CHAPTER 3

Nightmares Abound

Snarling and growling. That's all she could hear as she ran aimlessly through the dense forest, branches of pine and spruce whipping her in the face as she weaved her way through the dark. She had been running for what felt like ages, her lungs burned and her breathing was ragged as she struggled to inhale. The things nipping at her heels looked and sounded like gray wolves, but deep down she knew they were something more sinister and vile. They were monsters.

In the distance ahead of her, she thought she heard more howls, but something seemed off. These were deeper and more ferocious than what was after her, and the ones chasing in her wake seemed to become invigorated by these new unearthly calls. In response, her legs seemed to grow painfully weary, and were screaming at her to stop and let them rest. Ignoring their pleas, she instead urged them to continue on.

Moments after this internal battle, her legs buckled and she fell forward. Before she could hit the ground, everything suddenly shrank beneath her, almost as if someone or something was ripping the earth out from underneath her. Then suddenly, just as quickly as it was pulled away, the ground came rushing back. Or rather, the top of a castle.

Not just any castle, she thought frantically. It's Arendelle!

As it came rushing towards her, the roof of the building began to shift and slide apart like a pile of building blocks. The closer she got, each floor would slither and deconstruct in similar fashion, allowing her to pass through. Finally, she hit something solid and cold, and for just a split second her vision blurred and her head throbbed.

Slowly, she managed to lift herself back onto her feet. When her vision returned, and her head hurt slightly less, she looked about her and gasped. Somehow, she had come to fall into the castle's ballroom. What's more, there were people there, standing all around and staring at her expectantly. This caused a shiver to run down her spine, and for the first time in a long time she actually felt cold. Her skin was covered in goose bumps, and she wrapped her arms around herself in an effort to conceal her discomfort.

"Elsa! You're finally here!" a voice squeaked, breaking the strange silence.

Turning her head towards the source of the sound, her eyes widened and her mouth hung open. She was shocked and dumbfounded by the chipper redhead standing before her. It was like she was staring at a ghost, something that couldn't be real.

"Anna? Is it really you? I-I don't understand," Elsa said shakily.

Smiling broadly, Anna giggled a little at her sister's odd response. "Of course it's me. Who did you expect it was?"

"I don't know," Elsa said with a shake of her head. Her eyes drooped sadly, and she started to feel worried. "But you were the last person I expected to be here. I mean, after what happened..."

Raising an eyebrow, Anna was giving her sister an inquisitive stare. "What do you mean? Oh, it doesn't matter. You're here now and the ball can finally get started! We were all waiting for you!"

"Wait, Anna, we have to talk," Elsa pleaded, but was nearly drowned out by the din of voices and music that had suddenly decided to pick up.

Shaking her head, Anna was becoming giddy and restless. "No, we have to dance! Elsa, come on! There are plenty of people here that would love to dance with the new queen!"

"New queen? What are you talking about?" Elsa asked confused. Blinking in disbelief, she stared at her sister as if not sure what to expect next.

"Yes, the new queen, silly! Have you forgotten that it's your coronation? Everyone is waiting for your appearance," Anna replied excitedly as she pulled Elsa by the hand through the crowd.

It was a difficult task, bobbing and weaving through the lords and ladies that crowded the floor of the ballroom. Swaying back and forth in rhythm to the music, not a single soul paid the sisters any attention. Anna seemed to have no problem in cutting a path through the dancers, and was lucky enough to avoid getting hit at all.

Elsa, however, wasn't so lucky. There were several occasions where she was caught between dancers and nearly crushed, and bumped into quite a few people and threw apologies over her shoulder as she was dragged along. By the time they emerged on the other side, her blonde hair was a frazzled mess. But how there were no pine needles or twigs stuck inside her braid or bangs, she had no idea. In fact, she felt completely refreshed, almost as if her running from those nightmares had never happened at all.

"That was a lot of fun," Anna announced once they had gathered themselves.

"Speak for yourself," Elsa retorted as she did her best to straighten her hair. "I was nearly crushed to death a dozen times."

Waving her off, Anna grinned at her sister, jumping up and down and clapping her hands gleefully. "Elsa, this has been the most fun we've had in years. I don't know what I ever did to upset you and cause you to lock yourself away, but I'm so, so sorry. Please forgive me."

