32

Anna, Elsa, Kristoff, Olaf and Mattias were now very worried, Hans's reaction to the ultimatum from his brother was far worse than they had anticipated. In many ways they could understand his frustration and anger, but it put them into a very uncomfortable position of trying to navigate the distrust and anger between Hans and his brothers.

"What do we do now?" asked Anna again to everyone.

"I don't know Anna," replied Kristoff, "but one thing is for sure, we need to keep Hans and his brother separated, that's a powder keg ready to explode."

"I don't understand the anger," spoke up Olaf, "I don't understand hate at all. Who would want to live like that?" he asked looking to Anna and Elsa.

"I know Olaf," responded Elsa, "I mean I knew fear, but never anger like that, maybe I should have Gale try and slow his brother down a bit until we figure something out."

"We won't go to that extreme yet Elsa," replied Anna, "I think one of us should go up and try to talk to him."

"I'll go," said Olaf raising his hand, "he says I'm one of his friends and friends should take care of one another, especially when things are bad."

The others sort of breathed a sigh of relief, but agreed Olaf was the best person to try and talk to Hans as he had opened up to him before.

"Thank you, Olaf," answered Anna, "and you're right about friends."

Olaf smiled in appreciation and then made his way up to Hans's room and gave his familiar knock on the door. Hans heard the knock and at first didn't want to answer it because of his rage, but after Olaf knocked a second time, he thought it only fair to let his new friend in.

"Hello Olaf," he said as calmly as his anger would let him, "I'm sorry if I hurt your feelings before."

"Oh, that's okay," smiled Olaf back, "I'm sorry your brother upset you."

"That's not your fault little buddy," replied Hans, "but it is what my brother's do best, they go out of their way to make me feel like a fool, like a nobody and like I'm under their thumbs. Well, no more, the line has been drawn and I will get my pay back."

"But Hans," started Olaf, "will it bring you as much satisfaction as you think, Anna and Elsa are both adamant they will help you."

"Olaf," cut in Hans, "I'm sorry but my mind is made up, if you had experienced the years of ridicule and abuse that I have, you would have an idea of how much satisfaction I will get by humiliating them as much as they have humiliated me. I know Anna and Elsa will help me, but that is just this time, trust me, this will be only the first attempt by my brothers and as long as I stay here and do nothing, Arendelle will be in more danger from them than it ever was from me."

"I just don't understand your hate," said Olaf sadly, "it is so foreign to me."

"You know little buddy," said Hans as he bent down to Olaf, "I envy you so much for that. I don't think you have any idea just how lucky you are because of it. Now, I don't need to be rude, but I would like to be alone for now."

"Are you sure?" asked a worried Olaf.

"Yes, I am," replied Hans, "I have to think, I really have to think what I can do about this. Tell Anna and Elsa that I do appreciate their support very much and I will try and be worthy of it."

"Okay," answered Olaf, "but, if you need anything, you just need to ask."

"Thanks Buddy," replied Hans with a grateful smile.

Hans watched Olaf leave the room and close the door and as soon as Olaf did, he made his way to his balcony and started calculating in his mind his exact steps for later on in order to carry out his plan. The plan that he was sure was going to finally bring him satisfaction.

Olaf returned to the others in the dining room and was immediately pressed about what had happened with his meeting with Hans.

"Olaf, you're back so soon?" asked Elsa.

"Yes Elsa," he replied, "Hans didn't want to talk much."

"Did he say anything that could give us clue of what he might do?" asked a concerned Anna.

"No not really," again answered Olaf, "he did say that he wanted to humiliate his brothers like he had been humiliated, that I was lucky not to know hate like he does. He was convinced that even if you came to a good agreement with his brothers that they would just try something else and that they would become a greater threat to Arendelle than he was."

"I seriously doubt that," commented Kristoff a little sarcastically.

"Oh," continued Olaf, "he also said that he really appreciated both of you Anna and Elsa for supporting him and hoped he could be worthy of it."

