Jason awoke to the sound of two young girls giddy squeals. He rubbed his eyes as he tried to decide who or what was responsible. He heard the giggles again and smiled.
"Oh, its just Anna and Elsa up playing again." he said to himself shaking his head.
He was about to roll back over when he had a thought. 'Why don't I go play with them?' He considered this for a moment, then hopped out of his bed and ran silently twoards the great hall. He decided to leave his short-sword in his room as he did not think anyone would be trying to harm the princesses.
Even at the young age of twelve, he knew what he would do when he grew up. He would do what his father did, and his father before him did, and his father before him did. He was destined to protect the crown of Aerrendelle. His father Jaigen was the current Captain-Of-The-Guard, as well as the King's adviser and military general. As his son, it would one day fall on him to guard Aerrondelle with his life, just as his father did. Weather that was the good king or the future Queen Elsa...
He chuckled a bit to think of little Elsa as queen, or himself as the Captain-of-the-Guard. Anna and Elsa always treated him like a friend, and he loved playing with them, but there was a part of himself that always told him that he should be their servant and protector, not their friend. The girls often teased him about being so overprotective at times, and at others as reckless as an average twelve year old boy.
His father did not discourage their friendship. He himself was the King's closest friend as well as adviser.
"Except for the Queen of course, but that's different." his father would say winking at the boy.
He loved his father dearly. They trained every day, but it never seemed like hard work when his father did it with him. They talked and laughed as Jaigen taught his son to shoot a bow and swing a sword. Despite his age, Jason was a spectacular swordsman. He was a good archer, and his father taught him the art of firing arrows as fast and accurate as possible. He was to be a super soldier, as close to physical perfection as possible. Before his family guarded the crown, they were near invincible warriors.
Jaigen and Jason were some of the last descendants of the once mighty Roman High Guard. They were the last line of defense against the German invaders. The High Guard fought like true heroes in the very gate of Rome but it was for naught, though when they fell a mountain of German barbarians lay dead at their feet. A few of the Guard escaped the slaughter, but those few were whittled down be Germanic hired bounty hunters, till only the Jason's far ancestor, Markus remained. He fled to Arrendelle, where his reputation followed him. He had been the Captain of the Guard, and was begged by his men to escape to carry on the legacy of the High Guard of Rome. With much reluctance he did. Arrendelle offered him asylum and a job as Captain of The Arrendellian Royal Guard. He accepted it, but he never forgot his brothers in arms, and always told the story's of the valiance of The High Guard, and these stories, now legend, still lasted till this day.
Jason thought about this as he quietly sprinted through the castle halls to the main hall. He opened the doors and nearly slipped on the ice. He barely regained his balance to hear Anna and Elsa giggling at him. He glared at the princesses as they desperately tried to hold in their laughter. He stuck out his chest with boyish pride and tried to skate over very proffesionally, only to fall flat on his face and slide towards them. His face burned with embarrassment as he got up to hear the two burst out laughing. He decided to just laugh with them and let go of what remained of his pride. Right then he felt the hard ice underneath him turn to soft snow.
"How do you do that Elsa?" He asked grinning at his friend.
She blushed and responded, "I don't really know actually, I just can.
"Well it doesn't matter really, its just so-mmff!" He tried to praise Elsa, but was interrupted by a snowball right in the mouth. He spit the snow out and looked to see Anna getting ready to throw another snowball as she laughed. She let the white projectile fly, but this time Jason dived away. He rolled and came up with a snowball ready only to get hit in the face with a snowball, this time from Elsa.
"Oh it is ON!" Jason called playfully.
For the next few minutes the Anna and Elsa teamed up against Jason in a battle of epic proportions. Jason was faster and stronger, but Elsa and Anna outnumbered him. The spent the next few minutes laughing and throwing snowballs back and forth. Jason of course din't as throw as hard as he could, but he still had a great time.
