Anna's POV

With the quickest planning and decision-making there was, I told my fellow guards to stay vigilant with the Therondians. To maintain neutrality, we didn't spread the word to the villagers to prevent them from staying indoor as it would attract suspicion. Instead, some guards were dressed in their everyday outfit, not the usual royal Arendellian guard outfit and patrolled the kingdom. The only difference was the hidden swords behind their capes for 'special' occasion that might occur anytime.

With safety element settled, it was only the matter of welcoming our so-called ally.

I stood with General Mattias as we waited for the royal ship to dock. Having a bay that certainly would not fit an armada of twenty-five ships, only several ones entered it and the rest waited by the fjord. My eyes locked onto the one with a special pattern drawn by the hull of the ship, and the sculpture of a unicorn sculptured on the bowsprit of the ship. I had a hunch that this was the ship King Adam of Therondia was on.

I made my way on Molly to meet the ship, and my guards followed me along. Despite knowing that danger might come anytime, we maintained a welcoming atmosphere with our facial expressions. Once the ship docked, the crew onboard set a wide plank of wood to bridge the dock and the ship. From there, emerged the one and only, King Adam, finely dressed in a Therondian outfit that had its distinctive hexagonal patterns and red-black color combination. The man was as fine-looking as I last remembered him when I was not knowledgeable of what his kingdom took a part of; his blonde hair and beard, the crown sitting proudly on his head, and his dangerously beautiful green eyes.

Once he laid his eyes on me, they widened right away. "Queen Anna! So nice of you to welcome us…" He slowly descended down the wooden plank. "…Whatever happened to you, you poor thing?"

He gestured to my bandage on my head. I lent a hand as he was about to make a final hop off of the plank. "Oh! uh…"

At this moment, I was not prepared for the question. Obviously, I could not just tell that I wreaked havoc on his kingdom and his plan to sell dragons overseas. Their sudden arrival made things so hectic that I forgot to come up with a reasonable answer for this kind of question. To answer the question, I went with; "I fell off the stairs."

The response raised the brows of not just King Adam himself, but also my guards and his. It was most likely the most unqueenly answer there was.

"Yeah. I fell off the stairs. It's just the heels, you know what I'm saying?" I smiled sheepishly.

"Your head bled?" He asked, concern drawing on his face; the very last thing you'd expect on a king who ran a human-trafficking market.

"Yeah! Anyway, welcome, King Adam," I slightly bowed. "It's good to see you here again."

"Thank you, Queen Anna," he bowed in return, beginning to make his way to dry land. We were escorted both by Arendellian and Therondian guards.

"So… what brings you here? That's quite the armada you've got there," I pointed with a thumb to my back. In response, he smiled innocently.

"My whole kingdom is moving to a new place. One day, once we've mapped the entire route thoroughly, we will update you regarding our new whereabouts," he replied. "In the meantime, we're here simply to resupply ourselves, if it would not be too much of a fuss."

I shrugged. "Well, it is not, no worries. Please, enjoy your time here."

With that, he turned to his men and gave them a nod. With that nod, they set off to lower crates that were to be filled with supplies from their ship. They used a special mechanism in the shape of a wooden hook to lower the crates easily. The mechanism beat human muscles by a long mile.

"I know we will. By the way, does your sister happen to be here? I know she's a resident of another place at the moment, but I expect a sister will occasionally visit the kingdom," King Adam asked. The question made me suspicious, but I didn't let any suspicion reached the surface.

"She is here, yes, as it happens," I answered.

"Ah! It would be nice if I could meet her, for a little catching up and other nonsense stuff," he said, a smile cutting across his face. Of course, I grew more suspicious. But once again, my principle was to stay neutral. If this turned out to be the move, then we would hit back with all we got since we've prepared.

"She's in the castle, as we're speaking. Do you want to go there now?" I offered with a smile, stopping by my horse's side.

