The Adventures Of Edwin Groob - Chapter Two

Chapter Two – In Search Of Edwin Groob

Land Of Hark - Far, far away.

The gates opened, a lone figure walked out across the bridge a hood over its head, little drops of rain came down and patted the cloak worn by the figure, making little dark spots visible underneath the torches which lined the bridge. On top of the castle walls the large figure of the man from the balcony earlier looked down on the hooded figure as it scurried along the bridge.

“My heart and soul is now in your hands friend.” The figure whispered.

Darkness had now fallen over the castle, the figure walked quickly over the bridge to a waiting carriage on the other side of the moat. Climbing inside the carriage the figure swept back his hood to reveal an old thin face, short grey hair and a moustache. He opened a book and then peered outside to the coachman sitting atop the carriage.

“Take me to the monastery, as fast as you can I do not have much time,” he ordered in a croaky voice.

The coachman slapped the reigns and they cracked loudly in the dead of the night, the two black stallions whimpered and the carriage jolted off along the bumpy path east away from the castle to the monastery. Inside the carriage the old man flicked through the pages of the leather bound book, until he came to the page he required.

“At last,” he said to himself. “Your time has come to fulfil your destiny.”

The old man studied the page for a moment, a drawing of a fat man in a white buttoned shirt and black trousers held up by braces stared back at him. The cheeks of the man were puffy, he had squinty little eyes and stood in a shop behind a counter surrounded by all sorts of curious things. The old man closed the book and then stared out into the darkness, his face full of sadness.

“Sophie, you poor thing, this day has been feared for so long.” The old man bowed his head and wiped a single tear from his eye. “How long before we arrive?” he shouted up to the coachman, the reply was three bangs on the roof which meant that the old man had enough time to sleep.

Our World – Present Day.

It was a hot day, outside the shop people scurried along the street with bags of shopping in their hands, the sun gleamed down on the high street and the heat was evident because of the types of clothing people wore. Vest tops, t-shirts, shorts, sandals, lots of people were enjoying the weather, except those that had to work.

Set off from the main high street in an arcade full of small buildings was an old shop with black framed frosted window’s, it was two storeys tall and looked crooked compared to the newer shops which stood next to it. A listed building, it could not be demolished and that was good because it gave a certain curious feel to the arcade.
On a weekend day, today was Saturday, the town centre was always busy, it had a old time feel to it and set about one hour north of London it would attract many visitors to the small curious shops that littered the small arcades and alleyways set off from the main roads.

Inside the shop there was a man working, a fat man in a white buttoned shirt and black trousers held up by braces stared back at him. The cheeks of the man were puffy, he had squinty little eyes and stood in the shop behind a counter surrounded by all sorts of curious things.

He was writing down figures in a book to identify what items he had sold during that day, it had been quite a busy day for him with the main sales coming from the strange books set on the wooden shelves to the left of the counter. The shop was quite small, at the most only five or six people would be able to fit inside, but it still made a good business. It sold strange books, fantastic paintings, bizarre clothes, souvenir stones and ornaments, a magical store which people flocked to in their hundreds.

The man behind the counter busily wrote down the figures, he had made good business that day and stopped for a moment to look at his watch, it told him that it was half past five in the afternoon and that it was time to close the shop for the day. Moving slowly round the counter, he wiped the beads of sweat from his forehead and waddled down to the door, as he reached the door he reached out to turn the sign from “Open” to “Close” when suddenly the door burst open causing the edge of the frame to catch the man on the corner of his head. Unable to keep his balance he stumbled back and fell down on to his rear end, his arms flew out to the side and knocked into two rows of clothing which crashed to the floor.

Shaking his head, the fat man lifted his head up and looked at the door, his vision was slightly blurry but he could make out a figure standing in the doorway of his shop, a hand came down and the fat man took hold of it, the figure then lifted him up to his feet.

“Terribly sorry about that, but not a very good place to stand, behind a door,” said the figure.

“Quite, but I was just about to close the shop,” replied the fat man.

“You must be owner?” the figure asked.

“Yes, Edwin Smith,” replied Edwin, rubbing his forehead.

“My name is Kale,” replied the figure, enthusiastically shaking Edwin’s hand.

Gaining his composure, Edwin looked up at the figure, an old man with short grey hair and moustache wearing a dark cloak.

“Bit hot to be wearing a cloak is it not” Edwin asked.

“You think so,” replied Kale.

Edwin peered outside through the open shop doorway and to his amazement the hot weather had disappeared and had been replaced by a driving wind and rain which swept through the arcade, those people who had worn their summer clothes dived for cover.

“How strange?” Edwin replied.

“Amazing how the weather can change in an instant, isn’t it?” Kale closed the shop door and took hold of a chair, offering it to Edwin.

“Thank you,” Edwin nodded to Kale and took a seat, still rubbing his head.

