Author's Note:

It has been quite a while—over two months—since the last update! I have been juggling my college work with writing and other things I do during my spare time, so I'm sorry about that. I will try not to make the following chapter a long wait, but I can't guarantee it.

I know I said in the beginning that the story will be switching between the perspectives of just four people, but later on I think I also said that there'll be a chapter focusing on Arendelle being ruled by Hans. Well…this is it! It is told from Kai's POV, which should be a nice change.

By the way, I hope you've all had a great week!

Chapter Twelve: Reign

KAI

The petitioner was a peasant around the age of forty. He walked down the aisle and paused before the dais to face Hans who was seated on Elsa's throne. Kai recognized him. The man lived with his wife and three children in a house in the village nearby Arendelle. Although Kai crossed paths with him during the times he spent in the village, they had never been close.

Kai, along with everyone else who lived in the castle, was told that someone wanted to petition the king. For what, they did not know. When Hans heard about the news he decided to hold court for him this morning in the great hall and insisted that they all attend.

There were several soldiers standing on either side of the dais. They were garbed identically in a black surcoat with the markings of a golden sugar maple on the chest. On their heads were gleaming black helmets, and fastened around their shoulders were midnight blue capes. Kai stood in one of the front rows next to Gerda, so he got a good view of the scene.

"Greetings, Your Highness. My name is Ralph. Thank you for receiving me." The man spoke up.

"My pleasure, Ralph," replied Hans. "What is the purpose of your visit today?"

"I come from a nearby village. I live in a house there with my wife and three children. We have lived a decent life together up to the day you inherited the throne. Ever since the beginning of your reign my family and I have been facing a food shortage," the man explained. "I am worried about my children. There is hardly enough food for each of the three meals to feed their bellies and they are growing skinner and weaker every day. My wife and I are both eating less ourselves in order to save whatever we have for our children, but it has not reduced their hunger."

Kai observed the villager for the first time. Beneath his rough brown tunic and beige trousers he already looked pretty thin himself.

He continued, "The weekly ration you provide for us is far from enough to support a family of five. We lack butter and loaves of bread, eggs and cheese, fish, peas, cabbages; but the thing we need the most is meat. Bacon, ham, chicken, and capon. Lots and lots of it."

The peasants from the village are responsible for growing all the food for Arendelle's people in farms and fields. When Hans became King he let that continue. But he did make a change. Instead of letting peasants eat their own food that they harvested, Hans took all of it in his charge. He kept three-quarters of the food for his men and himself, and distributed the rest as rations to the people who were here during Queen Elsa's reign before him. That included people like Kai and Gerda as well as the villagers. The new king provided an equal amount of food for each individual. For families the situation was different, depending on their size, meaning that larger families received more of it while smaller ones received less. No one believed that the rule was just or fair, least of all Kai, but they accepted all the same and lived with it ever since. This peasant was the first one brave enough to speak out.

While Ralph was talking, Kai noticed that Hans had been repeatedly shifting his gaze away from the petitioner and back. A few minutes into this session and the king was already turning impatient. He was listening but not actually hearing.

This is not going to go well, thought Kai.

"Do you understand the reason I'm rationing the food, Ralph?" said Hans. "I am doing this in order to give the best to my people. They were impoverished and didn't want to be that way. A lot of them were once farmers, stonemasons and stablemen. They wished for their quality of life to be improved. They want better clothes, to eat better food, and have better things. And I am giving it to them. They always yearned for a royal life. Now they have it. I feel the need to offer my people as much as I can, and the food rations play a part in achieving that."

Ralph snorted, "So your men are exchanging whatever little they once had for what is ours? You are making us switch position with your people, is that the way of it?"

Hans said, "I have explained my reason to you. I'm afraid I cannot grant you your request."

"I can't tolerate this irrationality any longer. I won't!" Ralph protested. "You told me your reason and I've told you mine. I have my children to look after. They need more to eat. They won't last long if you let things persist like this. You said you've made your decision. I implore you to think again."

