Chapter 9—The Old Woman Who Knew Magic

"I told you, we should have gone straight to this sorceress!" Elsa shouted at Kristoff. She was riding her snowdeer at a full gallop while he and Sven tried to keep up. She wasn't sure he had heard him, but she didn't care. She needed to get to the river, and follow it upstream, to wherever that led. They were nearing the river, but she still felt a sting for every second that she knew her sister was in the clutches of notorious bandits. She urged more speed out of her mount.

"Hold on Elsa!" Kristoff was calling from behind her. "Real reindeer can't keep up this pace."

She looked back. "Then you'll just have to find me at the lair of the sorceress," she shouted, and rode onward, leaving man and reindeer behind.

Kristoff could feel ribbons of sweat on the side of Sven's neck. "Easy there buddy," he said as he let the deer slow to a stop. "We don't have to catch her. We can walk a bit. But only a little bit."

Sven panted for a few moments. The answered in a strangely Kristoff-like voice, "We won't be able to help Anna if we die of exhaustion."

"Okay buddy. We can walk for more than a bit."

Sven panted some more.

"Have I been putting on weight? I thought a run like that shouldn't leave you that tired. Unless we're hauling some..." Kristoff poked at the saddle bag on Sven's side, and was surprised to see it wiggle in response.

"Hey!" the bag shouted, in a high-pitched voice. "That tickles!"

"Pebble? What are you doing here?"

A small troll girl popped her head out of the saddle bag. "I'm saving Anna, just like you!"

"I thought you couldn't leave the valley."

"Oh, yeah that rule is just for Grand Pabbie. I think he is in some sort of prison, cause the sky is still mad at him for the mirror thing. The rest of us can leave the valley, we just don't, cause it would be rude to leave him behind. But now, I can tell you need me!"

"Look, Pebble. I appreciate the gesture. But I need to hurry to this sorceress, and you're kind of weighing us down."

Pebble looked up at Kristoff, her eyes big and starting to water. "You mean you don't want me?"

"No, hey. I mean … we'll need you as a reserve, for the element of surprise! Elsa will be the first wave against the sorceress, then me and Sven, then you!"

"Great! I can definitely be the element of surprise! Okay, you guys run off, then I'll catch up at the sorceress's cottage."

"Yeah, in fact, I think we'll take off now!" Kristoff started down the path at a run, leading Sven. The reindeer gave him a distasteful look, clearly not happy with the length of their walking break.

"Look, Sven, the love of my life is in danger, so I'd kind of like to hurry. It should be a lot easier going without a boulder in our saddlebag."

Sven still wasn't happy.

"Besides, if we run now, we might catch up to Elsa and her snow reindeer. And I saw how you looked at that snowdeer. I can tell you like her."

Sven turned his head in embarrassment, then trying to change the subject, scooped Kristoff up and broke into a gallop.


The pair found Elsa by the river. The queen was hunched down, crying into her hands. The snowdeer was nowhere to be found.

Elsa looked up when she heard Sven and Kristoff's approach. "I pushed her too hard. The snow—it wasn't made to gallop like that. My reindeer … she fell apart. I put her back together, but once complete, she bolted into the woods, and left me … alone." She dropped her face into her hands again.

"Hey, it's … uh … it's okay." Kristoff said. He wasn't sure what to do—should he try to comfort the Queen? While he hesitated, Sven snuck up to her and nuzzled his nose under her arm.

"I thought I had such control over my powers. That no matter what power this sorceress has, I have my ice, and it would be more powerful. But now, I don't … my ice tried to run away from me."

"No, hey. That was just an ice deer, and even I've had Sven try to run away if I try to make him run too hard. But he always comes back. Isn't that right buddy?"

With an affirming herumph from Sven, Kristoff went on. "In the meantime, you're still the queen of the ice and snow. I'm sure we can take anything some sorceress has. So, come on. Let's go find this sorceress. Let's go find Anna."

Elsa gave him a weak smile.

"You can ride Sven," Kristoff offered.

"I've got a better idea," Elsa replied. Again, she put her hands together conjuring an icy blue ball. She threw it on the ground, and as it spread, the outline of a sled formed. Lifting her arms up, the ice took shape into a two-person sled, with long icy runners.

"Whoa." Was all Kristoff could reply.

Sven sniffed the sled, and then gave it a lick. Happy with the result, he started jumping up and down.


The trio followed the river upstream, to the East. For miles, the wound through the yellowing woods. Orange leaves crunched under Sven's feet. In fact, it seemed to Elsa that he was going out of his way to stomp the crunchiest looking leaves. But up ahead, the woods looked different. The trees and grass were still green. It looked like there were even flowers. Was this the work of the sorceress? She saw smoke climbing above the trees, so there must be a cottage in this strange summer forest.

They brought the sled to a stop near a picket fence that circled the cottage. Walking toward the gate was an old woman, with shoulder length white hair, adorned with flowers. She wore a sundress and sandals.

Kristoff unhooked Sven from his sled, then whispered. "Why don't you go find Elsa's snowdeer. I have a feeling we'll need her soon." With a nod, Sven ran off.

"Well, when the bluebird told me the Queen was coming, I didn't realize she was bringing her Ice Master too," the old woman said.

"Who are you? Where's Anna?" Kristoff shouted at her. "Also, how do you know who I am?"

"Well aren't you inquisitive. I know who you are because everyone in these woods knows the story of the ice man who stole the princess's heart. And your princess is in another castle, I'm afraid. As to whom I am, all you need to know is that I am the sovereign of this estate." She gestured to the greenery around her.

Elsa studied the gardens. There were patches of tulips on one side of the cottage, rosebushes on the other. All around were the smells of summer. She even heard the buzz of bees, dancing between the flowers.

