*PLEASE READ*
So. I'm going to be arriving at the writing of Romance to my displeasure. I will not be good, that's a fact. If you think my writing of it is amateur and un-descriptive, you might want to let me know in Reviews. Advice on writing Romance and tips of what make it better will definitely be appreciated in the form of Reviews or Private Messaging. Oh yeah, and your character's thoughts will be trademarked by this font and "these" quotation marks, so I do not have to add the text "you thought" after every thought. Example "Wow, look at dat booty".
The Traveler chapter 4: A new start
A few minutes later, you were still awkwardly trapped in your kneeling state, as the Queen hadn't said a word from being in shock and wonder still. Somehow, luckily, within your swirling mass of broken memory chunks, you managed to grasp the one with manners and formal/royal rules and laws of respect. One rule, not being convenient for the moment, was that if you kneeled to a Noble or Royal, you are not supposed to change positions or rise until instructed to do so. You were getting ready to make an exception and break the bow and kneel, when you heard the Queen's voice speak out, beautiful, clear, and authoritive.
"You may rise, stranger. Understand I am full with with Thankfulness and Gratefulness for your deeds, as we all are, but there are matters of utmost importance and urgency which require attending to. As you must have seen, my sister has sustained perilous injury, and we need to return to Arandelle with all due haste, for much needed medical attention." She paused and continued, more softly this time, "As queen Elsa of Arandelle, I royally request for your escort and assistance in ways deemed fit by me or Kristoff until, we arrive and enter the kingdom of Arandelle, of which your rewards and fate will be discussed at later." She finished, pleading in her beautiful voice.
You rose up to your feet, and made eye contact with her gorgeous, cyan-blue eyes, and got entranced by their beauty and her gaze. They were like orbs of light, fused and forged by beauty and liveliness, they caught the light from the fire and sparkled brilliantly. You realized what you were doing, just staring back at her awkwardly, remembered what she just told and asked of you, and looked down blushing. Your voice betrayed you, as it wouldn't make a noise or work correctly, and the only thing you were able to do was nod your head in an accepting gesture. "Wow I'm being so foolish, why does this woman have this... stunning effect on me?"
When you finally built up the courage to gaze back up at her, you foolishly almost got entranced by her stare and gaze again. She was smiling, and that... was such a sight to see. You would definitely re-do all of this to see that sight again, her sparkling blue eyes, flawless face and facial features although a little dirty from the tussle, dazzling and entrancing smile... but then you snapped back into the real world from dream land and regained control of your mind and voice.
"As you wish, your majesty." You seriously but politely said back to her, then continued. "What would be your first request of me to assist you with?"
She replied, a little humorously and un-official for a Queen "Well, these bindings are not quite my style of bracelet, could you kindly remove them? I feel they are a little tight and out of fashion, not very fitting for a Queen." She finished jokingly.
You replied, a little taken aback at her humor at a time like this... especially for a queen; "Just a moment, milady" And then went to retrieve on of the ruffian's fallen swords. You walked over to the body of the girl, grabbed her sword from it's sheathe, turned back to the captives, and approached the Queen with the sword in your hand. You saw fear start to creep into her brilliant eyes at your approach, and then realized how you were holding the sword and walking towards her, like you were going to strike her down.
Your nerves never calmed down after the fierce battle, and you noticed you were holding the sword in your right hand, point angled up as if ready to strike. You mentally whacked your own forehead with your palm at your sheer ignorance and stupidity, (Facepalmed :P) then angled the sword down to a more passive way of being held, and changed your brisk, intimidating walk to a more calm and passive stride.
The Que- "Elsa" your own thoughts corrected and cut your thoughts off, Elsa seemed to notice how your walk and movement form changed, let out a sigh of relief, and the fear dissipated from her eyes and face, to be replaced by the looks of urgency and worry. The auburn haired girl, Princess Anna you remembered her name being referred to as by Elsa, was in grave danger and peril as the bleeding of the gash did not stop, and a small puddle of blood had leaked out where she was still laying. "What did they do to that poor girl?"
You picked up your pace, and swiftly moved behind the Queen. You went to grab her arm to move the bound hands away from her back, in fear of accidentally harming her, but remembered a royal and old law. "Commoners and peasants may not by any means make physical contact with, outside of greeting and formality, with Nobles or royalty, unless granted permission or under extreme circumstances of doing so. Violators will be hung, or at the mercy and choice of what Nobles/royalty he/she has made contact with."
