Chapter Fourteen
It must have continued to snow during the night because there was a thin blanket of snow covering everything in the morning. If I hadn't been so scared for Anna, I would have thought it nice. It sparkled beautifully in the morning sun and it was perfectly unmarked-not a single foot print, animal nor human, was to be seen.
We looked for Anna all morning and into the afternoon. I started imagining the worst. In my mind, I saw the wolves chasing Anna and tackling her to the ground before starting to rip her to shreds. I could even hear the screams in my mind.
"I think we should stop for a few minutes to eat and rest the horses." Arvid said suddenly, as if sensing my distress.
"I agree." Kristoff said. The growling of my stomach spoke for me, apparently I was more hungry than I thought. We followed Arvid to a large tree until he stopped and jumped off. He reached into his saddle bag and started pulling out sandwiches. I realized that I didn't remember seeing him prepare them. Maybe he did it before we got up?
"Would you like some help?" Kristoff asked as he approached my horse. I nodded my head, accepting that I wouldn't be able to do it on my own. He reached up and carefully pulled me off of the horse and set me on the ground.
"Thank you." I told him sincerely, he only nodded in response. We made our way over to where Arvid was standing with the sandwiches, and he handed us each one when we stopped. We thanked him and I took a bite. They weren't the best sandwiches, but they were decent enough. I was hungry enough to eat anything. I thought back to Anja.
"Can I ask you a question?" I asked Arvid.
"What?" he grumped, eyeing me out of the corner of his eye.
"Well...I was just wondering...Do you know why Anja seemed so upset earlier?" I asked. " I mean, I'm worried too...But she doesn't even personally know Anna." He looked at me with an angry look and I wondered if I crossed some sort of line.
"It's a long story." He said.
"Oh..." Was all I responded. I wanted to ask to hear the story, but I didn't want to pry. It seemed personal. "Alright then."
"If you're really interested, I can tell you but it's not a happy story." He said after a couple minutes of silence. He looked guilty for some reason.
"I would like to hear it, if you're comfortable telling it to me." I responded. He took a deep breath.
"That night...It was all my fault." He started out, then paused.
"I'm sure it wasn't your fault, whatever it is." Kristoff said, trying to comfort Arvid.
"It was." He said grief struck. "If it wasn't for me, they'd probably still be alive!" He practically snarled, looking away from us. Subconsciously, I moved closer to Kristoff.
"What happened?" I nearly whispered.
"Anja and I used to have two wonderful children...A boy and a girl." Arvid said. " Sometimes they would go out and play in the woods, but they always knew to be back before dark because of the wolves."
My heart sank, I could see where his story was going and I didn't like it. I didn't interrupt though, part of me wanted to hear it.
"Then one day they were out playing in the woods and they didn't show up for supper. Anja asked me to go out and look for them, but I told her that they knew the woods very well and knew to be back by dark." His voice cracked. " It started to get dark and she asked me again, but I told her they were probably fine. Kids will be kids. They'd been late a couple of times before and nothing happened." He quit talking for a moment.
"Then what?" Kristoff breathed.
"Then?" Arvid repeated. "By the time I went to go fetch them, it was too late." Nobody knew what to say.
"Were they..." Kristoff started.
"Dead? Yeah. The body of my girl was found, mangled and half eaten by the wolves...But my boy was never found." I gasped in horror.
"That's awful." I said quietly. "I'm so sorry."
"That was years ago." He said gruffly. "Part of me feels like I can make it better by helping you find your sister. The other part of me knows that I will never make it right, but at least I can lessen the guilt a bit."
"Arvid, it wasn't your fault at all." Kristoff said. "Accidents happen."
"Yeah, but I should have at least went out and fetched them for supper." He said angrily. I didn't know what to say. It wasn't his fault, but he seemed to think it was and didn't seem open to discuss it. I didn't know how to make a person feel better, especially with something as heavy as that. The poor man lost both his children.
"I think we should keep going." Arvid said as he finished the last of his sandwich. I stuffed the last bite into my own mouth and headed towards my horse. Now I really had to find Anna. But what was I going to do if we found her body mangled and half eaten? I shook my head, I would just have to believe that she was alive and well, just lost.
Kristoff came up behind me and picked me up, then set me on my horse.
"Don't worry." Kristoff said as he noticed my fear. "That won't happen to Anna. She's a fighter. Even if she did run into a pack of wolves, I'd be willing to bet she fought them off with her bare hands. I know you think she's fragile and needs protecting all of the time, but she's a spit fire, let me tell you! She's practically fearless and have you seen her strength? She's fine."
