TABLE OF CONTENTS

Prologue

Story 1. The Sanctuary

Story 2. Matilda’s First Attack

Story 3. Blind Chief

Story 4. Matilda’s Second Attack

Story 5. Alice’s Escape

Story 6. Alice in Deadly Peril

Story 7. Something is hunting Alice

Story 8. The Encounter with Agapogo

Story 9. The Great Hunt

Story 10. The Abandoned City

Story 11 Annie’s Awakening

Story 12. The Story of Agapogo

Story 13. The Hunt for the Almighty

Story 14. Annie Returns

Story 15. Agapogo’s Attack

Story 16. Annie Discovers Matilda’s Secrets

Story 17. Amba Leads Alice to the Temple

Story 18. The Return of the Dragon

Story 19. A Note for Shaman

Story 20. The Witch on the Unicorn

Story 21. Matilda is Defeated 133

Story 22. An Unexpected Encounter

Story 23. Final Preparations

Story 24. The Day of Cricket

Epilogue

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Story 6. Alice in Deadly Peril
6.1 A Strange Sign

Alice, Bella, and Lola dashed from the beach at the Sanctuary into the tunnel, running about 50 meters before coming to a stop in complete darkness.

Alice suddenly asked the dogs, as if they were her two friends.

- Well, girls, are you with me?
Shall we go find our Dragon?”

The dogs whimpered quietly. Alice sat down against the wall and checked her supplies again to see what she had brought with her.

Then she said quietly,

— Well, I wish I had more, but what we have is what we have. Let’s go with this.

The road in the tunnel was just as paved as the one they had taken to get to the Sanctuary.

— Yeah, the Miners built it really well, — Alice said to herself.

She decided not to light the candle yet; a light breeze was blowing through the tunnel. After half an hour of cautious movement—they heard no sounds. Only fresh air was coming from somewhere.

And finally, the group came to a fork in the road. Two paved tunnels diverged in different directions.

Alice remembered Thomas’s lessons. Once, they had drawn and played with mazes.
And Thomas had said then,

— The simplest strategy for navigating a maze,
so you don’t get lost, is to turn right all the time.
If you go back, well, then do the opposite.

Turn left all the time.
And you’ll end up back where you came from.

Alice looked around at the fork.
She saw, in the light of the flashlight at the entrance to the right tunnel, some kind of squiggle scratched into the wall.

A straight line and a downward hook at the right end. Alice studied the mark on the wall for a long time.

She thought,
- Something like “end of the road.
It looked like one of the drawings she had deciphered on the totem pole.
But the mark there wasn’t like this one; it was slightly different.
And a light breeze was coming from the right tunnel.
Maybe the exit from the Underworld is there? Alice decided.

After standing there a little longer, undecided, looking at the tunnels, Alice said firmly,

— Bella and Lola—stay close!
Let’s go right!
Stay close to me!

And she very carefully entered the right tunnel.
The first five minutes went smoothly.

Then there were several sharp turns. They navigated them with great caution, waiting and listening. After dimming the lantern, they sat for a few minutes in complete darkness, standing at the turn and straining their ears.

But there was no one around the bends.

6.2 The Miner's Trap

And then Alice suddenly heard a faint noise.

- The sound of water?

And she also noticed that the walls had become wet. And the road! The road had changed too!

These were no longer rough bricks but smooth, almost polished, stone slabs. Sloping slightly forward.

Alice thought: “Up ahead—a waterfall or an underground river!”

She stood up, and the dogs beside her stood rooted to the spot; her powerful flashlight bounced off the walls…

And suddenly she lost her balance and slowly slid down the slippery slabs. It was a good thing the flashlight had a cord attached to her hand and a sturdy casing. Even though the flashlight hit the stone floor during the fall, the light didn’t go out.

The dogs rushed forward on their own without a command and managed to hold onto the slippery stone floor with their claws, clinging to the cracks between the slabs and biting into her jacket on both sides of her shoulders.

For a few seconds, Alice was afraid to move, and the dogs stood as still as statues.

