possible to do so. Too many fates depended now on what would be her next step.

Putting forward her hand with the ring, Tanya began to steal carefully up to the coffin. She expected to see there the disgusting old woman and to quickly throw a fight spark at her.

“ Sparkis frontis! ” Not being able to control herself, she shouted, several steps away from the coffin.

The green spark, into which Tanya put all her pain, all the love for her parents, all her hatred for Plague, broke away from the ring and struck the coffin. The rock coffin turned over and split. It was revealed that it was empty. Inside there was nothing except a black cover.

A disgusting gurgling laughter was heard, nothing more loathsome could be imagined. On the first step leading to the Sinister Gates, a tall old woman in a long violet robe appeared. Her dry chopped off arms were thrown across her shoulders like ropes. One of the hands gripped the gold sword. Red light streamed from the eye sockets of the dried face more like a skull.

“Plague-del-Cake! ” Tanya exclaimed.

She-Who-Is-No-More stopped laughing.

“Oh, you’re not afraid to say my name! ” She hissed in amazement. Her voice was similar to the grinding of sandpaper. “Your parents were also not afraid. And look what became of them...”

The bony face of Plague was distorted, smeared, and for a second other features passed through in it. Tanya saw the face of a man with a small beard and the dark-complexioned face of a young woman, something like her own.

“ No, don’t touch the child! You’ll not laugh! She’s so small! ”

“ TANYA! No! Not the serpent! ” Again their voices sounded.

“Nonentities! You hear how they degraded themselves, only to preserve your life! They thought to arouse my pity with their moans! ” Plague said, assuming her previous appearance.

“I hate you! Sparkis frontis! ” Tanya shouted with her entire strength, tossing up her hand.

The departed spark slid along the sword and, flying away from it, again dashed to the one who released it. Only now the spark was red...

The girl felt a strong blow, which knocked her down. In the next moment the ring broke loose from her finger and, after flickering in the air, stuck to the blade of the gold sword. Plague-del-Cake removed it and tossed it on her palm.

“A nightmare! ” The ring squeaked. “I’m in a trap! I’m going to faint! Boom-s! I already fainted, if anyone is interested...”

Plague-del-Cake shook it slightly and the voice immediately became quiet.

“I’ve waited that so you’ll do this, little one...” she minced words. “Leopold Grotter’s ring! Unfortunately, it isn’t suitable for real magic supporting death, and I don’t use other’s... Well no matter, it’ll fill my collection... Perhaps you did not know that the one who wields the gold sword doesn’t fear fight spells? But even when I did not have the sword, I did not greatly fear them. You think your father and mother did not shower me with sparks? A whole torrent, but I only sneered at them. No, not sparks that drove me into the rock coffin, not sparks that took away my power...”

The face of She-Who-Is-No-More flinched. It literally breathed hatred. Tanya saw how her dry skin swelled up like bubbles and subsided. Under it something formed a lump, seethed... Red fire poured from the empty eye sockets.

“Ten years in the coffin, ten long years — in complete consciousness but without power! ” Plague-del-Cake croaked. “I was always asking myself the question, what destroyed me then, trampled, crushed... Your parents did not do it, no... And finally I understood what it was. The Talisman! The Talisman of Four Elements, which your father contrived somehow to transfer onto you! That Talisman, which, at the time, I also went to you for! You have it, I know! Return it to me! ”

Plague-del-Cake took a step to Tanya. Her bones rattled dryly under the robe. The girl crawled away in a hurry, but her back was resting against the cold copper of the Sinister Gates. The gates shuddered, began to drone. Behind them something powerful, terrible was hitting against them and could not break loose...

“You see the small hollow under the lion head on the right? If you want to live, return the Talisman to me: I’ll put it there! ” She-Who-Is-No-More said hoarsely.

“You’re simply a silly old woman with earthworms in the head! ” Tanya flew into a rage. “Return to the coffin! You’ll never open the Gates because I don’t have any talisman.”

Plague-del-Cake began to hiss and threw up her dry hands.