"Thank you." I said with tears in my eyes. For the first time, I completely believed that Anna was alright. She can hold her own.
"Alright." I said with a nod. "Lets go find her before she freezes."
We called out for Anna as we rode, hoping she would hear us and respond. The only response we got, though, was the wind whistling through the trees. I was starting to get very tired, my emotions were all over the place. At one moment I felt really hopeful, and the next I was drowning in the devastating feeling that I lost the person most dear to me.
We were going through the woods when a boulder covered in snow moved, then grew up into the air. My horse reared back in fear, but didn't run away. When it turned to look at us, I breathed a sigh of relief. It was just Marshmallow.
"Marshmallow, what are you doing so far out?" I asked him. I looked over at Arvid, who was sitting on his horse, motionless with fear. I realized, living so far out that Arvid and Anja might not have known about Marshmallow or Olaf.
"Visiting friend!" Marshmallow roared. I looked at his hands and noticed that he was holding the mouse again. I wanted to tell him to put it down but I swallowed the urge. There were more important matters at hand.
"Marshmallow, have you seen Anna?" I asked him desperately. He shook his head.
"She went missing, do you think you could help us look?" Marshmallow nodded, then turned and bent down, putting the mouse on the ground. He said good bye to it and then turned and marched off into the woods. We all followed behind him.
After awhile, Marshmallow suddenly turned looking excited. He turned back to the woods and yelled, "Anna!" I heard a squeak come from up above, so I followed the sound.
Up sitting in a tree, was Anna.
"Anna!" I called out excited, I brought the horse to the base of the tree and looked up.
"Elsa?" Anna asked, she sounded weak.
"Yes! Come down from there!" I yelled. She looked down at me with a smile on her face. I noticed that she had a gash in her cheek, and her neck and shoulder was bleeding a little.
"I'm stuck." She said. "My belly gets in the way." She patted it almost lovingly.
"Marshmallow, can you reach her?" I asked. He stepped forward. " Be careful with her." I added as he reached up. He plucked her from the tree and set her on the ground next to my horse.
I ignored the pain in my leg and jumped off my horse. I pulled her in for a hug but before I could figure out what I was thinking or doing, I kissed her. On the lips. In front of Kristoff and Arvid.
"Don't ever run away again!" I exclaimed as I pulled away. I noticed Anna's blush and realized what I did. I jumped back away from her, bumping my injured leg on a tree stump. I grunted in pain and buckled over.
Anna ran forward and knelt in front of me.
"You're hurt." She said.
"So are you." I said back. " Are you okay?"
"Yes, I'm fine." She said. "It barely hurts. What happened to you?"
"Pack of wolves." I said, pushing myself off of the ground. "What happened to you?"
"Same." She responded. "I got cornered and one lunged at me and got me on my shoulder and scratched my neck and face. I kicked it off and climbed the tree and that's where I've been since." I noticed her shivering.
"Let's go back, you're freezing." I said.
"Can I ride with you?" She asked, hesitantly.
"Of course." I responded. I turned and for the first time I remembered the boys behind us. They were both looking at us with shocked expressions. Kristoff's mouth was hanging open.
"Pretend you didn't see anything?" Anna suggested at them.
"But...B-But you're sisters!" Kristoff exclaimed. "Anna, did you...did you leave me for your sister?" He looked appalled.
"Of course not!" She gasped, putting her hand over her chest. "How could you think such a thing? I just like you as a friend, I told you that."
"You just kissed Elsa!" He said with disgust.
"Actually," I spoke up. "I was the one who kissed Anna." Everybody stared at me.
"I know, it was wrong. But I was so relieved that she's alright. Can you blame me? I thought my sister was dead!" Their faces softened a bit.
"So it didn't mean anything?" Kristoff asked.
"Of course not." I snapped. "Now lets go, Anna's freezing." Kristoff got back on Sven and Arvid got back onto his horse. I was able to pull myself up on the horse that time so I held my hand down to help Anna on. I led her to sit in front of me, and wrapped my arms around her. I rested my chin on her good shoulder.
"Why did you run off like that?" I whispered in her ear as we started moving.
"I'm not sure." Anna admitted. " I was just so upset. I felt like I failed at something, like I was going to be a bad mom or something. And you didn't say anything, I wasn't thinking straight. I started to come back, but then I got lost and ran into the wolves."
"Do you have any idea how worried I was for you?" I said a little harsher.
"I'm sorry." She hung her head.