"No, Anna, you have nothing to be sorry for," Elsa said, shaking her head, hands raised to try and extinguish her sister's onslaught of guilt. "It was never your fault, and you certainly never did anything wrong. I locked myself away because Mother and Father thought it was best, and I agreed with them. But we were wrong. Horribly, horribly wrong."

Anna gave her a quizzical look and folded her arms. "Wait, what are you talking about? Why would any of you think it was a good idea to lock you away? Did you do something awful to deserve it?"

"Yes. I hurt you," Elsa replied, her eyes starting to tear up.

"Hurt me? Hurt me how? That doesn't make sense," the redhead inquired cautiously.

Sighing, Elsa looked down at the floor and once again wrapped her arms around herself. "I don't think you want to know."

"Yes, yes I do! Please, Elsa, tell me! You've barely spoken to me in thirteen years, don't start doing that again," Anna pleaded.

Growing sadder, Elsa tried to turn away until Anna grabbed her arm and stopped her. Looking up at her sister, she tried to blink back more tears. "Anna, please don't make me..."

"Elsa, tell me. Please. I have a right to know," Anna tried to say a bit more calmly.

Her eyes shifted to the large crowd still dancing away the night, and sighed again. Eventually, Elsa turned her gaze back to her pleading sister, and resigned herself to the one thing she feared most. "Okay, I'll tell you. But you have to promise that you won't hate me."

"Elsa, how can I possibly hate you? Even after everything, I still love you. Hating you is impossible," Anna assured her.

Taking a deep breath, Elsa closed her eyes momentarily while she tried to draw up the courage to finally tell her sister the truth. "When we were little, I accidentally hit you in the head. You see, I sort of have these...powers. I can control ice and snow with a simple thought and wave of a hand. Well, one night we were playing here in the ballroom, and I had covered the floor with a layer of snow so we could have snowball fights and slip and slide around. Then you decided to start jumping from one pile of snow to the next."

"I did my best to keep you from falling, making a new pile every time you jumped. You kept going higher and higher until, finally, I couldn't keep up. Once you got too high, I tried to make another pile for you to land on, but I missed. Instead, I ended up hitting you in the head with a ball of energy, freezing your brain and causing you to pass out. It's how you got that white streak in your hair."

Anna reached a hand up to her head, feeling the spot that her frosty streak sprouted from. She had hung onto every word so far, and was just about to ask Elsa what had happened next when she started talking again.

"I ran over to you, and you were unconscious and cold to the touch," Elsa said, her voice wavering. "I panicked, and cried out for Mother and Father to help. One of the servants must have heard me and ran to fetch them, because they came rushing in just a few minutes later. Seeing me in distress, mother also started to panic, and father scooped you up into his arms and ran to the library. There was this book, it was really old and worn looking, and inside there was this folded up paper that he said was a map."

Tears had finally begun to drip down her cheeks, and she shuddered slightly. Wiping them away with the back of her hand, she tried to continue her story. "Father rushed us down to the stables, and we took off into the forest. I had no idea where we were going, but I knew it was wherever that map was taking us. I don't remember how long it took, but we eventually came to a small clearing. When we stopped, Father leapt down from his horse with you in his arms and called out to someone. Moments later, these giant rocks came rolling out of the woods, and suddenly changed into little stony people. They were trolls, and one of them was presumably the leader."

"Father looked down at the troll and told him what had happened. A moment later, he held a hand to your head and started pulling the ice out with some sort of magic. Then he said he was going to alter all of your memories, making it so that you no longer knew about my powers," she said with a disappointed tone in her voice. "He then turned to me and warned me to learn to control my powers, or fear would be my enemy. This, of course, scared me greatly, even more than what I had done to you."

"That was when Mother and Father decided it was best if I stayed away from you for awhile, and I thought they were right. I started to lock myself away from everyone and everything. I began wearing gloves all the time to help mask my powers," she admitted, "but even that barely helped. Father came up with a mantra for me to recite. "Conceal it. Don't Feel it. Don't let it show." I was so desperate to find a way to control it that I was willing to do anything to prevent what happened to you from ever happening again. But it constantly got out of hand, to the point that isolation was the only way to keep everyone safe."

