A layer of solid ice coated everything. After the heavy buffeting of hail had stopped, people got out of their shelters and gathered around weak fires and scrambled around for provisions in case the bad weather prevailed. Now a light sleet fell from the sky. The tension was really thick on the villagers and guests, the fear was even greater. People fought over wood, cloaks- anything that provided even a minimal amount of warmth.
Helena loved every second of it.
Why? Because she was in charge- she'd never been in charge before. The people looked up to her, she was slowly but surely earning their trust and respect. She rushed around, handing people blankets and food. Comforting them when she must, offering her shoulder for them to cry on if she had to. It was completely different from things back home.
Home.
The sole mention of that immediately darkened her thoughts. Where she wasn't appreciated. Home where everything she did was overshadowed by anything her older sisters did. No matter how hard she tried, how many things she accomplished, she was overlooked. The only thing she liked about the Southern Isles were the long summers and the short winters. And they weren't even that cold- nothing compared to the ridiculous coldness she felt from the King's curse.
She remembered when she was around 10 and won first place on a a horseback race on a really prestigious tournament against the son of some Lord- how, against all odds of her being a girl and the youngest, she'd left him in the dust. How proud she'd been, how she'd ran home holding the ribbon close to her chest- and when she'd stepped through the door? To a roomful of her worst nightmare- all her siblings, all in one place.
"Congratulate Sonja," the Queen, Astrid, her oldest sister and current ruler of the Isles had said. "She is expecting a child."
"But-"
Her sister's cold blue eyes flashed, "I said congratulate your sister."
"Congrats, Sonja, I'm so happy for you," she'd ground out.
"What is this thing?" Cristina, Sonja's twin, had wrinkled her nose and snatched the ribbon right out of her hands, "You don't need this filth!"
"That's mine! Give it back!"
All her pleas had been drowned out by the cruel laughter of 12 people. She never saw the ribbon again.
Helena grit her teeth, and shoved that incident the very back of her mind- to join the other thousand unpleasant memories. Here in Arendelle she did not have to feel that way anymore. It was a grand opportunity to shut that door and start fresh. And sweet, naive Andy was perfect. She didn't love him, but he was likable enough and maybe he'd grow on her, she wouldn't mind ruling by his side. Plus he was second in line, and seeing as no one was getting anywhere with his recluse brother, the little brother was a good catch. She'd just have to... deal with the current King. Which wouldn't be a problem, really. She'd spent enough time around her sisters to learn their scheming ways.
She put on a tight smile as she handed some woman a cloak and gave out some words of encouragement.
"Thank you, Your Highness." The woman said, wrapping the cloak around herself, "Arendelle is indebted to you."
She bowed her head, ridiculously pleased at those words, "There's hot glögg in the Great Hall if you're hungry."
When the woman was out of sight, Helena's smile disappeared. Something was still wrong.
The Prince had not come back yet.
She couldn't believe he'd actually gone after that monster. What foolishness to follow him! That awful brother of his that had adamantly refused to bless their marriage. And even worse,the crazy King had to go and freeze everything. And stubborn Andy had ran after him.
But it was fine, this minor setback just provided a brilliant opportunity for her to win over the people. As soon as Andy came back, she wanted them married. And if he actually came back with Elliott, all the better if he managed to bring back summer.
Which Helena doubted he could. Like she'd told the prince, the King had just reacted because he'd been pushed. The whole thing was an accident. He could not control his powers- which, by the way, were a huge threat.
She briefly considered writing Astrid a letter to warn her. Then she almost laughed out loud at the thought. The only sisters of hers she would maybe havea slight interest in saving from the Ice King would be Johanna or Katherine. The rest could die from frostbite for all she cared. Maybe she'd keep Elliott around and get him to-
"There you are, Princess Helena!"
She groaned internally and turned with the fake, well-practiced smile she had mastered over the years.
"Duchess," She said curtly, as the elderly woman approached her, followed by two thugs the hysteric woman had hired for her 'protection.' The Duchess looked like she was planning an expedition to the North Pole- a heavy wool coat, a fur hat, gloves, a scarf and like 20 skirts. As for Helena she had settled for just a nice gray cloak that matched her long dress; and she'd put her long auburn hair in a high ponytail.
"I couldn't help but notice you giving away all of Arendelle's tradable goods to these... people." She pressed her lips into a thin line. "While the rest of us are slowly freezing to death!"