Then Alice slowly and carefully drew the knife from its sheath, which was on her belt.
And she tried to drive it into the slippery stone floor.
It worked!

The knife was made of very good steel. It made a small dent in the stone. And Alice was able to brace herself against that small dent.

She suddenly understood the meaning of the notch at the entrance to this tunnel.

- Someone carved a mark on the wall with a chisel.
And you, silly girl, didn’t understand.

There it is—the Miners’ trap!
Strangers will fall off the cliff onto the rocks or into the water.
And for their own—a mark at the entrance.
An almost imperceptible scratch on the wall.

Her life now literally hung on the claws and teeth of her two dogs and the tip of the knife caught in the dent.

In a quiet voice, trembling with excitement, she said,
— Bella, Lola—slowly back.
Very carefully.

And although she had never trained them to follow such commands, Bella and Lola understood everything and, retreating cautiously, took a few careful steps backward.

Alice stabbed the knife into the stone floor a few more times and helped Bella and Lola, leaning on the knife.

After a few meters of this, Alice tried to stand up and slipped again. But this time it was simply from the strain of the previous few meters. But the dogs immediately clung to her jacket again.

And they stood there for a few minutes, resting. But the slope was gentler here. Another careful pull. With the knife jamming into the cracks between the slabs.

Finally, Alice felt dry stones under her hands. She slowly rolled over and got down on her knees.

She stood up, took two steps, and sat down again. It seemed like she wasn’t doing anything. It was Bella and Lola who were dragging her back. But after those long, tense minutes, Alice simply collapsed from exhaustion.

The dogs sat down beside her. Alice pulled them close.

– Oh, what a witch-slayer! she said to herself.
I would have flown right into the trap myself and ruined the dogs too.
Thank you, my darlings!
You pulled me out.

And she sat with them for another 10 minutes, hugging and petting them, coming to her senses.

Then they finally emerged from that terrifying tunnel. Alice stared at the mark on the wall for a long time, tracing it with her fingers. Trying to memorize even the texture, in case there was no flashlight.

The dogs waited patiently, sniffing and listening for every rustle.
Then they all went into another tunnel.

After an hour of cautious walking, the tunnel widened and they found themselves in a very small cave.

A brick-paved road in the middle. Large stones lined the road, and three tunnels branched off in different directions.

Alice felt utterly exhausted. A sleepless night before the escape. A final day in the Sanctuary filled with tension. The long journey through the Underworld and, finally, their escape from the Miners’ trap had taken a tremendous toll on her strength.

Alice surveyed the cave. She found a small niche by the wall behind a rock, almost completely blocked by a large stone. She climbed in easily and called for Bella and Lola. The dogs also climbed into the niche and settled down beside her.

Alice took out her foil camping blanket—silver foil that reflects heat inward.
She curled up in a ball with the dogs. It’s invisible from the outside, even if you get close. She turned off the flashlight. And fell asleep almost instantly.

Story 15. Agapogo’s Attack
15.1 Alice persuades Agapogo

One evening, Alice was sitting on the shore with the dogs and Agapogo. A bonfire was burning. Alice was telling riddles, though at first Agapogo didn’t understand at all what a riddle was.

Alice posed a riddle about fog. Fog? Foggy? Wait!

Instantly she remembered what Cricket had told her last time! Matilda is on a yacht right now. Her yacht is called Foggy Lady.

“She’s here telling riddles, but the witch is plotting something against her and her friends right now!”—the thought flashed through Alice’s mind.

Suddenly, some otters swam up. One of them had a small bag on straps on its back. Inside was a note from Shaman. He asked if Alice needed anything. He could now send it with the otters.

Alice asked Agapogo:

- The water in the canals and lakes in the Underworld isn’t cold at all,
but is the water colder out there in the Lake outside right now?

- Yes, much colder, Agapogo replied.

- That’s a problem!

But then Alice remembered. When they were at camp on the island in the summer, they went to a small town where all of them—Thomas, Annie, and Alice—learned to surf. There were wonderful little waves for beginner surfers.