“You lie, there is! Look around: there, beyond the gates, Chaos! Chaos — it’s monstrous power! I’ll inhale it into myself, I’ll command them as I rule over the evil spirits now! Limitless authority! If you would know what it is, girl! Once I was already there, behind these Gates, and I waited, until the magic of The Ancient One and his student Sardanapal fails... And this happened a long thousand years ago. Sardanapal and Slander did not immediately miss my disappearance — pitiful blunderers! Barely meeting with resistance, with the power accumulated over the centuries I began to destroy magicians one after another — white and black, made no difference. I only needed one thing — to force them to open the gates! All magicians feared me terribly, feared even to pronounce my name, inventing this amusing nickname She-Who-Is-No-More... And here, when I was almost on target, I understood that I need the Talisman! Without it the Gates will forever remain closed, even if I cut into two the Hair of this decrepit charlatan The Ancient One, who arranged good and evil on shelves like flasks in a pantry! I needed that very Talisman which your father struggled with over long years... He, a fool, made it in order to protect you from me, not knowing that it’s even the key to the Sinister Gates! Here are these Gates! ”

Plague-del-Cake at a run pushed the gates with her shoulder. They began to drone. As if knowing who was knocking, Chaos answered in a thousand voices — squealing, squeaking, howling. Tanya was thrown to the side, but Plague made an imperceptible movement, and the girl felt that her body barely obeyed her. The arms and legs were filled with lead weights. With the greatest difficulty she took one half-step and fell at first to her knees, and then tumbled down sideways. The clay pitcher rolled from her hands and stood still beside her on the floor. Plague glanced at it without interest, obviously deciding that inside was some protection potion.

“Probably the Talisman she searches for doesn’t look like this. Here she also doesn’t need a jug, ” Tanya thought.

“Listen. I want you to know everything before I kill you! ” She-Who-Is-No-More continued to speak hoarsely. “I followed your father... All the evil spirits were spying for me. Leopold Grotter could not take cover from me even in the densest forest. And here once they reported to me that one of his experiments was crowned by success. He obtained the Talisman of Four Elements. Immediately, while your father did not guess what was precisely in his hands, I flew there... The house was already surrounded by my servants — the evil spirits. They mobbed, they tried to attack, but he fired back with sparks, sufficiently successfully. This cowardly carrion did not dare to approach and only hooted from a distance... I tore away the door and entered... In the room there were three: Leopold, his wife your mother, and you, a pitiful girl in a double bass case. Leopold and your mother were frightened when they saw me, but you only smiled and stretched your arms out to me... To me, to Plague-del-Cake, to the killer of magicians! It seemed amusing to me. I began to demand the Talisman from your parents, threatening to kill you, but these brave fools scorched me with sparks! Then I killed them, like this! ”

Plague closed her fist and turned it. Immediately Tanya felt as if her heart had stopped. Before her eyes red circles began to disperse, precisely like a stone dropped into water. The world began to grow dim and fade. But this lasted only an instant. Plague unclenched her fist.

“Exactly how they died, ” she said with a chuckle, similar to the grinding of sandpaper. “Don’t be afraid! You’ll die differently, and still not time yet...”

“What was it then? ” Tanya said.

Sweat was running thick and fast along her face. How to battle with Plague there: she did not even feel any strength in her to simply get up on her feet.

“I released a scorpion on you. I like to watch how it stings magicians and they die in front of my eyes in terrible pain. The scorpion crept along your clothing, then along the face, and bit you on the nose. I expected to see your agony, but you only went ‘oh’ and crushed my scorpion! I thought that it was rid of its poison, though it was impossible... Then I decided to kill you myself and get busy with the search for the Talisman. I breathed death on you and...” Plague winced, “my breath for some reason returned to me, on top of that became a flame... It charred me, tore off my arms, and I fell on the same place where I was standing. I saw everything, heard everything, but could not even move... I was alive and dead at the same time, worse than dead... All my power flowed out of me like yolk from a cracked egg... In a short while the evil spirits arrived. They decided that I had perished, carried me away to some of their distant passages and placed me in a rock coffin.”

Plague-del-Cake fixed on Tanya her red eyes without pupils.

“Ten whole years, as prophesied by this old fogy The Ancient One who had lost his mind, I spent in the coffin at your mercy! ” She hissed. “Ten whole years! Only when these ten years had elapsed, my power again began to appear. At first it was enough only for several minutes a day, then I again had to return...” Plague with hatred kicked the cracked coffin. “Finally after some time I was able to trace you to the world of the moronoids. Lifeless Griffin helped me. The bird followed to where Medusa and Sardanapal took you. And then I arrived just in time on the day when you would be in the museum and stole the sword from the moronoids. I could do this even earlier, but I wanted to laugh over you. You were a mouse, and I the cat... I lingered before delivering the decisive attack. I wanted to prolong your torment. And then it was necessary to clarify whether you have the Talisman. Anything could happen in ten years. You could lose it, or the moronoids took it away from you, deciding that it’s a trinket.”