With an impressive amount of self-control to not throttle the woman, the Princess kept her strained smile in place, "Prince Andy left me in charge. His orders-"
"And that's another thing!" the Duchess cried, "Have you considered that, perhaps, your Prince may be conspiring with that evil sorcerer to destroy us all?"
Helena's patience vanished like a the light of a candle put out. She stood to her full height, almost a head taller than the Duchess, and looked down at the old woman with the cold look she'd learned from Queen Astrid. The two thugs behind the Duchess shifted nervously, unsure of what to do.
"Do not question the Prince!" she said, trying to copy her sister Rowena's venomous tone she often used on the youngest princess. "If you keep up those accusations, I won't hesitate to protect Arendelle from treason!"
"Treason? That's absurd!" the woman flared her nostrils, "I am a victim of fear!"
Helena opened her mouth to say something she'd probably regret, but the alarmed whinny of a horse stopped her. The sandy-colored horse of Prince Andy barreled into the square, bucking and kicking, without its rider.
The Duchess screamed and backed away, her two bodyguards pulling her back to a safe distance. Helena rushed to the horse, grabbing it by the reins, luckily not getting stomped in the process. If there was one thing she was good at, it was horses.
"Shh, boy. Calm down. Calm down! It's okay," she patted its muzzle and rubbed its neck reassuringly, "Easy, easy."
Once the horse was somewhat calm, she looked to where it had come from. The mountains, maybe. She felt her heart sink. If Andy had got killed, then it just ruined everything. She would never be Queen.
She didn't have to turn to see that all eyes were on her. This was her chance, then. To be a heroine. Either by bringing Andy back and marrying him, or bringing Elliott and getting him to stop the winter- oh, the people would love that.
"Prince Andy might be in danger," she said loudly, "I'm going to look for him."
"W-what? Princess, that's demented!" the Duchess gave her unwanted opinion. Helena fought back a scowl. She sounded like Cristina. "We need you here."
If King Elliott didn't thaw the ice, she would be stuck in this stinking kingdom, no ship would be able to leave. The possibility of being forced to ask one of her siblings for help revolted her so much she'd rather swim all the way back home. That was motivation enough, she would not fail if the Arendelle boys were out there.
She waved away the Duchess' concerns, "I will need some volunteers to help me find him."
She was surprised at the amount of people that raised their hands, both from Arendelle and foreigners. Were they doing it for Andy, or for her? She hoped it was the latter.
"I volunteer two of my men, Princess!" The Duchess gently pushed her two thugs forward, heavily mustachioed men that sneered at her.
"I thought they were for your protection?" Helena said coolly, really not wanting those two to come along.
"Don't worry about me, sweet Princess. I'd rather they protect you!"
"That's really kind, My Lady." She murmured. The old woman winked. Helena watched as the Duchess grabbed both men by their collars and pulled them down to her level, whispering things to them. She did not like their plotting one bit.
She gripped the reins of the horse tightly, all she could do to stop herself from physically hurting that meddling old woman.
I'll deal with her later, Helena turned away, facing the mountains, all in due time.
• • •
"Krista what are you looking for? We're almost there! The North Mountain is just-"
"Will you be quiet? I need to concentrate."
Andy made an impatient sound in the back of his throat, his arms folded as Krista walked about, occasionally getting down on her knees to dig through the snow, only to eventually stop and shake her head.
"Soldier Anders is right, m'girl. Elliott is close," General Winter agreed, perched on Suri's back and twirling his mustache- or as close as that got, since he was made of snow and all. "And we have not run into any Meltlings, which is fantastic, but luck can only last so long."
Andy exaggeratedly lifted a boulder and pretended to look, making a big show of how there was nothing underneath. "Are you looking for your common sense?"
"Nah. I left that back at the barn when I agreed to-" she stopped mid-sentence. Be nice. Instead she rolled her eyes and changed tactics, "Read your silly book meanwhile, how about that?"
"I would, but curiosity is killing me. See, you could be looking for, like, an ice pick you left behind or you could be looking for the dead body you buried days ago. I just have no way of knowing."
She laughed good-naturedly, enjoying the joking environment. "Allow me to put your mind at ease, my Lord. I'm looking for food."
"What-"
"Sometimes ice harvesters, or rangers, get lost in the mountains," she explained before the prince could express his confusion. "So we do this thing where we bury emergency supplies for the lost ones to find," she approached a tree and kicked it once, twice, and then kneeled at the base. She started to dig, "...but sometimes we forget where we bury our stuff." Krista growled in frustration when she found nothing, and moved on to the next tree.
