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.
By the time Froglip had finished his story, Irene looked blank. "I killed him," she whispered.
His ears perked up in surprise. "No!"
"I killed him!" she exclaimed, covering her face with both hands. "It's all my fault! I told them he provided us sanctuary, and they killed him!"
"Exactly! They killed him! Not you!" He pulled her wrists away, held them both in one hand, and held her cheek with the other. "Irene, it was not your fault. You couldn't have known what they would have done. It's not your fault."
"It is," she sniffled, tears running down her cheeks. "But I won't let his death be in vain. Froglip... please take me away from here. There's nothing here for me, and they'll be after me for the rest of my life."
"We're leaving here," he nodded, letting her arms go and taking her hand in his. "All of us. We're going to Skewer Summit."
"Wh-Skewer Summit?!" she exclaimed, grasping the wrist of the hand that was still on her cheek. "Why there?!"
"It's far away from here, and it's large enough to house us all. It was previously inhabited by goblins, so it's livable. It's by the river, which runs through the mountain, so we can probably direct the water to us. And it's dependable against intruders." His ears tilted downwards, and he asked gently, "Will you be comfortable with that?"
Before she could answer, there was a loud rumbling. It sounded like it was coming both through the tunnel and from above ground. The ground was shaking as well, and a few clumps of dirt and tiny pebbles fell from the ceiling.
"Earthquake!" Angelica exclaimed as Froglip held Irene close to him. They had both forgotten that she was with them as he explained his journey.
Then, the cart-pulling creature came running down the tunnel as fast as it could, dragging the cart behind it. It was empty of rocks, and instead held some of the goblins that had accompanied Froglip. Sitting at the head of the cart was Glump, who looked terrified. "Run!" he screamed, pulling a lever so the cart stopped beside them. The creature nearly fell on its face, and it struggled to catch its breath. "The tunnel's collapsing!"
Acting quickly, Froglip hoisted Irene and Angelica onto the cart,. "Get them down the tunnel!" he shouted. "I'll dig out the ceiling and see what's going on above-ground! I don't think this is merely an earthquake!"
"I'm staying with you!" Irene announced.
"No you're not!" he growled.
"Yes I am!" she protested, jumping back down off of the cart. "I lost you once, I'm not going to lose you again!"
Groaning, Froglip shoved the cart and shouted, "Go, now!"
Glump released the lever and called for the creature to charge. It took off down the tunnel, taking the cart and its occupants with it.
Glaring at Irene, Froglip told her to stand back. He took his spear off of his back and shoved it at the ceiling above them. It wasn't too high—the tips of his ears brushed against it when they were relaxed—and he was able to dig through it quickly. He hoisted Irene up through it. She grabbed handfuls of grass and pulled herself out. He jumped up, grabbed the edge, and she pulled him out.
Once they were both standing in the grass, they looked back where they had been walking away from. What they saw horrified and scared them both.
They had hadn't gone far enough down the tunnel to where the castle had disappeared. They could still see it, and they could see that it was collapsing. The ground looked like a giant mouth had opened beneath it and was swallowing it whole. Large pieces of stone were falling from the towers and walls. Half of it fell off of the cliff and into the fog below.
In a matter of minutes, all that remained were a few tiny stone towers. The cliff it once sat on looked like something celestial had taken a bite out of it. The rumbling ceased as well, leaving the air and ground eerily still and silent.
For several seconds, Froglip and Irene both said nothing. They simply stared at where the castle once was. They could think of nothing to say.
"... It's gone," she finally said in a tiny voice. She collapsed on her knees, still staring at her former home. "It's all gone." Her breath started to become shaky, and she was shivering despite the air not being very cold.
"Shhh," he purred, sitting beside her and drawing her into his arms. He held her head against his chest. In seconds, she was sobbing and clinging to him as if he would disappear. He simply stared at the ruined castle in utter shock. What had happened? Surely that little tunnel hadn't caused that much damage.
It was then he realized something: not all of the goblins had made it out of there. He had told them that they were to block the fork that lead into their former home and join them in the main tunnel. He had been too focused on getting Irene past the point that they would block it from the Sun-People to see if they were all there. But he knew that they all couldn't have fit on the cart, and there had still been room for more.
"Irene, we have to go," he said, standing up and taking her with him.
"No," she moaned, shaking her head against him.
"Irene, we can't stay here. They'll be looking for us, and we're alone and vulnerable. We need to leave."
