Tailee fluttered her eyes open. Everything appeared to be blurry, but soon her eyesight focused in on black rocks. It took a moment to recollect what had happened. She was so close to the dungeons, but a strange snowman led to her failure. She felt an aching sensation in the back of her head. She remembered being surrounded by guards. She remembered putting up a fight, but then everything went black. She realized someone must have knocked her unconscious which would explain the splitting headache. Tailee then focused in on her surroundings.
She realized she was lying down on a slate of rock attached to the ceiling by four chains. She rolled her head over to her side to see rock walls with water dripping down the sides. She laid still until a droplet of water fell onto her forehead, startling her enough to leap up. She turned around and noticed large bars trapping her inside the room. She immediately figured out she was in the dungeons. This wasn't how she pictured getting here, but sufficed to say, she did make it to the dungeons.
She walked forth towards the bars and placed her hands on them. They felt ice cold.
"Well, well, well," a voice echoed. "Looks like fresh meat."
"Hello," asked Tailee. "Who's there?" A dark figure could be seen in the cell across from her as it moved slowly from the shadows into view. It was an old man, with a grayish beard that ended somewhere around his thigh. His hair was gray, but was long as well, as it reached his lower back. Tailee could look straight into the man's dark blue eyes from where she was standing, but she saw nothing but sorrow.
"The name's Fletch," he said. "There are other prisoners, but they were moved to a different level."
"Oh, okay," said Tailee. "Hey, I'm kind of looking for someone."
"Well," said Fletch with a laugh. "You seem to be doing a great job at it."
"You're hilarious," Tailee said without cracking a grin. "Do you know of someone named Bato?"
"Bato," asked Fletch, though to himself to see if the name fit a face he'd have seen. "Ain't a Bato in these parts that I know of."
"Are you sure," asked Tailee, a bit worried that she'd come this far for nothing. "Dark brown hair, around my size and age, blue eyes, a bit -"
"Sorry," said Fletch said. "This guy isn't here." Tailee let go of the bars and sunk to the ground on her knees. A sense of hopelessness started to overcome her. Fletch could see that this girl was starting to lose sense of herself.
"I didn't quite catch your name," he said.
"Tailee," she answered.
"Well, Tailee," Fletch said. "If Bato is in the dungeons, he could be kept on the Pericol floor."
"The pericol floor," inquired Tailee, lifting her head up. "What's that?"
"It's a section of the dungeons for the hardened minds of criminals," answered Fletch. "They're not allowed some of the freedoms we are. They don't get to go into the courtyard or interact with other prisoners. They're forced to spend their lives within their cell, cut off from the outside world. If Arendelle does have this Bato, that's probably where he'd be."
"Do you know where it is," she asked. Fletch chuckled.
"My dear," he said as he pointed upwards. "It's right above us."
Footsteps could be heard coming from down the hall that was separating Tailee and Fletch's cells. Armored guards appeared in Tailee's line of view.
My, my, it's been more than a year hasn't it. Remember that promise for Chapter 4 from all that time ago? This was the chapter I was going to upload, but never got around to. The chapter also isn't finished. Why am I uploading it? I'll shortly be resuming this story this year and wanted to give you guys a taste of what's to come, as well as update you all on what's currently happening in my life.
I'm doing well, really well actually. I'm writing novels that I'll be able to keep myself financially afloat. This is why I haven't been writing this sequel to Frozen. However, I'm at a point in my life where I'll have time to continue with this. Hopefully, I'll be able to keep the characters acting in similar mannerisms as they did in the movie. It's been a long time since I've written this, so we'll just have to see what happens. Anyway, here's a taste of what's to come:
Who is Bato? Why is Tailee here? What does Marvella have in store for Arendelle? Did Else and Anna ever build that snowman mentioned in chapter 1? Most of these questions will be answered in the upcoming chapters of Frozen: Fire and ice!