“Uncle Herman and Aunt Ninel took nothing away from me because I had nothing. Don’t you understand this? You killed my parents for nothing! ” Tanya shouted with hatred. Tears flowed from her eyes. She did not want to howl in order to not give Plague the pleasure, but nevertheless she did...

“Really for nothing? Meaning, they nevertheless had to be killed for something? ” Plague was surprised. “And I confirm that you have the Talisman... Why do you think I set Lifeless Griffin on you? I only wanted to verify what would be... You again survived! Your father, this pitiful clever fellow, must admit he was a good alchemist! He gave you outstanding protection. Yes, you have the Talisman... But where is it? Where are you hiding it? What does it look like? ”

“So here’s where Griffin’s from... But he was in the office of Stinktopp! We even suspected Stinktopp...” Tanya muttered. What fools they were! How deftly they were being led by the nose!

Plague-del-Cake sneered. Her dead jaws with the bluish teeth cracked disgustingly.

“It’s I who ordered Griffin to search Stinktopp’s sanctuary! I knew that this old blockhead adores any poultry, moreover the more deformed it is, the more he trembles over it. Once he even studied veterinary magic with Tararakh. It was necessary to ask him...”

“But why was Griffin hiding in Stinktopp’s? ”

“What do you mean why? I surmised that you would steal into his office. I wanted to verify whether you had lost your talisman of power. Will it be able to deal with black magic? And it did, and dealt with so easily that you even felt nothing. True, the magic was stronger by the table, but you did not poke your nose there: the Talisman warned you, made magic visible... No, Stinktopp did not cut the Hair in two. I had another assistant in Tibidox.”

“Who? Who? ” Tanya shouted. It was extremely important for her to know this, even if Plague would kill her in several minutes. The thought that she could suspect someone in vain was agonizing for her.

“I’ll not tell. Guess it yourself! ”

“I know! Sardanapal! ”

The evil spirits, crowding in the corners, began to cough from enthusiasm. She-Who-Is-No-More glanced at Tanya with interest.

“Oh, but you’re an amusing girl! Really you thought that the head of Tibidox, the favourite student of The Ancient One, could be a traitor? The one who did so much for you! He protected you in the world of moronoids and then, disregarding the prophecy, brought you to Tibidox! When the time comes to kill Sardanapal, I’ll make him happy with this news.”

Tanya became ashamed.

“So, it means, it’s not his potion that lulled everyone to sleep? But I thought...”

Plague impatiently interrupted her.

“No, I summoned the Fiend with the help of the one who serves me... But the potion which Sardanapal gave you was the restorative pitch from hydra poison... This pitch weakens the action of killing magic. I must say that the academician succeeded in time. If he were late, tonight everyone would become the deceased. Now they only sleep... Think further, I’m beginning to lose patience. Soon it’ll be necessary for me to kill you.”

“Really Slander? Yes, exactly him! He hid someone in the vase, ” Tanya groaned, berating herself for slow wits.

She recalled in the smallest detail that evening when she met Eyeless Horror with Lieutenant Rzhevskii, and then almost immediately Slander prowling to the vase from a dark corridor.

“You think he hid me in a vase? ” The disgusting old woman burst out laughing in such a way that she nearly lost her head. “No, Slander is not my ally, though he’s also an out-and-out old fox... Possibly, he’ll still come over to my side, but as yet no... You again did not guess right...”

Tanya did not believe her:

“But who was in the vase? ”

Plague-del-Cake looked around, throwing an interrogative look to the evil spirits crowding in the corner. The evil spirits prompted something squeakily.

“Ah-ha, understood, ” She-Who-Is-No-More drawled. “There was a mermaid in the vase. The same one that you treated in veterinary magic. Likely Slander stole her from the pond.”

“But why did he steal an evil spirits from the pond? Slander cannot stand the evil spirits! ”

Plague flinched with disgust.

“The moronoids call this feeling ‘love at first sight.’ In reality these are all tricks of the cupids — vile tots with bows! For sure he annoyed them with something, and they as an answer lay in wait for him somewhere and released a love arrow. But into the mermaid — a repugnant arrow in order that she did not want to even look at him. They always amuse themselves so.”

