The Hallowed Queen
Chapter 2.
Footsteps could be heard running down the hallway, three of the castle guards turned the corner into Elsa's room. "Your majesty, what on earth? Before them was Queen Elsa herself, stunned and looking like she might pass out. Princess Anna, wide eyed and looking scared beyond reason just keep on repeating, "oh no." But in the center of the room, screaming in pain, lay the two guards of the duke of Weselton with their weapons laying close by on the floor.
The guards took no time at all. "Your Majesty, Your Highness, please come with us." Not putting up a fight, Elsa and Anna both decided that with the gravity of what just happened, it was ok to listen and just do what they were told. Both Elsa and her sister followed the one guard away from the room.
The two remaining guards went and got some stretchers and returned to collect the men. "Alright boys get up!" shouted John the lead guard. "Get the hell up now." He shouted again.
"We can't." Mumbled the one of the Dukes men. "That demon of a Queen you have broke our legs clean in half."
John noticed that their feet were no longer at an angle that should be possible. How could two fairly large, strong men be taken down like this?
"Elsa, can you please just listen to me!" Anna yelled at her sister. The two girls, now in Anna's room were still trying to process what had just happened and tensions were high. Anna, in her wildest dreams would never have imagined that this is how her day was going to go. Just moments ago she was getting her sister to agree to open up the gates. Things were going really good until the Duke and his men….
Oh god the Duke, Anna thought.
The last thing Anna saw before squinting her eyes and waiting for the prick of one of the Duke's poisoned darts to hit her, was the Duke transforming in an explosion of bright blue sparks, into a small little frog.
How could her Sister be capable of that? The ice was one thing, reading minds…. big deal. But turning people into frogs. That was something out of the fairy tale books she read as a small girl.
She started to realize the power Elsa was living with and trying to control. "Elsa?" Anna lightly tried to connect. "Elsa, it will be ok, I know it will." Elsa just kept looking at the floor, still clearly in shock. "Elsa." Anna took a deep breath. "I know with what just happened in there, that it must feel like the world has ended, but we need to start fixing this and getting control of the situation."
Elsa suddenly lifted her head and looked at her. "Anna! Anna, I froze our kingdom. Who knows if everyone survived that? Then I acted selfishly and closed the gates on you and your friends, friends that did everything to help you, help us. Then I somehow turned a man into a Frog with these stupid powers I have, powers which I hardly know how to control. I broke those men's legs like a monster. Anna, I should be the one being dragged into the dungeons." Elsa shouted well starting to look as if she was about to have a nervous breakdown.
Anna slid closer to her sister and put am arm around her shoulders. She noticed that Elsa's body felt cool to the touch, not ice cold, more like a refreshing cool. She also noticed a feeling of power emanating from her body, Anna thought that was kind of awesome.
"Elsa you saved me; Id be lying on your carpet with a dart in me right about now. You had no other choice. If the Duke and his stupid men didn't just invade your bedroom, none of this would have happened. Sure the Duke turned into a frog, and his dumb guards got their legs snapped, but that's kinda what happens when you attack the sister of a Goddess." Anna giggled a little, and Elsa's face started to construct what looked like the beginning of a small smile.
"Anna, you don't understand. If I wasn't what ever it is I am, the Duke and his men would not have tried to attack us. I'm responsible for all of this." Elsa said well looking at her sister. "I think I just need some rest and ill do my best to figure all of this out tomorrow."
Anna wasn't happy with the result, but she knew it was probably the best possible outcome of this evening's events. "Well I'm not going to let you go back to your room tonight Elsa, not after the attack that just happened there." Anna sternly said. "You can sleep here in my room with me, kind of like old times." Anna was very worried about asking the last part and made sure to add a light chuckle at the end of it to lighten the mood. Would Elsa accept her offer to spend the night in her room. Too soon Anna thought. However as she was starting to hate herself for even suggesting this, her sister started to lie down on the bed.
"I think that would be the best." Elsa agreed.
Elsa put her head on the pillow and almost instantly drifted off to sleep. Anna finally was able to relax for a min. Looking over at her sister a wave of excitement came over her body. Anna was overjoyed to be spending time with her sister, her BIG SISTER. Finally after a decade of being separated she was finally able to just be with her sister who was not hiding behind any doors. But oh man, theirs just so much to unpack here, Anna thought.
Anna could not help but notice how adorable Elsa looked. "Wow she's beautiful." Anna silently said out loud to no one in particular. Finally after a few minutes of staring at her sleeping sister, she also rested her head on a pillow and began to think.
The smile which was gracing Anna's face slowly vanished as she started to think about Weselton and its men. How would they explain the whole event that took place in Elsa's room? These men were cold blooded killers, but they were also citizens of a different kingdom, one that had an extraordinarily strong military.
Then just like that, a thought entered her mind. That military's leader is, at the moment, hopping around the castle somewhere. OH GOD THE DUKE! Thinking about how she could be so stupid and forgetting that the Duke was somewhere in the castle bouncing around made her heart almost stop. Immediately she crawled out of bed and silently went over to the door and out into the hallway.
