Chapter 10
A Troll's Conclusion
In about two hours, Elsa opened the carriage to let Hans out, as the rest of his men came up behind them.
The air was warmer here, and steam burst out of geysers here and there, bathing many round boulders in their glistening moisture.
But they weren't boulders, Hans realized. They were too warm to be boulders, even with the steam.
"Trolls," Hans uttered. "They're trolls!"
"Just so," said Elsa, leading him. "They have been a better family to my Ice Master than... any human, honestly."
Hans' men whispered behind him, and Gustav hurried forward until he was apace with the prince.
"Commander, you are in danger here," he said.
"As always," Hans grunted. "But thank you for looking out for me."
As Gustav reached for his sword, Hans added, "Keep your steel sheathed." He looked behind him to see that the rest of his men were visibly nervous, although no steel was drawn. "Everyone, keep your steel sheathed."
The trolls started rolling alongside Elsa, Hans, and his entourage as they proceeded through the valley. Finally, they came to a mound at the center of an open area between the hills.
The boulders rolled towards Elsa and... unfolded? Small creatures, less than half Hans' height, were suddenly staring at him now, gemlike eyes blinking curiously.
A larger boulder was now rolling towards them, and now it was transforming into an elderly troll bedecked as royalty.
"Queen Elsa, I am pleased to see you again after these thirteen years," he intoned with a bow. "You wield your power well, and I understand that you now wield it against a great enemy. Bring him before me, please."
The soft whisper of steel against leather behind him prompted Hans to turn his head and command, "Stand down; I will face this... troll... myself." He walked towards Elsa and the elderly troll.
"Johannes Westergaard!" the troll exclaimed. "Thirteenth offspring of King Haakon, thirteenth offspring of Queen Ingrid..." He trailed off into some strange language that Hans could not understand.
"It's Hans," he corrected. "I know that it's short for Johannes, but everybody addresses me as Hans."
"And how do you address yourself?" asked the troll.
A minute of silence passed, and when Hans did not speak, the troll did.
"Long have the thirteenth human offspring of thirteenth human offspring had strange powers over flame and earth. I saw your handiwork earlier, upon the mountain to the north; such power is the birthright of children such as you."
The troll peered up at Hans, staring into his eyes, then down to his chest.
"But ice has scarred your heart, inflicted by twelve men bound to you by blood," he continued. "Only an ember of the power to which you were born endured such torment, preventing your heart from freezing completely."
His neck uncomfortable from looking down, Hans knelt until his chest was level with the elder's face. "My brothers..." he whispered.
"But an act of utmost sacrifice has thawed the ice and rekindled the ember in your heart," the troll continued. "Those who once attempted to quench your flame are now in dire peril of it."
A grim smile crossed Hans' face as he remembered his eldest brother Caleb, with all of his muscles and all of his steel. How easily flame could burn that flesh and melt that steel!
His smile became a frown as he remembered Lars. If Caleb could not endure the flame, then neither could Lars.
"Is there any way to... protect them... against the flame?" Hans asked.
"Some humans of power have held it in check, but it has never taken less than three days and three nights to contain power of your sort. If your path should cross that of the men who attempted to extinguish your flame before then, the flame will repay them in kind." The troll then turned to Elsa. "You, however, have nothing to fear from this sorcerer, Queen Elsa. Your ice did not pierce his heart, and thus neither shall his flame pierce yours."
The journey out of the valley of the trolls was silent save for the footfalls of the eleven men and the queen.
"Your Majesty," Hans finally said to break the silence, "what will you do now?"
"You are a greater threat to your brothers now than you are to me, Hans," replied Elsa. "I could just leave you here, and demand that you never set foot in Arendelle again."
"That would be just," Hans agreed. "Even your dungeon was a better home to me than my father's castle; I am certain that these woods will be a better home still."
"And me with him, Your Majesty, as we agreed," said Gustav. "I, too, accept exile from your domain for my offenses against you."
"I have not passed sentence," said Elsa, "Hans, tell me about your brothers."
"What about them?" Hans spat.
"Whatever you please, but most especially whether there is any possibility that you and they might cross paths within the next three days and three nights."
"They don't give a fig about me," said Hans. "None of them care at all... well, Lars does, I guess, though he has shown it seldom enough."
"Lars?"
"The third-eldest. He is the earl of Skaggerik, the second-largest of the Southern Isles. He's always complaining about the constant changing of borders as the rest of my brothers vie for control of the rest of the Isles, but he knows his own domain and holds onto it with a grip that nobody has broken. Even Caleb and Soren were never able to take control of so much as a square inch of Skaggerik since Lars established his authority there."
"The two eldest?"
"Yes, Caleb and Soren. Father has tried to make Caleb a mirror image of himself, and apparently he has succeeded. They rule the Southern Isles together now.
"Soren has always been more interested in battle than in government, and he even declined to rule Midmark, the third-largest isle, instead taking an army to test the forces of Corona and Weselton. I heard that he fights so many battles because he loves hearing men's screams; he certainly enjoyed hearing mine."
"Aye," Wolfgang affirmed. "Soren's a right bastard in battle. Many an enemy force has chosen to exert themselves to death rather than be taken prisoner by that... man. Some say the most ruthless generals take no prisoners, but I'm rather inclined to disagree."
"Could your paths cross theirs within three days?" asked Elsa.
"Not likely," answered Hans. "Even if I wanted to, I could not return to the Southern Isles without reclaiming my boat, and that alone would take more than three days."
"Hans!" Gustav interrupted.
"Or maybe it's already been claimed by Arendelle, and I couldn't get back to the Southern Isles at all. Either way, there is no going back for me."
Elsa smiled briefly. "And what of them coming to Arendelle? Is that possible?"
