The Land of Ice: The Revenge of Hans
Chapter 1
The sea was making a quiet, calming murmur as a dense fog covered the rocky shore. The island of Nasturia was not always this clam. The summer usually brought violent storms and powerful winds. That was why Nasturia was known to sailors as the "Isle of Death." On its rocky shores laid the victims of the sea. Shipwrecks, torn sails, human skulls and bones, and even elusive treasure were scattered on this deadly shore. Several adventurers even mentioned there was gold hidden on this isle, but to this day no one has ever found anything.
Ships from every part of the world came to Nasturia full of riches. International trade contributed to Nasturia's ever-growing stockpiles of gold. As the capital island of The Southern Isles, Nasturia played a key role in the politics of the isles. A gigantic castle loomed over the isle, situated directly over its geographical center. The castle housed the royal family of the Southern Isles, with the exception of one person.
Prince Hans served a five-year prison sentence in Nasturia's prison. The prison was situated in a location isolated from civilization, as it housed the isle's worst prisoners. Hans was grouped together with the rapists, thieves, and murderers. But Hans knew well that he wasn't one of these criminals. He never stole anything and never killed or raped anyone. He only made one small mistake: he didn't stay with the dying princess Anna. If he only waited for her to finally die, he could have killed Elsa without any intervention from Anna or resistance from the queen. The plan was perfect. He was perfect. The only flaw was that he never considered the dumb snowman. Now he had to serve his sentence for attempted regicide.
He remembered that day in the middle of summer when a gigantic snowball propelled him into a cart full of horse poop. It just happened to be the worst day of his life. From that time on, he planned his eventual escape from prison. He obtained the help of his oldest brother, Lars. He started writing secret letters to his brother and gave them to a frequently-visiting guard. Hans used a cipher In order to facilitate a secret communication with his brother. The operation of the cipher was ingenious: every second letter of each word was used to spell a new word in "real letter" to his brother. Hans just needed one thing to carry out his escape, and that was for Lars to smuggle lock picks into his cell.
After a few back-and-forth letters, Lars informed Hans that he could smuggle lock picks in dinner rolls. Lars wrote that his friend worked in the bakery, and he could bake the lock picks into the rolls. Hans only had one problem: how would he know exactly which roll was for him? He got another idea from something he saw in an academic journal: a gluten allergy. It was probably some hogwash from the academics, but people actually thought an allergy to something in the rolls existed. He decided to exploit it since the bakery was already offering gluten free dinner rolls because of the stupid article. For the next week, he used his gag reflex to vomit every time he ate a roll withing a guard's line of sight. He soon received a dark-brown roll and felt something hard when he bit down. He got a lock pick. Now he could finally escape.
He waited for the perfect night to make his escape. When it came, he quietly inserted the lock pick into the lock and started picking the lock. He gently shook the lock pick from side-to-side, but the lock never budged. He tried again, this time trying to feel the locking mechanism. Then he shook the lock pick even more gently and after a few attempts heard the characteristic click of a lock opening. He pushed the lockpick all the way in an opened the iron cell-door. Now he only had to sneak past the guards patrolling the hallways of the prison. Luckily, the guard in his hallway was fast asleep, so Hans simply sneaked past him. However, the guard patrolling the next hallways was not as easy to fool because he was walking the entire hallway from start to end. The entrance to the next hallway was in the center of the hallway, meaning that Hans would need to simply wait for the right moment and sneak past the guard. Once he saw the guard walk towards the end of the hallway, Hans sneaked until he got to the entrance to the next hallway. He sneaked through the next hallway the same way he did the last one.
Hans was now faced with a choice: he could either go though the heavily guarded exit, or he could jump out of a balcony into the water. He chose the balcony. Taking a huge running start, Hans barged through the door and unto the balcony. Hans then propelled himself off his feet and jumped into the sea before the guards with bows noticed him. He swam underwater as long as his lungs could hold air and surfaced when holding his breath became too painful. He saw arrows floating in the water and arrows flying from the guards' bows. Unfortunately for them, the fog was too dense to accurately target him and the guards continued to miss the rapidly swimming Hans.
Hans continued swimming until he saw a boat at sea. His brother sat in the boat, ready to rescue him. He got into the boat, dripping wet as his brother greeted him and showed him the Arendelle newspaper.
"Long time no see," Lars said.
"Thank you for the help. How's everything in Arendelle?" Hans said.
"Your targets got married three months ago. Our plan just got more complicated," Lars said.
"It's already been three years since I was jailed? How could I have let this happen to me?" asked Hans, looking at the date on the newspaper.
"Don't worry, bro, If our plan succeeds, you will be the king of Arendelle. Know know well that Elsa would do anything to save her sister. Even give up the throne. Just remember that this time you'll have to kidnap both the princess and the stupid reindeer king," Lars said.
"Okay, but what if we fail," Hans asked.
"Then the queen will turn you into ice," Lars said.
"Thank you for the optimism, brother," Hans joked.
"You're welcome."
Soon, the sun rose above the horizon and the fog lifted. Lars continued rowing his boat, going north. In a few hours, the brothers intercepted a large clipper. The crew let down a rope-ladder, on which the brothers boarded the ship. The captain informed the brothers that the ship was on course to the Kingdom of Arendelle. The time has come. Hans is going to be king.