Note: Sorry about the time this update has taken, but classes started up again, and some time to re-acclimatize was needed. Re-acclimation is actually still ongoing, but that's beside the point. I'll get more in depth (seriously in-depth, actually) as to the why's in the end note.

I do not own Frozen. Please review, comment, or criticize. Most of all, enjoy.

In the Old World

Chapter 21

Anna stared, trying subconsciously to keep her mouth from dropping open in astonishment and terror, though she was somewhat loathe to admit the last part to herself. The dragon seemed to be uncoiling itself, yet still kept her in its view. It twisted and wove its arms and neck around the sparse few columns, squeezing its eyes shut on a particular long wind that ended with its head yards above the bottom of its neck along the nearest pillar. It looked like it could have easily crushed the column to dust if it would only tighten.

Then it seemed to feel it had stretched enough, and returned its full attention to her.

The dragon leaned its head down almost to the floor, and its eyes narrowed, taking in every bit of Anna. It sniffed, drawing in several deep breaths through nostrils Anna could have easily fit through. It slowly moved forward and began to circle around her, starting with its head, keeping her fully within its gaze.

Leopold hissed angrily when it leaned in too close for his comfort. Anna had practically forgotten he'd followed her in.

The dragon seemed to smirk at that. A second hiss made him pull his back slightly and curl his lip up, revealing a row of fangs, the smallest of which Anna could see was as long as Olaf was tall. A hoarse, warning growl slowly reverberated out from between the monster's clenched jaws. Leopold darted inbetween Anna's legs and regarded the dragon with a look of daring affront.

The dragon chose to ignore the look and moved over Anna. She barely registered the glowing symbol on its chest before it turned around and fixed its gaze on her.

Anna was about to open her mouth, but the dragon seemed to see this.

"Be silent." It simply said, its voice filling the cavern. Anna could feel Leopold glaring at the dragon for its rudeness.

The dragon leaned in and narrowed its gaze on her again.

"I have been here long," it said suddenly. "I know. Faces, names, scents. Those I have no choice but allow to leave, the one whom I hold any respect for, all those who would come into this place of their own free will. I know them all." The look it was giving her was a cross between curious and suspicious. "Can you tell me, little thing, why I don't know you?"

Anna had to take a few moments to get her thoughts together, to try and say something that might-

"I'm new?" She offered on reflex.

The dragon seemed to chuckle. It felt like it couldn't do anything without having some sort of menacing undertone to it.

"Well, another clever tongue. Perhaps the number of those with sense in this place has grown to three, now." The dragon paused, considering its own words. "But… you are in here, little thing. So perhaps not."

"I have a name, you know." Anna said hotly, and completely without thinking. "It's Anna." The dragon whirled around and glared at her. If looks of annoyance could kill… considering this was a dragon, there was a high possibility that they could.

"Do you think I care what your name is?" The dragon demanded.

"N-no." Anna said quickly.

"No, indeed." The dragon replied, turning back away. "All I cared to know I have gleaned already. Your features say you are from the North. I would ask if you humans have at last beaten back the trolls and ogres of the land, but the stench of royalty in you is all the answer I require." Leopold yowled angrily at the insult. "And you have power." The dragon continued, turning back to face them, dragging out the final word. "Not the power so typical of these Covenant curs, either. Not power that was forced upon you from something else. No," It leaned in, a slightly hungry look in its eyes that unnerved Anna totally. "This is power that is yours and yours alone." The eyes drifted downward to Leopold. "And judging from what you have produced with it, your experience is quite lacking."

Anna defaulted to autopilot as Leopold hissed beneath her.

"Hey, you can say whatever you want about me, but don't you-"

She didn't get to finish. The dragon's eyes dilated as it thrust itself forward and roared furiously in her face. She fell back in sheer animal terror, Leopold scrambling in front of her, moss-fur standing on end. If she hadn't been so frightened at the possibility of being violently devoured, she'd have gagged at the thing's breath.

"YOU DO NOT COMMAND ME!" the dragon roared. "Do not even PRESUME you've the right! You are not one of THEM!" It spat the last bit out like acid. "Nor could you ever be," it said, slowly calming down. "You've not the stomach, the spine, or the will to be what they are." Anna chose to take that as a compliment.

"Sorry if I… offended you, at all. Really." She slowly got to her feet and brushed the front of her dress down. Leopold kept glaring at the dragon. "But… could we maybe back up as to why the Covenant are so important? And how they got a dragon to work for them?"

She could immediately tell she'd said the wrong thing. The dragon's pupils contracted, and one hand snaked up to a column and squeezed so hard the stone began to crack beneath the scaly fingers.

"I. Do. Not. Work for them." The dragon snarled. "To them, I am an creature, kept upon a leash. I am a tool that cannot refuse to work." Its expression became tinged with a slight sadness, yet the anger remained as powerful as ever. "And do not call me that."

