AN: By sheer will and luck I appear to still be alive. So there's that. I everyone enjoys the chapter, thank you as always for taking the time to read and review my story. Don't forget to tip your icy tropical storm on the way out.
Kristoff's mind wandered as he and Sven rolled past the castle gates. Even after three months, it felt odd to have the freedom to come and go as he pleased, for the castle guards to recognize him and allow him to pass without so much as a second look. A small, niggling voice in his head kept telling him that one day this was all going to end; he would approach the gates only to be stopped, the guards having finally realized that he was just an ice harvester from nowhere who had no place among Arendelle's royal family.
He stretched his back against the seat of the wagon, stiff from hours on the road. He had to admit, after a week spent harvesting and unloading ice, it was nice to have a place to go back to, even if it was a temporary arrangement. Kristoff kept reminding himself not to get used to this, to having a roof over his head and a comfortable place to sleep. Most nights, he found himself wandering down to the stables anyway, sleeping next to Sven because his bed in the castle was so soft, he was afraid he'd fall right through the mattress to the floor.
He knew this wasn't going to last forever, being a guest at the castle. All things eventually came to an end, and he was going to be prepared for it. These were material things anyway, things of little importance. He was having a much harder time accepting that when the time finally came, he was going to have to also let go of – would have to lose – what Anna had given him. Less material things; a different kind of safety in the whispered promise of a family.
Kristoff had always had a family with the rock trolls, an excitable, well-meaning, and loving family that he would never give up, but it wasn't the same. As much as they tried, the older he got the more he often felt like an outsider. There were things they didn't - couldn't - understand. Things Kristoff himself didn't really understand, but Anna seemed to intuitively know that he needed.
He would never admit it out loud, but that scared him. The idea of letting someone get close enough to know him like that meant leaving himself open to being hurt, which was something he had been careful to avoid since he was a child. Kristoff worried that if he continued to let Anna grow closer, their lives would eventually become so entangled there would be no safe way to pull the pieces apart again. And then, inevitably, he would lose her, either when she realized he didn't belong here, or when something else he wasn't prepared for pulled them apart. There were so many reasons they were wrong for each other, but every time he saw Anna, all those voices that told him to run were drowned out by her smile, her contagious energy, and her limitless kindness.
Kristoff pulled up short as he rolled into the castle's courtyard, surprised to see a large group of soldiers standing around the guardhouse. The gates had only been open for three months and he had spent a lot of that time away harvesting ice in the mountains. As odd as the sight was for him, it was possible that it was common for the guards to gather in such a way.
He steered Sven toward the stables at the opposite side of the courtyard. Kristoff hopped off the wagon and made quick work of removing Sven's harness, got the reindeer settled with a quick conversation and the promise of carrots from the castle's kitchen.
He started toward the castle itself, hoping that Anna and her sister had returned from their trip to Valle. His heart swelled at the thought of seeing her, even as he wondered whether she had been able to work things out with Elsa. For the past month, the sisters had been going through a rough patch. Nothing drastic, and from an outsider's viewpoint it likely seemed that everything was perfect between them, but Kristoff knew better. He could see the unspoken tension in Elsa's posture, in Anna's eyes. Anna had pushed too hard and her older sister had retreated into herself, throwing herself into her work to cope. Anna used humor and jokes for much the same reason.
After his initial conversation with Anna in the stables, Kristoff tried his best to stay out of it, not wanting to interfere as the sisters navigated around each other. The day before he left for the mountains, he broke his unspoken promise, seeing the strain of the discontent weighing on Anna. He had no doubt Elsa was feeling the same stress, though she was infinitely harder to read than her sister. When Anna told him about Elsa's planned trip to Valle and Kai's not so subtle suggestion that someone go along to distract the Queen from overworking herself, Kristoff had been quick to agree with the castle's steward. Anna had been unsure about going, worried about making things worse than they were, but Kristoff had encouraged her, saying that while he understood Elsa's need for space, it had been a month already and they couldn't allow the issue to sit between them any longer. The sisters needed to talk it out, and the multiday journey north seemed like a good opportunity to do so.
Kristoff gave Anna what advice he could, seeing the eagerness in her eyes, her desire to fix the fracture that had opened between herself and her sister, her optimism that they could fix it before it broke entirely. He knew that if anyone could, it was Anna, and he was looking forward to catching up with her and seeing how things had gone. He was almost to the castle's entrance when the sound of thundering hooves drew his attention back toward the gates.
