Author´s note: Finally the third chapter. Enjoy!
I DO NOT OWN ANY CHARACTER! Except the dragoyles which are mine.
"We´ve been flying for hours…" Arthur said scratching his head. "Let´s rest a little."
Dragon nodded and began to descend to a small hill near a forest. Already there, Arthur sat beside Dragon and rested his back on her side. "I don´t know Dragon, I´m afraid this is going to end terrible if I don´t do anything but I don´t know either if I can face Rumpelstiltskin and his horde of dragon people and witches." Arthur sighed. "What if we don't find Shrek in time?"
Dragon growled worried.
Meanwhile, somewhere else, not far where Arthur and Dragon were, Sarkanand and Soek were flying through the forest. A heavy growling could be heard from Sarkanand´s stomach.
"Taru told you to eat when you had the chance, Sarky." Soek said landing on a tree.
"I know." Sarkanand sighed. "But I wasn't hungry at that moment."
"You can´t even concentrate on your work if you are in that condition!"
Sarkanand landed on another tree and hanged upside down with her tail wrapped on a thick tree branch. She started to look for small animals to pass by the tree so she could catch at least a small rabbit to satisfy her hunger. Through the forest, the awful singing of someone was heard and it was moving close to where the young dragoyles were.
"Shh! Someone's coming!" Soek said climbing on the tree.
"If we´re going to steal them, I hope they have food at least." Sarkanand huffed.
The small figure of an animal moved eagerly on the road. Sarkanand and Soek were watching carefully from the trees and without making any sound, they started to follow the critter as it was dancing and singing without noticing their presence.
"That donkey looks so mouthwatering..." Sarkanand whispered to Soek. "Gosh I´m so hungry, I can´t stand it anymore!"
"Calm down or he´ll hear you!" Soek gave Sarkanand a little nudge.
Donkey tilted his ears and stopped singing. "Hm..." He turned around and was shocked after seeing the figure of Sarkanand who was about to pounce on him. Luckily for him, Sarkanand failed as he started running desperately. "HEELP! HELP ME!" He screamed. "A big ugly monster is trying to eat me for lunch!"
Back where Arthur and Dragon where, they heard the screams and they saw Donkey burst out of the bushes. He was splattered by some berries and with mud and his hair was a mess.
"Dragon, babe! Artie! I´m happy to see you two!" Donkey said hiding behind Arthur.
"Donkey? What happened? What are you doing here?"
"I was just having a walk around here and I was planning to go visit my babe Dragon when these two monsters started chasing me!" Donkey said almost out of air. "They were UGLY! With big teeth and wings!"
Dragon growled embracing Donkey up and started to kiss him.
"Wings?"Arthur said. "And they looked like people?"
"I don't know. I could barely see them."
From the forest, Sarkanand and Soek jumped out of the same bushes Donkey came out from. They stopped in front of Arthur and started growling standing on four legs.
"So this is the kid." Soek said.
"Leave us alone, beasts!" Arthur said as Dragon growled with a menacing pose.
"Beasts! BEASTS! I´m tired of being called like that!" Soek covered his ears and cringed sitting on the ground.
"Don´t listen to him, Soek." Sarkanand placed a hand on his shoulder. "Mister Stiltskin will stop this cruelty soon."
"What cruelty?" Arthur said confused. "You are the ones who started all the troubles in our kingdom."
Sarkanand gave an angry glare at Arthur and walked close to him. "You humans don´t understand our situation. For ages, we dragoyles have been treated as the monsters you think we are. Oh but why should I tell you the whole story? You people never listen..." She said with a snarl.
"No, no wait! I don't understand... you mean you are err... good?"
"We don't see things as good or evil, we just try to fit in societies like yours. But as always people feel afraid of what is different." Sarkanand looked at Dragon who was as confused as Arthur and Donkey. "You dragon, I see you finally get along with people, don't you?"
Dragon opened her eyes wide and whined as she nodded.
"I have no idea how could that happen but that´s not the point now..." Sarkanand added. "How was your life before it happened? Before people knew you well? Let me guess, attacked by knights and feared by villagers who saw you even if you were just having a walk? Hm? All the dragons I´ve met had this kind of life, I´m sure you had it too."
Dragon whined again and lowered her head. Donkey and Arthur looked at each other astonished.
"Well, uhm... I´m sorry to hear that."
"A single 'I´m sorry' won't solve anything."
"No, I´m honest! Listen, I might solve this problem. We just need to, you know, talk about it and think of a way to let you dragoyles... dragoyles right?"
"Enough talking!" Soek yelled. "Let´s get the kid!"
