Author's Note: Make sure you guys read the part about my next project at the end of the chapter.
Chapter XXIX: The Other Guys
The location of the coordinates was much farther away than Kristoff thought. They were still traveling there, even through the night. Of course, Kristoff hadn't visited the place in a long time. He couldn't exactly remember the last time he was there as the best he could say was a few years ago. Actually, he never really entered the clear patch. He only passed by it when transporting ice, but he was able to see it through the trees as he rode on his sled led by Sven. He didn't exactly know what awaited him there, but he knew what his goal was. He, Eugene, Sven, Maximus, and Olaf just needed to find Anna and Rapunzel who they hoped to find on the way. But, there seemed to be no sign of them as they traveled. Eugene assumed that they were already there at the place, saving the day and what not, but Kristoff thought it was strange that they had not yet passed them as Sven and Maximus would've surely caught up to them at the speed they were traveling.
Reindeers and horses can't run forever. Eventually, Sven and Maximus got tired, forcing the guys and Olaf to walks on foot with their rides. They all walked side by side, with Maximus at the far right, Sven to his left, then Kristoff, Eugene, and finally, Olaf was at the far left side. Kristoff was walking with his hand on Sven's back, somewhat needing support. They were walking on a path in the forest where they left footprints behind them. They all kept their eyes open for any signs of the girls' passing. Of course, there won't be any but the guys didn't know that. They failed to see the biggest clue as to why the girls weren't going that direction; there were no footprints from them.
The forest was dark. The path they were walking through was barely visible. They left in such a hurry they didn't bring anything to keep them fully warm or something that would provide light. Kristoff was wearing his ice miner outfit, so he was good. Eugene on the other hand was wearing his casual clothing, meaning he was freezing. He didn't expect it to be this cold. By now, they expected their mission to have been over, but they had a feeling that it was far from it. None of them were happy in their current condition... except for Olaf of course. He was naturally happy and smiling.
"How far away is it?" Eugene asked Kristoff.
"To be honest..." Kristoff said. "I don't know."
"Right, that makes me feel so much better." Eugene said, sarcastically. He looked around at the forest around them. He could see nothing beyond the trees. He wasn't used to being out in the eery darkness. He preferred being in the safety of sunlight.
Kristoff was feeling just as scared as Eugene was. Somehow, the night was creepier than it usually was. Even though he was part of a large group, that still didn't take away the fact that there were frightening things out there. Any second, something could jump out and attack them and Kristoff wouldn't be ready for it. The tension was killing him on the inside.
Then, a sound made them jump. Though it was nothing but the hoot of an owl, Eugene grabbed onto Kristoff and hugged him tight with his eyes closed. The sound usually wouldn't bother Kristoff as it wasn't uncommon to hear an owl, but due to the tension and the long moment of silence prior to hearing the owl, he was somewhat startled. He tried not to show it, but he was just as frightened as Eugene was. He actually found it funny that Eugene, as tough as he is, was scared by an owl. He also found it funny, that he himself, as tough as he is, was scared by an owl. Then, he realized that he shouldn't be afraid of nothing. Eugene, on the other hand, looked like he had just seen a ghost.
Kristoff pushed Eugene off of his body.
"Get a hold of yourself man!" Kristoff said. "It's just an owl."
"Yeah, but-" Eugene was interrupted by Kristoff slapping him in his face.
"Are you a man?!" Kristoff asked.
"Ow, dude." Eugene said. "Not the face."
Kristoff once again slapped Eugene, this time, on his other cheek. "Are you a man?!"
"Stop that!" Eugene demanded.
Kristoff once again slapped him. "I won't stop until you answer my question! Are you a man?!"
"I'm a man." Eugene said, quietly.
"I can't hear you!" Kristoff said, slapping Eugene again.
"I'm a man." Eugene said, louder.
Kristoff slapped him again. "You're a what?!" Kristoff asked.
"I'm a man!" Eugene exclaimed.
"You're a man!" Kristoff asserted.