From where Kristoff stood, he could see two riders bounding down the stone bridge at a breakneck speed. A watchman standing on top of the castle wall turned and yelled down to the guards below, announcing that one of the riders was Captain Jogeir.
Kristoff frowned; since he avoided close interaction with the castle guards for fear they would wise up and throw him out, he wasn't all that familiar with them. But he did know Captain Jogeir, who was in charge of the Queen's personal guard. He also knew that the captain would have ridden to Valle with Elsa, along with other members of her guard. He could tell immediately that the second rider wasn't Anna, nor Elsa, but there was no good reason he could think of that the Captain would return to the castle without them. His stomach tightened into a painful knot as the riders came to a violent halt in the middle of the courtyard. The men wasted no time in dismounting and handing off the reins to a scrambling staff member. They walked with hurried steps toward the castle but were intercepted by another older-looking man; Admiral Naismith, if Kristoff remembered correctly. The man in charge of Arendelle's military force.
The Admiral gave pause as he looked at Alarik, clearly thrown off to see the man standing there, he then turned his full attention to Jogeir. "What happened," he asked wasting no time with pleasantries.
"I'd hold off deployment for a moment. We have a problem." Jogeir glanced toward Alarik with a less than happy look.
Naismith looked between the two, his expression turning grave. "What sort of problem?"
Jogeir shook his head firmly. "Not here."
Naismith dipped his chin sharply, and all three men headed toward the castle's entrance.
Having overheard the short, clipped exchange, Kristoff hesitated for only a moment, knowing that it was not his place, or his business. But something was clearly wrong, and he couldn't shake the instincts screaming that that something concerned either Elsa or Anna. Before he could rethink the decision, Kristoff crossed the short distance between them and stopped the men before they could enter the castle.
"Something's happened," he said bluntly.
The three men exchanged looks, and Kristoff worried they were going to dismiss him out of hand.
"There's nothing to worry about, Kristoff," the Admiral said crisply. "We—"
"Wait," Jogeir interrupted him, turning to Kristoff. "You're an ice harvester, correct?"
He drew his head back, surprised that either of them knew his name, much less his occupation. He supposed that since he had been spending so much time around Arendelle's royal family, there was a chance they knew much more about him then he was really comfortable with. He cleared his throat and nodded. "Yes."
"And you have experience traveling through the mountains?" Jogeir asked. "Bad weather, dangerous conditions?"
The other man – Alarik, the Admiral had called him – looked from Jogeir to Kristoff with wide eyes.
"I spent most of my life in the mountains," Kristoff confirmed, though he wasn't sure why it was relevant.
Jogeir nodded then turned to Naismith. "We're going to need his expertise."
Kristoff still didn't know what was happening and though he knew he should feel relieved that they weren't turning him away, the captain's words had only caused the knot in his stomach to tighten even more.
The Northern Lights danced overhead as the short winter day turned too quickly to dusk before fading even more rapidly into night. Visibility was minimal, the landscape passing mostly in a black blur outlined by soft moonlight reflecting off the bed of snow on the ground. The journey was anything but smooth, but Anna had managed to sleep through most of rocking movement of the wagon as its wheels jerked over the rough terrain. Once or twice, she startled upright to blink at Elsa blearily and mumble something unintelligible, then dropping back to her sister's lap with a heartfelt snore.
The girl was now slumbering peacefully at Elsa's side; or, as peacefully as was possible, given the circumstances. Anna was tucked in close, her head resting against Elsa's leg, and her sleep-slackened mouth was leaking a thin line of drool to a growing wet spot on Elsa's tunic. Elsa couldn't bring herself to be offended, just smiled and stroked her sister's mussed hair with the hand that wasn't full of pins and needles. She found herself unable to hold her own exhaustion at bay, and dozed on and off throughout the long night, waking at regular intervals as the wheels of the cart dipped into a particularly deep rut. Once, she woke to an ominous rumble of thunder in the distance, a low sound that promised an inevitable further decline in their comfort. Once, it was simply the lingering soreness that was radiating along her right arm that called her back to consciousness. Eventually, she gave up on sleep and tucked the offending arm across her lap, laid her head back to watch the darkest parts of night pass as the sun finally breached the horizon. The surrounding land was so serene, it was painful in a distinctively exquisite way. Elsa knew this was just the calm before the storm, everything around them silent and still as the world took a deep breath before the final plunge.
