Still, Hans didn’t want to give up. If they turned around now and went back to Arendelle empty-handed, his hopes of becoming king would be dashed—permanently. No. He needed to find the sisters. He needed to find Anna.
“Sir!”
A shout from up ahead startled Hans, and he jolted in his saddle.
“Sir! I think we’ve found her!”
Urging his horse forward, Hans cantered the remaining steps to where his scout stood waiting. He had sent the small man ahead a few hours earlier to see if he could find a clear trail. It seemed he had.
“What’s the report, Anders?” Hans asked eagerly. The young man was a volunteer from the village. He had claimed to have experience tracking wild animals, but from the looks of him, he had been exaggerating.
For a moment, Anders didn’t respond as he struggled to catch his breath. He looked terrible. His skin was pale, and his hands were shaking so hard he could barely hold the reins. “I…I…I followed the trail,” he stuttered finally. “Like you asked me t-t-to. And it led to a huge castle, sir. Like nothing I’ve ever s-s-seen before. I think the queen is there. But there’s a m-monster! A huge monster! It’s all white and, and, and…” The scout’s voice trailed off as he was overcome with a fit of shaking.
Hans raised an eyebrow. “A monster?” he repeated. “You’re saying you saw a monster up there?”
The scout nodded weakly.
Turning back to look at the men waiting a few yards behind him and the scout, Hans weighed his next move. If I tell them there is a monster, which there may or may not be—and I’m leaning toward not, as clearly this young boy is tired and has a very overactive imagination—then I risk them hightailing it back to Arendelle. If I don’t tell them, and there is a monster, they may be caught unaware, but at least I’ll have backup. He shrugged. At least I’ll know what I’m getting into.
“Men!” he said, turning to face his group. “The scout has brought us good news! The queen’s hideout has been found!” The men let out a cheer.
Yanking on his reins, he kicked his horse into a gallop. Behind him, he could hear the sound of the other horses as well as the weak protests of the scout. Let him protest, Hans thought as he felt the wind sting his cheeks anew. Soon I’ll have rescued Anna and captured the queen, and I will be heading back to Arendelle the hero.
The scout had been right. Queen Elsa’s castle was unlike anything Hans had ever seen before. It rose into the sky, all shimmering ice and sharp points. Seemingly lit up by the sky itself, it reflected all the colors of the sun rising slowly over the horizon. A beautiful but dangerous-looking set of stairs formed from ice and covered in intricate carvings led up to the castle doors. Despite himself, Hans was impressed.
So this is what you’re capable of, Queen Elsa, Hans thought. The willow grove was just a drop in the bucket. Still, everyone has a weakness, even powerful people like you. I’ll find yours sooner or later. A wall of ice won’t keep me away.
Gesturing for his men to gather around, Hans pointed toward the castle. “We are here to find Princess Anna,” he reminded them. “Be on guard, but no harm is to come to the queen. Do you understand?”
Hans waited to make sure everyone was in agreement. He needed every single one of them to stick to the plan. He looked over at the Duke’s men and narrowed his eyes. Especially those two. He was relieved when, meeting his gaze, the two men gave barely perceptible nods.
Good, Hans thought. Everything was in order. Now all they had to do was walk into the castle and overtake Elsa. It would be as easy as…
Hans didn’t have time to finish his thought. Suddenly, a huge creature made from snow and ice rose up from the ground. Two beady eyes stared out of its huge marshmallow-shaped head. As it rose to its full height, Hans saw that the creature was nearly twenty-five feet tall! Sucking in a huge breath of air, the creature leaned forward and bellowed, “GO AWAY!” Then he slammed his fist into the ground, narrowly missing Hans.
Signaling to the rest of the men, Hans watched as they all raised their swords into the air. With a cry, they lunged at the monster.
But they were no match for it. As if flicking away gnats, the creature swatted the men, sending them flying.
Hans, however, was proving far harder to get rid of. Ducking and weaving, he stayed just out of the creature’s reach. He barrel-rolled away when the monster slammed his foot down and jumped to the left to avoid being hit by an icy fist. Over and over again, the creature came at Hans, and over and over again, Hans slipped away.
That all you got, you big snowy beast? Hans thought as he pulled out his sword and began to swing it skillfully. Compared to my father when he’s angry, you seem like a cuddly bunny.