"Well, that sounds promising," remarked Anna.

"I don't know," replied Olaf, "I have this feeling he is up to something and I agree with Kristoff, Hans and his brothers feud could explode in our faces and that it will be a major threat to Arendelle."

Anna looked at Mattias and she didn't have to say a thing.

"I'll have the troops ready by the time King Klaus gets here your Majesty." He replied to her silent request.

The day passed very slowly as the feeling that worst crisis that Arendelle had faced since Elsa froze the kingdom four years ago was descending upon the kingdom. Anna went about her royal duties as usual with help from Kristoff, Olaf and Sven. Elsa remained in her room occasionally walking out to her balcony and wondering what she could do. Brunei snuggled in her hands and she whispered to him, "I may need you little Brunei, and you to Gale."

Mattias was putting the Arendellian Guards through some training exercises trying to prepare for any possibilities that may arise when King Klaus arrives. He just hoped a diplomatic solution could be found to totally diffuse the situation. It worried him that Hans had said that even if a solution was found this time, his brothers may try something else later.

In his room Hans plotted, his anger now meshed with his plan as he speculated how long it would take him to get the things, he desired unnoticed and by the time it was, it would be too late. He quietly removed one of the sheets from the bed and hid it in the room so none of the staff who brought him his lunch and dinner would see it. He was very happy with his progress and just had to wait until the time would be right to implement his scheme.

Finally, the sun began set around eight pm, and everyone in the castle settled down for the evening, though there was very perceived tension in it. Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Olaf couldn't even get a game of charades going as they continued to express their concerns over the crisis with Hans and the Southern Isles. Anna especially was worried, there was no way she could have anticipated this would have been the outcome of her idea to invite Hans back to the kingdom to try and solve that puzzle that Ahtohallan had given them. In fact, they were no wiser because they still didn't know what that memory of Hans's was that they couldn't reach at Ahtohallan.

They just knew that it must be very important and even now, it could be the key to unlocking this whole crisis with the Southern Isles. But, especially Elsa, knew the consequences of searching for that memory at Ahtohallan and she knew that this time there would be no coming back from the consequences. Eventually, the long day had made them to weary to stay awake so they all retired to bed hoping the next day would be better.

Hans had extinguished his bedroom lights about a half hour before and he stayed out on the balcony trying to keep an eye on as many lights in the castle he could see from his vantage point. There was a half-moon out tonight which was good as it would give him just enough illumination. He had already taken his boots off and he had been able to string them together so he could wrap them around his neck.

As he saw the last light be extinguished from his balcony, he went to work first with the sheet he had already taken off by wrapping it as tightly as he could and then repeating that with the next two sheets and tying them together with the best knot, he knew for strength from his sailing days. He then took one of the blankets and repeated the process. 'Good', he thought, 'that should be long enough and he proceeded to his balcony and tied it to the stone railing. In fact, he did a double knot just to make sure.

He threw his makeshift rope over the balcony and after he had collected the things he needed from his room, like the matches he had bought, he carefully put himself over the balcony railing gripping his sheet blanket rope tightly and slowly began his descent down. 'This is working better than I thought,' he thought to himself. His rope was a few metres too short though, no problem, it was a comfortable jump to the ground.

"Made it this far," he whispered quietly to himself as he put his boots back on after tearing the string off between them and immediately, he made his way towards the shed that housed the black powder for the tunnel excavation. It took him about ten minutes to get there, better than he planned and thank you Arendelle he thought, there was a heavy latch on the door, but no lock.

He went in, fortunately with the moonlight behind him and he could just make out the detonators and the five-kilogram barrels of black powder, each with a handle so they were easy to carry and safely. He grabbed four of them, the weight was easy for him to handle and he made his way out, closed and latched the door. He then turned and made his way towards the harbour.

Again, just over ten minutes, better than expected and found there were no guards. Arendelle was just too trusting and this time it would cost them. He got on board the Queen Elsa and stored the black powder as securely as he could for now, he would tie them down later once he was away.

