The original Princess and the Goblin story is owned by George MacDonald, and the movie by Entertainment Film Distributions and Budapest Film. Any unrecognized characters are mine.

Sunlight beamed through the leaves of the forest trees, leaving spots of sunlight scattered across the ground, and on the three beings still asleep in a large tree. Irene leaned back against the tree, with her hands folded on her lap, and Curdie was right next to her, arms folded behind his head. Froglip was further down the branch and away from them, uncomfortably hunched down and with crossed arms. A long rope was tied around their waists and to the tree.

Froglip was the first one to awaken, being more sensitive to light than his Sun-Peopl "companions". He straightened his back with a groan and a crack, and rubbed at his eyes with his fists. Finally blinking them open, he yawned and cracked his back again, sighing and scratching at his hair. "Up and at 'em, Sun-Boy and Sun-Princess!" he exclaimed, stretching his arms into the air.

Curdie and Irene stirred in their sleep and slowly woke up, yawning and stretching as well. Irene nearly forgot where she was, but the previous night's events came back quickly to her. "Froglip, go on and untie yourself and climb down. Curdie and I will do so as well," she said sleepily, combing down her ruffled-up hair.

Grunting in reply, Froglip was able to untie the rope from around his waist, and climbed down to the ground. He wandered around the area a bit to stretch his legs, and adjusted his clothes and itched at his still-bandaged arm as he did so. His ears twitched back as his "companions" jumped down to the ground, and he heard a surprised cry. He turned in time to see the Sun-Boy help the Sun-Princess to her feet, and smirked at the grass stains on her knees. "The real world is a scary place, eh, Sun-Princess?"

She simply glared at him. "Well, which way now? Since you lost us our horses, we'll have to walk," Curdie huffed.

"Need I remind you, Sun-Boy, that I essentially saved us last night?" the goblin lisped, quirking his eyebrow. "If they had seen the horses, they would have found us easily, even despite Sun-People's absolutely horrid night vision. And then we would have been well and truly—"

"—Let's not start another argument, please?" Irene interrupted, rolling up the rope and stuffing it back into her bag. "Curdie's right; since we'll be walking, we should probably get going soon. Which way, Froglip?"

Sniffing indignantly, Froglip glanced around the area, to regather his bearings, until nodding in the direction they had been riding the previous night before stopping. "This way," he announced before striding off in that direction.

"Wait, what about breakfast?" she asked.

"You wanted to get going, Sun-Princess," he shrugged, turning so he was walking backwards. "If you still have food in that bag, go ahead. Otherwise, there are berries in bushes to grab at. Just don't grab the poisonous ones." He let out a chuckle as if what he stated was something obvious.

She blinked in shock. "Wh-which ones are poisonous?"

But by this time, Froglip was walking forward again, and either didn't hear her or simply ignored her. "Curdie?" she asked in a small voice.

Frowning after the goblin as they hurried to catch up, he smiled kindly at Irene and said, "Most edible berries are black and blue. Avoid red and white ones; especially white ones."

"Not all black and blue berries are edible," Froglip called back over his shoulder. "And there are some edible red berries as well."

Curdie rolled his eyes and continued, "All right, blackberries are the easiest. They are black in color, and look like tiny little orbs stuck together in a berry about this big." He held up a finger and thumb a small distance apart. "And they taste sweet, if not a bit tart. And of course, there are blueberries, which are obviously blue in color, and appear to have stars at the end of the fruits."

"I do enjoy blueberries," Irene nodded.

Froglip rolled his eyes as the Sun-Boy told the Sun-Princess about different berries that were either edible or inedible. It was astonishing that she hadn't been taught which berries were able to be eaten, and which were poisonous. Did Sun-People not think this was necessary knowledge? He himself had been taught this when he was small, years ago.

A memory flashed before his eyes of Suevite taking him, when he was very young, outside the tunnels during the night and showing him the various berries. She had lectured him about what berries to eat and what to avoid earlier that day, and instructed him to bring back the berries they talked about and eat the edible ones. He had accidentally eaten one inedible one, but luckily only got extremely sick. She told him this was a harsh lesson to be learned

At the time, he was greatly confused about why he should identify edible berries, stating that goblins ate meat and bugs, and wouldn't ever need "puny berries", as he called them. Suevite simply said it was for survival. He didn't understand it at the time, but when he was living on his own for the past ten years, he understood very well, and actually came to like the small fruits—though if you asked him, he would deny it.

