Chapter 8: The Stables (A brief diversion)

Before we return to Andrew and his quest to retreive the shovel for Justin Weissman so that he may stop the goblin, collect his money, and return to his fair love, a brief interlude:

CHAPTER 8: THE STABLES (WHERE THE SHOVEL IS)

The stables were originally located two miles to the east of the Goblin King's Castle at the far end of the ancestral hunting grounds. As a child the Goblin King resented the fact that every morning at 10am he would have to walk two miles to go to his riding lesson. When his father died of natural causes (or so they say), and no one could tell him what to do anymore, the Goblin King moved the stables to his most fun place: the dungeon. Here he could access them without much trouble, and prevent his horses from having fun without him.

By moving the stables to the dungeon, he also uprooted the utitility shed that serviced the stables. This was a small, brown box of a room filled with things like pick axes, shovels, dynamite, bricks, stone cutting blades, and cement. Most of these things had been there forever, and the stable hands preferred to just leave them there and never clean it out. The King never thought it was strange that the majority of the things in this utility shed had nothing to do with horses, but everything to do with masonry.

The truth about this utility shed was that it was where the masons who originally built the castle had kept their tools. Why had they never retrieved them? Well, for one, the castle was built over three hundred years ago. And, for two, the masons had been imprisoned in the dungeon by the Goblin King's great great great grandfather, where they had promptly died.

Now, these masons, they were no ordinary masons. They had been trained in the mountains of Sasafras, and studied under the tutellage of Greg the Fixer Upper, the most wise and sagely of all masons. With the death of the masons, a great construction drought fell over the land, and banks became flush with cash to lend, since there were no more commercial lending opportunities. The masons had but one daughter. Jennifer. Jennifer married a banker, a Ferdinand Weissman. These were Justin Weissman's great great grandparents. And there was a story the Weissman's passed down from wanna-be mason to wanna-be mason.

"The Goblin King killed our ancestors and took our shovel! We'd be rich now, Justin! Rich! If only we had the Gold Digger's Shovel..."

Yes, the Gold Digger's shovel. Every night before getting tucked into bed, Justin had heard about the Gold Digger's shovel. Rumor was that it would make older women with money fall in love with you. Others said that just digging it into the ground made gold appear. Further rumor insisted that it was not a shovel at all, but was actually made from the melted Philosopher's Stone, and that it's tip would turn anything it touched to gold.

Of course, Andrew knew nothing of the Gold Digger's Shovel. All he knew is that Justin would show him the way out if he retrieved it.

Andrew approached the stables. He could smell horse manure. He could hear the rabid labradoodles barking. Fear struck him like an ice pick to the heart. But he was wearing a good suit which made him feel confident. Perhaps he would survive this after all...