Update: name and story patching
Sebbi – now called Rakel
Reason: future story line conflict, better name anyways.
References to Icke and Kool gone.
Reason: I and K have there own separate story, not ogres anymore as well.
Shrek has only two sisters, Instead of three.
Reason: The story already had enough new characters.
Chapter 10 – Strange...
Shrek and is family where enjoying themselves, despite the fact that the party scheduled for tomorrow had to be delayed due to an unseasonably rain storm, the family took the delay with ease. Cearl and Maria decided that the party should take place early next week, once the unusual weather cleared.
No one knew yet about the disappearance of Murdoc and his good friend Lorian, no one in the family gave it much thought of Murdoc's absence. As the days progressed, a few ogres living on the property noticed some unusual events taking place around the premise. At first, no one thought it was out of the norm. It was only after Maria witnessed an odd figure staring at her from the edge of the main lawn one cold dark evening that convinced her that something was out of place. She told a few other ogre's about what she had saw, Maria was surprised to hear that they also saw strange beings wondering the area. She approached Cearl who was relaxing on a hammock and reading the "Duloc Times". Maria's husband was not usually very elaborate and straightforward with his answers.
"Honey, I was wondering if you have seen anything out of the norm."
Maria stood back, not expecting much of an answer.
"Funny you should ask, several other ogres in the area reporting seeing odd figures moving about in the forest and swamps. I don't know what to think about it... probably just the local villagers snooping around as usually. Nothing to get worried about sweaty."
"Well, the other night I was washing snail shells on the main balcony and I saw the most ghostly figure staring at me from the edge of the main law, it sure put a chill down my spine. I think there's more too it than just curious villagers."
"Well whatever "it" is, I'm sure they're just snooping around, what's the big deal anyways?"
"At least with villagers, you know there going to do something dumb, but this is different."
"Look, if it makes you happy, I will send Tayer and Peter to check on all the houses and barns around here."
Maria smiled and kissed Cearl on the forehead.
Early evening was approaching and Fiona was feeling restless. She decided earlier that it was time to get a new look, perhaps something a little more revealing... or not. Whatever the case, she definitely thought that her current attire needed some updating. So who to go for fashion and clothing advice? Fiona need not look any further than Shrek's two attractive sisters: Rakel and Erica. Both of who where always dressed to impress their husbands and anyone else who caste there eyes upon them. Fiona walked through the many halls and rooms inside the main house to get where the two sisters where. She knocked on the door, Erica answered.
"Oh, hello Fiona, what brings you here today?"
"Sorry to disturb you, I want to... you see, I need something new to wear. Could you he-"
"You need some new cloths? You've come to the right place!"
Erica grabbed Fiona by the wrist and tugged her inside; Fiona gave a short grunt in response.
"So what are you looking for today Fiona?"
"I didn't have anything in mind yet, Erica. Perhaps you could tell me what is available?"
Rakel came rushing into the room were Fiona and Erica where in.
"Did I hear someone say they needed help with their look?"
"Rakel, Fiona needs some desperate new attire, get my measuring tape and some coffee, I'm going need it!"
Rakel quickly moved into action and left the room to fetch the supplies. Fiona was stunned at Erica and Rakel interest in fashion.
"Fiona, I'm going to measure you and see what you're like. Then Rakel and I will make a few suggestions, K?"
Fiona just smiled; she knew she was in good hands.
Meanwhile, Cearl had organized Tayer and Peter to go and check out the many houses, barns and abandoned dwellings that where on the property. Cearl sent both of them out around the early evening when all of the ogres from fishing and work where home. Tayer and Peter wondered what Cearl wanted from doing all this.
"What do you think dad is up to Tayer?"
"I don't know, he said he'd tell us when we return back home. He's probably making sure none of the ogres around here are keeping any villagers hostage."
"Your probably right."
Tayer and Peter walked from house to house, barn to barn checking on things and making sure nothing was out of the norm. As the approached Murdoc's house, they noticed the door partly open and a few papers scattered at the front. Peter and Tayer looked at each other for a moment.
"What's this about?"
"I don't know Peter, Looks like Murdoc's messy life again."
Peter approached the slightly opened door and peeked in.
"Murdoc? You in there?"
There was no answer; Peter stepped back for a moment.
"Sure a mess, I'm going to look around."
