Chapter 6 Hunters and Prey

It would be early the next morning when Prince Leif and Commodore Hyman would walk into the Arendelle royal palace. The two men would quickly be escorted into the dining room where Queen Elsa was having some breakfast before she and Prince Leif left for the ice palace.

"Good morning, your majesty," Prince Leif said as he entered the room.

"Good morning," Elsa replied, "Are you ready to leave?"

"I am," Prince Leif replied.

"Your majesty and highness, if I may interrupt," Commodore Hyman interjected.

"Of course, Commodore," Elsa replied.

"Where you are going is going to be very dangerous. If these men are indeed Russian Cossacks and I have no reason to doubt that, then you need to be very careful. I would leave the formalities here. The Cossacks will pick up on hearing 'your majesty' and 'your highness' and that will give who is who. You will want to go incognito as much as possible. I would get comfortable calling yourselves by first name basis. I figure that we are facing the Don Cossacks at a minimum and possible other groups of Cossacks. There is one group in particular that is well known for being trackers and huntsmen. If they are involved as well, then this will be a very dangerous situation for both of you," the Commodore said.

What the Commodore said made perfect sense to Elsa. While she might want to remain regal and dignified through this, circumstances dictated otherwise.

"Oh, and you must always assume that you are being watched or monitored," the Commodore added.

"Very well then, we had better get off. If we wait too much longer the sun will rise too high for us to leave safely," Prince Leif said.

"Agreed," Elsa responded.

With that, the prince and queen quickly gathered up their belongings and headed to the stable with Commodore Hyman. Just then Kai came to join the group.

"Kai, I would like you to work with Commodore Hyman to find Hans and his spies in Arendelle," Queen Elsa said.

"As you wish your majesty," Kai responded.

"Kai, I would like to get someone in place up high to see if we see any homing pigeons fly off when the queen and prince leave Arendelle and to try to track where those birds are coming from. Can you please arrange that?" Commodore Hyman asked.

"I will get right on that," he responded and immediately went to find a guard to take a look out position in one of the towers of the castle.

With that, Elsa and Leif quickly put on hooded cloaks and mounted their horses. Once everything was ready, the two royals left the palace and headed out of Arendelle. Within ten minutes of the departure of the young queen and prince, a group of homing pigeons quickly flew overhead towards destinations unknown. Moments later, the guard who was assigned to watch the tower where the birds were coming from ran up to Kai and Commodore Hyman with a report. I saw those birds leave that tower.

"Kai, can you please gather up some Arendellian soldiers to work with some of my crew please? I want to pay a visit to that tower where those birds came from," Commodore Hyman requested.

"Let me get a group of soldiers together right now," Kai responded enthusiastically.

A few minutes later there was a group of Arendellian and Southern Isle soldiers mingling in the courtyard of the Arendelle royal palace.

"All right gentlemen," the Commodore began, "I suspect that there are spies watching our movements even now from that tower overlooking the royal palace. I would like to pay a visit to that tower and put an end to such actitvities."

The Commodore knew that there was a risk in moving in too quickly on the spies. If they moved too fast, they would tip their hand to the enemy and give away of their knowledge. On the other hand a lot of their subtle movements would be watched and known by the enemy. After a brief consultation with Kai, the two men decided it was better to put the spies out of their misery than let the spying continue. With that decision made, the soldiers along with Commodore Hyman and Kai quickly marched over to the tower.

Anna and Kristoff felt like they had been running for a long time. Poor Sven was getting tired when they finally decided to give him a rest. They didn't know how long they had been riding since they got off the cliff but they knew it had been a long time.

"How far away could they be Kristoff?" Anna asked.

"It can't be too far," Kristoff replied," but honestly I don't know. We got waylaid while we had to climb down that cliff. I really would have liked to know how Sven got down that cliff though."

"He will have to show us when we return, won't you Sven?" Anna teased the reindeer.

Sven bleated his agreement and seemed to throw a smile towards Anna.

"Well if we have any hope of catching up to those goons, we need to keep moving," Kristoff said.

While she would have much rather continued to rest, Anna was in complete agreement and was ready to be off. The sooner the two of them caught up to those goons, they sooner that they could get their children back and return to Arendelle. At this point, Anna and Kristoff were no longer interested in spending any more time away from home. They just wanted to be home with their children. Still something haunted Kristoff. Before getting on Sven, Kristoff turned around and strained to look behind them.