Hans ducked as the creature once again tried to hit him. Out of the corner of his eye, he spotted the Duke’s men charging up the stairs. Now where are they going? Hans thought. And then he saw the queen peeking out the door.
They were going after the queen without him! Hans fumed. That was not what they had discussed. With an angry cry, he pulled back his sword and then whipped it in front of him. The monster, who had taken one step too close to Hans, let out a roar as the blade sliced through his snowy body. Thrown off-balance, the creature began to tumble forward. Hans pushed back against the stumbling beast.
Hans glanced over his shoulder, his eyes growing wide. The creature was pushing him right toward the cliff that surrounded Elsa’s ice castle. A few more steps and he was going to fall over the edge. Turning back, he swung his sword in the air. But it was useless. He was about to go over.
In desperation, he whipped his sword one last time. The iron pinged as it rushed through the cold air. Hans knew it was too late. He had missed. The sword was just going to keep going and he was going to fall.
And then, the sword hit something solid. The sudden impact caused the sword in his hand to shudder violently, and he almost let go. Hans hung on, smiling, as the sword moved faster and faster through the creature’s thick snow leg. His brothers had always gloated about how good it felt to cut down the enemy. Up until now, he had thought they were crazy. But this did feel good. And it felt even better to watch as the creature stumbled once more and his whole body leaned to the left. Then to the right. And then, it toppled right over the cliff. Phew! Hans thought. That was a close one—
“Ahhh!” Hans let out a cry as the creature’s hand reached into the air in one last desperate attempt to save itself and smacked into Hans. The prince went flying. For one terrifying moment, he felt nothing but air beneath him and then, at the last second, he managed to grab onto the edge of the staircase. A moment later, the strong hands of some of his men closed around his own, and he was pulled up to safety.
Catching his breath, Hans lay still for a moment. He wanted to lie on the wonderful, snow-covered ground forever. Appreciate the fact that he was alive. But then he sat up. Every minute he sat here was another minute the Duke’s men were in the castle—alone. Hans knew better than to trust them. Getting to his feet, Hans brushed the snow off his pants and then rushed up the stairs and into the castle.
Suddenly, he heard a cry from above him. “No! Please!”
Hans had been right to worry. As he made his way up the stairs, he continued to hear the queen’s desperate pleas. If he didn’t hurry, he would be too late. The Duke’s men had done exactly what he had feared they would do—they had turned on him. Instead of trying to capture the queen alive, it sounded like they were trying to kill her.
Just then, Hans heard the unmistakable sound of an arrow being released from its bow.
“Stay away!” Hans heard Elsa scream.
“Get her!” one of the thugs shouted. “Get her!”
Reaching the landing at the top of the stairs, Hans paused. It had just gone eerily quiet. He could no longer hear the bow’s string being pulled taut, and the Duke’s men no longer shouted words of encouragement to one another. Which likely meant one of two things—they had either killed Elsa or they had been killed by Elsa.
Hans took a deep breath. Pushing open the door, he burst into the room.
Hans had been partly right. Things weren’t going well for the Duke’s men. Large columns of ice stuck out of the floor, and in the far corner of the room, one of the Duke’s men was trapped in a cage made of icy spikes. Hearing a shout, Hans looked over and saw that an icy wall was pushing the other man closer to the edge of the balcony.
Standing behind the wall, pushing it forward with her magic, was Elsa. But this was not the nervous, timid Elsa that Hans had seen at the coronation. This Elsa was wild and unrestrained. And while her power was terrifying, she herself was dazzling. Dazzling and deadly, Hans reminded himself. If she wasn’t stopped, there was no telling what damage she would inflict. Hans knew, without a doubt, that he had to play this next part perfectly. One wrong move and Elsa would likely bring down her whole palace just to escape him and his men.
He watched Elsa for a long, tense moment, as though he were a lion stalking its prey. And then it hit him. She was terrified. Her rage was fueled by fear. He could work with that. He just needed to show Elsa what she was…and then he would show her just how he could help her.
“Queen Elsa!” he shouted, startling her. “Don’t be the monster they fear you are!”