"I grew to hate myself, Anna. As the years wore on, I began to break down more and more. Every time you knocked on my bedroom door, it pained me to turn you away or just ignore you. I thought it was for your own good, but all I was doing was hurting you and myself in the long run. Even when it was time for mother and father's funeral," she said as she blinked back more tears, "I couldn't draw up the courage to face the world, or you, after being hidden away for so long. I felt like I was a disgrace, and no matter what I would do I would just cause harm and misery to those around me."

"I think the rest you know," she finally said with a heavy sigh. "Everything leading up to this moment has been a tragedy that I could have easily prevented if I had learned the one thing that could control my powers from the very start."

Anna's mouth hung wide open. She had never expected any of this from her sister, nor did she know how to respond to something so depressing. However, she did know one thing for sure. The one thing her sister had cemented in place for her.

"Elsa...I don't know what to say," Anna said with sorrow in her eyes. "All these years and I had no idea what was going on. I mean, this was all entirely your fault and could have been avoided if mother and father had just done what needed to be done at the very beginning."

Her sister's response shocked her, shaking her to her very core. It was not what she had expected to hear at all. "I don't understand. What are you saying? I thought you said you wouldn't hate me."

Shrugging, Anna didn't seem fazed at all by any of this. "That was before I found out what kind of monster you really are. Witchcraft is a sin, Elsa. A major one. Being born with such unholy powers just makes it that much worse. Mother and Father should have ended you in the cradle."

Shrinking back from her sister, Elsa couldn't believe what she was hearing. "No. This can't be happening. The Anna I know never would have said such horrible things! Why are you doing this to me? Who are you!? What have you done with my sister!?"

That was when she noticed the deafening silence. Slowly turning her head, Elsa gasped as she looked out over the dance floor. The music had stopped playing, and everyone was staring straight at her. Many of the faces seemed to be filled with anger and disgust, and a quiet murmur began to wash over the sea of dignitaries and wealthy merchants.

She backed up against the wall, her breath coming in rapid, short bursts. Her eyes darted back and forth from the crowd to her sister, and back again. Not knowing what was going to happen next, her chest started to constrict and a terrible sickness took residence in her stomach. Elsa was beyond terrified.

Finally, Anna broke the silence. "Do you know what they do to witches, Elsa? They hang them, or burn them alive. Now, I don't want to do this to my own flesh and blood, but it's the right thing to do. We cannot afford to have such a smear on our good name. Guards, apprehend this thing and hang it!"

There was movement from the other side of the ballroom that caught her attention, and Elsa panicked. She started scanning the room for a way out, and found one just a little ways down the side of the room. Looking back, Anna and the others were slowly approaching her. She felt like a cornered animal, and the only thing she could do was either fight or run. Choosing the latter, she darted to the side of the room and ran as fast as she could to the door she had seen just moments earlier. The crowd of people gave chase as she threw open the door and disappeared.

The hallways twisted and turned, many of which she didn't recognize. Doing what was architecturally impossible, they and curved downward into the depths of the earth. Defying gravity, Elsa ran as if this was perfectly normal. The halls would eventually bend and snake back up to the surface, returning to their original state. Looking back over her shoulder, she was confused to see that the hall was straight, and that she hadn't made hardly any progress from the door she had entered.

With a few more changes in direction, and a couple of doors slammed open, Elsa found herself near the inlet just to the northwest of the castle. Walking towards the water's edge, she looked down and saw how pitch black it had become. It rippled only slightly from the current washing in from the fjord, lapping and splashing against the rocks below.

Then she remembered the people that were chasing her. Looking back towards the castle, she saw the others marching down the path that led to the quay on this side of the grounds. Her sister was at the forefront of the angry mob, and she was some horrific beast once again backed into a corner. She then returned her attention to the water in front of her, and had an idea.

Come on, she told herself. I've done this once before. This time shouldn't be any different.

Her sister held a torch above her head and yelled, "Burn the witch! Burn her! Then hang her from the palace gates and feed her to the crows!"

