All right, now if you remember last chapter I put that the cloaked man who's been watching Daniel says the goblins are after something, and he hopes Daniel will get to it first. Now as usual I hope the title doesn't give it away. If it does, well I don't really know what else to do about that. Anyhow, you're about to see what they're after soon enough, and a little spoiler, it's gonna be something Daniel will really have to get before the goblins do. So let's move on.
A few days after Daniel had gotten rid of the suit of darkness, he had gotten over what had happened; Almost being corrupted by darkness and being forcibly controlled. But what he was still concerned about was the voice that spoke to him when he was trying to get rid of it.
It was a warm summer day, and he and Elsa had decided to have some alone time with one another, and they were out on their personal horses, riding through the lush greenery of the Arendelle woods.
"So how have you been?" Elsa asked the swordsman as their horses walked through the green meadow of grass. "Are you still shaken up about what happened the other night?"
"Not as much anymore. Ever since I ditched that suit of darkness, things have started to feel a little better for me. Thought there is one thing that I'm still pretty concerned about."
"What's that?"
"Remember when I was trying to get the suit off my body, and I yelled 'get out of my head'?"
"Yeah."
"While I was trying to tear the suit off of me, I heard this voice speaking telepathically to me. I'm almost positive it's a voice I heard before, but the thing is at the same time, it also sounded like a complete mystery to me."
"Well, that certainly is strange. What was the voice saying?"
"It was telling me to give into the darkness, and let it take me. And for a few seconds, a part of me actually did want to give in."
"What made you keep resisting though?"
"You," Daniel said looking to the snow queen.
"Me?" Elsa blushed slightly.
"I felt my mind slowly falling into the darkness, and I felt like at any minute my heart would be consumed, and had it succeeded, there's no telling what could have happened to me. But then I felt a pull to the light, and I thought about you. I thought to myself, what would she think of me, if I were the sort of person who just gave into the darkness. So that's why I kept fighting, and sure enough it worked."
"So what you're saying is..." Elsa began to say until Daniel finished for her saying, "I think that it's you. You are my light, Elsa. You've saved me in so many situations. And I'm not just talking about in battles, but whenever I begin doubting myself, I think to myself that you're who I can look up to. You're the reason that I keep fighting."
"Nobody but Anna has ever felt that way about me before. I'm touched," Elsa blushed even more.
As their horses kept on walking, the two stared into each other's eyes, both slightly red in the face, thinking of nothing but their feelings towards one another.
But that moment was interrupted when they heard rustling in the trees and bushes.
In seconds, up to 3 dozen goblins walked out from the trees and bushes, all armed with swords and axes.
"Ah, give me a break," Daniel said irritatingly. "Just once I'd like a moment of peace."
He jumped off of his horse, and then cloaked his body in fire, in which he changed into his original suit of armor. "It feels good to be back in my old suit of armor," he said drawing his sword.
The goblins all charged in at him at once, but Daniel backflipped out of the way from them all, then he rushed towards them and fought them off.
A few of them started making their way towards Elsa and her horse, which started to back up in fear at the sight of those bloodthirsty monsters, and Elsa was also beginning to panic at the sight of them, and frost started to cover the ground underneath her.
"Elsa!" Daniel called out to her as he was sword-fighting with three goblins at once. "Remember what I said. They're nothing but vicious monsters. Don't hesitate to kill them."
Elsa then looked back towards them and her face turned serious. She waved her right hand in front of her, blasting the ground with her ice magic, which conjured up a bunch of icicles from the ground, and pierced through those few goblins at her.
"Yeah, that's it," the swordsman said proudly to her. And then he swiftly swung his sword at the three goblins he was fighting, cutting all three of their heads off at once.
Elsa got off the back of her horse, then walked towards more of the many remaining goblins.
"Take the girl!" one said and half a dozen of them marched towards the snow queen.
"Conceal don't feel. Don't be afraid," Elsa said to herself.
