A/N: Hey folks! Since the last chapter was a tad small, I decided to upload this one as well. Some of you are getting warm with your theories about who's responsible and stuff, but I'm not naming names. Just know that all will soon be found (wink wink). Please enjoy this little tidbit, and I'll be back next week with another thrilling chapter.
Anna hadn't been witness to many magical displays, but even to a lay person like her, it seemed Alvar was in an entirely different echelon of power.
The man stood at the foot of Elsa's bed, his hands raised in a grand gesture before him as he uttered an incantation that Anna couldn't begin to understand.
"O spiritus lumen! Rogo vos, ut me adiuvet invenire principium in dolor id fuerit factum, et adiuva me, sanare vulnera, quod fuerit fecit!"
(Oh spirits of the light. I beseech you to help me find the source of the pain that has been wrought and help me heal the hurt that has been caused!)
But the words, whatever they were, caused a silvery blue light to glow from Elsa, its radiance illuminating the room in an otherworldly scene.
Alvar raised his hands higher still, palms pointing to the ceiling.
"O spiritus lumen! Rogo vos, ut me adiuvet invenire principium in dolor id fuerit factum, et adiuva me, sanare vulnera, quod fuerit fecit!"
The light pulsed erratically, growing and shrinking in size that Anna was left spellbound by the display.
Winds buffeted around the room, flowing under her travel cloak and rustling the frames on the wall. Furniture trembled, but the gust wasn't enough to cause much more damage.
Thankfully…
There was a startled rattling from the door, "Princess Anna! Are you okay?!"
Anna cursed under her breath. She didn't know if the spell was hard to maintain, but surely distractions couldn't be a good thing for Alvar right now. She looked to the man and found his eyes glowing with the same bluish glow that illuminated Elsa. He didn't seem to have heard the commotion.
"Yeah!" Anna called out over the din of the wind. "I'm fine, Kai. Don't worry…it's just a bit of wind."
Thankfully, the answer was sufficient. The noise died down.
Anna turned back to the display, but the faint light surrounding Elsa had grown dimmer and smaller. She watched with bated breath as the spell seemed to reach its conclusion, the light slowly dimming more and more until suddenly the glow just stopped.
With it died the wind, leaving crooked picture frames, ruffled carpets and a princess with a case of crazy hair in her sister's chamber.
"Did it work?" She turned to Alvar, but the sorcerer stood rooted to the floor, his eyes closed, his hands up as they had been before.
Several tense minutes later, Alvar finally opened his eyes and turned to her.
"Yes princess, I know what is wrong with your sister." He bowed his head. "She has been poisoned."
"Poisoned?!" Anna replied, her eyes darting to look at her sister. "But-but the physician said there was nothing she could do."
"And she was right, Your Highness." Alvar replied smoothly, "For this poisoning is not one of herbs, it is one of magic."
At Anna's incredulous look, he explained. "There are many sources of magic out in this world. Some, like your sister's, are benign. They reflect the elements and exist to bring balance to the natural world. Others, however, seek to destroy the natural order and bring about chaos and destruction."
"Dark magic." Anna whispered as she looked over at him.
The sorcerer nodded. "Indeed. Such dark magic has many uses. But more often than not, it seeks to torment benign magic users in an attempt to profit from their pain."
He gestured to a comatose Elsa. "Such is the case with your sister. Whatever she is suffering from is a result of a spell of dark magic, one that seeks to strip her of her powers and leave her with nothing."
Anna processed the information, but it seemed she had only more questions. "Who would do such a thing…and why?"
The man's face darkened with an expression Anna could not decipher. "I do not have the answers you seek, princess. But I do know that such dark magic can only have a stronghold on the victim if it is present in a magical talisman. One that the victim is often in the proximity of, so that the magic can do its work whenever they are near."
She swallowed, "And-and you think one of those things is around here somewhere?"
He nodded grimly. "Given the condition your sister is in, I dare say that this talisman that holds her hostage is close. Very close."
"In fact," he gestured before him, "I believe the answer to all your troubles is in this very room."
Perhaps the first thing people learned about Elsa was that she was a neat-freak.
Everything in its place and a place for everything.
It was something the queen always seemed to be saying, probably because Anna rammed through vases and suits of armor willy-nilly and left her laundry piles on her bedroom floor for so long that she could never tell what was clean and what needed washing, or probably because she always 'forgot' to return any accessories she borrowed from her older sibling because they inevitably went missing in her room.
But in any case, Elsa was practically the personification of that phrase.
So Anna couldn't help but chuckle at the realization that if Elsa were able to see the state of her room now, she'd have thrown a massive tantrum, complete with curses and insults that could make a sailor blush.
Because everything was a shambled mess.
Every drawer, cabinet or other synonymous storage container was turned inside out, the seemingly infinite stacks of papers strewn across the floor amongst an almost unhealthy amount of spare gloves – oh, Anna was so having a conversation about that with her sister later – and a smorgasbord of other surprisingly boring objects.
But no talisman… I think.
"How do we know what the talisman looks like?"
Alvar looked over at her, "I don't suppose you'll have trouble identifying it. It'll burn with the fury of a thousand suns. You certainly won't be able to pick it up with your bare hands."
Kristoff looked over from the vanity, "Wouldn't we have noticed something like that…oh I don't know…burning a darn hole in the wall? Or setting the room on fire?"