And that beach was always full of people with surfboards. It was the perfect place to learn. Alice got on her board and stayed upright on those small waves. Her instructor was very pleased with her progress.

But most importantly, they all got foam wetsuits back then, they spent several hours at a time learning to stand on their boards in the rather cold ocean.

They weren’t cold at all.

Alice ran back to the house and quickly wrote a note. Then she called over an otter that was splashing nearby. She put her note in the otter’s waterproof pocket on its back.

The next evening, three otters brought fairly large rubber bags on their backs. Alice opened the waterproof bags. She took out a wetsuit in her size, fins, a mask, and three small tanks.

The tank screwed right onto the mask. Or you could put it in a small backpack, and then the hose would connect to the mask.

It said “10 min” on it. With this tank, she’d be able to stay underwater for a full 10 minutes!

Alice examined the equipment that had been sent for a long time and read the instructions. Then she put on the wetsuit and tried on the mask.

All in black, with a mask on her face and fins on her feet, she entered the water. She swam, then dove, and carefully turned on the tank—it worked! She could stay underwater and breathe calmly!

Suddenly, Agapogo appeared from the depths and swam alongside her, looking at Alice in surprise,

- I’ve seen people in suits like that in the Lake.
But there weren’t any children among them.

Then Alice came ashore, took off her gear, and sat down on the sand. And she waited. Finally, Agapogo appeared. Alice walked up to him, placed her hand on his enormous head, and began to whisper,

- Agapogo… my dear, I want us to sink Matilda’s yacht.
Help me, please!

I want to take revenge on her for what she did to my family and me.

Bella and Lola whined and fidgeted on the shore when they saw Alice sailing away, sitting on Agapogo’s back. But then the dogs sat down on the shore and waited.

At first, it was a fairly easy swim. Alice sat on the Serpent’s back, and they quickly flew through the tunnels of the Underworld toward the exit to the Lake.

The exit to the Lake wasn’t easy. Here, Agapogo slowed down.

- We have to dive right here.
There will be a small underwater tunnel leading to the Lake.
Are you ready?

- Yes, - Alice replied and turned on her tank.

And Agapogo suddenly dove too fast, and Alice simply fell off his back. But she quickly rose to the surface—it was dark all around. Alice tried to get her bearings without panicking. She turned off her tank. And began to wait.

Agapogo surfaced and laughed slyly,

- Sorry, I went down too fast.
Hold on tight.
Don’t be afraid, I’m with you.
We’ll go slower now.

On the second try, they swam through the underwater tunnel leading to the lake. Alice and Agapogo surfaced in the lake.

It was already dark. She had only ever seen these places from the other side, from the sandy shore. She turned off her tank. In the distance, the lights of the marina—the cove where the yachts were moored—were visible.

Agapogo and Alice approached the marina slowly. Alice simply swam alongside, holding onto Agapogo, trying not to stick her head out of the water. From a distance, it might have looked like some kind of half-submerged log in the water.

A restaurant was open on the shore in the marina. It was all lit up. Music was playing. Only three yachts had their lights on.

There it is. Foggy Lady—the cabin light is on. Matilda is there! They swam closer. They looked at the name again.

Alice asked,

- You can sink this yacht, right?

- I can easily make a hole in the side, - Agapogo confirmed.

Alice whispered,

- Well, go ahead, do it.

Agapogo suggested,

- Let me take you over to that huge buoy at the entrance to the marina.
Hold on to it and wait for me there.
I’ll need quite a long underwater run-up.
I’m fast.

They swam up to the buoy; Alice let go of Agapogo and grabbed the handrail. The buoy was simply enormous.

Agapogo went underwater. Then the buoy with Alice on it rocked violently on a wave. That was Agapogo passing by underwater, picking up speed.

15.2 Matilda is in Shock

Matilda was sitting in a chair with her laptop, checking her messages in the living room cabin of her yacht. Next to her was a cup of strong black coffee and a delicious pastry from the best café in town.