"I'm a man!" Eugene repeated.
"We're both men!" Kristoff exclaimed.
"We're men!" Eugene repeated.
"We're men!"
"We're men!"
"We're men!"
"We're men!"
"Yeah!" The two said together, jumping up in the air to high five each other. The entire time, Sven and Maximus were watching the duo with faces that showed confusion and that said "I can't believe this is happening right now."
Then, they heard rustling in one of the bushes off to the left side of the path. The guys looked over to the left side to see what it was about. Then, they saw small glowing red eyes coming from the bush. Kristoff and Eugene hugged each other, their bodies pressed up tightly against one another. Faces of horror showed. They were frightened of what was coming out of the bush.
Then, a little adorable bunny jumped out of the bush and onto the snowy path. The guys gave each other confused faces and let go of each other as if nothing ever happened.
"Stay calm..." Sven said using Kristoff's voice. "It can probably smell fear." Maximus laughed his horse laugh when Sven said that, finding it hilarious. Humans are so stupid, Maximus thought. The two brought up their hooves and bumped them, imitating a high five.
"Hey!" Eugene said. "That's my line!" Then, Eugene closed his eyes and faced the ground, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I can't believe I just got made fun of by a reindeer."
Olaf then waddled over to the little bunny, reaching out at it with his stick arms. The bunny smiled as Olaf gently pet it's head with his hand. When Olaf was done, the bunny hopped away, across the open path and onto the opposite side.
"He's harmless." Olaf said.
"I know that." Eugene said.
"Really?" Sven asked, using Kristoff's voice. "Didn't sound like it." Maximus once again laughed and the two, once again, bumped their hooves together.
"You know what?" Eugene said, angrily.
Then Kristoff put his hand on Eugene's chest, telling him to calm down and stop what he was doing. "You do realize you're about to fight with a reindeer." Kristoff said. "Do you realize how stupid that sounds?"
Eugene sighed. "You're right."
"Good." Kristoff said, glad he was able to end the tension between his friends. The last thing they needed was a fight to break within their group. They needed to stay focused and keep a calm mind if they are ever able to find the girls. Kristoff understood this well. Sven, on the other hand, wanted to have more fun on Eugene's expense.
"You probably can't even beat me in a fight." Sven said, using Kristoff's voice once again.
Uh oh, Kristoff thought. Immediately, Eugene tried to lunge at the reindeer. Kristoff was holding Eugene back from taking another step towards Sven. Eugene tried his best to get out of Kristoff's grasp, but Kristoff proved to be too strong for Eugene as he was easily able to keep Eugene back.
"You want to go?!" Eugene asked.
"I do, actually!" Sven said, using Kristoff's voice. Sven then stood up on his back legs and pounded his chest with his front hooves. He then spread them apart like open arms for Eugene. "Let's go right now! Come at me mother-"
Kristoff snapped out of his Sven voice. "Sven!" Kristoff said, in hopes of Sven controlling his language, which was ridiculous since Kristoff was the one with control over what Sven said.
"You're seriously speaking for the reindeer?!" Eugene asked Kristoff. "Are you crazy?"
"Yeah!" Maximus said, using Eugene's voice. "They're crazy. Good thing we're sane, huh Eugene."
"Yeah, it is." Eugene said in his normal voice.
"Enough!" Kristoff said, loudly. Silence immediately followed that, and everyone looked over at Kristoff. He was done with the fighting between his friends and he vowed to have no more. This was would not help at all in finding Anna and Rapunzel. He also thought that it was ridiculous to argue with a reindeer. Kristoff didn't ever think once that it was also ridiculous to talk for a reindeer like he always did.
"Now is not a great time to argue." Kristoff said. "Now, you guys better make friends and be nice to each other, or else we'll never find Rapunzel or Anna." He looked over at both of them to see their reaction to that. Eugene crossed his arms and looked up at the trees. Sven gave a disappointed look and looked up at the trees as well.
