"Ah!"
Fiona hit the ground hard. The ogre had finally dumped her off of his shoulder after a while of walking. She collected herself quickly; standing and brushing down her dress. It hadn't been a pleasant ride. The solid reptile skin he wore pressed uncomfortably into her ribcage, and his giant grip that engulfed her back had worn slightly sweaty over time.
"Off ya go then." The ogre spoke as if she were an animal he was letting off the leash. "And make sure ye come back!" She supposed she was like his animal he allowed to roam, he kidnapped her after all.
"Princess! I found people!"
Shrek rolled his eyes at the other animal he kept who was allowed vastly more freedom. Fiona had spent some of her painful journey letting Donkey know that her destiny was to find her true love, and her family was in trouble so it was essential she do so quickly. Shrek didn't seem to acknowledge her speaking, however Donkey had become incredibly enthused about helping her. It had taken a lot of convincing but Shrek had begrudgingly agreed to let them explore off of the trail. Fiona knew the donkey was likely leading her on a wild goose chase - she imagined Shrek did too - but anything to be freed from her place on the ogre's shoulder was welcome. Plus Shrek protested the idea so much she revelled in opposing him.
"Coming." Her tone wasn't as jolly as it might have been. She threw a glare at her unlikely companion before heading in the direction of Donkey's voice.
"I smell 'em, Princess!" He nodded his head in the direction he wanted to go. "I'm telling ya, destiny awaits us down this path."
"Why this path?" she mused as she ducked under some trees, following him. She had no idea where Donkey's detour was taking her. She had no idea where the grand destination was either. They were taking her to Farquaad. A Lord they didn't think much of. Trading her for some land. It sounded pretty on par for her life, not that she was happy about it. So, why not follow a talking donkey into the lap of some strangers, taking the chance that one of them might be her true love? It beat wandering around by herself.
"This path smells sweet!" he exclaimed. "Sweet means good things to me! Cake, the one with the frosting and the little cherry on top, I gotta get me some more of that."
Fiona laughed. Cake. What an odd thing for a donkey to be wishing for. She too had dreamed of cakes and candies. Somehow it was sweeter in her memories than sharing it over a table with her prince. She continued to follow, he was all but running ahead of her. Perhaps she could defy the ogre and make a getaway, with Donkey of course. It seemed like the best opportunity to do so… except her thoughts were interrupted as Donkey unexpectedly fulfilled his promise and she heard voices. There were coos, a loud hi and then gasps. A smile spread over her face as she emerged through the trees, hopping over a shrub, careful to not let her dress get tangled in the branches.
"Is this your talking donkey?"
She was met with an incredulous question. It was a conversation starter for sure.
"Um…"
"Hers? I'm no one's pet. I've been sold for magic beans, sold to the fairy tale police. No more working for people, I say. I'm my own donkey." He held his nose in the air.
"He's with me." Fiona nodded at them. It was a group of three people in common clothes, a man and a woman, arm in arm. And most interestingly a dark and handsome looking man with a bushy head of hair and a rather impressive moustache stood to their side, partnerless. Perhaps Donkey was right.
"Now where'd ya get that?" Donkey's nose in the air left him in prime position to sniff at the waffles they held in their hands, wrapped in paper, glistening with the sticky sweet substance drizzled over them.
Or he was just following his stomach? Still, perhaps it could work out for both of them. She approached the strangers.
"Where are you headed?" she asked them. If she truly were to escape her kidnapper she needed a place to run to. She made eye contact with the free gentleman. The princess caught herself before she began fluttering her eyelashes, reminding herself of her prior experiences. His hazel eyes looked kind enough, but maybe it was best if they got to know each other as friends first, maybe even as penpals.
She went ahead and fluttered them anyway; she didn't have that kind of time. He gave her a hesitant smile, moustache twitching with his curved lips. It was short lived as he looked down. Donkey had edged his way dangerously close to the food the man held. He took a step back, lifting his arm. Maybe escaping without Donkey would be her best option. Her potential love interest met her gaze again.
