CHAPTER 2: A NEW BEGINNING

Daniel awoke suddenly as his eyes flared open and he grabbed the hilt of the dirk under his pillow. He began to recall the events of his nightmare that had plagued him last night and a cold sweat began to fall down his brow. All of the voices and screams echoed in his head until it threatened to break his cranium in half. The swords mercilessly slashing away at the bodies and the blood. The blood was to much conceive as Talisa Stark screamed for mercy as she was stabbed by the Frey soldiers.

Robb Stark had fell to the ground and had taken as many as ten arrows before a Frey soldier came up from behind and slit his throat, sending him to the deep abyss of death. "Stop, please no more!" Daniel could not take any more his flashback into the decadence of the nightmare and got up from his bed. Daniel gazed into his soulless black eyes in the mirror and scooped some water into his face to snap himself out of his self-induced daze. Daniel began to make the ascent downstairs from his room once he was fully dressed and prepared for the day.

When Daniel had walked down the stairs he began to take account of all the people staring and whispering about him while they ate breakfast. He paid them no mind as he went to the bar table and thumped on it to get Georgie's attention. When Georgie turned around, his eyes widened with surprise and began to stammer for words before Daniel put his hand up to silence the nervous man.

"Just get me some scrambled eggs and jug of ale and we'll just leave it at that," said Daniel. Georgie prepared the meal and set it in front of Daniel while Daniel put three coppers into Georgie's hand. The eggs tasted delicious and Daniel managed to chug the whole jug of ale in five minutes.

Everyone in the bar began to stare at Daniel as if he were some kind of wild animal, but he didn't pay them the least bit of mind. As he prepared to take leave of the bar, the door banged inwards with a resounding crash while five Arendellian soldiers poured into the room. Daniel turned his head around slowly and watched as the Captain of the soldiers began to march into the room with a saunter in his step.

"We're looking for a man that came into this bar last night and viciously attacked a citizen here late last night! If any of you have information then come forth now and you shall be rewarded," bellowed the Captain.

Eyes soon began to shift towards Daniel as he turned back around and picked at the remaining food on his plate. The Captain took note of this and began to make his way towards Daniel with his subordinates following his every step. Daniel planned to map out an attack plan in his mind as the soldiers approached him from behind. It all came to formulation as soon as the Captain put his giant hand down on Daniel's shoulder to force him around to get a good look at him.

As soon as the rough hand had grabbed Daniel's shoulder, he turned around and put the Captain in an arm lock. The Captain's eyes widened as Daniel landed a hard palm strike to his adam's apple and sent him to the ground, grabbing his throat as he gasped for air.

The Arendellian soldiers barely had time to react before Daniel rushed towards them with his sword drawn and parried away their spears and slipped through them to the door of the bar. The streets were crowded with people and merchants wandering about the street. The hood of Daniel's cloak went straight up as he put his head down and began to immediately blend in with the traveling crowd.

Arendellian soldiers began to rush about the street looking for Daniel when he turned and went down an alleyway to get away from the commotion. As he walked down the alleyway breathing a sigh of relief, an old crone looked deep into his face but did not react until Daniel had passed her for a quite aways before screaming.

"Guard! I've found him! Quickly come here! Before he escapes!"

Daniel began to run down the alley at a deadsprint towards the street in front all the while cursing the old crone that revealed his whereabouts. "Dumb hag." Daniel was almost towards his saving grace of another crowd to sink himself into before a flood of soldiers appeared. The soldiers had there spears drawn at him and when Daniel turned around more Arendellian soldiers had surrounded him in the alley.

Daniel weighed his options and knew it would be certain death to try and escape the thirty armed soldiers surrounding him. Daniel sheathed his sword and put his hands up in a surrender as the Captain of the Guard emerged from the soldiers.

"Get on your knees now boy!" Daniel complied with the order and grinned as he knew that these men were making the worst mistake of their lives. "Alright, you motherfu.." Daniel's reply was cut short when he was quickly backhanded by the Captain and cuffed by him.

"Your going to regret this." Daniel exclaimed, as the Captain heaved him up began to set his course towards the humongous castle of Arendelle. Daniel began to take in the sights of the city as he was forced down the streets and began to make a mental map while he compiled a list of escape options once he reached the stronghold of the castle. In a matter of minutes, Daniel and the soldiers approached the city and the Captain yelled at one of the guarding sentries to open the gates.

Daniel began to observe the castle's defenses as he looked at the glistening blue uniforms of the Arendelle soldiers glisten by as they patrolled around the castle on high alert. The Captain opened the doorway to the castle and he lead them to the throne room while Daniel was being pushed by the tips of spears put up against his back.

Daniel didn't know what to expect before he came face to face with the most beautiful woman he had ever seen in all of his young life. He drank in her whole appearance while she all gave him was an icy blue stare that echoed a power that drew an extreme curiosity in him. The queen sat on top of her throne looking down at Daniel and she was dressed in her typical ice blue dress with her platinum blonde hair tied softly into a single braid. Her body was slender yet, firm and full of athletic grace all of which complimented her high cheekbones and angelic face. She frowned and looked at him with a discerning look for a full minute before finally asking the Captain. "Athos, who is this vagabond you bring before me?"

"This man is convicted of attacking another man in a bar last night. We need your judgement on what do with this slime your highness." The Queen raised one blonde eyebrow and curtly replied, "Do I need to begin taking over the city watch as well to Athos? Protocol is obvious on what must be done with the man, so get on with it."

The sarcasm laced reply lead Daniel to chuckle and Athos had blushed a shade of bright red, which indicated his hot rage towards the demeaning remark. As Athos unsheathed his dagger, he made a move to execute the man in front of the Snow Queen before she yelled at him to stop in his tracks.

"Perhaps, we can make special use of your talents." said the Queen as she looked down into Daniel's unrevealing eyes. "There would be no use in killing a well skilled swordsman such as yourself, as you have seemed to best my even my finest soldiers in the City Watch."

Daniel looked at the Queen and gave her a wolfish grin, "I maybe of some service, but I charge a heft fee milady." "This is madness!" said Athos. "This man has decapitated a citizen of this kingdom and has injured several of my soldiers!"

The Queen held up her hand and silenced the tempered captain and said, "Then maybe you begin to properly train your forces if you're going to allow yourself to be bested by a single man. I will hear no more from you, you're are dismissed Athos."

Athos looked down at Daniel in fury and with a turn on his heel, he stomped out of the throne room with his soldiers following behind him. Daniel looked up at the beautiful woman that had just saved him and wondered why a fine woman of royalty would a lowborn scum such as he. "I thank you for saving-." Daniel's remark was cut short when the Queen sent an ice spike that protruded from the ground towards his throat with a simple wave of her hand.

"Do not think this an act of kindness. I did this out of necessity because a man of your skill is needed for the job at hand."

All Daniel could do was reply and say "Name whatever it is and I shall not betray your trust milady."

As he said this, a bright gleaming smile appeared on his face.