"Call you what?" Anna had to ask.

"Dragon." The dragon hissed furiously. "I am no dragon. No dragon would let themselves exist in such a detestable state. A dragon is not even a dragon when it is dictated by the whims of another."

"Well… that's, um, terrible, and all, but… how did they, again?" Anna asked again. She couldn't quite get what the dragon was saying. And she then hurriedly hoped to herself that those few stories where dragons could read minds weren't true.

"Foul magics." The dragon spat. It rotated on shoulder, just long enough for Anna to see a faintly glowing symbol that looked half-painted-on, half-carved-into its scales before it drew itself up to show a similar symbol on is underbelly. "They bind me. Force their will upon mine. I cannot leave. I cannot act beyond what they wish. And only those I can kill are the ones they send in here that are meant to never come out."

"Well… that's really, uh… that's a rough deal, for you, I mean." Anna had somehow gotten just comfortable enough to start rambling. "So, you know, sorry I disturbed you. It's late, I get it. I'll just be going now." She'd meant to try and make a break for it long ago, but only now could she get up the courage. Knowing that it couldn't hurt her. Did she feel bad for taking advantage of its… imprisonment? Slavery, almost?

Certainly. But she wasn't about to spend the night with a clearly angry, killer dragon.

That was what she thought, until the dragon quickly stomped over her and set itself in front of the tunnel.

"No. I don't think you will be going, Anna." It somehow managed to make her name sound more demeaning than 'little thing.'

Anna swallowed her fear and glared at the dragon.

"You said it yourself: you can't not obey the Covenant. And much as I don't like it… you need to move out of my way." She said resolutely. The dragon simply let out another few malevolent chuckles.

"For all your fire, you clearly lack sense." The dragon leaned its head in closer. "As I said, you are not one of them. Not in the slightest. You cannot command me, nor do you have the protection they do." The dragon paused, and seemed to collect its thoughts. "Yet, despite your youth, even for your kind; despite your obvious nature, and your lack of skill, you are just as clearly valuable to them. So, if you were to be… lost to them… well, I must have my satisfaction against them where I can get it, must I not." A wide, cruel smile had slowly grown over the dragon's face as it spoke, and Anna quickly realized exactly what it meant.

"You really think that's a good idea?" Anna asked, putting on what she hoped was a brave face while she gathered magic in one hand behind her back. "What do you think they'll do to you if they figure out you… did whatever it is you're planning on doing?"

The dragon snarled angrily.

"I live in bondage." It hissed. "I live denied my very self, each day. The instant these sigils were placed upon me, they inflicted the greatest torment possible for a dragon. They can do nothing worse to me than what they have already done." It reared back, gazing down at Anna with something approaching amusement. "So tell me, Anna, how do you choose to die?" It whipped down, jaws wide.

Anna thrust her hand out, casting a ball of magic onto the dragon's tongue, and quickly turned and ran.

A small tree exploded into being inside the dragon's mouth, making it stop in surprise. A slight application of pressure from both ends of its mouth spilt the tree in two, and a furious, fire-filled roar in the direction Anna had run burned the remains to ashes. The dragon moved further back into the cavern, releasing small bursts of flame to light the darkness, seeking his prey.

Anna crouched behind one of the pillars, listening to the dragon get closer and closer. She was trying her hardest to not make a sound, to not even breath. She figured the dragon would hear any sound she made, that it could distinguish its noise from everything else. Everything else being her, in this case.

An idea struck her. She raised her hands and let magic flow, working a twisting ball of wood. Forcing herself to concentrate more than she ever had, she kept it in the ball form, then dropped it, focusing on what she wanted it to be. The ball quickly turned into something vaguely resembling a crossbow when it hit the floor. Anna scooped it back up, and peeked out over the side of the pillar, launching the ball to the other side of the room when she saw that the dragon's attention was directed in a direction that wasn't hers.

She ducked back behind the pillar and waited. An angry roar a few seconds later told her that her plan had worked. She dashed out around the pillar and made for the tunnel. She was halfway there when she heard the dragon snarl, and figured she'd been made. She picked up the pace, felt the ground shake as the dragon came after her. She made it through the mouth of the tunnel before she turned around and saw a torrent of fire rushing towards her. Everything seemed to slow to a crawl. She thought she heard footsteps behind her, but she didn't process them. A whirl of embers and smoke shot through her and seemed to reform into a woman right at the edge of the tunnel. That woman held out one hand against the onrushing torrent of fire.

The flames seemed to crash against a wall when they reached woman, breaking in a massive arc over the tunnel at the point where they touched her hand. Anna was so astounded, so overloaded on… everything, that it took her several more seconds to recognize that the woman who had just saved her life was Solstice.