You cleared your throat and asked unsurely; "Um, your majesty? Permission to make contact with you?" She laughed, but then replied in a serious tone "Permission granted, but do know this. Formality and etiquette, should they consume extra time or impede your progress, are not of any worry to me right now based on the situation at hand, and I would recommend working with as much haste as possible. Ignoring them if needed." She paused and then added with a hint of amusement in her tone "And please, refer to me as Elsa from now on."
"As you wish your maj- Elsa" You replied and corrected yourself as you cut her bindings off and removed them, helping her up. She rose to her feet gracefully, and brushed off some dirt from her attire. "Thank you, I was starting to get a little uncomfortable there. Kristoff's turn now?" She asked and beckoned over to the quiet big dude, then went to go check on Anna who was a few feet in front of Kristoff, and tend to her.
You completely forgot that he was there, as he hadn't made a sound or budged an inch the whole time you were fighting and conversing with Elsa. You approached him with the sword, his face deprived of any emotion or look, it was just blank. You warily walked over to him, stopping a few feet in front of him and asked, trying to capture his attention; "Sir?" He just kept staring at Anna's unconscious form, not even acknowledging your existence. You repeated yourself again, louder this time; "Um, sir? Permission to relieve you of your binds?" You said as you beckoned to the rope that was still currently binding him to the tree. His conscious seemed to return to himself as he snapped out of his trance, changed his gaze to look up at you holding the sword, and slowly nodded yes.
You trudged on over to the stump, pulled your arm back, and swung with force to sever the ropes tied to it, then moved on back over to Kristoff, cut him loose, and offered a hand to help him up. He accepted it, solemnly muttered a quick "Thanks", didn't have a second glance at you, or first one for that matter, and rushed over to Anna. "Well, I guess he isn't Mr. Friendly" You muttered to yourself, partially annoyed by his actions. Well then again his wife was grievously hurt, nearly... defiled in front of him, and he had a nasty and bloody bump on his head. You understood where he was coming from with the way he acted.
You decided to see if you could help the two with anything else, and slowly approached them; who were now both crouched down by Anna's body. You arrived a few moments later and the look on Elsa'a face was not a reassuring one as she was biting her lower lip in frustration. You crouched down, noticing you still had your folded weapon and the sword in your hand, disposed the sword and stored your weapon, then asked quietly; "How bad is it?", It was a dumb question as you could obviously tell she was in terrible condition. The Bruise on her forehead was turning shades of blue, black, red and purple, she was unconscious still, and the cut was bleeding profusely.
Elsa replied, a voice of worry; "I think she could have a concussion, though I'm not sure how severe. Her cut doesn't seem like it will close on it's own, and getting to Arandelle could take hours if Sven doesn't wake up soon". You were about to ask "Sven?", but then you the remembered the reindee- oh that's what that species is. You also recalled calling him a reindeer while you were hiding behind the tree a few minutes ago. You then looked at Anna's cut which had ripped through the fabric of her clothes, also was on her left side, and went from about... a little above her waist to her second to last rib at the bottom. It was a medium sized injury, maybe 7 inches or so, but it must have been deep to be bleeding so relentlessly.
Your general knowledge kicked in and you commanded Elsa (Not purposely sounding authoritive though); "Turn her onto her right side so the blood can migrate away from the cut a little bit." You paused, and then ripped a large piece of cloth from your left pant leg and continued, as they turned her over; "Tie this around her waist tightly as you can, make sure to cover the cut completely with the cloth, and apply pressure to it, as it will help stop the bleeding temporarily." You handed Elsa the make-shift bandage, and she applied the steps you recommended beforehand, to Anna.
After she was finished, Elsa let out an exasperated sigh and Anna had a somewhat decent makeshift bandage to help with the bleeding. The fire started to die down and it was turning darker in the little area by the second. Since neither of the two were thinking straight or taking initiative, you decided you would.
You said with a little force added to your words; "Alright, we need to move her back to the sled, carefully though. Kristoff? We need to keep her level and her injured side facing upwards, we don't want the blood rushing back into the cut up area. Elsa, you need to try and rouse The reinde- Kristoff cut you off abruptly and commented angrily; "Sven. His name is Sven". You just glanced at him expressionless and continued; "Ok, you need to try and rouse Sven, it was a small dart and the tranquilizer will probably be wearing off soon. If there is extra dead weight aboard the sled, I'm going to have to ask you to ditch it here. Everything ok?" Elsa nodded and headed out towards the sled, and Kristoff said a little more friendly; "Yes, understood. Sorry about my rudeness, just not handling the situation too well" he paused, stood back up, shifted over to Anna's legs and asked "Ready to move her? I got this side, you support her head and upper body".
