Hey there. I'm still alive. Sorry it's been a while, but life and school have been kind of hectic. For those of you who didn't read the previous AN, I did warn that updates might take a while on this fic because life is a little busier this year, and because I am trying to focus on school more than I did last year. But fear not, I shall not abandon this story. As long as even one person wants to read it, I will finish it, even if it takes years.
I'm not 100% happy with my writing in this chapter, but I figured I needed to upload before it ended up taking another month or two. This was originally going to be longer, but I decided to split it into two chapters. It's still a decent length anyway.
Disclaimer: The rights to Frozen? Sorry mate, not mine.
Chapter One - Meeting
The young man stood on the edge of a cliff, the mountain forest at his back. There wasn't a cloud in the sky and the summer sun beat down with a vengeance but that didn't seem to bother him, despite the fact that he was clothed in black from head to toe.
The edges of his cloak were frayed, burrs clinging to the end, and his boots bore heavy scuff marks around the toes and heels. Trail dust clung to his clothes. His hands were wrapped in strips of black cloth that continued into his sleeves, making it appear as though his arms were bandaged. A short sword sat at his hip and a large, dust-stained satchel rested at his feet. His face was hidden in the shadows of his hood as he gazed down at the teeming city below.
Arendelle. He had made it, and just in time too. If he had counted the days correctly, the Festival of Snow began tomorrow.
After Arendelle's notorious Great Freeze two years previous, and the subsequent Great Thaw, word had spread quickly about the incident and the woman who had caused it. People over the mountains and across the sea spoke of the Snow Queen of Arendelle. Some called her witch and spat at her and her kingdom.
But many spoke most favourably indeed of the young Queen. They said her hair was silver and palest gold, her skin like newly-fallen snow. They said her eyes were like ice crystals, sparkling with wisdom beyond her years. They said she was a kind and just ruler, beloved by her people.
Word eventually made it far beyond the mountains of Arendelle to a small trade town several thousand miles away, where it caught the ear of a wandering vagabond. There had also been talk of a festival to be held in mid-summer to commemorate the Freeze and, more importantly, the Thaw. There were rumours that the Queen herself would participate and showcase her abilities for the people. They were, after all, the reason for everything that had happened.
Upon hearing of this, the young man had set out for the distant city with all haste. He knew that this festival would be the best opportunity to see the Snow Queen's abilities up close without being noticed himself. As it turned out, he had timed his arrival perfectly.
Of course, he had originally intended to see the festival last year, but there had been…complications.
Speaking of which…
A large wolf with fur as black as a raven's feathers stepped out of the trees behind him, padding to the young man's side.
The young man spoke without taking his eyes off the city. "How close are they?"
A low growl sounded in his mind. -Too close. They're closing ground quickly. We will have to move on today if we wish to keep a safe enough distance.-
The young man sighed. Next year, perhaps. Sliding his bag back over his shoulder, he rested one last, searching look on the city before turning and walking back into the trees.
The wolf followed on his heels, padding soundlessly beside him like a shadow over the forest floor. – Where to now, then?-
The young man tilted his head in thought. "South, I suppose. Lose them for a while and then, while there's a good distance between us, perhaps catch a ship somewhere. Keep an ear out for any more magical phenomena."
-And if we do catch word of some such phenomenon? What then?- The wolf growled softly. –We won't be able to investigate anything at all until we get them off our tails.-
"Then we have to find someone who can help us do that. Or find a way to get rid of them ourselves."
-Because we've had so much success with that so far.-
"I thought wolves had no use for sarcasm."
-It would seem I've kept company with a human for too long.-
They trekked away from the city in silence, stopping in the mid-afternoon to rest and eat. As the sun began to sink and evening approached, the young man felt a cold tingle skitter up the nape of his neck. Beside him the wolf stiffened, hackles bristling.
"They're on the move."
-And gaining faster than we expected,- the wolf noted.
The young man gritted his teeth. "We should pick up the pace."