“I say, you have a nasty bump there, would you like me to put something on it?” Kale asked.

“No, I mean no thank you. I was just closing.”

“Yes you did mention that.” Kale wandered off away from Edwin to look around the shop.

“Is there anything I can help you with?”

Kale stood in front of the bookcase and gazed along the rows of strange and exotic books which lined the shelves, his eyes lit up and he smiled to himself.

“The Chronicles Of Hark,” he whispered.

Edwin rose from his seat and joined Kale in front of the bookcase, he looked the old man up and down, although it was raining outside he was as dry as a bone.

“You have read these books?” Edwin asked.

“I suppose you could say that, although I must say my favourite books are The Groob Tales or The Legend Of The Spellmaster.”

“So you have read these books.” Edwin had a puzzled look on his face. “But I have never seen you in this shop before and as far as I am aware I am the only person who stocks these books?”

“Quite, dear boy, your quite right.”

Kale turned away from the bookcase, bent down and lifted the racks of clothing up off the floor and stood them back in their right position, he then proceeded to wander over to the beautifully decorated ornaments lined up in glass shelving along the opposite wall. Edwin turned and gazed at this strange man, scratching his head slightly.

“Come to think of it, your name is very familiar, but I just can’t quite place it.” Edwin stated.

“Really, that is a strange thing, isn’t it?”

“Is there...I mean, can I help you? As I said I was just about to close.”

“Yes you were.” Kale just gazed at the ornaments on the shelves. “Do you ever read the books that you sell?”

“I do not have time, some of them do not stay on my shelf long enough for me to read them. They are very popular.”

“I am sure they are, but you have not read one single story from the pages of these books?” Kale looked over his shoulder awaiting the reply.

“Not one single page.”

“Excellent,” Kale smiled and returned to look at the ornaments.

Just then a figure approached the shop door from outside and pulled down on the handle, there was a clunk and the door refused to open so the figure walked away. Edwin walked over to the door, it was locked and the closed sign was now hanging in the window.

“How did...how did, I...that is strange.” Edwin was very puzzled.

“I thought you said you were closing?”

“I was.”

“Excellent.”

Edwin slowly turned and walked over to Kale, again he looked the old man up and down but Kale refused to look back, instead he just scanned the ornaments.

“Is there anything I can help you with?” Edwin asked.

Kale spun quickly round to look into Edwin’s eyes, his cloak caused a gust of breeze which made Edwin’s hair flutter.

“I thought you was never going to ask, dear boy.”

“What is it you would like?”

“Your help and a little imagination if you don’t mind?”

Edwin put his hair back into place and stared back at Kale very confused, he shook his head and then walked over to the counter.

“This is all very weird and your making no sense at all.” Edwin said, very puzzled.

“The only thing which makes sense is that what we understand, so when it does not make sense then we require some imagination.”

“You see, there you go again. I am sorry old man but unless there is something you wish to buy then I must ask you to leave as I still have much work to do.”

“Quite, how rude of me. I would like to purchase that ornament of an eagle and a book please.”

“Which book, we have many.” Edwin was started to get a little frustrated now.

“The Legend Of The Spellmaster.”

“I thought you said you had read that?”

“Quite but I would like to read it again.”

Edwin took the ladder which allowed him to gain access to the higher part of the book shelf and pulled down a brown covered book, he placed this on the counter and then made his way over to the ornaments and gently took the large figure of an eagle perched on an ice covered mountain top. Taking some tissue paper he gently wrapped the eagle up and then placed the book inside a small paper bag. He looked up to take payment from the old man and saw him disappearing out of the shop door.

“Excuse me!” Edwin shouted.

Moving from behind the counter he ran to the door, which was now unlocked and ran into the arcade, the rain had stopped and the sun was now beaming down again. Edwin looked left and right but could not see the old man anywhere, so he went back into the shop locked the door, double checked it and then turned the open sign to close. He walked back to the counter so that he could put the items back where they belonged and saw a hand written note on the counter.

“Thank you for the items I shall send somebody to collect them tomorrow with payment, good day to you Edwin SMITH and I look forward to our paths crossing again.”

Edwin scratched his head and then moved the items to one side of the counter so he could continue writing his numbers down in his sale book. He paused for a moment and then looked at the note.

“Why is my surname in capital letters?” Edwin moved the piece of paper to one side and then looked up at the bookcase. “That name, Kale, it sounds familiar,” he shrugged his shoulders and continued to write.

Down from the arcade Kale stood in an alleyway, he had placed his hood back over his head and was talking to a small man dressed in red.

“Make sure you collect the girl, the pendant must be kept safe and hidden from view.” Kale said.

“I understand, but how do I get the Groob to come with us?” asked the figure in red.

“Do not worry about that, leave that part to me.”

Both men began to whisper, then after a short time they shook hands and left each other’s company going in different directions.