With a deep breath, Elsa pulled up the front of her dress enough to prevent it from getting wet, and took a step off the pier. Expecting to hit a layer of ice, she was momentarily shocked as she plunged deep into the dark waters. Scrambling to get back to the surface, she flailed about in an effort to get herself oriented properly. Her eyes stung from the salt in the water, but she kept them open, afraid of being unable to see the torchlight above her.

After several moments of struggling, Elsa was finally able to breach the surface. Her hair clung to her head and face, her eyes burned, and she was gasping for air, but she was alive. At least, for the moment. The crowd was shouting profanities at her, and Anna stood there glaring down at her, a sneer spread across her face.

"Elsa, I don't know where you think you're going to go," Anna chastised. "You can't possibly find anywhere to hide. You'll just end up hurting everyone around you like you did to me. Don't you think once is enough? I died because of you!"

That was when Elsa noticed the blood. Anna's hands and wrists were covered in it, a dark crimson contrasting against her pale skin. It gushed like water from a hand pump, so much so that it made her queasy just to watch it. By all rights, she should have been dead.

"This was all your doing, Elsa! All of it! Every second of torment and misery has been because of you! Now," Anna spat viciously, "now it is time for you to pay the toll. It is time for your judgment day!"

The crowd began to throw sharp objects at her as she did her best to tread water, but most had very poor aim. Still, a few bottles and rocks hit her, and she let out a yelp with every one that made contact. Elsa tried to call out once more for her sister, but it was no use. Everything she said was drowned out by the mob's shouts and cries for her hanging. Turning her head back to the far shore, she decided it was her best bet.

The harder she swam, the further away the shore seemed to be. By the time she was almost half-way across the inlet, the shouts had faded and the water was blacker than before. Resting for a moment, she didn't realize just how tired she had become. Her lungs were on fire, and her body ached everywhere. Then she felt something slither passed her feet, startling her.

Panicking, Elsa forced herself to swim on, afraid of what might be lurking beneath the surface. The moonlight reflected brightly off the water, and for a moment she thought she saw something quickly rise up out of the water and then back beneath the surface. Reasoning that her eyes were playing tricks on her, she decided to ignore it and kept swimming as fast as her frail and slender legs would allow.

There was a sudden, brief moment where the water seemed eerily still, like in a painting. Elsa tried hard to look around her, but she found it difficult to do that and swim towards the shore at the same time. Instead, she chose to take another quick break as her body felt like it was about to give out. Then, as quickly as it stopped, the water sprang to life with a storm-like ferocity.

It began with small waves, which quickly became much larger. The water started to churn beneath her, and that was when she realized that the waves were moving away from her. She was at the center. Frantically, she began swimming, a new fear fueling her desire to reach the shore. There was no way for her to know what was happening, but she knew she had to escape.

With a rumble like that of rolling thunder, massive tendrils like coiled snakes slithered their way out from the water, reaching high into the air. The water bubbled as if it were boiling, and one by one the tentacles came crashing down on the surface around her. Terrified, eyes bulging, she hadn't been able to move since the whole thing began.

Another rumble, this time even deeper in pitch, sent ripples out across the water that nearly dragged Elsa under. As the skies blackened, thunder and lightning began to fill the air, with a torrent of rain pouring down.

As another flash raced across the sky, something enormous began to emerge from the choppy surface below. At first, Elsa couldn't tell what it was, but she knew that it was what was at the heart of the storm. It drew itself further out of the frothy water, and all she could see was a gigantic yellow eye staring back at her. The tentacles surrounded the thing, but it was too dark to tell what the creature truly was. From what she could tell, the thing was just a giant mass of serpentine tendrils, not unlike an octopus. The only difference was that this beast was cyclopean in nature.

Elsa stared at the thing, dumbfounded. For some reason, she couldn't comprehend the incredible size of the creature, or how it had lived in the fjord for so long without anyone noticing. Then she realized the more pressing matter was how she was going to survive. She chanced another glance towards the shore and nearly fainted, as she was no closer than when she had started this insane quest.

