Chapter Eighteen

The Plot Thickens

ANNA

"Your Highness." A palace servant knocked on the door of the drawing room and poked his head in. "You asked to be notified when your guest awoke."

"She's up?" Anna sprang to her feet, and the rest of the Warriors stirred. After arriving back in Arendelle's castle courtesy of Tracy's black magic, they had rushed Melody to the doctors, and then collapsed in a heap in the drawing room, exhausted from the crushing defeat they had been dealt by the League of Sorcerers. It was only now, the next morning, that the Warriors had begun to wake, and it was only because the palace servant had come with the news.

"Yes, Your Highness. She's in the Infirmary."

The Warriors followed the palace servant who led them to the East Wing where the infirmary was, and they rushed into the room to see Melody finally awake.

"Melody!" Maui sounded relieved.

"Princess!" Tracy rushed to her side and gave her a hug. "You're up!"

"Ow ow ow." Melody winced. "Ease up on the ribs. The doctor said they're cracked."

Anna looked at her. Her cheeks were bruised and swollen, her chin cut, and she looked incredibly banged up. "How are you feeling?"

"Terrible." Melody groaned, and attempted to swing her feet off the bed, clutching her ribs. "Anna," She looked at Anna, as if just remembering something important. "Elsa, she-"

"I know." Anna nodded soberly.

"I'm sorry," Melody shook her head. "I had hoped that we were wrong. But I saw her with my own eyes. There was no doubt about it. She was working with Prometheus."

Anna nodded again. "And the League. We saw her. I'm…still having trouble believing it."

"The rest of us too." Kristoff looked morosely at Anna.

"Can you stand?" Maui helped Melody off the bed.

"I think so," Melody hobbled a little, supporting herself on Tracy and Maui. "To be fair, Prometheus gave me a pretty bad beatdown."

"We should get something to eat first before we talk about yesterday," Anna said, walking briskly out of the room. "I'll have the cooks whip something up."

After a decent breakfast of omelettes, bacon and toast, the Warriors sat around the table feeling more refreshed and ready to begin discussing the previous evening's events. Anna had requested that the guards and servants leave them alone in the dining room for as long as the Warriors required. It wouldn't do for everyone to hear what we have to say.

"I think we can all agree," Kristoff began cautiously. "That last night was a disaster."

"You got that right, pal." Tracy slurped noisily from her glass of juice. "We never knew what hit us." She glanced at Melody. "Though that might be understating things."

Melody glared at her, and then turned to the rest. "I've never been challenged like that before. Prometheus matched me shot for shot in archery, and blow for blow in combat. In fact," she paused to rub her cheek. "Prometheus was faster and better in every way. No matter what I threw at him, it was like he anticipated every move and had a counter ready for everything."

"You should have pulled out while you could." Anna said, wincing as she looked at Melody. She had taken a really heavy beating and it showed. "The doctor said you were lucky. Hit at spots just shy of pressure points and no bones broken."

"I didn't know I was already beaten," Melody admitted. "Prometheus had every chance to break my bones, but he didn't."

"And can we talk about the Pilgrim?" Tracy said. "She's a Ha'naeth too, just like I am!"

"A what?" Anna asked.

"Her type of sorcery, her black magic, it's the same kind that I harness." Tracy explained. "She could do whatever I could, but way better. I escaped to the Crossing Zone only to find her already there waiting for me."

"We severely underestimated the League." Kristoff added.

"Kristoff, you didn't have to fight Prometheus. We all knew how that would turn out!" Anna said indignantly.

"I had to try," Kristoff argued. "What, were we supposed to just give Will up?"

"One way or another, they would have gotten Will Daltrey. And they did." Anna retorted. "And since when did you learn how to fight with knives? You survived against Prometheus longer than I thought you would."

"Just…got lucky, I guess." Kristoff's cheeks coloured. "He didn't want to kill me either, though he had the chance."

"The League wasn't in Quodrun to kill us or anyone else," Maui said. "They only wanted Will Daltrey. And now that they have him, the Pilgrim can proceed with her plans, whatever they are."

"And we have no clue what she's going to do with the Elemental Sorcerers?"

"Nope," Maui said grimly. "But I think we can all agree that Tobias was right. The Pilgrim did find a way to turn Elsa against us." He looked apologetically at Anna. "I'm sorry, Anna."

"I still don't believe it," Anna shook her head. "She's my sister. I know her."

"Anna, as much as I hate to say it, we have to face facts." Melody said quietly. "You've seen her with your own eyes."

"No, that's not Elsa. Deep down I know my sister is still inside somewhere." Anna replied firmly.

Tracy set down her glass of juice. "So we're stuck without knowing what's next?"

"Afraid so." Kristoff glanced at her.