Tanya recalled the little cupid, whom the dean dragged by the ear and everything became clear. So that is why Slander Slanderych rubbed himself with something stinky! He wanted to please the mermaid, knowing that she, an evil spirit, must be drawn by sharp odours! For sure that day when Tararakh rolled the keg with the mermaid, the offended little cupid in red suspenders was hiding somewhere beside him, searching for someone for the menacing dean to fall in love with. The whimsical mermaid, recently cured of carp louse, seemed to him as the most suitable candidate.

“I don’t believe that it’s not Slander! But who then is the traitor? There’s simply no one else! Medusa? Dentistikha? Who? ” Tanya shouted with conviction.

The lead weakness pressing her into the flagstones gradually let off. Tanya felt that, if required, she would be able to jump up quickly and run. But only to where? The evil spirits were crowding in all the passages. Now, when she did not have her magic ring, she would not even be able to frighten them with a fight spark. So for the time being the girl remained on the floor, pretending that she could hardly stir as before.

Unexpectedly, the evil spirits made room, freeing a path, and Tanya saw Shurasik running into the hall. The all A student looked around unhappily. Likely that here, in the basement, he was unsure of himself. “He also did not fall asleep like Vanka and me! The magic did not act on him. He got up and set off to search for me! What a fine fellow! ” Tanya thought, deeply touched. Fearing for Shurasik, she jumped and darted to him:

“Shurasik! Careful, Plague is here! Drive away the evil spirits with a fight spark! Call Sardanapal, Medusa! ”

But Shurasik evidently did not understand what was shouted to him. He stood on the spot and stupidly blinked his watery eyes, continuously looking at Tanya and as if surprised at something. Deciding that he was lost, Tanya gripped him by the hand and wanted to pull him after herself, but here Shurasik suddenly deftly tripped her. It was so unexpected that the girl went sprawling, her forehead bleeding.

Tanya sat down on the floor. There was a ringing in her head.

“What are you doing? What, have you lost your mind? ” She yelled.

“It’s you who’s lost your mind. I’m not going anywhere from the Gates, which my lady will now open! ” Shurasik announced dully, not tearing off his devoted gaze from Plague-del-Cake. He was like a dog waiting for a treat to be thrown to him.

A terrible suspicion, already not even a suspicion but a certainty crept over Tanya.

“It’s true? Shurasik, the truth? Really it’s you who was Plague’s assistant? ”

Shurasik leaned towards her and grabbed her by the hair. His pale face with transparent skin became even paler. The colourless eyes blinked with hatred.

“No one liked me...” he sobbed furiously. “No one! Neither here, nor there in the world of the moronoids! I crammed lessons day and night, and everyone only called me a bore, a nerd, a know-it-all! No one wanted to understand what I feel, that I cry at night in my pillow, because I want to be the best of all! They kicked me, bewitched my boots... And the moronoids, when I was still studying among them, spat on me and beat me when once I told the teacher that they copied the test! And then somehow I got a two! Not for anything, although I knew everything best of all! Suddenly something boiled up in my chest and the mark book caught fire. The diary flared up after it, and fungi grew on the teacher’s head. I sensed a power in me and decided to take vengeance on all of them, but did not have time. They took me away to Tibidox! Here Sardanapal felt sorry for me and put me among the white magicians, although I wanted terribly to be among the black. But I kept quiet, although I harboured spite. Here at first it was even pleasant for me, but after that the same began. Again they didn’t like me, and then I planned this: to pay everyone back at once — both the moronoids and the magicians! To pay back the entire world that has been so unfair to me! I read close to hundreds of books, thinking how to do this, until I read in one that underground in a coffin lies Plague-del-Cake — She-Who-Is-No-More. ‘Here, ’ I thought, ‘is the one I’ll serve! She’ll give me power! She’ll help me take vengeance! ’ And I began to bring victims to her — insects, birds, mice, uttering special spells at the same time. And I returned power to her, ” Shurasik spasmodically breathed in.

“Yes, so it was all the time... He regenerated me and returned power to me! He who everyone considered the best in the white department! And not a single black magician is even fit to hold a candle to him! ” Plague said encouragingly.

