Authors Note: First of all I would like to thank you for the reviews. I always feel great when I get them. Secondly, an the note of Anna's armour, I do have one picture of it laying around. If any of you readers are interested in seeing it, I have it posted on my blog ( blog/kibawriter). If you anyone has any further requests for imagery, I can do my best to please. That it all. Enjoy chapter 4.
Elsa ventured out closer to the wall, taking a moment to look out over the village. In the rays of the morning sun, the village lacked the foreboding air that it had held the night before and instead looked rather quaint and welcoming. From her higher vantage point, she could see right out across the village, and was able to watch the people of the town scurrying about, preparing for the day. The queen found that the village looked so much like her own castle town, that she could almost forget that it was the underbelly of the north.
Her attention was drawn to the small section of forest that lay just beyond the mansion. Pine trees reached up to the ridge of the surrounding cliff side. She tilted her head, squinting at the thin trail of smoke rising from just inside the treeline. She wasn't sure how she felt about weaving her way through the trees, but it seemed a safer option then wandering the village alone, she thought as she pulled her hands up to her chest.
Cautious steps took her through the sparse trees and, looking up through the branches to keep sight of the smoke, eventually lead her to a small brick hut with a tall chimney with a bowl like base that could only be from a forge. A quiet clanging drifted out through the glassless windows, perking the blonde's curiosity enough to suppress her mind fear of the strange building and enter through its curtained door. The hut seemed to be split into two room: the workshop set to the left of the hut and the small entrance room in which she stood. The entrance room was dominated mainly by a large desk covered in rolls of parchment, and the forge room. Further inspection of the desk revealed the parchments to be covered in designs and patterns. The sketches were varied from swords to pulley systems and strange arrow heads and a mask with several layers. As Elsa skimmed over them she noticed that, though the subject and style of each design changed, they were all signed the same, A.W.B.
A particular loud serious of clangs startled Elsa from her thoughts and setting a chill to the air. She had been so focused on the sketches, that she had just nearly forgotten her reason for entering the hut in the first place. Pulling back the curtain that separated the two rooms caused a thin sheen of sweat to break out upon Elsa's forehead from the sudden wave of heat. She felt as if she had just stepped into an inferno and found it impossible to believe that anyone was actually working in the ungodly heat. Yet low and behold, someone was, and if the bright ginger hair was any tell, then the one hammering away at a piece of red hot steel could only be the Sparrowhawk.
The redhead must have changed when she got to the hut, because gone were the comfortable looking training cloths that Elsa had seen her in before. Instead, she now wore loose fitting trousers and a vest of tanned leather, her red hair contained in a loose bun.
Elsa cleared her throat loudly, hoping to grab the assassin's attention, but the noise of the workshop worked against her. Steeling herself for any possible backlash, Elsa stood taller and in her most queenly tone called loudly, "Sparrowhawk!"
The affect was near instantaneous. Anna's whole body jolted in fright and the clanging missed a beat and was replaced by a thump that could only have been the hammer falling heavily on the her hand if the long string of profanities that poured from her mouth were any indication. She spun around to reprimand her interrupter, cradling her injured hand, rage etched across her face. "Who the hell thinks they can just burst in here with no warning, you all know this place is—" her anger melted away when her eyes fell on the queen and embarrassment took its place, a light pink filling her freckled cheeks "– off limits" she bowed her head, "apologizes, your majesty, I did know you were there." Without her think leather armour, Elsa noted how small the assassin really was, shorter then herself, yes, but she looked almost as thin as well. A blush grew in her own cheeks upon seeing that the only thing covering the Sparrowhawk's chest under her open vest was a strip of cloth wrapped tightly around her chest.
She must have taken note of the queen's gaze, as Anna's face became impossibly red and she rushed to find something to cover herself with. "I-if her Majesty would k-kindly wait in th-the other room" she gulped, covering herself with a tattered curtain "I w-would m-make myself decent." She stammered out.
To Elsa's credit, she managed to make it through the curtain and seat herself in a small chair without laughing. She wasn't waiting long before the Sparrowhawk followed after her, dressed once again in her training cloths. She bowed to the queen, "please forgive me for my rudeness."
"It is quite alright" Elsa waved it off, watching as the assassin seemed to deflate. Clearing her throat, Elsa pointed to one of the designs tacked to the walls, "Are these yours?"
Anna nodded, somewhat bashful, "Yes, they are. I like to tinker… figure out ways to help the village, or to help me get around."
"Like that fancy crossbow?" Elsa questioned as she stood.
"Yes, just like my crossbow."
