Chapter 13

"I hear your father is much wiser than he used to be. At least, he seemed like it the last time I saw him. I was at his camp. You killed my brother. Now... I'm gonna kill you, and then... I'm gonna kill the Queen."

I heard Elsa gasp behind me. "You jerk!"

On the inside, I was thinking the same thing, but with a bit more profanity. Just a bit.

Lars laughed in front of me at the Queen's words. I narrowed my eyes. I flicked my wrists, and my hidden blades slid out with a shink.

Lars laughed and my blood ran cold. He rose his hands like he would throw something at me. In his hands were balls of flame. Swirling, writhing balls of fire. He rocketed his hands forward and a whip made of fire lashed out around my hand, slashing off my left hidden blade and cutting into my hand. I had no time to react. The whip burned my hand and wrist horribly, and the pain was unbearable.

I screamed.

I was too focused on the pain to know for sure what happened next, but the whip relinquished its hold on my hand, the pain still remaining, however.

Lars was knocked back, and where he had been standing was a giant fist made of ice. I turned around, clutching my arm to my chest, to see Elsa with a shocked look on her face, staring at the giant fist. I unsheathed my remaining hidden blade and the remainder of my other one.

When I approached, she looked at me, fear in her eyes, just like the first time she looked at me, underneath the ice castle. She flew at me full force and wrapped her arms around my torso, her head just reaching to under my chin.

I hesitantly wrapped my unburned arm around her, turning so I could look at where Lars had fallen. He wasn't there. I used my power over the wind to sense where he was, but he wasn't in the ballroom. Keeping my senses alive, I turned my attention to the person in my arms.

"Uh... It's okay. He's gone," I said quietly. Elsa looked up at me, still with fear in her eyes.

"But what... what if he comes back?" I pulled her closer, burying her head into my chest and resting my chin gently on top of her head.

"I'll protect you, no matter what."

/*\

After getting my hand checked on by the Court Physician, an old man named Gaius, who seemed to care for the queen deeply, I made my way back home from the castle. My hand and wrist were wrapped in bandages, and I was given strict instructions to let it air out when I slept.

Elsa wanted me to stay, but I said I would have to check in with my superiors before I did anything else, but I would see what I could do. I walked down the stairs of the Assassin guild, my broken hidden blade in my hand. I looked for Theo to fix my hidden blade, but he was nowhere to be found.

Oh, well. I'll fix it later. I did know how to fix it, but it was time consuming and a pain in the butt. On the way to the Mentor, I stopped to drop off my broken blade at my quarters.

I headed down the stairs, getting odd looks from the other Assassins as I passed. I gave them weird looks in return. That's odd.

When I got to the Mentor's office, there was a crowd of people crowding the area. I furrowed my eyebrows as I pushed through the crowd. I caught snippets of conversation as I went, and what I heard wasn't good.

"Who killed-"

"Why would someone-"

"I thought he was unkillable-"

I finally pushed through the crowd to see the Mentor of the Assassins lying on the floor of his office, hidden blade ejected, in a pool of his own blood.

I crouched and examined the body, taking it all in stride. I had to. There was so much to do now: hunt down the killer, elect a new mentor, and make sure this stayed contained.

I looked for another Master Assassin. My eyes fell onto Grace, who was standing against the wall, a contemplative look on her face. I pushed my way toward her.

"Grace!" Her eyes snapped to mine. "Make sure the Templars don't attack in our moment of weakness. Set up a sentry or something. We can't let this paralyze us."

She nodded quickly before sprinting up the stairs. I quickly switched on my Eagle Vision. All around me was blue, but a gold trail that started at the body of the Mentor stood out like a sore thumb. I followed it to the top of the stairs, leading out of the Assassins guild.

I went through the door, out into the empty streets of Arendelle. The trail led me past the castle, looping around it. Based on the brightness of the trail, it was made recently, within a half hour. I followed it quickly; I was starting to get a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

That feeling worsened when I saw that the trail led into the castle. I quickly scanned for guards and slipped into the castle between their rotations. I switched on Eagle Vision again, following the trail through the halls of the castle.

In all honesty, I got super lost.

I kept following the trail, and it led me to more hallways. I was so focused on the trail, I didn't notice the sounds coming from the door in front of me. I switched off my Eagle Vision, finally hearing the sound of battle behind the door.

I looked at the knob of the door, it was unlocked. I silently turned it and slowly pushed the door open, peeking through the door. What met my eyes was the image of Elsa cowering behind a wall of ice as Lars bombarded it with fireballs, the heat causing the entirety of the small bedroom to radiate with heat.