You obliged and moved over to position yourself for the lifting part. You both simultaneously lifted her off the ground, carefully keeping her side facing upwards, with you supporting her head and torso and Kristoff her legs and mid-section. Then you cautiously began backing up towards the sled, of which you heard the sounds of Sven waking from his nap. You heard Elsa rummaging through the sled and the thump/ thud of items being thrown out followed it, as you and Kristoff shifted sideways to be able to see and avoid obstacles that might be in your path. Elsa finished and called out "All clear!", as she turned to view yours and Kristoff's progress; being about fifteen feet away and slowly approaching.
"Come on guys, pick up the pace! We don't have an eternity you know!" Elsa said impatiently when you two were about 6 feet from the sled. You arrived and Kristoff gently set her legs down onto the back, while you set her upper part carefully down right afterwards, and swiveled her body so her feet were facing the edge and her head towards the front wall. You let go of her upper body, and Kristoff climbed aboard past you to slide her up away from the edge, making sure not to turn her over on accident.
You were about to ask something, but were immediately cut off when some intense rustling suddenly came from a nearby bush. You grabbed your weapon from your pocket where you had stored it earlier, and then you activated it, for it to transform into it's 5 foot deadly and sleek form, much to Elsa's surprise you guessed, as she gasped. Then you crept up towards the bushes. You were a mere few feet away when the bushes were suddenly spread back and a... snowman? Came running out, looking at something on his stick hands, laughing. He was a short little guy, stubby legs moving like an ants, and a huge dopey smile was plastered on his misshapen but happy face.
He started to call out in a higher pitched and childish voice; Anna! Elsa! I finally caugh-" but he stopped abruptly, the smile fleeing his face and laughter ceasing when he saw you standing a few feet in front of him, knees bent, staff held vertically and defensively with a look of surprise on your face.
He saw Elsa behind you and called out to her in distress; "E-Elsa? Wh-What's going? Who is this big scary man? And where is Anna? And why is he holding that black thing and-" Elsa cut him off abruptly; "Olaf! I nearly forgot about you, where were you all of this time?" He went to go reply but she cut him off before he could, "Nevermind, we can talk about it later. Don't worry, he's a friend, and he is helping" She glanced up at you and then continued "Please, get in the sled."
His dopey smile formed back onto his lumpy face and he said happily while walking up to you; "Friend? Wow! Hi, I'm Olaf and-" Elsa cut him off with an urgent voice: "Please Olaf! You can say hi to him later! Now in the sled, both of you!"
You quickly left your defensive stance, sheathed your weapon back into it's small cylinder form, and rolled your pants up to store it in your pocket, rolling the pant leg back down once you were finished. "So... a talking, walking, and living snowman... I don't think I'll ever remember one of those. Do they usually talk and walk like that? You thought as you turned and started following the little guy who was already at the sled, to the sled. Elsa was in the back, sitting by Anna and checking her, while Kristoff was moving to the front steering seat after doing something to Sven. All seemed good and ready to go.
About halfway there you suddenly began to feel weak and woozy, as if something had suddenly sucked all energy and will to move out of you. You stopped, and started to sway, the world was swirling around you and your legs were shaking. Elsa must have noticed this, as she looked up worry etched in her face again. "Is something wrong?" She asked, with a little concern in her voice.
Your adrenaline rush was over, and your lack of food and water finally caught back up to you. Your body, after all of that strenuous work and fighting, expended all of your energy and the ground eagerly started rushing up to meet your face. The last thing you heard was Elsa's voice, urgency within her words: "Kristoff, something's wrong with him! We need t-" and then blackness consumed your vision and mind.
Your conscious slowly drifted back down into your body, and then you awoke with a groan, a pounding headache unpleasantly welcoming you. You groaned again, and then decided to pry your eyelids apart, blurry vision revealing a painted ceiling above you and a tan colored brick wall to your left and above your head. You then noticed you were lying down on something soft and flat, most likely a bed, and your head was elevated upon another soft object most likely being a pillow. You let loose a drawn out yawn, followed up by an extensive stretch and were satisfied to hear bones crack throughout your body, then instinctively brought your hands up to rub your eyes to clear them as the majority of people did upon waking. You figured it would be a good idea to sit up for some examination of your current surroundings, upon when slightly moving your head, near excruciating pain shot through it.
You yelped out in pain, and fell back down to the bed with a grunt. It felt like someone was forcing a knife through the inside of your skull, and you felt around for the source of the bursting pain. Moments later, you found that the right side of your forehead was bandaged, and a thick layer of medical cloth wrapped around your head and in your hair was wound tightly to hold the bandage in place. Your head was still pounding. You figured it would be best to stay still for the time being, not wanting to experience that horrible pain again. "Wow, this is the second time in a row of waking up to a terrible headache with torturous pain if moved. I really am terrible at waking up without pain."