She put both her hands in front of her and unleashed a flurry of ice magic from her hands at the goblins, and in seconds just like it had happened with Anna when Elsa froze her heart, the goblins were turned instantly to solid ice.
"Kill them both!" another one of the goblins yelled.
The remaining ones all started making their way towards Elsa and Daniel.
"Keep fighting. Don't stop!" Daniel yelled and started using his sword to start slashing and stabbing all the goblins, while Elsa kept her distance from any, to freeze them to solid ice.
They made their way around the area in which they were stuck as more and more goblins came at them, and they were both back to back.
"Remember when we destroyed my evil clone together?" Daniel asked from behind.
"How could I forget?" Elsa replied.
"The way we destroyed him was by merging our powers together into one. If that destroyed him, what do you think it'd do to the goblins?"
Elsa's expression became instantly puzzled as she looked towards Daniel. "Let's find out."
Daniel sheathed his sword and then they stepped next to one another. "Give me your hand." He held out his right hand for her.
She took it with her left hand and the second they were joined together, like how it happened when they were alone in the library, an icy blue aura shined on Elsa's body and a fiery red one shined on Daniel's.
Both of them raised their free hands on front of them and shot fire and ice in unison at the goblins, which split into many streams after they shot their magic blasts.
Each stream of fire and ice collided together with the opposing one, and each one hit a goblin square in the chest, which first turned it into ice and then burst into flames.
The process kept repeating over and over, with the swordsman and the snow queen shooting fire and ice, which collided together and destroyed the goblins, until there were none left alive.
As for the remaining dead ones, each and every one of their bodies faded into darkness.
Elsa and Daniel both let go of each other, and the auras around their bodies faded.
"You know, I think this really is a whole lot easier when I have a perfect ally by my side," Daniel said to her.
"If that's a compliment, then thank you," Elsa said back to him.
"I knew we were compatible in some way. We may even be more compatible than we both know."
"Could be. I guess only time will tell. But when I'm around you, I feel stronger than anybody could know."
"Then I'm not the only one. From the moment we first used our powers together, I knew that together we could be capable of doing greater things together."
Elsa smiled towards him and Daniel returned it, but then she looked to the ground and saw something. "What is that?"
Daniel looked to see on the ground a small piece of paper. "Wonder what this is. One of the goblins must have been carrying it on them." He walked over and picked it up. He unfolded it and looked over it, and as he was reading his expression became completely shocked.
"What's wrong?"
"We've gotta get back to the castle. Come on!" He rushed over to his horse and mounted her.
"Why what's wrong? Are you okay?" Elsa asked as she walked over to her horse and mounted it as well.
They both snapped the reins on their steeds and they took off back towards Arendelle.
"The goblins are after something, according to that paper I read. They're after something people said to be just part of a story, and believe me when I say that I really wish it was just a story."
"What are they after?" Elsa asked as they rode through the forest.
"I'll tell you when we're back at the castle. Your father and the others need to hear this, too."
Without stopping the two rode all the way back to the castle, and once there they gathered King Adgar, Queen Idun, Anna and Kristoff.
They all gathered in the library for a private conversation, and they each took a seat at the table as Daniel explained it all to them.
"Another spell book? Like the one you have?" Anna asked.
"Yes. See over 300 years ago, in a town not far from here, there was a village where people all lived in peace. But among all that peace, was but one problem. That problem was an evil sorceress by the name of Glynda Warton. She was a powerful sorceress, with terrible abilities through black magic. This sorceress got her powers from a spell book, that many people say she'd gotten after selling her soul to demons of the underworld."
"I had a feeling it was gonna be something like this," Anna spoke aloud. "When it comes to these stories, it's always about darkness and magic."
"I wish I could stop running into these things, I really do," Daniel said to her. "Continuing on with the story though, the sorceress, Glynda Warton had used her black magic abilities to terrorize the town by stealing the souls of innocent people, summon demons from the underworld, lure children into her cottage, where she would feast on their bodies, until the townspeople just couldn't take it anymore."