"Please. I long for a chat with the snow queen herself. And yourself, too. But boy, do I need an Earl Grey now," he said. With that, a Therondian guard brought along a horse from the ship to the king himself. The king hopped on his horse and I hopped on mine. With a slight kick, our horses strolled along the dock.

Along the way, villagers waved at our presence. Hiccup's story regarding the kingdom's wrath has indeed spread, but the villagers remained silent about it. Luckily, they behaved normally when the royals passed by them. Some did look nervous, but it was not enough to attract attention.

However, as we strolled past the Olsen's, the glaring eyes of the Vikings turned the heads of the royals. Valka stood by the entrance with Lady Olsen, staring at the king with a dead glare. Luckily, she already had her attire changed to a normal Arendellian look, though it's quite the sight to behold; a Berkian wearing an Arendellian outfit who was not Hiccup, who had worn Arendellian attire many times before. So, appearance wise, she didn't attract any suspicion. But her staring was too much.

"Is that lady okay?" King Adam asked.

"Oh, she's just always grumpy," I excused. Suddenly, by the windows of the inn, the other Vikings peeked through, seemingly curious of the passing royals. They didn't give the death glare like Valka did, but again, it was enough to raise more question.

"Her colleagues seemed to be eager in seeing us. Have they not seen a king before?" He asked.

I stuck my bottom lip out. "Perhaps they have not. Who knows?"

Fortunately, Valka stopped the glaring and stormed into the cabin. I did signal the woman to stop the glaring and all, but she cared none. I guess it would be hard not to glare at the ruler of the nation that invaded your homeland and committed genocide on hundreds of people.

Maintaining my cool all the way, we finally reached the gate. The guards opened the gate for us. Once inside, I hopped off my horse and signaled her to return to the stable by herself.

"You do know the way, right?" I asked the king of Therondia.

"To where?" He raised a brow.

"To the dining room. We'll meet you there. In the meantime, let me get my sister, okay?"


"Remember, the trip to Berk never happened, okay?" I reminded my sister.

"I know, I know," she said.

Pushing the door open revealed ourselves on the doorway. We spotted King Adam sitting alone by himself, sipping on a cup of tea which I assumed was Earl Grey, the very tea he mentioned earlier.

Once spotting us, particularly Elsa, the man's eyes widened. "Ah, Queen Elsa! Or should I say… princess? Again, I'm a bit confused with your title."

We took our seats next to each other and across King Adam's. "You still may address me with queen. People still think that I'm the queen, despite Anna already taking over."

Demanding a proper addressing; that's not very Elsa. But then again, we were facing the king of Therondia, not one of our friends.

"Very well. I suppose there isn't really any rule that says that you can't have two queens," he cracked his knuckles and folded them. "How are you two doing?"

"Oh we've been fine. Well, running a kingdom is never the easiest job in the world," I replied. "Especially when you've fallen from the stairs."

Elsa turned to me. "You have?"

I pointed a finger to my bandaged head. She rounded her mouth afterwards. We should've had a longer briefing.

"Ah yeah, that," she bobbed her head.

"And you, Elsa?" King Adam asked. "Are you a ruler of a different land? Come on, two queens? That can't be the case."

She shook her head gently. "I am not. I'm just residing in Northuldra now, a place where I belong. Having been born with powers, Northuldra is just the place where I belong, with the other spirits."

The king scooched closer. That might've been a mistake. "Interesting… Are you saying you're not the only one with powers?"

I took a glance to Elsa, who seemed to have realized that she might've spoken too much. But she tried her best to respond naturally.

"Uhh… yeah…" She answered. A part of me wished that she'd come up with a different answer, but Elsa was terrible in coming up with lies at the very last second.

"Just when I thought magic was just a story to keep the children entertained. Please, do tell me about this land called Northuldra," Adam sounded more and more interested. "What of the spirits, how many are there?"

Elsa bit her lips. "There are five of them, including me, as I discovered recently. Hence, why I gave the throne to my sister."

"Five..." Adam grabbed his chin. "What do the others possess? The same ice powers?"