At this Hans bristled. He sat up straighter in his seat. "How is it no one else have a problem with this but you? You should be grateful that I'm giving you food at all. Remember that I only spared you because you pledged your allegiance to me. I am permitting you to live your joyful life in the village. In return I am expecting your conformity. Speaking out against my laws is treason. Do you even realize how greedy you sound?"

Hans looked to either side at his soldiers for support. They nodded and chuckled.

The petitioner shouted, "When Queen Elsa returns—and she will return—she will destroy you and fix all this! She is going to make everything right!"

One of the Hans's men pulled out his sword from its scabbard. "How dare you…? You will pay for this." He raised his voice to a yell, "I will strike you down where you stand!"

He charged at Ralph, but Hans instantly held up his hand to stop him while keeping his eyes on his double-crosser. "There is no need for that," he said. "I will forgive those words, Ralph." The calmness of his voice unsettled Kai. If death was not the answer to Ralph's treachery, then what did Hans plan to do to him?

The king leaned back and drummed his fingers on the left arm of the throne in thought. When he reached a decision he said to Ralph, "A punishment would be more fitting." Then he commanded his men, "Take him to the courtyard and have him whipped. Eight lashes will suffice."

Kai watched the peasant being forced out of the hall with a knot in his stomach. The man had arrived on his family's behalf to petition the king and this was what he earned. He glanced sideways at Gerda and then at the people surrounding him. Everyone's faces were blank, but Kai knew that deep down they all sympathized with Ralph's situation.

Hans stood up and announced, "This session is at an end." He stepped down the dais towards the back exit, his black soldiers following behind him in a line like ducklings.

Kai and Gerda exited the great hall along with the rest of the crowd, who were whispering about what just happened.

It was still early in the morning and midday wouldn't be arriving in a few more hours. The day was bright and sunny, and Kai wanted nothing more than to mooch about the shops in the village or go for a stroll in the garden. But he couldn't. The king hired Kai and Gerda as his own personal servants, and Kai had to do his duty. Hans had taken King Agnarr's old chamber for his own. As Kai was on his way there to tidy the room, he heard repeated shrieks coming from outside in the front courtyard below, and paused in front of a window in the hallway to take a look. They had set up a platform with a thick wooden post in the centre. Ralph was bound to it by hempen rope at the waist and wrists so that his chest pressed against the wood and he was hugging the post. His upper body had been stripped bare. Ralph screamed in pain every time the whip struck his back, which was already bloody at parts where the skin had split. Seeing such a large crowd gathered around the commotion surprised Kai, but at the same time it disgusted him. If anyone here ever sympathized or cared about the poor man at all, they wouldn't have come to watch him being tortured. Kai turned away from the horrible scene before they reached the eighth lash and continued down the hallway.

Gerda was in Hans's chamber cleaning his boots before Kai arrived. She already finished changing his bed, so he took care of sweeping the fireplace. Every morning Kai worked with Gerda in tidying up Hans's chamber. Then they would both go on to complete their separate tasks, and Kai wouldn't see her again until the next morning. The two of them usually chatted together while they worked. However, today they were silent. It was a good thing. Neither of them wanted to bring up the topic of the peasant's suffering. After Kai finished, he muttered goodbye to Gerda and walked out.

He spent the first half of the day washing Hans's clothes, wiping off dust on statues in the corridors, and mucking out the stables. The chores that Hans assigned him were slightly different on each day, but it was overwhelming nevertheless. Very often Kai would work from the moment he got out of bed up to the moment he went back to sleep. For him not to was rare. Gerda and all the other servants were in the same situation. Most of them were exhausted by the end of the day, but Hans had neither shown them compassion nor considered reducing their workload.

By mid-afternoon Kai was in the armoury repairing and polishing the king's and the soldiers' armour. Pairs of gauntlets and greaves that he finished lay on a table beside him. He picked up a breastplate next.

Thoughts swam in his head.

