Treasure of the tower

© V. Speys, 2021

ISBN 978-5-0053-4308-6

Created with Ridero smart publishing system

The book tells the story of the discovery of the hidden treasure of gold. The heroes of the book and the events outlined in the book are fictitious. The coincidences of historical facts are of an accidental character and do not bear responsibility for the reliability of the facts stated in the book. Coincidence is a coincidence.

Author’s note.

Chapter – 1.

Misha was ten years old, the age in which the world is seen as simple and welcoming as children perceive it without going deep into the essence of things. The boy was with a pretty, angelic face, which can be seen on the icons depicting holy angels in the temples. Large and sensual blue eyes, long eyelashes somehow in a special way created by nature and directed down and to the sides. Hair of ash color, favorably shaded and emphasized the heavenly beauty of blue eyes so that my mother sometimes compared it to a doll that was preserved in Mama’s memory from her childhood.

Misha lived with his mother in a five-story house at the very outskirts of Nevyansk. From the balcony of their apartment the fields in the blue haze with the blacking strips of forests traversing the distance were far away. But the most mysterious place Misha considered the visible from here ruins of an ancient castle, once fortified. The fortress wall is half-ruined and was clearly visible, because the castle was built on a hill and towered above the terrain, and was seen far away in the vicinity. The oak grove was approaching the ruins from all sides, where ancient century-old oaks met on a par with the young growth. The ruins of the castle attracted the attention of local boys with its surviving watchtower with a half-ruined dome adjoining the fortress wall. Misha often looked there in the direction of the tower, and boyish imagination painted pictures of fairy-tale battles of defenders with invaders.

One day, on a warm July afternoon, Sasha’s relative came to see Misha. Sasha was of the same age. When the mothers of the boys retired in the room and took up the patterns of the elegant dress, the friends began to play toys. They were tired of playing with toys, and Misha offered Sasha:

– Come with me, I’ll show you something interesting. – Intrigued Sasha looked curiously at his friend.

– Ah, what, you can not say what?

The boy mysteriously put his index finger to his lips, silently saying so that his parents would not hear, thus allowing even more mystery to Sasha. And the one on tiptoe stealthily followed his comrade. When they found themselves on the balcony, the boy pointed a hand to the distant ruins of the castle and conspiratorially said:

“Look out there, can you see the tower?”

Sasha narrowed his eyes and looked in the direction indicated by Misha. Then he authoritatively declared: “No, I do not see anything.” – He was cunning, because Sasha always wanted to be the first in everything, especially among the boys, and he pretended that he had not seen the tower and the ruined fortress wall. “There,” he tried to indicate the right direction for Misha, to look more closely. But Sashino’s curiosity prevailed over the feelings of leadership, and, not Having sustained this, he said:

– Yes, I see! Yes, what to watch? Let’s go tomorrow, when our mothers will still be sleeping, we’ll run away there and carefully see everything. – And added, for greater interest, dreamily stretching out the words: – Maybe we’ll find the treasure there?

And the boys, from these words of Sasha, and from the secret of the enterprise, so they wanted to run there, touch the stones and find the ancient treasure.

In the morning, when the sun had not yet risen, and the twilight was still clinging to the shadow of the bush, the boys slipped out of the apartment, taking a candle, matches and a flashlight, and rushed to the ruins. The guys on the overgrown grass, barely discernible stone road. Finally, they reached the moat that surrounded the ruins. The moat was filled with water and covered with reeds. Further the road went to the castle through an ancient wooden bridge. At the entrance to the bridge on the railing was posted a sign with the inscription “Passage and passage on the bridge is prohibited!” DANGER TO LIFE! “These words were written in red. The boys read the warning inscription, and Misha was the first to turn, intending to go back.

– No! Forward! – Sasha boldly said, – I go first, and you follow me, Mishka, follow me! – and set foot on the half-rotten bridge. Soon he waved his hand from the opposite side of the ditch.

– Yes, do not be afraid, hold on! – Sasha encouraged his friend. And Mishka suddenly became frightened, it seemed to him that he would collapse from the old masonry, right into the swamp that surrounded the ruins of the castle. The shame before the other was stronger than fear, and Misha boldly stepped onto the beam of the bridge. Reaching the middle, fear suddenly disappeared somewhere, seemed ridiculous, and Misha reached Sasha. Suddenly, the leg slipped and, feeling no support, collapsed, as it seemed to him directly from the debris of the rotten bundle down. When the first moments of fright passed, he felt that he was lying on the bridge, that one leg was hanging out without support in the air, and a good piece of wooden support floated far below in the water overgrown with thick duckweed. Pale and frightened boy, not hearing the screams of a friend, he stood on all fours and trembled everywhere, slowly crawled to Sasha.