"The four basic elements. Earth, fire, water, and air," she casually explained. Elsa' casualness in giving away such information was getting under my skin. I wanted to tell her to stop telling more, so I gently kicked her foot under the table. Despite being signaled, Elsa didn't even bat an eye.

"Sounds… magical. Are they in the form of humans as well?" King Adam asked.

"Oh, no. Each has their own form," she smiled.

"I would love to meet them. Where are they?" He asked again. This time, Elsa didn't answer right away, as her smile faded away. Instead, she put on that look on her eyes whenever she was judging someone, as if she was looking directly into his soul (if he had one, anyway).

"That, I can't share with you, I'm afraid," Elsa spoke, her lips curling into a smile once again. I was relieved on the inside. "It's confidential."

King Adam raised his brow at the word. I was sure he was slightly offended by our secrecy, but his feelings didn't matter if we were to put the lives of the people of Northuldra on the end of the line.

King Adam threw his back to the chair. "Oh come on, my queen, we've been allies for—"

"For only a couple of months. Trust takes years to build, not merely on a signature on a piece of paper," Elsa cut in sternly. I was cheering and nervous in the same time internally. King Adam gave my sister a stare that questioned her sudden sternness.

"Very well," he cleared his throat. He was about to say something again, but Elsa laid her elbows on the table, seemingly about to shoot the king some questions. And I was right.

"So, new land, huh?" Elsa asked. "Where could it possibly be?"

"I know, right? Where could it possibly be?" He smiled, and then his smile dropped away. "It's confidential."

My sister pouted, but purposefully. "Awe. That sucks. How are we gonna deliver our goods then? Ask the wind for direction? You do realize that we still trade goods. Unless you want to end the contract abruptly now?"

It was a good move by her to touch on that, though I was beginning to question who the real queen of Arendelle was. We still traded goods up until this point with Therondia.

"It's a land north from here. Well, northwest. From the papers, I learnt that it was an empty large island. No natives, perhaps just the wildlife," he smiled proudly. "Can't say no to an empty piece of land."

"But why move the entire kingdom?" My sister asked.

"I've always hated the south. Southern isles, especially," he said. Apparently, we weren't the only ones who shared the same hate, though I didn't learn his motives. "The land was getting drier and drier. I heard that this land offered a lot of potentials. Some of my men have already been there."

"Sounds like a jackpot," she clapped her hands once. "Congratulations on finding your new home."

The sarcasm was so well spoken, King Adam didn't seem to have a clue that she was being sarcastic. "Thank you. In truth, actually, we haven't really mapped the route thoroughly and correctly, so that's the actual reason why we're not sharing the information of its whereabouts," King Adam smiled sheepishly. "Once we're ready with the map, we'll take you there someday."

"I'm looking forward to it," Elsa replied. "How many days of sailing are ahead of you?"

He counted with his fingers. "Perhaps roughly… seven or eight days?"

"Well, please, do fill your stocks," she smiled with one end of her lips. "Don't want your men and women to starve midway."

"Indeed, I do not want that. What I want is… perhaps an honor taking you for a stroll, Queen Elsa? Queen Anna?" King Adam asked. My sister and I exchanged a look to convey our uncertainty with the request.

"Please, my sister will be honored," I replied. That immediately earned a frown from her. "You two have been doing most of the talking, anyway. And I have a lot of paperwork to do."

"Yeah, I just noticed that. Have you been spacing out, Queen Anna?" He asked, chuckling slightly.

"Oh yeah, it's the head, you know," I gestured to my bandage. "It's messing with my senses."

"No, it's not," Elsa rejected.

"You're not the one with the banged-up head, sis," I rejected again.

"But, Queen Elsa, I see that you have some patches as well," King Adam pointed to her patches.

"Ah, I fell from the tree," she excused. Though it sounded more terrible than my excuse, her execution was far more natural, resulting in King Adam seeming to buy her excuse.

"Must've been a tall tree," he said.

