Authors note: Hope your all enjoying the story so far as things will start to happen. The last time we left off Hans met Anna, who else will he meet? You shall have to read and find out. (Wink)

Anynway, hope you all enjoy it and please review when done. Oh also again pay close attention to the chapters as some of them will show little winks to the Hans Christian Anderson stories.


Trolls


Arendelle:

Bells rang through the room, looking up at the bell Hans saw it was from Runo. Sighting Hans dropped the fish he was preparing, washed his hands before walking to the side of the kitchen, there hidden behind the fireplace was a hallway.

It was for servants use, they used it to serve their masters and stay out of the way. It worked as the passages went throughout all over the house.

Using that he went up the stairs, which he hated as they were all small and uneven elevation which caused him to trip many times, not counting the nails he had to watch out for, down a hall before pushing a wall which led to the hallway where the bedrooms were.

Stepping out Hans closed the wall behind him and walked to Runos room.

He could not knock, he had to scratch on the door and wait to be allowed in.

"Enter" called Runo. Opening the door Hans gasped as a bucket of water dropped on top of him, dousing him with ice cold water making Hans gasp and trying not to yell because of the cold.

"Ha ha! You should have seen the look on your face!" said Runo laughing from his position in a nice comfy armchair.

Shivering and hitching a bit as Hans was beraly able to take a proper breath, trying hard not to get angry, which he was, after getting some breath he walked over to Runo.

"How may I help you?" asked Hans, Runo said nothing just moved his legs to show Hans his boots, the laces were undone.

Saying nothing Hans bend down and tied them then left.

As he made his way down the hall behind the wall and the stairs only to almost trip when he heard the bell ring again.


The stairs he had become very familiar with it. Hans began to think of it almost like a silent friend.

It helped him up and down when needed, it was a constant witness of his toil and hard work.

Up and down Hans would go, day in and day out, carrying breakfast trays, buckets of hot water to prepare baths, clothes to clean and mend among others.

It was so often that Lars one day curious decided to keep track of how often Hans went up and down the stairs in a single day only to loose count of it every time because of how often Hans was coming and going.

And it was not just Lars, but seeing this baffled the snake and bird brothers, all this time they swore that servants were lazy, that did not work fast enough or hard enough to keep them all happy.

Yet here Hans was, showing them the life of a servant and the reality was very gritty.

Always being worked to the bone with very little rest and not enough food. Always being the first one to rise way before the sun rose to prepare candles, polish boots, mend fires and prepare breakfast then through the day it was dusting, cleaning, airing out rooms, polishing items and floors, laundry among others followed by preparing and serving lunch and dinner, washing dishes, when all work was done it was well pass 1 am and Hans would just crash.

Never had they though that life was like that, it was alarming really even more since the home Hans had to take care off was huge and how lazy the three had become to the point they just seemed to be giving task for just the fun of it.

The reality was hard, even more looking back at their own past behavior. Had they known this was the reality they would have definitely treated their staff better.

Walking down yet again Hans was carrying huge piles of white linen, he had cleaned them the day before but Valhalla yelled that they were not white enough and had him do his work all over again.

The linen specifically was never washed in town as Valhalla did not want her pretty white linen be soiled and ruined by the water used by the commoners, it had to be washed in a river which involved Hans having to take a half hour walk to and from the forest just to get water to wash those.

And pray that Rudi and Runo would not sabotage the laundry like they did the last time when they went and purposely muddied the clean laundry Hans hanged to dry.


Later:

"I told you never to touch my sword!" yelled Runo as he and Rudi argued... again...

Karen winced and covered her ears as she could not hear the argument.

"I did not touch your stupid sword!" Yelled Rudi,

"You did!" yelled Runo,

"I cannot take this anymore!" Though Karen as she got up and left the mansion, shutting the door behind her, even that did little to drown out the argument and some crashes as they began to fight physically as they can be very violent.

Walking quickly down the worn path she made her way to Arendelle town where the public fountain was.

Washing clothes was usually done there, but because the weather is so cold now people wash their things indoor so the place was deserted except for Hans who was washing.

Nearby watching from the basket was his brothers and their wives.

Washing a shirt he seemed to be in another place mentally as he hummed softly to himself.

Smirking Karen left for another part of the town only to come back about 10

Minutes later and say rather exaggerated "I need a doctor!",

"A what?" asked Hans confused,

"A doctor! My ears are about to explode" said Karen rather over dramatic,

"Karen your ears are fine" said Hans as he chuckled a bit,

"No their not! Their bleeding!" Said Karen,

"Alright let me see" said Hans as he pulled his nice over and checked her ears before saying "Their not bleeding their perfectly fine",

"Then it's a miracle!" She proclaimed making Hans laughed then said "Let me guess...their arguing again",

"Yes! It's pure torture!" said Karen rather dramatically,

"What was it this time?",

"About who touched Runos sword... they yelled so loud my ears are still ringing and in pain" said Karen.