"What happened to her?" Kristoff asked.
"Well, story goes that one night, the townspeople decided to put an end to her once and for all. That night when she was sleeping, they set her cottage on fire. She woke up to the heat of the flames, and when she knew she wouldn't make it out alive, she cast a protection spell over her book, to keep it from burning to ashes along with the cottage. And that spell remained in effect even after she suffered her fate. So after the cottage burned down, the townspeople found the spell book buried in the ash and rubble. Unable to destroy it, they decided to send it far away and hide it, where nobody could get to it. So now, according to this piece of paper the goblins were carrying, it's a clue to finding the spell book, which is hidden here somewhere in Arendelle."
"So what are you gonna do, then?" Elsa asked.
"Only one thing to do; I have to find that spell book before the goblins do." Daniel replied getting up from his seat.
"I suppose you're gonna get this new book so you can learn new spells against them?" Anna asked curiously.
"No," Daniel said grabbing his sword and hooking it onto his belt and then throwing on his cloak. "I'm gonna find this book and then destroy it before it falls into the wrong hands."
"What? Why would you destroy a spell book when you could use it to learn how to do more magic?" Anna asked again.
"She has a point, Daniel. Why find a spell book only to want to destroy it?" King Adgar asked curiously as well.
"Because the book I'm after is nothing but pure evil. The spells in that book cause nothing but disaster. Nothing good can come from that book, which is why I have to find it."
"Well, if it's that important, son, then I'm coming with you," the king said.
"I'll also come with you," Elsa chimed in getting up from the table.
"I want in on this, too," Anna got up as well.
"If you're going through the mountains, you'll need someone who knows them like the back of their hand," Kristoff stood up.
"I don't know about this. I feel like I've already put you all in enough danger as it is. The road to finding this book is gonna be a dangerous one."
"We knew the risks when we decided to help you fight these enemies, Daniel," said King Adgar. "And just like then, we're willing to take any risks to help you with your goal."
Daniel looked to them all, who each had determined looks on their faces. He sighed but then looked back to the king. "All right. I'll give you a chance, seeing as how you've trusted me for so long, I'll trust you on this."
The swordsman pulled out the piece of paper he got from the goblins, then laid it on the table for the others to see.
"According to this paper I got off the goblins, the clue to finding the spell book is somewhere at the lower peaks of the North Mountain, 10 miles from the valley where the trolls live."
"I know where that is," Kristoff spoke up. "There are a bunch of caves in that area. So it seems only right something like a spell book would be hidden there."
"True. But I bet you anything there are goblins scouting out that whole place, so we'll need to go armed, and maybe even add a few more allies."
"We'll get a group of our best guards to go with us," King Adgar said.
"Grab whatever necessary supplies as you can, we leave in an hour," Daniel said.
Later on that day, Elsa, Daniel, Anna, Kristoff, King Adgar Queen Idun and over a dozen castle guards made their way out of the castle, most of them on horses to get to the location to the clue to Glynda Warton's spell book.
The group of people all rode through the greenery of the forests, making their way towards the mountains.
Each one of them was properly armed; King Adgar was in his father's suit of armor, like how he wore in the battle against the army of goblins that attacked Arendelle, while Kristoff and each one of the guards that came along, were all suited up in armor as well, carrying shields, swords and crossbows on their backs.
Anna and her mother both kept a sword on them for they too were both skilled with using a sword.
"So..." Kristoff said as he and Anna were in his sled, being pulled by the mountain man's loyal reindeer Sven. "You also know how to use a sword?"
"When you're locked in a castle for 13 years, waiting for your sisters coronation you gotta find something to do to pass the time," Anna explained. "I'd practiced since I was about 14 years old, for about 3 hours a day."
"Do you think that you could teach me?" Kristoff asked. "Hans himself said I need more practice."
"Hans?" Anna asked confused.
"When that army came to Arendelle, one of those goblins had me pinned, and Hans kind of saved my life."
"Who would've thought? The same man who lied to me, left me to die and tried to kill my sister saved your life."