Fortunately, the Queen Elsa was only tied to the dock, not anchored, so he quickly went back to the dock and released her from the dock, jumped back on board and grabbed the gang plank before it fell in the water.

He then made his way up to the wheel and sure enough, there were levers and pulleys there that gave him complete control of the boat. He released enough of the sail so that it would catch the breeze and start moving the boat away from the dock. Slowly at first, then when he had more room, Hans released more of the sail and the boat began to move faster.

"This boat is brilliant," he said as he manoeuvred out of the docks and into the harbour. He then released the rest of the sails and immediately a nice breeze filled them and the Queen Elsa began to pick up speed as it moved away from Arendelle. About ten minutes later from the Arendellian docks some lights appeared on the horizon, these were the lanterns on the Queen Elsa as Hans set her course and made his way towards what he believed was his final destiny.

On board, Hans secured his black powder, he also found some wet weather gear, which he was sure he would need in the Dark Sea. He then returned to the wheel and yelled out with exultation.

"I've done it!"

The sun rose at about six am and once again Arendelle started to wake up to a new day. The day didn't appear to be any different to most days, people had breakfast, cleaned up and began their daily chores and routines. In the castle, the staff were doing the same thing as they had done for countless days before. Everything seemed normal. Anna and Kristoff were awake, as was Elsa all thinking about what they would do today to try and diffuse the Hans dilemma.

As usual they gathered in the dining room for breakfast, but before they could start the Harbour Master burst into the room looking very flustered and upset.

"Yes, Magnus what's wrong?" asked Anna a little worried by his demeaner.

"Your Majesty Queen Anna," he said trying to catch his breath, "the Queen Elsa is missing!"

"What!" exclaimed Anna, "it's been stolen?"

"I believe so your Grace," he said apologetically, "I'm sorry, I never thought someone would do that."

Anna was about to speak up when her question was answered by General Mattias who marched into the room.

"Queen Anna, Prince Hans is missing."

"What!" she exclaimed again looking at Elsa with worry, "How is he missing?"

"He tied his bed sheets together and used them as a rope you Majesty to climb down from his balcony," answered Mattias.

"Show us" replied Anna as she motioned to Elsa and Kristoff to join her.

They made their way outside and around to the bottom of Hans's balcony and saw the sheets dangling from his balcony.

"Damn," said Anna, "this puts us in a really bad position, he said he wanted to sail off to the east. What the hell am I supposed to say to his brother?"

"I don't know," said a worried Elsa.

Suddenly there was another voice joining them.

"General Mattias, your Majesty we have a big problem," the voice said

"Excuse me?" replied Anna.

"Oh, sorry your Majesty, Gunner, I'm in charge of the tunnel construction." He replied.

"What appears to be the problem?" asked Mattias

"Someone stole four five kilo barrels of black powder last night," he answered.

The colour in Anna's face drained as the crisis was turning into a catastrophe.

"Oh no," she said, "Hans,"

"What would Hans want with black powder?" asked Kristoff.

"Damn," swore Mattias, "he may be thinking about intercepting his brother's ship and blowing it up."

"No, no, no," said Anna, "he can't be thinking that, he can't be, it will be a disaster for the kingdom."

She looked at Elsa, but Elsa looked like she was in a trance.

"Elsa?" she asked, "did you hear what General Mattias said?"

But Elsa's face turned to horror and extreme fear and she yelled out "Oh no!"

"Elsa?" said Anna grabbing her sister's arm fearful of what she was thinking.

"Oh no!" repeated again and then turned to Anna with eyes wide open in fear as she sensed something absolutely terrible, "Anna! We have to go, we have to go right now, get changed, outdoor wear, what you wore to the forest last year we have to go!"

"Elsa what is it?" asked Anna even more worried.

"He's not after his brother's ship!" she yelled, "he's after Ahtohallan, I can sense it. HE'S GOING TO BLOW AHTOHALLAN UP!"