Chapter 10

His heart sank with worry. How could he have been so stupid? Here he was, foolishly getting excited about a sunset sight, when in reality he was putting both of their lives in jeopardy. Anna! He wouldn't let them touch her. NOBODY was gonna lay a finger on his girl. If they did, they'd pay. With their lives.

Before he lost himself in rage at the thought of the bandits' grubby fingers on Anna, he tried to take a logical view of the situation. How could he solve the problem? Well, he couldn't turn back now. The trail on the mountain they were on wasn't wide enough. There wasn't enough room for Sven to turn around.

He thought of stopping in his tracks and waiting for the fire to go out, so he could sneak past the bandits' camp (which was surely around here somewhere) and avoid them. That wouldn't work, because if he got stuck out here after dark, wolves could come out.

Maybe he could fight the bandits- no, that wouldn't work at all. There's no telling how many of them there were, and Anna, wanting to help, would surely get herself into trouble.

He decided that he would continue following the trail until it got wide enough so Sven could turn around, and then he'd have Sven break off into a dead sprint as fast as his reindeer legs would carry him, so they could escape without trouble.

Anna could tell that something was wrong. She smelled the smoke, too, and hadn't neglected to notice that the joy fell from Kristoff's face when the scent appeared. He had tensed up, and looked worried.

Stupid smoke, she thought, hating when Kristoff was worried.

"What's wrong, Kristoff?" She asked carefully, and the joy had fled from her face, too. She looked into his eyes, hoping he'd answer. She hated being ignored.

Kristoff definitely didn't want to answer that question, for fear she'd get worked up. But when he turned to face her, he realized that if he gave her less than the truth, or ignored her question, it'd hurt her much more than if he told her what was really going on. He gave in.

"I'm worried," he answered finally. "There could be... Bandits on this trail." He closed his eyes, and then turned to her and opened them. "And I don't want anything to happen to you." He said that without a pang of doubt in his voice. That was the only thing that he was certain of right now, and that was the only thing he could tell her without hating himself for being so foolish to bring her out here at all.

Many minutes passed with no signs of bandits. He no longer smelled smoke, and they saw no signs of a bandit camp. His worries died down a little. The pain in his stomach became lesser, until it was so small that it was barely noticeable. Then he lightened up a bit. Their destination was in sight, the sun was still setting, and they made it here safely.

"Hey, we're almost there, and we made it without being attacked by bandits or wolves or an angry Wandering Oaken, and my sled didn't explode!" He laughed.

That made Anna feel better. "You're right," she giggled, happiness returning to her.

Kristoff smiled. He was doing that more and more often. When she smiled in that way that only she could, he couldn't help it. He just HAD to give in.

They arrived at the viewpoint and Kristoff slowed Sven to a halt.

"Easy, buddy." He dismounted the sled and then helped Anna out. He took something out of the trunk of his sled.

"A blindfold," he explained. "It's a surprise." His face broke into a grin.

Anna was a little hesitant to put it on. She didn't really like surprises when she was the one being surprised. But then she looked into his eyes and was consoled by his smile. She was sure that he had good intentions. She decided to trust him.

"Okay," she said finally, a smile reappearing on her cheeks. And she let him tie the blindfold over her eyes.

He took her small, delicate hand in his oversized, gruff one, and led her to the edge of the cliff, and sat her down gently but carefully, letting her feet dangle. He sat down huskily beside her, still holding her hand. Then, with his other hand, he removed the blindfold.

"Surprise," he said softly, letting her soak in the marvelous view.

Her jaw dropped open, clearly fascinated and amazed. After a while, she slowly closed it, and said, savoring the words, "Kristoff. It's... Beautiful."

Kristoff smiled. The look in her eyes said it all. He lived for that.

The view truly was best described as beautiful. It was beyond words, beyond comparison. The sunset and the mountains. What a beautiful sight. They sat there in the glory of it all, hand in hand.

Kristoff placed his massive arm around her shoulders, encasing her in his grip. She let her head rest on his firm chest. Just the way he'd imagined it. Perfect.

And they stayed like that, breathing together in silence, until the sun disappeared below the horizon. Then Anna pulled away from him, and gazed up intently at his eyes. He looked down at her, their eyes locking.

"Kristoff."

He only smiled in reply.

"I love you."

Just then, Kristoff's heart skipped a beat. Actually, more like five beats. He was dumb-struck. He couldn't begin to explain how over-joyed, how relieved he was to hear those three, simple, but huge, words come out of Anna's mouth. He could squeal like a kid, he was so jubilant.

He finally managed to reply, in a voice barely audible, "I love you, too, Anna."

He pulled her into an emotional, loving embrace.