She tried not to think about the fate of the soldiers at Sioaskard, or about Alarik. She squeezed her eyes shut and swallowed roughly, working to draw a breath around the sudden lump in her throat. She knew Tyr did what he did to show her which of them was in charge and which was powerless. He wanted to break her spirit, and her will, and Elsa hated that he had nearly succeeded. If not for Anna, she may very well have allowed herself to sink into that pit of despair and guilt that had beckoned to her in the courtyard. It was a pit she was painfully familiar with, one that she had spent thirteen years circling.
She wanted to be as strong for her sister as Anna believed her to, strong enough for the girl to believe that everything would be okay, but Elsa understood now more than ever how much she was the one in need. She needed Anna's belief in her even more than she wanted to fulfil it. That unwavering belief of Anna's is what would hold her up and allow her to endure whatever was to come. It had always given Elsa the strength to move forward, even when they were separated. Anna had never stopped offering that unconditional support, sitting outside her closed bedroom door and telling tales of what trouble she had gotten into that day. Even when Elsa wouldn't answer, Anna never gave up.
The conflict they were heading toward remained a mystery. Elsa had studied the wars of the past in her lessons, various battle tactics and their outcomes, but she had no real-world experience with the kind of fighting the Sirma intended to thrust her into. Arendelle had fought in support of an allied country under invasion when she was fourteen, but even then, she only learned of the details through her father's teachings. She didn't know what to expect here and had no control over the situation. That fact made her anxious and afraid for her sister, because as badly as she wanted to, Elsa didn't know if she was going be able to protect Anna. That was a thought more terrifying than any threat she may be personally forced to face. For the time being, she had to accept that to protect her sister, she needed to play along with what the Sirma wanted, no matter the personal cost.
Elsa lifted her head and surveyed the immediate area in the early light of morning. She knew the landscape bordering Arendelle well, had memorized the features at a young age from paintings and maps. With a sinking heart, she realized that they were no longer in the kingdom. During the night, the Sirma caravan had crossed into the northern lands. They were now far beyond Arendelle's border.
Anna stirred, drawing herself upright with a jaw-cracking yawn. She ran fingers through the tangles of her hair as she looked through the slats of the wagon wall, and Elsa saw it in the slump of her sister's shoulders when Anna remembered where they were.
She summoned the most encouraging, this-will-be-okay smile she could manage and gripped her sister's elbow. "Hey."
Anna returned the smile with tepid enthusiasm. "Hey." She shivered, wrapped her arms around herself as she straightened and squinted at the passing lands. "Where are we?"
Elsa wrapped an arm around her sister, thankful that while the cuffs were blocking her magic, they didn't seem to be affecting her indifference to the cold. "I'm not sure. A good way from the border, though."
"Are you sure?" Anna asked, her tone hopeful.
Elsa sighed softly. She leaned closer, pointed at a range of mountains in the far distance that was growing smaller with each passing moment. "That's the Skjoldfjell mountain range, which lays at least a half day's ride from the most northern point of the kingdom."
Skjoldfjell meant shield mountain, so named because the range stretched from the west coast to curve around Arendelle's eastern border and continue for hundreds of miles. It was nearly impossible to travel from one side of the range to the other. There was only one pass that was safe to traverse, and only during the summer months. The mountain range had protected the kingdom's borders for hundreds of years. As snow continued to fall heavily around them, Elsa realized that the natural protection Arendelle had enjoyed since time immemorable was now going to work against them, and hinder their own military from finding them. Taking in her sister's crestfallen gaze, she decided to keep that thought to herself.
Anna looked frozen through, and Elsa ran her hand up and down the girl's arm in an attempt to warm her. "How are you doing?"
"Me?" Anna turned wide eyes on her. "I'm not the one wearing some magic-blocking bracelets that are slowly sucking the life out of me."
"They are not sucking the life out of me," she said, rolling her eyes. "They're just . . . absorbing my magic." Elsa couldn't help thinking back on the expression on Erik's face when he saw her wearing both cuffs. It looked as though something was wrong, something the young man hadn't expected. She shook her head, dismissing the thoughts to focus on her sister. "Humor me."