She still didn't move, so he had no choice but to lift her up. She wriggled in his arms like a worm on a rock, and punched him in the chest, but he still held her tight against himself. He marched away from the castle and in the direction the tunnel had been going. Despite the rumbling and shaking being long done, he didn't trust the impromptu tunnel to not collapse on them, especially the way Irene was flailing about. So he walked.
She stopped trying to get him to drop her after several minutes, and simply lay mute in his arms. Every now and then, she would sniffle or rub at her eyes. But she mostly stared forward in silence, laying her ear against him. The fur on his cloak swayed as she breathed in and out. She could see the sun reflecting off of the golden necklace.
Every few hours, they would stop so he could rest his legs and arms. After the first break, she began walking on her own, staying next to him. She still remained silent, but he didn't try to make conversation. He let her grieve for her home.
In the meantime, he thought about his own home. It was far enough away from the castle to where it wouldn't have been affected by the collapse. But then again, nature often dealt cruel hands to innocents. Or sub-innocents, as it were. At any rate, he would never see home again. He didn't even get a chance to see where his parents had been buried, to tell them that Dirtclaw had paid for his crimes, and that he would be a king that they could be proud of. To tell them how sorry he had been for being such a spoiled brat, and that he wished he could have seen them one last time.
They barely stopped for food or drink. When he tried to offer Irene berries, she either pushed his hand away or didn't react at all. He didn't think she slept much either, since she was looking more and more haggard as the days went by. And it all started to worry him severely.
Finally, by the eve of the second day, he put his foot down. "Irene, I've been patient, but this has gone on long enough!"
She barely reacted to his rant, but he continued, "Your home is gone! Your people are gone! Ye'th, it'th awful, but what about my home?! My people?! I don't know how many th'urvived! But do you th'ee me moping about?! You need to be th'trong! For yourth'elf, and for Angelica! She'th with the reth't of the goblin'th right now, and they don't like her. They don't approve of... half-blood'th."
This got her attention. "Why?" she asked. Her voice sounded croaky, as she hadn't spoken for the last nearly three days.
"It's obvious, isn't it? Goblins hate Sun-People, and so it's a great insult for them to have children with them. If you're going to live with us, you'll be hearing all sorts of nasty things from them about her... You do want to live with us—with me, don't you?"
When she finally looked at Froglip, he looked like his heart was going to break any minute. He looked terrified that she would say no, she didn't want to live with him; she didn't want anything to do with him ever again, and that she didn't want to see him ever again. He looked terrified that he would lose her again.
She realized in that moment that yes, he did see her in the same light as she saw him.
"... I do," she nodded, watching as a weight seemed to be lifted off of his shoulders. "It will be hard, but I do. I've realized that I've done a great crime to my people, more so than simply befriending you, or even abandoning my kingdom for revenge."
"And what's that crime?"
"... I've fallen in love with you."
His curious expression turned to one of utter affection. She had seen this face when they were dancing, but it was even stronger now. He cradled her face with his hands and laid his forehead against hers. "I'm sorry for snapping at you-"
"-No, you're right. I need to be strong from here on out. I'll be in dangerous territory... but I'll have you by my side, right?
"Always." He tilted his head and kissed her. "Which reminds me, I have something to ask of you."
"What?" she asked. She had an idea of what he would ask, but it almost seemed like too much of a fantasy. But the thought made butterflies flood her stomach regardless.
"I... I don't know how Sun-People do this," he admitted, looking quite bashful. He stepped back, adjusted his hood nervously, and took both her hands in his. "But Irene... I've been thinking about this for the past few weeks, ever since I realized my feelings for you. And I've been wanting to ask you ever since I decided that I would rescue you. So... will you let me court you?"
Irene giggled at the sight of the nervous goblin prince–king. She reminded herself that he was a king now. She had seen the way he commanded the goblins, and had even heard them call him "Your Majesty" while blocking the tunnel. But at any rate, she was so used to Froglip being confident, if not a bit arrogant, that it amused her to see him so nervous about courtship.
"Of course, my king," she purred, jumping forward and wrapping her arms around his neck. He laughed and hugged her back as he fell on his backside in the dirt.
They stayed this way for the rest of the night, separating only to start a fire and find food. Irene was ravenous after not eating during her grief, and ate meat, berries, and even insects. "I've grown rather fond of them," she shrugged as Froglip gaped at her slurping up a worm. "And besides, if I'm going to live with goblins, I'll have to learn their ways, right?"
"Right," he chuckled, pulling her to him so she laid back against his chest between his legs.
They spent the rest of the night either sitting in silence or talking, telling each other stories from both childhood and legends. By the time the fire had died out, they were wrapped in each others arms and deep in dreamland.