"Hold on. I know this isn't much to go on. In fact, this was just a passing remark by the Pilgrim when I faced her back in Quodrun." Anna said. "She said I never knew the truth about my family."

"What does that mean?"

"I don't know." Anna pursed her lips. "But she's been spying on my family for years. That's how she knew about Elsa. And the only thing I can think of is that Tobias was her spy. After all, he had a seat in the Council Chambers for years and he had access to the League's resources."

"Then we should go back to Stillcreek and talk to him." Kristoff suggested.

Melody nodded. "Agreed. I think there's a lot more he's not letting on."

"I'll talk to him." Anna got up from her chair which made a sharp screeching sound as it was pushed back against the floor. "The rest of you can use the drawing room and see if you can dig up any more leads together with Captain Frederick. He may have found something after his visit to the Ministry of Information."

###

After an hour or so, Anna returned to the castle's drawing room, looking more puzzled and frustrated than before. She walked into the room sweating and her hair tangled, to see the Warriors locked in a rather serious discussion. Even Captain Frederick had joined them, and they all turned their attention to her as they saw their host return.

"That was fast." Maui looked up in surprise.

"That," Anna began, her face hot and flushed. "Was a waste of time."

"What did Tobias tell you?" Melody asked.

"Nothing useful." Anna scowled. "He merely confirmed what we already know. That he had been spying on my family for years for the Pilgrim. And that there was something about my family that I didn't know about."

"If I may, Your Highness?"

Anna looked at Frederick. "What is it?"

"As I was telling them, I found something strange when I visited the Ministry of Information." Frederick began. "I went to talk to Count Griffith, only to hear him convening with the Colonel as I approached his office to talk."

"Count Jakob?"

Frederick nodded. "And so I hid myself nearby, listening in to their conversation. Not exactly the most ethical, but these are desperate times."

"What were they talking about?"

"Long story short, they were in a discourse about The Pilgrim." The Warriors had filled in the trustworthy captain about their mission, so he knew all that needed to know about the League, the Pilgrim as well as Elsa's presence in Quodrun.

"It seems that they were spies, ex-members of the League of Sorcerers." Frederick frowned. "Which means that the Council has been infiltrated for who knows how long."

Anna groaned. Things were even messier then she had imagined. "We'll have to sort the corruption out later. Right now, our priority is learning the truth about my family's past, hoping that it'll give an insight into what the Pilgrim wants."

"Right, then hopefully we'll have a better idea how to stop her and the League." Kristoff said.

"And possibly save Elsa." Maui added.

"The only place that will hold answers about my family's past," Anna motioned for everyone to follow her. "Is my father's library." She led them out of the drawing room and down the spacious hallways of the palace to the South Wing where the library was located. Along the way, they all received amused and confused stares from the servants and guards. Who could blame them? The determined Princess and her ragged mountainous boyfriend, a bruised girl, a hulking figure of a man, a foreign looking girl and the Captain of the Queen's Guard certainly made for a strange band of companions.

They arrived at the library and entered it, splitting up in different directions in a bid to look for clues. Anna's eyes scanned across the huge room filled with shelves upon shelves of books.

"Look for something that's titled Agnarr's journal or anything similar." Anna started pulling out books from the shelves and sneezed violently as she raised a cloud of dust. The library hadn't been used in a long time, and it was no wonder that the books and shelves were lined in the irritating grey substance. The books themselves had pages that had begun to turn yellow, and the entire room smelled musty.

"I found something!" Tracy hollered from the opposite end of the room.

"That was fast." Anna muttered to herself. The former sea witch had a nonchalant disposition most of the time, but she was incredibly sharp and useful when the Warriors needed her. The Warriors all regrouped at a table, and Tracy held a thick book with a leather bound cover which was caked in - what else - dust.

"Thanks." Anna took the book and slammed it onto the table, causing a cloud of dust to emerge from the impact. Coughing, she opened it and flipped across the pages. "This might take a while." She looked up from the book at the rest. "Where did you get my father's journal from?" She glanced at Tracy.

"The fifth row, third shelf from the top." Tracy said. "Why?"

"Do me a favour. Go back and take a look if there's anything else important that could help us. My father always kept the important stuff he was studying close together for convenience."

Tracy nodded and turned to go back.

"I'll come with you." Melody hobbled off with Tracy.

"Thanks." Anna turned her attention back to her father's journal. Kristoff pulled up an old chair for her and she sat down gratefully, her eyes still glued to the journal as she flipped through the pages, scanning them furiously for something…anything that would give her a clue as to what Tobias and the Pilgrim meant by her not knowing the truth about her family's past.

"Wait," she paused at one of the pages, her eyebrows furrowed.

