Convergence

It was evening, and as Heinrick sat in his room preparing for the night, he heard a whack-whack-whack at the door to his balcony. He worked his way to his feet – whack-whack-whack, it came again – and shuffled to the door, opened it, and – was practically attacked by a very agitated Lotus. "Lotus!" he said loudly, trying to protect his face from the flapping wings. Lotus grabbed him by the night shirt and nearly towed him off the balcony. "LOTUS!" he shouted. The bird flew off the balcony, made a quick circle, and came at him again. "Lotus, I get it, I get it!" he begged. "Elsa is in trouble! I'll prepare to come as quickly as I can!" With that, Lotus flew off the balcony again and perched on one of the castle's lower spires, cocking his head as if to make sure Heinrick was serious.

Heinrick stuck his head out into the hallway and called for the nearest servant, whom he sent with urgency for the butler. "And please call Victor and ask him to come to my room immediately," he added. The butler arrived first. "Please begin preparations for my personal guard and a regimen of mounted cavalry to scramble in the castle courtyard immediately." The butler looked at him quizzically. "And don't tell my father," he added.

Victor arrived. "What's this about?" he asked.

"Elsa's in trouble," he said as he stripped off his shirt.

"How do you know?"

"A little birdie told me." He gestured toward the doors leading to the balcony, where Lotus had changed his perch to the railing beyond.

"You're going there?"

"Yes."

"Heinrick, you haven't been on a horse in five years!" Victor exclaimed, "let alone in battle! Serving in the navy doesn't count!"

"Come with me," he said with determination.

Victor's jaw dropped. "What? Have you lost your mind? Let me help you get a grip –" he began counting on his fingers: "– you haven't been on a horse, crossing the border with a mounted cavalry task force is an act of war, we're not supposed to be out of the country at the same time, if Falster doesn't kill us father will -" Heinrick began pulling on a short gossamer silver vest. "What's that?" Victor asked incredulously.

Heinrick looked at him with a wry smile as he pulled his on normal shirt over the silver one. Then stood up and walked – normally – to where his sword belt hung on a decorative stand in the corner. He picked it up and blew off the dust.

"What in heaven's name….?" Victor exclaimed. "Is – is that from her?"

"Yes and no. I'll tell you on the way," he smiled. He clapped Victor on the shoulder and walked out of the room, leaving an utterly bewildered brother in his wake.

Down in the courtyard there were shocked gasps as Heinrick walked normally from the castle door. The men were still assembling; the sergeant looking as mystified as the rest of them. Heinrick walked to where a servant was holding a horse next to the sergeant. He swung himself onto the saddle. "Men, this is not a drill. Queen Elsa of Arendelle left here for Falster several days ago to seek peace between us and our neighbors. Something has gone wrong and I intend to do what I can to help her. We ride for the Falster capital as fast as we can get there. I don't know what awaits us, but I do know that she deserves the same willingness to put our lives on the line for her as she has shown for us. Our advantage is speed and surprise. We leave in ten minutes." As the men continued to scramble, Heinrick maneuvered his horse back and forth, getting back some of the feel for it. Remarkable, he thought. The ten minutes passed quickly, and as they were about to head for the gate, Victor rode up on his mount. The brothers smiled at each other and clasped hands in a warriors' salute.

"I never thought I'd see the day," Victor said.

Heinrick looked up to where Lotus sat perched atop the castle gate. "Lead on, guardian!"

King Reginald looked down from his balcony as the band of men rode off. "Godspeed…" he whispered.

Anna was in mid-sentence with Kristoff, sharing her lament about the most recent privy council meeting and her state of panic about not having heard from Elsa, when a shadow passed over the window, followed by a deep thud that shook the whole castle. In the hall they could hear the exclamations of staff workers. They turned to look out the bay windows just in time to see a gigantic blue eye peering in at them. Anna yelped and jumped behind Kristoff. As the head of the creature swung away from their window, they saw its profile: a silver and white dragon with a cowl of icicles behind its head and a neat row of menacing icy teeth.

"Uh… one of Elsa's creations?" Kristoff posited.

"I believe Elsa called him 'Enceladus' in her letter," said a wide-eyed Anna. "We'd better go see what's going on." She grabbed Kristoff by the arm and began dragging him at a run.

"Just don't throw a snowball at this one, okay, feisty-pants?" he said as he followed her.