Her right hand slid down from the shoulder and flew up to Shurasik. He fell onto his knees and put his lips to this dead hand with dry yellow skin. Tanya was staggered by loathing, but Shurasik, it seemed, noticed nothing. He was indeed mad.

“I began to hear in dreams the voice of my mistress! She ordered me on what to do...” continued Shurasik. “I hid the gold sword in a hiding-place in my room, and then, when everybody was watching this idiotic dragonball, sneaked into the Walled-up Basement along the path dug by the evil spirits and cut the Hair in two. Then I handed the sword to Agukh, and returned to the stadium myself. Agukh said that soon after me Sardanapal ran into the Basement and braced his head. Indeed, besides me, only Sardanapal knew that only a white magician could have cut the Hair.”

“So here’s why all the following days Sardanapal was so depressed! It was hard for him to believe that among us whites can turn out this scoundrel! ” Tanya thought. At the same time she understood why the academician just as unconditionally trusted the black magicians. None of the blacks could cut the Hair in two, so, among them there could not even be a traitor.

“And how marvellously I contrived with the little hearts! ” Shurasik continued. “All of you pinned them on your chests...”

“In order to support you! You understand — support! ”

“No, it’s a lie! ” Shurasik began to squeal. “You only pretended, and in reality mocked me! You think I didn’t see how you secretly exchanged glances and twirled your fingers by the temple? ” Here something came to Shurasik’s mind, and he chuckled.
But no one, none surmised what the letters ‘WF’ mean and why they’re outlined with stones! This is the invite spell for the Wooden Fiend! It’s I who lulled everyone to sleep this night! I summoned Fiend and handed over to it those who had the little heart! I only had to lull to sleep Coffinia and Glomov! I moulded figures of them from wax and addressed them! But I was mistaken about Vanka Valyalkin! I did not know that he had taken off the soccer shirt and indeed the little heart was on it! ”

“So this is why you yourself did not wear your little heart! ” Tanya shouted.

Shurasik bounced on the spot.

“Yes, yes, precisely why! But indeed you also did not wear it! You lost it somewhere! Or discarded it! Especially! But I spent most of the time on your little heart! Picked the stones almost the whole night! YOU even did not notice that yours were completely not like the rest! Wooden Fiend had to fly to you last and destroy, incinerate you so that from you would remain the Talisman! ”

“Mr. know-it-all, Shurasik! Terribly touching! I always knew that you’re a good boy! And indeed not indifferent to me, so it’s really...” Tanya paused, pulling herself together. Indeed if she was to die, then at least tease him a little after all.

The evil spirits along the corner started to snigger disgustingly and this finally enraged Shurasik.

“Shut up! Sparkis frontis maximus! ” He yelled and, tossing up the hand with the ring, he threw into Tanya’s face a fight spark. This was not simply a fight spark, but a substantial one — a dense cluster of hatred the size of a ball of lightning. Such a spark could easily kill or blind.

Tanya threw herself to the side, but the spark flew so swiftly that she did not manage to avoid it. The spark struck her in the cheek, and then... then suddenly took place what Shurasik in no way could expect. Tanya felt that a resilient heat rolled along beginning from the tip of her nose through her entire body, and in the next moment the spark, flying away, was already rushing to Shurasik himself.

“ Puffel-duffel! ” A stupefied Shurasik began to yell, attempting to extinguish it.

But the abolish spell did not work. Increasing in size, the ball of lightning continued to approach him steadily. Shurasik turned and broke into a run. The spark overtook him and struck him in the back so that the robe on Shurasik was instantly charred. He himself, somersaulting twice in the air, fell into the very centre of the swarming evil spirits, pressing under himself at one stroke a swamp bogey and two kikimoras.

“ Hurtga! Your stupid backga landga on my whole headga! Here I sendgu you from heregu! ” One of the kikimora started to hiss, opened wide the mouth full of triangular teeth.

“ Fightga! I killga himga! ” The swamp bogey shouted.

“Ah-ah! ” Shurasik howled, appearing at the very bottom of the pyramid of evil spirits attacking him.

“Well, enough! Stop! ” Plague-del-Cake roared in a terrible voice, with the swiftness of a bat turning on the spot. From her violet robe short white lightning spurted in all directions. It smelled of cinder. The stones on which the lightning fell split with a dry crack.

The scorched evil spirits began to squeal and darted in all directions. Shurasik rose on all fours, crazily shaking his head. The hand of Plague flew up to Tanya, who was taking cover behind the coffin, and, seizing her, dragged her to its mistress.