"Now, are we good?" Kristoff asked. Sven nodded, and Eugene grunted. "Shake on it." Kristoff demanded. Kristoff stood out of the way as Sven and Eugene turned towards each other. Eugene walked to the position where Kristoff was standing, right next to Sven. Eugene reluctantly held out his hand, and Sven put his hoof in it. The two shook hand and hoof and let go. Immediately, the two then looked away from each other, still sour from the entire incident.
"Yay!" Olaf said. "We're all happy friends again."
"Whatever." Eugene said.
The five of them continued walking down the path, trying to forget anything bad happened at all. Eugene tried to keep his distance from Sven by walking on the far left side of the path where Olaf was walking. Kristoff gave an angry look at Sven which told him to behave, to which Sven stuck his tongue out at.
"So, can someone explain to me the talking snowman?" Eugene asked to try to break the awkward silence in between them. To be honest, he wasn't really good at doing that. Olaf was the only subject he could bring up.
"Well, Elsa built him." Kristoff answered.
"Since when can Elsa create conscious, living beings made of snow?" Eugene asked.
Kristoff shrugged. To be honest, he didn't know himself. Elsa never really explained her range of abilities with her powers. "It's kind of unexplained." Kristoff said. "She has a confusing, unexplained set of powers."
"Such as?" Eugene asked.
"Ice blasting, changing summer into winter in the blink of an eye, dress making, castle building, and creating life." Kristoff answered. "Also she made ice cream a few months back."
"Since when did creating life come with ice powers?" Eugene asked.
Kristoff mouthed the words, I don't know. "Just go with it." Kristoff said.
"What can Kai do?" Eugene asked. "You know... with his fire."
"Well, I know he can't create life." Kristoff said.
"He tried to make a friend for me, once." Olaf said. "It didn't end well."
"Besides shooting fire and surviving the hardest of conditions, he can't really do much else." Kristoff said. "I'll tell you this, though. Kai is one of the toughest people I know. He can take anything."
"Oh really?" Eugene said.
"Yep." Kristoff said. "Few months back, he took a bullet to the shoulder and fell down roughly twenty feet. Then, with his injuries, he fell in the sea and almost drowned. Even after all of that, he's still here."
"Wow." Eugene said, shocked. He had never heard of anyone who would be able to survive what Kai went through. "With me, it just takes one stab wound to kill me." Eugene continued. "There must be something he can't take."
"Not sure about that." Kristoff said. "But, it would be really anti-climatic if he died of something as stupid as a poison."
"It would." Eugene agreed. "It would be the lamest death ever."
"Yeah, that would suck." Olaf said.
"Here here." Sven said, using Kristoff's voice.
"A lot of people would get upset." Kristoff said.
"Some may even get crazy angry." Eugene continued.
"It would also be a shame if he died since he is the only person who can go up against Cade." Olaf said. "Imagine if he died before he could defeat Cade in battle." Olaf joked.
"Ridiculous." Eugene said.
"Actually..." Kristoff said. "Now that I think about it... A poison could kill him. He's only human."
"Yeah, but normal humans don't shoot fire out of their hands." Eugene said.
"Good thing he's back in Arendelle where nothing can cause him pain." Kristoff said.
Elsewhere, Kai, Anna, and Rapunzel were jogging through the forest. Kai had his left hand in his right hand.
"I am in so much pain!" He yelled.
The entire time, Maximus was wondering who Kai was when they were talking about him.
Then, something caught their eye. Ahead of them, diagonally, in the forest, a dark mist could be seen going up in the sky. Even in the darkness of night, the mist was still visible as it was darker than the sky. Kristoff tapped Eugene's shoulder and pointed up at the mist.
"Smoke?" Eugene asked.
Kristoff nodded. There was no mistaking that that was smoke. When there was smoke, there was fire. Since it didn't look like fire was spreading around the forest, it could be assumed that it was a campfire, meaning people would be there to take care of it. Also, they were near the location Cade gave them anyway, so that meant that the fire was probably from the open patch of land that the coordinates led too.