Afterwards they just played around in the snow. They even built a snowman!
That's when everything went horribly wrong.
The whole thing was a little fuzzy afterwards. One minute Anna was jumping around on snow towers, the next minute she was falling and Jason was running and catching her before she hit the ground. He caught her, and noticed immediately the bleach-blonde streak in her hair. He had been trained in emergency first aid, and so he checked her pulse and her other vital signs as Elsa called for the King and Queen. She seemed stable for the moment, but she was bitterly cold.
When the King, Queen and his Father ran in, Jason did his best to explain what happened. They King and his Father looked at each other and ran to the library.
The Library of the castle was a marvel of itself. It had hundreds of books on every topic imaginable. From swordsmanship and archery to cooking and housekeeping. Even religious books like the Holy Bible. Jason wasn't much for reading as he preferred action to inaction whenever possible.
The King ran to a dusty shelf of legends and myths and pulled down a well worn book. He opened a book to find an old map that led to a location that Jason did not recognize. In a moment they were running to the stables to get Anna to the help the King and his Father believed they could get. Jason was about to get on his horse when his father pulled him aside.
"Jason," His father whispered, "Have your blade ready. You may not be old enough to protect the King and Queen, but you need to be able to guard Elsa and Anna if these Trolls aren't cooperative."
"Do you think they'll help?" He asked worriedly.
His father's brow furrowed.
"Generally they have been be helpful, but it's been a long time since we've come to them. People change son."
Jason mounted his horse as he mentally prepared himself. They were of into the night in an instant, and the ride seemed twice as long as he would look at Anna every few seconds with worry. Elsa seemed very nervous and scared the whole ride. Once she looked at Jason and he whispered to her,
"Don't worry, she'll be okay."
She bit her lip as she nodded. Soon they arrived at this area with an incredible amount of stones. As the King pleaded to the rocks, Jason looked at him a little funny. Then, The stones began to move, and on instinct he drew his sword and took a defensive stance in front of Elsa. They rose on stubby legs that looked as if made from stone. They had short arms to match and appeared to have grass or moss for hair. Some wore necklaces of glowing crystals. The stones appeared to come in three colors, green, red or blue. The trolls themselves all looked rather the same, save minor differences between the "genders" if that even applied here. They moved closer and surrounded them prompting Jason to grit his teeth and tighten his grip on his weapon. If these trolls attempted to attack, they would go over his dead body. He had been taught from birth that fear was not an option.
The trolls surrounded them, and an elder ,who appeared to be their leader, approached. He then bowed and addressed the king.
"Your Majesty." He then got straight to the point.
"Born with the powers or cursed?" The Elder questioned.
"Born," the king replied," A-and getting stronger."
"Hmm. Bring her here." The troll gestured. "You were lucky it wasn't her heart." He became grave."The heart is not so easily changed." He then chuckled. "But, the head can be persuaded."
He put his hands on her head and through some magic projected her memories onto the icy air.
"I recommend removing all memories of magic. But don't worry, I'll leave the fun." the Elder then seemed to return her altered memories to her.
"You mean, she won't remember I have powers?" Elsa questioned nervously.
"It's for the best." The King assured her softly.
"Elsa come here." the troll gestured. "Your powers will only grow."He said creating dancing forms in the air. "There is beauty in it, but also great danger." Here the forms turned blood red frightening Elsa. "You must learn to control it." FEAR will be your enemy.
The King put her arms around the frightened Elsa. "She will learn to control it. Until then we will take all the necessarily measures to keep her and the Kingdom safe. Even if it means separating her from Anna."
The old troll nodded. Then he looked right at me.
"Come here Jason."
I walked forward slowly with my weapon still bare and glistening in the moonlight.
"There will come a day when you may have to chose between your life and their's." he motioned to Elsa and Anna. "Can you make that choice."
I thought for a moment, then squared my shoulders and set my jaw.
"Yes sir. I can."
"Good."