A/N: I would really enjoy some feedback about Chapter 8, readers. Guests, ghosts, fans, haters, whoever you may be, if you read all the way through Chapter 8 (not necessarily my Author's Notes, but the chapter content), I would love to hear your thoughts. You see, it's come to my attention that the closure of the chapter was rather...sudden, let's say. I just want to know what everyone's impressions were. And at least two readers have vocalized their dissatisfaction with my prior chapter, so...Just as a precaution from here out about anything I write, I read a LOT of Stephen King when I was younger. Expect ANYTHING to happen.


This Calling

Chapter 9: Cut Through the Ice

Ten days passed in tense silence, leaving the suitors to meander about the city, aimless without a queen to woo. Kristoff had departed for the mountains, Anna had shut herself in her room, informing the guards that the suitors were to be monitored at all times for suspicious behavior. Arendelle had fallen still in the waters without its queen to lead it.

"Princess Anna, you may wish to open your door."

She stumbled to the massive oak barricade and cracked it open.

"What for?"

"The search party has returned."

She immediately tossed the door wide, letting it smash against the wall with a loud thud. Her feet seemed to float across the ground as she bolted for the harbor, skirting most obstacles in her path; in several instances, she plowed headlong into a suitor or a stray maid and tumbled into a somersault, resuming her flight as soon as she regained footing. So fast was she that only the faintest trace of honeysuckles and a wisp of red, undulating hair stuck in the minds of passerby.

She reached the docks as the first ship tied off. Impatient feet bounced her figure to and fro as she waited for the gangplank to drop, and without a second of further hesitation she sprinted aboard, startling the throng of sailors as she beelined to the captain. She brought her hands up against his broad chest to steady herself, breath coming in ragged gasps.

"What...news?"

"We journeyed to the Spanish Empire and made inquiries, had a hearing with the king, even scoured the coast of the Red Sea, but the only information we learned was from the king himself, that his son Juan and his daughter Maria fled the country months ago. Not even the captain of their armada had any inkling what happened."

Anna slumped against the wheel, eyes downcast as the tears threatened to fall. "Nothing?"

"I'm sorry, princess."

She drew a shaky breath. "She could be anywhere."

"It is possible the worst has come to pass, and that Arendelle will look to you for strength and leadership."

Anna reached up, touching the icy tiara with a shaking hand. "My sister made this with her magic. It hasn't melted yet. She's still alive."

"Wherever she is, she is with Juan and Maria, and nobody has heard tell of them save for their sighting here in Arendelle after months of silence."

"What did the king say?"

"He said that his son was charged and convicted of murder in the first degree, and that the man broke free and fled the empire with his younger sister in tow."

"Murder? Of who?"

"His own mother."

Her heartbeat slowed. "His own...mother?"

"The king could not have been lying. His eyes were too serious. There was a pain there, princess. I saw it. It looked much like the pain I see in you now."

An icy droplet of water ran down her head. "My sister...she's all that I have, captain. If...if I lose her..."

The large man drew her into a huge hug, her tears silent as they soaked his tunic. "If you believe she has yet to fall, then she has yet to fall. She is as strong as she was before, and she is angry."

"Angry?"

"That tiara is glowing red."

Anna slipped it from her head as the captain released her. She lett her gaze drift across the icy facets, red light glowing from within. She placed it back atop her head.

"We need to find her. No matter what the cost."

"Rest, princess. It is late in the day. Tomorrow, we can discuss what to do and where to search."

xXxXx

The door banged open, revealing Hans with four burly guards in tow, an apple in his hand. He bit into it and chewed for a moment, reminding Elsa of her own hunger. He grinned, juice dripping down his chin.

"Care for a taste?"

She glowered, leading him to laughter. He looked over his shoulder at the lead guard.

"Get her to the meeting room, please."

He slipped out, leaving the guards to cast wary eyes over her hunched figure, leering at her exposed flesh. They retrieved a pair of wooden poles that looked more like pillars and attached her chains to them, hoisting the rig aloft and carrying her out of the room on their shoulders. She could feel their fear tingling through the chains, could feel her hands and feet chafing from confinement and from swinging beneath the rig like an injured patient in a gurney. The swaying began to make her feel nauseous, but with nothing in her belly to heave she concentrated on swallowing, dry tissue rubbing against itself as her dehydration made itself known.