Matilda usually stuck to a strict diet. Only what was good for a witch’s health. That’s why she was always in excellent physical shape. But sometimes she allowed herself to relax.

Suddenly, a terrible blow shook the boat. Everything flew off the table. And Matilda found herself on the floor.

Then there was that unpleasant sound. The sound of water seeping into the yacht. Matilda jumped up from the floor and felt the yacht begin to list to one side. The witch rushed out onto the deck.

The yacht was already noticeably listing to port.

Matilda returned to the cabin and frantically grabbed the essentials—her phone and a bag containing her documents. She threw her computer into the bag as well and rushed back out onto the deck.

She managed to leave the boat literally at the last moment. Strong arms belonging to neighbouring yacht owners who had run over grabbed her and pulled her onto the pier.

People from other yachts, whose lights were still on, heard the terrible crash and ran out onto their decks. They saw that the neighbouring yacht was listing to one side.

And immediately ran to help. Someone started calling 911.

People also began running out of the marina restaurant. They watched as the yacht Foggy Lady slowly sank.

People from the marina surrounded Matilda on the shore, asking questions,

- What happened?

She snapped angrily,

- I was drinking coffee when there was a terrible crash against the side.

I barely managed to jump out.
What happened?
How should I know!?

Someone filmed her on their phone. They posted it online, and that evening the story appeared on the city news on radio and TV.

“Mysterious incident on the yacht Foggy Lady.”

But Matilda quickly pulled herself together and broke away from the crowd. She hailed a cab on the street and left.

Her first thought was,

- Did Listening Forest track me down and hire divers?
Well, Shaman, I’ll get my revenge—and it’ll be even worse.
Joking aside.

15.3 Cricket is Thrilled

The next morning, Cricket told Shaman

- Someone sank Matilda’s yacht last night!

Shaman replied

- Yeah, I saw it.
There’s a TV here, and I watch the local news too.

And he added to himself

- What a girl!!!! - with admiration.

Cricket asked again,

- I don’t get it.
What girl?

Shaman explained,

- I sent Alice a wetsuit and a mask today in response to her urgent request.
She wanted to go out onto the Lake with Agapogo.

And Listening Forest broke into a smile.

Can you imagine how crickets laugh? There was such a deafening chirping!

And the Cricket, continuing to chirp,

- It’s definitely her!
She could do it!

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Story 18. The Return of the Dragon

18.1 Never Say Never

Alice, Bella, and Lola had finally returned to their city after their journey to the temple with Amba. Alice took off her backpack and walked over to the tiger.

- Thank you so much, my faithful friend, Amba, she said, burying her head in his neck.

He was so huge, this Amba. And suddenly Alice burst into tears, hugging Amba’s neck. She screamed and sobbed, almost hysterically.

- I didn’t understand a thing.
I didn’t find the Dragon.
I don’t know where to look for the Dragon!
Silly girl!
She got too big for her boots—she’ll wake the Dragon.

Oh—it’s all for nothing, all for nothing!
I’ll never defeat Matilda!

Amba growled calmly.

- Calm down first.
You’ll definitely think of something and figure it all out.

Then Alice fell onto the sand and lay there for a long time. Bella and Lola lay down beside her. Two big, tired dogs with guilty expressions.

Amba left.

Later, Agapogo’s huge head poked out of the water, and he lay down next to Alice on the sand too.

Agapogo asked,

- Did something happen?

Alice began to tell him quietly,

- I tried to find the flying Dragon today.
I asked Amba about Dragons.

He said,

- There’s a Temple.
It’s a long way to go.
There’s a statue of a flying dragon there.

So Amba and I went there.
We walked a very long way.
I got very tired.

Agapogo listened attentively.

Alice continued:

- There’s a temple made of light-colored stone in the cave.
And a huge black dragon with wings above the entrance!

Just like the real thing.
Can you imagine—it’s even scary to look at.

It’s so well made!
Have you been there? Do you know that place?

- No, Agapogo replied.

- That dragon statue was made by the Miners!
That means the Miners saw flying dragons.