"We're…"
Fiona barely registered the beginning of a response from the other man stood before her. She was distracted by the shift of her man's gaze, to behind her, widening in horror. His mouth began to gape. She crossed her brow.
"Ogre." He barely whispered. She didn't quite hear him but she knew what he said. Sudden flashbacks to her own nighttime fears erupted into her brain. Her eyes frantically found her own pale hand before she glanced over her shoulder; her mind connecting the dots.
Shrek had emerged from the thicket.
She rolled her eyes. "Don't wor-"
She couldn't finish her reassurance. By the time the princess turned back, she could only watch the three of them scatter away, each dropping their snacks in their panic.
"Hey!" she protested, glaring at the ogre.
"Hey!" Donkey expressed his glee.
"What?" The ogre feigned confusion. He couldn't hide his smirk.
"He could've been my destiny!" she chastised him, "And now…" She sighed loudly.
"Y'know what, Princess?" Donkey managed to look up after taking a lick of the sticky treat. "Maybe it ain't all bad. Look at what we got! Man, waffles are my favourite!" He continued with his licking, taking a nibble.
She watched him blankly, following up her dramatic sigh with a quieter one. Her gaze hardened and she looked at the ogre. He rolled his eyes at the donkey, and yet there was a softness to him as he watched the animal reap the benefits of the scared-away strangers. She furrowed her brow at him. Shrek caught her eye and turned away quickly.
"Come on, we've gotta keep going."
"You right! You right." Donkey spoke through his chewing, he couldn't chew fast enough. "We should keep one for the road. Can someone with thumbs help me out here!"
Fiona looked expectantly at Shrek. He didn't turn back. She exhaled sharply, sharp enough for him to hear as she leant down to pick up the discarded waffles.
The trio made their way back to the path. With a waffle in each hand, it was much more of an effort to keep her dress from snagging and tangling in the undergrowth. She didn't hide her scowl.
"That was a good one, Shrek!" Donkey complimented the ogre after licking his lips enthusiastically.
"Nah, it was too easy." The ogre waved off the donkey as he continued to lead them on their way with heavy footsteps.
"You didn't even have to open ya mouth." Donkey seemed very much in awe of the ogre's efforts. Or lack thereof. "They even dropped the waffles. Man, I'd need to be real scared to do that. Maybe a fruity dessert, nothing special. But waffles. They're my destiny!" Donkey glanced at Fiona at his mention of her quest.
"Ah, they drop all kinds of things," Shrek explained, "Torches can be handy for nighttime harvesting. Sometimes even their pants." He laughed at the memory he clearly held onto fondly.
Fiona didn't drop anything. Certainly not her pants, had she been wearing any. Sure, she was surprised, but she wasn't scared. The thought suddenly struck her. She was used to seeing an ogre in a way. But she hadn't ever seen an ogre, not a real one. Only the one in her mirror. It had desensitised her. She frowned. It had only put her in danger. Had she run at the first sight of him, she'd probably be far away by now.
Perhaps even in the arms of her true love…
No. The new-found skeptic within her said otherwise. It seemed strange that a brave eligible bachelor would be so afraid of something she barely blinked at. She hoped her true love would at least be as brave as her. She allowed herself to acknowledge it, like a pat on the back. She was brave. She hadn't noticed it before. When she was a young girl, she was terrified of the dragon that guarded her castle, but she quickly wisened to the beast. It was nothing for her to be afraid of. She would watch it fly around from her window, and listen to grown men, trained in battle, screech at the sight of it. Just like how she engaged in conversation and challenged the ogre she was with now. If only those scared strangers knew this ogre wasn't half as terrifying as he made out to be, at least not to her.
"You gonna eat that?"