Retracing the path to Elsa room through the dimly lit hallways, she scanned the floor for any sign of the Duke. Anna reached Elsa's door and slowly opened it. The door gave way to a dark room with only the light of the moon to illuminate it. It looks like the castle staff did a good job cleaning the room, the bed was made, and there was no sign of the action that took place in here just a few hours before. "I hope they didn't happen to clean up a frog." Anna said to herself.
Just as she was about to head back into the hallway, she heard something jumping into the glass on Elsa big bay window. She walked over to it and sure enough, she found a small frog trying to jump outside but not figuring out that there was a pane of glass standing in its way.
Not wanting to touch it and being grossed out that this frog was more then likely the Duke of Weselton, she grabbed a box lying around. After emptying the contents onto Elsa's bed, Anna scooped the frog into the box and secured it for morning. "Common Duke get in there" she said. Although she was quite sure this frog could not understand her, or even remember that it was the Duke. Anna however, was sure the frog gave her the evil eye just before she closed the lid.
Elsa was the first to open her eyes. It took her a few moments to realize that she was sleeping across from her sister in Annas bedroom, her old bedroom. For a brief moment she forgot about all of her current problems and just relished the wave of nostalgia that washed over her. She looked across the room to the spot where her old bed and dresser used to sit. What she would give to be able to go back and change things. It made her happy to see her sister peacefully sleeping, but she decided she needed to go and see how bad the fall out was, and start to figure things out.
About an hour later Anna opened her eyes and noticed that Elsa was no longer in bed. She jumped up, quickly got ready and went looking for her sister. It did not take long to track her down. Elsa looks to have gathered a few of her advisors in the meeting room and were discussing what needed to be done. Perched on a chair at the head of the table was her big sister looking deadly serious and not happy. Anna decided to wait around the corner where she could not be seen and listen in.
Peterson, one of the older advisors decided to break the silence and just go for it. "What in gods name happened these last few days your majesty? I think we of all people in this room have a right to know. One minute we are all enjoying the festivities at your coronation, and the next we were buried to our necks with snow."
Peterson was confident and threating. With every question he was asking he was gaining confidence. Elsa's silence was all Peterson needed to keep going and up the anti. Anna who was standing around the corner started to worry about her sister. Its not fair she thought, these advisors were chewing her up over the actions of the last few days. It was clear that Elsa was not respected, Anna was about to jump into the room and come to her sister's defence when….
"Lord Peterson." Elsa started. "I do agree that the events of the last few days were not expected and quite the shock for all of us."
"Events" Peterson shot back in disbelief. "You can sit her and call what just happened a event. I'm sorry your majesty but our definition of what an event is slightly differ.
Elsa just locked eyes on Lord Peterson. The truth was that this man was really starting to annoy her.
"Lord Peterson, I'm going to respectfully have to ask you to keep your mouth shut for the remainder of this meeting. This meeting is to help us all come to a solution and start fixing the problems that I agree, I had a leading roll in creating. You however, seem to just want to keep reminding me that all of this is my fault." Elsa took a deep breath to try and control the anger that was beginning to really boil inside of her when Peterson responded with a huge laugh.
"Elsa, stop pretending to be a responsible queen. Its clear to this whole council that you're a huge disappointment and I think we should all start talking about what we are going to be doing with you." Peterson calmly said. The rest of the council just stood there in shock, He called the Queen by her first name, nobody wanted to get in the middle of this.
"Lord Peterson, you have been asked by your queen to please stop talking, you were also told that I wanted to keep the discussion on the point of fixing the problems. You however have refused to listen and have gone as far as disrespecting the crown." Elsa took a sip of water before looking him in the eyes before continuing. "Peterson, I'm removing you from the council effective immediately. Guards, please take Lord Peterson to the other side of the gates and make sure to not let him back in."
Peterson had a look of disgust on his face, "Elsa, you can't do that. Between you and your idiotic sister who agreed to marry a man in a matter of a few hours, you need me to actually make sound decisions here."
Elsa stood up out of her chair "GET OUT NOW!" She shouted.
Peterson still did not take the situation seriously and just sat there with an amused look on his face. "I'm not doing any such thing dear."
With that final proclamation, Elsa had had enough. "Peterson I'm warning you. Get the fuck out of my castle!" Elsa shouted as her fist hit the table. All the other council members started to back off as they could see Elsa eyes starting to glow a rich blue, and her whole body started to spark with some sort of energy.
Peterson saw this and finally started to realize that this was rapidly becoming more serious than he first thought. However before he could get up, Elsa blasted a ball of energy at his chair. The chair splintered off into thousands of pieces of shrapnel and debris. Peterson fell on his back, the fear now fully in effect.
Before anything else could be said, Peterson ran for the door. He was gathered up by the guards and its was assumed that he was removed from the castle property.
