It was already autumn outside. Kaško was flying over the city, having fun shaking leaves off trees that couldn't fall on their own, and then blowing them in front of dogs and cats.
“This is a great day for some Haravara adventures,” he said, sitting down on a sturdy oak tree and thinking about what he could venture today. Suddenly, he found himself looking at the house where Maxík and Majka lived, and he gazed toward their little apartment.
“What's that?” Kaško couldn't believe his eyes.
He saw something very strange in the little room, but he didn't know what it was, so he flew over to the window. When he sat down on his favourite windowsill, he couldn't believe his eyes. Majka and Maxík had stretched a canvas on the wall, which their dad had fixed there for them - well, it was an old bed sheet, but it looked like a real canvas. The two siblings were walking around it, painting something, then they stepped back from the canvas and...
“Hellooooooooooooooo!” Kaško shouted from behind the window.
Majka was so startled that she dropped the paint can on the floor, and Maxík slipped on it and fell, leaving a big blue line across the entire painting with his paintbrush.
“You've made that, Kaško,” Maxík hissed, checking to see if anything was broken.
“I'm sorry, but I don't understand what you're doing here.”
“This is a map,” Majka added, wiping the paint off the floor.
“A map?” Kaško didn't understand.
“A map of our secret city.”
"I see."
“Today is a day made for adventure,” Maxík began to explain, helping his sister wash the floor.
“That's right,” Kaško's eyes lit up.
“And so, we said that since we can't experience anything really mysterious and adventurous, we'll make up a secret city.”
“Oh.”
“And this is a map of that city.”
“So you would like to know about the secret city?” Kaško sat down on the table and swung his tail.
“Do you know one?” they both turned from the map to Kaško.
“Several of them,” Kaško continued to swing his legs and peeked to see how the children were engaged in the idea.
The children's eyes lit up.
“Even one is enough!” they shouted.
“Well, I don't know what we're waiting for!” Kaško flew up to the ceiling.
“We're just waiting for you!” the children shouted, and by the time they had finished the first verse of their favourite song, they were packed and ready to go.
“How are we going?” they asked in unison.
“Hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo hoo!” hooted Kaško.
“An owl?”
“A train!”
“But that sounded like an owl... but a train is better.”
“Did it really sound like an owl?” asked Kaško, trying to imitate the sound of a train all the way to the station. They got on the train and set off.
“Kaško, but this is Spiš Castle,” said the children sadly.
“That's right,” replied Kaško casually.
“But this is a castle, not a lost city.”
“We're not going to the castle,” said the little ghost from Haravara mysteriously.
“No?” Max and Majka looked around.
“Did I promise you a mysterious city?”
“You did!”
“Then wait.”
They walked a very short distance and found themselves in a fairy tale. But not just any fairy tale, a real, mysterious, beautiful fairy tale about giants. Encircling them stood large rocks that resembled castle towers, churches, houses, and...
“It's as if giants lived here,” whispered the children.
“Giants used to live here,” whispered Kaško in their ears.
“Giants?” they slowed down.
“You bet.”
“Are they still here?” whispered Majka.
“Not anymore,” Kaško said sadly, and Majka and Maxík sighed.
“Why are you so sad?” Maxík didn't understand.
“Giants were great friends.”
“Of course they were,” the children laughed.
“Have you ever ridden on a giant's back?”
“No,” Majka protested.
“Or have you ever played soccer with giants?”
“No, never.”
“They had such a big goal that you always scored,” Kaško smiled slyly.
“And yours was small because you were small, right?”
“And since the ball was huge, you always won.”
“That's right, my giants,” sighed Kaško.
“Kaško, but where is this city?”
“Here,” Kaško stopped.
“But these are just rocks.”
“And you're just children,” Kaško said a little mockingly.
“Hey, don't say that!” both siblings protested.
“I mean human children – that's why you only see what you see.”
“Oh, I see...”
Kaško suddenly pulled out a strange whistle - he blew it, and figures of various ghosts began to emerge from the stone towers.
“Who's calling us?” echoed from all sides.