"Doesn't seem like there's nothing there." Eugene said.
"What does that mean?" Olaf asked.
"It means there are probably bad guys around here." Kristoff answered. "This is where our guards went."
"Could they still be there?" Eugene asked.
"I don't know." Kristoff answered. "But there's only one way to find out."
Kristoff started to run into the woods with Eugene following him. Olaf climbed up on Sven's back and Sven and Maximus followed their riders into the wood. They all tried to move as stealthily as they can, because if the place was truly infested with bad guys like Kristoff suggested, then they wouldn't want to give away their position. As they got closer to the smoke, the way ahead of them became much brighter. Soon, at a fair distance away, it was clear that a large fire was set up. Kristoff knew for sure that this was the place Elsa sent men to go.
They used the trees to their advantage as it helped conceal their position. As the got closer, they were able to hear voices. Many voices. All of the voices heard were faint, but they Kristoff and Eugene could tell that they were masculine. Could they belong to the guards Elsa sent? Honestly, Kristoff doubted it. If they were, why would the guards just loiter around in the area.
As they trotted through the snow, they finally were able to see that where they were heading was in fact a large clearing containing no trees at all. The voices got louder as they got closer, though their conversations could not be understood. Soon, the group were at the edge of the clearing, still in the forest. Each of them hid behind a tree, all lined up next to each other. Even Sven and Maximus his behind a tree, standing on their back legs with their backs touching the trunk of the tree.
"What is this place?" Eugene whispered to Kristoff.
"I'm only an ice miner." Kristoff whispered. "There are limits to what I know."
Then, stuck his head out from behind the tree to see what was in the clearing. What he saw shocked him.
In the very middle of the very large clearing was a very large fire. The wood was stacked up at about eight feet high, and the fire burned all around it. Stones and rocks surrounded the fire to make sure it didn't burn down anything else. The snow around the fire had completely melted, and the dead grass that was below the snow was visible. About twenty feet away from the fire was a group of about fifteen to twenty kneeling people, all wearing a green cloak. There was no doubt that those were Arendelle Castle guards, the exact same ones Elsa sent to rescue the monarchs. They guards all had their arms behind their backs and their hands were tied by a rope. Their ankles, as well, were tied. The same long rope was used to tie the ankles of all of the guards. Four men were standing up around the guards, obviously not guards themselves as they dressed completely differently. The guards were all set up in a large square, and each of the armed men took a different side of that square.
Three tents were set up around the clearing, all of them distanced from one another by many meters. One had smoke coming out of it and wooden tables set up on the outside of it. Few men were sitting on those tables with a bowl of what looked like soup in front of them. They all looked just as cold as Eugene was. That was obvious because of how they were shivering with snow covering their bodies, and their breaths being visible. It seems that that tent served as a kitchen or at least dedicated to food. Another tent was set up with nothing special on the outside, meaning one couldn't tell what it was for just by looking at it. It was quite larger than the two other tents by about two times. Kristoff couldn't tell that it was actually where the men slept.
The third tent was easy to tell what it was for. Racks of weapons were set up on the outside of it. Some men were inspecting them, one of whom was taking them off one by one and testing them out for himself. Kristoff bet that there were more weapons on the inside of the tent. It was no doubt an armory of some sort. Men also weren't just around the tents. They were scattered all over the clearing, and there still was a lot of space available for everyone. Most were just talking and socializing with each other while some were wrestling each other on the snow.
Kristoff put his head back behind the tree.
"Well, what did you see?" Eugene asked.
"Take a look for yourself?" Kristoff said.
Eugene stuck his head out from behind the tree to see what Kristoff saw. He turned his head in different directions multiple times with widened eyes. He soon put his head back behind the tree and looked at Kristoff.
"They've got the guards." Eugene said.
"Yeah, but I don't see any monarchs or representatives anywhere." Kristoff said.
"Cade lied to us." Eugene said.
"Don't act surprised." Kristoff said.
