~Chapter 44~
Noella
The four of us plus Sven continued into the freezing wilderness. Kristoff pointed out the north mountain to us as we got closer after rounding a bend. We came into a large clearing of trees with a frozen pond in the center with weeping willow branches covered in frozen droplets of water. In the distance there was also a small frozen waterfall. This place was beautiful; freezing, but beautiful all the same. Sven walked ahead of us jumping excitedly through the low hanging branches that sounded like chimes as they got tangled in his antlers.
"Wow, this place is amazing." Anna commented.
"Rapunzel would love this...it would give her an amazing backdrop for a painting." Eugene added sounding glum.
"We'll find her." I reassured him.
"How many people are you looking for exactly?" Kristoff asked peering back at us.
"Just enough." I answered.
"Hey someone hand me an icicle. I'm fantastic at finding people." A voice replied.
Anna and Kristoff halted ahead of us and Eugene and I stopped our horses. We peered around not seeing anybody, but I noticed a small snowman sitting right behind our horses. Curious, Eugene and I dismounted getting a closer look.
"Noella, if you wanted to build a snowman you could have asked...I happen to be an expert." Anna said joining us.
As we got closer, the snowman was smiling widely and then surprisingly it blinked.
"Did anybody else see the snowman blink?" Eugene asked.
"Of course, silly man!" The snowman replied, "I blink on a regular basis."
Anna screamed kicking the head of the snowman knocking his head off his snowy body. Kristoff caught the head.
"Well hi." The snowman smiled.
"That's creepy." Kristoff commented and tossed it to Eugene.
Eugene quickly tossed it to me.
"C'mon this is an invasion of personal space." The snowman whined.
I think it was safe to say this snowman meant us no harm and I plopped him back on top of his body.
"Whew that's better." The snowman said, "Let's start again. Hi everyone, my name is Olaf."
Anna stepped closer giving Olaf a more thorough lookover.
"Olaf?" She muttered.
"You're acquainted with this snow person?" Eugene questioned.
"Not since I was a kid." Anna replied.
"Did I mention I like warm hugs?" Olaf interrupted.
I took the initiative to greet this friendly snowman. I mean growing up I loved watching Frosty the Snowman as a kid, but meeting Olaf was kind of cool. I took a knee getting down to his level.
"Hi Olaf, I'm Noella." I smiled warmly.
"Noella!" He said excitedly jumping into my arms for a hug. It was just as I expected. Cold. "Your name is like Christmas or something. It's like Noel, but with an extra syllable."
"Yeah, I guess." I replied.
Olaf turned toward Anna further making introductions.
"No hard feelings for kicking off my head." He said.
"Sorry about that." She apologized.
"Say, you look familiar...have we met?"
"Again, not since I was a kid with my sister Elsa."
"Ah okay…" Olaf paused, "Don't remember, so you are…"
"It's Anna." She replied.
"And the funny looking donkey is?" Olaf replied turning around to face Kristoff and Sven.
"Sven." Anna replied.
"And the reindeer?" Olaf added.
"Sven." Anna answered.
"Makes my job easier." Olaf grinned.
"No, no, no…" Eugene interrupted, "Kristoff…" He said pointing at each person, "Sven the reindeer…" And finally at himself, "And I'm Eugene."
"Oh man, my head might fall off again." Olaf said, "I'll get it eventually."
"Hey Olaf, did my sister make you?" Anna asked.
"Uh huh, why?"
"Cause we're actually looking for her…" Anna continued.
"Uh huh, why?" Olaf said again.
"I need her help to find a mirror and my mom." I answered.
"And to bring back summer." Anna added.
"Oh my summer?" Olaf said with a dazed look in his eyes, "I've always wanted to experience sunlight."
"Olaf, do you know what happens to snow with excessive sunlight?" Eugene asked.
"Nope." Olaf replied.
"I'm gonna tell him." Kristoff added with a smirk.
Anna slugged him in the arm.
"Don't you dare." She scolded.
I bent down to his level again to pull him out of his sunshine daze.
"Can you take us to Elsa?" I asked.
"Sure, follow me everyone. Watch out for yellow snow though...you don't wanna know where that's been." Olaf laughed as he took the lead.
Olaf led us forward for a few hours and this mountain was much larger than any of us originally anticipated. It got a lot later into the night, so we all agreed to hunker down and make camp.
"I'll get some wood for a fire." Eugene offered.