She was brought back to attention as something wound its way up her legs and around her waist. Struggling to escape, the thing just tightened its grip on her, until she was forced to succumb. In an instant, Elsa was dragged beneath the surface and down into the murky, freezing depths of the fjord. Hitting the bottom, she was dazed when her head struck a rock, only to be suddenly ripped back through the water and hung upside-down high above the water.

Sputtering and coughing up water, she hanged there gasping for air. After several seconds, her vision and head cleared, and she saw that she was being drawn towards what looked like a giant beak. Then, she stopped. She was only a hand-breadth away from the creature, and she was so frightened that she could hear her heartbeat pulsating through her temples.

Moments passed, but it felt like an eternity. Elsa was breathing rapidly, and she thought she was crying because her vision blurred again. Blinking several times seemed to clear things up, just in time to see the creature open and close it's beak several times.

Suddenly, the thing let out a deafening roar, loud enough to drown out the rumbling skies above. It was much higher pitched out of the water than when it was still lurking in the depths. It was shrill and ear-piercing, and it left Elsa's ears ringing loudly. Then, without warning, the beast swung her forward and and threw her into it's terrifying maw. Before she could do anything to protect herself, the horrible beak came crashing down.

Elsa shot up straight in her bed with a bewildered look on her face, gasping for air. She was sweating profusely, almost as if she had suffered a horrible fever. Heart racing, eyes dilated and rapidly scanning the near pitch black room, it took all she had to calm her nerves and slow her breathing. After a couple of minutes passed, she had finally managed to bring herself back to normal.

Sighing, she gripped the amber stone that hung around her neck with a trembling hand. It wasn't the first time she had used the thing since receiving it, but this dream was different. It seemed to be laced with all her fears, and the fact that Anna was there was confusing. She hadn't been able to summon her sister's image since the funeral, but now she appeared without Elsa's control. In fact, the whole dream was beyond her ability to shape it as she saw fit.

So why Anna, she asked herself, and why now? I haven't seen her for well over a month, and this is when she decides to show up?

Removing the stone necklace from around her neck, she carefully placed it inside a box sitting on her nightstand. She wanted to spend some time thinking about what the dream meant, and ask Jorik in the morning what his thoughts were about it. If anyone was able to help her decipher the meaning behind her dream, it was him. He was very well-read, and was highly educated for a soldier, but Elsa respected and admired that about him. In fact, all her friends were rather smart, even the drunk Aldrik. She supposed that was partly why she got along with them so well.

Suddenly, she felt a chill crawl up her spine, and she shivered and began to feel really cold. This was a strange sensation for Elsa, as she wasn't typically affected by the cold like others were. She could tell when the temperature dropped, but she didn't suffer from frostbite or other effects from freezing conditions. It was something she always correlated to being a side-effect of her powers. It was just another oddity of what she considered a curse.

Crossing her arms, Elsa began to do her best to warm herself back up. That was when she noticed the bedroom door was cracked open just enough to allow in a sliver of light from the lanterns that lined the hall outside. She couldn't remember leaving it open like that, and so uncovered herself and began to stand up. The creak of a floorboard from the darkest corner of her room caught her attention as she made for the door.

Whipping her head around, she just barely caught sight of a mass of shadow rushing towards her. Before she could move to defend herself, something stiff and rigid slammed into the side of her head, knocking her off her feet and into the wall behind her. As she rolled onto her back, she saw flashes of lights for just a brief moment, but then saw something glint in the light given off from the gap in the door. To her it looked like a knife, but she barely got a glance before it was once again engulfed in darkness.

Elsa scooted back as much as she could against the wall, fear running its course through her veins. Her heartbeat pulsated in her ears, mixed with a thrumming from when her head was struck. Trying to make herself as small as possible, she raised her arms up in front of her in defense against her unknown attacker.

"It is time for you to die, witch," a voice called out from the darkness.

With a yell and a grunt, the shadowy mass lunged itself at her, landing on top of her and bringing its blade down to her. Elsa struggled with every ounce of strength she had, gripping her assailant's arms and making every attempt to force him off of her. When she felt the cold of steel slowly bear down at her throat, she realized that she was going to die. The tip of the blade began to pierce her skin, drawing a small trickle of blood as it tried to dig itself deeper.