After Queen Elsa's escape, Hans assembled everybody in the great hall the next morning to let them make their choices. Kai was the first one to call out, "Long live the King!" Unbelievably, almost three-quarters of Arendelle's people immediately took up the cry. Kai remembered the clearness and certainty of their voices, all joined together as one. They simply shouted out their choice without even discussing it amongst themselves beforehand. But then why would they need to? Elsa embarked on a journey to a city to search for her sister, and somehow they all had strong faith that they would return to avenge what Hans had done, and that the people of the city would help her. Somehow they all knew Elsa would succeed. In the meantime, her people back in her kingdom would boldly declare for Hans and pretend to give him their loyalty and obedience, whilst detesting him deep down in their hearts and keeping their true fealty to Elsa. Everyone automatically knew that this was a wise choice. Their fake, temporary defection was the only way they could stay alive, long enough for them to instantly turn against Hans once Anna and Elsa returned home.

Hans hired Kai and Gerda as his personal servants in reward for their unimpeachable loyalty. So far, along with everyone else, they had played their parts well.

The minority of people who chose to defy Hans were not so fortunate. Hans threw them in the dungeons after they made clear whose side they were on. He fed them just enough to keep them alive so he could drag on their suffering for as long as possible. At the start of every new week he would take five of them out and put them to death. Occasionally he would torture one of his enemies with sorcery for his own amusement.

Most were killed by beheading. Heads on spikes decorated the castle ramparts. They would rot beyond recognition in a week's time, so Hans's men had to replace them with new ones. They belonged to no one Kai didn't know. Every time he stared up at one of those faces, Kai would remember the happy moments he spent with them while Queen Elsa still ruled Arendelle. And then he would remember how they had died. It was those memories that stayed and kept him awake at night. Kai tried to ignore and forget about them, but it wasn't working well. The heads disturbed him more than he thought they would.

The banners that previously hung in the great hall and from lamps on the bridge connecting the castle to the village had been torn down. When Kai looked around, instead of seeing the golden yellow crocus emblazoned on a split background of purple and green, he saw banners of a golden sugar maple on a field of black in their place. These changes transformed Arendelle, the castle Kai lived in for his entire life, into an almost foreign place.

Kai held up the breastplate to inspect it. He had been rubbing it the whole time. It was so smooth and shiny that it looked like it had been newly made. It was the last piece he had to polish. He stood up with a sigh and put all the armour back where he took them. Then he went upstairs to his room.

When he got there, he found a small note on the table, torn from a parchment. He unfolded the paper and read:

Meet me in the garden at 8:00 this evening. I have something I wish to talk to you about.

It was in Gerda's handwriting. This must be secretive and important, or else Gerda would've just approached him and told him what was on her mind. He tucked the piece of paper safely in his pocket.

Two hours later he was heading for the garden. Anna sometimes went there to talk to the animals. It was midsummer season, and the sky was in the blue, pink and orange colours of dusk. Kai rarely had time to visit the garden these days. He missed seeing the trees, the beautiful flowers, smelling the fresh, green scent of the grass, and listening to the chirping of birds in the canopies and the trickling stream. The tranquillity reminded Kai of better times in the past. This was where he felt free, where he could truly relax.

He found Gerda waiting for him by the trunk of a large tree. Hans's men hardly come to the garden, so it was here where a person could feel comfortable speaking their mind. No wonder why Gerda chose this place.

Kai approached her and said, "I received your note. We are supposed to be working."

"This won't take long," said Gerda. "Thanks for meeting me."

"What did you want to talk about?" asked Kai.

Gerda bit her lip and looked around nervously for anyone who might be listening. Her voice was a whisper. "I'm…I'm considering running away. We can cross the village, take off uphill into the mountains, and disappear. We could do it together, Kai. You and me. I don't want to stay here anymore."

Kai shook his head firmly. "It's too great a risk. They will catch us."

"I've been feeling sick after seeing what happened to Ralph this morning. The tortures, sufferings and deaths…they've got to stop. I wish there is something we can do about it."