"What's wrong Kristoff?" Anna asked.

"I don't know. I just feel like we are being hunted," Kristoff replied.

"Now why would they continue to hunt us? They have our children. We will come to them and then get our children back, right?" Anna asked somewhat apprehensively.

Still something about Grand Pappi words were coming back to haunt him.

"We best be careful but on our way. Come on, Anna," Kristoff said as he helped his wife get on Sven's back.

Once Anna was on Sven, Kristoff quickly hopped on and they couple were on their way.

Kristoff was right to worry. Shortly after the couple left, a group of men in stark white that matched the color of the snow got up and continued to track the reindeer tracks. The men moved silently and discretely and of course were invisible at a distance. The biggest trap of them of them all was about to spring.

Leif and Elsa were riding hard. Neither one of them noticed the pigeons that flew overhead as they rode out of Arendelle. The royal pair had ridden hard for nearly an hour when they decided to stop. It was important to give the horses a chance to catch their breath as much as it was it important to catch up with Anna and Kristoff. Besides Elsa knew that Anna and Kristoff had at least a good day's head start on them. Still they didn't want to remain in one spot too long.

"So tell me Leif," Elsa said, "Why is it that I have not heard much of anything about your or your brother Prince Erik before your arrival?"

"My father didn't want to let the word about our abilities get too far out. He kept use isolated from the world, including our own brothers. He said it was for our own protection really," Leif responded.

"Your must have some abilities if you had to be isolated like that," Elsa said.

"Yes, they are kind of like your own in many ways," Leif responded.

"Well I can control ice and snow," Elsa said, "What's your ability?"

"Are you sure you want to know?" Leif replied seriously.

"Yes, I would like to know more about the person I am riding with," Elsa answered earnestly.

"Very well," Leif responded, "Just as you could control snow and ice, my brother could control fire."

Elsa just gasped.

"What's wrong?" Leif asked, "It is obvious you were not expecting that."

"No, I wasn't. It was….. I was…. I thought I was the only one who had magical abilities is all," Elsa said.

"The main problem for me is that Erik and I were twins. He had the magical abilities but I didn't seem to. Though on a visit to Arendelle my father took us to see the trolls. Grand Pabbi told me that some powers are latent and don't show up until later. I don't necessarily believe him, but that is what I have been told," Leif explained.

By now the two of them had been resting nearly 15 minutes and knew that they were going to have to get on their way again. Neither Leif nor Elsa could see the faint glimmer of a shadow on a ridge overlooking their position.

"Well time to get the horses going again and get moving again," Leif said.

"Agreed, we need to keep moving if we will make the ice palace soon," Elsa replied.

Leif pulled his horse in front of Elsa's horse and was preparing to mount up when he heard something in the distance.

"Get down!" Leif shouted as he pushed Elsa down to the ground as he dove down himself.

They barely had anytime before an arrow flow over head and just barely missed the horses. The horses were starting to get spooked.

"We have to keep the horses calm or we will be walking to the ice palace," Leif said.

Elsa was completely in agreement.

"Who are shooting at us?" Elsa asked.

"I am not sure yet, but we need to get some cover first," Leif said while looking around him for some cover for him and Elsa to take.

There wasn't much cover. There was a large rock that they could get behind or there was a gap in the ridge before the path went off into the forest. We will never make it to the forest though Leif.

"Elsa, over here!" Leif shouted.

Elsa and Leif quickly huddled behind the rock while another round of arrows went whizzing by them.

"So who are these guys?" Elsa asked again.

"I am not sure, but I will try to find out," Leif responded while taking his spyglass out of his satchel.

Leif positioned himself to get as good a look as he as he could while making himself as small a target as possible. It was hard to get a really good look at the men on the ridge because every time he got focused on one, he would have to evade another arrow. But eventually Leif started to see some definitive markings on the men. The men were wearing a white colored cloak that matched the color of the snow. So Leif wasn't completely make out the uniforms of the Cossacks shooting at them completely. But he saw enough to realize that these were not the Don Cossacks that Olaf had described earlier.

