Chapter 8: Defying Gravity
Anna was still hugging Olaf.
Decker and the other sailors were chained up and locked in the brig below deck. Kjerstin and her bandits were working about the riggings, trying to set new sails to replace the burnt ones. A makeshift rudder had been fashioned out of oars. They truly had taken the ship. The question now was where were they taking it?
Anna studied the coastline. It was broken up in a series of rocky islands covered in dense forests. Half the trees were evergreen, the other half still turning golden. Anna didn't recognize any of the islands, having still never had the chance to wander further than the Northern Valleys of Arendelle. But the islands were certainly a beautiful sight sitting in shimmering water that reflected bright orange clouds in the last grips of the sunset.
In fact they were perhaps too beautiful not to try to escape to.
Anna leaned in to where she supposed Olaf's ears were and whispered, "Okay, here's the plan. As soon as nobody is looking, we'll dive in the water and swim for that nearest island."
Olaf looked up and replied in a whisper, "Good plan. But I don't think I'd make it swimming 'cause Kristoff told me that snowmen melt in the water."
Anna frowned, and sat down, thinking up a new plan. "Okay, how 'bout I dive into the water, and in all the pandemonium you steal a life-raft and we both paddle back to Arendelle."
Just then, Kjerstin walked up. "Oh, you wouldn't make it back to Arendelle in a wooden boat, Princess," she said, while squeezing the fire crystal and igniting a swath of air above her hand.
Anna shot her a contemptuous glare. "It's rude to eavesdrop on other people's conversations."
"And it's rude to conspire to run away from such gracious hosts as we," Kjerstin replied.
"Hosts? I don't' think kidnappers count as hosts." Anna tried to put all the venom she could muster in her response, but still felt like a kitten swiping at a grown hound.
"Kidnappers? My dear princess, you have it wrong. We are your rescuers!"
That statement caught Anna off guard. She looked to Kjerstin, who continued, "We're rescuing you from the Ice Witch of Arendelle."
Venom returned to Anna's voice. "Hey, my sister is not a—"
She was cut off as Kjerstin went on, "In fact, we're going beyond rescuing you. We're adopting you."
"First off," Anna replied, "I'm 18, so I'm an adult and you can't adopt me."
Olaf cut in with, "I'm only 3 months old, so you could probably adopt me."
Kjerstin ignored the snowman, and answered, "Eighteen, perhaps. But you are also a Princess of Arendelle, and princesses come of age at 21."
Olaf didn't appear to mind that he was being ignored, and went on, "but I don't know what the custody laws are for snowmen. I mean I've seen a few ones just standing around, and they couldn't have been more than a couple hours old."
Kjerstin continued, "So until such time, we are taking you as a ward of the Bandit Queen."
Olaf continued his monologue, "And I never thought to ask them where their parents are."
Anna's eyes darted to the shoreline again. Night was falling and it was getting cold. She could easily freeze to death if she tried to swim for it. So she had better make the best of this situation. "Tell me about this Bandit Queen."
"And that one time I went down to the beach and made a sandman, and then I just left it there. Oh, no! Was that reckless abandonment?"
Kjerstin frowned, saying, "You'll meet her soon enough."
"Oh, Anna," Olaf wailed into the hem of her skirt. "I abandoned the sandman, and now I'm going to jail"
The snowman's rant was finally starting to annoy Kjerstin. She looked down at the stacked snow, and answered, "That can be arranged. Johno, take Olaf to the brig." A bandit emerged from a shadowy corner and grabbed Olaf's twig arm, pulling him away.
"Wait!" Anna called. Johno paused and turned back to look at her. "If I'm the ward of this Bandit Queen, that makes me the Bandit Princess. And your Princess says that you will leave Olaf with me."
Johno looked at Kjerstin, who shrugged in reply. So he let the snowman go, and disappeared back into the shadows.
"Furthermore," Anna went on, "You will release the Texan Decker. He is on a diplomatic mission and is in my care."
Kjerstin nodded at the shadow that Johno disappeared into. A moment later, Anna heard the opening and shutting of the door heading below deck.
Anna wondered, was this Bandit Princess thing actually working? Could she command Kjerstin? Worth a try. "And lastly, release the rest of the crew, too!"
Kjerstin wore the same look Sven used to wear. Without saying anything, she conveyed the thought, Don't press your luck princess.
"At least tell me where we're going."
"To the Queen's new castle on the Isle of Spitsbergen."
Anna mulled this over. "Spitsbergen," she repeated. The name sounded familiar. Wait, could it really be… "Spitsbergen!? In the Arctic Ocean?"
Kjerstin gave a brief nod.