"I have thought about running away as well, once or twice," admitted Kai. "We should have done it on the night Hans took the kingdom. Nobody would be likely to notice amidst the confusion. But we didn't, and now it is too late. Our duty is to serve our king. If we leave, our absence will arouse Hans's suspicion. He will take it as a betrayal and will send men after us to hunt us down. Look what sort of punishment Ralph was condemned to, and he is just a peasant. What do you think Hans is going to do to people like us?"

Gerda studied him and said, "I hate to admit this, but I think that sounded cowardly of you."

"Escaping is what's cowardly, Gerda," Kai stated. "People only do that when they are afraid of Hans. It will set a bad example for the rest of the people."

Gerda asked after a moment of hesitation, "Are you afraid of him?"

"I am. But I'm learning to overcome my fear. You should too. If we run away, where would we go?"

Gerda looked away submissively and didn't answer.

Kai continued, "Escaping will not do us any good. It'll mean that we have lost faith in our queen. It'll mean believing that she failed and that we have given up. If everyone left in order to free themselves from Hans's tyranny, Arendelle would be doomed forever. We want to help Elsa? We stay. We must keep up the pretence. Elsa and Anna will fight back, and when they do, we will join her."

"Then let's hope that she will come."

"She will. It's only a matter of time," said Kai. He thought back to the incident with the petitioner this morning. "Ralph had faith in Elsa's return. Having him killed for that would have been more lenient."

Gerda stared at a shrub in the distance. "I can't even imagine what he and his poor family must be going through right now," she said. Then she turned to Kai again, "Being a good and obedient servant to Hans, even though it is all an act, is still considered as me trying to save myself so that I won't have to die. It is selfish. It doesn't make me any better than the people who defied him. I know I am excellent at putting on such a believable act in front of Hans, but I am not proud of it. I could have chosen to stand against him, spend my days locked up in a cell, and that wouldn't have made me any less faithful a person to Elsa. To Hans's eyes, I seem to be loyal to him when I really aren't, and to Elsa's, I would've appeared to have betrayed her. I'm not even sure where my allegiance lies anymore…or who I truly believe in. I wish everything can go back to the way it was. I just want Hans's reign to end."

Gerda looked like she was about to cry. She sniffed and blinked to fight back tears.

Seeing his friend in this way made it hard for Kai to hold himself together as well. When he found his voice he said, "Don't we all?"

Gerda laughed a little at that.

"You can't imagine how much I hate Hans, and I don't like being in this position any more than you do. But our queen is benevolent. If you explain to Elsa why you chose to do what you did, I'm sure she will understand," Kai said with a smile. "Now let's get back before Hans begins to wonder where we are."

The sky had darkened when Kai looked up at it. He and Gerda went back to the castle.

After completing all of his chores on the next day, Hans arrived at late afternoon to inform Kai that he would be hosting a dinner with twenty of his men, and that he and Gerda were to take the evening off to attend him. At least it was a nice change from his daily routine. And his friend would be there.

The soldiers in black sat around a long trestle table with Hans at the end in a large dining room. A warm fire was burning in the hearth to their left, and behind a row of windows to their right was a balcony that overlooked the mountains and the sea. They supped on roast chicken, potatoes and lamb served with vegetables, a broth of crab, glazed carrots and turnips, mushrooms bathed in butter and kissed with garlic, quails in honey, loaves of bread, and baked soft cheese, with dark red wine to wash it all down. While they laughed loudly and talked as they ate, the servants went about the table with a flagon of wine, refilling every cup that they emptied. They were still waiting on two suckling pigs. When they were ready, Kai and Gerda retrieved the dishes from the kitchen and placed them before the men. Then they cleared away the near-empty trenchers and platters. The food that Kai got was adequate at best compared to the opulence and lavishness of what the king and his men had. Kai wasn't allowed to touch any of their food, but if he could give a portion of it to Ralph's family and the people who were going hungry in the village, he would. After Hans and his companions were given all that they required, Kai and Gerda went to stand in opposite corners of the room to leave them to enjoy their dinner.

Kai tuned out most of their conversation, but a shift in topic suddenly snapped him out of his own thoughts and caught his attention.

"Your Highness, you were planning to have Arendelle's former ruler killed. What do you make of Elsa's escape?" One of the men asked Hans.