Anna shrugged, wrapping her arms around herself. "I dunno. Okay, I guess. Worried. About you, and Alarik, and what's going to happen."
Elsa averted her gaze. Anna didn't know about Alarik, about the burned-out barracks at the fort. She hadn't been in the courtyard when it happened. In this moment, Elsa couldn't bring herself to tell her sister the probable fate of the man who had been a friend. Besides, there was always a chance . . .
She squeezed Anna's arm, drawing strength from the younger girl. "We'll get through this. I promise. It'll be okay." She prayed once more to the old gods that fate not make a liar out of her.
Anna offered a weak but sincere smile before laying her head back against Elsa's shoulder. They sat like that for a while, watching quietly as the sun continued to rise. Elsa felt uneasy, anxious, and found a part of herself wishing they were already at their destination, because the thought of the unknown was threatening to engulf her. At the same time, another, more sensible part wanted to put off the inevitable for as long as possible. As far as she was aware, their party had only stopped a few times, to water the horses and distribute food. Other than that, the Sirma, including Tyr and Erik, had taken turns sleeping in their saddles.
Just as Elsa idly wondered how much further they had to go, the rocky terrain gave way to flat fields on either side, and a river running to their left. She spotted tilted wooden spikes jutting from the ground, creating a barrier of some kind, and pulled Anna closer. The Sirma camp, she realized, her heart thudding in her chest. On either side of them, small tents rose up without any discernable pattern, ones meant to fit no more than one or two grown men. The caravan pulled to a stop near a larger, more prominent tent and the sisters watched silently as the Sirma soldiers dismounted their horses. Tyr and Erik were among those who handed their horses off to men in the camp, waiting close by as two soldiers approached the cart and unlocked the door.
"Let's go," one of the men said gruffly, as the soldiers stepped back from the wagon.
A feeling of helplessness fell over Elsa, her chest tightening. She locked eyes with her sister before rising to move toward the door, pausing before climbing out to turn once more toward Anna. One of the guards impatiently grabbed her arm and dragged her from the cart. Elsa stumbled, knocked off-balance. She suppressed the urge to fight against the men, knowing that here in the middle of the enemy camp, with no way to use of her magic, there was nothing she could do that wouldn't get her or her sister killed. She looked up at Anna, still in the wagon, and silently implored the younger, and far more reckless, girl to realize the same thing.
The second guard stepped forward to help Anna out of the cart, with curious care. As soon as her feet hit the ground, he wrapped a hand around the girl's upper arm and led her into the camp. Elsa realized at the same time as her sister that they were being separated.
Anna twisted in the guard's hold. "Wh - no!" She dug her heels into the ground and tried to turn back to Elsa. The guard tightened his hold on her arm and continued to haul her too easily away. "Elsa!"
Elsa lifted her chin and glared defiantly at the approaching brothers. "What is the meaning of this? Where are you taking her?"
"Your sister will be kept safe," Tyr replied, crossing his arms casually over his chest. "But I'm not idiotic enough to keep the two of you together and allow you to plan an escape."
Elsa narrowed her gaze, knowing that she had precious few cards to play here. "If you want me to fight your war for you, then I demand proof that my sister is alive, well, and untouched. At least once a day."
"You demand?" Tyr scoffed and stepped forward. His face was stormy, but Elsa refused to back down. "You are—"
"Supervised," Erik cut in. "And only long enough to assure yourself that she is okay."
Elsa fought to keep her face passive as she made a mental note of the subtle dissent between the brothers. "Fine," she said. Truthfully, she hadn't expected anything more. She turned her sister, her gaze softening. "Everything will be okay," she said, though she knew Anna could read the fear in her eyes just as easily as she could read it in Anna's. She watched her sister attempt to summon her own brave, reassuring smile in return as she was dragged away to a nearby tent.
The band of pressure constricting Elsa's chest loosened just slightly as the guard pushed Anna into the tent but did not follow, instead leaving another guard to take up post outside the entrance.
"Satisfied?" Without waiting for any kind of response, Tyr gestured to the guard who was holding Elsa's arm and the man pulled her toward the entrance of the large tent. She glanced back to where her sister had been taken, and a morbid sense of relief settled over her as she realized they would be within yelling distance of each other. If anything happened . . . Elsa squeezed her eyes shut, refusing to finish the dark thought.
