A bedtime story for brave girls and boys as well. Highly recommended for squirrel fans of all ages ;-)
Life can change in an instant, just a blink of an eye. But what do you do when everything you know and love suddenly changes, and you find yoursel...
The wizard's three goblins left Crystal Mountain before dawn and walked day and night to reach Blue Mountain as quickly as possible. However, they had to slow down several times because the path along the ancient rock formations was weathered down. Despite this, Ivan, Igor, and Gregor were experienced goblins who knew how to navigate treacherous passages by tiptoeing along wet stones with their elongated toes. They had learned traditional goblin crafts of shaping stone and forging metal from their fathers and grandfathers, having lived in damp caves beneath the mountains during their youth.
Maybe because of this, their physical appearances were very similar to each other and their forefathers. They were short and squat, no taller than a barrel, but made up for it in resilience, with broad shoulders, thick legs, and infinite inner strength. They had only little hair and their skin was scarred and cracked. They had long, nimble fingers that danced across metal and stone, even though their hands were calloused from wielding hammers and other tools. They avoided the sun and had nocturnal natures as their pale skin and eyesight were adapted to the shadowy depths of their caves. Their twisted faces showed no warmth and kindness, and they had no compassion, were impervious to the suffering of others, and dismissed charity as foolish sentimentality. Unyielding as the mountains, they always thought about their wealth and did not care much about their appearance. Their faces were adorned with warts and sunken cheeks, etched with lines of bitterness and disdain. They had grey elongated ears that pointed downward and twitched at the slightest sound. Their hooked noses seemed to point accusingly at the world as if they sniffed out misery with every breath. They had piercing eyes that cut through pretense and darkness. Glowing like malevolent embers, they were ever watchful for intruders, as they were always worrying about somebody trying to steal their treasures. They were clad in tattered rags while wearing helms and armor scavenged from fallen foes.
Ivan was the most traditional. He still had secret vaults of his own deep down in hidden tunnels of the Crystal Mountain, which he loved guarding and counting his gold coins. While Igor and Gregor were a little less traditional, because they trusted the goblin bank with their treasures, as most goblins did by then. The bank offered shiny little coin viewers that goblins loved carrying around to show off their wealth and compare their coin count with each other. Many people used this method to compare their wealth with others and this often led to envy and jealousy. However, they still couldn't resist the temptation to do it at every opportunity. Because they were always worried that someone might have more or might be getting closer to their level. It didn't matter how much they had, envy and greed made them always want more.
The goblins had accepted the wizard's mission enthusiastically as they saw it as a great opportunity to enrich themselves. Searching for precious stones was an honorable goblin tradition, and keeping the most precious ones for themselves was a part of it. Their eyes were sparkling, as they were already thinking about their future treasure troves. When the wizard told them to extract those precious stones from Blue Mountain by any means, they thought all the better.
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On the third day in the early morning, they finally arrived at Blue Mountain, which towered above Milyza's village. They immediately started looking for the precious stones, which they expected to find in abundance below the rocky ground. They had lots of dynamite and little time, so they decided to blow several holes into the mountain and then continue with the most promising ones. Ivan brought a map that he had used to indicate to Igor where he had to make small holes and put dynamite inside. Gregor wired up all the dynamite and connected it to a small detonator box that he held firmly in his hands. Now all three of them were hiding safely behind a huge rock further up the mountain when Ivan shouted with his commanding voice that provoked obedience and fear: "Fire in the hole!" Gregor pushed down the handle of the detonator box, and all the dynamite exploded simultaneously with a big bang. The ground trembled, the dry grass caught fire, and some of the older trees split in half and fell. While the wild animals fled as fast as they could.