The two women stood in silence for a long while before Elsa remembered her purpose for leaving the mansion in the first place, to fetch the Sparrowhawk. "Your Master wishes to speak with the both of us. Something about your contract with me," she said as she hurried back out into the forest, trying to get a head start. For a moment there, she had allowed herself to feel at ease in the presence of the woman, who not twelve hours before, had held a knife to her throat. It wasn't long before Anna had joined her and, with Anna staying a few paces back, the two walked back to the mansion.
When they reached the study, Pabbie was waiting for them, a pair of rather sharp looking quills and a long piece of parchment before him. "Ah, good you found her," he motioned for them to sit in the chairs across from him. Was they were settled, he set his steely gray eyes on Elsa. "My Queen, what is it that you require of my Sparrowhawk?" he asked, poising his own quill over the parchment.
"I merely need an escort to France and back," she stated "a protection detail, if you will." As she spoke, the Grandmaster began writing across the parchment in an elegant scrawl.
"And why is it that you need to go there?"
"I believe that I may still have allies there. It is my hope to meet with them and ask if they would lend their forces to the effort of fighting out what ever usurper has weaseled his way into my kingdom," came her steady reply.
The silence stretched on as the older man filled the parchment. "And you, Anna, do you wish to help out Queen rather the forces she needs?"
"Yes," there was barely a pause before she replied.
Pabbie grinned at that, "sometimes you make it very hard not to play favourites" he said, turning the parchment towards them. "Upon this parchment, is your contract of service. Everything here is what is to be expected of my Sparrowhawk while she is in your service. From the time of departure to when you return to Arendelle, victories of not, or in the event that either of you dies, the Sparrowhawk is yours, Queen Elsa," the man explained slowly "She will guard you, care for you, and if it come to it, she is bound by her honour to die for you." This last part came as a shock to Elsa but next to her, Anna seemed un-phased. Here her Grandmaster was practically selling her to the Queen and she looked as if this was just a normal occurrence to her. Elsa blinked at that thought, maybe it was? She had no time to ponder on that as the Grandmaster turned to her, "also, here written, is your payment."
"Payment?" Elsa questioned.
"But of course, this is a deal after all, and as loyal as I may be to you, my queen, I will not simply give her to you for free."
The queen scowled "Very well, name your price, I'm sure the royal treasuries can afford it," she said coldly.
"You misunderstand, the price I wish of you is not gold," he folding his hands neatly on his desk "but the reinstating of a contract dissolved by your grandfather. I want my village to be protected under the same laws, and I wish for my order to once again be in your employ. Free to do as we wish, but also bound to your bidding. Do you accept these terms?" he picked up the quills and held them out to the women.
Anna took hers as soon as it was offered, but Elsa hesitated. By doing this, she would be enabling a village that was an asylum to murderers to be free of the very laws condemning them. Crimes wiped clear, grieving families never to see peace. It felt wrong, to undo something that her predecessors had done, surely the contract had been abolished with good reason, but she really had no other choice. With her hand shaking, she took the quill, but saw no ink on the desk. "How am I to sign with no ink?" she asked.
"A contract as important as this, should not be bound in mere ink, my queen," his voice was even "it is binding my dear Anna to your every whim and that is not something I take lightly."
"Then with what do I sign?"
It was Anna that answered her, as she pressed the sharpened end of the quill into her finger, coating the tip in blood. "Blood" she said simply "a blood bound contract has always been held in the highest regard," she explained as she signed her name across the first line, Anna W.B. "Now you."
Elsa regarded them both nervously. She swallowed hard as she slowly tugged off her right glove. With a wince, she pricked her finger before adding her own name to the contract, Queen Elsa of Arendelle. The deed done, Elsa rushed to glove her hand.
"Very well" Pabbie rolled the parchment and tucked it away in his desk "The contract is set. From the moment the two of you leave this village together, Anna the Sparrowhawk is yours. I would ask that you remain here a week, Queen Elsa."
"A week!?"
"Well we need time to prepare. A trip to France is not just a walk to the market. You will need supplies, and I ship. Plans must be made, maps and routes drawn up and letters must be sent." When he stood, Anna stood with him. He handed her an envelope and she was off to begin the preparations. He walked around the desk and placed a gentle hand on Elsa's shoulder. "I am glad that you are safe. And I promise you, Anna is an honourable woman. She is bound to you now and she will do everything in her power to keep you safe," his grip on his cane tightened as a shadow crossed his face, albeit briefly, "no matter the cost." With that he slowly hobbled his way out, leaving Elsa alone, reeling from what had transpired.
She still held the bloodied quill in an iron grip, and as her nerves settled, the thin coating of frost along its surface melted away in the heat of the sun. That had been close, but how many more close calls could she take? A week could be what she would need to mentally prepare herself. God knew that she would need all of her self-control, and God help her if she lost it.