Georgina 5/8

Jennifer Jane went back and reported her findings to Abigail.

“I’ve asked around and it’s only George who’s having problems, while the men who made the stuff all swear it’s damage that couldn’t occur naturally. That and the fact that it all appears to have happened in many different locations overnight, convince me that it’s magic!”

“Could be magic and goblins!” said Abigail.

“I’m going to go to the village just along the road from here. It can’t do any harm and they might be stupid enough to let something slip if they know anything about it.”

A quarter of an hour later she landed on the outskirts of the village and walked rather quickly over to the buildings.

“My name is Jennifer Jane and I want to speak to the oldest goblin please.”

A large stone sailed through the air towards her. She stepped sideways in a blur of motion and hurled a gallon of water at the thrower who was trying to hide behind a bush. As a precaution she was using the accelerator spell, she’d last used in her fight with a witch who had tried to make George pay to use a short cut through the woods. It was a bit of a bother to try and move slowly enough to appear normal, but it was well worth the effort. A small, very wet young goblin was running away from her, howling for his mum.

A goblin her own size stepped out of a door to her left. “That’s very brave of you chucking water at a kid, let’s see how you deal with a real threat.”

“Look I don’t want any trouble; I just want to speak to the oldest goblin!”

The goblin produced a large iron poker from behind his back and swung at her as hard as he could. She was able to avoid him with ease and so far as he was concerned, just disappeared. She went behind him and while he was wondering what had happened, tapped him on the shoulder and said ‘Boo’ loudly.

To his credit he didn’t jump very much but took another swing at her. This time she moved away ten feet in front of him so that he could still see her and while he was trying to work out how she’d managed to avoid him yet again, another goblin came out of the cottage next door.

“Leave her alone you fool. That’s Jennifer Jane just like she said, if you’d taken the trouble to listen. Now go and get the oldest goblin, he lives in the cottage at the end of the street! Sorry miss,” he said, “too stupid for their own good some of ‘em and that’s not just the kids.”

Five minute later, the oldest goblin hobbled along the street towards her, protesting the innocence and good character of everyone in the village.

“We’ve all lived here for years and don’t bother anyone except the occasional passer by and that’s only for fun. We never do them any harm. We’re too far away to go and bother any humans locally, so please just go and leave us in peace and quiet.”

He sounded very convincing, so Jennifer Jane walked back to her scooter and returned to the Witches’ Home. She was quite happy with her progress, as she told Abigail a few minutes after she landed.

“A rather nasty type tried to attack me, which is what you’d expect in that sort of place, but he didn’t seem to recognise my name and had to be told where the eldest goblin’s house was. Yet I’m assured in the next breath that they’ve all lived there for years. I reckon some new ones have turned up and it might well be them causing the trouble.”

“A bit of magic to help them travel about and you could be right,” said Abigail, “although I don’t know how we can prove anything.”

“Well I’m sure they’re too daft not to make mistakes, especially now they think they’ve seen me off. I think there’ll be some more trouble and very soon at that. But I’ve just had an idea and this time we might be able to catch them!”

Abigail grinned, her apprentice was famous for ‘good ideas’ and she was wondering what this one involved.

“We don’t have time to train any, but could you use a homing spell on a group of George’s pigeons and make them come here. If all his carters carry one from now on, then they can let us know almost as soon as any accident occurs. With a bit of luck I should be able to get to the red village before the trouble makers manage to get back.”