"Oh yeah. Trees in Northuldra are tall," she said. "And very well! I'll do the honor. Where do you want to go?"

"How about…" he stuck his bottom lip out. "The town?"

"Sounds good. Why don't you wait by the gate? I need to prepare myself," she smiled confidently. With that cue, the king stood and bowed to the two of us.

"By the gate. I'll see you later, Queen Anna," he bid. After that, he left the room where two guards welcomed him and escorted him along.

I turned to my sister. "Great, now you have a date with the king of Therondia. I can already tell that he's into you."

"Well," she shrugged, "I can tell the same thing. But… faking it is the name of the game, no? We are pretending that we do not know the crimes that he has done. Hence, the former queen of Arendelle is going on a date with the king of Therondia."

I pondered for a moment, trying to remember King Adam's dating history by the stories I've heard. "Doesn't he have a wife?"

Elsa's eyes widened. "Oh my god. He does. What the—"

"Well, doesn't matter. This walk was probably not meant to be a date, anyway," I cut in.

"He would've come up with a reason to exclude you, if he really is trying to take me out," Elsa added back.

"I guess…" I laid my back against the chair. "But boy… were you playing with him back there," I smirked. "Never thought my socially-awkward sister would be able to play with a guy's feelings."

She stood up from her chair. "I know. Three years of taking the responsibilities of the crown and this is the result. Who knows? Perhaps the same thing will happen to you."

"I am so not looking forward to that," I waved a hand to gesture her to leave. "Off you go. Be careful!"

She chuckled. "I will."


She missed lunch. I accepted that. Perhaps they had lunch somewhere else.

She missed dinner. I could not accept that.

It's past bed time. Where the hell could they be?

I looked out of my window, waiting for the main gate to open anytime. Waiting for three hours straight had not helped me with my anxiety. Sure, pretending of the king's background was the name of the game, but was dating with the man himself a must? He really had to ask for such request.

So far, no Therondian pulled anything suspicious. At least, my patrolling guards didn't spot any suspicious move, yet. They had only been resupplying themselves as their own king himself had mentioned. But when it came to Therondia, such peacefulness was too good to be true. This is a human-trafficking kingdom, for Pete's sake.

I was nearing my fourth hour of waiting for the arrival of my sister. Perhaps this was time to send a search party. It's one o'clock in the morning, though the weather seemed to be anything but a morning-like weather; it was cloudy with a chance of heavy rain. Not coming home this late could only either mean the two were having a good time on the bed or they got stuck because their drunk minds wouldn't allow them to unstuck themselves. But they were no couple.

I put on my cloak over my sleeping gown. I took one last glance out of the window, but then I spotted the main gate opening. My sister stepped in, turned around, and waved to a figure that I assumed was King Adam. The guards didn't let the king enter as Elsa walked away to the entrance nonchalantly.

"There you are…" I removed my cloak and rushed my way to her. Through the corridors, spiral stairs, and more corridors, I finally caught my sister up, who was sneaking into the kitchen. I crashed my body into her back.

"Elsa!" I hugged her.

"Anna!—" she turned around, "Geez, you shocked me!"

I held her arms. "Are you okay? I was beginning to worry because you're so late—"

"I'm fine… it's just… ohh—" she lost her footing for a second, and immediately regained balance with a step backward. "I need some water."

The smell of breath caught my attention. "Have you been drinking?"

"Yes. Man basically tried to get me drunk. Little did he know, he was trying to get me drunk," she gestured to herself proudly as she drank some water from a nearby glass. "Though… he's quite the drinker… it was a close match…" Once again, she was losing her footing, so I had to catch her before she could harm herself.

"You need to sleep. Goodness me, thank God you're a strong drinker," I raised her weight by pushing her up by the armpit, and then placed her arm over my neck. "What did you have?"

"Wine…" she answered with a slightly slurry tone.

I took another sniff. "Yeah, smells about right," I began to walk.

"Hey, can I sleep with ya?" She requested.

I raised a brow. "Why?"