The guards carried her down a labyrinth of hallways and through several large doors before finally coming to a stop and propping her upright. A servant approached, bringing a tray of bread and water to the weakened queen. Elsa growled, not trusting anyone to be near her.

"If Hans wanted to kill you, he would have done so by now," the servant commented. She held up a goblet full of water and offered it to the queen.

"It's pure, I promise."

Despite her desire to void all hospitality that could be offered to her by the patrons of the Southern Isles, Elsa let the goblet slide against her upper lip, pure water tipping down her parched throat. She drank with greed, feeling her heart rate increase, her blood beginning to tingle as it moved further and faster. The goblet tipped away, and she made a noise of protest.

"Too much too soon will empty your stomach all over the floor again." A large piece of bread was held up to her mouth, and the blonde bit into it, tearing a large chunk off to chew in her mouth. The bread was sweet and moist, the best she'd ever tasted, though being deprived of food for more than three days meant the bread would have been delicious even if stale.

She swallowed, letting the grain slide down her throat, and was rewarded with a second draught from the goblet. Just as the last of the water drained into her stomach, the door banged open, and in strode the devil with the sideburns Elsa had come to despise.

"Ah, good, she has taken to the food. Was it to your liking?"

She was neglect to reply. He chortled.

"No matter, no matter. You won't need to say much, as this is mostly to inform you of what is to come. Now, let's get started."

She noted with mute disgust that Juan and a man who looked much like an older, more rugged version of Hans had entered the room. Lyle.

"So, dawn tomorrow, we depart. You will be aboard the frigate heading the siege, kept safely hidden below-deck for most of the journey. Our first stop will be your former kingdom, and when we arrive in the harbor, you will freeze the fjord just as you did when I was last there. You will freeze everything, in fact, including the ground. Let the seed of impurity that is planted there wither and die from the cold, so that when the purge has taken effect I may start anew with fresh loam and proper seed.

"Once Arendelle has been snuffed sufficiently enough, you will thaw the kingdom and be my greatest weapon. I, of course, will take my place on the throne, while you will remain aboard the frigate and travel south to the Irish and British countries, freezing them solid, then moving south through France and Spain to continue bringing the endless blizzard to the kingdoms. Your path will then take to land and move across Asia, sweeping first across the north, then back across the south. Everything will be covered in ice."

Elsa blinked. This can't possibly work.

"You are more than capable of forcing their hands into surrender. And you will do so because I am telling you so."

"And what of my sister?"

He grinned, turning to face her. "That's why we must stop in Arendelle first: to obtain your leverage."

He doesn't have anything on me, then!

"Of course, I will be sending a scout ship up to Arendelle to take the princess hostage before we arrive. You see, the frigate will not travel nearly as fast across the water as a much smaller scouting vessel, and so we should arrive just as the scout is leaving. Dear Anna will be brought back here and kept safe and secure, locked inside a cell, and should anything happen that compromises this plan, then her safety will be equally jeopardized."

Elsa slumped, letting her mind churn.

"Your blizzard should have the entire Eurasian continent in a whiteout by the beginning of autumn, and then you'll move through Africa. Then a ship will take you over to the New World, and you can kiss that civilization goodbye as well. And once the world has been turned into a giant snowball, you will unfreeze it as kingdoms fall, and I will then relegate Juan and Lyle to their own kingdoms, and we will form an unbreakable triad of power. And then, when all is said and done, you and your dear sister may spend the rest of your days together doing whatever wretched things it is you wish to do, though you will be hunted and killed on-sight if you dare approach any kingdom that stands. Clear?"

"Icy," she replied. He laughed.

"You still have your temper! Perhaps that meal did more good for you than I thought!" He slapped his knee, laughter ricocheting off the walls to further inflame the headache she hadn't known she possessed.

"We leave tomorrow at daybreak. The scout leaves tonight to claim your sister. Until our departure, you are to be returned to your cell. Guards!"

And with that, the four burly men entered, letting Hans, Juan, and Lyle exit with excited conversation.


Comments? Thoughts? As I said above, I'm very much interested in your thoughts about Chapter 8. Please, if you have the heart and/or the time, drop me a little note, yeah? Call it...an experiment of mine. I love you all, my gentle snowflakes, and I should have Chapter 10 up tomorrow evening at the soonest. ~Kyttin