"What do you see Leif?" Elsa asked.

"They are wearing camouflaging so I can't be completely sure, but I believe that these are Ural Cossacks rather than Don Cossacks that Olaf described earlier," Leif responded as another arrow whizzed by his head by inches.

"How many are there?" Elsa responded.

"I saw three but I am certain that there are more. We certainly can't stay here for very long. The ultimate cover will be the forest just behind the gap, but we will have to fight our way over to the forest," Leif said while detaching his bow and quiver from his horse.

"If you can force them to keep their heads down, I can put some ice down behind us to prevent them from easily chasing us," Elsa suggested.

"Good idea," Leif responded, "Are you ready?"

It took Elsa a moment to get into position.

"Ready when you are," Elsa replied as she grabbed the reigns for the horses.

Leif came around the corner, took careful aim at where he thought one of the men was and fired. While he was off the mark it was close enough to force the men shooting at the queen and prince to take cover.

"Come on Elsa!" Leif shouted as he took aim for another shot.

Elsa was right behind Leif shooting out ice from her hand creating a very slick sheet of ice that was trailing behind them all while avoiding arrows at the same time. In order to help with the confusion, Elsa made sure that there was a lot of mist and spray being generated by her magic so that the men on the ridge did not have a clear shot. In the meantime, Leif kept sending arrows up towards the top of the ridge. At least one of the arrows hit their mark given the loud and angry screaming from one of the men on the ridge. The exchange of arrows went fast and furious and Elsa and Leif made their way to the forest. The progress was slow but eventually the two made it to the forest where they were able to quickly mount on their horses and start running into the forest.

In the meantime, the men on the ridge were quickly assembling. In total, at least two men were hit and went down due to Prince Leif's quick shooting. One of the men held on to several leashes. At the other end of the leashes were some very hungry wolves.

"Release the wolves!" commanded one of the men at the top of the ridge.

With that command, the men released the wolves and sent them on their way followed quickly by the men on the ridge. What the men did not see was the thick layer of ice that Elsa has put down on the ground behind them as they pair made their escape. All of a sudden men and dog were slipping and sliding all over the place while they tried to pursue their prey. Further up the woods, Elsa and Leif could hear the yelling and shouting of the men as they got up and fell down again. This cycle would repeat for several minutes before the men finally reach the edge of the woods and were able to get mounted on their own horses and start pursuing the pair.

"Come on!" shouted the man in charge, "They will get far before they hit our next trap."

With that the men and wolves started pursing Elsa and Leif.

Meanwhile, Leif and Elsa were running at a stout gallop and had gotten about a 15 to 20 minute head start over their pursuers when they encountered what was a grizzly sight in the forest. Sitting at the base of a tree was the remains of a human. But whoever this poor soul was had met a terrible fate. Out of the shoulder was sticking out an arrow. The rest of the body though was torn to pieces. In fact the body was in such bad shape that neither Leif nor Elsa could even begin to venture to guess who the poor soul was. Elsa and Leif were about to put a shallow covering over the mand and leave again when they saw something sticking out of the snow. It was a letter. Elsa quickly picked up the letter and immediately recognized it. It was the letter that she wrote to Anna warning of her of the imminent danger she was in.

"No wonder Anna didn't know what was coming," Elssa said with a great deal of sadness.

"Those men probably shot him to prevent him from getting to Anna. He tried to hide in the forest and was found by the wolves," Leif said while trying to suppress a deep since of disgust at his brother and his allies for their needless cruelty.

"This man was trying to carry out my orders and was viciously murdered for it," Elsa replied with a sad bit of melancholy.

"No time to ponder on that now," Leif said hastily as they began to hear the baying of wolves and the rumble of horse hooves behind them, "We need to leave NOW!"

Elsa certainly didn't disagree with him. With that Elsa quickly got on her horse and started riding with Leif. Once we get back to Arendelle, I will send soldiers out to retrieve that man's body so he can get a proper burial Elsa thought to herself. She also made a mental note to make sure that the man was honored for being killed while carrying out the orders of the queen as well as to take care of his family.

However for now, those actions would have to wait. Elsa and Leif were now prey and were being pursued by the hunters on their trail.