The tent was even larger than it had appeared from the outside. A table was set up to the left, with a map unfurled across the surface, and small figures sitting on top. On the right side was a narrow cot positioned close to a thick pole, which appeared to have a length of chain secured to its base. At the back of the tent were three separate areas; a table and two benches were arranged in the middle section, either side closed-off with a flap of material. As it occurred to Elsa that these were likely sleeping areas, she realized that this was the command tent, and these were Tyr and Erik's quarters within the camp.
The guard pulled Elsa toward the cot, roughly jerking her hands in front of her. He grabbed the chain from the floor and fixed a metal shackle around each of Elsa's wrists. A short chain ran between the shackles, allowing little movement, and was met in the middle with the chain that ran the length of the pole and was fastened into the thick wood near the base.
Elsa clenched her jaw tightly as she turned to where the brothers stood. "A bit overkill, don't you think? You already took my magic."
Erik shifted, perhaps uncomfortably, but Tyr only sneered at her. "Keep talking and I'll have them add a gag."
Elsa simply narrowed her gaze at the man. There were few things in life she was sure about, and while she found there were less now than just a few days earlier, she knew with every fiber of her being that her sister was going to survive this ordeal, and Tyr would not. Not matter what it cost her, those two things were certain.
She surveyed the tent once more. Now that she knew who the cot was intended for, it was clearer than ever that the Sirma had never been looking for Arendelle's help in their war; these men had wanted her from the start. The guard who had secured her to the post left the tent, and Tyr and Erik retreated into their rooms at the back without so much as a look back at her.
Elsa was alone, in her enemy's command tent, lashed to a pole like a common animal. She took a deep breath, hoping to settle her nerves and anxiety. She tried to twist her hands, but the shackles were too tight and secure to provide any give. With numb fingers, she followed the length of chain down to the base of the pole and found the same was true at the other end. The chain itself was barely long enough to allow her to stand straight and did not permit her to raise her hands higher than her waist.
She bit her lip, frustrated. Knowing there was nothing else she could do, Elsa turned and sat down heavily, leaning back against the pole. Exhaustion crashed over her like a wave, and she closed her eyes, allowing herself to slip into a restless sleep.
Alarik folded his arms across his chest as he watched Kristoff, who he had learned was close to the royal family – Anna, in particular, pace back and forth in the courtyard. He looked like he was about to explode, and Alarik couldn't really blame him. Kristoff had been told, during a rather lengthy meeting, that not only had the Queen and Princess been taken hostage by people who lived in the far north, but that there was a distinct possibility Anna was being used as blackmail to force Elsa into using her magic in a war.
That had been a full day ago, and it was getting more and more difficult to keep the man from riding out to Valle himself and tearing the mountains and forest apart in search of the sisters. While both Jogeir and Naismith had agreed time was something they didn't have to waste, they had also been painfully aware that rushing headlong into a rescue operation without a well-thought-out plan could just as easily end in Anna and Elsa's death. And that was, obviously, an unacceptable risk.
That meant, however, that time had to be taken to plan the operation with care to ensure the greatest chance of success. They had spent hours setting up the basics, deciding that Jogeir would take the assembled company of soldiers and move out hastily to Valle to widen the search capabilities and establish a command center at Sioaskard Fortress.
It had been decided by the council that the fact the Queen and Crown Princess were missing was information best kept quiet, for many reasons. They didn't want to incite panic in the people of Arendelle, nor did they want to allow other countries the opportunity to take advantage of the situation.
Naismith created a plan to deploy a large host of soldiers to the north in three movements, with Jogeir moving out with the first company. Naismith would follow with the second main body of soldiers, and Alarik would take the rear guard, along with Kristoff, who insisted that he could help best in the thick of things, rather than verbally sharing his knowledge of the rough mountain passes. A final host of soldiers would be standing by with ships ready to depart at a moment's notice.
At Alarik's feet, Rune sighed. He had discovered during the previous day's meeting that the Queen, twenty steps ahead of everyone else, as always, had not only sent a message to Jogeir, but also included a note to forward information to Admiral Naismith about the staffing at Sioaskard. She had enclosed details regarding the Sirma problem, and instructions to ready a battalion to be sent to the fort. She had stated that she wanted a complete turnover of personnel at the fort, regardless of the soldiers' innocence or guilt. It was that foresight that had a company of soldiers already prepared to march out when Jogeir and Alarik had arrived in Arendelle.