– Ha-ha-ha! Well, you’re a coward! Sasha laughed at him. Misha was hurt. He said:

“I, I, am not a coward!” – blushing with the paint of embarrassment, Misha was acquitted. He suddenly wanted to give Sasha a good blow, but he restrained himself and soon forgot about it. Meanwhile, the friends approached the breach in the castle wall. A bunch of bricks, plaster and debris blocked their way. They climbed a pile of construction junk and descended to a wide, overgrown grass and bushes. The whole space inside is surrounded by a wall covered with a broken brick. Buildings are destroyed; everywhere there are weeds, nettles and bushes, as well as rare wood. Friends looked around. A half-ruined tower with partially damaged dome rushed into view. Stair steps led to the entrance to the circular wall. Sasha ran to the stairs, Misha behind him. They climbed the steps, covered with a thick layer of dust and a broken brick to the entrance. Inside the tower a round hall opened, the light fell, drawing rays of transparent rectangles in the dusty air, on the stone floor and captured the contours of the loopholes. The pigeons, frightened by the guests, suddenly flew high above the dome, and the dust drew the rays of the rays with clubs.

“Let’s get out of here.” – Pushing Sasha with the sleeve of his shirt, said Misha.

– Yes, wait, you! I think I found something interesting. And he headed for the darkened corner under the stage to approach the loopholes. Misha followed him. In the shade, where the least light came from the daylight, the friends saw a massive wooden door hanging on one still loose hinge and hiding the steps in the dungeon.

“This is the entrance to the powder cellar.” – Authoritatively noticed, with the manifestation of a connoisseur of antiquities, Sasha.

“Maybe there is a weapon?” Suggested Misha with a mysterious air.

“Then go ahead!” – Behind me! Now we will check. Sasha first descended the dusty steps.

“Bear, give me a flashlight.” – The entrance came out of the darkness.

– Now! – and he had no choice but to follow the other in the dampness and darkness of the dungeon. The beam of the flashlight snatched the green ring from the time, attached to the wall. “It’s for a torch,” Sasha said with knowledge of the facts of the story. They passed the first find, and soon found themselves in an empty, damp room with an earthen floor. Examining all the corners, and finding nothing but debris consisting of broken bricks, layers of dust and dirt mixed with rotten chips, they began to climb back to the top.

– And maybe there is a move? – Misha surmised, – Only was piled on the ground and no one found out who was climbing here before us.

“We’ll have to check!” – Sasha eagerly picked up. – To dig, search, bring a shovel.

“Then we went home,” suggested Misha, “we have.”

– Let’s go. – Sasha agreed. The beam of the flashlight slid again around the ring. Dima could not resist, he asked:

“Have you noticed anything?”

“Ah, what should I have noticed?” – Sasha answered the question with a question.

“Shine on the ring!”

Sasha sent the flashlight to the wall. Misha approached and yanked at the round green skin bagel. Suddenly there was an unpleasant metallic screech. Part of the wall suddenly went to the side, exposing the dark entrance. Friends of the surprise froze, frozen in place. The first to come to life was Sasha.

“Why did not anyone notice this entry before us?” He asked in perplexity.

“I read somewhere in my childhood,” Misha authoritatively remarked, suddenly imagining himself, a ten-year-old boy, in an adult’s joke, “that there is nothing more reliable than a hiding place, as in the most prominent place.” So it turns out that the ring for the torch is the very place.

– Wow! Exclaimed Sasha admiringly. “It’s just an underground secret passage.” Let’s go, we’ll check it out. – And entered the opening. Misha, not wanting to be alone, followed another.

The dungeon gasped in the face with the musty air of an unventilated cellar.

