Yay! I love long weekends! I finished my homework, and I finished this chapter! I loved writing this chapter so much, and I'm sure you guys would love to read it, so I'll let you get to it. One more thing though, I still don't own Frozen or Rise of the Guardians, just a reminder. :)
Chapter 12
"You came!" I cry happily. I scramble to my feet and help Jack up.
He rubs the back of his head and winces a bit. "Of course I did," he says, "You needed me." He looks like he wants to say more, but Pitch's laughter echoes around the room, interrupting us.
"The queen and her guardian," Pitch smirks, "How quaint. You won't escape as easily this time, Frost! You're no match for me on your own." Dark sand horses explode from the ground, snorting and whinnying as they close in around us. Black sand washes over the guards that still remain, leaving dark, shifting impressions of the soldiers in their place. Only Prince Hans remains untouched, and he quickly scurries away. Jack lifts his staff, shifting his aim from one horse to another, waiting for the first one to attack. There's so many! The entire room is practically engulfed in black sand. Pitch saunters to the front of his army, riding one of the largest sand horses. The grainy shadows of the guards are now also mounted on horses, training their spears and arrows at Jack and I. If all of them fired at the same time, we wouldn't stand a chance. Pitch smirks, "Boo."
All of the nightmares explode forward at once. Jack blasts the first three easily, dodging to the side before taking out a fourth. Black arrows sail through the air towards me, but I block them with a sheet of ice. I hear a neigh, and turn to see a nightmare galloping toward me at full speed. Jack's staff flashes out of nowhere to obliterate the horse before it can touch me. The sand scatters at my feet. "Thanks!" I gasp. I see another nightmare coming toward me, and I stop it with a burst of ice. I feel Jack's hand grab mine and he pulls me out of the way just as a nightmare whistles past me, crashing into another dark horse headed in the opposite direction. Jack lets go of my hand, and I turn to see him furiously battling the black sand creatures. He's amazing! Jack is a blur of motion, his staff freezing nightmares or slicing them to dust two or three at a time. But more and more keep forming, and the numbers start to overwhelm the guardian. I remember what Pitch had said, Jack was no match for the lord of fear on his own. I try to help by sending my own ice at the creatures, but I'm not making much of a dent in the mass. A charging horse catches Jack's shoulder, shoving him to the floor. His staff spirals barely out of reach, and for a moment he is helpless.
Cascading ice flares from my palms, raising a jagged wall of icicles between Jack and the nightmares. Some of the creatures are unable to slow their charge in time, slam into the sharp ice, and explode into showers of sand. Pitch looks at me with anger in his eyes. "He isn't on his own, Pitch." I snarl.
Jack clambers to his feet and picks up his staff, backing up to where I'm standing. "Let's go." He pants, taking my hand and running toward the balcony. Black spears and arrows rain around us, but I shield us with layers of ice. The few projectiles that make it past my ice are quickly batted away by Jack's staff. Jack wraps one of his arms around my waist as we reach the balcony, and we jump into the open air. Jack flicks his staff, and the doorway to the balcony collapses, blocking the majority of the nightmares inside the castle.
Only a few of the sand horses are left, and of those, only four have shadow riders. They leap off the balcony and charge through the air after us. "Hold on!" Jack shouts over the wind. We spiral through the sky, diving and spinning to avoid the nightmares and the arrows of the riders. I see a nightmare below me and spray it with ice. Jack blasts another one away with his staff. Jack's arm jerks against my waist as he abruptly changes direction to avoid an arrow. I shoot at another nightmare I see, but I miss. I try again, this time knocking the horse's rider off.
All of a sudden, Jack cries out and stiffens. We dip for a moment, and when we level out again, Jack is breathing heavily. "Jack! Are you ok?" I cry.
"It's not bad." Jack winces. Our speed has slowed significantly and we keep drifting lower toward the trees. With a grunt, Jack pulls us strait up. We rocket skyward, straight toward the waiting nightmares. "How much do you trust me right now?" Jack shouts.
"What?" I yell. Suddenly, Jack's arm slips away from my waist and I'm falling. Wind tears through my hair and snatches the scream off my lips. A nightmare flies near me and miraculously I hit it with a flurry of frost. I can hear horses neighing above me and a blinding flash of blue light shatters the darkness of the night sky. Black sand rains around me. The treetops are looming beneath me and I start screaming again. Where's Jack?
Then, Jack's arm is around me again. I can feel him trying to pull us out of our fall, but we're going too fast. Just before we crash into the tops of the trees, Jack forms a track of ice to turn our plummet into a tumbling slide. Pine branches whip in my face as we descend into the woods. Eventually we roll to a stop on the snow-blanketed forest floor. The ice slide dissolves behind us, leaving no trace of where we've landed. Breathlessly, I sit up and shake the snow out of my hair. "We made it." I sigh. "Jack?"