The people of Arendelle were used to seeing some unusual things from their queen, but sometimes the scale of surprises was beyond their ability to take in. It was pandemonium in the courtyard. There was barely room for the dragon to land; certainly not enough for it to take wing, or even to turn in place. "Enceladus?" Anna called, emerging from the castle. Her call disappeared into the din, but the dragon still spotted her immediately. When it saw her, it arched its head around and then slowly reached out with one of its wing talons – which was longer than Anna was tall – to touch her on the chest. Anna stepped back from the pointy tip with a stunned look on her face. Then it gave a rumble like thunder and hopped over the chapel into the bay on the other side of the castle wall, throwing water up high in the air – some of the spray even reached to where Anna and Kristoff were standing. All the ships in the harbor bobbed and creaked like toys. The dragon looked back into the courtyard and then lowered an extended wing over the wall to the ground at Anna's feet. "What do I do?" Anna hissed loudly over her shoulder to Kristoff.

"I believe he's inviting you to ride," said Kristoff with an eager smile.

"This is a little different from riding a reindeer or jumping off a cliff!" she said in reply.

"Just hold up; I'm coming too, and we're going to need a few things." Kristoff ran into the adjacent stable where he gave Sven a quick pat and "don't be jealous, buddy – you're always first in my heart", then he grabbed some ropes and ice hooks.

"Hurry up!" Anna shouted. "Oh, Kai?" she said to a wide-eyed Kai who was standing at the castle door, "please tell bishop Norgaard that I'm sorry, and I know I'm not supposed to leave the kingdom while Elsa's gone, but this dragon kind of trumps things, and I leave him in charge until one of us gets back. OK?" She gave an innocent smile as he nodded blankly.

Kristoff rejoined her. "Here; I've a feeling we're going to need these." He handed her a pair of horse riding goggles and a heavy scarf and cloak. His goggles were already dangling around his neck. Anna put hers in place, took Kristoff's free hand, and stepped onto the dragon's wing.

"You'd better be Elsa's!" she warned it. The two walked the length of its wing, up to its back. There, Kristoff twisted each of the ice hooks between two of its shimmering scales (if it hurt, the dragon didn't show it), one to his right and the other to his left, and then fastened the ropes across the hooks and to them, with Anna riding in front.

"Are we ready?" she asked.

"Uh.."

"We're ready!" she shouted to the dragon. The dragon carefully extended both wings fully. Anna and Kristoff screamed/shouted as it suddenly sprang from the water into the air and began its first massive downbeats. Had they been watching, they would have seen anything smaller than a wagon being blown around the town…

Heinrick, Victor, and their men reached Meridian by the middle of the night. They woke the cavalry barracks there and exchanged horses, then pressed on. They reached Balkirck an hour before dawn, where the mayor and troops were very surprised to see them. While they were changing horses, Heinrick searched the sky for Lotus. He finally spotted him flying high, back and forth, along the border.

"What is he doing?" Victor asked.

"I believe he's scouting," said Heinrick. As the men were mounting up, Heinrick addressed them. "Men, you've ridden well and I know it has been a long night, but we must press on for the Falster capital. From here on, we travel at the peril of our lives. Mind the bird. He is our guardian angel. Trust him." As he was saying this, Lotus coasted in and landed on Heinrick's arm. "Lead the way, guardian," he said. To his surprise, instead of leading them toward the border, Lotus flew eastward out of the city, along a trail that paralleled the border. Heinrick turned back to his men. "Let us travel as quietly as possible. No talking. Away!" He turned his horse and followed Lotus out of the city.

They followed the path two abreast for several miles; then Lotus turned south. It was barely a cow path at this point. The men separated to single file and followed Heinrick into the Falster forest. Dawn was upon them, giving just enough light to see by. Heinrick scanned the sky whenever there was enough of a break in the trees to do so. They continued to follow the cow path until it opened onto a dirt wagon trail. There they once again paired up. Lotus was once again flying very high. He eventually circled back lower, and then abruptly dove into the trees like a peregrine hunting a rabbit. Heinrick signaled his men to stop. Soon enough they heard shouts in the distance. Lotus appeared above the tree line and then dove again. This time he emerged carrying something in his claws. Was it a quiver? several arrows flew up after him. Lotus dropped his catch and arrows spilled as it fell. Heinrick and Victor exchanged a glance. "How many do you figure?" Heinrick whispered.

Victor contemplated. "Fifteen," he said. "Very distracted." They smiled. They charged as quietly as they could as Lotus continued his dive bombing, and when they came upon the disorganized camp, the Falster soldiers were more shocked to see them than they had been to see the phantom bird. They cut their way through adeptly, taking out the archers and grabbing the reigns of the men's horses as they sped past. The men didn't know what had hit them. They pressed onward, releasing the horses when they were far enough away from the Falster camp to prevent anyone from following them. Victor came alongside Heinrick shaking his head as he marveled. "Give me an army of those birds!" he said. "He's as intelligent as any soldier I've ever had the privilege of fighting alongside!" Heinrick glanced over his shoulder and he could see a similar look of satisfaction and boosted confidence from the men following.