Before he could take a step, a series of sharp, screeching howls rent the air. The young man's skin prickled. Something was wrong. Only one type of creature made that sound, and it meant one thing. They were closing in.
But not on him.
A sharp scream echoed off the mountainsides.
Without a second thought the young man turned and broke into a dead sprint with the wolf right beside him, headed back the way they had just come.
The young man dispensed with verbal speech. –I thought they were only hunting us.-
-As did I,- the wolf growled. –Something must have happened to change their target.-
They sped through the trees and tore through the undergrowth, feet flying over the ground. Another scream broke into the air and the young man cursed.
-It's coming from there,- the wolf indicated the direction with his mind.
The young man frowned. –The North Mountain.-
He sped up, now focused on his destination, the shadows of the trees all blurring together. After what seemed like both an eternity and no time at all, he and the wolf burst out of the trees, the grass underfoot giving way to dirt and stone. Hearing howls and loud cries ahead, the two sprinted up the slope.
They rounded the side of a cliff and were met with the sight of a magnificent castle made entirely of ice. The young man felt a brief surge of awe and wonder before he pushed it aside. There would be time enough to marvel later. There were much more immediate things to deal with.
Directly ahead on the cliff below the castle, a short way away from the remnants of a broken ice staircase, a group of people, along with a reindeer and a sled, were surrounded by a pack of black wolves. On the other side of the chasm a smaller group of wolves were snapping at a mass of white things that shifted and moved.
The young man drew his sword. These wolves were not like the one at his side. These wolves were like smoke given form, shadows curling in wisps at the edges of their bodies. Their eyes were pure red, burning like coals in the darkness of their faces. Their teeth gleamed viciously as they snapped at the trapped people, who huddled even further together.
The figure in front, a tall, broad-shouldered blond man wielding a pickaxe, was trying to shield two women between him and the sled. One of the women, a freckled redhead, held what appeared to be a lute over her head like a weapon. The other was fair as snow and had hair like silver and palest gold. She wore a dress that appeared to be made of ice and she had both hands outstretched.
Something prickled at the young man's mind, but he had no time to dwell on it.
He charged, letting out a sharp cry. Distracted, the wolves began to turn. Before they could, he was upon them. He slashed at the nearest attacker, only for his sword to pass through the wolf like it was made of air. He swung again at a different wolf, and then again, each strike doing no more damage than the last. But they had the desired effect. The shadow wolves were now completely focused on him. He began to move backwards, drawing them away from the sled.
Once the last of the enemy had turned to attack him, he sheathed his sword and slipped a hand into the shadows of his cloak. When he withdrew it, a long knife, black as midnight, was clasped in his grip.
Lunging forward he stabbed at the nearest wolf, driving the blade into its throat. The wolf shuddered, a pained whine sliding out between its teeth. Then it shattered, the fragments of its form dissolving into the air.
By the time the first had completely disintegrated, the young man had already taken down two more and was locked in combat with a third, the shadows around his feet near frozen. Beside him his wolf companion knocked another enemy to the ground and was upon the beast in an instant, biting its throat out. With a gurgling howl, it shattered like the others.
Something flickered in the corner of the wolf's eye. A shudder ran up the young man's spine. He had already half turned when one of the women let out a scream. A black figure fell towards the blonde woman with its jaws agape.
In a split second, the young man made a decision.
He spun, swinging his right arm in an arc and a rush of wind knocked the beasts around him off their feet. Then he thrust his palm out, sending a blast of air directly at the leaping shadow-wolf. It met the creature head-on, hurling it backwards and slamming it into the cliff face. With a sharp whine, the limp body of the creature dropped into the chasm below.
The blonde woman whirled around, wide blue eyes fixing on him. Again, something nudged at his memory.
Sensing movement behind him, the young man dropped to his knees and stabbed upward, catching a creature in the belly with his knife. He yanked it out before the creature could finish dissolving and darted forward, sinking it into the neck of another shadow-beast.
Suddenly, a blast of cold air chilled his left side and a rain of icicles showered the shadow-creatures. Startled, the young man glanced behind him to see the blonde woman standing with her arms outstretched.