Jack is lying on his side with his eyes closed. I panic for a second until I find that he's breathing. The broken shaft of a black arrow protrudes from his back, just under the shoulder. There's surprisingly little blood around the wound. Suddenly, the arrow dissolves into grains of black sand. Jack wakes up with a shout, his face contorted in pain. He starts writhing and screaming like he's being tortured. When I try to calm him down, my hand touches the black splotch where the arrow had been. Pure, cold fear rushes through me, followed by a blinding burst of hot pain. I jerk my hand away, and the sensation stops immediately. Jack curls up on the ground, gasping and shaking. His eyes squeeze shut and he cries out again. I don't know what to do. I've never encountered an injury like this before. "Hold on Jack!" I beg, "Fight it! Fight the fear!" Jack is still shuddering violently, but I see his muscles tense up and his screams reduce to pained moans. "Jack what do I do?" I sob, "How do I help you?"
Jack inhales sharply and cringes in anguish. A shudder runs through his body again, but he manages to pant, "The fear…is poisoning me. You…have to…stop…it." He cries out again and I turn my attention to his injury. I realize what I must do. I reach out and press my hand to the blackened area. Jack screams and a cold wave of fear washes over me, followed by a strong burning sensation. What if this doesn't work and Jack dies? I push away my fearful thoughts and focus on freezing the clump of black sand swirling under my palm. It's hard to focus with the burning pain stabbing up my arm, but I push through it. The temperature of my skin drops so quickly, a thin layer of ice coats my hand. Fear nips deep inside of me, but I ignore it. Light flashes around my hand, and the twisting mass of sand freezes solid. Jack sighs and relaxes. I lift my hand away from him, and he gently sits himself up. Wordlessly, we embrace, tears of joy running down my cheeks.
"Oh Jack, I'm so sorry!" I sob, "This was all my fault!"
"No Elsa, don't blame yourself." Jack says, "I knew what I was getting myself into."
"I should have told you about Pitch. I wanted to, I really did, but Pitch threatened to kill you. He almost did, just now!"
"But he didn't, thanks to you." Jack smiles. Oh how I've missed that smile. I stand up and help Jack to his feet. Suddenly Jack winces.
"What's wrong?" I ask. I lead Jack to a nearby tree for him to lean against.
"My shoulder's just sore, that's all." He says. I look at him skeptically and he sighs, slipping off his hoodie so I can take a closer look at his injury. The black sand has all fallen away, but the wound is oozing red blood. I conjure some makeshift bandages of snow and frost, like the material I used to make my ice dress, but not as fancy. After I finish cleaning and covering the damage, I find myself yawning. The sky is still dark. I wonder how late it is?
Jack wraps his good arm around my shoulders. "Thank you Elsa." He says. His bare skin is cool and soft. I lean my head against his exposed chest and listen to the beating of his heart. I realize then, I've never seen Jack without his hoodie before. Slightly embarrassed, I lift my head away from his athletic body and I can feel that I'm blushing. "What is it, Snowflake?" Jack asks.
"Nothing," I respond. I try to cover up my embarrassment, "I'm just tired, that's all." I hope Jack doesn't notice that I'm making it snow. Why am I reacting like this? Jack nods and lets me go. I lie down next to a tree, leaning my head against the trunk. I think about creating a bed for myself, but I'm too tired. Jack lays down a little ways away under another tree. Not that I was looking, but I notice that he has his hoodie back on. Out of habit, I feel like I should change before I go to bed, but I dismiss the thought because Jack is so close. I feel my face flush red again. I'll just sleep in my clothes. My eyelids are heavy and my whole body screams for rest, but my mind can't settle. "Jack?" I whisper.
Jack lifts his head from the ground, "Yeah?"
"What if Pitch finds me again?" I say, "What if the nightmares come back?"
Jack scoots over to me and gives me a comforting hug. "I would never let anyone hurt you." His voice is sincere, and his gentle embrace makes me feel secure.
"Will you stay with me Jack?" I ask, snuggling into his sweater.
"Of course, Snowflake." He smiles. I lean my head against his chest and let my eyes flutter shut with a smile. Then Jack does something I would never expect him to do. He starts singing.
Silent Night, Holy Night
All is calm, all is bright
'Round yon virgin mother and child
Holy infant so tender and mild
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
Sleep in Heavenly Peace
His voice is so sweet, I'm sad when he stops. "My mother used to sing that to me…" I yawn.
"I know." Jack says, "Oh gosh that makes me seem like a stalker."
I giggle a little, "It's ok, I know you don't mean it like that. Thank you Jack." For a while, we just stare at the stars and listen to the sound of each other's breathing. Eventually, my eyes droop shut and I fall asleep in the arms of my guardian.
A little bit of a bunch of different things in this chapter! Some excitement, some danger, and some fluff! I hope you all enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it! Please leave a review if you did (or if you didn't). I can't thank everyone enough for all the lovely reviews! Every time I read a review you guys send, it just makes my day, because I'm so happy to know that people are reading what I write and waiting for more!