"Well, we have to help those guards." Eugene said.
"Obviously." Kristoff agreed. "So, what's the plan?"
Eugen stoked his chin and once again stuck his head out of the tree. He noticed that there were a bunch of large bushes set around the edges of the clearing, big enough to hide a large man. It would be easy for both Kristoff and Eugene to hide there. He also noticed two men walking around the edge of the clearing in a circle as if they were patrolling the area. They were currently on the opposite side of the edge where Kristoff and Eugene were and it would take a while for the patrol men to get to Kristoff and Eugene.
Eugene had a plan that just might work.
"Okay, you see those two guys over there?" Eugene asked Kristoff, pointing at the patrol men. Kristoff nodded. "This is what we're going to do." Eugene continued. "We hide in some of those bushes over there. When those guys get close enough to us, we quickly grab them, knock them out, and change into their clothes. Then, while in disguise, walk casually over to the guards and free them."
"And after that?" Kristoff asked.
"We'll improvise." Eugene answered.
"Then what do I do?" Olaf asked.
Eugene turned his head towards Olaf. "Stay here and watch Sven and Max. Make sure they won't do anything stupid to blow our cover."
"Aye aye." Olaf said, saluting at Eugene.
"This plan might actually work." Kristoff said.
"It better." Eugene said.
The two then snuck around the trees, using them as cover, and making sure no one in the clearing saw them. They then found a large and long series of bushes which could easily hide them. While trying not to make a sound, they both entered the bushes, hoping no one would be able to see them. Their concealment was successful as the patrol guards weren't able to see them as they approached the bushes.
When the guards were near enough, Kristoff and Eugene quickly jumped out and grabbed them, Kristoff with one and Eugene with the other. Quickly, they pulled the guards into the bushes, hoping they were still incognito. After a few punches, the guards jumped out of the bushes without breaking a sweat. Kristoff and Eugene on the other hand were bruised and with bloody noses.
"We have company!" One of the guards yelled, making sure everyone in the clearing heard it.
"Hostile people are in the area!" The other yelled.
Now, everyone was aware of Kristoff and Eugene's presence.
"Time for plan B." Eugene groaned.
"What's plan B?" Kristoff asked.
"We improvise." Eugene answered.
Author's Note: Sorry if this chapter didn't have much action. I wanted this to be mainly about the interaction between the guys and the humor I could get out it.
My Next Project:
Great! 100 reviews! Woohoo! As I promised, once this story reached 100 reviews, I would release information on my next project. Of course, I'll try not to give away any spoilers or give away any important things in the story.
First and foremost, I'll tell you guys that the story is indeed a sequel to Frozen III: The Coming Storm. It will introduce a few new characters and of course have returning ones. This story will have way more magic in it. I tried to keep the amount of magic and fantasy elements refined in Phoenix Fire and The Coming Storm, but with the new one, I'm breaking the refined limit. The plot will revolve around magic, I'll tell you that much.
The main protagonist of this story is a character you are all familiar with, though I won't tell you who it is. One of the characters will be haunted by the death of an important character in The Coming Storm, and I won't tell you who it is. It may or may not be who you think it is. Yes, that also means someone will die in The Coming Storm. Sorry for the spoiler. Also, the trolls will have a much more important role in the sequel. I also promise that you guys will feel sorry for an antagonist in the sequel.
Hope you guys read it. It's called... drum roll please...
Frozen: A Sky Of Shadows
Also, I have request for you guys.
Name a song that fits the theme of The Coming Storm. Write your answers in the review/comment section please. Include the name of the song, the line that best describes the theme, and explain how it applies to the theme in your opinion. Also, the theme can be anything.
The first song that comes into my mind is Short Change Hero by The Heavy. The line that best describes it is "This ain't no place for no hero" because of how the world is full of bad people such as Hans and Cade who do a lot of bad things. Kai and his friends are trying to be the good guys in this world and try to stop the wicked, but there are too much wicked people. Hence, this ain't no place for no hero.
Ciao.