The thing nudging his mind finally clicked into place.
The Snow Queen.
Before he could marvel for too long, a growl from his wolf companion jolted him back to his senses. He ducked just in time to avoid a leaping shadow-wolf. Glancing around, he cursed. There were far too many to take out, even with help from the Snow Queen.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw her two companions sprint forward with their weapons raised, galvanised into action by the queen's attack.
"Stay back!" he barked. There was nothing they could do to help. They would only be hurt.
They halted their charge, but it was too late. The wolves on the outside had already turned to face them. The young man cursed. He had about ten seconds before the situation took a horrible turn.
His hand fell to a small pouch tied to his belt. The words of the one who had given it echoed in his mind. Save it for when you really need it.
It was needed now. The young man slid his fingers into the pouch and gathered up the powder within. Raising his head, he bellowed, "Take cover!"
Realising what he was about to do, his wolf abandoned its attacks and leapt to his side.
He spun and flung out his arm, throwing the powder in a circle around him. He slipped a small, spherical crystal out of another pouch. And then he slammed it against the ground.
Boom.
The powder exploded into a massive cloud of silver smoke, billowing outwards on a shockwave that threw snow into the air and slammed the shadow-wolves off their feet. The queen threw up a wall of ice just in time, shielding herself and her companions along with their reindeer and sleigh.
When the smoke and snow cleared the shadow-wolves were struggling to their feet. Their forms were flickering, as though resisting being blown apart. They limped away as quickly as they could, tails between their legs.
After a tense moment, the young man slid his knife into its new sheath at his belt, hidden by his cloak, as his wolf bounded off to make sure they were gone.
Pain lanced through the nerves of his arms and he grimaced softly, rubbing them to ease the discomfort. After a moment, the sensation faded.
A few feet away, the Snow Queen's ice cover vanished.
The redhead spoke up. "Is anybody hurt?"
The blond man was cradling his left arm, which bore a bite mark slowly oozing red. Catching sight of it, the redhead gasped. "Kristoff, you're bleeding!"
The man chuckled and waved it off. "Don't worry about it. It's not deep. I'll bandage it up in a minute. First…" He inclined his head towards the hooded young man.
Remembering his presence, the queen and the redhead turned to face him. The two parties regarded each other in silence for a moment, before the queen opened her mouth to speak. Then her eyes widened and she adopted a defensive stance, hands at the ready. Beside her, her companions stiffened and raised their weapons.
Sensing his wolf companion approaching behind him, the young man raised both hands in a pacifying gesture. "It's okay."
The wolf trotted to his side and he laid one hand on its head. "He's with me."
The queen raised an eyebrow and lowered her hands, her companions hesitantly lowering their weapons.
In the privacy of his mind and the wolf's, he remarked, -That was quick.-
-They weren't hard to follow,- the wolf replied. –None in the immediate area. They seem to be heading south-west.-
-Good. Hopefully that will keep them heading away from us for a day or two.-
The queen cleared her throat, pulling the young man's attention away from the silent dialogue.
"Thank you, stranger," the Queen began. "Without your help we would have been in dire trouble. You were very brave."
"I merely did what any decent person would have done, had it been within their ability." He bowed. "Your Majesty."
The Queen raised an eyebrow. "You know who I am."
The young man smiled slightly. "Even vagrant travellers have heard tales of the Snow Queen of Arendelle."
A hint of self-consciousness flickered across her expression before she hid it behind a composed mask. "Be that as it may, I believe that since you just saved our lives, proper introductions are in order. I am Queen Elsa of Arendelle. This is my sister, Princess Anna of Arendelle," she gestured to the redhead, who grinned widely and waved, "and Ice Master Kristoff of Arendelle." The blond man nodded once, eyes still trained warily on the wolf by the young man's side.
The Queen looked at the hooded young man expectantly. He hesitated. His name wouldn't mean much to anyone, but he rarely parted with it as a matter of course. But if he wanted this woman to trust him…
He sighed. "Kell. Of….nowhere in particular."