"It'll take us weeks to sail there!"
"Perhaps it would. That's why we're not sailing."
The ship was pulling into one of the islands' coves, with tall trees hardly visible in the darkening twilight. In the distance, at the end of the inlet the lights of an encampment could be seen—campfire light dancing against the pines above. And something else, tall and bulbous, sat in the middle of the camp. Anna briefly saw it—was it some sort of weird bandit tent? But that wasn't her biggest concern.
"I would take even longer on carriages," Anna said. "If we're not sailing, how do you expect to get to—"
She was cut off at the sound of the door behind her opening. Decker stood on deck, mouth agape.
"We're flying." He answered.
Decker could hardly believe it, as he walked off the gangplank, into the bandit's camp. He didn't need to go down to France. He had found a ballooner, and was going to fly. True, in his ideal scenario he would have his wrists shackled behind him, and he wouldn't be marching at knife-point with bandits herding him onward. But that hardly mattered—he had found a balloon. Now he had to ensure he could fly on it.
He heard the captain of their captors talking about … something. He couldn't make out her Finnish. But the snowman was still skittering about, apparently unchained.
"Psst, little snow feller," Decker whispered in Olaf's direction.
"Decker!" Olaf exclaimed. So much for whispering.
"You wanna fill me in on what's goin' on? Why am I out and about while the rest of the ship is still in the brig?"
"Anna says you're on a diplomatic mission with her. Apparently she's a bandit princess now. So you'd better watch your belt buckle, because I'm pretty sure that's the first thing she's going to want to steal."
Kjerstin was already in the basket below the balloon, pulling Anna behind her. She waved at the pair of bandits leading Decker. Soon he joined them. The basket was getting crowded with the three of them already. Would more of these bandits be joining them? He doubted it as he saw his two escorts walking away.
"Cut the ropes!" Kjerstin called. Three masked men appeared out of the shadows and began the process of untying the dozen thick chords holding the balloon to the ground. Olaf apparently thought this looked like fun, so he joined in the process of untying.
"Wait! Olaf is coming with us!" Anna replied, adding "Princess's orders!"
Olaf looked up, then started running to the basket, his snow flurry following him.
"Fine." Kjerstin said as Olaf joined the three aeronauts. She called down to the shadows where the bandits laid in wait. "Now cut the ropes. If we have the wind on our side, you'll have the same wind for your boats. So don't tarry—polar night will set in within the week up there, and sailing through the ice is far more dangerous than flying over it."
As the last cord was untied, the basket slowly lifted off the ground. Kjerstin let go of the fire crystal, closed her eyes, and squeezed the green crystal.
Curious jewelry, Decker thought. But he could forgive the bandit her fashion senses, just as he forgave her for kidnapping him, and even for kidnapping Anna and Olaf. They were flying.
"We've got a long ride ahead of us, Princess," Kjerstin said. "You may want to try to get some sleep. You too, Decker—that is if Texans sleep."
Was that supposed to be an insult? Decker didn't care. And of course he was far too tired to sleep. He would finally be able to live his dream. To soar with the majestic eagles. To dance with the nimble zephyrs. To recline on the soft cumulus. And of course, to escape the heat of the land.
As dawn was breaking, Kjerstin squeezed the fire crystal in her left hand, holding her right above her head. With an oppressive blast of heat and deafening whoosh, a torch flamed off over her head, into the balloon above. Decker winced, and started feeling the back of his head to make sure no more hair had been singed off with that torch blast. His stuck his hands into the sides of the sleeping snowman to cool them off.
Over the past twelve hours of flight his elation had slowly dwindled. There were no eagles, or even seagulls to dance on the breezes with. In fact, he couldn't even feel a breeze. The balloon was moving along, high above the world, so Decker reasoned, there must be a breeze to push it. But it was pushing the balloon too well, so they couldn't even feel it.
The view from high above the Norweigen woods was magnificent, but after so long, was becoming monotonous. Another endless stretch of trees. Another lake. Decker had tried to take Kjerstin's advice and tried to lay down to get some shut-eye, but the basket was too cramped, and jagged ends of the wicker weave stabbed at his back. The cockpit was grossly uncomfortable. No shut-eye, then.
No clouds to recline on either. The balloon passed through what from below looked like the softest, fluffiest patch of silk in the sky. But as they flew into it, up close, the cloud dissolved into a mist—no more reclinable than a bank of fog.
Worst of all was the nearly continuous barrage of fireballs Kjerstin shot into the balloon. Cruel heat and earsplitting noise, worse than his brief time working artillery in the war for independence.
Was this really what flying is like? "Well," he said to nobody in particular. "That's disappointing."