Hans said, "She was scared for her sister and fled to save her. It wasn't for the first time she left her people behind."

"And hearing about her escape didn't surprise or anger you? Not even in the least?"

Kai had been wondering the same thing. The king's reaction to this wasn't as everybody expected it to be.

"No," Hans replied. "I sort of knew that she wouldn't stay in the dungeons for long. Shadowland is an obnoxious dimension of reality. Anna won't last for a day trapped in there with the spirits of the Lost. There is no hope for her. It is a long journey from here to the City and Elsa doesn't know the direction. But if she did make it there, by some miracle found a way to open the portals, and ventured into Shadowland, learning about Anna's death would wreck her. If Elsa had stayed here, on the other hand, I would've given her hell and that would leave her shattered as well. Either way, she is broken. A broken girl cannot pose a threat. The pieces of her soul will never mend."

Another man two seats down to Hans's right spoke up, "I hate myself for asking this, but it is best and safest to consider all the possibilities. If Elsa returns with her sister alive to drive us out of this kingdom, what do you intend to do then?"

Hans shook his head and laughed. "That would be extremely unlikely. But if it does happen, then we will fight them. Our magic will match Elsa's ice powers blow by blow. I doubt that she'll be able to make an army out of the people of the City. It's two of them against ten thousand of us. They will be easily defeated."

"Or maybe Anna is already dead and she turned into a Lost One and feasted on Elsa herself!" A third soldier cackled.

The other men looked at each other and chuckled. Hans watched them. His lips twisted into a wicked smile.

Only people who were evil in life become a Lost One when they die, and Anna is not evil, you fool, Kai glared at the soldier and thought. But he didn't know what Anna was to them in their eyes, nor did he want to know.

Hans had told them everything he knew about the City.

The soldier jeered, "I'm serious! It could be true. I mean, how long has it been since Elsa fled?" He laughed again.

Too long, Kai worried anxiously.

Hans said, "Anna and Elsa mean nothing to me. It doesn't matter what happens to them or whether they are dead or alive. They are not here in this castle. I couldn't care less about them."

No, you just need them out of your way, thought Kai.

A man sitting near the far end of the table jabbed a small piece of potato with his fork and asked, "How did you come to know about this city, Your Highness?" He ate the potato and chewed.

"I've done a lot of exploring around the world in the past. The City is one of the many places I passed by," Hans said. He took a leg of quail dripping with honey. "I didn't go there. I just gazed at the buildings from a distance away. I've heard about tales of the fabulous, astonishing adventure of the Allgood leaders who live there. A witch and a wizard. I don't recall who I heard the tales from, but I do know that the people who told them weren't from the City, which means that Whit and Wisty must be very famous."

And powerful, Kai thought. Hopefully more powerful than you.

The man nodded his head and remarked, "Interesting."

"How is the search for the ice harvester going?" Hans asked a soldier with a dark-brown beard who sat beside him on the left. "Is there any luck?"

The man shook his head disappointedly and replied, "I'm afraid there has been no sign of him or that reindeer of his."

"You have been searching for him in the mountains for two weeks. Surely you must have found something; an axe, a rope, a knife…a sled?" There was sharpness and edginess in Hans's tone.

"He is not stupid to leave those things behind."

Kai's body tensed as he realized who they were referring to. Hans have been searching for Kristoff?

"Look," the soldier said, "No one in the castle who submitted to you have seen him since the day you became their ruler. Kristoff went up to the mountains to cut and harvest ice, and he disappeared. That is all we know. He is not going to come back. What sort of harm can that guy inflict on us? Your Highness, I suggest that you forget about him. He is not worth it for you to fret about. Why is it so important to you that he be captured?"

Hans said sternly, "He is the friend and lover of a girl who opposed my governance, which makes him an enemy. You all know the fate of those who resist me. Kristoff is somewhere in hiding and I want him found!" He slammed his fist on the table, startling some of the men.

The bearded soldier said quietly, "Yes Your Highness."