“Away with jokes! Did you see it, stupid daughter of Grotter? You deflected the spark of my servant! Deflected it exactly like my fatal breath once... Just as Professor Stinktopp’s spell. You did not simply deflect them: you even returned them to those who sent them! And after this you’ll still assert that the Talisman is not helping you? But now I know where it is! I saw how it flickered, deflecting the spark! And I know how to take it away! This can be done, not even using magic! ”

Tanya did not have time to understand anything as the dry hand of Plague abruptly struck her on the cheek. Tanya’s head began to ring. She fell, hearing at the same time something rolling on the floor. The sound resembled a barely distinguishable silvery ring.

“It came out! I see it! ” Suddenly Shurasik began to yell. He jumped and, crawling on his stomach, started to grope for something on the floor. When he got up, it became evident that Shurasik was holding something between the thumb and the forefinger. Something small and dark, no larger than a grain of rice.

Tanya traced with her hand along her nose. The birthmark which she cursed so many times, because of which she was teased so many times, the birthmark answering with pain with each touch was no more! It disappeared, and now Shurasik was precisely holding it in his damp hand.

“So it is! ” Plague-del-Cake creaked. “The Talisman of Four Elements — it’s the microscopic grit to which Leopold with a spell of camouflage magic gave the form of a birthmark... So here’s why I couldn’t find it! Sly fox! He made it so that all these years you wore the key to the Sinister Gates on your nose! In plain sight of everyone! Hey, why did I not immediately poke your nose into the keyhole? Bring it here! ”

Plague took a step to the Sinister Gates, simultaneously stretching out her hand in order to take the Talisman. But here Tanya with a shrill screech jumped onto Shurasik and hung onto his shoulders. He began to twirl, trying to shake her off, but it was not simple. Tanya even contrived to hold onto the double bass, and it was a little more complicated than on the back of a lanky lout. Managing, she struck Shurasik on the hand.

“I dropped it! Mistress, it flew off somewhere! I did not see where! ” Shurasik squealed in panic.

“YOU ASKED FOR IT! I wanted Chaos to kill you, but I’ll do this myself! ” Plague-del-Cake roared, turned threateningly. Her bony hands rushed to Tanya and, pulling her off the back of Shurasik, flung her onto the floor. Then the hands dashed for the gold sword and snatched it out of the mistress’s belt.

“Kill her! Send her to her papa! Now, without the Talisman, she’s not dangerous! ” Plague shouted.

Understanding that this was the end, Tanya began to crawl away quickly, hearing how the gold sword, cutting the air, rushed to her. Suddenly her hands stumbled upon something on the floor. Some clay vessel... Not even recalling that it was the jug of the titans, Tanya shielded herself from the sword with it... But really could clay stop the sword, which already flew up to her head?

Was this really the end?

The last thing that Tanya heard was the triumphant howl of Shurasik. A faint plop was heard and darkness swallowed everything... For a moment it seemed to Tanya that she, swiftly revolving, was falling down a well, on the very bottom of which stars were twinkling...

* * *

Squeak... A ring clanked... The Sinister Gates were thrown open. And from there rushed out something terrible, formless, faceless...

No... It was simply the door of the magic station opening. Tanya with difficulty unglued her eyelids. Leaning over her was the sympathetic face of Medusa. Academician Sardanapal’s moustaches stirred good-naturedly beside her. Yagge, knitting her brows anxiously, whispered something over a large cup. Slander Slanderych, sternly folding his arms on his chest, like a pendulum rushed about up and down the window.

“Quick... There’s Plague... In the basement...” Tanya whispered. The voice sounded weak. The dried up lips clotted.

Hearing her whisper, all four magicians turned to her. Tanya noticed explicit relief on their faces.

“Don’t worry! Everything is fine. Plague-del-Cake no longer exists... Now she really is She-Who-Is-No-More, ” Sardanapal announced soothingly.

Tanya did not believe him. The disgusting face of Plague was still in her memory.

“Why not? She has the Talisman of Four Elements... She took it away from me, and then...” The girl attempted to get up, but without strength she fell back onto the pillow.

The moustaches of Sardanapal drooped guiltily, but they almost immediately soared upward.