"It's okay." I said quietly. "Just don't do it ever again."
"Alright." She said. I could hear the smile in her voice, I hugged her closer.
It took a couple hours to reach Arvid's house, but by the time we did the sun had already set.
"You guys can sleep here tonight." Arvid said gruffly as he got off his horse. Before we could respond, he led the horse off somewhere behind the house. I was about to say something when the door to the house suddenly flung open.
"Oh! You found her, thank Heavens!" She strode over and pulled Anna off the horse gently, and gave her a hug. Then she went over and pulled me off the horse and hugged me. I would have thought it weird if I hadn't known what happened before. I hugged her back. Then she turned to Kristoff and hesitated for a moment, but then gave him a hug as well.
"Now that I think about it, I don't think we ever caught your name. Did we?" She asked, looking at Kristoff.
"No I don't think I properly introduced myself." Kristoff said. " My name's Kristoff." Her eyes went wide and her mouth fell open.
"K-Kristoff?" She asked.
"Uh, yeah?" Kristoff half asked, looking confused. She turned just as Arvid came around the corner.
"Arvid, this boy's name is Kristoff." She said, excited. I was as confused as Kristoff looked.
"Common enough name." Arvid said.
"What's going on?" I asked.
"Nothing." Arvid snapped. " We used to know somebody named Kristoff." Anja looked disappointed, but ushered us into the house quickly.
"It's warm!" Anna breathed, rubbing her arms for friction. Anja went into the other room and came out with a bucket of water and a rag in one arm, and some bandages in the other.
"I'm going to clean you up a bit." Anja said. She pushed Anna into a chair and went about wiping the dried blood off her face, neck and shoulder. Then, she quickly bandaged her up.
"Thank you." Anna said genuinely. "I'm good as new. A little cold still, though."
"Just a moment!" Anja said and went into the other room. When she returned she had a blanket in her hand. She wrapped it around Anna's shoulders to keep warm.
"I was just about to set the table for supper." She said. "Please, have a seat. Anywhere is fine." We each took a seat. Anna sat next to me and Kristoff sat on the other end of Anna. Arvid sat on the opposite side of the table and we watched as Anja started setting the table.
My mouth started to water as she put roast, mashed potatoes, green beans, and bread on the table. It all smelled so wonderful, I looked over at Anna, who was practically drooling in her seat. I frowned, she probably hadn't eaten anything since she left.
"Lets say grace." Anja said, she bowed her head so we all followed. We listened to her speak, and she even made a mention of Anna returning safe and sound. When she was finished, we all repeated, "Amen."
"Now lets eat." Anja smiled. Arvid took the plate of roast and began filling his own plate, then passed it down the line. When our plates were full, we began digging in. I could have moaned at the deliciousness of the food.
"So, Kristoff," Anja began a couple moments later."We don't know anything about you. Tell us a little about yourself."
"There's not a whole lot to tell." Kristoff admitted. "I was orphaned at a young age and then I spent my time following around the ice cutters for awhile."
"Oh you poor dear." Anja said, but raised her eyebrows at Arvid, who shook his head.
"Did the ice cutters take care of you all this time?" She wondered. Kristoff shook his head.
"I was taken in.." Kristoff dropped off.
"By who?" She asked. Kristoff didn't look like he wanted to answer.
"He was raised by trolls." Anna spoke, ignoring Kristoff's glares. Then, even Arvid looked intrigued.
"Arvid," Anja said quietly. "It would explain everything."
"No." Arvid shaking his head in denial. "Our boy has been dead for years."
"But what if he didn't die? What if he just got lost?" Anja said. "You know trolls have been known to take children and brainwash them." She whispered even quieter.
"There's no way to know for sure." Arvid said.
"Uh...What's going on?" Kristoff interrupted. Anja looked at Kristoff like she didn't know what to say.
"Oh, nothing." She quickly said. "So, these trolls...Tell me a bit about them."
I tuned out what was being said. Could Kristoff be their child? I heard stories of trolls taking children and brainwashing them to make them think that they were orphans, but I thought they were just stories. I couldn't see Kristoff's trolls doing such a thing, but I guessed...hadn't they done almost the same thing for Anna all those years ago?
I looked at Kristoff and then Arvid and Anja to see if I could see any resemblances. After looking hard, Kristoff did have a similar nose to Arvid, and the shape of his eyes. The color resembled Anja's eyes. Now that I was looking, there were quite a few similarities. The ears, the hair, even the shape of his face.