"If only I know the location of his hiding place," muttered Hans.

Kai rubbed away the sweat that formed on the line of his palms. He felt like a fish out of water. He could sense the accusation in Hans's voice, striking him like bullets. As a servant to Arendelle's royal family, Kai had known the princess and the queen his whole life. He had been taking care of Elsa and Anna ever since their parents were lost at sea, and the sisters were kind to him and treated him like family. Anna was closer to Kai. She kept no secrets and often babbled on and on to him about the exciting things that happened to her, which was pretty much everything. She told him much about Kristoff, and he and Kai became quick friends. If there was one place Kristoff chose to hide, it would be the Valley of the Living Rock where his home was. Gerda and Kai's other friends all knew this. They concealed the fact from the king, who knew little about Kristoff, extremely well. They were doing it to protect their friend.

You will never find out, Kai thought. A part of him wished he could say it aloud for Hans to hear.

"We will keep looking," promised one of the soldiers.

"See that you do," Hans replied.

The men didn't speak to each other for the rest of dinner. There was the occasional request from soldiers to pass around the food followed by a murmur of thanks, but apart from that, the only sound in the room was the clinking of knives and forks against plates. The silence was deafening.

It was only when Kai and Gerda brought in desserts—pudding in a variety of flavours and fruits served with cream—that the atmosphere returned to how it was like a few moments ago. It helped Kai to let go some of his uneasiness.

After dinner was finished, Hans dismissed his men and bid them goodnight. Then it was just his servants with him in the room.

Hans stood up from his seat and addressed them, "Kai, Gerda, come with me. We are going down to the dungeons."

He walked out the door. They had no choice but to follow.

Kai had taken a dislike to the dungeons ever since Hans took up residence in the castle. It wasn't the gloomy, dank place itself that made him feel that way, but the people who were locked up in there. Every one of them must think they were mad for declaring their support for Hans and being so quick to do so. These people who were once friends with Kai now believed he was an enemy. A backstabber. Although they didn't say it to him aloud, Kai was certain deep down they were thinking it. He badly yearned to explain to them his reason, but he never got the chance. Visiting the dungeons meant he'd receive frowns, glares, and black looks from the prisoners. They flooded Kai with shame each time. Gerda got them too.

Hans was probably paying a visit in order to select more people to kill, but why did he have to bring Kai and Gerda with him?

The three of them walked down the aisles, with Hans in the front and his servants on either side behind him, passing the rows of cell blocks. A sentry with a spear stood at every turn of the hallway. Kai remembered that he was still putting up the show, so he held his head high in pride, folded his hands behind his back, and walked in a steady pace, ignoring the prisoners' reproachful eyes.

Luckily, most of the convicts' attentions were on Hans. Some tried to lunge at him from behind the bars with murderous glares. They were all people Kai knew—kind, good people—and it shocked him more than he could say to see them in this state. So full of pure, indefatigable hate. What on earth did Hans do them? Kai wondered. Others, who were too weak just stared at Hans as he passed by, slowly closed their eyes when he was gone, and then looked away back into the emptiness.

These people have been imprisoned for too long, Kai thought sadly. They are already dead inside. And he hated the fact that there was nothing he could do to help them.

Somewhere, Kai heard angry shouting. The voice grew louder the closer the man approached. He appeared at the end of the aisle where it joined another hallway. Kai's vision was slightly obscured by Hans's shoulders, so he leaned sideways to get a better view.

A large, burly man was being hauled along by five soldiers. He had strawberry-blonde hair with sideburns, a moustache, light blue eyes and a pink nose. Kai knew him immediately. It was Oaken, the owner of Wandering Oaken's Trading Post and Sauna which was located in a forest a couple of miles away from Arendelle. He sold good trades to his customers, including Anna.

Oaken was very strong, therefore it was difficult for the men to keep him moving. He tussled against their grip and demanded, "Let go of me! You have no right to do something like this! Ya? This is insanity! I have my trading post to run! Ya?" The men dragging him paid him no mind. Oaken looked at them and shouted, "Are you all deaf? I said, let me go!"