“It's me, Kaško!”
“Kaško?!” cried the ghosts. “Why are you calling us?”
“I have friends here.”
“People?” The ghosts stopped and began to look threatening.
“Children who can see ghosts,” explained Kaško.
“Oh, that's different.”
“And they would very much like to see the mysterious city of ghosts.”
“Do you think we can show it to them?” asked the ghost with a big beard and glasses like Harry Potter.
“They are the best children who have lived here in the last 286 years – since the time of Gertrude and Frederick.”
“Who were they?” whispered Majka.
“Not now,” laughed Kaško mysteriously – and then it happened. One of the ghosts began to sing a ghost song and the others joined in.
“Join in,” whispered Kaško.
Maxík and Majka began to sing, and then the stone hills turned into towers and houses. There was hustle and bustle everywhere and beautiful buildings – completely different from ours. Everything was beautifully colored and cozy, with hammocks hanging in the air and...
“It's so beautiful,” Majka couldn't believe her eyes.
“This, children, is Dreveník.”
“Dreveník?”
“That's the name people gave to this place, but we ghosts call it the secret town of Haravara ghosts - Hamedúta.”
“Hamedúta?”
“It's short for Haravara secret town of ghosts.”
“Oh, so it's the reverse of your name for the town!”
“Come and enjoy yourselves!”
The children spent a wonderful day in Dreveník – they flew around the houses with the ghosts, slid down a 200-metre-long slide, and even visited the ghost observation tower.
“Here we watch the people who come to Dreveník for tourism – look, here come some more of them.”
The ghosts enjoyed watching people admire the beautiful stone structures and the magnificent nature – completely unaware that ghosts were watching them.
“It's beautiful,” whispered Majka.
“It's a shame that we humans don't have such a mysterious town...”
“But you do,” Kaško said through clenched teeth, because he had a blade of grass between them and was just tossing it around in his mouth.
“We do?”
“Of course.”
“Where?”
“Not far from here,” Kaško said, looking toward the children.
"What?"
“Miloj.”
“Miloj who?”
“Miloj is the name of the place - and the town,” he said, immediately getting up from the ground.
“I've never heard of a town like that.”
“It's actually a small village... or it used to be a village... but actually... you know what - let's go there!”
Since they had spent quite a long time in Dreveník, they flew to Miloj with Kaško's help, using his flying herbs.
“Before we go to Miloj, we have to stop and pick up a magical item in Žehra.”
“As you say.”
In a short while, they were standing at the foot of a hill with quite a few steps, and at the top stood one of the most beautiful little churches they had ever seen.
“I've never seen a church like this before,” said Majka, unable to take her eyes off the church.
“It's really beautiful,” confirmed Maxík.
“It's one of the oldest churches in Haravara - and not just in Haravara, but far and wide.”
“Oh,” said the brother and sister, looking at each other.
“But most importantly, it's the only church in Haravara - and in other countries - that has remained unchanged for several hundred years.”
“Awesome,” Maxík enthused.
“Let's go!” Majka shouted.
“Slowly.”
“We'll proceed with care...”
“Everyone who wants to see the secret town of Miloj must first slowly climb these 93 steps,” Kaško began.
“And?” His companions didn't understand what the problem was.
“Each step must be felt by both of your feet,” Kaško continued.
“So we have to jump on them?”
“Or step with both feet on the step.”
“Sure. And then?” They were burning with impatience.
“And then walk around the wall that was built around the church.”
“I don't understand why there are walls around churches.”
“Where were the churches?” Kaško asked teacher-like.
“On a hill,” Max and Majka answered in unison, just like in class.
“When someone attacked a village or a town, the people would go and hide in the largest building in the village or town.”
“In the church,” the pupils understood.
“And to make it harder for the soldiers to conquer it...”
“So they fortified it,” Maxík interrupted Kaško.
“Exactly.”
The children followed Kaško up the ninety-three steps and stood in front of a low wall behind which stood a beautiful little church. It looked like a cap that a giant or a giant angel could put on his head. They walked around the wall and entered the church area through the gate.