“Like our grandmother’s cellar,” Misha said. Meanwhile, Sasha was using a flashlight, trying to see in his ray a dark dungeon. Misha was scared. Shadows from the light of a flashlight frightened him. It seemed to the boy that the invisible ghosts inhabiting the fairy-tale castles are hiding behind these shadows and are waiting for a convenient moment to tighten in their cold embrace. Steps of the course led friends into a dead end, ending with a massive wooden door with the same exact copper ring. Sasha pulled the ring. The door succumbed with difficulty, opening a room to them. Sasha was shining into the darkness of space. Gray dry walls and a mossy floor snatched the beam of a flashlight out of the darkness and suddenly stopped on the grin of a human skull. Wild Scream:

– A! A! A-ah! – Dungeons rang out in the darkness. It screamed frightened Misha, he squealed so piercingly, and so unexpectedly that he frightened Sasha with his screech and he dropped the flashlight,

Not thinking about anything, started in the pitch darkness of the dungeon to the supposed exit. But flew into the “embrace” of the skeleton and fell along with a pile of bones showered with heavy rain on the boy. At that moment, Sasha thought that the skeleton had grabbed him by the collar and pounded his knuckles on his back. The boy fell silent, frightened to death, remaining lying on the ground of the cellar without moving and waiting for its end. But contrary to expectations nothing happened, only heard a kind of not expressive sound resembling the sounds that dogs howling at night in the rush of immense longing for the moon. Sasha at first thought that this skeleton rushed to Misha, but then he realized that Misha was whining with fear in the hope of finding a flashlight. And what about himself and Sasha? It seems to be all right. Fear gradually passes and suddenly all, disappeared somewhere, and recent fears seemed like a ridiculous adventure. And for the good spirits of the spirit, Sasha began to mentally say to himself that a miracle does not happen, that skeletons live only in fairy tales, that in life this does not happen and can not be, as there are no witches, devils, or goblins. That’s how Sasha thought, having convinced himself completely and irrevocably in this, he got up and stood on his feet. Bones from the skeleton fell from his back to the floor, hitting each other. From this knock Misha suddenly shouted even louder, and already lighting the way with a flashlight, forgetting about a friend, he started down the steps from the dungeon from this terrible place. Sasha, stumbling in the darkness on the steps, ran after Misha. “He’s after me!” Thought the terrified Misha. – “This monstrous cast has dealt with Sasha and his skeleton is chasing me now!”

From this thought Misha rushed upward even faster. The bright sunlight struck the eyes, for a moment, blinded the boy, but he continued to run chased by animal fear, stumbling over the stones. Rushing through a pile of debris in the breach of the fortress wall, he found himself behind the castle. Ahead of the bridge, Misha stopped listening at the bridge. Sasha’s steps were given distinctly and loudly, and Misha started even faster along the bridge away from this terrible place. On the opposite side of the bridge, he suddenly caught on something and fell, stretched out to the full height, finding himself in the thickets of nettle. The footsteps slammed quite near, and already unable to rise, the boy froze with a soul that had gone to his heels. Squeezed with fear, fearing, stir in the burning embrace of the stems of the nettle.

“Hey, brave man!” – he heard the mocking breath of Sasha’s breathless voice – “You ran as if Death were chasing you!”

“Ah-ah, you, what’s alive?!” – Misha stuttered in a voice trembling with fear.

“As you can see, ha-ha-ha!”

– Ha-ha-ha! – friends laughed for a long time.

Misha’s fear went away, but when Sasha invited him to go once more to the dungeon and examine the room and the underground passage, Misha flatly refused. Since then, Misha has never been afraid of the dark, and the memory of the terrible moments he has experienced has remained with him for life.

Chapter – 2.

The boys appeared in Misha’s house at 7 o’clock in the morning. The apartment was quiet. They crept into Misha’s room and listened.

“Yes, they’re still asleep,” Sasha began in the first whisper. “I know my mother; she likes to wince until eleven.” And then he’ll sit down in the kitchen and not get out from there until about one in the afternoon. He cooks there, drinks coffee.

– And mine gets up early. – Misha agreed, – Only on weekends he likes to sleep.

“They are daughters, then!” – Sasha authoritatively stated.

The boys were silent. Misha offered to sleep. They undressed and lay down in their beds. Soon they fell asleep. Misha’s mother woke them up.

– Sonya, well, get up, and wash! – Mom ordered. The boys jumped from their beds and rushed to the bathroom in a race. Soon there was heard the splash of water and the loud laughter of the children. After breakfast Misha said:

“Mom and Sasha and I go into the yard.”

“Go, take a walk, but do not forget that two arrive for dinner!” My aunt Masha and I go to the store. – And I began to wash the dishes.