"Just thought that… my sister would need a company through her hard times…" she sounded more slurry than before.

"I'm beginning to think that the wine has just kicked in," I said to her, as I slowly took her up the steps of the spiral stairs. This was not an easy task, especially with Elsa weighing us down more and more as time passed. "Beginning to think we should invest in an elevator as well, quite frankly! Hiccup would've known the mechanism."

"So? Can I?" She asked again.

"Yes, you can, sis," I smiled slightly, though it faded away in irritation when I looked at her drunk face.

"Yayyyyy…"

A soft snore sounded afterwards. I stopped on my track to give gentle slaps to wake her up.

"Wake up, we're not there yet!" I commanded.

"Huh? Adam?" Her eyes opened by half.

Finally, we reached the final step. With a left turn, we were in the corridor of our bedrooms. We entered mine. With every last bit of energy there was, I threw my sister to the bed. Seeing that only her upper half managed to land, I grabbed her feet and threw them on the bed as well. Elsa was a slim person, but she was still a dead weight.

I crawled to her side and laid down, sighing out. "Geez, you are heavy."

"Zzz…"

I turned to her, and a stream of drool was already running from the edge of her lips. It was a sight that I never thought I would see in this life. I guess it runs in the family. It's good to know that her drool didn't turn into a small icicle.

"Good night to you, too," I pulled my pillow and covered myself in blanket. I was going to do the same to my sister, but the cold never bothered her, so I shouldn't bother.

I shut my eyes. It didn't take long for me to be carried into the realm of unconsciousness due to my exhaustion after carrying my sister all the way from the kitchen to the bedroom. I was in for a good night sleep, because sleeps after doing some heavy manual labors are always the best.

At least, I thought I was.

My sister was shuffling a lot in her sleep. With the soft springs of the bed, perhaps I should invest in a bed with stiffer springs since her movement caused the bed to move a lot. I tried to ignore it, but it was too disturbing not to ignore.

"Elsa…" I called softly. "Stop shuffling about so—" I opened my eyes to see not Elsa, but two men about to lift her.

"EL—" a hand caught my mouth from behind and sealed it. Another hand caught both of my hands. I tried breaking free but the man's grasp was too strong for me. Being drunk, Elsa showed no resistance as the men simply slid her into a sack and tied the hole with a rope; full on Santa Claus style.

"ELSA—" I kept yelling for her name, despite they were all muffled by the man. I opened my jaw to specifically bite the man's hand, but instead, he pressed my tongue down. He had a thick glove on, and biting it did not seem to affect him in the slightest. Like a helpless animal, he toyed my jaw around by swinging it up and down.

"Don't you dare try to bite me, Your Majesty," a deep raspy voice warned.

"We're ready, tie her down," the man who picked up the sack of Elsa said. With that, the man behind me shut my lower jaw tight and used a long piece of cloth to shut my mouth in the same manner. He proceeded to do the same with both of my hands and feet, all tied together to prevent any mobility.

"In the wardrobe, make sure to lock it," the man instructed.

"MFFFF! NFFHGHHH!" I wiggled. With ease, the man picked me up by the rope and threw me into the wardrobe. Once inside, he shut it and a click sounded. It could've only meant that he locked it.

"MFF! FELSHAAA!" I desperately tried to call for her name. I heard footsteps walking away and the click of a door being shut. My entire world dropped right at that moment.

"ELSHAAA! MFFFF! SUMBODI, PLEASHHHEE!"

I banged my head into the door.

"NGGGH! MFFFTT!"

I yelled and yelled, until I actually felt exhausted. I never thought that I would feel exhausted by just yelling. Though to be fair; I was running out of oxygen, my hands and feet were tied altogether, my position was so uncomfortable, I was on the verge of having a painful cramp, and my sister's life was at stake.

"NGHH! NGHHhhh…" I began to break down in tears. "P-P-Pleasshh…"

I pulled my head to bang the door with my head for the final time. Just when I was about to land a bang, my entire weight rolled out of the wardrobe. The door was opened by somebody, who turned out to be Cassandra!