Sarkanand stopped Soek and glared at Arthur again. "It´s hard for me to trust a human, but you seem to be a good person. Kind hearted, still young, still innocent..."
"Are you kidding me?" Soek whispered at Sarkanand. "Even the young ones can have the darkest heart!"
Sarkanand rolled her eyes and pushed Soek away. "Please, excuse us a moment..." She pulled Soek by the tail and grabbed his ear. "Just do the same as I do, if we make this kid trust us, our work would be easier, get it?" She whispered. "We must find a way to make this kid take us to that ogre, Shrek..."
"Oh yes, yes!" Soek nodded.
"I don't like this Artie..." Donkey whispered to Arthur. "You really trust these creatures?"
"They have a point, Donkey. They are misunderstood creatures like Shrek or Dragon..."
"But they were about to turn me into Donkey-sandwich! Or Kendukey Fried Donkey!"
"Calm down Donkey, I know what I´m doing."
"Well, Sir Arthur... Soek and I agree to accept your... deal." Sarkanand said pulling Soek back by the tail.
"Eh, good!" Arthur said. "Uhm what do you need? I mean, is there something I can do for you, as a first request?"
"Well..." Sarkanand said with a fake innocent tone. "We were heading to the swamp, we heard that´s one of the famous places of Far far away and we wanted to visit that place. But we got kinda lost and started to get hungry, then this little donkey appeared and well, instinct, you know."
Donkey lowered his ears and hid behind Arthur as Sarkanand stared at him firmly with a big grin on her face.
"Errright... so we can help you get there! Right guys?"
Dragon nodded happily and Donkey smiled nervously.
"Thank you, Sir Arthur. Oh by the way, you have something to eat? I´m starving."
"Uhm... let´s see if we can catch a bunny, ok?"
Meanwhile, in Far far away, the castle was being reconstructed according to Rumpel´s design he wanted. But he didn't want white and gold details now, he thought they were too bright. With the help of the witches' taste in color, they decided to make the castle have red, black and purple tones with some golden details. Make it look more intimidating. Red curtains and carpets, black walls outside and purple inside and golden details everywhere, to make the castle have a shiny feeling at least.
Expert dragoyle tailors designed Rumpel's royal clothes with the same colors of his castle. Long, black socks, black shoes and a coat. A red blouse and a purple waistcoat. The coat had some gold decorations, two long and tails and a tall collar that covered his neck. Rumpel felt with more power this time. Of course, he didn´t forget to redesign the main hall as a disco with a big sphere made of diamonds and crystal to make the lights reflect on it and make an awesome ambiance at night when the party was on.
A group of tall female dragoyles with wizard-like robes walked towards Rumpel who was sitting on his new throne. One of them, the one who was leading the other three dragoyles behind her, had a long box on her hands.
"Your majesty." The dragoyles bowed. "We are dragoyles specialized on magic and as a sign of our gratitude, we want to give you this scepter we made specially for you."
"OH! Thank you very much!" Rumpel said taking the box. He opened it and inside there was a scepter with a golden lion head with a red orb inside its mouth. "Wow, it´s pretty!" He said.
"This scepter will allow you to have unlimited magic power only you can use. Its red orb allows you to cast magic spells over anything you want."
"Oh GREAT!" Rumpel said enthusiastically. "You mean I can do anything? All the magic I want?"
"Of course." The dragoyle nodded. "But it doesn't mean this scepter is indestructible. If the orb is destroyed, you´ll lose all your powers and any spell done previously will be undone."
"Hm, I get it." Rumpel scratched his head. "Oh but as far as I have it, nothing bad will happen." He laughed.
"Why don't you try using it?" Another dragoyle said. "Think of anything you want, shoot at something and then see the result."
Rumpel stood thoughtful for a moment, looking around to find a good target. A small rat that managed to go inside the castle ran in front of Rumpel. With a fast swing of his arm, he shot a ball of white energy right at the rat, trapping it inside a big rock of ice. Rumpel stood astonished after seeing what he had done.
"Amazing!" He said.
"It was a pleasure to serve you, your majesty." The dragoyles bowed and walked away.
Griselda and other two witches saw the little scene and looked at each other.
"Those pesky beasts are starting to bother me. They think they are better than us! With their fancy magial objects and cheap dragon appearances."
"Griss, calm down, I don't think it´s bad." One of the witches said. "Look on the bright side! They do the entire job while we enjoy the pleasures of being powerful!"
"Yeah." The other witch said. "Don't tell me you are jealous."
"I´m not jealous! I feel like useless, you know."