His heart clenched at the memory of his mother. It seemed like so long ago that she and his father had been killed, even though it had only been a few days prior. There were still times when he would wonder when they would send Glump to try and get him back home, only to remember that they never would again. And for some reason, that made it all hurt even more.

Sighing sharply and rubbing at his chest, Froglip distracted himself by looking around, as they continued to walk through the forest, for a long, strong piece of wood. In all of the commotion of his parents' murder and him being captured by the Sun-People, he had left his spear back in his cave. He still had the spearhead—he remembered the Sun-Princess taking it out of his hand and putting it in her bag the night prior—so he wouldn't need a stone; just a piece of wood, and maybe even some of the Sun-Princess's rope, or simply some fibers. If he was to face off against Dirtclaw, he wasn't going to do it without a weapon, especially one that he was already experienced in.

"How do you know about Dirtclaw?" Irene asked Curdie, brushing some hair behind her ear. Some of it stayed, and some of it fell loose again.

"I've heard stories," he answered, kicking a stone aside as they walked. "Stories of a great black wolf, with wings like that of a dragon, and scars covering his body. He's known to attack people when they aren't looking, and drink their blood."

"Froglip and Glump did say he enjoyed drinking blood. But I hadn't known if it included human."

"Well, it's more than just drinking blood. That's not what makes him so dangerous. He's brutal, but he seems to... enjoy it. I haven't heard many stories where he killed for sport—mostly for food or if someone opposes him—but when he does... he's said to look insane, as if he's relishing in the act... I'm sorry for scaring you."

"No, it-it's all right," she shook her head, despite feeling quite nervous about the idea of meeting Dirtclaw again. She already knew he was a force to be reckoned with, but upon hearing more about him, she was starting to feel anxious about this trip.

Wolves traveled in packs. Even if he was on his own when she met him, who was to say he didn't have a pack somewhere else? At Skewer Summit, even. He even seemed like the kind of wolf who would be leader of a pack. And the idea that he had a pack made him even more dangerous, since wolves could be unpredictable; especially ones that didn't speak the same language as humans and goblins.

"Sun-Princess?"

Her head shot up at Froglip's voice. She realized she had stopped walking during her inner thoughts, and Curdie and Froglip were far ahead of her. Both were looking back at her, concerned and curious respectively. "Are we still going?" the goblin asked, quirking an eyebrow.

"... Y-yes," she nodded, starting to walk again.

"Are you sure, Irene?" Curdie asked, laying a hand on her back and walking alongside her. Froglip stayed still, actually letting them catch up. "I mean, I won't think any less of you if you wish to go back home."

"No, but I would," she answered solemnly. "I made a promise that I would see Dirtclaw die, and I am going to fulfill that promise."

"Not to mention our truce," Froglip added, leading the way again and still looking for material for a spear.

Irene nodded. "Besides, we've gone this far," she said, glancing back the way they had been walking, seeing nothing but trees in their wake, "it would be foolish to go back now. Besides, everyone will think I'm crazy if I go back with nothing to prove my journey."

Curdie said nothing else as they continued through the woods. If he agreed or disagreed, he didn't say anything. Glancing at Irene, he decided to change the subject, "I don't remember your necklace having feathers and petals."

"Grandmother gave me them," she answered with a soft smile, touching the mentioned decorations. "She said they will give me protection."

"Like your thread?"

"Something similar, yes."

Froglip didn't comment on their story, though he did pull a confused expression at their talk of the Sun-Princess's grandmother, feathers and petals, and thread. Sun-People are so strange, he thought to himself, shaking his head.

As of this chapter, I've changed part of the story after talking it over with one of my good friends. Originally, in this chapter, Turnip and Grazzlegritch (the blue goblin cat from the original film) would have joined in the journey. Their little "side-story" would have revealed that they visited each other in the past ten years, they both later learn about Froglip being sentenced to death, and Turnip witnesses the king's death and overhears about Irene's plan to travel to Skewer Summit with Froglip. Eventually, both cats would have joined the journey with their owners. However, upon thinking about it, I realized that the cats didn't really contribute much to the plot that couldn't be rewritten as if they weren't in at all, and that they added a bit too much "childishness" to the story that I think would have been out of place, if that makes sense. So, they've been written out of the story, though they will be mentioned throughout, as originally intended. As such, some chapters might be tricky to rewrite (this one being a prime example, which is why it's so short) but I'll do my best.