Hans looked suspiciously at his cellmate.
"What've you done to me? What's that?"
"Take it easy, little prince," that old prisoner answered with some derision as he returned to his cot. "Nothing. Just as I expected of you."
"What're you talking about? Hans grew impatient. He didn't like the feeling of being mocked. "What's that thing?"
"This thing is your salvation."
"What?"
"As long as you help me get out of this dump, of course."
The boy calmed down a bit and sat face to face with the old man who was looking at him with a malicious smile and hope in his eyes.
"I'm all ears," he said piercing him with his gaze. Hope was beginning to be mutual.
"I like that, kiddo. This is the seal of fire. I stole it decades ago from a lovely hermit who was guarding it. He took care of me after finding me lost and hungry in the forest. I spent a few days in charge of him and gained his trust. It was he who told me that no one knew where it had come from or who had created it, but that the mere touch of this seal with the skin of a living being, set his heart on fire in a matter of minutes."
"Pff… how ridiculous…" Hans said at the story of the old man. "You've seen that I am still alive and healthy…"
"Indeed. That's what I like about you.
"Back then, I was young and stupid like you and I didn't believe him.
"One night, tired of the pilgrim's rhythm, I decided it was time to leave on my own. The stars were shining and orienting myself wouldn't be a problem; soon I would find some small town in which to take advantage of my theatrical gifts to earn a living at the expense of some candid soul with more possibilities than those of the hermit. But, after looting all his provisions, just before running away, I remembered that tale of the fire seal. I couldn't leave without proving that it was just a silly legend and I tried it on the face of the man who took care of me while he slept in our tent. And, well, he didn't guard anything anymore. He awoke to the sudden heat and looked at me with resignation and the pain of dirty betrayal in his eyes. I still remember his last words: 'A heart incapable of feeling the heat like yours will never have the honor of succumbing to flames.' Then he just turned into a ball of fire.
"From how fast he burned, he must be a very good man, no doubt."
"Are you trying to tell me that my heart is as rotten as yours?" Hans asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Exactly! Rotten enough to freeze even the flames of this seal."
Hans was not exactly flattered, but made a quick tour of mind for his actions so far and could not deny the evidence.
"All right. And what good is this to me apart from not being dead right now?"
"You are privileged here, brat. If I pretend I'm sick, no guards will come near me. They'll just let me die and wait to get my lifeless remains out of here when I start to smell dead. But you, prisoner or not, are the son of royalty. If you get sick, they will come to treat you. And you and I know that those guards are not clean wheat, but they are not so miserable that the seal doesn't affect them.
"If you help me escape with you and live my last years in freedom, I'll give you the seal. I no longer want it at all; I just want to stop seeing these four walls and your sideburns before disappearing from this world."
Hans was thoughtful for a few seconds. Then he got up and offered his hand to the older.
"Deal."
...
The road to the castle seemed eternal, but in the end, he was there in front of those gates, finally ready to talk with Anna.
"Kristoff?"
The boy immediately recognized the voice of his snow friend.
"Olaf! I am so sorry. I think I messed it hardly. I'm going to talk with Anna and…"
"She's not with you?" the snowman asked puzzled.
"Elsa? No. She's decided to return to the forest."
"No! Anna! She's not with you?"
"Anna? Why would she? She is not in her room?"
"Ou…" Olaf said distressed.
"Olaf! What happened?!"
"This morning she left her room straight into the woods. She told me she was looking for you. She's been asked to take an escort, but she has refused. She said that it was something she should do herself."
"Shit!" Kristoff exclaimed in an almost choked voice at the thought of Anna lost in the woods. What if she was hurt? What if she ran into the wolves again? "I'm going to find her!"
"Sir Kristoff! Good to see you!"
Kai appeared behind him a little hectic.
"Same here Kai, but now I have no time. Sorry."
"I'm afraid I can't let you go yet."
"Kai, it's an emergency. Anna…" Kristoff was desperate to run after her.
"This is also it. We have received an urgent letter from the Southern Islands."
"From the… And what do you want me to do, Kai?"
"The queen is not in the palace, neither is Madame Elsa, and the main advisers are in the middle of a diplomatic trip through the eastern kingdoms. You are the only trusted man they have here, and I personally think that, as the future King of Arendelle, you should be the one to open it."
"Me?" Kai nodded and handed him the letter. "I…" In a normal situation, Kristoff would have refused, but now the main thing was to expedite that to run in search of Anna. "Ok."
He took the paper, broke the seal, and unfolded the missive with visible urgency. Then he began to mumble almost imperceptibly the words he was reading.
'To Her Majesty Queen Anna of Arendelle.
I, King Ake of the Southern Isles, write to you personally to inform you that your life might be in danger.'
"What?!" At this point, Kristoff was already devouring words trying to see where this was going at.
'I regret to inform you that my last son, prisoner Hans, has escaped and, according to his cellmate whom he appears to have tricked with the promise of helping him escape with him, he is armed with powerful magic that he presumably wants to download against you or your sister. We do not know what that magic is about, but we have lost many of our people engulfed in flames facing it.
If my calculations are relatively accurate, by the time this letter reaches your hands, he may already be hiding in your kingdom, waiting for his chance.
I recommend extreme precautions.
Waiting for your good and that this setback does not influence negatively our cordial relationship, salute
King Ake Westergaard of the Southern Isles.'
For a few seconds, Kristoff's blood ran cold. His mind was blank. The least he cared about now were the wolves. Finally, a gentle touch of attention from Sven's head made him react.
"Kai, get the whole guard ready! Hans could be close! And be very careful, apparently, he has gotten some kind of magic that sets the receptor on fire."
"Immediately!"
Kai almost flew off to carry out Kristoff's orders. Staff member or not, he had watched the two sisters grow up and loved them almost like her own daughters.
"Olaf!" Kristoff continued organizing. "You already can write, right?"
"Yeah…" the snowman answered clearly worried.
"Ok. Then write two letters to Elsa explaining what happened and leave one of them in a closed bottle in the fjord, and tries to deliver the other to Gale. Hopefully, one of the two spirits will come and bring it to Elsa. We need her to be warned and we may need her help."
"Count on it."
Kristoff nodded. "I'm counting on you. Sven and I are going to look for Anna."
Olaf ran to the castle to find what he needed for the letters and Sven and Kristoff turned and ran back into the mountains without even letting go of the sled.
"C'mon, buddy. We can't fail her. I don't want to fail her…"