The queen smiled slightly and opened her mouth. Before she could speak, a loud voice sounded from behind her.
"Hey guys!"
Kell peered around the group to see… He blinked in surprise. Trundling through the snow was what appeared to be the body of a snowman holding its head tucked under its arm.
"I found my head!" the snowman announced as he skipped over to the queen's side. Then he did a double-take, noticing Kell for the first time. "Hello," he waved, plopping his head back on. "Who's this?" He cupped one hand beside his mouth and 'whispered' to the queen. "He looks kind of shady. And why does he have one of those wolves with him?"
Amused, Kell replied, "He's not one of those wolves. He's different."
The snowman brightened considerably at this. He tilted his head in thought. "You know, when most people see me they scream. Or jump. You're not doing that."
Kell chuckled. "I've seen stranger things in my life than talking snowmen."
"Well in that case," the snowman grinned, "hi! I'm Olaf and I like warm hugs!"
Kell chuckled. "I'm Kell." He gestured to his wolf. "This is Fier. I neglected to introduce him properly earlier." He directed the last statement at the Arendelle nobles, tilting his head slightly in apology.
The black wolf growled in a way that could only be described as polite, bending his front knees and inclining his head respectfully. When the nobles' eyes widened in surprise, Kell grinned.
"As I said, I've seen stranger things in my life than talking snowmen."
"You must have had a pretty interesting life," the Queen remarked. Her expression smoothed into a calm smile, but her eyes betrayed her. They stared into the shadows of Kell's hood searchingly, burning with questions and almost desperate eagerness.
"Interesting is…one way of putting it. Although," the young man paused, watching the queen's reaction carefully, "from what I hear, your own life has some…similarly interesting aspects."
Her expression changed, becoming tentative and perhaps ever so slightly hopeful. She nodded slowly.
"If it please Your Majesty, I would be eager to…" he paused again, selecting his words carefully. He might never have an opportunity like this again. "Speak with you," he continued, "regarding our…similar abilities, in hopes that we might both discover more about them."
She nodded again, a cautious smile turning the corners of her lips. "Nothing would please me more than to know more about my abilities. If you would return with us to Arendelle, we might discuss this further in-"
The blond man, Kristoff, broke in. "Wait." He gestured to Kell's cloak. "Take off the hood first."
Kell hesitated. He exhaled softly, focusing his mind. A moment later, a familiar soft, silky feeling settled against the skin around his eyes. He reached up and tugged off the hood.
Black curls fell loosely around a face as silver-pale as moonlight. High cheekbones and a strong jaw made him handsome, and prominent, narrow ears gave him a slightly elvish appearance. His eyes blinked softly, adjusting to the increased light.
Fier looked up at him curiously. –It has been some time since I have seen your face. You have changed little.-
-That's good…I suppose.-
He tucked his hair behind his ears. It had grown rather long over the past several months, now brushing the tops of his shoulders.
He smiled wryly at the blond man. "Better?"
The Ice Master nodded. "Much."
He nodded in return and turned back to the queen. "As you were saying, Majesty?"
She blinked and shook herself slightly. "Ah, yes. If you would return with us to Arendelle, perhaps we might discuss the matter of our abilities in more comfort. If you are willing, we would be more than happy to accommodate you for as long as it may take to learn as much as we can about our shared abilities."
Kell nodded, smiling. "That sounds like an excellent idea, Your Majesty. Although I'm afraid that Fier and I cannot stay longer than a couple of days at the most. Those beasts that attacked you just now will undoubtedly return eventually and we must leave by the time they do, for reasons I'm sure you can understand."
The Princess spoke up with a frown. "Yeah, what were those things? They just showed up out of nowhere and started attacking us. Wrecked Elsa's staircase too."
Kell glanced back at said staircase and raised an eyebrow. "They did that? Odd. I've never seen them affect a non-living thing like that."