"I'm coming too." Kristoff replied.
"Can I help? Can I help?" Olaf pressed.
"Sure the more the merrier." Eugene said, "We need many more of your-uh, arms."
Olaf immediately squealed in terror.
"You fiends! You can't take arms!" Olaf protested.
"Just the unused ones, Olaf." Kristoff corrected.
"Oh...well let's go." Olaf said running off into the trees.
"Thanks for coming to my rescue on that one, Kristoff." Eugene said.
"No problem." Kristoff replied.
"Who knew you could insult a snowman so easily." Eugene muttered, "We'll be back." He waved at Anna and I as they disappeared into the trees. Anna and I unloaded our few saddlebags from our horses and began making some assemblance of a campsite. We found large rocks making a circle around where the fire would go. Finally, I laid out whatever I could find for makeshift beds for the night. It was safe to say that Olaf would be the most comfortable out here unless he sat too close to the fire. Anna and I had just finished as the boys returned with wood for camp.
Eugene and Kristoff set up the firewood while Olaf stood between Anna and I watching in amazement as the wood was set ablaze.
"Wow…" Olaf muttered staring at the flames.
He took a step toward the red and orange fire.
"Careful Olaf." I cautioned him.
"It's so beautiful…" He commented reaching out his wooden arm and a single finger lit up just like a candle and Olaf screeched, "But don't touch it." He said flapping his hand around to put out the flame on his finger.
"Thanks for the warning." Eugene smirked.
We all gathered around to keep warm except Olaf, he maintained a safe distance away. Kristoff started feeding Sven some carrots while Eugene got warm and Olaf sat close, but not too close. Meanwhile, I pulled Anna aside to ask her questions about her sister.
"What do you want to know?" She asked.
"I hope you won't think me rude, but is she dangerous?" I asked honestly.
"No, my sister is kind and she wouldn't hurt anyone. I just think she's just scared." Anna replied.
"Will she help me?" I pressed trying not to get emotional, "It's just I've come so far and I'm so close…"
"She will." Anna said grabbing my hand giving it a gentle squeeze.
Soon Olaf waddled over to us randomly.
"Hi girls, sorry to interrupt, but I had to get away, Kristoff is crazy...he's talking for Sven."
"Yeah…" Anna laughed lightly, "He does that."
"That's...special." I laughed.
"Tell me about it." Anna agreed, "C'mon we should get some sleep, so we can head out again at first light."
We rejoined the boys and settled down for the night, but I was restless. I got maybe an hour of sleep.
Sunlight woke me up streaming right in my face, but once my vision cleared up from my sleepy stupor, my jaw dropped at the splendor of the view. A mix of purples and blues with a light mist on the mountain. It was breathtaking. We packed up to continue on to the north mountain. Eugene and I fed and watered the horses before getting up in the saddle again. We continued moving forward and the further we got, the deeper the snow became. As we came around a large rock formation in the side of the mountain, Anna finally pointed out our destination and it was impossible to miss.
"The north mountain is an ice palace?" I questioned.
"I think by process of elimination that Elsa made that palace." Eugene added.
"C'mon, we're so close." Anna pressed.
We continued forward, but not for long before Kristoff stopped us and brought a finger to his lips.
"Shh…" He whispered quietly, "I don't like the look of some of these snow covered cliffs. We need to be weary of avalanche danger."
I looked at Eugene nervously and he back at me, so we opted to feel more quieter by moving on foot pulling the horses instead of riding them. Eugene and I brought up the rear as everyone else was just ahead of us. Suddenly Sven started making a face as if he was about to sneeze. Kristoff quickly tried to stop it by rubbing his snout and it seemed to work.
"Nice job, Kristoff." Olaf cheered, but immediately sneezed blowing his carrot nose across the way hitting square in the center of a nearby snowbank. The sound of the sneeze echoed all around us and we nervously held our breaths waiting for a noise. Finally it happened, the snow began to cascade down upon us. At first it started slowly, but the noise quickly grew.
"Kristoff, what do we do?" Eugene asked quickly.
Kristoff glanced around frantically and pointed to the rocky mountain side.
"Get up against the mountain...we might have a chance for it to slide off passing us." Kristoff replied.
"Might have a chance?" Eugene said nervously.
We all did what Kristoff suggested and pressed our backs against the stone wall. The horses were nervous and restless, but we managed to protect them as well. The snow blew over us and we thought we were safe, but another wave hit. A huge amount of snow came coasting to a stop separating our group. Eugene and I on one side and Anna, Kristoff, Sven, and Olaf on the other.
