Chapter Twelve - Dirty Deeds

It was about 8:00 in the evening, and Anna and Kristoff were walking through the palace gardens after watching the sun set over the mountains. The walk had actually been Anna's idea, an evening stroll having become a habit during the years when the gates were still shut. Eventually, they rounded a bend in the path they were following and saw a man trying to walk down the path and hold onto his ankle at the same time.

"Excuse me," the man said, stopping when he saw them. "But I fell down, and I'm afraid I sprained my ankle. Could you please help me to the castle?"

"Of course we'll help!" Anna said, and started moving towards the man, only to be brought up short by Kristoff grabbing her arm.

"I don't think that's a good idea, Anna." he said. "Something about this doesn't feel right here."

"Well, can't you see he's hurt?" Anna retorted, gesturing towards the man with her free arm. "I'm helping him, even if you aren't!" Then, in a surprising display of strength, she wrenched her arm free from the mountain man's grasp and started jogging towards the man. Kristoff wasn't really given any choice but to do the same, minus the arm-wrenching. When they were both supporting one of the man's arms, they started helping him hobble up the path. Suddenly, Anna heard a rustling behind them, and felt something solid strike her in the back of her head. She never remembered hitting the ground.

~`~ ~'~

Elsa was pacing in her study. It was almost 11:00 in the morning, so she should really have been getting ready for court, but she was seriously considering cancelling court for the day, due to Anna and Kristoff's unexplained absence. Neither of them had been in their chambers when the servants had gone in to wake them. That by itself wasn't cause for concern - both were prone to wandering, and it wasn't uncommon for one or both of them to sleep in a storeroom. However, they had also missed breakfast, and while Elsa hadn't had very much time to get to know her sister and barely knew Kristoff at all, she knew that they never missed a meal if it could possibly be avoided. Just then, Kai entered the room.

"Court begins in fifteen minutes, Your Majesty." he said. "Also, a man outside the gate asked me to give you this message." He produced a folded piece of parchment from one of his pockets and handed it to Elsa, who quickly read its contents as the temperature plummeted and frost began to creep outward from the spot at which she stood.

"Court is cancelled for today." she said, quickly re-folding the message and placing it near the fire to avoid freezing it. "Please tell Hjadvaar that his presence is required here."

"Yes, Your Majesty." Kai said leaving the frigid room as the Snow Queen of Arendelle resumed her pacing in a one-room ice palace.

~`~ ~'~

When Kai came looking for him, Hjadvaar was in the courtyard leading a sparring session to gauge how skilled the recruits already were. Around a dozen had ganged up on him, but he wasn't having too much trouble holding his own against them.

"Alright, that's enough." he told the recruits trying to strike him with their wooden training weapons when he saw Kai approaching. "Spar amongst yourselves for a while." He then turned and faced the Head of Staff approaching him.

"Your presence is requested in the Queen's study, Lord Hjadvaar." Kai said. Hjadvaar grunted and turned to face the recruits.

"Take a five-minute break!" he bellowed, easily heard even above the noise produced by the fighting. "If I'm not back by then, get back to training!" He then started walking towards the main door to the castle.

XXX

When Hjadvaar entered the Queen's study, the first thing he noticed was that he practically had to break the door down to open it. The second thing he noticed was that the only part of the room not covered in a thick layer of frost was the fireplace. The third thing he noticed was that Elsa was pacing and hugging herself tightly, looking even paler than usual, something Hjadvaar hadn't even thought was possible.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, knowing that it was a stupid question. Elsa wouldn't have frozen her study if something wasn't wrong. Instead of giving a reply, though, Elsa just pointed at the fireplace and kept pacing and hugging herself. Hjadvaar went over to the fireplace, and noticed the folded parchment. He quickly unfolded it, saw that it was a note, and read it.

'Your Majesty,

We have captured Kristoff Bjorgman and Princess Anna, and are holding them hostage in the forest. We assure you that they are being well treated, but that will change if our demands are not satisfied. Our demands, in short, are that you abdicate your throne for the Royal Council to elect a new King. If these demands are met, Bjorgman and the Princess will be returned no worse for wear. If these demands are not met within the a period of one week, however, we regret to inform you that we will be forced to kill Bjorgman. If another week passes without abdication after that, we will be forced to kill the princess.'

By the time he finished reading the letter, Hjadvaar's face was twisted into a snarl of fury, and he turned to face Kai, who was waiting in the hall.

"Tell Serana to come here." he said, barely able to contain his rage. He then stalked to the window and tried to break the ice covering the latch and hinges. When that failed, he simply stepped back and Shouted the window to pieces, then leaned out.

"Training is dismissed!" he bellowed at the startled recruits. After that, he joined Elsa in her pacing, actually trembling with rage. After just a moment, though, he stopped and threw his head back.

"Nikriine!" he roared, and the ground began to tremble violently as ice rained down from the walls and ceiling. "Hi verhask stahraalle fiid hi dreh ni krif heinmaar! Nikriinne!"* He then resumed his pacing while the ground returned to its usual non-earthquake motions, and Elsa stared at him with a look of awe and terror similar to the one Anna had worn upon his arrival.

*Translation: Cowards! You endanger innocents while you do not fight yourselves! Cowards!

Author's Note: Well, folks, here it is. Part 1 of the chapter I've been wanting to write since Chapter 2. I was originally going to have this one and the next one be all one chapter, but literarily it works out better this way, I think. I'm not even sure 'literarily' is even a word.