Then the curiosity settled in. Where in god's name were you? You remembered all of yesterday's... events, specifically last night's and that gorgeous Queen. Did they deliver you back to their kingdom? It seemed to be the only logical explanation and answer... and it wasn't a bad one either. "Heh, a few more glimpses at those girls and I'd be better in no time." You were unable to prevent the perverted thoughts from flashing through your mind. Then the pictures of the injured girl, princess Anna you recalled her as, flashed through your brain also, bringing a whole load of guilt right behind them at your previous thought.
You were abruptly cut off from your thoughts when the door suddenly swung open, and from the corner of your eye you saw a very large and plump woman in a simple maid's dress come barging in, holding a multitude of supplies and items in her arms. She struggled to shut the door behind her, grumbling something about "Stupid nobles" and "Always getting in her way", set the items down on a table next to the door, and turned to you. She spoke out cheerfully in a heavy Irish accent; "Oh goody! You're awake! How're ya feeling? Bah, never mind that, you must be starvin'! Lights out for nearly a whole day... ya poor thing. Well you're in luck! Got a fresh prepared meal straight from the kitchen ready for ya! Hope you like fried steak and steamed veggies, because that's your brunch for the day!" She finished, her loud voice only adding more throbbing to your already pounding head, and then fiddled with something you couldn't see on the table.
She exclaimed "Annoying little bugger, always gettin' stuck! Ahh, gotcha!", And then a smell worthy of the heavens wafted into your nostrils, causing your mouth to salivate profusely, and that's when the hunger struck at you again. It was a gnawing, gaping and painful hole in the dead center of your now growling stomach. The maid then approached you, noticing you hadn't budged an inch and then cried out; "Oh my! I nearly forgot your medicine! Foolish, Foolish of me." She then went back over to the table, out of your sight, and you could hear her rummaging and preparing something. "Just a little pinch o' that, throw some of that in there.. and voila!" She then turned and approached you, holding a small wooden cup full of what you assumed to be, some type of liquid remedy inside. She arrived at the bedside, placed the cup at your lips, and warned you; "Prepare yourself lad (Lassie if you're a girl), this will burn a little and sting a lot, not including the bad taste... but please try not to spit it out!" And then dumped it into your mouth without warning. Your mouth instantly stung, a very sharp pain where the liquid touched, and burned afterwards. The liquid arrived to your tongue, and the taste that followed was absolutely horrible, also being worse than the pain. Then you started to gag and choke, your body not wanting to consume the vile liquid.
Luckily after much gagging and near throwing up, you got the liquid down your throat; it stinging and leaving a burning sensation wherever it touched. You sputtered and coughed, the nasty taste and burning still trapped within your mouth and starting to tear up your eyes. You noticed though, that your pounding headache quickly started to fade, and you seemed to be regaining energy at a quick pace. Bertha commented, satisfied; "Ahh, there's a good strong lad... most of the other patients spit that out within seconds! Oh, and here, your reward." She finished by retrieving the platter of food and brought it over to you, laying it down on a nightstand that you now just noticed was there.
You figured that the medicine was probably for your head, and carefully decided to try and sit back up again. No pain. You sighed in relief, looking up at the plump, cheery maid and croaked out, your voice very hoarse; "Thank you".
She simply smiled and said "Just doing my job lad, appreciate the thanks though. Medicine fixed your head up good huh? That was a pretty nasty bump ya' had there when I first saw you carried into the castle on a stretcher, guessing ya' got hit pretty hard. It looked awful, well, before doc Mitchell got to you. Patched you up real good, said that you were lucky it hit so far to the right or it would have been a severe concussion. Ah well, i'll stop bothering you now. Enjoy your meal." She finished and hurried off back towards the door.
She was just about to walk out and leave when you saw her look at the table next to the door, of which you could finally see, and then she exclaimed; "Oh yeah! I almost forgot, Queen Elsa would have my head if I did! There are some formal clothes here, after you're done with your meal, you need to bathe and clean up. Here is soap, some (Shaving "foam" if you're a dude, make-up if a girl), a comb, some scented (Cologne/Perfume), and gloves should you want to wear them. If you look along the wall to your left, there is a bathroom full with Sink, Tub, and water piping for you to bathe in, and more medical cloth with bandages. Try to move swiftly, as Queen Elsa has requested an audience with ya' as soon as you can arrive. Be seeing you" and then she walked out the door, shutting it.
"So, an audience requested with me? This day can't go too bad... and I'm going to finally be able to see myself. Well, better get started, shouldn't keep the queen waiting too long..." You thought as you began devouring the meal and gulping the water down.