"Shut up!" barked a soldier as he punched Oaken's rib.

It had to be their supernatural abilities keeping their hold on Oaken. Without the help of their magic, their physical strength would be matchless compared to his, not even when there were five of them. Oaken would simply pick them up and throw them away from him.

"Halt!" Hans called.

They stopped and turned to face Hans, pulling a red-faced Oaken with them.

Hans approached them and paused. Kai and Gerda were close behind. He studied the burly man and said, "You look familiar. I swear I know you from somewhere. You are certainly not from Arendelle, that's for sure." He pointed a finger at him. "Oaken…am I right?"

Oaken tried to lunge at him, but the soldiers held him back.

Hans didn't flinch. He turned to his men and questioned, "What is the issue with him?"

A soldier explained, "We came across his trading post in a forest during our search for the ice harvester, in need of some supplies. It turned out its owner wasn't so courteous at the sight of us. He demanded to know who we are, where we lived, and who we belonged to. We told him. At our mention of Your Highness, this…'crook' here instantly rejected us and tried to persuade us to leave his post, saying that he doesn't deal with 'fiendish men.' He also spoke ill of Your Highness. We captured him because of his actions."

Hans smiled and said, "Nicely done, men. Put him in an empty cell. Soon I will show him the justice he deserves."

The soldiers nodded firmly and then continued to drag Oaken down the hallway and out of their sight.

Hans resumed to strutting in the dungeons and so did Kai and Gerda. Hans's eyes swept over the group of people in each cell. Less of them remained every week. A few minutes elapsed.

Then someone from behind suddenly shouted, "Abomination!"

"Bastard!" cried another.

It took a while for Kai to realize that the insults weren't hurled at him or Gerda but at Hans, who ignored them.

More prisoners began to join in.

A young man gripped the bars of his cell tightly and screamed, "You are unfit to rule! You are no true king!"

A man three blocks down their right shrieked, "DIE, you wretched son-of-a-bitch!"

More cries of 'bastard' and 'abomination' followed. The voices were increasing in volume. Kai watched Hans closely. Colour rose in his cheeks. He was growing more and more uncomfortable by the second.

"Control freak!" yelled a dark-haired girl around seventeen.

"Tyrant!" shouted a woman.

This was the time where Kai was supposed to be defending his king. He opened his mouth to say something to the people, but no words came out. He couldn't do it. A small part of him actually wanted to unite his voice with theirs. Gerda stayed silent as well.

"Megalomaniac!" bellowed a middle-aged man.

Hans had reached the limit of his endurance. He did a sweeping motion of his arm. The door to the man's cell magically opened and slammed against the bars. The sound echoed in the dungeon. The rest of the small group of people sharing his cell cowered in fear. Hans's gaze on the man could freeze the blood flowing in his veins.

"What did you say?" His voice was almost inaudible. It rattled Kai. Why couldn't he just yell at him? Yelling indicated that his anger would be spent quickly. Quietness, however, was a suggestion that Hans had a more sinister motive in mind.

The man met his unwavering gaze with Hans's. He didn't even look afraid. "I said you are a megalomaniac. Do you have a problem with that?"

"I do," said Hans. "My problem is deciding how I am going to kill you." He grabbed him and forced him out of the cell with a tug. There was a brief pause; a short moment of hesitation. Then Hans pushed the man towards Kai. "Or…should I let my servant here do the job instead?" He gave a smug, conceited grin and then slowly drew his sword. He held the weapon out to Kai and ordered, "Go ahead, Kai. Kill him."

No. Kai did not hear him incorrectly. Hans had decided to rest this man's life in his hands. But why? Kai could feel his heart hammering in his chest. Had he accidentally let anything slip or done something that lead Hans to suspect him? Was Hans testing his loyalty? Did the king think he didn't have it in him to kill a man who had once been one of his closest, dearest friends? That he was secretly still on his side? Kai had played his part so well. There was no way Hans could have known. Had one of his soldiers overheard his conversation with Gerda that night in the garden? Kai exchanged an uneasy glance with Gerda beside him. Her face was pale and ghostly white. She stood as still as a statue.