Hans’s voice seemed to snap Elsa out of the fear-fueled rage she was in. She looked around, her eyes wide. As he watched, she lowered her hands, and the wall that had been pushing the Duke’s man backward began to retract. The spikes keeping the other man captive began to lower. Within moments, they were both free.
But Erik and Francis were no less determined to do what they had started out to do—kill Elsa. Before he could shout a warning, Hans saw Francis grab his bow and arrows off the floor.
Hans’s breath hitched in his throat and his shoulders tensed as time seemed to slow.
Francis notched the arrow.
Hans’s head moved back and forth between Francis and Elsa. Elsa and Francis.
The Duke’s man pulled back the bow…
Instinctively, Hans’s feet began to move until he was just inches away from Francis. He could hear the other man’s labored breathing, see the tension in the string holding the arrow back. As soon as Francis let that thing fly, it would be propelled forward—right at Elsa.
Francis narrowed his eyes and aimed.
Hans stepped closer. He was now almost atop the smaller man. Hans looked around the room, desperate for a plan, and noticed the giant chandelier directly above Elsa. That could work, if he could just arrange for Elsa to be hit by the chandelier instead of the arrow. True, it might kill her, but would that be so bad? One less obstacle to the throne. And if it didn’t? Well, he’d told his men they were coming to capture the queen alive. Saving her from the Duke’s men would only serve to make him appear true to his word. Either way, he came out on top.
And then, Francis released the arrow…
In that instant, time began to speed up again. Hans felt as though he were watching the events from afar. The moment felt foggy and crystal clear at the same time.
He saw himself nudge Francis. He saw his elbow hit Francis’s. He saw the small movement send the arrow flying out of the bow. But instead of shooting straight out, it shot straight up. Hans watched as the arrow whizzed through the air and broke the icicle holding the large chandelier.
For one long, tense moment, the fixture hung, suspended by nothing. It stayed that way just long enough for Elsa to look up and see what was happening. Then it came crashing down. Elsa tried to dive out of the way, but she wasn’t fast enough. The chandelier smashed to the ground, pinning Elsa beneath it and knocking her unconscious.
Hans spun around on the Duke’s men. “What did I say about killing her?” Hans said, his jaw clenched. “You blatantly ignored my orders.”
“But, but…” Francis stammered.
“She was going to kill us,” Erik finished.
“That is not my concern,” Hans replied. “My concern is stopping this winter. Which, if Elsa had been killed, might have been impossible.” He paused as the men shuffled on their feet. “Oh, and about that reward? You can forget it. But I will be sure to let the Duke know how very helpful you’ve been.”
Turning, Hans called to one of his more loyal men, still below in the entryway. The man held out a bag. Reaching into it, Hans pulled out a pair of thick iron manacles. “Put those on the queen. I want to make sure that when she wakes up, she doesn’t hurt anyone, including herself.” Or worse, he added silently, stop me from getting everything I deserve.
ANNA HAD SEEN SOME pretty crazy things over the past few days. The castle gates being opened. A weaselish little man who danced like a rabid peacock. Her sister turning everything into ice and snow. But this, Anna thought now, this might take the cake.
In this particular case, “this” was Kristoff. Who, as Anna watched with growing concern, appeared to be talking to a bunch of rocks. They were rather lovely rocks. Some were smooth and others a little more jagged. Some had moss growing on them, others did not. But nevertheless, they were rocks. Which were, last time Anna checked, inanimate objects.
After hearing Kristoff talk about his family, Anna had been more than eager to meet them. She had pictured sitting around a cozy little kitchen, holding a warm cup of tea while listening to Kristoff’s adopted family share stories about him as a boy. Then they would let Anna see Kristoff’s first ice sled and Sven’s first little harness which, of course, would be adorable. It would be the picture of family bliss, and Anna, for the first time, would feel right at home in the middle of it all.
What she did not picture in this fantasy scenario was standing in the middle of a field of rocks. Nor did she imagine that Kristoff would insist on talking to them. But he was, quite cheerfully in fact. As though it were the most normal thing in the history of normal things.
“Meet my family!” he called over to Anna and Olaf, who were standing at the edge of the rocks.
“They’re rocks,” Anna said, voicing her thoughts out loud.