"Kristoff," Alarik finally said with a sigh, worried that the man's relentless pacing was going to wear a rut in the courtyard. He didn't want to have to explain that to the Queen when they got her back. "You are making the horses nervous." He gestured to the horses that stood behind him, already readied for the journey.
Kristoff huffed, but didn't stop moving. "How can you be so calm about this? Don't you care?"
Alarik narrowed his gaze. "Of course, I care," he said, in a low voice do as not to risk being overheard. "But getting worked up isn't going to help anyone. I know it seems like we are moving slow, but if we don't do this right, we run the risk of making things much worse."
Kristoff ran a hand through his hair as he finally came to a standstill. His gaze drifted north. "Right," he said after a moment. "You're right."
"Trust that everyone involved wants the same thing you do," Alarik told him. "The safe return of the Queen and her sister."
Kristoff turned to him sharply, and Alarik realized that while all involved might have the same goal, they didn't all have nearly the same level of investment.
"We will get them back," he said firmly.
The ice harvester nodded, turning once more to stare toward the grey skies of the north.
Elsa shifted uncomfortably on the floor of the command tent, rotating her stiff wrists within the shackles. She released a heavy breath and dropped her head back against the thick wooden pole behind her, allowing her eyes to fall closed.
After the brothers retreated to their respective quarters, she had been left alone for hours. Her next brief human contact occurred when a soldier came in with a plate of food, setting the dish near her feet and leaving without a word. Elsa had stared down at the plate for some time, debating the food. She wasn't feeling particularly hungry, but knew that not eating wasn't really an option. She had no way of knowing when her next meal would come, and she would need all her strength and energy for whatever was going to happen next. The plate sat just out of her reach, so she used her feet to nudge it close enough to awkwardly pick up with her bound hands. It took her a few tries to figure out how to eat with such limited mobility, but once she took the first bite of hard bread, she found that she was far hungrier than she had though, and cleaned her plate quickly.
They brought Anna in around mid-morning the next day. Her sister looked grey and tired, like she hadn't slept at all. While it hurt Elsa to see the girl looking so drawn, she couldn't say she was surprised; she hadn't slept well either, drifting in and out of consciousness throughout what remained of the day and into the night, as exhaustion and anxiety alternately dragged her under and woke her back up with every small sound and disturbance. Anna's own relief in seeing her had been short-lived. The moment she saw the shackles around Elsa's wrists, the chain secured to the wooden pole, and the small cot next to it—well, for a moment Elsa had been sure her little sister was going to murder someone. It was probably for the best that the only people in the tent at the time were Anna, Elsa, and the poor soldier who had the grace to look suitably frightened in the face of Anna's outrage.
It took Elsa several minutes to talk her sister down, and even when she did, Anna didn't look any more at ease with the situation, though she settled down enough to promise she wouldn't cause any trouble over it. Even as the flush faded from her cheeks, she looked livid.
Elsa had wanted to talk to her sister more, to ask if they were keeping her comfortable in her tent, if she had eaten, but their time together was up, barely after it began. The soldier pulled the reluctant girl away, leaving Elsa alone once more with nothing but her own thoughts to keep her company.
She had no way of knowing how much time had passed since they were brought to the camp, confined to the tent and chained to the pole. Based on the amount of times she had been permitted to see her sister and the number of meals that had been dropped at her feet, she could hazard a guess that it had been around three days.
There were a lot of things she had expected when they finally got to camp, but prolonged boredom hadn't been one of them. The Sirma left her alone for large portions of the day, Tyr ignoring her existence altogether as he came and went from the tent. Elsa didn't know whether to be thankful or insulted by the treatment; a mix of both, she supposed. There was nothing for her to do, no one to talk to, nothing to distract her mind from creating hypotheticals related to the situation she and her sister were in. There was always a soldier positioned just inside the tent's entrance, keeping guard. He brought the food in and escorted her to the bathroom at designated time. She attempted to talk to him once, but was dutifully ignored. The guards seemed to be on a four-hour rotation, and she never saw the same face twice. Elsa had to assume Tyr had planned it that way. Frequent guard rotations stamped out any chance of creating sympathy from her captors in the hopes of turning one to her side, helping her and Anna escape.