"What is it?" Maui asked.

"No…" Anna's eyes widened. "My father…" she turned the page and scanned it furiously. "The Archbishop…no… It can't be."

Frederick shifted uncomfortably.

Anna's head whirled to face Frederick. "Did you know?"

"I'm sorry, Your Highness. Your father hoped to keep it a secret from everyone," he said solemnly. "I walked in to see him kneeling beside the Archbishop. He made me swear to keep his secret."

"Is this true?" Anna looked at the book, unable to believe her eyes, her mind was as though the entire world she knew was crumbling around her. "Did my father have powers too? Did he kill the Archbishop?"

Kristoff and Maui stood silently watching the exchange unfold, not knowing what was going on, but uncomfortably aware that they should not interfere yet.

Frederick looked away. "Your father was about to be crowned King of Arendelle, but he was summoned to the Church of Arendelle at the heart of the kingdom. The Archbishop threatened to reveal his secret to the people, and your father struck him down by accident. You see, he was no better at controlling his powers than your sister was in the beginning."

"So my father was responsible for the death of the Archbishop?" Anna felt dizzy.

Frederick glanced around, and Kristoff and Maui looked away awkwardly. "Yes. After his coronation, your father rushed back to the church, only to find the Archbishop's body missing. He then returned to the castle and confided in me, telling me that the League of Sorcerers was apparently real. And so was the Pilgrim."

"So all this time, you've known about my father's secret?" Anna couldn't believe her ears. "You knew that he was blackmailed into becoming a member of the League of Sorcerers?"

Frederick nodded gravely. "Agnarr, god rest his soul, made me promise to never tell a soul. He only wanted to protect you and your sister from the harsh truth."

"And that's what Elsa has been trying to do!" Anna came to her own conclusion. "She must have learnt about our father's secret and was blackmailed into joining the League, just like Father before her. The only reason she's working with them is just so that she could protect me from learning about…this."

"Anna," Kristoff began. "I don't think."

"No," Anna set her jaw. "I'm sure about this. Elsa's being blackmailed into working for the Pilgrim." She slowly flipped through the pages, scanning it without a word, tears welling up in her eyes and dampening the already brittle pages of the journal.

"Anna, maybe you should take a break." Kristoff's voice was filled with concern.

"He's right," Maui added. "You need a break."

"No," Anna said, her voice quavering. "I need answers." She stopped and wiped the tears from her eyes, her full attention devoted to the words on the pages.

"Your Highness-"

"Wait, I found something else." Anna narrowed her eyes. "The Pilgrim threatened my father, vowing to induct Elsa into the League of Sorcerers at some point in her future."

"No, that's impossible," For the first time, shock was audible in Frederick's voice. "How did the Pilgrim know? No one else outside the family knew about her…gifts, except me."

"Count Griffith. Tobias. The League spies." Kristoff said grimly. "They sold the royal family out to the Pilgrim."

"It says here that after the Pilgrim threatened to take Elsa away, my father went on an intensive search for a way that would keep us safe from the Pilgrim's magic. He learnt that the Pilgrim was a…" she trailed off and frowned, before shouting in the direction where Tracy and Melody were. "Tracy! What did you say you and the Pilgrim were again?"

"What?" Tracy yelled back.

"That term you used! You said both of you were ummn…H-Ha-"

"Ha'naeth!"

"Right!" Anna turned back to the book. "My father discovered her brand of magic, and found a way to stop her. Look!" she pointed at a paragraph and the other three leaned in to see what she was talking about. "He found a mystical amulet that could ward off her black magic. It's called…Q-Ka..."

"Qa'nneth." Tracy and Melody reappeared from behind the row of shelves, walking back towards Anna and the rest with another book. Tracy heaved the book and dropped it heavily onto the desk. "I'm familiar with the Qa'nneth. The first thing my family taught me was how to stay away from the Qa'nneth. This book," she gestured at the second book. "Contains maps leading to various mystical trinkets."

"Yeah, and my father found it." Anna looked back at the journal. "He acquired the Qa'nneth but had no idea how to use it, no matter how many books he found about magic."

"But your father did find something else." Frederick said.

"Yeah," Anna continued studying the book. "He found the river called Ahtohallan, and hoped to find answers there."

"So he and your mother left Arendelle to seek this place out." Frederick said quietly. "And it was there in the Southern Sea that-"

"That their ship went down." Anna grimaced. "The thing the Pilgrim said to me in Quodrun. It all makes sense now."

"What?"

"In passing, she gloated that if my parents couldn't stop her, then there was no way I had a chance." Anna felt tears pressing her eyes and felt a lump in her throat. "She caused that storm. She…killed my parents."