And if they made statues of them on the temples, did they worship them?

That’s what Alice reasoned as she told about everything she’d seen today.

- There are so many images carved into the walls.
There are flying dragons with people on their backs.

There are many inscriptions on the walls—I tried to make sense of them.
I even sketched half a notebook full of symbols.
I didn’t see anything there that looked like the Tribal symbols,
which I’d studied for a long time with Lone Bird.

And I couldn’t read the inscriptions on the temple walls.
My head finally just boiled over and refused to make sense of anything.

I was exhausted.
And then I asked Amba to take us home.

How I miss Lone Bird!

She would have deciphered it.
She knows so much, and she’s so smart!

Then they lay side by side on the sand for a long time: Agapogo’s huge, horned head and the girl.

And Alice began explaining to the Serpent again, as if convincing herself once more:

- You see, I have to wake the Dragon.
The witch Matilda is very afraid of that.
Matilda destroyed our home.

I ended up here, in the Underworld, fleeing from her.
I saw a statue of a Dragon on the temple roof and
images of Dragons on the walls inside the Temple.

Flying Dragons.
They were clearly in these caves.

But why are they hiding from me?
And how do I wake them up?

Then Alice stood up, stroked Agapogo, and said

- We should go to sleep.
We’ll figure something out tomorrow.

And suddenly it hit her! Agapogo’s head looks exactly like the Dragon statue above the temple!

Alice looked closely at Agapogo once more.

- That’s it! You have a dragon’s head!

She immediately remembered the name the Miners used for dragons, the one Amba had told her.

And she remembered something else.

And Alice spoke. Quietly, almost in a whisper,

- Tael-morh!

Agapogo slowly raised his head and stared at Alice. As if someone had called him. And in response to Alice,

- What? What did you just say?

And suddenly his thunderous, menacing roar echoed through the Underworld. Everyone who heard him tried to hide as far away as possible and burrow deeper into the shadows.

And Alice was scared, too. She had never seen Agapogo like this before. A truly terrifying Dragon.

And despite her terror, Alice uttered the phrase that came to her mind,

- Arg-tael mor’han!

She used to say this phrase before bed, together with Lone Bird. And Lone Bird had been taught these words by her grandmother.

And then something truly terrifying happened.

The serpent let out a truly terrifying, deafening roar that echoed through the Underworld for a long time. And suddenly it leaped out of the water with its entire massive body, flipped in the air, and vanished beneath the water.

Alice sat there for several minutes, as if spellbound. Bella and Lola whimpered quietly. Then Alice snapped out of it. She let the dogs into the house and locked the door.

18.2 The Dragon Again

Alice thought,

- What have I done to Agapogo?

I must have hurt him with those words.

Now he’s probably angry with me.
What should I do, what should I do?

Alice stayed awake almost all night and only fell asleep toward morning.

In the morning, Bella woke her up. Alice cautiously stepped out of the house. Agapogo’s horned head lay on the sand. His eyes were closed. His body was in the water.

Alice and the dogs approached carefully. Suddenly, Agapogo’s eyes opened.

Alice asked,

- Are you mad at me...?

And unexpectedly, Agapogo flapped his enormous wings out of the water and said with a dragon’s smile:

- Climb onto my back, let’s fly!

But instead of climbing onto Agapogo’s back, Alice broke into a wild dance:

- I WOKE UP THE DRAGON!!
Ooh-ooh-ooh
WITCHES, TREMBLE!!
Yo-ho-ho

- I WOKE UP THE DRAGON!!
Ooh-ooh-ooh
WITCHES, TREMBLE!!
Yo-ho-ho

The dogs were jumping and twirling too, caught up in her excitement. Then Alice rushed into the water, climbed onto Agapogo’s back, and they took off.

They circled the city in the cave several times.

Only now could Alice truly appreciate the beauty of this city of Miners and the immense size of the cave.

Later, when they landed, Alice stood there stroking Agapog’s armored hide.

- I’m so happy.
I was so afraid I’d said the wrong words.