CHAPTER 14
Later that night, Anna found herself just outside the castle, Mattias no where to be seen. She thought about her earlier encounter with Elsa and tried her best to not get too lost in thought about what was certain to occur later in the evening.
She was startled out of her thoughts by a sudden feeling that she was no longer alone. She spun on her heel and screeched when she found Mattias occupying the previously-empty space directly behind her.
"Gods, Mattias, you scared me!" she yelled. "Why would you sneak up on me like that?"
"I was here the whole time!" he said with a chuckle. "Just because there is no one visible does not mean that there is no one around you."
"I'll keep that in mind." Anna said, annoyance clear in her voice. Mattias laughed and shook his head.
"Come now." he said. "Let's head into the city and see what we can learn." With that, he began walking toward the gates, motioning for Anna to follow.
As the pair crossed the bridge, Anna finally noticed the strange outfit that Mattias wore. It was his white military uniform, but the pins and medals were missing. The jacket that he usually wore over the outfit was replaced by an ankle-length overcoat, navy blue in color and highlighted with white trim. It reminded her much of the uniforms that the naval captains wore. One glaring difference was that there was a hood where the collar should be. Brilliant gold buttons held the coat together, and a leather belt with an ornate silver buckle held two swords to his waist. The pistol that Mattias seemed so fond of was holstered across his chest.
As the two royals reached the city proper, Mattias pulled the hood up over his head. He turned down an alleyway before facing Anna.
"Keep quiet and try to keep up!" he said with a smirk. Before Anna could respond, the man was off and running.
"Hey, wait!" Anna cried, giving chase. "This is a dead end! There's nowhere to-"
Mattias reached the building at the end of the alley before she could finish the sentence. Instead of stopping, he simply threw himself up the wall and began to climb the building. After cresting the top, he stood and turned to look down at Anna.
"Come on!" he shouted. "You should be able to climb much faster than the other day in those breeches!" After he issued the challenge, he took off running over the rooftop. Not one to back down, Anna jumped up the wall with a yell and began her ascent.
She reached the roof of the building much faster than she thought she would, just as Mattias had anticipated. He was waiting for her at the top, and when she stood up, he started running towards the edge of the roof.
"MATTIAS, STOP!" she cried while chasing after him, but the man kept running. Anna flinched when he reached the edge and took a running jump. She stared in horror as he flew through the air and landed on the adjacent building with a roll.
"ARE YOU CRAZY!?" Anna yelled. "You could have been killed!"
"Nonsense!" Mattias yelled back. "Now come on! Stop delaying and get over here!"
"No way. Nuh uh. Nope." Anna said, shaking her head and crossing her arms. "I might chase you down an alley, or climb a building, but I am not jumping off of a roof!"
"What's wrong Anna? Are you scared?" Mattias taunted.
"Yes!" the Princess admitted. "What if I miss? I could die!"
"I didn't fall." the man replied. "Now come one. Don't you want to learn what the people think of you? What they think of Elsa?"
Elsa's name got her attention. She did say that she was willing to do anything in order to protect her sister, though jumping from building to building wasn't what she had in mind. Mattias was her friend, however, and she trusted him.
'He wouldn't make me do anything that dangerous,' she thought. 'right?'
"Okay, here I come!" she called out. She gulped and moved several meters away from the edge of the roof, giving herself ample space to come to speed.
"Okay, Anna, you can do this." she said to herself. "You were born to do this!"
"One..." she counted, wiping the sweat from her brow.
"Two..." she lowered her head and planted her feet back.
"Three!"
Anna took off running at a full sprint towards the precipice. When she neared the edge, she planted her feet and kicked off with all the strength she could muster. She felt her stomach drop out from under her as she sailed through the air. The Princess squeezed her eyes shut and prepared for her demise as she fell towards the ground.
The fall to her death didn't last nearly as long as Anna had expected, and when she opened her eyes, she was shocked to see the opposite roof fast approaching. She landed in a somersault, much like Mattias did, but instead of springing to her feet as the Prince had, she rolled several more times and came to a stop on her back.