"They wouldn't do anything for my sake," said Hans. "They probably don't even care that you've sentenced me to death, except Lars, and he wouldn't..." He hesitated.
"Wouldn't he? You said he cared about you more than the others did."
"Well, yes, he might care enough to collect my body... He dislikes delegating the affairs of state, though, as he certainly would need to do if he were to make the journey to Arendelle personally. And even if he does come to Arendelle, he's the one man, excluding present company, whom I don't want to hurt."
Hans turned and started walking to the right. "Where are you going?" Elsa asked.
"With your permission," Hans replied, turning back to her, "I'm going to go to the highest cliff west of Arendelle and keep a lookout for incoming ships from the south. If Lars will come, then he will come from that direction."
Elsa nodded, and Hans turned again and walked away. Gustav was quick to follow.
"You're not going anywhere without me, Hans, and if you're headed for the highest cliff west of Arendelle, somebody needs to make sure you don't fall."
Hans nodded wearily and beckoned Gustav to accompany him.
"They'll take care of themselves," said Wolfgang to the other eight men. "Or if not, they'll take care of each other."
"What should we do, then?" asked Alric. "We saw our ship at Arendelle's docks, so we can't possibly sail away from here. And we can't keep hunting for our food for long."
"Elsa has our payment..." Tyrfing said. "I never thought I'd serve her again after last summer, but she has treated Hans honorably enough. More honorably than I expected, truth be told."
"Hans kept you warm last summer, didn't he?" Elsa asked.
Tyrfing stared at her defiantly. "Yes; yes he did." He paused for a few seconds. "What do you intend to do about it?"
"I intend to continue to treat Hans honorably, if I ever see him again, and to treat you who have served him so faithfully with the same honor. I am sorry for the storm last summer. I am sorry that I wasn't there to make sure that you were all warm."
"Do I have your promise that you will never inflict such a curse upon Arendelle again?" asked Truan.
Elsa turned to look him in the eye. "Yes. You have my promise."
"Do I have your promise that you will never command us to harm Hans in any way?"
"Yes."
Truan drew his sword and extended it, pommel-first, to Elsa. "Then my sword is yours, Your Majesty, if you will take it."
In this way Queen Elsa obtained the services of nine new subjects. Her first command to them was: "Accompany me on my journey back to Arendelle."
One day and one night passed, and the sky was a dark bluish grey over the cliffs west of Arendelle.
Hans had slept poorly upon the hard stone floor of the cave that he and Gustav had found in the cliff. By the way Gustav was tossing about, Hans guessed that he too would be exhausted today.
Fortunately, sitting and staring out at the ocean was not a particularly strenuous task.
Unfortunately, Hans could barely even see the ocean.
"Fog," he swore. "Even Karl couldn't see through this!"
He stared out at the dark blue haze, watching it slowly lighten, when Gustav joined him.
"You could heat the earth up enough to make a volcano erupt," he said, "and I must believe you can heat the air up enough to burn off this fog, if you want to."
"I've never tried heating the air before," said Hans.
"What's the worst that could happen? You might burn a cloud?"
"I might light up this place and compromise our position, if there is a ship sailing through this fog," said Hans. "A light shining from here would be odd enough."
"Whom are you trying to hide from?"
"The fewer people know what power I wield, the better."
"Every country has a spy in Arendelle," said Gustav, "and they all saw what happened after your 'execution.' You aren't protecting any secrets from anyone."
"All the more reason not to leave a big sign reading 'HANS WAS HERE.' I need to be careful."
He gently drew some heat out into the air three feet ahead of him, and it looked like the fog was starting to thin.
Then he tried shooting a ray of invisible warmth down forty-five degrees, until he could make out a few waves in the ocean below.
As he withdrew the channel of pure heat, the fog closed in around it and obscured his vision once again.
For the next few hours, he intermittently cast his rays of heat into the ocean so as to see whether it bore a ship, but for an hour it did not. It was not until the sky had become more grey than blue that he saw it.
He hastily threw another ray of heat in its direction. "Gustav, get your spyglass ready, and tell me what you see!"
He cast more heat in its direction, and their shapes were outlined against the grey sky.
"Ships!" Hans swore again. "Two, three, four..." As the ships came slowly northward, oars cutting rhythmically into the sea to compensate for the becalmed air, Hans continued counting. "Five, six..."
"I can't make out their insignia," said Gustav. "It's too dark."
"I'm not casting light out there," said Hans. "The sun will light up the sky despite these clouds soon enough, but those ships are undoubtedly bound for Arendelle."
"What should I do?" inquired Gustav.
"First," said Hans, "go and tell Elsa that there is a fleet heading for Arendelle, and they appear to be decked for battle. I'll catch up to you when I identify their insignia, if you'll lend me your spyglass."
"Why don't you warn Elsa, and I'll stay to identify them?" asked Gustav.
"Because I'll have less difficulty catching up to you than vice versa!" Hans answered, grabbing Gustav's spyglass. "Go!"
As Gustav hurried away from the edge of the cliff and down the path back to the trolls' valley, Hans turned to face the ships, waiting for the light of day to make their flags visible.
Half an hour later, Hans cast another ray of heat at the ships, and this time, the light was good enough that he could see their flags.
There was no mistaking the flag of the Southern Isles hanging from the masthead of the ship at the head of the fleet. Directly below it hung a flag bearing the coat of arms of Caleb Westergaard, heir to the throne of the Southern Isles.
Hans stayed long enough to identify the insignia of each of the twelve ships, and the coat of arms of each of his brothers, before he stuck his spyglass into his belt and hurried after Gustav.
Lars was indeed bound for Arendelle.
But so, too, were the rest of the Westergaard princes.
A thought, at once awful and awesome, came to Hans' mind as he raced against the ships.
I could kill them all.