"Anna? Oh God, who did this to you?" She pulled out a dagger and began to untie me.

Once she removed the piece of cloth on my mouth, I inhaled a large amount of fresh air to refresh my lungs. "Hahh… my sister was kidnapped! Warn the others!"

Her green eyes widened. "Oh no," she helped me stand up and rushed out of the room. I followed her lead slowly. "Guards!"

I turned to a corner where a chatter was sounding from. There, I spotted Cassandra talking to General Mattias.

"How did you know? Did you see her?" The General asked.

"Queen Anna was kept inside her wardrobe, for God's sake! We need to get her back!" She replied. As I weakly walked to her, the general spotted me.

"Queen Anna? You okay?" He asked.

I bobbed my head, but not to answer his question. "S-She's right. The Therondians have my sister!"

His eyes widened. "Oh no, oh no," he ran off to a direction we followed. He began to warn the others along the way.

"Any idea where they've gone in particular?" I asked General Mattias.

"I heard they were departing tonight. There's only one place to look at," he replied.

The three of us ran out to the stables. Cassandra and I hopped on Molly and other Arendellian guards followed from behind. We stormed out of the gate with torches and swords lifted onto the air. A fire arrow was shot high up into the air, signaling for anyone standing by the cannons to prepare them. It was also a signal for the guards patrolling in the village to chase after the Therondians, who apparently had gone onboard on their ships. At least, a pack of three had not, as we later discovered when arriving upon the dock. As it happened, one man had a sack with a possible human being inside in his possession. They were just about to get on to the ship.

"There!" I pointed. "Stop him!"

With that command, arrows were shot right on the man's path. Alarmed by our presence, the Therondian kidnappers tried to rush, but more arrows landed on their path to prevent them from getting on their ship.

"Anna, wait," Cassandra suddenly said. "Drop me here."

I pulled Molly by the harness to slow him down. "What? Why?"

"I can get onto the boat in stealth. Or not in stealth. They still recognize me as a Therondian, you know?" She smirked confidently.

I rounded my mouth. "Good idea!"

I put Molly in a full stop and let Cassandra drop. "Wish me luck."

"Good luck," I wished. With that, she dashed off into the houses to engage whatever plan she had that I trusted. Afterwards, I joined my men and women, who had already crowded the dock but seemed to be frozen due to something.

I dropped off my horse and squeezed through the crowd to see what the big deal was. Apparently, it was the biggest deal there was. King Adam, pointing a dagger to the neck of my unconscious sister. She was taken out of the sack to be held hostage.

"Adam, let her go!" I demanded. "You have nowhere to go! We have armed and manned every cannon in the kingdom, and they are all aimed to your ships!"

"Oh, that's cute of you. You'd risk your sister's life by trying to sink my ships with your outdated cannons?" He countered back. I clicked my tongue. He was right. This was Elsa we were talking, the only one I've got left in my little life. And even if my cannons could sink one of his ships, they would just counter the fire back.

"Tsk… Take me, instead! In exchange for her! I will yield to you, I promise!" I gave him an offer, and he laughed at it.

"HA! A normal human being for one who could manipulate ice? You serious?" He asked, stepping casual steps backward to reach his ship. "Besides, Northuldra sounds like quite the place to visit. And your sister here will certainly tell me the direction."

I bit my lips. "You and your human trafficking market…"

He stopped on his track. "My what?"

I pointed a finger to him. "I know everything, Adam. How you attacked Berk, tried to ship the chief into your land to be sold, went to the Hidden World with Drago's help to capture and sell the dragons overseas."

He loosened his grasp on my sister and proceeded to chuckle. "And what are you gonna do with that information? Set up an alliance with other kingdoms to attack me?"

I nodded. "I never thought of that, but you just gave me the idea and it doesn't sound so bad. People like you do not deserve to exist in this world. But then again, we have defeated your kingdom. Those Therondians who are in Berk are no more!"