A voice woke her from her inner monologue. She realised she had been staring at one of the waffles she held as she walked. She looked at Donkey's expectant face and looked back at the food she held. The side of the waffle she was watching was glistening with the syrup. She hadn't eaten syrup since she was a child. Impulsively she took a bite. It was everything she remembered as she chewed it over in her mouth and swallowed it down. The sweetness was almost too much. She took another bite.
"Uh… ya don't mind the dirt?" Donkey carefully reminded her of the fact that they had been dropped. The syrup worked like glue, picking up any debris off the ground.
She turned it over in her hand. There was some dirt. She almost cringed, but the sudden desire to appease the inner child who hadn't eaten anything sweet for thirteen years alit inside of her. She hesitated before taking another bite, glancing at the eyes that watched her. Using the side of her hand that held the other waffle, she wiped off the largest offender and took an even larger bite for good measure. It felt right.
"HaHA!" Donkey cheered her on. "That's what I'm talking about! Takes a lot more than that to ruin a waffle."
Shrek raised his eyebrows at her, looking over his shoulder. Mouth full, she held out the other as an offering. His brow lowered quickly, his nose wrinkling just a little in disgust at the sweet treat. He turned back to the path.
"Uh-uh, no way," Donkey protested her offering. "Out of the kindness in my heart I'll give you that one. But this, this is mine." His eyes were glued to the spare waffle in her hand. She held it down to his level so he could join her as they walked.
She looked around, there was no one. It was silent aside from their own footsteps. No one to observe her unlikely company and questionable snack. No one to direct her to a new place or to follow. No one to follow her and rob her. Her eyes focused on the ogre's wide back. No one was going to steal from her now. In fact, it seemed she was the one doing the stealing. Perhaps it wouldn't be the worst idea to follow along where they were taking her and forget about her potential escape.
Fiona wasn't even sure she could outrun an ogre. He had appeared pretty swiftly and quietly behind her, which was surprising given his size. She supposed ogres had to be at least a little stealthy, how else would they hunt? Even she had been pretty effective at evading bad company back in the barnyard hotel. She took another bite of the waffle. Without her bag and her money, knife, and sleeping potions, she was pretty vulnerable by herself - at least until she had found her footing in a new plan. With the strange pair she currently walked alongside, she had protection and food - even if it was more unorthodox than she could have ever imagined. She was smart enough to get herself pretty far from home, she could figure out her new direction when she reached their destination; a Lord of a new place she had yet to explore. Perhaps this whole adventure was destiny doing its very work and placing her directly into the arms of her true love, whether it be the Lord or most likely someone else. She just had to stick around to see.
"Don't take this the wrong way, Princess, but you don't look like no princess. And say if you're not in the tower why ain't you off honeymooning somewhere romantic with the guy who rescued ya?"
Donkey finally asked the key questions she was surprised he hadn't brought up earlier. Their travel snacks had Donkey talking about his favourite foods for much of their journey that day. The scaring incident had even brought the ogre a pleasant mood. It brought their day to a somewhat more agreeable end. The trio had stopped to eat on a large cliffside out the way of the trail as the sun was lowering in the sky. The sunset didn't bring her overwhelming anxiety now that it didn't come with a species change. She couldn't tell if it would be better or worse to accidentally transform in front of a real ogre. Sure, he wouldn't try to slay her, but he might accept her as one of his own, she couldn't have that. A monster mistaking her for a monster would be dreadful, she'd never even thought about it in all her years of overthinking. So, she turned down any food the ogre suggested. It was ogre food after all. She'd already eaten a dirt waffle. She couldn't have him getting too many ideas about her.
All the princess cared about was ensuring she was securely tucked away before the pain hit her. If anything, the thought of the pain was only making her nervous, too nervous to even want to eat. It was going to be a long night indeed.
"Well." Fiona self-consciously tucked her short hair behind her ear. She suddenly didn't have any words for her situation. "I-uh…"
"Aw Princess, was he ugly?" Donkey jumped in, gaining a scoff from the ogre.