Solstice glared at Rathalos as the flames died and he curled back, glaring at her and Anna.

"Rathalos," She began warningly, fury still bubbling inside her for all parties involved. She'd involuntarily raised one hand, burning with fire of her own.

"Spare us all, Mary." Rathalos said. "If you ask me why, you know what my answer will be. You alone understand. Take your pet and go."

Rathalos stalked back into the darkness of the cavern. Solstice gave the dragon a glare she knew full well he could see and seized Anna's arm, practically dragging the girl back up through the tunnel.

"You might be one of the most idiotic, senseless accidents of birth I've ever met." Solstice said as she dragged Anna into her room. She nearly threw the girl at her bed, before she sat herself down in a nearby chair and tried to stop her hands from shaking. "Don't take it personal," she eventually offered. "Just a Covenant term for royalty. I have a habit of reverting to type when I'm terrified or furious." She took a deep breath to compose herself. "I hope you realize how lucky you were. If I hadn't had those wards set up in the tunnel, I might never have known..." Solstice let a sigh escape. "You're really making my job difficult."

"And what exactly is your job?" Anna snapped. Normally, she wouldn't be quite so blunt, so angry. But she had just been stalked by a very large, malicious dragon, and nearly burned alive. She was understandably strung. "Training me to be some sort of…" She grasped for the words. "killer sorceress? Like you?" Anna was somewhat aware that she wasn't being fair, but she was so overridden by everything that had happened that she didn't quite care at that moment.

"Before, it might've been. And it's exactly what the others think I'm doing. But it's not anymore." Solstice admitted. She reached into one of the pockets on her dress and drew out a folded, burned piece of paper. "Before anything concerning people of magical talent goes to anyone else, it has to go through me." She handed the paper to Anna. This… was a proposal concerning your cousin and her husband." Anna's eyes widened in horror. "Don't worry. It didn't go through me."

Anna looked down at the burned, ruined proposal.

"His face must have been priceless." She said, handing the proposal back.

"I said I'd lost it, asked for a second copy." Solstice explained. "You opened my eyes, Anna. I'm not about to let anyone who doesn't deserve it go through what we've put you through. And I'm not about to let the others twist you into something they can use. My new, unofficial job is to keep you here long enough for your sister and the Lion Knights to tear down the walls and take you back." A small smile grew on her face. "So, maybe do us both a favor and try not to make my job any harder than it-" She was stopped as Anna launched herself up from the bed and flung her arms around Solstice.

To know that someone else understood exactly how horrible this had been for her. To know that someone else was waiting, just like she was, for the rescue she knew deep down was coming. To know that someone was looking out for her. It meant everything.

And, Anna briefly reflected, Solstice had saved her from death-by-dragonfire. That had to be worth a grateful hug, too.

So, yeah.

Classes resumed two weeks ago, so there was the period of re-acclimation after a week of staying in bed till noon. I also, over the course of break, ran through a bunch of other properties that piqued my fanfic-writer-interest (none of them will be acted upon) so that didn't help either. I would like to bring up the issue of scheduling, and the lack thereof.

Forcing myself to keep to a hard schedule does not, in my opinion, help the writing process. At least, the fanfic writing process while the writer is engaged in college courses. This is something I do for fun, for enjoyment, and doing it when I don't know what I want to happen next, or when I'm so burned out from school it's an effort to type and think, makes it less fun.

I'm not saying that I won't try and keep future updates to a semi-regular time, nor do I wish to give the impression that I don't care about this. Because I will and I do. I've just seen what forcing myself to keep to a schedule with no exceptions does. I jumped ship on an in-progress story for this one so fast, the dust is still settling months later. Making myself work on it, especially when I didn't adequately know what I wanted to happen and yet felt obligated to put something out seems in retrospect to be quite the contributing factor.

I don't want that to happen here. I generally warn at the start of each chapter that is written during a new quarter of classes that updates will be more sporadically timed, and they are, because I have less free time in the times that I'm used to having it. I WILL make sure you all know that in no way do I intend to let this wither for weeks at a time. If my chapters were three times a long, that might be an excuse. But I do encourage you all to temper your expectations for updates somewhat.

*Whew* Guess I didn't realize how much those feelings needed airing.

On the topic of the actual content, originally, the dragon just worked for the Covenant. Then I had to the idea to make him basically a slave, and he'd really not appreciate that. Then, I got the idea to maybe come up with a more deep-seated reason for why magically enslaving a dragon would be such a violation to it. So I came up with the idea to the ability to self-determinate is the most important thing there is to a dragon. Being able to do that is, in the mind of dragons, what makes them dragons first and foremost. So you can see how magical enslavement would be an issue. That also led to a few other ideas I won't elaborate on, for everyone's sake.