If Kai did as Hans asked, it would prove that he was as faithful to the king as he appeared to be, and that he had no reason to doubt his intentions. However, if he refused…Kai did not want to think about the consequence of that course of action. Be careful. Be very, very careful.

Hans was looking at him expectantly. Kai fixed his gaze on the man in front of him. This man is your enemy now, he told himself.

He took the sword from Hans.

It'll be a swift, clean stroke.

He walked towards the man.

Stop. This isn't right, thought Kai. He may be a traitor to him, but he was not a murderer. Killing him would make him just as bad as Hans. It would tear him up inside. Although he had been meekly following the king's orders without question, this one was just too extreme. He had to draw the line. He would not let Hans push him past his boundary. If anyone deserved to die it was Hans, not the man.

"I won't," Kai said.

The king frowned. "Excuse me?"

"If you want him dead, you should kill him yourself," Kai said.

"The reason I brought you here tonight is because I'd like to see whether you have the courage to strike down a foe. You will do as I say," pressed Hans.

You'd like to know who I really serve, Kai translated. Answer: that person is not you. His worst nightmare had been confirmed. He didn't care what Hans would do to him, but he would not become like him. He would not.

Kai let the sword he was holding clatter to the floor before Hans's feet. He repeated, "No. I won't."

"I knew it!" Hans suddenly exploded. "I asked you to carry out one simple task, and you couldn't! I was too foolish to notice before, but right now I can see it plain in your eyes. You were never on my side, were you? You have been deceiving me this entire time!"

Kai pursed his lips in a line and didn't respond.

"You are even more treacherous than the rest of them!" Hans shouted, gesturing at the people around them behind bars. "How daring you are. I will never forgive you for this."

He turned sharply towards the middle-aged man, stepped behind him, pulled out a knife and slit his throat from ear to ear. A woman from a nearby cell, who must be a relative, screamed, and her sons surrounding her started to cry. Gerda covered her mouth with her hand. The man's eyes were closed as he collapsed lifelessly onto the floor. Kai felt sick.

Hans sheathed the knife and then returned his attention to Kai. He announced, "Due to my discovery of your perfidiousness, Kai, I hereby rescind you of your position as my servant and sentence you to death. Guards!"

Gerda protested as two soldiers came up and surrounded Kai, "Please Hans, I don't think that this is—"

"Are you on the opposing side, too?" Hans interrupted harshly.

"No! I—"

"Then keep your mouth shut, or else you will be joining him!"

Hans abruptly turned away from her and stalked down the aisle. His men, hauling Kai between them, followed. Gerda hurried after them as well, not knowing what she should do.

Struggling was pointless and Kai didn't have the energy for it anyway, so he let the men take him out of the dungeons and up a flight of stairs. Hans lead them to a dim torture chamber that had a high ceiling. One glimpse of the tall wooden gallows within and Kai knew that it was death by hanging. They walked him around it so that he was facing Hans, and then released him. One guard rolled a wine barrel beneath the structure.

Hans commanded coldly, "Step up onto the barrel."

Kai glared at him and stayed where he was.

"DO IT!" Hans exploded.

The other guard standing behind him gave him a hard shove.

Kai moved forward and did as he was asked. The large, heavy barrel remained steady under his weight. A soldier reached for the noose and put it around his neck, then stepped back. Kai turned his pleading eyes to his friend and said, "Gerda, my dear, go. Leave me. You won't want to watch this." Her kind eyes were moist, and tears were rolling down her cheeks.

"Oh no, she's staying," Hans quickly replied, "Since she chose to follow you here." He smiled and asked, "Any last words, Kai?"

Kai's mouth was dry. His voice trembled as he said, "I pity you. If your family could see you now, they would be so disappointed in you, Hans. I hope they will help to make you better one day."

Hans walked towards him. Kai closed his eyes and heard the sound of the king's boot against the barrel as he kicked it away.

His airway constricted, and death gripped its iron hand around his neck.