Chapter 11 – Good Intentions
Bern returned to the sitting room in the south wing of the castle with news of his failure. When he repeated Gerhard's comments, a general silence fell over the gathering.
"Our only hope right now is Princess Anna's return," Rodmund remarked. "She's the only one who can override Prince Hans and rescue the queen."
It was a thin hope. Princess Anna was unsteady and emotional. None of them really believed she would stand up to Prince Hans.
"We can't wait for her! Prince Hans and the others have no intention of helping Queen Elsa. They're going to kill her and hope that ends the winter," Bern said desperately. "We have to do something! What if we find Captain Vilrun? We all know him. I can't believe he's agreeing with Gerhard and Prince Hans about this. He's got the keys to the dungeon. We could rescue the queen. If we can just hide her away somewhere until we find a way to end the winter," he pounded his leg in frustration. "He's going to kill her, otherwise."
The silence that followed was the active silence of many minds churning at once. Then Gustav burst out, "of course that's what we do! We need a hiding place, and Captain Vilrun. Fetch Gerda – she'll know where we can hide the queen in the castle."
"Weapons too," Councilor Alan suggested.
"What if we borrowed a few uniforms from the castle guardsmen supplies?" Councilor Harold went on.
"We can borrow some of the castle guardsmen themselves," Bern said. "Almar and his squad of guardsmen came on the rescue party with me. I'm sure we can rely on them."
The idea reinvigorated the council. Ideas and words flew around the table as they plotted a way to rescue the queen.
"I'll go get Almar and Gerda," Bern said, leaping to his feet.
Without announcement, the door banged open and the foreign dignitaries filed into the room. Prince Hans was not with them. The councilors stood up and stood their ground. "To what do we owe the honor of your presence?" Rodmund asked.
"Princess Anna has returned," the Duke of Weselton said. "She wanted to be alone with Prince Hans. This is the only other room in the castle with a fire in it."
"The princess has returned?" Gustav asked. "We must see her."
"I doubt she wants to see you. She seemed quite taken with Prince Hans and his affections," the Duke said waspishly.
"She looked ill," Prince Eugene supplied with more respect. "Her adventure seemed to have sapped her strength. She could barely walk without assistance and was quite agitated."
Rodmund plied them with more questions, but they knew little beyond what they had already said. Gerhard would not even meet their eyes.
The Duke of Weselton was bending close to the fire, blocking its warmth from anyone else in the room. "It's getting colder by the minute. Forget starving; we'll soon freeze to death."
Rodmund shot him an angry look.
The door swung open and Prince Hans entered, falling into a chair by the other foreigners.
"Prince Hans!" Prince Alphonse said, putting a hand on his shoulder.
In a strained voice, Prince Hans said, "Princess Anna is dead."
"What?" exclaimed Prince Eugene.
"What happened?" demanded Lord Kennet.
Hans raised his face from his hands. "She was killed by Queen Elsa."
"No! Her own sister?" shouted the Duke of Weselton.
Hans rubbed his face, speaking so quietly that the councilors had to strain to hear. "We barely had time to say our wedding vows, before she died in my arms."
"There can be no doubt now. Queen Elsa is a monster!" The Duke of Weselton declared. "We are all in grave danger."
"Prince Hans, Arendelle looks to you now," said Lord Kennet.
Hans nodded, as if power were a heavy burden for him. "With a heavy heart, I charge Queen Elsa with treason and sentence her to death," he declared.
Bern stared at Prince Hans in horror. Queen Elsa was Arendelle; she couldn't commit treason against herself. And no reigning monarch in the history of the world had ever been sentenced to death in any context besides total revolution. Prince Hans was planning to assassinate Queen Elsa, and the foreigners were nodding and accepting it, Gerhard with them. They were going to murder royalty and take over Arendelle.
"Princess Anna! Where is her body?" Councilor Rodmund demanded.
And in Prince Hans' angry glance before he returned to his mournful face, Bern saw his dishonesty. Before Prince Hans could reply, Bern was out the door, headed back to the opposite wing of the castle where the foreigners had last seen Princess Anna alive, the other councilors following him. He was greatly afraid that Queen Elsa wasn't the only one that Prince Hans had sentenced to death.