"Like Squirrels!" Andy said. "When they, like, stuff their cheeks with nuts and then bury them so they have food in the winter!"
"Oh?" General Winter seemed genuinely interested in Andy's vast knowledge of squirrels.
"The squirrels forget where they bury their nuts, and that's how a lot of trees are unintentionally planted," Andy said.
"Fascinating. Please tell us more." Krista said, ducking her head inside the hollow of a tree, still searching. She found the dorky side of the Prince both cute and annoying, and she did not know how that could be.
"Huh, actually, you know who told me all those interesting things?"
"A scary squirrel-obsessed person I never want to meet?"
"Elliott did!" before he shut me out, he added mentally. Maybe that's why General Winter showed interest, because he was a sort of extension of his brother. Back in the day little Elliott went around telling Andy random, seemingly useless facts, that nerdy side had been a part of Elliott Andy now desperately missed. Elliott had always been the scholar out of the two.
"Why would Elliott- no, no, don't answer that. I don't want to know- hey, look!" with a huge grin, she pulled out a small wooden case from the what felt like the umpteenth tree she'd checked in the last hour. She brushed off the snow, "Hopefully something inside is still good."
Andy hurried to her side, looking over her shoulder. "What?"
"It could've been placed here a couple days ago, or 100 years... aha! We're in luck. It's just a week old. You hungry?" she tapped the recent date carved to the side.
"Yes!" Andy said. She unlatched the lid. Some thread, scissors, matches, a water canteen, apricots, raisins, nuts, dried meat, even chocolate. That was a rare treat, for an emergency kit anyway.
"It probably belonged to a person of high-rank," Krista said, noticing the sweet deliciousness at the same time he did. "Chocolate... I've only had it, like, once."
"What?" Andy cried. That was an outrage. He picked the chocolate from the box and practically shoved it in her mouth, "Eat."
She made an indignant noise, but chewed the candy nonetheless. A merchant from across the ocean had gifted her chocolate a long time ago, and she remembered it tasting bitter. Nothing like the sweet thing that practically melted in her mouth.
"You like?" Andy said, almost bouncing in his spot, studying her face carefully for her reaction.
"Gods," she swallowed, "I - I mean, it's... gods. It's so sweet! It has sugar!"
"Good, yeah?" he said, picking a raisin and popping it in his mouth, deciding to let Krista have the rest of the chocolate after the adorable face of delight and amazement she'd got after that one bite. Suddenly remembering, he turned to the General, who had been watching the exchange with bemusement. He held up the apricots, "You want some, General?"
"I don't have internal organs, m'boy, but I appreciate the gesture," the snowman chuckled. Suddenly, the icy eyes narrowed, "MELTLINGS!"
The 4 of them swiveled around, and indeed, about 15 of those lumpy monsters were emerging from the forest, cackling and jeering. Krista shut the case with a snap and shoved it inside the satchel.
"We run, we fight, we...?" Andy said, backing away from the snow menaces that were slowly dragging themselves towards them, he pulled Krista along with him.
"Elliott is just up there," the General hissed, pointing up, and Andy followed his finger with his eyes which led to the snowcapped North Mountain. They were really close.
"We can outrun them...probably." Krista said.
"Yes! We totally-" Andy almost screamed as one last figure emerged from the trees.
It was definitely in the top 5 most horrifying things he had ever seen in his short 18 years of life.
The Duchess of Sandlane- in all her horrendous glory- made of ice. Unlike General Winter, she was less snowman and more ice-sculpture, with details such as jagged teeth and her hooked nose was at least twice the size of the original. He would've found it funny had it not been so terrifying. And then her-her feet.
They were thick and broad, perfect to travel through snow or be appealing to a Giant, Andy couldn't decide. Her claw-like hands clenched and unclenched at her sides. She advanced towards them, slower than any of the other snowmen, she was teetering from side to side as if she were carrying a heavy weight.
"Stop the monster." the Snow Duchess croaked, barely raising her voice.
And the worst part, the very worst part...
Elliott had created her.
++ i figured i could turn olaf's joke of "i dont have a skull...or bones" to internal organs because why not.
+ i'm in a sort of writer's block, but i'lll try to get the next chapter soon, it's probably going to be the longest so far.
thank you for reading :)! please review.
