Chapter 6 - The Winter Witch
Autumn had turned to winter, bringing a light snowfall with it. Anna was warmly dressed in her pink cape and hat against the cold. She rode atop Sven's back out of the Enchanted Forest and to the base of the North Mountain. There the reindeer stopped at a tent, dropping Anna off on the ground.
An elderly white-haired Northuldra woman came out of the tent. "I'm Yelana," she said. "I could be your grandmother."
"I have a grandmother, Halima, back home," Anna replied. "And a grandfather, Mattias. They raised me. But I ran away from home."
"Come, come inside," Yelana said, beckoning her into the tent. "The reindeer too," she said with half-lidded eyes.
Anna entered the tent with Sven following her and then she curled up against Sven's warm fur.
"Have you seen my friend, Jack?" she asked the woman.
"Jack who?" Yelana said with the same expression.
"Jack Frost."
"What a strange name for a young man. There was a boy who passed by this way, with a girl. They were riding in a horse-drawn sleigh, up the North Mountain."
"That must have been him! Elsa the Snow Queen was with him."
"Elsa's ice palace is at the top of the mountain," Yelana said. "It will be easy enough for you to get there on Sven. But you'll need all the strength you have to face Elsa the Snow Queen."
Anna opened her mouth and mimicked Sven the reindeer's voice. "Why don't you give her a magic spell or potion or something? Something that will give her the strength of ten men."
Yelana rolled her eyes. "Do you think I'm a witch? Nothing I can give her is more powerful than what she already has."
"And what is that?" Anna said in Sven's voice.
"Her good will and innocent heart," Yelana answered. "Don't you see how everyone she meets is forced to help her on her way? It's because of her good heart. That's all that can defeat Elsa's ice and snow powers." She moved to the dark other side of the tent. "Now get some rest. You'll need it."
After eating the dinner Yelana offered her, Anna curled up against Sven's fur and slept. She imagined a half-invisible figure of a boy sleeping next to her, keeping his eyes open and watching her.
The next morning, Anna bid Yelana good-bye. She waved at her as she rode off on Sven, her pink cape fluttering behind them.
Sven rode her up the North Mountain against a growing breeze with snow flurries. It was as if a blizzard was coming.
Near the top of the mountain, Anna rode Sven across a frozen stream. Suddenly the ice cracked. Anna fell off Sven and landed on a hard sheet of ice, but she saw Sven fall into the icy water.
"Sven, no!" Anna cried, her hand reached out.
Sven pulled himself up out of the water and onto the ice. Anna grabbed him around the neck and pulled him up onto the snowy bank. Sven shivered and collapsed into a mound of snow.
"Sven, please, we have to keep going!" Anna cried with her arms around Sven's neck.
Sven gave her a hard look that said for her to keep going on her own.
"I'll see you again, Sven," she said, hugging him tightly. "I promise. I'll be right back, with Jack."
Then she left Sven huddled in the snow, while she herself kept walking alone.
The wind was howling with flurries now, and Anna raised a mittened hand above her eyes to see. The ice castle was there, within sight! She forced herself to keep going against the wind. She saw - or imagined - a figure of a boy flying past on the wind, his cheeks puffed up as he blew snowflakes. Suddenly she felt warm again.
Anna crossed the bridge and entered Elsa the Snow Queen's palace.