The rest of the council just sat there, frozen. Elsa finally spoke. "I think this meeting is over. Oh, and if anyone else in this room feels the same way as Lord Peterson did, I highly suggest that you resign and follow him out to the other side of the gates. I want to make something extremely clear. If anyone else here ever talk about my sister like that again, call her a wreck, or unfit, or anything negative, I can promise you one thing." Suddenly Elsa's eyes began to glow a dark blue again. Wind and snow began to whip around the room when Elsa who now looked absolutely frightening continued speaking. "I can promise you that what I do will be a legend that Parents tell their children before bed to make sure they always act respectful. Do I make myself clear?"
Every council member all started nodding their heads as fast as they all could.
"That's very good news." Elsa stated and the wind and snow instantly dissipated. "This meeting is over. I suggest that all of you do what you are paid to do and fix the issues that my untimely winter may have caused. Make the issues that the last 3 days may have caused disappear so we can all get back to ruling over our country and getting on with our lives." With that Elsa got up and started to make her way to the exit of the room.
The council members just sat there absolutely stunned, nobody knew exactly what to do with their new queen who seemed to be able to destroy chairs and make it snow at will. They all agreed that the best course of action was to avoid making fun of Anna, and actually try fixing the issues in the kingdom as fast as possible.
A while later well sitting on her bed, Elsa knocked on her door and asked to come in. "yes, of course you can come in." Anna said with a little shake in her voice.
"Anna, I know you were just around the corner from the room and that you overheard everything." Elsa said.
"Ah, how did you know that? But yes I did hear what that jerk Peterson said and I'm sure after what you did he might never talk again." Anna said well still looking a little rattled from what she witnessed.
"I don't know how I knew you were there Anna, but I just do. And its maybe that's a good thing then that Peterson doesn't talk again, because I've yet to hear anything decent come out of him." Elsa said.
"after you left I overheard everyone wondering where the Duke has gone and mentioning how his guards were attacked." Anna expressed.
"I honestly don't know what to do about that Anna. This could make Arendelle look like a blood thirsty nation and cause a revolt from Weselton and its allies."
"Well about that." Anna started. "Last night after you fell asleep I may have gone looking for the Duke and found him hopping around in your room."
"Really!" Elsa asked, looking excited.
"Yes, Really! "He's over there on the table in that box." Anna said well pointing to the table. "I was thinking maybe we should release him outside because I'm kind of getting all weirded out by having him inside the castle with us."
"I couldn't agree more about the being with us in the castle part, but Anna we can't let him go. I think I need to try and turn him back." Elsa said secretly hoping Anna would agree.
"Ok, I agree but not in here. Let's at least do it downstairs in the library or something." Anna added.
A few moments later the two sisters found themselves in the library. The box containing the Duke frog was placed on a chair in front of them.
"Well its now or never." Anna said.
With that Elsa started to think of the frog sitting on the chair. She wasn't sure exactly how to do this but she figured that if she concentrated on the frog and thought of the Duke, maybe he would just return.
"Ok, here goes nothing."
The air felt absolutely electric and blue sparks started flying off Elsa's hands as well as around the frog. Suddenly with a blue flash the Duke of Weselton instantly reappeared on the chair. A moment later the sparks and blue energy subsided and everything went quiet.
"A- Are you ok?" Elsa carefully asked.
"Of course I'm ok, Queen Elsa, I certainly hope you and your fine sister are ok as well." The duke replied.
Both Elsa and Anna looked at each other, neither one sure what exactly was happening. The Duke was absolutely pleasant and respectful. It was the complete opposite of what the girls were expecting to have to deal with.
"Well I won't be troubling you to at the moment, I know how busy you must be having a whole kingdom to run. Please excuse me." With that the Duke got up from the chair, not noticing the box that he had been crushing underneath him.
"Well that was odd." Anna said, not really understanding what had just happened.
"I'm guessing that somehow my powers changed him. I'm not really sure how, but based on what I just saw, its definitely not the same guy that tried to kill us." Elsa stated.
"Well honestly Elsa, I don't really care. Hopefully, we get him on his ship and out of here as soon as possible."
This actually made Elsa laugh a little. Things were looking up a little bit. "Yeah, I totally agree."
That night Anna had a hard time sleeping. She was happy that she and Elsa made it through the day, and that the Duke was no longer a frog. But she could not overlook some of the insane displays of power she witnessed from her sister. The way she treated Peterson was as cold as Ice, she thought. That chair was made of solid Oak, and it blew apart like a horse cart going over a cliff. Truthfully, Anna had to admit to herself that she was a little scared of her sister, she was also scared of Elsa finding out. She also thought of Kristoff who was currently on the other side of the gate. Anna knew better then to ask Elsa to go see him, or to open the gates at this point.
Blowing out the candle on her nightstand, Anna just had to cling on to hope that somehow things would work out. At least she had her sister back in her life. With a little smile on her face, she shut her eyes and started to brace herself for whatever tomorrow would bring.