"Think you're shocked to hear it. I was even more so to see it was him."
"Sure. I'd be glad to teach you once we get back home," Anna said proudly.
Riding altogether, Elsa, Daniel and King Adgar were all within close proximity to one another.
"So how much farther, Kristoff?" King Adgar called back to him.
"We're about halfway there," Kristoff replied. "We're on the right trail as far as I can tell. When the forest area gets smaller and smaller, and it becomes more rocky and wasteland like, that's when we'll be closer."
"So, do you think that the goblins have found the clue to that spell book?" Elsa asked Daniel.
"I really hope not. If they get that book, we could without a doubt be in great danger," Daniel responded.
"But why would they go after something that may not even be real?" Elsa asked again.
"My best guess: Their boss, whoever that is must want its power. Whoever is creating all these monsters, must want the book for more power."
"Don't worry, son. We'll find it," King Adgar assured him.
"Yeah, yeah. You're right," Daniel said trying to stay positive.
After a couple more hours of going, the scenery slowly began to change.
As Kristoff had said, the forest area was becoming less and less, and they were coming across a place where it was nothing but sand and rocks.
"This is it," Kristoff said. "It's just about a couple more minutes away."
"Stop," Daniel called out stopping his horse.
Everyone else stopped their horses as well as Daniel dismounted his.
"We'll have to go the rest of the way on foot," the swordsman said patting his horse on her head.
"Why?" Queen Idun asked.
"If we go any further on them, the horses might give us away, and I can't take the chance at the goblins getting onto us."
"You don't know that'll happen. There might not even be any over there," she argued.
"I'm not taking any chances," Daniel looked towards her sternly which she returned.
"He's right, Idun," King Adgar said dismounting from his horse as well.
"What?"
"If this task he's trying to accomplish is really that important, then he's right, we can't take any chances."
Elsa and all the guards dismounted their horses, while Anna and Kristoff got off his sled.
The queen sighed in slight frustration. "All right." She dismounted her horse last. "But I'm telling you this is all for nothing."
The group all continued on foot, making their way to the spot.
After walking through the rocky land areas for another 15 minutes, they'd began to hear voices and yelling.
"Shh," Daniel said making sure everyone stayed silent.
The swordsman walked up a hill and hid behind a bunch of rocks, then looked down in a ditch to see many goblins scouting out the place.
Everyone else came from behind and stayed hidden as well.
"You were saying," Daniel said quietly to Queen Idun.
She had just rolled her eyes and looked away from him.
"There's quite a few caves here," Daniel said looking to see many caves in various spots, and goblins searching each one of them.
"They're all over the place," Anna said looking to the many goblins.
"I'd say there's over a hundred of them," Daniel said. "They'll stop at nothing to find that spell book, but neither will I."
"Well, it looks t me like they haven't found anything yet. They're getting frustrated about it, too," King Adgar said seeing a lot of them were angry and arguing with one another.
"There's at least a few dozen caves and holes around this area," Kristoff chimed in. "Whatever it is they're looking for could be anywhere."
Daniel looked all over to the goblins and to the many different caves, but what caught his eye was one that was completely blocked by rocks. "It's that one." He pointed to the blocked cave.
"Are you sure?" Anna asked. "There's a lot of caves here. It could be any one of them."
"Yeah, but that cave is caved in by a bunch of rocks. I bet you anything the people who hid the book would have done anything to make sure nobody would get it."
"I think he's right," King Adgar said. "If we can get into that cave, we can find the book."
"Only one problem," Queen Idun added. "This whole area is crawling with those monsters. We can't just go down there and fight. We'll be killed for sure."
"That's the one thing I do agree completely with you on," Daniel replied. "We gotta find a way to get around them. But how?"
King Adgar looked towards the many goblins surrounding the place, thinking of a way they could sneak past them and get into the cave. "What if we lured them out of here?"
"How?" Daniel asked.