Peter pulled the door back and stepped into the cluttered bachelor room. It was dark inside, so Peter lit a small torch that he was carrying. As the room lit up, Peter surveyed the mess that was around him. There were papers scattered on the floor, broken dishes laying around, and shattered glass on the tables. "What happened Murdoc?" Peter quietly said to himself. Tayer was waiting outside and didn't bother entering.
"What do you see Peter?"
"Not much, guess Murdoc had somewhere important to go."
Peter walked out of Murdoc's place and said,
"I don't know, probably nothing to worry about. Let's go check out the place by the river."
Peter and Tayer left, no of them suspected anything was out of place at Murdoc's home. None of them gave it a thought that Murdoc was gone or the fact that Lorian was in big danger. Peter was unaware of clues: the turned over table from the struggle, the fight resulting in smashed bottles or the missing weapons that where hanging on the walls.
At Erica and Rakel place, Fiona was reading a book called "How Ogresses Act for dummies" while waiting for Shrek's sisters, who where picking out Fiona's new cloths. Rakel Walked into the room were Fiona was waiting.
"We're finally ready Fiona, we thought about what you would like, and what we thought might look good on you."
"Good Rakel, I was almost ready to fall asleep!"
"No need to sleep, after we set you up with some of these hot new threads, you won't want to take them off!"
Erica grabbed Fiona by the wrist again, tugging her into the next room. In the center of the next room was a long rack filled to each end with all sorts of colorful clothing.
"Were to start? What do you want to wear Fiona?"
"Hmm, let me think Erica, I don't know, perhaps something more spicy?"
"Great! Rakel picked these selections just for that right moment. We also picked out cloths for every occasion as well."
Erica went to one end of the rack and separated a number of selections from the rest.
"Here, try this on."
Erica handed Fiona a red dress that was unusually dark in color. Fiona looked at it for a moment and said, "I don't know, it looks a little tight, but I'll try it on anyways." A few moments later, Fiona appeared with the red dress on. She was feeling comfortable until she looked in the mirror. "Oh my, this dress shows allot of chest, but I do like how it feels. Shrek's going to like this, Erica, put this in the "maybe list."'" Erica handed Fiona several other selections to try on, this time the dress was pink. While Fiona was putting the dress on, all three of them chatted about life.
"So Fiona, how's your old man doing?"
"Good, good Rakel, nothing bad. Sure enjoying being back with his family."
"That's nice to know, doing better than mine anyways."
"What's wrong?"
"Oh, well, my husband Kolli joined this stupid resistant group in some far away place, haven't heard from him in a while."
"Where about exactly?"
"About four thousand miles to the east, Kolli said that he would be staying in a town called StrangeVille. That's all he said before he left three months ago."
"Sorry to hear about it, hope you hear from him soon."
"It's his fault that he's not sending me letters, he said he was going to, but nothing so far. Cearl is thinking of sending over a few ogres to see what Kolli is doing."
"Why did he join in the first place?"
"All he said was that his brethren needed him, he's helping an ogre separatist group that wants to create a so called Ogrestan, go figure…"
"I just hope that your husband returns, or sends something to tell that he is still alive."
"Yeah, but I don't count on it."
"What about you Erica?"
"Fine, my life is going smooth. The only worry I have is my boyfriends Lorian, I haven't heard from him in several days."
"Oh, when did you last see him?"
"The last time I saw him was just before he was going over to see his good friend Murdoc. Perhaps he's just helping Murdoc with something, I don't know."
"Ever thought about going over to Murdoc's place?"
"Thinking about it, but I don't see how it would help, I don't think it's that serious Fiona."
"Your right Erica, probably nothing to worry about."
Fiona put the pink dress on, she looked in the mirror.
"How exquisite! Definitely set this one aside Rakel."
Fiona, Erica and Rakel continued to try out new cloths and chat at the same time. Fiona was feeling more and more part of Shrek's family. She was wondering what the last three days would be like for her and Shrek.
Late evening was quickly approaching; Fiona was already at the guesthouse from a long days visit at Erica and Rakel's place. She was still happy about wearing new cloths and feeling part of Shrek's family. Fiona finally felt accepted, not that she wasn't already.
"So Shrek ho do you like my new cloths?"
Shrek gave a hesitated response,
"Great, great they look fine."