The boys ran out of the kitchen to dress for a walk, when Misha ran past the bedroom, from where Aunt Misha’s sleepy voice came: “Anya, where are you?” – What did Masha Misha say from the kitchen? – I’ve been waiting for you for an hour! Come and have breakfast!

Swaying on the swing, Sasha said in a businesslike manner:

– A treasure is there.

– How do you know that? Misha asked in surprise.

– I feel. – The boy answered absently and added: – We need to visit there.

“Are you a fool?!” Yes, I will not return to this underworld for anything. Misha categorically declared.

“You’re a fool, Mishka.” You’re scared of someone who has not been around. And remember that miracles do not happen in this world. – As an adult began to talk Sasha. “And there’s sure to be a treasure!”

“Listen, I’ll tell you Sasha.” It was still when I slept in the cradle, my mother told me. I came here from Moscow with professors and academicians with all kinds of equipment. And let’s explore the castle. Everyone said that this was the last refuge of some rich breeder Demidov.

– Yah?! Sasha’s eyes flashed with curiosity. “But rather tell me what they were looking for.

“So, my mother told me that the basement of the castle was enlightened by radar there.”

– So what?!

“You do not have to interrupt!” So, it turned out that underground water-filled rooms were found underground. And that there locator highlighted a heap of submerged some tools.

– Well, and you Mishka refuse to go there. Since this breeder was richer than the tsar himself, he hid his treasure there as well.

“And you think that the scientists who conducted the search there were worse than us with you or what?”

“Well, do not be any worse, Mishka. Sasha answered evasively. “Did you find the treasure?”

– No, Sasha, you did not find it. Mamma said that they stayed there for six months. They were digging, drilling, looking for a shorter time, and they could not find a damn thing.

– Yes, we saw that there is a lot of garbage, whole heaps and ruins with a fresh breakage of the walls. – Sasha commented. “But after your story, God himself told me to go again.” But … “Sasha thought for a moment.

“What’s that?” – curiosity prevailed, and Misha began to look in Sashin’s mouth with interest, waiting for an answer.

“We just need to prepare thoroughly and so that our mothers do not suspect anything.” He looked at Misha curiously.

– You, Sasha, wait, what will I answer? If I refuse, then you’ll still go there alone, so?! If I say this to your mother, I’ll be a traitor, right?! – Misha reasoned, – I’ll have to agree.

– Yes, I saw on your face that you rejected the style. – Said Sasha.

“You will condemn me, I will completely refuse, I understand!” – Misha painted an insult on his face.

– Well, do not be angry, I’m so friendly. I will not call you any more mug, you are my best friend, comrade, and also a cousin.

– Well, of course, where to go, we’re brothers with you, even cousins. – Answered without offense Mishka.

The guys conferred for a long time on what to take with them, how to dress and when to make a sortie to the old castle. From the side it was evident that the two boys on the playground were amused by the fact that they were riding on a swing, climbing on sports equipment scattered here and there on the site, and running after each other in catch-ups. When it was time for dinner, Misha’s mother called them to dinner from the balcony…

Friends agreed on the next day, when their mothers will still sleep, go to the old ruins. With this and ran into the kitchen, trying in everything to be obedient. Sasha without a reminder that to sit at the dinner table you have to wash your hands took a towel hanging from my mother’s bed and under the surprised mother’s looks went into the bathroom where Misha’s hands were washed. Friends with carefully washed hands sat down at the dinner table.

“You would have stayed with my sister; otherwise my bored one is here.” – Lovingly looking at her son, Misha’s mother said.

– Yes, no, Olga! “Sasha’s mother flatly declared.” Yesterday, when our skittles disappeared, I thought that I would die of grief if something happened to him.”

“Well, as you know, Natasha.” We see so little, you know! Olga sighed sadly. Then she took the uncorked bottle of wine and filled the glasses.

– Well, Natasha, let’s at least drink on the path. – Sisters clinked glasses of crystal, and drank to the bottom.

Sasha looked inquiringly at his mother:

– We, Mom that we are leaving? His gray eyes widened with sudden curiosity.

“Yes, son, tonight by train”. I bought tickets in advance, so as not to hang around in queues. Thank you, that during the reign of Peter the Great the local breeder Demidov laid a railway there. – And this tower, sideways on its side is it, too? Sasha with wide eyes looked at his mother and tried to cheat, seizing the moment when my mother began to talk about the historical events of Nevyansk, he asked pitifully:

– Mom, leave me with Aunt Olya, now it’s a vacation, you do not need to do any lessons. Immediately I like at home, you yourself said, when we got here, that you’ll leave me for a whole month already?