Beside her, Olaf looked as perplexed—and worried—as she felt. “He’s crazy,” the snowman said. Then, lowering his voice and talking out of the side of his mouth, he said, “I’ll distract him while you run.”
Anna didn’t move.
“Hi, Sven’s family! It’s nice to meet you,” Olaf said in an overly enthusiastic, singsong sort of way.
Beside him, Anna still didn’t move. She couldn’t. Her feet felt glued to the ground. She couldn’t have been that wrong about Kristoff, could she? She had really begun to think of him as a friend. Someone she could trust and count on. Now she was worried that her sister was right—she was too quick to embrace strangers.
“Because I love you, Anna, I insist you run,” Olaf said under his breath. “Why aren’t you running?” He gave her a gentle shove.
“Okaaaay,” Anna said, backing away from Kristoff. Maybe Olaf was right. Maybe she should get away from Kristoff and whatever episode he was having as soon as—
Just then, the rocks began to roll. They started off slowly, but picked up speed as they headed straight toward Kristoff. And then, in front of Anna’s startled eyes, the rocks stopped and began to transform—into trolls!
“Kristoff’s home!” they shouted.
Kristoff laughed as the trolls all tried to greet him at once. One troll yanked down his arm, trying to get a look at him, while another attempted to take off his clothes to wash them. Kristoff put a stop to that just as another troll, this one smaller than the rest, proudly showed Kristoff a mushroom growing on its back.
Throughout the reunion, Anna was silent. Her head was spinning. True, this was nothing like the image of Kristoff’s family that she’d had in her head, but there was something rather…charming about the whole thing. While not human, the trolls clearly loved Kristoff—a lot. And he wasn’t even one of them, technically.
“Trolls,” she finally said. “They’re trolls.”
At the sound of her voice, the trolls turned around.
Silence descended. They stared up at her, their eyes blinking in unison. Anna took a nervous step back. Maybe I should have run when Olaf told me to, she thought as the trolls continued to stare at her. But just as she was mustering up the courage to flee, the trolls all let out a huge, happy shout.
“He’s brought a girl!”
All at once, the trolls left Kristoff and swarmed to Anna. Before she could protest, they had picked her up and carried her over toward Kristoff. “What’s going on?” she said, laughing as the trolls threw her into Kristoff’s arms.
“I’ve learned to just roll with it,” he said, winking at her before gently putting her down.
Not a second later, Anna found herself face-to-face with a female troll whose name, she thought she had heard someone say, was Bulda. By the way Bulda had greeted Kristoff when he first arrived, Anna had guessed she was his adoptive mother. And by the way she was now examining Anna, she knew this was his mom.
“Let me see,” Bulda was saying. She used her fingers to open Anna’s eyes wide. Then she pried her mouth open. “Working nose. Strong teeth. Yes, yes, yes. She’ll do nicely for our Kristoff.”
“Wait!” Anna said, pulling her face out of Bulda’s hands. “Um…no.” The words came out harsher than she had planned, and she shot Kristoff an apologetic look.
He nodded understandingly before turning back to Bulda. “You’ve got the wrong idea. That’s not why I brought her here,” he explained.
“Right,” Anna agreed. “We’re not. I’m not—” She stammered awkwardly and let out a nervous laugh. Then she shook her head. What did she have to be nervous about? Or awkward?
Bulda, however, was not taking no for an answer. “What’s the issue, dear?” she asked. “Why are you holding back from such a man?”
As Bulda began to list all of his qualities—good and bad—her question echoed through Anna’s brain. Why was she holding back? She knew the immediate answer. She was in love with Hans. They were going to get married and grow old together. But the more Bulda talked, and as others from Kristoff’s adopted family joined in, the harder it became to remember exactly why she had agreed to marry Hans in the first place. Yes, she loved him. But did she know him? The way she knew Kristoff? When Bulda mentioned the way Kristoff walked, Anna laughed because she had seen it—a lot. He clumped more than walked. And when Bulda pointed out that he was a little too attached to his reindeer, Anna grinned because she had thought the very same thing. Even the things Bulda admitted to as faults in her adopted son—his fondness for being alone, his wild, shaggy hair, and his need for hugs (which, Anna had to admit, she had yet to see)—Anna already knew and found endearing.
A Frozen Heart Page 17