"Your spell that allows you to create fake clones of yourself; Is there a way that you can pass it onto the rest of us, so that they can lure the goblins away?"
"I never thought of that before, never even tried doing it on another person except myself, but let's give it a try," Daniel said standing up and getting everyone a good distance from the pack of goblins.
"Alright, everybody. Hands in," Daniel put his left hand in front of himself.
Everyone else put one of their free hands on top of his and one another's, and then Daniel closed his eyes and started to concentrate hard.
Within moments, an illusion clone of everybody appeared behind the original.
"King Adgar and Daniel both laughed in relief.
"You did it," King Adgar said.
"Now concentrate on it with all your might. Focus, and use your mind to control you clones. Think of what you want them to say or do and they'll do it," Daniel explained to them.
In the small area that the goblins crowded up, they were still searching through the caves, and also arguing with one another.
"Hey, ugly army!"
They each turned their attention to Daniel's clone standing and revealing himself.
"That's the guy the boss wants!" One goblin said as they started to draw their weapons.
"Get him!" Another one yelled.
The entire pack of goblins began to charge at the illusion clones of everybody.
"Run!" Daniel's clone said to all the others as they all took off running in another direction, and the goblins, thinking they were real, continued to chase them off, until they were completely out of sight.
After they were gone, everybody who was hiding behind a bunch of boulders, or in a small ditch came out of hiding.
"Wow. It actually worked," Anna said surprised.
"Glad to see it did," Daniel said. "I was worried they weren't gonna take the bait. Now come on. Let's find that book."
Daniel made his way down to the area where the goblins were searching, and went over to the blocked cave.
"How exactly do you plan on getting into a cave that's been caved in?" Queen Idun asked crossing her arms over her chest.
Daniel smirked as he looked towards her. "Like so." He bared his left hand into a fist, and then punched the wall of rocks that blocked the entrance to the cave, which caused them to crumble and fall apart, making it an open space.
Daniel walked down into the cave with Elsa and King Adgar following behind, and he snapped his fingers on his right hand, lighting up his thumb with a spark of fire, like how he did when he helped the king light his cigar.
The cave only went on for a few minutes, and when it came to an end he saw something on the edge of the cave wall: Another piece of paper and something wrapped up in a light brown cloth.
Daniel picked up the paper with his free hand and looked over it.
"What is it?" Elsa asked from behind.
"It's some sort of riddle," the swordsman said and looked it over. "For once it's written in plain English. It says, 'To those unable to solve this riddle, from your goal you shall be lead astray. Only underneath the full moon's light shall you find the right pathway.'"
"Is that all?" Elsa asked a little confused.
Daniel flipped and turned the paper in his hand all around, trying to find some other clue. "That's it? That's our clue? Some sort of strange riddle."
"Well, maybe this riddle is what will lead us to the spell book," said King Adgar.
"But what does any of that mean? Under the light of the full moon?" the swordsman asked.
"I think I might know what it's talking about. I remember reading in this book once about legendary artifacts, some hidden in plain sight here in Arendelle."
"Go on," Daniel said to the king.
"One of those artifacts here was rather interesting to me. It's what's known as the moonlight mirrors. People say that under the full moon, the light reflects off those mirrors, pointing those is search of fabulous wonders."
"So where exactly do these moonlight mirrors reside exactly, Your Majesty?" Daniel asked again.
"If the rumors of it are true, they're at the top of the entire kingdom of Arendelle, atop the highest mountain."
Daniel turned around and looked back to what was wrapped in the old light brown cloth. He picked it up and unfolded the object which revealed to be a rusted brass key, the size of a natural sized dagger. "I don't suppose it said anything about needing a key, did it?"
"You know something, Daniel, if I recall I think it may have," the king replied.
"Well, I think we're in luck then. While in the wild I liked to observe the stars most nights, and if you look at them close enough, you can tell what kind of moon will be up in the sky. So if I've observed them right like I did a few days ago, then a full moon should be in the sky tonight."