"I'm sorry, Anna." Melody said quietly. "But I have an idea."

Anna choked back more tears. "What?"

"Tracy and I will go to Atlantica. My grandfather, King Triton, would know about the ship's disappearance. After all, he is the King of the Seven Seas."

"We'll find the Qa'nneth from the wreckage, and bring it back." Tracy added.

"It's the only way we're going to defeat the Pilgrim." Melody finished.

Anna nodded. "Thanks."

"Don't worry," Melody placed a weak hand on Anna's shoulder. "We'll get the Qa'nneth and stop the League once and for all." With that, she and Tracy turned to leave, walking out of the library.

Anna turned back to Kristoff, Maui and Frederick. "I'm going back to Stillcreek."

"What?" Maui said. "Why?"

"Tobias has more answers. I'm sure of it." Anna was determined to find out more. "Fred, get the carriage ready."

"Yes, Your Highness."

###

The three Warriors arrived at Stillcreek, escorted by Captain Frederick. They were greeted by the Warden, who as usual took some time to sort out the paperwork and get the clearance for them to visit Tobias. As they arrived outside the interrogation room, she turned to the rest, noticing Maui's uneasiness.

"Stay out here." Anna put her hand on the door handle.

"Are you sure?" Kristoff asked. "I can come with you, you know."

"No," Anna shook her head firmly. "This is something I want to do alone. I won't be long." She opened the door and entered the interrogation room, the big door closing loudly behind her. Behind the repaired bars sat Tobias, evidently displeased that he had to sit through another interrogation.

"This is getting old, Your Highness." Tobias watched as the Princess walked toward him. "I already told you what you wanted to know."

"No, you didn't." Anna kept her calm. "But I know everything now."

"Do you really?" Tobias raised an eyebrow. "If you did, you wouldn't be coming back here. Unless of course, this is a social call."

"Fine. How did you and the other spies know about my sister even before her coronation?" Anna asked.

"We ex-League members are very resourceful people." Tobias smirked. "Of course we knew about your sister's powers."

"And you knew about my father too." Anna folded her arms.

"I did." Tobias said. "The Pilgrim has eyes everywhere. Various levels of the government has been infiltrated over the years."

"And what about the Pilgrim? What is she planning to do with the Elemental Sorcerers?"

"You already asked me once," Tobias' smile grew wider, and Anna could feel her temper rising. "What do you think my answer's going to be this time round?"

Anna pursed her lips, before she decided to play her trump card, which she hoped would work. "What's the point of keeping it a secret?" she asked slowly. "You're already stuck in here."

"The Pilgrim will get me out eventually. The League doesn't abandon their own."

Anna laughed dryly. "I doubt so. If the Pilgrim were coming to free you, don't you think she would have done it by now?"

"She's…busy,"

"Yeah, keep lying to yourself."

Tobias was silent for a moment, and then he sighed. "You're probably right."

"I know I am." Anna said savagely. "She's abandoned you after you wasted her resources on the coup."

Tobias chuckled humourlessly. "Fine. You win. For a while now, the Pilgrim has been yearning to learn the secret of the Eternal King."

"The Eternal King? You mean the madman who allegedly ruled Ancient Hyutreno for centuries with an iron fist?" Anna blinked.

Tobias nodded. "The Pilgrim's days of cheating death are coming to an end, and she needs a way to continue surviving."

"She's dying?"

"Yes. And she hopes that the Eternal King holds the secrets of longevity."

"So all this…is just to find the Eternal King?"

"Yes."

"Then what does she need the Elemental Sorcerers for?"

"I don't know." Tobias looked up at her.

Anna could tell that he was telling the truth this time. There was a certain gravity to his voice, which had changed from that of a laughing hyena to that of a deflated balloon once the reality of the Pilgrim's abandonment had set in.

Without warning, Tobias toppled off his chair and fell to the ground in a heap, his body thudding unceremoniously against the stone cold floor.

"Tobias?" Anna pressed against the bars of the interrogation room as close as she could get to the motionless prisoner, and to her horror, she saw that a small blade handle was sticking out of his neck. The knife had found its mark in the left side of his neck. But where did it come from? She moved to align herself with the window at the right side of the interrogation room which was on the prisoner's side, and squinted her eyes.

There, standing on a narrow ledge opposite the building where the interrogation room was located, Prometheus lingered, and Anna caught his eye.

"We have a problem!" Anna burst out the door.

"What?" Kristoff, Maui and Frederick filed into the room hurriedly.

"Prometheus! He murdered Tobias!"

"Huh?" Maui stared at the lifeless body of the ex-Chancellor and noticed the blade sticking out of his neck.

Anna gestured at the window frantically. "Out there on the ledge opposite this building! He's in Stillcreek!"