Alvar shook his head. "The heat is a metaphysical concept, felt only by organic beings. It would not be perceived as hot in an inorganic environment."
Kristoff scratched his head. "Right." He turned back to shuffle through the drawers.
Anna sighed and shoved the desk drawer closed with a bit more force than she'd intended. Hours of searching and they hadn't found a single clue.
She turned to Gerda, who was over at her sister's bookshelf, "Any luck?"
The woman merely shook her head before returning to check between the spaces.
It was with an exhausted sigh that Anna made her way to Elsa's side, the new information she'd learned only adding to her grief. She rested against the headboard, her eyes never leaving Elsa's face.
"Every time I think we'll get some answers, I only end up with more questions…." The princess sighed and bowed her head, "I just want to fix this."
Her hand hovered over Elsa's head as she wished to the heavens above that she could stroke her sister's hair; instead, she adjusted the pillow in a pathetic attempt of offering some comfort.
As she did so, the faint glint of a metallic object caught her eye.
"Huh…that's weird."
She reached beneath Elsa's pillow to remove whatever lay under and immediately drew back as a surging heat scalded her fingertips.
Anna jumped up, her eyes wide with realization. "Here! It's under her pillow!"
Everyone converged near the queen, with Alvar bending down to look at the object himself. "It appears you're right, princess."
When Gerda reached for it, he stopped her, "No. We cannot touch this with our bare hands." He produced a handkerchief and wrapped the object in it, only revealing the item once he's wrestled it free from under the pillow.
Ornate engraved fire symbols wrapped around the medallion, which burned a bright, almost blinging orange. Its light cast an ominous glow across their stunned faces.
"I've never seen anything like it." Kristoff whispered to nods of agreement from the others.
Alvar swallowed the words he had been about to say and nodded, "Well, yes, this is a rare talisman indeed. A fire medallion, to be exact."
He looked up and explained, "Such talismans are designed specifically to hold dark magic. And this one was most likely created to hurt Elsa specifically."
"And under her pillow this whole time?" Gerda shook her head, a dangerous frown on her lips. "I'll be having a word with the maids on rotation. Their carelessness could have cost the queen her life!"
"I'm afraid it very well could have." Alvar admitted. "She's been too close to this for too long. The medallion must have leeched onto her magical signature by now. The longer she remains exposed to this, the more quickly her powers will be drained from her."
The princess clenched her fists, "How do we destroy it?'
"We don't have the means to destroy it right now, but we can get rid of it. If we are to have any chance of saving her, this must be disposed of as far away from the kingdom as possible."
Anna blinked, "Not that I'm complaining, but does it really need to go that far away?"
He nodded grimly, "The pull of this magic is powerful and extends for hundreds of miles. Given her critical condition, even minimal exposure to the medallion could kill her. This needs to go…now."
"I'll see to it right away." Kai accepted the bundle from Alvar and hurried off, leaving the princess to turn with an exhale of relief.
"So, that's it, right? Elsa can wake up now?"
Alvar shook his head as he rose, "I'm afraid it isn't quite so simple, princess. Your sister has spent days in the thralls of the medallion's dark magic. For magic users such as your sister, their powers are very clearly intertwined with their life force. To lose one is to lose the other. Her powers may yet be saved, but her body will not have the energy to survive if we do not heal her."
He reached into his satchel. "Fortunately, I brought my spell book with me. There is a potion I can create that should return her energy back to her, but for that, I'll need one ingredient."
Gerda clambered to her feet, "The castle storage is filled with any herbs you desire, sir."
He smiled sadly, "I'm afraid the ingredient I'm looking for is far rarer than that, ma'am. What I need is found in only one field near a lake on the North Mountain. The purple flower-"
"Of a mandrake root?"
He stared incredulously at Anna and Kristoff, both of whom had beat him to the chase. "Perhaps it's not as rare as I thought."
The couple exchanged a wry smile before Anna answered. "Kristoff brought me a few of those flowers a while back, so I planted some in our gardens." She jumped up, "I'll just go grab them now."
Alvar nodded, "Then I'll begin making the potion right away. We have no time to waste."
Anna hurried down the hallway, her mind swirling with all she had learned.
Someone had poisoned her sister with the intention of taking her powers away, but who, and how they'd acquired such magical abilities, Anna didn't understand.
Every time I think I'm getting some answers, I get more questions.
She turned the corner to the castle gardens, her eyes brightening at the sight of the familiar doors. Just past those doors lay the final piece to her sister's cure.
And once Elsa is awake, I'll make sure I give whoever caused this a swift kick in the jaw…but they deserve much more than that.
She shoved the doors open and hurried to the patch she'd created only days before. The bright purple flowers would stand out against the sea of yellow crocuses that made up half the castle gardens.
"It's a stroke of luck that I decided to plant them," Anna whispered to herself as she ran past the water fountain towards the flower beds at the far end of the garden.
But her blood ran cold at the sight that awaited her because the flowers were…
"Gone."
Every single mandrake flower she had planted. Gone.
Whoever had done it hadn't bothered to be careful about it either. Overturned dirt littered the pavement before her, roots tossed carelessly this way and that so that the whole thing looked like a crime scene.
"No, no, no!" She dropped to her knees, hands frantically searching for something she knew no longer existed.
"W-Who did this?!" The princess stuttered in utter shock. But deep down, Anna feared she knew the answer to that question.
There's a traitor in our midst. And they know we're trying to save Elsa.