Both Kai and Commodore Hyman were completely shocked by what they found in the tower overlooking the palace. On one table nearest the window overlooking the royal palace, there were all sorts of spy and looking glasses for watching the royal palace. Against the other wall, was a covey of homing pigeons waiting for their next message to fly out. But what was most disturbing was a map of Arendelle. There a point on map with the royal palace circled. There was another point on the map that was circled that corresponded to the ice palace. Between the two circles there were two long lines with X's over that line. What did the X's mean? What was Elsa and Leif running into. Also on the map was another long line of X's stretching from Arendelle to a point in the middle of the map and from that point there was another line of X's to the ice palace.

"What is this?" Commodore Hyman asked.

"Obviously it is a map of the kingdom of Arendelle, but what are the lines of X's that are drawn on the map?" Kai asked.

"I am not sure, but I would really like to interrogate these two and see what they have to say," Commodore Hyman replied.

"Agreed," Kai replied while looking at the two men who even when fully shackled and gagged stared ominously as the naval officer and the regent of Arendelle.

"Corporal,' Commodore Hyman began, "take these men to the dungeons of Arendelle and prepare them for interrogation. It is imperative that we learn as much as we can from these men a quickly as we can."

"Aye, sir," the corporal said.

With that, the corporal and a group of Southern Isle sailors and Arendelle soldiers quickly took the men away to be interrogated. In the meantime, Commodore Hyman and Kai continued to look around the small room trying to see what else they could find. The room really did look rather small and looked like nothing more than an observation post.

"I don't know what those men can tell us, Kai, but so far they are the only clue we have as to find where Hans is located," Commodore Hyman said.

"Agreed," Kai responded as the two men began to head back to the palace to find out more.

"We should be catching up to them, shouldn't we?" Anna asked.

By now, the younger princess was starting to get concerned about losing track of the tracks of the men that had kidnapped her children. She was getting terrified that they might not ever find those men.

"Hang on feisty pants," Kristoff replied, "There is no reason to be afraid of that yet."

Kristoff was starting to grow concerned about the weather. It was starting to look more gray and foreboding like there was more snow on the way. If it did snow, then Kristoff knew that they would have to give up and head back to Arendelle. There would be no way for them to track the men with their tracks being covered up.

It was getting rather late and the couple needed to get some rest. Kristoff was terrified of what his children might be going through, but he also knew that it was imperative that he find a place where he and Anna could sleep for the night. The couple was on the edge of a great forest. Kristoff was concerned about the possibility of wolves and knew that he had to find a sheltered place quickly. Wolves were going to be a real possibility and being out in the open or even resting among the trees was not the safest place to be at night.

"Help me find a place for Anna and I to sleep, buddy," Kristoff whispered into Sven's ear.

The reindeer and Kristoff started looking for shelter not too far from the tracks that they were following. After about 10 minutes, Kristoff and Anna found an abandoned cabin in the middle of the forest right along the tracks that they were following.

"I wonder if those men stayed here while they were coming after us," Kristoff said.

"Careful Kristoff. It could be a trap," Anna replied cautiously.

The couple made their way up into the cabin very, very carefully. The door creaked open as if it had not been opened in a long time. Once Anna and Kristoff were inside they could tell immediately that that the cabin had not been used in a very long time. There were dust and spider webs everywhere.

"Bleah!" Anna said in a rather revolted manger.

"We really don't have much choice though. It is starting to get dark and I would rather not face the wolves in the forest in the middle of the night. This time there might not be a cliff to protect us from the wolves this time," Kristoff replied.

As much as it bugged her, Anna had to admit that Kristoff was right. It didn't do their children much good if they were dead because of recklessness. The last time that Anna and Kristoff encountered wolves in the forest, Kristoff's sleigh was destroyed and the Kristoff nearly went off the side of a cliff. Anna had much rather avoid a similar issue again.

So they couple made the best of the situation and settled in for the night in the dusty and creaky old cabin. As the couple settled down for the night, the sounds of wolves started to rattle throughout the forest. Unbeknownst to the couple, the wolves they started to hear were not wild wolves but the wolves used by the Russian Cossacks for tracking and hunting their prey. And the hunters were closing in on their prey. In just one day they would reach their prey and extend make an already bad nightmare worse.