Around lunchtime of the third day, Erik approached her. Elsa was sitting with her knees tented and her aching back pressed against the pole when the young man knelt in front of her.
He looked from Elsa to the cot next to her and back. "Is the cot not to your liking?"
Elsa's gaze slid over to the item in question. Since arriving at the camp, she had taken to sleeping upright, with her back against the pole. Logically, she knew there was nothing wrong with the cot, knew that she was being stubborn only for the sake of being stubborn, but in a situation where she was utterly powerless, she wasn't going to let go of this one thing she could control. This one small act of defiance.
She looked back to Erik, keeping her expression passive. She offered no answer, doubting that he truly cared either way. There was no chance he came to her now, after three days of barely acknowledging her existence, just to ask her about her sleeping arrangements, and Elsa wasn't in the mood for polite conversation.
When it became clear to Erik that she wasn't going to answer, he shifted uncomfortably. "I wanted to ask you, uh, about your magic."
The bold statement took Elsa by surprise. She raised her eyebrows but remained quiet, not wanting to give the man anything, waiting to see where he was going with this. She moved to fold her arms over her chest, but was quickly stopped by the short chain between her wrists, a rattle of metal against metal. She altered course and pulled her hands down into her lap, then waited.
He cleared his throat, rubbing the back of his neck. "Where does your magic come from? Like...how did you get it?" he asked slowly, as though unsure he was using the right wording.
"Why?" Elsa finally asked, startled by the hoarseness of her own voice, rough from days of unuse.
Erik pressed his lips into a flat line and looked down. She could see the debate playing out on his face, a look she had seen before on the faces of her advisors, on diplomats. There was something he wanted to say to her, or ask of her, but wasn't sure if he could, or even should.
He glanced over his shoulder toward the entrance of the tent, where the current guard was sitting and where Tyr had exited some time ago.
Elsa followed his gaze, engaging in her own internal debate before asking, "you know nothing about my magic, do you?"
Erik's attention snapped back to her. His eyes widened before he hastily looked away.
Anger swelled in Elsa's chest. "You dragged me from my home," she accused, "threatened my people, my sister, in an effort to force me to use my magic in your war and you know nothing about it. You have no idea how to utilize my magic."
"That's not the only reason I ask," he said defensively, then sighed. "But it is part of it. We heard rumors about what you could do, about what you did to your own kingdom by mistake."
"So, you want me to, what—tell you what I can do? Confirm that I covered my kingdom in twenty feet of ice and snow for miles around?"
Erik stared at her for a long moment. "So, it is true."
"You risked an awful lot on something you were unsure about."
"I wasn't lying to you when I said we were desperate."
"Clearly. You know, my people are going to be looking for my sister and I, if they aren't already. You kidnapped Arendelle's entire line of succession. They won't stop until they find us. One way or another."
"You're right." He dropped his gaze once more. "But I also know that there is only one path through the southern mountain range, and that it is quickly becoming impassible due to the snowfall." Erik shook his head. "I didn't want this, really. I only wanted help. it was never my intention to...force you to fight. And I don't agree with what Tyr is doing. But if I know how your magic works and how to use it in battle, maybe we can finish this quickly, and you and your sister can go home."
Elsa recoiled, bumping the back of her head against the pole. "You know that your brother has no intention of allowing me to live. And after what he did in my fort and to my people, I have no intention of allowing him to walk away, either."
Erik's eyes widened. He stared at her openly, looking conflicted, but she kept her expression steady. She had meant every word she said; Tyr had gone too far, had crossed a line there was no coming back from. Elsa wasn't a vengeful person by nature, avoided allowing herself to fall into such traps of anger or wrath by knowing how much more dangerous it was because her magic, but there were some things you couldn't forgive, and there were people who acted solely with evil intentions. It was naïve to think such people could be stopped with anything less than the same.
Erik shifted uncomfortably, looking unsure about how to move forward in the face what she had said. He floundered wordlessly, and before he had a chance to recover, Tyr entered the tent.
His gaze locked on her, and Elsa's stomach twisted painfully as he acknowledged her presence for the first time in days. Tyr's long strides ate up the distance between them in a matter of seconds, flanked on either side by two soldiers.
The man looked down his nose at her, doing nothing to disguise his disgust. "On your feet, witch. It's time."