"Oh yeah." Both witches said. "You are known to be a hard working person."
"But don't think that way! If Rumpel told us he wanted our help is because he has special plans for us, taking care of the castle and the prisoners or something."
Griselda lowered her head. "Maybe you´re right about that, but there is something I still dislike about those dragoyles..."
The other two witches sighed and rolled their eyes. "Come on. We must prepare the dining room for tonight's special feast to celebrate Rumpel's victory."
"It's getting late. I hope we arrive to the swamp before it gets dark." Arthur said stretching his back after being flying for hours on Dragon's back.
"Artie, I gotta tell you something about those things." Donkey said. "I still don't trust them."
"Come on Donkey, you heard them. They are just misunderstood creatures. Imagine if I said the same thing about Dragon. No offence."
Dragon growled affirmatively.
Sarkanand and Soek were flying right behind Dragon, somewhat close to her tail. As the night was falling, their eyes glowed like lamps in a dark room. Donkey´s hair was bristled when he turned around and saw the intimidating look on the dragoyles' eyes.
Finally, the swamps could be seen from above where Arthur, Donkey, Dragon and the dragoyles were. They landed close to Shrek´s house. The lights were still shining inside out the windows and voices could be heard. Shrek´s family was still awake. Arthur saw Sarkanand and Soek land on a place a little far from where Dragon landed. They lightened a small bonfire and sat on some tree trunks that were on the floor.
He and Donkey walked towards Shrek´s house and stopped before they reached the door. Arthur tried to organize his ideas before he said something stupid. He was going to tell Shrek about the attack on the castle. The main subject was Rumpelstiltskin and the witches. The dragoyles only wanted help but went with the wrong person. So what Arthur needed was help to stop Rumpelstiltskin and help to... help the dragoyles. Ok, done! He reached the door and knocked a couple of times.
"Hm, who could that be?" Shrek said. He opened the door and saw Arthur shyly smiling. "Oh Artie! Donkey! What brings you here and... Why did you come so late?"
"Who is it Shre-oh hey Arthur!" Fiona said walking behind Shrek.
"Guys, you won't believe what just happened to the castle..."
Shrek and Fiona looked at each other with confusion. "What do you mean?" Fiona said.
"It´s a long story, I really need your help."
"Well, come in Artie." Shrek said picking up one of his children. "It must be so important for you to come at this hour."
While Arthur told the whole story to Shrek and Fiona, Sarkanand and Soek were a few miles away from the house. Soek was walking from side to side, waving his tail like a playful cat.
"Come on! We´re finally here! Let´s just capture the two pests and take them to Rumpelstiltskin!" Soek said climbing on a tree and hanging upside down by the tail.
"Not yet, Soek." Sarkanand said cooking a small rat she caught. "It would be hard if the dragon sees us. She´s with the humans now, remember? Also, it seems this ogre is not alone..."
"Huh?"
"Well, as you have noticed, that donkey seems to be his friend and that ogre has family too which might make our work a little hard."
"Wait, you´re saying you want to take the other ogres too?"
Sarkanand stood thoughtful. "I never thought of that, but sounds like a good idea!"
Suddenly, a big flame bursted out from the bonfire and Rumpel´s face appeared as a hologram made of smoke and ashes.
"Ah! I finally found you!" He said. "How have you two been?"
"How did you?" Soek said tilting his ears.
"Magical scepter." Rumpel said proudly.
"Ow, I see." Sarkanand said. "Anyway, we made it to the swamp with the kid, but we´re a little stuck in a small situation of trust, you know what I mean?"
"Ooh, so you made the kid trust you, right?" Rumpel giggled. "What did you tell him?"
"That we were treated unfairly by humans and we wanted peace between our species and people."
Rumpel stood in silence with a thoughtful expression. "That´s it!" He said. "The kid went to Shrek to ask for help, you told the kid you wanted just peace between your specie and people. I´m pretty sure Shrek is coming back to Far far away to 'save' his friends again. You two, don´t say anything that might sound suspicious, just follow them as if you were friendly. Get it?"
"Yes mister Stiltskin!" The two young dragoyles said.
"I´ll be preparing a great welcome party right here for them. Once they arrive you two will get a big and juicy reward." Rumpelsaid and laughed loudly as his face faded with the wind. Soek and Sarkanand looked at each other, both with a big smile on their faces.
The night became cold and Soek was cuddled on Sarkanand who was still awake. She was thinking about the way she was working to get Shrek and Arthur and then take them to Rumpel. There was something she was starting to dislike. Something was going to end bad. She was sure of it.
END CHAPTER 3 To be continued...