Chapter 3: Tempest

"You're positive she's not going to freeze us on the spot?" Marek asked anxiously as the Arendelle coastline came into view. "I mean, how do we know she doesn't already know about the attack, and won't mistake us for Weselton?" Marek questioned, his panic rising.

"We don't." Drake said simply, shrugging his shoulders.

"If there's one way I don't want to go it's slowly watching my extremities freeze and fall off." Marek said, nervously glancing downward.

Drake suppressed a laugh. "I don't think you have to worry about that." He said with a smirk.

"The Queen Elsa I know, er knew, wouldn't harm anyone intentionally." Drake said seriously. She had in fact, saved his life.

Drake leaned on the railing watching Arendelle grow larger on the horizon and let himself drift back to the last time he saw Queen Elsa.

He was always excited for the yearly trip to Arendelle. He loved going on trips with his father and he always had so much fun with Princess Elsa and her baby sister.

It happened such a long time ago, but he knew he would never forget. Elsa, Anna and he decided to go sledding on a hill near the woods. The first snow of the season had just fallen and Anna was raving about her favorite sledding hill that curved and sent you sliding down an icy river at the bottom. It sounded amazing and he couldn't wait to try it.

Anna had insisted that she go first and that he go with her so she could show him how fun it was.

It had been higher then it looked when they got to the top but if a four year old could do it, he reasoned so could he.

He loaded Anna on in the front and himself on the back.

"Are you ready?" Elsa said from behind the sled, ready to push.

"Yes! Yes!" Anna was bouncing the whole sled with her excitement.

He merely nodded.

"I know it seems scary now, but you'll be fine, I promise." Elsa said to him sensing his uneasiness.

He reached around Anna and grabbed the rope just as Elsa gave them a good shove, and they were off.

It was terrifying and exhilarating at the same time. It felt like he was flying! He joined Anna in screaming at the top of his lungs. He couldn't remember a time in his young life that he had felt this alive!

As soon as they hit the river he knew something was not right. The ice made a strange echoing noise and began to fracture like broken glass. Icy water sprayed up at their faces. He realized in horror that the ice was not yet thick enough to hold their weight.

They were still going at a terrifying speed but they were sinking, ice shards and freezing water still assaulting their faces.

"Elsa help!" Anna wailed.

He didn't know what to do, he realized there was nothing he could do but hold on and try to keep Anna from falling off.

Suddenly the ice beneath them began to reform.

In that moment everything seemed to be happening in slow motion. He saw the ice, but it didn't look like regular ice; it looked like large icy flowers were blooming beneath the sled. He was so transfixed on the beautiful ice flowers sprouting below him that all his terror left him and he knew he and Anna we're going to live.

He didn't know if he was looking at the ice flowers for an hour or a second but the sled abruptly turned left following the mysterious ice flower path toward the riverbank. As soon as the sled hit the snow bank it sent Anna and he sprawling into the snow.

Anna lay near him in the snow crying, but from what he could tell she seemed physically ok.

He was not so fortunate. His head had hit something hard and he could feel blood running down the side of his face.

From where he lay he could see Elsa running down the hill towards them.

"Anna!" Elsa shouted. "You're ok Anna. I've got you." Elsa said as she kneeled in the snow to comfort her sister.

Elsa at once snapped around to look at him.

"Oh no, Lucas!" Elsa said nervously as she swept up Anna in her arms and ran over to him.

"Lucas, ok you're bleeding. We need to get back to the castle can you stand up? You can lean on me, its not that far." Elsa said, surprisingly calm.

It sounded to him like she was talking from somewhere very far away.

"Your icy flowers are really really really cool." He said groggily. "Like magic snowflake flowers!" He mumbled.

"Ok, we need to get you back to the castle now." Elsa said hastily.

She helped him up, slinging one of his arms over her shoulder, and grabbing Anna's hand in the other, they walked back to the castle.

"Mama Papa!" Elsa yelled when she was near enough to the castle.

The King and Queen came running out of the courtyard along with Lucas' father.

"What is going on here?" The Queen asked in a frightened voice, picking up a still sniffling Anna.

"It, it was a sledding accident." Elsa replied nervously. "Down by the river, the ice… Lucas hit his head." She stammered, letting go of Lucas as his father picked him up.

Large snowflakes started to fall rapidly as the wind picked up.

The King and Queen exchanged glances. "Quickly, inside. We have a healer on staff. Anna too." The King said.

Lucas' head felt heavy, but at least it wasn't pounding anymore. It was dark where he lay, but he could see a beam of moonlight streaming down on the foot of his bed.

"I just wanna see if he's ok." Came the whispered voice of Elsa in the hallway.

Lucas strained to hear.

"Elsa you have got to be more careful with this. Lucas and Anna could have gotten seriously hurt." Came the voice of the King.

"I know I'm sorry, but it happened so fast, we didn't know the ice would break!" Elsa said in a whisper.

The King's voice softened. "I know, your right. You did good Els. You saved their lives. That is the true calling of your gift, to use it for good and to help people. You will make a great Queen someday."

The King paused, "Go on in an check on him, but be quick he needs to rest."

Lucas quickly closed his eyes pretending to be asleep. He heard Elsa walk over and stand next to his bed.

"Lucas, are you awake?" Elsa asked quietly.

He peeked open one eye and smiled. "Yeah." He giggled.

"I just wanted to say I'm sorry you hit your head. I should have known the ice wasn't thick enough, that never happened before…" She started.

"Elsa, you saved my life with your magic!" He cut her off excitedly.

"What? No I didn't, you and Anna just slid over to the riverbank." Elsa said anxiously.

"Elsa I saw you." He said giving her a look. "And I just heard you talking to your Papa."

She visibly stiffened. "You can't tell anybody ok?" She said sternly.

"But why?" He said incredulously. "It was so amazing!"

"Because you just can't!" She said in a louder whisper.

He recoiled slightly.

"I'm sorry." She said looking down.

"I won't tell anybody I promise. You can count on me." He said with a smile.

"Thank you Lucas!" She whispered as she hugged him. "Uh, er night ok?" She said awkwardly as she began to walk to the door.

"Night!" He whispered after her. He lay there too excited to sleep. He couldn't believe that he was trusted with such a special and amazing secret! He would never tell, never.

Drake sighed, coming back to reality. That trip was the last time he had seen her. He had asked his father, begged him, to take him again but every year he was told no. When asked why he never got a straight answer.

After a while he thought maybe Princess Elsa just didn't like him anymore and didn't want to play with him.

As the years passed he became involved in other things and he let it go. But he had never broken his promise to her, or been able to forget about her.

Marek's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

"Uh, Drake?" Marek said staring wide eyed at the Arendelle palace.

Drake turned to where his friend was looking and watched as a large tempest of ice and snow began swirling around the top the palace.

"On a scale of one to ten exactly how confident are you that she's not going to ice us?" Marek said not taking his eyes off the brewing storm.

"Right now, I'd say two." Drake said staring awestruck at the swirling storm.