He laughed hard, totally not buying the fact that I just spat. "Oh darling… yeah, that was quite the joke. It's just a game of survival, this world," he smiled, taking his steps backward with his men. "Face it. You do not have the guts to make any step because I have this knife that can expose her neck open whenever I please. One cannon fire, one gunfire, hell, one step forward, and I will end her life."

His statement bitterly could not get anymore obvious. Gritting my teeth, tears began to roll down my cheeks as I knelt down. "A-Adam… P-Please!..."

King Adam began to take his steps up the wooden plank that connected his ship and the dock. Midway, someone from behind pushed through the crowd into the open. Cassandra.

"Lady Cassandra?" King Adam asked.

"Your Highness! Thank goodness you're here!" She rushed over to his side.

"What happened to you? How are you here?" He asked curiously. Before she could respond, Cassandra wiped off the 'sweat' on her forehead while panting heavily.

"I was imprisoned by…" she turned to me. "Her Majesty. Some of your boys found me. Thank God you're here!"

"Oh you poor thing, hop onboard, we need all hands on deck," Adam said, gesturing her to go. With a slight turn, the good Therondian gave me a wink as they all climbed onboard.

She was now my last hope.

Out of nowhere, lightning lit the sky abruptly. After that, more and more lightning followed. The sky was awake, but in a different way. And it was about to be more awake when rain poured down. My skin sensed an oddly familiar sensation when the droplets landed on my bare arms. They were not the usual droplets, but they contained ashes. Volcanic ashes that I could only wonder where it originated from.

Under the rain, we hopelessly watched the Therondian ship float away from its parking spot.

"My Queen," General Mattias called from my side. "Lady Cassandra was acting, right?"

I nodded. "She was. I don't exactly know how she's going to take my sister out of there, but for the time being, gather the horses. We will tail them along the coastline of the fjord. Lit no torches to maintain a low profile."

"Okay. But what happens when they reach the open water?" He asked.

My brain pondered for an answer for a moment. It found nothing.

"I don't know…"

Cassandra'a POV

I watched His Highness' men carrying Elsa into the lower deck patiently, when suddenly, a hand poked my arm. I looked up to see King Adam himself.

"Were you listening?" He asked.

"Ah, forgive me. You were saying?" I asked.

"Make yourself at home. Join me in the cabin, I have an extra bed," he pointed his thumb to the door that led to the cabin while shielding himself from the rain with his arm. I politely shook my head at his offer.

"Please, you first. I would like to embrace the fresh air first. It's been too long since I last had the wind in my hair," I added a smile to seem more reassuring.

"Lady Cassandra, it's about to rain!" He said.

"I know. I will come in once it's too harsh to handle," I replied.

"Very well," he nodded and walked away to the cabin. "Don't catch any cold!"

"No worries. Good night, my king," I bid.

"Good night, milady," he replied without turning to me.

With that, I sat by the railing of the ship and simply watched the crew loosening the sails to gain as much speed as they could. Our ship was the last one to exit the bay. Indeed, every cannon on every fortress was aimed at our armada, but not one dared to shoot.

I opened my hand to sense the droplets falling from the sky. When I brushed my hands together, that's when I realized something was inside the droplets. They felt like minerals. Despite the darkness, I could tell that this was the previous volcanic mineral we once had days ago. It seemed that I was the only one who noticed the weird but yet explainable phenomenon onboard, as the crew simply kept on with their job as if this was a normal rain going on.

My plan was to wait until the crew to finish their job and go to sleep, and then check on Elsa and work things out as I go. However, the lightning up above didn't seem to be so friendly, the light drizzle soon became torrential in a matter of seconds. Seeing so, I rushed into the lower deck to shelter away from the rain. There, I saw my objective, Elsa, caged inside a tight barred cage and cuffed on both hands.

I looked around to see for any spying pair of eyes in the environment. Luckily, this floor was used to store supplies, not for a place for the crew to sleep, so no spying eyes were there. Not to mention that the cage was placed in the corner of the room, where the lit torches' light could barely reach. There was another set of stairs leading an even lower deck that would probably lead to where the crew sleep.