Now that her eyes had managed to fully adjust to the dark, she noticed that the light had gotten brighter, and the moon's rays barely filtered through the curtained window. In the dim light, she could just make out her attacker, though any remarkable details were still cloaked in shadow. But she could still see where he was, and that he wasn't a large or muscular man by any means.

In a desperate attempt to get him away from her, Elsa managed to bring her legs up underneath him and pushed him off. It was more force than she expected, and the man stumbled backwards and crashed into her wardrobe. Quickly, she picked herself up off the floor and tried to run for the door.

The man recovered quickly enough, and grabbed her by her braid as she went by, causing her to wrench backwards and then slump down to her knees with a yelp. Kneeling down beside her, he placed his knife to her throat and growled.

"Stupid wench," he spat. "Try anything else like that and I'll make sure you suffer."

"Why are you doing this!? What have I done!? Please, just let me go!" Elsa cried, trying to grip at his hands to free herself.

The man lowered himself and spoke coarsely into her ear. "Heathen scum, your time has come. It is unfortunate that I won't be able to purify this place once I remove your blasphemous form from it, though I may be able to return to finish the task another time. But your presence here has befouled the very foundations of the city."

"Now then," he continued, "normally you would hang from a tree or gallows, but neither are readily available. So, spilling your vile blood is the next best thing. See, after we exterminate you like the vermin you are, we would normally salt and burn this place to the ground. However, there are people here that can still be saved, so that isn't an option. This really has turned into one the most complicated jobs I've ever had."

Yanking on her braid again, Elsa let out a pained cry as she started to panic even more. Frantically considering her options, she reached up to slap him in the face and made contact, a blue flash sending him sideways. His head hit the bedpost, making a sickening cracking sound.

Once again backing up towards the wall, Elsa's eyes widened as her attacker groaned but didn't move. He laid still for several moments, just long enough for her to come to her senses and rush for the door. Throwing it open with a slam, she started to make her way down the hall towards the stairs that led to the entryway of the inn. The carpeting was old and filthy, and small puffs of dust erupted into the air as she ran as hard as she could.

She was almost half-way down the hall when Elsa heard a growl from behind her along with heavy footsteps. Chancing a quick glance behind her, she saw that the her would-be killer was hot on her heels, almost within arm's reach. Passing by a table with a vase, she quickly grabbed it and pulled it over, making an effort to stop the man or slow him down. Instead, he leapt over it but suddenly stopped. She just kept running, not looking back to find out why. Taking a few more steps, she heard a whirring sound when she suddenly fell face first into the floor as something wrapped itself around her feet.

Everything was black. Her ears were ringing again, and sound was distant and muffled. She tried to lift herself back up, but instead her arms gave way and she slumped back down the floor. When her vision returned, she saw a pair of black leather boots and worn, dirty brown trousers beside her. Craning her neck to look up, she saw him just standing over her grinning. Then she saw his head whip around towards the stairs, heard what she thought to be shouting, and watched as the man pulled out a pistol and fired.

Within a blink of an eye, he fell against the wall and slid down to the floor. For awhile, he laid motionless, and Elsa dropped her head back to the floor, exhausted from the whole encounter. She felt the floor vibrate beneath her as she heard more shouting and footsteps rushing towards her. Deciding to try and look up once more, she was surprised to see Liam standing over her. He was ordering the others to do something, but her hearing was still bad enough that it drowned out whatever he was saying. She saw that he had his pistol in his hand, and wondered if he was the one that put the man down.

Eventually her feet were freed, and she was picked up and carried by someone she didn't know. They returned her to her room, where she saw the other guard that was supposed to be posted nearby lying in a pool of blood in the corner just outside her door. Once they entered, she noticed that the lamp on her nightstand was already lit, and she saw the doors on her wardrobe were splintered and destroyed. She almost forgot about the man carrying her as she was laid down on her bed. She greeted the comfort of her pillows as if they were old friends.

Liam had entered right behind her, and was at her side as soon as she had hit the sheets. He didn't look happy at all, and he leaned in closer so he was fully in her view. Looking over his shoulder, he dismissed the others and told them to take care of the bodies before returning his attention to her.

"Your Grace, please tell me what happened," he pleaded.