"But the distance to the top of the highest mountain is such a long distance," Elsa chimed in. "The journey up there takes hours, and the it'll be dark soon."
"Remember the other day, after our battle with the goblin army?"
"Yes," Elsa replied.
"Recently I've been reading more through my spell book, and I don't know how I missed it before, but I overlooked a few things. One of which was that spell I'd used to open that silver portal. That portal will get us there in seconds."
"Well if that's the case, then maybe we should rest up, then go up to the mountain top as soon as it gets dark," Elsa suggested.
"Good plan. For now, let's get out of here, before those goblins come back," Daniel said as the trio started to leave the cave.
"If we're going to make a journey to the top of the mountain, we're going to need snow clothes. It'll be cold up there, especially since we're going up there at night," said King Adgar.
"We'll go back to the castle and get some gear then," Daniel responded.
After exiting the cave, they all regrouped and retuned back to the Arendelle castle to rest up.
Later that night, when the full moon was out and above the top of the Arendelle mountains a silver portal like the one Daniel used after the battle with the goblin army appeared, and Elsa, Daniel, King Adgar Queen Idun, Anna and Kristoff all arrived at their destination on top of the mountain.
"Well, we're here," King Adgar said.
The king and Daniel were wearing the same snow clothes they had when he and Elsa were helping Daniel learn to use his magic better in the North Mountain.
Anna wore the winter dress she got from Oaken's trading post when Elsa had froze summer, and Kristoff wore his same gray snowsuit.
Elsa had just been wearing her usual icy blue dress, because she wasn't bothered by the cold, and her mother Queen Idun wore a winter dress that had a dark purple gown, a brighter purple top with long sleeves, and dark blue winter gloves on her hands, black winter boots and a light gray cloak over her winter clothes.
They each walked over to some sort of objects that were buried underneath the snow.
Daniel had walked over to something and used his arm to brush the snow off, revealing a gray stoned, cylinder shaped pedestal with a keyhole on it.
King Adgar, Elsa, Anna and Kristoff walked over to the rest of the objects and brushed the snow off them as well, revealed 5 circular mirrors, each on metal poles.
"This is it?" said King Adgar. "This all matches the pictures of the artifact in that book I read."
"Then let's see where it leads us," Daniel said pulling out the rusty brass key.
He placed the key into the keyhole on the pedestal, turned it all the way around and then the pedestal sunk into the ground.
After that had happened, a tall gold brazier popped out of the snow and raised high above all the mirrors, then the moonlight that went into the top opening of that object shot out of a small hole lower on it, and the moonlight shot onto the closest mirror.
The moonlight reflected off of that mirror and onto another, which shifted to a position so it could reflect the light off that one too.
Each mirror repeated that same process until the moonlight bounced towards the last mirror, which tilted down lower, and the moonlight pointed to an area under the mountains.
Daniel rushed forward and pulled out his telescope to see what the moonlight was shining on.
"What do you see?" Anna asked.
"The light is shining on a wall, but I have the feeling it only looks like a wall from a distance." Daniel retracted his telescope and then held his right hand in front of himself, opening up another silver portal. "Let's get down there. You all go ahead of me. I'm gonna take the key to make sure the goblins don't beat us to it."
Everybody wasted no time and walked through his portal, while the swordsman took the brass key from the pedestal in the ground.
After he took the key, the brazier sunk back into the ground, while the pedestal returned it its position, and the mirrors did the same, so that it looked like nothing had happened.
Daniel then walked through the portal and it disappeared into thin air after he'd walked through it
All right then I think I'm gonna halt there for now. Sorry to keep it in I suppose it's suspense, because there's no telling what the moonlight just pointed them to. But I promise I won't wait long before I put the next chapter up. And just a little spoiler, for the next chapter the end of one problem is just gonna lead to another, which is how things are in certain situations like this. I don't know about any of you, but I think that I'm on a roll here. Before I was struggling and brainstorming to think of what to put next, and now here and there I'm getting new ideas from who knows where. Until next time, please read, review and enjoy.