"Ow." she groaned, still laying flat on her back. Mattias crouched next to her.
"Well done, Anna!" he said, clapping a hand on her shoulder. "I knew you could do it!"
Mattias righted himself and extended an arm towards the woman. Anna took the offered hand and the Prince pulled her up from her spot on the floor.
"So how do you feel?" the man asked.
"That was..." Anna paused. She took a moment to assess her body and how she felt.
Her heart was pumping faster than it ever had, her hands were shaking, her back was sore, and she was filthy from rolling on the floor.
To her surprise, she found that she couldn't care less about all of that. The adrenaline that was coursing through her veins made her feel powerful and invincible; it made her feel good.
"That was surprisingly fun." she said. Mattias smiled.
"Isn't it?" he replied. "Now we just have to work on your landings and you'll be climbing and jumping like a professional before you know it!"
The duo continued walking along the building they had just jumped to. Before long, they reached the edge and Mattias sat down, feet dangling over the side. Anna joined him and looked over the edge of the roof towards the ground two stories below.
"Where are we?" she asked the Prince. He simply pointed to the sign hanging from the side of the building. Anna read the words emblazoned there out loud.
"'The Golden Crocus'..." she said. "This is a tavern, isn't it?" Mattias nodded in response.
"What are we doing on top of a tavern?" Anna asked. Mattias leaned back on his hands before beginning to explain.
"If you ever want to know the truth about anything, you go to a tavern and listen." he began. "People will tell you their deepest secrets after they've downed a few pints of ale."
Anna's brow creased in confusion.
"I thought we were going to learn what people thought of Elsa." she said. "Shouldn't we be spying on, I don't know, noblemen? People with influence?"
"We could do that." Mattias responded. "But noblemen aren't the people that will pick up arms against the crown. They'll try to buy their way into power. The people in the taverns are the ones whose opinions really matter. They're the workers, the farmers, the smiths and sailors and soldiers. They're the people who can- and will- do something if they're unhappy."
Anna thought about what the Prince said. It made perfect sense. A nobleman would just bribe one of the Queen's advisers if he wanted something changed, but a farmer or sailor couldn't do that. They would have to fight for what they wanted, and that might escalate to taking up arms.
Her eyes widened as the thought of weaponry suddenly pulled a question to the forefront of her mind.
"Mattias," she began, turning to look at the man. "why are you so well-armed right now?"
"I'm a soldier, Anna." he began to explain. "My military training would never let me leave the castle at night and unarmed."
"Right." Anna said with slight disbelief. "I understand that, but two swords? And a pistol? That seems a bit much."
"One can never be too careful." Mattias replied with a shrug.
Their conversation was interrupted by the sounds of revelry. The front door of the tavern had opened and a group of patrons was exiting. Their boisterous laughter was loud and clear in the cold night air.
"Listen." Mattias said in a whisper. "Stay quiet and stay out of sight, and we just might learn something."
Anna leaned over the edge in order to observe the group and better hear what the men were talking about. A large, bald man had his arm wrapped around one of the others in the group, a tall man with messy blonde hair. It wasn't long until she started hearing her name as well as her sisters as one of the men, this one wearing the uniform of Arendelle's Navy, spoke.
"I'll say it if none of ye' will. Princess Anna is more beautiful than the Queen."
Anna inhaled sharply as the men laughed again. She heard Mattias stifle a laugh of his own.
The bald man looked towards the blonde at his side and spoke.
"C'mon lad, you dated the girl. What was she like?" he asked, slurring his words slightly.
'Wait, dated? Are they still talking about me?' Anna thought.
The blonde took a swig from the stein in his hand before responding.
"She was one of the most genuinely nice people I've ever met. Seriously. Just sweet and kind and caring. And yeah, absolutely beautiful." the man said.
Suddenly Anna realized something. 'Wait a second...' she thought. 'I recognize that voice!'
"Coming from you, Kristoff, that ain't saying much. You know more reindeer than you do people!" The group laughed as Kristoff shoved the bald man away from him.