He caught sight of a mass of white crowding at the top of the staircase. Looking closer, he realised that it was made up of nigh on a hundred tiny, arm-less snowmen. Beside them stood a much larger figure, a hulking mass of snow with trunk-like limbs and icicles for fingers. He grinned, inclining his head. "I think you have friends waiting for you up there."
"Oh!" the Queen exclaimed. "Right."
She flicked one hand and new ice began to form over the gap, shaping into stairs and handrails and sealing cracks. In seconds, the staircase was good as new.
And then it was hidden by a flood of white as all the snowmen rushed down at once.
Before he could react, Kell was bowled over by the wave of white. Sitting up and spitting snow, he glanced back to see the little snow critters clustered around the trio and their reindeer, the large one looming above them. As he watched, the snow giant reached down and swept the trio into a massive hug.
He chuckled and smiled to himself at the happy scene. They were like a family, these humans and the snow people.
He hadn't had anything like that in… In a long, long time.
A soft nudge at his leg brought him out of his musing. He glanced down to see one of the little arm-less snowmen staring up at him curiously, its coal eyes wide.
"Hello there," Kell said, blinking softly at the little creature.
It stared at him for a moment. Then it glanced at Fier, who was now sitting beside him, watching curiously. Then it looked back at him. Then back at Fier. Then back at him. Then it sat, plopping down onto the snowy ground and blinking its big eyes like a child.
Kell chuckled, reaching out to rub the little snowman's head gently. "You're kind of cute, aren't you, little one?"
He glanced up as Olaf came trundling over. "There you are, Flake! I was wondering where you went." He grinned and waved at Kell and Fier. "Hello again. This is Flake." He gestured to the tiny snowman sitting on the ground, who smiled up at him. "He's one of my little brothers."
Kell raised an eyebrow, then smiled. "I see."
"Marshmallow's my little brother too," Olaf continued, pointing at the massive snow giant.
Kell raised an eyebrow. If Fier had had eyebrows, he would have done the same. Marshmallow?
"But he's a big guy," Olaf continued, heedless of their reactions. "So he's kind of like my big little brother. These guys are my little little brothers, you know?" He grinned expectantly.
Not knowing quite how to respond, Kell simply nodded.
Olaf seemed more than pleased with that reaction, smiling widely before looking down at the tiny snowman sitting on the ground. "Come on, Flake. Your brothers are all heading home now."
Kell glanced back, and sure enough the rest of the snowmen were hopping back up the staircase towards the castle. Flake wriggled to his feet and smiled up at him. Kell got the sense that if it had had arms it would have waved. Kell smiled back and flicked a small wave in return. Seeming pleased, the tiny snowman bounced once before hopping off to join its brethren.
Seeing the Queen, the Princess and the Ice Master approaching, Kell got to his feet and dusted himself off.
The queen smiled. "Sorry about that. The snowgies tend to get quite excitable."
Kell laughed. "Don't worry about it. They're quite cute."
The queen hummed happily in agreement, before composing herself. "Anyway, we won't all fit on Kristoff's sled, but if you wouldn't mind following us back to Arendelle, we can talk when we get back to the castle."
Kell nodded. "Certainly."
"So," the princess began as they headed back to the sled, "you've run into those wolf things before?"
Kell nodded. "They've been hunting us for a while. One of the main reasons Fier and I are constantly on the move is to stay away from them."
"Speaking of that," the Ice Master frowned. "How long until they return?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Kell admitted. "Fier and I are guessing two days, give or take. We're not exactly magical experts."
The Ice Master hummed thoughtfully. Then he smiled. "I know someone who is."
Et voila! Chapter One, ladies and gentlemen. How did you like it?
Someone in another fanfic (can't remember which one at the moment) pointed out the abundance of four-letter names in Frozen. Anna, Elsa, Sven, Olaf, Hans. I seem to have added to that (Kell, Fier, Urik from the prologue). I assure you that this was unintentional. I only realised that I'd done it after I'd already named them.
Reviews help motivate me to write faster (hint hint). Or you can PM me if you want.
Until next time.
- The Writer Cookie