The journey to the capital continued in much the same fashion. Sometimes Lotus led them along the road, and there they focused on making good time; then he would lead them deep into the trees where they would proceed quietly and cautiously. He brought them through several more skirmishes where in each case the Falster soldiers were in utter confusion as their attempts to repel the phantom bird seemed to accomplish nothing. By mid-day Lotus returned them to the road. It seemed that the military presence was behind them.

It was business as usual in the Falster throne room until a great shadow passed briefly over all the windows. Everyone looked at one another curiously. Then came a deep thud that shook the castle.

"Valsson, go see what that's about," Terrence ordered impatiently. The men waited in silence as the man bowed, opened the door, and left the room. Terrence scowled as a second man followed him out before the door closed fully. "...incontinence..." he muttered. "As I was saying, gentlemen, what I was proposing is that we stop picking around and begin the invasion. The queen of Arendelle" – at this point he looked at the trophy orb that was mounted on a pedestal at the far side of the throne room – "has obviously come to us via Mittergaard – most likely Cliffs' View – so king Reginald will be awaiting news. With our navy locked up, the best way to free them is to get there, take the castle quickly, and begin chopping up that ice. We're –"

Terence's words were interrupted by a deafening roar from behind the throne, right outside the throne room windows. All the windows shattered. Terrence, his hands over his ears, stared in disbelief as glass flew past him on every side, the larger chunks taking down some of his men immediately. The remaining men in the room ran for the door, but they didn't make it – debris began to fall from above as the top of the castle was ripped off. Loose stones rained down and sunlight poured through, illuminating the clouds of dust and making visibility impossible. A taloned wing joint slammed down onto the stone throne, crushing it and its occupant. The dragon leaned into the opened room, turned his great head sideways, and with his mouth gently plucked Elsa's orb from its resting place.

The castle grounds were abandoned, save for Heinrick and Victor and their men, and Anna and Kristoff. Enceladus lumbered around from the back of the castle with the orb in his mouth and gently deposited it at their feet. "Elsa!" Anna shrieked. She ran over and put her hands on the orb, feeling the smooth surface for some feature while looking at Elsa within. "Oh, no no no – what have they done to you?"

Kristoff came over and also began feeling the orb. "This isn't ice," he said grimly. He stepped away purposefully.

"No, no, no, no –" Anna was whimpering.

Kristoff was back with one of the ice spikes in his hand. "Give me some space," he said. Anna and Heinrick stepped back. He swung with all his might and hit the orb firmly. He brushed where he'd hit and examined the effect. "It's barely scratched," he said. "This isn't a pick-ax, but even if it was, it would take me forever to get through this, and I don't know that she'd survive even if she's alive.

"We should take this to the trolls," said Heinrick. "They might know what to do."

While they were pondering grimly, Lotus fluttered to a landing atop the orb. His talons and underbelly were still stained red from the morning's battles. He stood there looking at Enceladus. Everyone got quiet. Lotus pecked at the orb. Enceladus rumbled. Then Lotus pecked at himself and flapped his wings. Enceladus swung his head away.

"What's going on?" Anna asked.

"I think … I think they're communicating," said Heinrick.

Lotus cocked his head at them and then slowly settled onto the orb like a hen on its eggs. He laid his head down onto it and closed his eyes. Then he gradually relaxed his wings and let them droop down to their full length on either side of it. It was a peculiar sight – a crystal clear orb with an immaculate serenely sleeping woman inside with platinum blonde hair and a radiant blue dress, and a white and silvery bird draped across the top like a decoration. Or a memorial. It was like something from a storybook or a dream. It was beautiful. It was moving. Everyone watched quietly.

"Lotus?" Anna finally asked. Lotus gathered himself up, cocked his head at them again, and then flew to where Enceladus was waiting with slightly open jaws. Lotus alighted onto Enceladus' lower teeth and turned himself about to face them. He closed his eyes. Then suddenly Enceladus snapped his jaws shut, crushing him to powder instantly. They gasped as the powdery snow gradually settled to the ground. "No!" Anna stepped forward in shock. Enceladus lowered his head to rest on the ground beside the powder with a mournful rumble.

They were so appalled that they didn't notice the faint glow beginning between Elsa's folded hands until it suddenly radiated outward in a pale blue shock wave, shattering the orb and blasting them all with slushy sparks, and dumping Elsa to the ground. She lay there limp and sodden, like a jellyfish washed up on the beach.

"Elsa!" Anna cried, and quickly knelt beside her. Heinrick knelt also and cradled her head in his hands.

Kristoff put his head against her chest. "She's alive!" he said.

"Thank goodness," Anna breathed.

Elsa's eyes fluttered open just slightly. They were pleading. "L – Lotus…?" she stammered in barely a whisper.

Heinrick and Anna exchanged glances. "I'm sorry," said Heinrick grimly. "He's gone."