"Kristoff!" Anna exclaimed in a half-whisper. Mattias looked at her, confused.
"Do you know him?" he asked.
"We used to be a couple." Anna answered, eyes still trained on the group of men below. Mattias' eyes widened in surprise as he turned his gaze back towards the group.
"I'm serious, guys!' Kristoff continued. "I've never met anyone like her before. She's perfect." Mattias chuckled slightly. Anna could feel herself turning red.
"Aye, apparently a wee bit too perfect for you, lad!" another man said, and the group laughed together. Anna winced at the frown that overtook Kristoff's features.
The laughter died down before the man in the naval uniform spoke up.
"Enough about the Princess, boy. I want to know about the Queen. Did ye ever meet her?"
"Yeah, a bunch of times." Kristoff took another swig of his drink. "She was always working, but once in a while she would spend time with me and Anna."
The men looked at Kristoff with wide, curious eyes.
"So what was she like, eh?" the bald man asked. "Did ice follow her every move? Was the castle full of snow? Did she freeze-"
"Enough, Johan." Kristoff cut the man off with a wave of his arm. "She didn't do any of that. She was very nice. Just like the Princess, just a little less..." he paused to search for the proper word. "...outgoing; quieter, you know?"
Anna smiled, glad that Kristoff had nice things to say about her sister.
"She was very pleasant." the blonde continued. "She was always talking about her work; about Arendelle, and the people. She really tries her best to please everyone. It's nice to know, actually; that the queen really cares about us."
"Hah, I knew it! Pay up, Nils." Johan cried, outstretching his open hand towards the sailor. "I told ya she wasn't evil, ya bloody idiot."
The sailor, Nils apparently, furrowed his brow angrily before slapping a handful of coins into Johan's hand.
"Dra til helvete, Johan." Nils growled. Anna gasped at the man's use of foul language. The other men in the group simply laughed.
"See Nils? The Queen isn't dangerous." Johan said. "She isn't an 'evil ice witch'" he paused for a moment before his smile disappeared, and he turned to the blonde for reassurance. "... right, Kristoff?"
"Right, Johan." Kristoff said with a chuckle before finishing his drink and throwing the mug aside. "There's no reason to be afraid of the Queen. She wouldn't hurt anyone."
"Good to know, I suppose." Nils said. "I guess that means she won't accidentally freeze me when I court her, then."
"Hah! In yer dreams, Nils!" Johan exclaimed with a chortle. "The Queen would take one look at yer ugly face an' freeze her own eyes shut!"
The men laughed at the insult, and Anna couldn't help but chuckle along with them. It was nice to know that Kristoff was starting to spend time with other human beings since they stopped seeing each other. It was even nicer to know that people trusted Elsa.
"I'll say though, what I wouldn't do to have a go at the Queen, eh?" Johan said. Anna gasped and her brow furrowed in anger. She grabbed a handful of snow from a pile on the roof and began forming it into a ball.
"Anna, what are you doing?" Mattias asked. "If you're doing what I think you're doing, then don't. We're supposed to be staying out of sight, not hitting people with snowballs."
Anna ignored him and continued to form the snowy projectile.
"Nobody talks about my sister that way!" she muttered angrily.
"She's so beautiful, like Freyja herself in human form." the bald man continued. "Such a pretty face on her, and those curves! I'd do anything to even get a look at- FÆN!" He cursed when the snowball struck the back of his head.
"Bullseye!" Anna exclaimed as she smiled and pumped her fist triumphantly. "That'll teach him to show some respect." Mattias groaned and shook his head.
"Who's there? Show yourself, ye coward!" cried Johan, spinning around in an attempt to find the perpetrator.
"Relax, Johan." Nils said. "There's no one there. It's just the drink getting to yer daft head!"
"Aye, ye are probably right." Johan relented. "Best be off, then. Skål, lads!"
"Skål, Johan." the group replied as they all headed in separate directions. Kristoff lingered for another few seconds, looking around. He let out a deep sigh. The puff of steam that his breath formed dissipated and he began walking toward the castle with a forlorn look on his face.