"Hey you guys okay?" Anna called out once the snow had settled.
"We're okay." Eugene replied quickly.
"Well, let's start digging." Anna said.
"No, don't bother…" I replied quickly, "This could take us awhile. Go ahead to the ice palace and find your sister. We'll meet up with you later."
"Are you sure?" Kristoff answered.
"We'll be right behind you." Eugene hollered.
I hated being separated, but it's not like we had a choice. Eugene and I pulled our horses along trying to find a way around the wall of snow.
"Should we dig?" I began to question, maybe I was wrong before when Anna had suggested it.
"No…" Eugene agreed with my earlier decision, "It would waste time and energy. C'mon let's find a way around."
Eugene and I turned ourselves around and began going back the way we came down the mountain. As we walked along, I heard something snap in the trees and I looked up and just saw birds flying away startled. Something wasn't right. Immediately someone started singing and I felt sick. The voice was beautiful and ear piercing at the same time. How was that possible? The tune brought Eugene and I to our knees. We covered our ears the best we could, but the sound still got through and glued us to the snowy ground. The horses ran off in the confusion and several new footsteps were heard in the snow. I barely looked up and saw that woman from before when I last saw Joel. The Nightingale. She approached us along with a small group of soldiers who quickly apprehended us as the song finally stopped. Now that I wasn't in ear piercing pain, I could begin to make sense of the situation again.
"What do you want?" I growled fighting against the men who had my arms twisted behind my back.
"I want what my mistress wants, which is your heart to stop beating." The Nightingale replied so coldly.
"Leave her alone!" Eugene yelled.
The Nightingale turned to him and Eugene froze.
"Rapunzel?" He muttered.
I looked at Eugene completely confused, but he immediately began fighting against the guards too.
"What happened to you? I've been following your trail everywhere...why are you doing this? What happened?" Eugene pressed.
"My mistress wants Noella along with the man who accompanies her...dead." She replied.
I was really curious as to why the Nightingale waited this long to strike because when I met her in the desert, she could have tried then, but why didn't she? Her intention was clearly to split Joel and I up, but why not just finish the job? Then I was immediately terrified that maybe she already eliminated Joel.
"Rapunzel, why are you doing this?" Eugene pressed.
"Put them against the rock." She ordered the guards, "With enough pressure from my voice, their ears will bleed and eventually will cause an aneurysm."
The guards obeyed and forced Eugene and I to stand against the rock wall.
"Rapunzel, why are you doing this?" Eugene pressed again desperately.
Ever since I had met this woman, she had that dark cloak around her including the hood. I wondered if that was a source of her power.
"Silence." The Nightingale growled, "Your lives end now."
She closed her eyes preparing to sing taking a breath.
"No matter what...I love you blondie." Eugene muttered.
I heard it clearly and the Nightingale heard it too because she stopped. She knelt down at Eugene's level looking at him square in the eyes.
"What did you just call me?" she asked.
"Blondie." Eugene replied.
The woman pulled off her hood and I watched incredibly as her eyes turned from brown to a bright green. It was some kind of spell or something.
"Rapunzel?" Eugene questioned.
"Eugene!" She cried as she threw her arms around him tightly.
"Wow." I muttered incredulously.
There were many questions I wanted to ask her, but for now I would let them have their moment.
"Eugene, I was so lost after you died…" She muttered tracing her fingers down his face as if she was trying to access how real the situation was.
"But I wasn't dead." Eugene pressed.
"What?" She asked incredulously.
"I'll explain later. I'm just glad I found you." Eugene replied.
The guards looked at us and at each other unsure of how to proceed.
"The Nightingale has betrayed our mistress. Traitors must die!" One yelled.
They all drew their swords and before any of us could react, several arrows whizzed through the air bringing down each soldier in seconds. There was only one person I knew with that kind of skill. I looked up to where the arrows came from on top of an outcrop of rocks and to my shear relief there was Joel who lowered his bow as he met my gaze.
AN: Hey Readers! Oh gosh, that Olaf introduction was such a fun write. I love character dialogue! It's one of my favorite parts. Rapunzel was the Nightingale all along...who saw that coming? ;) Eugene got reunited with Rapunzel! Thank goodness for that, but what about Joel and Noella? Stay Tuned Readers :D