Elsa squeezed her eyes back shut. It was getting rapidly colder and flakes of snow began to fall. After a long moment, the sobs came, ugly and wrenching, unreserved, with a sound Anna had never heard from Elsa's mouth, but which conjured from her memory her own weeping upon news of the loss of their parents at sea. Those memories, and her sadness at seeing her sister this way, brought her to crying as well. Not knowing what else to do, she laid on the ground behind Elsa, wrapped her arm around her, and cuddled her as best she could as they both cried. "Oh Elsa," Anna whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Heinrick and Kristoff stood and met each other's eyes. They both had tears to wipe away as well. They took a few steps away to give the sisters a respectful distance. "He knew it would wake her," Heinrick said. "He was saying goodbye."

Kristoff shook his head in amazement.

It was snowing.

Heinrick noticed that some people had started to gather while keeping a safe distance from the dragon. He looked at Kristoff and then walked over to them. "Is the mayor among you?" he asked.

"Yes, an older man with thick greying hair and a matching mustache answered. "I'm mayor Henry Thadeus." He came forward and approached Heinrick.

"I'm prince Heinrick of Mittergaard. I know what you're seeing is frightful, but we aren't here to conquer. The one on the ground over there is the queen of Arendelle, an ally to both our countries." At this revelation a low murmur began among the other bystanders. "She traveled here a week ago to see if she could end this conflict and reestablish peace. When she did not return, we came seeking her safety." He looked back to where she and Anna were laying on the ground. "She has endured much in pursuit of peace. Although she is alive, even now I don't know what state she is in." He looked over the bystanders. "Be it known to you this day that she has endured these things for you – for your husbands and your sons – to prevent further bloodshed. I pray that it is sufficient." To the mayor he said, "please prepare messengers to send throughout the kingdom. Unless someone knows the whereabouts of king Horatio Falster or his son, I fear you will have to choose a new leader."

"Mayor?" Kristoff asked as they turned to rejoin the others.

"Yes," Heinrick answered. "We have both lords and mayors down here. The mayors are representatives of the people, whom they choose. It's intended to keep every petty squabble from coming to the castle doors."

Hermod and Valsson were standing at the castle door. Valsson was nearly as white as Enceladus, having escaped death in the throne room by a stroke of luck. Hermod approached Heinrick and Kristoff and cleared his throat. "Sirs, if it would not be inappropriate, the queen could be moved to a room in the castle. It would be our privilege to care for her." Heinrick and Kristoff exchanged a glance and a nod. The men waited patiently until Elsa had cried herself to exhaustion. Anna was still lying behind her, gently stroking her hair.

"Your highness," Heinrick said to Anna. We'd like to move her into the castle. Anna looked back and forth from Heinrick to Kristoff to Hermod, and then ultimately nodded as she wiped her eyes. Heinrick knelt down and carefully scooped Elsa off the ground. Then he followed Hermod into the castle. Hermod led them into a luxurious room where Heinrick laid Elsa onto the spotless bed. An older maid appeared with a bowl of warm water and a wash rag and began to clean the dirt off Elsa's face.

"So how did you get here?" Heinrick asked Anna.

Anna sat on a chair next to Elsa, holding her hand. It was cold and clammy. "Dragon flight," she answered with a wry grin, without taking her eyes off Elsa. "How about you?"

"I think Lotus would have dragged me here personally if I hadn't told him I'd come. With his help, we cut our way through from the Mittergaard capital."

"Thank you," said Anna.

Heinrick left the room quietly and rejoined Victor, Kristoff, and Hermod.

"How is she?" Kristoff asked.

"Asleep," he answered.

After a moment's silence Hermod said, "If I may say, it is a … relief … to be free of that man."

"How did it happen?" Heinrick asked.

"There were those who were partial to his cause. He swept in with them in the middle of the night. All non-essential staff were … 'removed.' I was retained for continuity and appearances, but under heavy threat of my life. When morning came there was still a Falster on the throne. The plan was to let the change come out gradually, in the guise of a natural power transition."

"So you know with certainty that king Horatio is dead?"

"Yes," he said sadly. "Queen Sienna as well, and the crown prince and his wife." He sniffed. "They're all dead. All of them. Everyone I used to work with." He was gritting his teeth and blinking back tears.

"I'm sorry for what you've been through," Heinrick said gravely. He could tell that Hermod wanted to say more, but that he was biting his lower lip to keep from completely breaking down. "Can our men put up in the castle for the time being?"

"Yes – yes, of course," he stammered.

Were it not for Enceladus in the courtyard, Heinrick would have worried about Falster soldiers catching up with them from the day's ride. He could certainly see how it would appear that a Mittergaard task force had seized the castle and committed regicide. The truth would come out, but he needed to not be dead before it happened. Right now, though, it was time for him and his men to get some much needed sleep. They had been running for 24 hours. Were it not for Lotus, Many of them would be dead, if they had succeeded at all.