Anna frowned. She still felt guilty about leaving him, especially since she couldn't tell him why.
"Did you hear anything helpful?" Mattias asked her. He spoke at a normal volume now that stealth wasn't necessary.
Anna thought about what she had overheard. She was surprised to find Kristoff there and was even more surprised to hear him defending her and Elsa, especially after she had broken his heart. The fact that most of the men echoed his sentiments about the Queen was a relief. It was only a small group of men, but they were a good representation of average citizens.
"Yes, I think I did." Anna responded. Mattias smiled.
"See? I told you that you would learn something." the Prince said smugly.
"You were right." she replied. "Bizarre methodology aside, I heard what I needed to hear."
"I'm glad." the man said with a smile and crossed his arms across his chest. "Now tell me about that Kristoff fellow."
Anna blushed. She knew this question was coming the second she recognized her ex-flame.
"He's the Royal Ice Master and Deliverer." the Princess replied. Mattias scrunched his nose up quizzically.
"That's a real title?" he asked. "Can't Elsa produce all the ice Arendelle could ever need and then some?"
"Yes, it is a real title and yes, she could." Anna responded. "Elsa gave him the title after he helped me stop Prince Hans."
"I see." Mattias said. "And you... dated him?"
"Yes, I did."
"Interesting." Mattias replied. He stood up and stretched before extending his arm out to help Anna up. "Well then, I suppose we should be getting back to the castle."
"Yes, we should." Anna said as the Prince hoisted her upright. "I told Elsa that I wouldn't stay out too late."
"Let's get going then." Mattias said. He looked over the edge of the roof once more, scanning his eyes up and down the street before turning back to Anna.
"I think we can simply walk back now." he said, and walked to the side of the building. He motioned for Anna to follow as he began climbing down the building's exterior. Once they were both on the ground, they began to walk back towards the castle. They were silent for several minutes, save for the crunching of the snow under their feet, before Mattias spoke again.
"So what happened with you and Kristoffer?" he asked.
"First of all, his name is Kristoff." Anna replied. "Second of all, that's none of your business."
"Sorry, just curious." the Prince said defensively. "It's just that- well... oh, never mind."
"Go ahead, just say it." Anna said with a grunt of annoyance. Mattias stopped walking and lowered his hood before looking at her.
"Well, I saw you frown when those men said you were too perfect for him." Mattias said. "I just wanted to make sure that you were okay."
Anna was surprised. She was expecting a joke about a Princess being courted by a commoner; not worry for her well-being. She looked into the Prince's eyes, and saw genuine concern there. With a sigh, she relented and began to explain.
"We were together for a little over a week, right after Elsa's coronation." she said. "It was... nice. We had fun together. He's a genuinely nice person. He's funny, and caring, and even though he smells pretty bad on occasion, he was fun to be around and..."
Anna sighed and her eyes fell.
"...and we loved each other."
"If you loved each other, why aren't you together anymore?" Mattias asked.
"I didn't love him the way he loved me." she replied sadly. "It took me awhile, but I realized that he wasn't my true love, and I would never be able to give him the affection he deserved. It would have been unfair of me to let him think otherwise. So I ended it."
"I see." Mattias said. The pair once again began walking towards the castle.
"Besides," Anna continued. "even if we were still together, we would have to stop seeing each other because of the stupid betrothal." Mattias raised an eyebrow and shot her a questioning look. She rolled her eyes as she turned to him.
"No offense." she added.
"None taken." Mattias said with a smile. "I understand."
The two completed their journey to the castle in silence. Once they reached the foyer, Mattias began to speak again.
"Thank you for accompanying me tonight, Anna." he said. "Hopefully we were able to alleviate some of your concerns."
"We were." Anna responded. "Thank you for letting me come along. I have to say, I had a good time."
"I'm glad to hear that." the Prince replied. "We'll have to do this again sometime. Perhaps two days from now?"
"I'd like that." Anna said as she turned towards the stairs. "Goodnight, Mattias."
"Goodnight, Anna."
