Not a single movement, not a single sound, only dark gloomy houses. Ahead I could already make out the tall bulk of the castle looming over the empty city. Its sharp towers pierced the gloomy sky, and it seemed that darkness from heaven was creeping along the smooth walls to its foot. The castle was surrounded by a deep ditch, the water had long since drained from it, and the bottom was covered with a gray-brown sandy crust. In the dry cracks, objects were visible that had remained lying at the bottom, undisturbed by anyone for hundreds of years. It was crumpled armor, broken helmets, wooden stairs. And several more huge skulls with horns. The remains of spears stuck out around them. Apparently, the demons reached the castle, but here they came across the brave defenders of the fortress, and the battle between them was fierce. The ninth book in the series “The Magic of the Ural Forest.”