"No." She spoke quietly. "He was perfectly handsome." She tried to shrug away her feelings. "He just wasn't my true love."
"True love, huh?" The ogre smirked. "Don't tell me ye really believe in all that stuff?" His tone was laced in condescension.
"Yes actually," she spoke back, defensively. "I need to find it."
"Well, yer finding it with Farquaad, so you can rest easy, Princess." The ogre leaned back against the tree he was sitting against, placing his hands behind his head.
She narrowed her eyes at him again. "Lord Farquaad, he's my true love?"
"Aye," was the simple response.
"How do you know?"
"Like ye said, Princess, destiny." He laughed at himself, she didn't share in his mirth.
She raised an eyebrow.
"Ah don't listen to him." Donkey shook his head. "You're gonna love Duloc, Princess, it's beautiful!"
Something alit in her brain. Duloc was the place she had instructed the driver to head towards. It was the first kingdom sign she'd seen upon leaving the tower. It was her intended destination. Perhaps the ogre was right, this odd quest was indeed seeming more and more like her destiny.
"So, Lord Farquaad," she repeated, "what's he like?" She suddenly found herself far more willing to hear them out. The pair only looked to each other in silence before the ogre broke out in a snigger.
"Let me put it this way, Princess, men of Farquaad's stature are in short supply." He belly laughed at his joke. It even prompted laughter from Donkey. Her recently raised expectations hit the ground again.
"I don't know, Shrek!" Donkey grinned at the ogre. "There are those who think little of him."
They erupted into laughter at the inside joke she didn't understand. She raised her eyebrow again, looking away from them, heaving a sigh. "Well, if he's like anyone else I've met, my patience won't meet the minimum requirement anyway."
Shrek's laughter quietened into a snigger, apparently her joke didn't quite qualify for the belly laugh his own joke prompted. Donkey laughed some more anyway. She could barely muster a raise of her lips.
"Hey," Shrek addressed her, "as soon as I get the deed t'ma swamp placed in my hand." He chopped at his palm."...then ye can run away f'all I care."
Finally, she was able to snort in bemusement. "I've become somewhat experienced at running away recently."
"See? Works fer all of us. Glad t'have ye aboard, Princess. Next stop, Duloc." He heaved himself off of the ground. "Let's go."
Fiona's eyes instinctively found the sunset. "What?"
"We can keep going, we'll get there before noon tomorrow if we keep walking through the night." He didn't acknowledge her tone or the way her eyes suddenly widened. He started walking away, Donkey falling into step behind him.
"We're not going to make camp?" She gestured to the sinking sun. Fiona had assumed their choice of locale to eat was a perfect place to rest for the night. It came with what appeared to be a cave and everything… She looked between the rocks and her travel companions.
"No, that'll just take us longer." The ogre glanced at her, shaking his head. "Ye can get t'ye cushy bed faster this way."
"But-" She found herself scrambling. She stood clumsily and hurried after them. "But there's… robbers in the woods." Fiona knew she sounded pathetic, she didn't want to, but she didn't have long before she would be plagued with pain so bad she wouldn't even be able to stand.
"We scared those off last night, remember?" He raised a sarcastic eyebrow at her before shaking his head and continuing forward.
"Don't worry, Princess, we can take care of them." Donkey was proud of his success the previous night. Not that it swayed Fiona at all.
She glared at them, their backs turned to her, walking away. There was no reasonable excuse her mind could land on that wouldn't be met with a sarcastic quip of some kind. She had no other choice - "I NEED US TO STOP AND MAKE CAMP NOW!"
Her voice echoed around her. It did the job. They stopped in their tracks and turned back to her. The donkey looked at the ogre, questioningly. The ogre glanced back at him before heaving a great sigh. "Alright, your highness. Ye don't have t'shout."
