– You speak wisely, – the old woman grinned. She understood little of what Fox said, but she still realized that she was saying something worthwhile. – So what needs to be done?
– It’s very simple, – Fox smiled. – I read in your books that there are spells for summoning ghosts. So, if you summon several ghosts from the swamp and…
– And let them attack the engines! – Baba Yaga jumped up. “Let them scare them away and disperse this entire depot.”
– We could do it that way, – Fox stopped her. – But the engines will quickly figure out what’s what and everything will go back. – Yes, and it’s somehow straightforward. This requires a more sophisticated approach.
– Which one is this? – Baba Yaga did not understand.
– We will perform a ceremony, – explained the Fox. – We’ll call a few spirits of locomotives that are lying in the swamp, we’ll tell them that we wanted to rescue everyone, but we don’t have enough strength.” And we’ll ask them to go to the neighboring depot and call a locomotive named Chu-Chukhin for help.
– And they will tell you that Chu-Chukhin won’t even want to go from us… – croaked the old woman, always doubting everything.
– I don’t exclude that such a possibility exists, – Fox continued meanwhile. “But we will warn them not to mention us in conversation with him.” Because he is a proud locomotive and if they call him to help, he may be offended and not go.
– And when he comes to us, we’ll push him into the oven this time! – Baba Yaga rubbed her hands. For the first time that day she was in a good mood.
– Exactly! – Fox smiled slyly at her.
***
That evening the fire flared up, only the first star appeared in the sky. The sun had not yet completely set and therefore the glow of the fire blocked even the sunlight.
Dry dead wood, marsh grass, charcoal, for which the cat Chernysh was responsible, burned with a bright fire, piled in a certain way in the middle of the clearing. The trees, as soon as they saw the first flames, tried to move their branches further away, and some even moved to the sides.
Baba Yaga fussed around the fire, now throwing something into the fire, now adding multi-colored liquid tinctures and all the time reciting some spells. With these spells, she scared away all the living creatures that lived nearby, the cat Peach hissed and growled loudly, arching his back, and Chernysh, like a smart cat, this time tried to hide somewhere and wait out all this action.
Somewhere closer to midnight, when the fire, although it began to subside somewhat, it seemed that its entire heat had shifted downwards, forming a dense fireball, a strange fog began to creep through the forest. It began right next to the fire, from there it moved towards the swamp, spreading along the sides along the way and there, mixing with the swamp fog, it formed a luminous mass, under which the surface of the swamp began to ripple. At first, easily, with small splashes, the swamp was marked by movement. The entire contents of the swamp began to move – the buried locomotives creaked, their rusty parts crackled, their sides hit and rubbed, the swamp mass, gray and impenetrable, staggered from side to side, and huge waves appeared on its surface, splashing tens of meters into the forest.
The earth shook, the swamp began to boil, the wind rose, forming a tornado just above the surface and breaking trees.
Some trees collapsed into the swamp, where they were immediately swallowed up by the abyss, the rest rushed to run away, like other forest inhabitants.
The trees crowded together as far as they could from the epicenter itself, forming a strip of emptiness around it. And from all this, under the howling of the wind and the trembling of the earth, from the depths of the funnel that formed in the center of the swamp, a train flew up.
The locomotive was not an ordinary one. It was not material, did not have iron sides and its chimney did not smoke. He emerged from the raging Swamp of old steam locomotives, was surprised by what was happening and suddenly realized that he was attracted by the fire that was burning in the forest. He beckons, calls, wants to tell him something.
The engine passed through a tornado that was just gaining strength, trying to take out of the swamp what was there, rushed past the frightened giant trees darting from side to side and sat down a few meters from the fire.
If he were a real locomotive, made of cast iron and steel, his sides would immediately feel the incredible heat emanating from the fireball into which the fire turned. But he was not quite an ordinary locomotive – he was a ghost, the spirit of an old locomotive that had long since died at the bottom of the swamp, and therefore had forgotten what the world was and what rules existed here. In fact, for this world, he was young and naive.
– Why alone? – the old woman and Fox whispered.
– Why do I know, – Fox snapped. – Maybe there’s no one left there at all. – Maybe the swamp is so ancient that…
– Or maybe the fire was lit incorrectly? – the old woman tried to convict the Fox. – Or did you read something wrong in the book?
– What kind of proceedings have they staged here! – suddenly the cat Chernysh appeared out of nowhere. – Then there will be time. We have a steam locomotive. Even if it’s just one. Even better. He will say that one got out, and the rest are sitting there. – he suggested a solution.
– Oh, who do we have here?! – Baba Yaga suddenly transformed. – Who came to us?!