"Aww poor baby" said Hans patting her head.

"There is only one thing that can make me feel better" declared Karen.

"And what's that?" asked Hans curious,

"You have to sing to me" said Karen,

"And how will that help?" asked Hans slightly baffled at her request.

"You can counteract a bad song with a good one" said Karen "so please please! Before my head explodes! Do you want that? To see your poor little nieces head in pieces all around?",

"Alright alright, no need for a guilt trip" said Hans giving into his nieces whims.

Thinking a bit he hummed to try and find the right song, smirking Karen said "Remember this one?",

"Which one?" asked Hans.

Clearing her throat Karen sang

The sweetest sounds I'll ever hear

Are still inside my head

The kindest words I'll ever know

Are waiting to be said

The most entrancing sight of all

Is yet for me to see

And the dearest love in all the world

Is waiting somewhere for me,

Is waiting somewhere, somewhere for me

"My mothers lullaby" said Hans surprised "You still remember",

"Its impossible to forget" said Karen then added "Come on, I know you know the words".

Hans smiled a bit and said "How can I forget them?"

The sweetest sounds I'll ever hear

Are still inside my head

The kindest words I'll ever know

Are waiting to be said

The most entrancing sight of all

Is yet for me to see

And the dearest love in all the world

Is waiting somewhere for me

Is waiting somewhere, somewhere for me

While they sang the audience Karen had gathered leaned over the edge of the wall to watch.

The sweetest sounds I'll ever hear (hans and Karen)

Are still inside my head (Hans)

The kindest words I'll ever know (Hans and Karen)

Are waiting to be said (Karen)

The most entrancing sight of all (Hans and Karen)

Is yet for me to see (Hans)

And the dearest love in all the world (Hans and Karen)

Is waiting somewhere for me (Hans)

Waiting somewhere (Karen)

Somewhere for me (Hans and Karen)

There was silence...it was then that Hans noticed dreamily sighting.

Turning he felt his face turn red as he saw the group of females which had gathered to "watch the show".

"Oh don't mind us, please continue" said one,

"Yaaa" said three blondes who leaned against their arms dreamily.

"Karen!" said Hans as he quickly pressed his hand against his face in an attempt to hide his embarrassment before turning and started to gather things to leave as fast as he could.

"Come on uncle, they love ya!" said Karen as he ran after Hans who left as quickly as possible even more when he heard one of the woman call out.

"Come back soon handsome".

That promoted Hans to run away faster.


"Uncle! I was kidding!" said Karen as she ran after her uncle who was hurrying up.

"Karen, you cannot joke like that, if Valhalla knew what happened she would punish me" said Hans,

"That's because neither she or Rudi or Runo can stand the fact that your the cream of the crop, even when wearing rags" said Karen.

Hans sighted at that "Thanks for trying",

"There is no trying, because the truth is so obvious its like a boulder running over" said Karen.

No sooner than Karen spoke that a bunch of rocks rolled by, it was strange.

Both Hans and Karen stared baffled at the scene then all of a sudden Hans gagged as one of the smaller stones fell on him.

It did not hurt much, but it was confusing.

Groaning Hans looked at the stone he caught only to be baffled when he saw it was a child... a troll child...

Terrified the child grab unto the ruined coat and said "Hide me! Hide us! Please mercy!"

Hans reacted quick before he could think things through.

Yelling he pointed the rocks to a nearby river, they moved and stopped there , once there Hans threw the laundry linen over the rocks and pretended to be laundering it.

About five minutes or so passed before a group of arendellian soldiers passed by on horses.

All of a sudden one of then stopped and looked over Hans, which made him nervous as he hopped he had not been noticed.

"You! Servant!" said one soldier,

"Yes?" asked Hans as he turned to look.

"Have you seen trolls pass through here?" demanded the soldier.

"Trolls?" asked Hans confused, why would soldiers be hunting down trolls?

"Yes, ugly stone creatures, saw a group pass through here" said the soldier.

Karen reacted as she knew Hans was a bad liar and said "I am sorry but we have not seen any, me and my servant have been here for an hour and have not seen anything".

The soldier looked at they two before asking "What are you two doing here?",

"Doing laundry" said Hans,

"And I am making sure he does the linen correctly" lied Karen.

This seemed to convince the soldier who nodded then said "Alright then, good day" with that he left with the others to resume the hunt.

Once they were gone Hans pulled and folded the linen before putting it away in a sack when the stones moved and went back to being trolls.

Both Karen and Hans stared baffled, they had heard of trolls, but these were not anywhere near what they had in mind when hey though of how they looked like.

"Why?" asked one of them, he was the elder probably,

"Why what?" asked Hans,

"Why save us?" asked the man, but before Hans could answer the troll waved his hands and said "Never mind, just give me your hands" as he held out his stone hands,

"My hands?" said Hans, he nodded, Hans went to place his hands on the trolls, but the troll said "Without gloves please".