"Move that rock," she pointed to it, standing firm. He glared at her, following instruction. The storybooks clearly needed changing. Ogres didn't need an armour clad knight to slay them, they only needed the princess to raise her voice and everyone could go home unscathed.
Shrek reluctantly walked over to the rock and began pushing it aside. The boulder gave way to a hollow cave. It was perfect.
"Ooh!" Donkey ran into the cave. His ears suddenly flattened as he looked around. "Wait- It's spooky in here. You sure you wanna sleep here, Princess?"
"Yes," she confirmed, eyes catching a glance of the sun once again. She pushed past the ogre, ducking into the darkened space. She had to fall to her knees to fit, it wasn't ideal, but it would do the job. All she needed was a space away from them that would keep her out of their view and in the shadows.
"Well, hey, look we both fit! I could read ya a bedtime story or-"
"No." She cut off the donkey's words, as he sat beside her. "I'm sleeping in here alone."
He looked at her, brow raised for a second before sighing and standing. "Yeah yeah, I know the drill. Outside…" he muttered to himself as he left the cave.
She met the gaze of the ogre who was watching them. "Goodnight." She demanded he turn away, he got the message and did.
"Let's go get more firewood, Donkey. The princess here needs her beauty sleep."
"Right! Hey look, Shrek, we're both outside this time!"
She watched from her cave as they left. It suddenly occurred to her that they might be leaving her entirely, but she shook it away. Shrek was far too keen on his plan to take her back to Farquaad. She wasn't entirely sure what her plan was once they reached Duloc. She supposed she had a long night of no beauty sleep at all to try and think of something. She patted the ground around her, the rock was… well, a rock. If the soft mattress of her bed in the castle had felt painful to move against, she didn't want to dwell much on what was in store for her.
Upon the duo's absence, she quickly exited the cave, using her new found time to make the necessary checks before the sun sunk low enough. The cave was dark, despite the gaping entryway. When the sun disappeared she would definitely be cloaked in shadows. Still, she nervously looked around her for anything that would shield her further. Despite not physically changing, it still filled her with dread when she considered them finding out about her nighttime state. She held herself well up against this ogre and donkey, having much more confidence and bravery than she thought she ever had. She couldn't let them see her so weak. She had been used as a pawn, shoved into a tower, dragged around place to place… hidden away her entire life. Now she was taking a stand on her own. She had learned some valuable lessons, and sure she had been kidnapped by an ogre, but he was just taking her to the place she had intended to go in the first place. Duloc. Strength: for the first time in her life, she exuded it. She couldn't let some silly curse strip her of that.
Fiona's eyes couldn't find anything of use. There were only more rocks and trees. For a moment she considered ripping the bark from a tree to fashion some kind of door - no, she doubted that would even work anyway. The princess circled around a couple of times before she found herself running her hand over the boulder that had been moved aside. Perhaps she could move it back just a little. She braced her arms against the rock and pushed as hard as she could. It didn't budge. She turned around and pressed her back against it and heaved once more. She felt the tiniest rumble of movement, but nothing happened. She certainly could have used her ogre strength… She paused her thoughts and her movement. No. No she couldn't use that. It was good that the ogre within her was gone. Besides, she had her own ogre to do the heavy lifting anyway.
Fiona sighed, retreating back to the safety of the cave. She could tell Shrek to push it closed some more, but it meant extending their interaction. The sun was lowering dangerously close to the time where the pain would begin. If he caused an argument or Donkey caught wind of a conversation, it could happen right in front of them. She had to leave it be.
She laid down on the ground. It was cold. There was nothing to rest her head against except another rock. It would be a rough night for anyone. She turned her back to the cave entrance, she wanted them to think she was sleeping by the time they came back so they would ignore her. The princess closed her eyes gently. It was going to be a long night.
. . .
Thanks for reading! And for the reviews on the last chapter. Writing parallels to the movie has been a fun challenge.