“There is no more Talisman of Four Elements... Remember, it was your birthmark. Unfortunately, talismans, even the best of them, are very brittle. Plague did not reach it, nor did we. Who knows, perhaps it’s even for the best? ”

Yagge approached the rolling over Tanya and, having sternly looked at Sardanapal, forced her to drink something minty and tasty from the cup.

“How do you like that trick! All day the girl lay unconscious, and you just pounced on her! Now everyone step out of the chamber here! ”

While Yagge wiped her lips, Tanya continued to look interrogatively at the academician. He, as if surrendering, gave up and turned to associate professor Gorgonova.

“I think, Medusa, we must explain to her... She’ll exhaust herself with worry...”

Medusa smiled with her eyes.

“When Plague split the jug with the sword, she let out the force of the Earth, and the force of the Earth, in turn, liberated the titans from imprisonment. I think the titans gave you this pot counting on something similar. They needed someone to open it, but not in their jail, only outside... Then Cottus, Gyes, and Briareus broke into the basement and avenged themselves on She-Who-Is-No-More... They crushed her like a small insect... Plague could do nothing: no one is more terrible than the immortal titans... But, battling with Plague, these hundred-armed warriors smashed a good half of Tibidox. Only the Sinister Gates and the Big Tower, where, fortunately, all the students were, did not suffer. Then the titans transferred you from the ruins to the surviving half, and they themselves left... After they dealt with Plague, we, it goes without saying, already could not return them to imprisonment. This would not be right. Moreover, even without that we have our work cut out for us. It was necessary to still remove the sleep magic from everyone... And here these ghosts also get tangled under foot. Lieutenant Rzhevskii howls that he’ll not live in the basement and will leave for the world of the moronoids.”

“And he’ll be going nowhere, the garden scarecrow! He needs them there very much with his jokes...” Yagge could not maintain.

Sardanapal and Medusa smiled. Likely they were in complete agreement with her.

“So this is what the last part of the prophecy meant, that I’d obliterate Tibidox. I in truth obliterated it, letting out the titans, ” Tanya said guiltily.

Sardanapal nodded:

“No one blames you. But then, you had no way out. Otherwise Plague-Del-Cake was not to be dealt with. We still got off lightly. Even Slander Slanderych acknowledges this! True? ” He asked persistently.

The dean of Tibidox stopped walking here and there, he winced as if all his teeth ached at once.

“And I blame no one... And after all, I, perhaps, will go. I want to take a walk along the banks of the pond... I have there a... m-m... job, ” Slander Slanderych growled and quickly withdrew.

Tanya smiled, understanding that the prankish tot-cupid did not think to pull out his love arrow from the heart of Slander. Well, it is useful for this dried-up man to love someone. Let it even be a mermaid.

“And the Wooden Fiend, which Shurasik let loose? Caught it? ” Tanya asked.

Yagge laughed into her fist. Now Tanya understood whom Bab-Yagun took after to be so easily amused.

“Fiend? It so foolishly butted into the titans. Decided that you were there because there was your little heart...” she explained. “The titans rolled it up like dough, and tied it into a knot, and even pinned the little badge on top. For decoration.”

“And where’s Shurasik? ”

“In the next chamber, in the stinging nettle bath... It re-educates... After he saw the titans, he’s somewhat not himself. Only hides under the bed...” said Yagge.

Tanya looked at Medusa in alarm.

“And you don’t think: he became so by himself, ” Medusa calmed her. “Plague turned him into a zombie, took away his will. That’s why he was always fainting. No matter, Yagge will cure him. True, now we indeed will not leave him in the white department... Hey, who’s there? ” Medusa turned around sternly.

By the door, panting under the weight of an enormous, almost gigantic tray with chocolate cakes, salads, mineral water, pastries of a hundred and thirty varieties, Vanka Valyalkin and Bab-Yagun had already squeezed through. The latter, furthermore, haughtily displayed to Tanya her ring, which he clearly intended to return.

“Stop! And well, where to! It’s been said — bed rest! ” Yagge was about to rush to turn them out, but, looking at her grandson, she gave up: “Okay, only not long! And for the time being, a little liqueur for us, eh, Professor? ”

“Well, perhaps a thimble! ” Sardanapal sneezed thoughtfully. The tip of his nose twinkled timidly.

And Bab-Yagun had already put down his gigantic tray on Tanya’s blanket. Tanya thought that an excellent evening was waiting for her. And hundreds and thousands more excellent days...