Hans jumped back and hesitated, but slowly he pulled on his ragged gloves, taking them off slowly and carefully.

Once off he tried not to look at his hands as he placed them on the trolls hands.

As soon as they made contact the trolls eyes widen, then after a while he looked at Hans in sorrow and said "I am sorry Hans...",

"Its okay... I am not worse off compared to others" whispered Hans as he put the gloves back on.

"But surely good will come your way" said the elder then added "My name is Paddie, elder troll",

"Its nice to meet you Paddie, my name is Karen" said Karen,

"i know" said Paddie "I know quite a lot",

"If you do can you explain why the soldiers are after you?" asked Hans confused.

Paddie looked down while the trolls which most were children looked sad.

"I am afraid it was my fault" said Paddie "I made a mistake in reading the future, never knowing it could change and the king did not like it",

"The king?" asked Karen,

"We rather not talk about it... what matters now is that we must leave... were heading towards a new valley towards south... where we will be safe" said Paddie.

Thinking Hans said "I would be careful, the soldiers will be patrolling".

Paddie nodded then said "Yes... but... maybe if you could help us",

"Me? How can I help?" asked Hans baffled,

"You can escort us there... surely they would never suspect a human to help us" said Paddie "Please... have some compassion".

Hans hesitated, he could not just up and leave, Valhalla and the twins would not like it, but he could not ignore their plight.

So after a while he said "Okay... but your going to have to follow my instructions" before explaining the plan to them.


Arriving to the manor Hans went inside the kitchen while Karen helped the trolls into a cart and het Sitron ready for the travel.

"Mistress" said Hans as he arrived at the drawing room,

"What is it Askelur?" snapped Valhalla,

"We ran out of firewood..." said Hans,

"So? Is it our problem?" Snapped Rudi,

"Yes, its your job to make sure there is plenty of firewood" said Runo,

"I shall fetch some" said Hans happy as this was the opening he needed,

"Now" ordered Valhalla, there was no need as Hans immediately ran out of the room and towards the barn.

"Its ready uncle" said Karen,

"Thank you" said Hans as he took Sitron's reins and began to lead the horse away with the cart.

"Stay safe" said Karen as she waved her uncle away, praying he remains okay.


Night arrived when Hans arrived to a strange place, it was fog, the whole area was covered in a fog so thick he could not see through it, but judging by the instructions the trolls gave him this seemed to be the right place.

"We are here" said Hans walked to the back of the cart and opened the it.

The trolls left the back of the cart, with Hans helping the little ones down.

"Thank you, had you not helped us we would have been done for" said Paddie.

"Its nothing" said Hans but was scared, he had been gone for too long, surely a beating was waiting for him at the hands of Rudi and Runo at the orders of Valhalla.

"we must reward you" said Paddie interrupting his thoughts.

"Pardon?" asked Hans,

"A reward, we have to pay you back for all that hard work and trouble" said Paddie,

"No, its fine" said Hans shaking his head,

"Come on, we insist" said Paddie.

Seeing they would keep insisting Hans caved in and said "Alright",

"Splendid" said Paddie as he and the rest of the trolls moved closer to the fog.

Waving their hands, magic was shot into the fog, at first nothing happened only for a moment for Hans watched baffled as a large stone hand appeared through the fog, said hand carried huge block before placing it on the cart.

Hans looked at the block then gasped, it was marble, a beautiful one, it had swirls of pink, white and brown, such a piece would be worth a fortune.

"Hopefully it will make up for some of the trouble" said Paddie.

"Thank you, it is more than enough" said Hans,

"Hopefully our paths will cross" said Paddie,

"In betters times I hope" said Hans and with a final good bye he left, just stopping briefly to look back at the fog wondering what was beyond it.


That night:

It was around midnight when Hans arrived back at the manor, he had hopped that Valhalla had not noticed.

He was dead wrong as they were waiting for him.

"Askelur, where have you been?!" snarled Valhalla who was waiting in the barn with Rudi and Runo.

"I I I" stammered Hans scared,

"He disobeyed us mother!" Snarled Runo,

"He should be punished" added Rudi with glee.

"No wait! I took so long because I got you all a gift!" said Hans quickly as he coward.

Upon hearing that Valhalla moved her hands stopping Rudi and Runo before asking "A gift?",

"Yes I found this in the mountain... though it would please you" stammered Hans quickly.

Valhalla looked skeptical but made no movement at first before saying "It better".

Moving to the back Hans hesitated before pulling back the ragged sheet revealing the marble.

The threes eyes and their mouths hanged open in shocked as they walked over and admired the huge marble.

"There is more than enough to make a bathtub... if it pleases you" Hans suggested meekly.

"Yes... it does" said Valhalla then turned and snapped "What are you waiting for?! Get back to the kitchen!"

Hans immediately ran away, glad that he had escaped a beating and he did as he was left alone for two weeks while Valhalla, Rudi and Runo enjoyed their new marble bathtub and the new marble decorations in the bathroom.

To be continued...