"Your garden is immaculate," she said to the old woman. "And it is clear you are an enchantress of summer. But I am an enchantress of winter." At this line, she held up her hand and let a half dozen coin-sized snowflakes erupt out. "So from a flower queen to the Snow Queen—can you help us find my sister?"

"Ha! Snow Queen?" The old woman turned to her rosebush. "You hear that Rosie, she fancies herself the Snow Queen."

Turning back to her two visitors, she went on. "No, you are just a girl who can make ice. Look at these bees. They answer to their queen. Can you command all of the bees of snow? No. There is only one Snow Queen, the largest snowflake of all—the last descendent of Negagfok, the monarch of all of winter. She who directs the snow clouds. She who calls the sleet and slush. She who lives in her ice and stone palace in the frosty islands of Svalbard, guarded by the white bears, a thousand miles north. She who…"

The old woman stopped, and listened to the still air. In the distance was a birdsong. The old woman focused on it. "No … She doesn't live there. She hasn't been seen in over two decades, not since the storm that flattened her palace. But the palace is … being rebuilt?" She closed her eyes to listen harder to the birdsong. "Being rebuilt to accommodate … your princess!"

Elsa's eyes went wide. "Come on Kristoff, we're going to Svalbard."

"Oh, I don't think you're going anywhere," The old woman answered, with a wave of her arm.

Elsa tugged at Kristoff's arm, but he stood without budging. "Come on!" she shouted at him. He just stared forward with a dumbfounded look on his face. What was wrong with him? They needed to leave this enchanted garden—they needed to save … who was it they needed to save? Elsa's thoughts were becoming muddy.

Red hair, was all Elsa could remember. We need to … what did they need to do with red hair? Braid it? She looked around. Nobody here had red hair. Elsa closed her eyes, trying to focus her mind. Red… was all she remembered. There was something important she needed to do with something red. She opened her eyes. Red roses? Don't they look lovely. I should smell them.

Elsa smiled and, walking up to the roses, gave them a sniff. "Your roses smell lovely," she said to the sorceress.

"Thank you," she replied. "I think you'll enjoy being my guest. I'm glad you decided to stay."


It seemed like she was marching forever, but by daybreak, Pebble had made it to the strange summer garden in the autumn woods. She knocked on the picket gate surrounding the cottage.

"Pebble!" Kristoff called as he opened the gate. "You made it! Oh, man. You're going to love this place. It's as warm as one of the steam vents, and the flowers are so fragrant, and our hostess is the loveliest lady, and just look at the cherries growing in that tree, and…"

He was rambling. That wasn't strange for Kristoff, but wasn't he supposed to be on a mission? Why was he so distracted by this summer garden, Pebble wondered. Kristoff led his small rocky sister down a rocky path, around the corner of the cottage to a small table where Elsa sat with across from an old woman. Both were sipping at mugs of tea.

"Oh, yes I can really taste how the rosehips form such a compliment to the chamomile," Elsa was saying.

"Let me introduce you to our hostess, Hyacinth Gothel. Hyacinth, please meet my adoptive sister, Pebble."

The old woman, this Hyacinth, turned to look at Pebble. The young Troll could tell there was something off in the way she looked. A sneer hiding behind a smile, a look of hidden malice behind seemingly kind eyes.

"Well, Kristoff never told me he was part troll, but the more the merrier. You will be staying for tea," the old woman replied with a wave of her arms.

That was a strange gesture, Pebble thought. She answered the old woman with, "Um, I think tea time doesn't start until, like, a long time from now. Yeah, it's definitely breakfast time now."

The smile on the old woman was getting thinner as she replied, with another wave of her arms, "In my garden, it is always tea time."

Again with the weird gesture. "No. No, I'm pretty sure that tea time is only in the afternoon. And anyway, we have to all be going. We've got a princess to rescue."

The old woman's smile had completely evaporated by now, as had the kindness in her eyes. Her voice was cold and accusing as she asked, "What's that you're wearing around your neck? I feel like I've seen it before…"

"These?" Pebble lifted the blue crystals tied into her necklace. "These are memory stones."

Now Hyacinth's eyes widened in realization. "So that's how the Bandits could withstand…" she muttered to herself. Then, her smile returned as she turned to Elsa and said, "My dear, I'm afraid our newest guest is no longer welcome here, and will spoil the garden if she stays."

"Oh?" Elsa asked, turning to Pebble. "Run along then, miss. You shouldn't spoil other people's garden parties."

Pebble could see behind Elsa's eyes, where before there was a storm of passion for her mission to save Anna, now there was … nothing. She had seen this emptiness before, when Grand Pabbie was removing memories from sick patients. Elsa's memories were being stolen by this sorceress!

"No! I'm not leaving without you and Kristoff!" Pebble yelled.

Prompted by another wave of Hyacinth's arms, Elsa thrust out her hand. An icy blast hit Pebble full in the face. Instinctively she rolled up into a boulder, but as the icy wind kept hitting against her, she could feel herself rolling away along the rocky path, and out the gate. When she unrolled herself, she saw that the picket gate had been frozen over.

So, this sorceress had control over the minds of Elsa and Kristoff. Well, perhaps the mind could be persuaded, but Pebble knew that the heart was not so easy to take over by magic. And in their hearts, all either Elsa or Kristoff cared about was Anna. Pebble would just have to remind them somehow.


Author's Note—A lot of the back-story in the past few chapters is from Hans Christian Anderson's Snow Queen, (which if you haven't read is worth the read, and free online), which in my story took place before Frozen.

Arnold Cunningham's Note—You mean the Frozen saga is actually a trilogy? And Bandits from the North is Return of the Jedi? I'm interested.

Author's Note: That guy sounded an awful lot like Olaf.