"What is Shrek? Something wrong?"
"No, I'm just thinking about my brother Murdoc... he's so angry at me."
"Well don't pay attention to him; it's not your fault that he is so ill tempered."
Shrek smiled at Fiona.
"Now I am going to have a shower for a while and get out of these new cloths. Then after, we can have fun on the couch, how about it?"
"Sounds fine to me, I'll be waiting."
Shrek decided to kill some time by resting on the couch. Since he had nothing else to do, he thought it might be a good idea to relax. Shrek was very tired; he could hardly keep his eyes open…
Shrek closed his eyes...
Then opened his eyes...
He tried to stay awake, but couldn't...
He closed his eyes again...
The world around him disappeared...
The room was dimly lit, the wind from outside blew through the window curtains and howled in the wind. The full moon glowed brightly in the dark sky. Shrek woke up suddenly with a gasp, he looked around the room, no one was there. It was quite dark inside the guesthouse, the only light came from a small candle on the window ledge. Shrek was stiff and couldn't move from the couch. "Were is Fiona? Hmm, must have gone to bed already." Shrek looked around the room again; there was no sign of Fiona or anyone else. "Why is it so lonely here?" Shrek got up from the couch and walked around the room, no one was there. He then walked to the window and looked out, there was no light coming from the main house. "That's odd, must be late" Shrek stared out the window for a moment, why was nobody here? Shrek felt a cold hand on his shoulder, he quickly turned, but no one was there. A dark cold voice was heard.
"Hello Shrek."
"What? Who's there?"
"You know who I am; I'm in your dreams."
"Who are you?"
"You life is going to change Shrek..."
"What do you mean?"
"Fiona will leave you; your family will drift away..."
"Lies! All lies! Fiona would never do that."
"It's too late, she is already fading, and your family has plans for you."
"What a croc!"
"Don't be so quick to action; you've seen how Fiona looks at you when you're not looking"
An image of Fiona looking at Shrek when he wasn't looking was shown. Another image appeared showing Cearl and Maria looking away from Shrek. Shrek saw the images, but didn't believe them. He looked around, but couldn't see anyone else in the room. The walls of the guesthouse began to blacken.
"Darkness is all around you."
"Come out! Show yourself!"
"Know need to, I'm all around."
"I don't know what you're talking about!"
"You know what I'm talking about. You've seen me walking about in the forest around here, and in the houses."
"What do you want?"
There was no answer, the moon outside faded away, the room disappeared. Shrek was alone, he began to panic and sweat. "Show yourself! I demand it!" No one was there, no one was looking. Shrek felt a cold wind behind him; he slowly turned around, a cold dark figure stand before him.
"Hello Shrek."
The face of the figure came into view, but something was not right, his eyes where black and his. Shrek gasped in terrible fright,
"Murdoc!"
Shrek looked up and saw the face of Murdoc; he jolted from his resting place on the couch and looked away.
"Shrek? What's wrong?"
Shrek looked back and saw that it was Fiona. He starred at her for a moment.
"What's wrong Shrek? You look as if you saw a ghost."
"I..."
Shrek was speechless; it must have been a dream! He felt his sweaty face and hands and thought to himself, "What was I dreaming?"
"Looks like someone had a little rest." Fiona said with a smile.
Shrek, thinking about what Fiona wanted to do earlier, stretch and yawned to wake himself up. It was still dark outside, and the candle was still burning. As Shrek woke up from his rest, he thought it was still late evening, but to his shock, it was early morning! A sudden scared feeling fell over Shrek again, he starred at Fiona again for a moment and pondered...
Was that dream real?
Why was Murdoc here?
Fiona could never think of it...
...Nor my family.
"No, it was just a bad dream."
Fiona was puzzled to why Shrek was starring at her.
"What's wrong Shrek?"
"Oh nothing, nothing, just a dream."
"Well anyways, sorry to wake you up, I just couldn't sleep."
Fiona put her hand on Shrek's shoulder and said,
"Since your up, why don't we take a dip in you parent's mud bath?"
Shrek froze up and said nothing in response. He looked at her with a confused face, his wife's hand on his shoulder felt allot like the one in his dreams. Fiona walked away, as she did; Shrek looked at her and could not help feeling if his dream was real or not. And whether the voices he heard where showing him future events in his life...