– No! You know my word. I almost died of fear for you, for your yesterday’s trick.

The categorical tone of Natasha’s aunt, finally persuaded Misha that Aunt Natasha would take Sasha away and that he would be left without a friend for the rest of the holidays, cast down in despair. In the evening, Sasha and Aunt Natasha left on a passenger train in the direction of Yekaterinburg…

Misha did not like these departures of my mother’s sister, on those rare days when she came, and then after the departure of Aunt Natasha, her mother went for a long time, sullen and evil. Often, Misha got slapped for any little things that, as it seemed to his mother, prank and disobedience. And now, especially when Misha suddenly lost his crony friend, it’s twice as bad for her to stay with her mother, who is not in a mood. And he decided to go himself on the planned route, without worrying about maternal experiences and fears.

In the morning my mother woke Misha:

– I am urgently recalled from leave to work, I will come late. Eating in the fridge, warm it up on the stove. Look here, that there was an order, you almost adult already get used to independence. – She got dressed, and, taking the business folder, with some papers, left the apartment.

From the unexpected luck that he is now left to himself and can go where he wants. As soon as the mother closed the door, Misha jumped out of bed and began to gather for sally. Having packed everything into the school backpack, which he considered necessary, and, having dressed in a tracksuit, with a backpack behind him, he slammed the door of the apartment. And then he remembered that he had forgotten his mobile phone. He hurriedly opened the door with the key, returned, at that moment his Smartphone rang.

– Yes mom. – The mother’s anxious voice asked what he ate, which Misha answered: – I’ve eaten, Mom, now I’ll take the book and read it according to the set program. – He lied. At the second end of the “wire”, already calmer, the mother replied, “Okay, son, I’ll call you back.

The conversation on this was interrupted and with a sigh of relief, Misha, closed the apartment door with a key…

It was scary to go to the castle. The farther he left the house along the deserted weeds, which was abundantly growing everywhere, the more insistently the images of the suddenly “revived” human skeleton chained to the basement wall in the castle arose. Mishka in every possible way chased away these eerie memories, but memory inexorably aroused fears. What was left for them to do, how could they not turn and rush home from home? However, the shame for his cowardice and cowardice will then pursue him all his life, and Mishka involuntarily cringed from the chill, which suddenly penetrated with fear for the sports jacket. No, since he decided to go he will overcome himself and these worthless fears of a nonexistent danger and, most importantly, before himself he will overcome. With encouraging thoughts, he was already more confidently stepping forward…

Chapter – 3.

Through the ruined bridge he moved and already stood at the castle, still not daring to take the most important step into the breach of the fortress wall and move on to the goal.

After hesitating for a minute, he finally made up his mind and entered through a breach into the courtyard of the castle, overgrown with grass and bush. The surviving space was gaping with the blackness of the rectangular hole in the entrance to the round, half-ruined watchtower. Misha walked with a firm gait. From the outside, if you watch him at these moments, it was clear that the boy is familiar with these places, as he moved confidently and vigorously, without any circumspection, peculiar to people entering the unexplored for the first time…

The morning sun penetrated into the round room, illuminating the steps leading down to the gaping entrance to the basement, which the guys opened the last time. Misha looked with fear in the blackness of the door, where the bones of the scattered skeleton were. Imagining this picture, which recently brought Misha into a heart-rending fear, he again hesitantly froze at the steps of the entrance to the cellar. As he did not have enough Sasha in those moments, of course, Sashka would not fail to laugh heartily from him. The imaginary picture of Sasha’s ridicule encouraged the boy, and with a sinking heart he began to descend. With every step that brought him closer to the entrance to the basement, fear grew. At the very entrance, he took out their side pocket of a backpack Smartphone, turned on the flashlight bulb. A bright light pierced the blackness of the entrance, snatching out the white splinters of firewood on the stone floor. Oh, it’s not firewood, it’s the bones of the skeleton, scattered here and there. At first, the fear stopper tied the boy, he stood, as if stumped, not daring to move from his place. But gradually fear let go of him, numbness passed and, daring, he decided to shoot on the video of the Smartphone this picture with human bones on the floor in the dust of the cellar. During this occupation, suddenly, his Smartphone made a bell sound, frightened by an unexpected call.