I approached the cage and knelt by it. I discovered that the handcuffs were no ordinary cuffs; they were connected to a coal machine that generated heat in the cuffs themselves. The steel itself was already thick to begin with, and with added heat, I was surprised to see that Elsa had not waken up yet, though she was sweating big time. It really was a sight of torture.

"I'm gonna get you out of here…" I laid a hand on one of the bars. "I promise—huh?"

I turned around to the sound of rushing footsteps. I saw men and women rushing their way to the most bottom deck, not one spotting me sitting by the cage of the former queen of Arendelle. After that, judging from the sound of the pouring rain, I assumed that it was getting harsher.

I turned around to the cage again and looked at the lock of it. "Okay… I need a key… where could it be…"

"Lady Cassandra?"

I turned around and King Adam was there, holding a torch on his own. "My king!"

He grew a suspicious look. "What are you up to?"

"Oh…" I quickly thought of a lie to tell. "I was just… checking in the prisoner. You know, to make sure she's safe and won't escape."

"She's asleep. She had several bottles of wines previously. My goodness was she a good drinker," he clicked his tongue. "Anyway, milady, I have to ask, how did you get here?"

I stood up to face him. "I was… did you see that one Therondian ship when you arrived? Arendellian guards took us in into their dungeon."

"For what reason?" He asked.

"… Something about human-trafficking…" I made up, pretending to be oblivious as possible.

He grabbed his chin. "How did the Arendellians know about this?... I wonder…"

"I wonder of the same, too," I followed his gesture to grab my chin. "Perhaps—"

"But, Lady Cassandra, where are the others? You said you were with the others? Where's your husband, Xander? Your son? Gideon?" He asked, sounding more interrogative by the moment. It was not a pleasant feeling to behold.

"Xander is back in Berk… And so is Gideon…" I lied.

He raised his brow. "The others?"

"Uh…" My mind struggled to come up with a believable lie, and Adam read it like a book.

"I asked my boys as well. None of them found you. You just appeared out of nowhere, as a matter of fact," he crossed his arms. "Where could you have been all this time?"

I nervously gulped, cold sweat running across my back.

"And you are dressed in a sleeping gown. Arendellian sleeping gown," he pointed to my attire. I realized that it was a big giveaway for him just now. "Not sure if a prisoner would be given a night gown, to be frank. I smell treason."

"T-Treason?" I waved a hand off. "Oh don't be silly, Your Highness—"

"I will execute you at morning. At least it will be a tad brighter for us by then so we can enjoy the scene. Executions are always nice to watch, anyway," he smiled cockily. Seeing that he'd already dropped a sentence on me, that's when I thought I had nothing to lose. I pulled out my dagger and swung it right into his neck.

However, with a reflex out of this world, he grabbed my hand and landed a good punch on my face. The punch made me hit the bars of Elsa's cage hard.

"You're lucky that I'm patient tonight. Besides, I have Elsa in my possession," he smirked. While I was still concussed, he took out a set of keys and opened Elsa's cage. With a reckless pull, he pulled me into the cage and closed it once again.

"Behave."

With that note, he left me alone with Elsa. My plan had been executed immaculately.

I sighed deeply. "I'm sorry, Elsa… I should've come up with a better plan," I turned to her, who was still asleep. "I know you're not hearing me, but I want you to know that… it's been nice knowing you, and Anna. I'm fairly sure you'll get out of this alive, unlike me, who's not a person with powers."

I scooched closer to her and whispered by her ear, "Please tell Gideon that… I'm sorry. And I love him."

I returned to my original position and sighed dramatically.

It didn't take long until I was in a deep slumber due to my pounding head.

However, as deep as I was in my slumber, minutes later, I heard someone knocking the bars of the cage. I slowly opened my eyes, but quickly gasped afterwards.

"Hiccup?!"