My stomach felt uneasy. What if Kristoff had a real family and didn't know it? Would Kristoff leave his troll family for his real family? I frowned as I thought, there was no way to tell really. The trolls could probably use magic to find out, but since the trolls were involved, would they be honest about it?
I was snapped out of my thoughts by Anja.
"Well, I guess that wraps things up." She said. Everybody had finished what was on their plates, so Anja stood up and started collecting the plates. I stood up to help, but she told me to sit back down.
After she was all finished, she told us to follow her into the other room. She brought us into the room that Kristoff and I slept in before.
"There's only one bed." She said apologetically.
"That's alright." Anna said.
"I can sleep on the floor again." Kristoff added. "One of you can sleep in the bed."
"Elsa and I could share it." Anna suggested. I nodded, that sounded fine to me. Suddenly a thought hit me.
"Can I ask a question?" I asked. Anja nodded.
"If you had two children, why do you only have one bed?" Anja looked sad, but answered.
"We knew one of our children was gone for sure, we found her body." She said. "But we never found the other child. I kept his bed, just in case he ever returned to us."
"I'm sorry." I said once she was finished.
"No, don't be." She said. "It's been years. I can talk about it." I nodded at her, searching her face. I saw deep sadness, but hope as well.
"Well I suppose I'll let you three get some sleep. You've got a long day tomorrow." Before we could respond, she was out the door. I went over to the bed and pulled the blankets back. I crawled inside and held my arms open for Anna. She smiled and crawled into my arms, then turned her back against my chest.
"I'm so happy that you're alright." I whispered, snuggling closer.
"Thank you for coming to save me." Anna said. "I would probably still be stuck in that tree if you hadn't."
"I'll always be here to save you." I told her. "But as soon as we get back we're having the doctor look at you." I felt Anna take a breath of air in, like she was going to say something, but Kristoff suddenly interrupted.
"Hey, what do you guys think that was all about at supper?" He whispered loudly. In the dark I saw the shape of his head rise off the ground.
I thought about if I should answer him honestly or not. I wasn't sure how he would react, and what Arvid and Anja thought might not have been true anyway.
"I wonder if they think you're their lost boy." Anna spoke up.
"What? That's...That's ridiculous." Kristoff said confused. "My parents are dead."
"Yeah? How'd they die?" Anna countered. Nobody spoke for a moment.
"I don't remember." Kristoff said. "I mostly just remember being with the ice cutters, and then being taken in by the trolls."
"You were raised by trolls so you probably didn't hear the stories." I said. "But Anna and I grew up with them. Mama and Papa would always tell how trolls would steal children, usually blond as they thought they were more beautiful, and trick them into thinking they were really an orphan. Sometimes they would steal women too, but mostly children. I always thought they were just stories, but now..."
"Now you're wondering if they're true?" Kristoff asked. "Well I can tell you that they're not. My family would never do that to me." I saw him lie back down.
"You could always ask them." Anna suggested. "You know, just to see."
"Maybe I will." Kristoff said grumpily. "Just to prove you guys wrong."
"Oh! Can I come?" Anna asked excitedly. I hugged her closer.
"I don't think that's a good idea." I told her.
"Please?" She asked. "It's not that far away."
"I know, but after what you've been through I think it would be best if you stayed at the castle for awhile."
"But what if the doctor thinks it would be alright?" Anna wondered. She turned to face me and I could feel her breath on my cheek.
"He won't." I told her confidently.
"But what if he does?" She pressed.
"Why is it so important to you?" I asked her. I felt her shrug.
"I don't know..." She said. "I'm nosy and I like an adventure...So, if he says it's alright?"
"If the doctor thinks it's alright, then I can't argue. Can I?" I huffed. I knew the doctor would tell her bed rest would be best, I wasn't too concerned.
"Oh thank you!" Anna squealed, and I heard Kristoff cough from the floor.
"Don't you guys care what I think? It is my trip, after all." He said.
"Oh. Right...Well, do you mind if I tag along?" Anna asked.
"I guess not." Kristoff said. I could hear the amusement in his voice. "That way, I can rub it in your face as soon as we find out that you're wrong and I'm right."
"I think we should just get some sleep." I cut in. "We really have a long day ahead of us tomorrow."
"Oh, alright." Anna said, then I felt her lean closer until her soft lips were on my cheek. "Good night." It was an innocent kiss, a friendly kiss from one sister to the other, but it felt oddly intimate. I felt my face flush and heat up.
"Good night." I said. Anna put her head under my chin so I hugged her closer, then closed my eyes and fell into a deep sleep.