Ch.7: Winter during Summer

Elsa couldn't believe what she just did. She fired a blast of ice at Anna, but the dragon got in the way and protected her. She ran out of the room, but was followed by Anna and Hiccup.

Outside, Elsa was trying to escape when she accidentally froze the fountain.

"There She is! Stop her," The Duke Of Weaslton said about Elsa.

"Please, just stay away from me." Elsa begged before accidentally firing at the steps causing the duke and his guards to slip.

The duke got up and looked at Elsa. "Monster. Monster," He stated as the citizens got afraid and Elsa kept running.

"That actually explains why she shut you down all those years," said Hiccup and Anna nodded.

They made their way back when they noticed that it has to snow.

"It's snowing! The queen has cursed this land! She must be stopped! You have to go after her," he told his guards.

"Wait, no," Anna told them.

"You! Is there sorcery in you, too," Duke asked Anna.

"I'm completely ordinary. And my sister's not a monster," Anna stated to him.

"She nearly killed me," Duke informed her.

"You slipped on the ice," said Prince Hans as he exited the castle.

"Her ice," said Duke.

"It was an accident. She was scared. She didn't mean it, she didn't mean any of this. Tonight was my fault. I pushed her. So, I'm the one that needs to go after her," Anna told him.

"If you're going, then I'm coming with you," said Hiccup before calling for Toothless.

The Night Fury flew out of the castle and landed next to Hiccup, followed by Flameheart, startling the citizens. Hiccup got on the saddle and helped Anna up.

"Will you two be alright," asked Prince Hans.

"Don't worry. Toothless will keep us safe," said Hiccup and Anna nodded in agreement.

"I'm putting Prince Hans in charge until we get back," said Anna before turning to her dragon. "Flameheart, make sure everyone stays warm."

The Monstrous Nightmare nodded and set herself on fire before Toothless shot up to the sky.

Hiccup and Anna had some difficulty navigating through the snow, but Toothless used his echo location to fly through it.

"So, do you think you can talk to Elsa about what happened in Arendelle," Hiccup asked his girlfriend.

"Of course, I can. Besides, it's kind of my fault for causing her to freeze the summer. But it wouldn't have happened if she just told me her secret," said Anna when she noticed that they were slowing down. "Why are we flying slow?

Hiccup wondered that as well and looked at Toothless' tailfin only to see it frozen.

"The tailfin is frozen," said Hiccup before looking at Anna. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do," said Anna.

Hiccup grabbed her hand before standing up on the saddle and jumping in front of Toothless. Anna screamed the they were about to die, but Toothless dove after them, and wrapped them in his wings before hitting the snow below. The Night Fury opened his wings allowing Hiccup and Anna to stand up.

"That was totally insane," said Anna.

"Well, I had to think fast," said Hiccup as he inspected the tailfin. "Looks like we're walking from here."

"I don't mean to bother, but I'm getting a little cold," said Anna as she trembled from the cold.

Hiccup went up to her and hugged her tightly, trying to warm her up.

"We have to find somewhere we can warm up," said Hiccup.

They've been walking for a few miles and it's been a few hours and Anna's dress keeps getting caught in the snow.

"Snow. It had to be snow." Anna comments as they keep hiking through the snow. "She couldn't have had tropical magic that cover the fjords in white sand and warm-"

"Fire!" Hiccup interrupts Anna when she notices the smoke in the distance.

Before they could do anything, Anna slipped and was about to fall into the river below, but Toothless caught her with his tail.

"That was a close one," said Anna.

"Let's keep going," said Hiccup.

They keep walking and come across a small shop in the mountains that looks no bigger than a normal home. They noticed two sheds and Hiccup hid Toothless in one of them before following Anna up the stairs where she sees a sign and knocks the snow off of it.

"Wandering Oaken's trading post." Hiccup read.

Another small sign was attached and Anna read it. "Ooh, and sauna."

They then opened the door and entered the establishment and looked around what's here.

"Yoo-hoo," a voice called out and they turned to see who they believed was Oaken. "Big summer blowout. Half off swimming suits, clogs, and a sun balm of my own invention, yah," he told them while holding up a bottle of sun balm.

"That's nice, but we were hoping for something for winter," Hiccup explained to him.

"Yeah, like winter boots and dresses," Anna asked him.

"That would be in our winter department," Oaken said and looked towards the corner and they saw there's only an axe and rope with one pair of boots and a dress.

"You get what you need, I'll have a talk with him," Hiccup told Anna as she can barely walk as her dress froze up on the way here.

Hiccup walked over to the counter to talk to him.

"Say, Oaken, you wouldn't happen to have seen anyone else pass through here, like the queen perhaps," he asks Oaken.

"The only ones crazy enough to be out in this storm are you two, son," Oaken told them as Anna walked up to them when the door opened and someone came in drenched in snow.

"You two and the fellow," Oaken corrects himself. "Yoo-hoo, Big summer blowout," Oaken offered him as he did with them as the man approached them.

"Carrots," he said to Anna.

"Huh," she asked the man.

"Behind you," he told Anna and she saw she's blocking the carrots.

"Oh, excuse me," she said as he placed the carrots on the counter.

"Oh. A real howler in July, yes," Oaken asked the man. "Wherever could it be coming from?"

"The north mountain," he told them while he grabbed the pickaxe and rope.

"That will be 40," Oaken said regarding the price.

"40? No, it should be 10," the man says.

"Oh, that's no good," Oaken explained. "See, this is from our winter stock, where supply and demand have a big problem."

"You wanna talk about a supply and demand problem? I sell ice for a living," the man informed them while looking out to his sled and they saw it.

"Ooh. That's a rough business to be in right now," Anna said and got stares form both the man and Hiccup that got her to go quiet.

"Still 40, But you will throw in a visit to Oaken's sauna," he said and looked towards the sauna. "Yoo-hoo. Hi, family," he says to his family inside the sauna.

His family which seemed to be a few brothers, sisters and father waved back at them from the inside so Hiccup and Anna just waved back.

"Tens all I've got, help me out," he told Oaken.

"Okay. Ten will get you this and no more," Oaken told him as he removed the pickaxe and rope and left the carrots.

"Just tell us one thing. What was happening on the north mountain? Did it seem magical," Anna asked the man as he removed the scarf around his mouth.

"Yes," he told them and they knew that that's where Elsa most likely to be. "Now back up, while I deal with this crook, here," he stated when Oaken got up and revealed that he's actually taller than all of them.

"What did you call me," he asked upset to what the man called Oaken and carried him out before throwing him into the snow.

"Bye, bye," he said before walking back to the counter. "I'm sorry about this violence. I will add a quart of lutefisk, so we have good feelings," Oaken apologized to Hiccup and Anna. "Just the outfit and the boots, yeah," he asked them when Hiccup and Anna seemed to get the same idea. They know that they would need some navigation and that fellow looked like he knew the mountain well.

To be continued…

Hey, everyone. I'm back with a new chapter. I wanted to post it last week, but some personal stuff came up, so I hope you're not upset for the delay. Anyway, this is obviously the last chapter of the story for this year and the next one will be uploaded in the middle of January. So, have Happy Holidays and I'll see you all next time. Until then, have a nice day.

R&R