The Prince turned to walk towards the guest chambers while Anna made her way upstairs to find Elsa. She couldn't wait to tell her about what she had heard.
'Maybe not the lewd parts though.' Anna thought.
Queen Elsa sat in the library mindlessly thumbing through the same book of legal statutes that she had a dozen times before. She had long ago given up on finding anything of use in this particular text, but she was too lost in her mind to do anything else.
Anna being alone with Mattias made her anxious. He was, after all, her competition. Elsa knew that Anna would never do anything to betray her, but she was uneasy none the less. As such, she continued to search the pages of the book while thoughts of her sister flitted through her mind.
Anna's attempt to seduce her before the younger woman had left had been very successful, and the Queen now anxiously awaited her return. The Princess had only been gone for a few minutes at this point, but to Elsa, it seemed like hours. Elsa had done everything she could to insure that Anna would be back as soon as as possible, but even that wasn't soon enough.
Elsa's journey into the more obscene parts of her mind was interrupted by a light tapping at the window. She looked for the source of the offending noise but saw nothing but the blackness of night outside of the glass. She turned back to her book convinced that her mind was playing games with her.
A moment later, Elsa heard more tapping coming from the window. This time, she got up and went to the window to investigate. The opened the glass and discovered why she hadn't seen anything through the pane the first time.
A stark black raven was perched on the window sill, barely visible against the backdrop of night.
"Viggo..." she muttered. "What could he possibly need at this hour?"
She began to turn towards her desk to wait for the man's arrival, but stopped herself when she noticed a piece of parchment tied to the raven's foot. She held out her arm and the bird jumped onto it. Elsa removed the paper from the bird's leg. It squawked loudly at her before jumping out onto the window sill and flying away.
'Rude...' she thought. Elsa unfurled the parchment and began to read.
E-
Found Ørnhavn agent dead in safehouse. No sign of physical struggle. Suggests poison.
He discovered something important. I am investigating. New agent activated.
Traveling to Southern Isles soon. Trail leads there. Something major happening.
Possible threat, though unsure of specifics. Be wary.
Will send updates as I learn more.
-V
"Oh no." Elsa said aloud. This wasn't good.
Elsa knew that cutting off Weselton and the Southern Isles would paint a target on her back. So far, the only threats had been in the form of legal action from Weselton, but if Hans had taught her anything, it was that the possibility of violence was always present.
Elsa placed the missive into the fireplace and watched the flames turn the paper to ash. Worry creased her brow. She trusted Viggo, and if he believed a threat was present, she was inclined to believe him. Her thoughts once again fell on Anna, who was still out in the dark with a man who, for all intents and purposes, may as well be a stranger.
The temperature in the room began to fall as Elsa walked back towards the window. She stared out into the night as frost crept across the glass.
Elsa thought about what could possibly be lurking out there. What dangers were waiting to present themselves? The thought of Anna being hurt made her upset, but the sadness was quickly overtaken by anger.
The ice that now completely coated the room slowly became a dark crimson to match Elsa's anger. Her teeth clenched and her fists balled with fury at the thought of someone trying to hurt her sister. Loud hissing could be heard as the ice around her began to crack and splinter. The sounds caught her attention, and she closed her eyes and let out a long breath.
"Calm down, Elsa." she thought aloud. "No one is going to hurt her."
The Queen regained control of her magic and the ice receded. Her powers had protected her in the past, and now she needed them to protect Anna. She had to maintain control. She had to protect Anna, and she would.
No matter what.
A/N
Hiya folks. I'm alive, don't worry. Here's a chapter with some more plot stuff and character exposition and whatever. I enjoyed writing this one quite a bit.
It also has more learning in it!
Dra til helvete- go to hell
faen- fuck
Freyja- old norse for "The Lady";a goddess associated with love, sexuality, and beauty (among other things)
Isn't learning neat?
Anyway, thanks for bearing with me folks, as I said last time, my life has gotten pretty friggin hectic, but I'm gonna try to get out at least one chapter a week.
Much love,
-Cosmic