The Ghost locomotive, and it was he, froze, not understanding what to expect from this trio – Peach had singed his tail and was now sitting on the top of a tree, watching all this from there.
– Don’t be afraid of us, little engine, – the old woman said with the greatest kindness and sincerity. – We are your friends!
– Many locomotives are languishing in the swamp, nicknamed the Swamp of Old Locomotives, – added the Fox. – Yes, you know about it yourself. And so we came to help them.
– But we didn’t have enough strength to cope on our own, – purred the cat Chernysh. – This is a difficult matter. Only you have been rescued so far.
– Oh, this is not an easy matter, – Baba Yaga nodded.
– Not easy, not easy! – Peach the cat drawled from somewhere above, having, as always, sensed the ringing, but not understanding what it was about.
– And I… – the Ghost Engine hesitated.
– We need help,” the cat Blackie interrupted him. – We can’t do it alone. – And you can no longer leave. The process has started and if the fire goes out, the cat pointed to the fire. – Then we won’t be able to do anything.
– I’ll help, – the Ghost Engine offered sincerely. – What should be done.
Pushing the cat and Baba Yaga aside, the Fox stepped forward. She moved so gracefully and spoke so slowly that the engine was even confused.
– Here, very close, – said the Fox. – There is an old depot. As old as the steam locomotives that live in the swamp. And now steam locomotives have settled in this very depot. There are several of them, but the main and most important among them is the Chu-Chukhin steam locomotive. He is such an important and significant locomotive that his help alone would be enough for us. – Fox came almost close to the Ghost Engine. – If only he were called here alone, and if he agreed to help the other locomotives, then we would help everyone in an instant!
– I’ll call him! – the Ghost Engine perked up. – I’ll find him right away and tell him…
– Oh, dear! – Baba Yaga stopped him. – You shouldn’t be in such a hurry. – You don’t know at all what this Chu-Chukhin is. This is not exactly a simple locomotive. This is a locomotive that may or may not want to help. Therefore, you need to communicate with him carefully. You need to say it in such a way that he himself wants to help, and so that he considers that this is only his merit.
– That’s why you find him, little engine,” continued the cat Chernysh. – Find it and tell him the following. Yes, remember everything word for word and don’t say anything else, but answer all questions: “You’ll see everything on the spot!” You will tell him the following: “I escaped alone from the Swamp of Old Locomotives. He broke out to tell us that we needed help. We have heard about you in the swamp and know that only you can help us! Help us. You just need to do it now, because soon this opportunity will disappear!”
– Do you remember everything? – Baba Yaga asked.
– All! – the Ghost Steam Locomotive nodded and immediately set off.
He knew approximately where the depot was located. All locomotives in the swamp, no matter what they say about them, at least somehow navigate what is happening around them. And we also heard that Baba Yaga lives on the outskirts of the swamp. But for someone to want to help them and rescue them from the swamp – this was the first time, and this probably discouraged the Ghost Engine. And he rushed to Chu-Chukhin to ask him for help, which, if he had thought carefully, the inhabitants of the Swamp of Old Steam Locomotives might not have needed. They had been in this swamp for decades, they had all gotten used to their environment long ago, and few people were already thinking in the categories that were inherent to them when they were steel giants roaming across endless expanses. It even seemed to them that there was nothing better than a swamp in the world, which is why Baba Yaga, the Fox and the cats were not lucky enough to snatch more locomotives out of the swamp with their magic than they managed. One Ghost Engine, who wanted it, escaped. The rest of the locomotives did not want this. And they didn’t need help at all.
***
The depot lived its own life, despite such a late hour. Most of the locomotives had already gone to the hangar to sleep. Kolobchuk was counting something in his office, spending electricity on lighting, Maslenka the cat was inspecting and repairing locomotives, and those who had not yet gone to bed were still standing there, behind the hangar, talking about something.
Hello, – the Ghost Engine greeted them. -Where can I find Chu-Chukhin’s locomotive?
– There? – someone pointed towards the workshop, not having time to notice that in front of them was a real ghost.
– Thank you, – answered the Ghost Engine and wanted to ask something else, but by that time they had already looked at him and, frightened, ran away in all directions. It’s not every day that an unfamiliar Ghost Steam Engine arrives at the depot and looks for one of its inhabitants.
Maslenka the Cat was sitting with his back to the Ghost Engine and therefore did not see who had approached him. Maslenka was digging into one of the mechanical parts of the locomotive, which was standing in a semi-disassembled state at a repair site, and was of little interest to what was happening around him.
– Good night! – Greeted the Ghost Engine.