“What now?” Maxík tapped his foot impatiently on the ground.
“Let's go inside.”
When they entered, they almost fell over.
“Kaško, this isn't a church, it's a gallery!”
“Every church used to be painted like this,” Kaško thought, “but not as beautifully.”
The children went to admire the paintings on the walls, which depicted various figures and creatures. Some of them were quite strange - like a weird lion.
“Here it is,” Kaško announced.
“What is this?”
“The Tree of Life.”
“Oh.”
“If we touch the right leaves on this Tree of Life, we should get something...”
“What something?” Majka couldn't wait.
“I don't know,” whispered Kaško, "but something that will enable us to see the mysterious town", searching for the right leaves on the fresco.
The children followed Kaško to the Tree of Life, each found the most beautiful leaf, and waited. Suddenly, the church grew a little darker – and then the strange lion on the wall began to move. It roared and pointed to a stone pot standing in the church, then disappeared.
“What could be in that pot?” Little Majka was so curious she couldn't breathe.
“It's not just any pot, it's a stone baptismal font.”
"Did they put babies in it when they were baptized?”
“Back then, they didn't baptize babies, but older people,” explained Kaško, pulling three drums out of the baptismal font.
“What's this?”
“I get it!” exclaimed Kaško – and off they flew.
“Are we there yet, Kaško?”
“Yes - isn't it beautiful?”
“But this isn't a city. Not even a town... not even a village,” his friends looked around disappointedly.
“Now there's just one little church spire.”
“Is this spire the only thing left of this village?”
“Now the ghosts use it when they fly over Haravara,” Kaško explained.
“To rest?”
“No, as a sundial,” Kaško shook his head.
“Great. And what about us?”
“We'll play the drums.”
“As you say.”
All three sat down by a beautiful little tower that looked as if it had grown out of the ground – like the Tree of Life in the little church in Žehra.
“Why are we playing?”
“We're invoking rain.”
“Rain?” Max and Majka didn't understand.
“They say that the people in Miloj were evil, and that's why all their houses sank into the ground.”
“Then we shouldn't make them angry!” Majka said, frightened.
“But the truth is that one year the river dried up, there was little rain, and a vast drought began...”
“And the people started leaving their houses, right?” Kaška quickly interrupted Majka and they continued playing their drums.
“Exactly. And Mother Nature and the ghosts, who were already using this tower as a sundial, got a bit angry at the people - and made their houses disappear underground.”
“And they got a great sundial.”
“Exactly.”
As they were playing, the first drops fell on their noses. And before they knew it, it started to rain. Several houses and cottages appeared around the beautiful tower. The children walked around them, Kaško circled them, and they didn't stop playing.
“Stop!” shouted Kaško, but it was too late. It started raining so hard that water began to run down the tower.
“We've ruined it...”
“Let's hide!” shouted Majka and ran off toward the woods.
“But where?”
“To the bunker!” said Kaško, pointing in the opposite direction.
“Let's build a bunker?”
“There's one nearby.”
“A bunker?”
“A military bunker.”
“Wow...” Max's eyes widened.
A moment later, they were standing next to a wooden bunker. Well, it was only wooden on the outside. Inside, it was a normal underground bunker, where various military equipment is now on display. But most importantly, you can learn everything about how soldiers were treated in such bunkers during the war.
“This bunker hasn't been here long - not even a hundred years - but it's a great place.”
“Yeah - when it's pouring outside like this!”
And when your fingers hurt from playing the drums...
The children looked at their fingers - they were all red from playing the drums and invoking rain.
In the bunker, they found military bandages, ointments, and... and it stopped raining.
When the children were falling asleep at night and looked up at the sky, they couldn't close their eyes.
“Maxík?”
“Yes?”
“What if that cloud is a secret town too?”
“Maybe it is.”
“We have to go to Dreveník and Miloj and Žehra to get Mom and Dad there.”
“We have to.” The siblings promised each other, and their eyes slowly began to close as they
dreamed about the adventures they had experienced that day.