With her hearing returning, and her head hurting less, Elsa turned her head just enough to look him in the eyes. "I had come to bed early because I had a headache, and I tried using the stone again. The dream I had, by the way, was not a fun one. Anyway, after I woke up I decided to head back down to the dinning room for a drink of water. That's when I had that strange feeling of being watched."

"Then suddenly there was this sound, like the floor creaking, and it was in the room with me. I started to panic and make for the door, when he jumped on me," she recalled, her voice beginning to crack. "We struggled for a moment until I was able to get him off me, and I made another attempt to escape, but he grabbed me by the hair and started to talk about how I was going to die, and he was going to burn the inn to the ground, and something about me being a witch and an abomination. Most of it was crazy to listen to."

"That's when I decided to try and hit him, and I slapped him with a little bit of magic," she said, sounding rather proud of herself. "I think I froze part of his face because after he hit the bedpost he didn't move. So I took the opportunity to run, but he somehow managed to get back up and chased me down the hall. That's when I felt these ropes wrap around my ankles-"

"They're called bolas," Liam interrupted. "They're typically used by tribesman, but some hunters have been known to use them on faster and more dangerous game. It's an interesting device. It has three weighted balls at the ends of either short ropes or chains, and you swing it around to build momentum before you throw it at your target's legs or feet."

This caused Elsa to smile slightly. "Of course you'd have to explain it to me. You almost sounded like Jorik for a moment there."

"I suppose I did," he replied with a chuckle. "Anyway, please continue."

"Right. So," she said with a sigh, "I fell and hit my head, and shortly after that is when he exchanged fire with you. Obviously you know how that ended."

Leaning back for a moment, Liam crossed his arms and looked like he was deep in thought. It was quiet for what felt like several minutes, with the only sound being the ticking of the clock on the opposite wall. She saw that it was only a little after seven, which meant everyone was downstairs in the dinning hall when the attack began. It must have been a mere coincidence that they heard the commotion in the hall.

Finally, Liam decided to speak again. "I don't understand how he was able to get in. Was he someone you recognized?"

Elsa shook her head. "No, I've never seen him before. Why, what are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that he somehow either managed to sneak by every guard I had posted, or he infiltrated our ranks. There's just no other way he could have gotten in. Unless," he said, looking right at her and raising an eyebrow, "he used some kind of magic."

"After everything he said to me," she replied with a scoff, "I highly doubt it. He was dead set on killing me because of my magic. I think he was one of those religious fanatics."

"Or he was just crazy," he said with a hint of sarcasm. "Either way, we don't know if he was working alone or had friends. Now this means we're going to have to interview everyone just to find out who's actually loyal and who is potentially a threat."

Just then there was knock at the door, and he ordered them to enter. It was one of the men that came to Elsa's aid, and he was carrying something in his hand. After saluting, he handed whatever it was over to Liam and quickly left the room.

Liam grew quiet for a moment. "Well, I think you may be right after all about him being a zealot. Here, look at this."

He handed her a small ring, one made of a light metal. It held next to no weight in her hand, but she was more interested in the image engraved on the top. It was that of a fist centered within a stylized sunburst. It was rather unique to her, but she knew that she had never seen it before.

"I don't understand," she finally said. "What does this mean exactly? It looks like it could belong to a secret organization of some sort."

"It does seem that way, doesn't it? But the way you described him and what he said, I'd wager this has more to do with some religious cult," Liam replied, folding his arms.

Shaking her head in disbelief, Elsa forced herself to sit upright on the bed. "But what could they possibly want with me? Why am I being targeted by these people? Why do they want me dead?"

Liam shrugged at her questions. "I don't know, Your Grace. Clearly they are radical extremists, otherwise they wouldn't have attempted something like this. For now, I think it's best if you keep your public appearances and trips into town to a minimum. At least until we can ferret out anymore remaining members of this group, if there are any."

Nodding her agreement, Elsa laid back down and stared up at the rafters above. Her thoughts were consumed by what the man had said to her, and connected it with what happened in her dream. Was she really a monster after all? Was she something so vile and unnatural that even God himself demanded her demise? The last thing to pass through her mind as she began to close her eyes, giving way to exhaustion, was what Anna truly believed her to be.