Horse Thieves Don't Get Hanged … I Hope

As Anna, Prince Hans, and I made our way slowly back to the castle courtyard, I allowed the events I had just witnessed to play back through my mind again. Elsa can use magic … I thought, still very much in shock. Ice magic. The one thing that my mind kept turning back to, no matter how hard I tried to think on everything else, was the look on Elsa's face. She'd looked scared, terrified even, and if the way she had run away without turning back was any indication, she was even more scared than she'd looked.

My heart broke thinking about it. And I knew one thing for definite: I needed to find her.

Discovering that you've been in love with someone since childhood seems to have quite the effect, I thought to myself. The realisation had been building up all day. There were over ten years' worth of feelings that had come rushing to the surface of my mind all throughout the day, and despite how much I had denied it to myself, thinking that it was just the excitement of the day getting to me, I couldn't deny it any longer.

I was very much in love with Elsa.

The implications of a servant being in love with the Queen were the last thing on my mind. My actions were being fuelled by emotion alone.

So in control were my emotions that I barely even noticed the fact that it was snowing in July.

"Snow …?" someone in the crowd asked in confusion. "It's … snow … in July …"

"… Are you all right?" Prince Hans asked Anna.

"No …" Anna said weakly, still in shock.

"Did you know?"

"No." Anna turned around to face me. "Did you know, Simon? You two spent a lot of time together when we were kids."

"I didn't have a clue," I said honestly. I became aware that my breath was coming out in mist. "Man … I knew Elsa was acting cold, but I wasn't expecting anything like this …"

Poor time to be making jokes? Maybe, but that was the only way I knew to deal with stress.

"Look!" cried the Duke of Weselton nearby. "It's snowing! It's snowing! The Queen has cursed this land! She must be stopped!" He grabbed one of his two thugs by the head and pulled him down. "You have to go after her."

"Wait, no!" said Anna.

The Duke moved his two thugs in front of him and hid behind them. "You! Is there sorcery in you, too? Are you a monster, too?"

"No. No. I'm completely ordinary."

Prince Hans put a hand on Anna's shoulder. "That's right, she is …" he said. Anna gave him a look, which he definitely noticed. "… in the best way."

Not the best save I've ever seen, but apparently it works, I thought. It was mostly to distract myself from the anger that I suddenly felt toward the Duke. It was his cry of "Monster!" that had truly effected Elsa – I had seen so on her face for the split-second I had been able to see it after the words were spoken. I had disliked him before, but I think it was this moment that made me truly start to hate the man.

"And my sister is not a monster," said Anna.

"She nearly killed me," said the Duke.

"You slipped on ice," said Prince Hans.

It was at around this point that I found myself liking Prince Hans. From what little I had spoken to him at the docks, he seemed genuinely polite, and judging from this situation, it seemed to me that he had a level head and never jumped to conclusions. The word "likeable" just seemed to suit the man in some strange way. That being said, I was still a little confused by the fact that he had proposed to Anna after only knowing her for a day. It made me think that his mental state may not be all it appeared to be.

"Her ice!" argued the Duke.

"Do you blame the sun when you get burned, then?" I asked. "Because that's the kind of logic you're working on."

The Duke glared at me. "You," he said, pointing at me. For a moment I thought he was going to call me out on hitting him, but apparently he was a lot more stupid than I'd thought. "I saw you run past after I got hit in the head. Did you see who did it?"

"Er …" I darted my eyes from side to side awkwardly, "… no."

"Look, this was an accident," said Anna. "Elsa was scared. She didn't mean it. She didn't mean any of this … Tonight was my fault. I pushed her. So I'm the one that needs to go after her."

That gave me pause. Was Anna going after Elsa really a good idea? She may not have done any of this on purpose, but she was clearly in distress, so the chances of more accidents happening were actually rather high. Not going after her wasn't an option, make no mistake about that, but I just thought that, maybe, a slower approach would have been wiser.

That was what was going through my head, anyway. My emotions were what dictated my actions.

"Bring me my horse please," Anna said to Dad, who was standing nearby, just as shocked by this turn of events as the rest of us.

"No, I should be the one to go," I said. Before Anna could protest, I went on. "Anna, you're my friend, but you're also the princess. If you leave, Arendelle has nobody to be in charge. And I'm a servant; it is quite literally my job to do things for you. So please … let me do this."

She seemed to think about something, but I wasn't sure what. Honestly, I don't think she considered my offer for even a second.

"I caused this, so I'm going after her," she said sternly. "I'll bring her back, and I'll make this right."

"I'm coming with you," said Prince Hans.

"No," said Anna, "I need you to take care of Arendelle." She looked at me and raised an eyebrow. "You were saying?"

I just raised my hands, conceding.

"… On my honour," said Prince Hans, putting a hand to his chest.

Dad returned with Anna's horse, which was white with a black and white, striped mane, and a cloak, which Anna put on with his help. She got onto her horse. "I leave Prince Hans in charge!" she announced to the gathered crowd.

"Are you sure you can trust her?" Prince Hans asked her in concern. "I don't want you getting hurt."

Despite my growing liking for the man, that statement irked me. The idea that anyone could think Elsa would hurt Anna annoyed me to no end.

"She's my sister; she would never hurt me," said Anna. She snapped the reins of her horse, and it galloped away.

Seeing the white horse running off put a thought into my head.

"I'm, er … gonna go tend to the stables," I said to Prince Hans. "The horses are probably distressed by the sudden change in weather. And, honestly, I, er … I kinda need something to occupy my mind for the moment. If I have your leave, of course, Your Highness?"

"Of course," said Prince Hans without hesitation. "As a friend to both the Queen and the Princess, this must be very stressful to you. Do as you will."

"Thank you, Your Highness." I bowed, and took my leave.

I got a little way away, and then felt my shoulder being grabbed. It was Dad. He had a look of concern on his face.

"I know the face you pull when you're lying," he said softly. "What are you planning on doing, Simon?"

"… Probably something stupid," I admitted. Then I grinned. "But more likely something crazy." I clapped him on the shoulder. "I'll see you soon. Say bye to Mum for me."

He didn't argue, I assume because he knew what I was like when it came to making decisions, and simply nodded with a resigned look on his face. "Please be careful, son."

"I'll be as careful as I can be. See you."

I walked toward the stables.

The fact that Prince Hans was being so nice made me feel almost bad about lying to him. I was going to the stables, yes, but I wasn't going there to tend to the horses. I picked up a few apples from a fruit stand on my way. It all seemed to simple in my emotionally-driven mind, but the small part of my mind that remained rational (and sounded strangely like my mother) kept on telling me that something would inevitably go wrong.

I was going after Anna and joining up with her to go after Elsa.

And I was going to start by stealing a horse.

Not just any horse, but the most intelligent horse I had ever met.

I can't believe I'm about to try to bribe a fucking horse, I thought. My Dad would doubtless be horrified if he heard such things said out loud.

I got to the stables, and the snow was already settling onto the ground, coating it in a thin sheet of white that got thicker by the second. I could feel a definite chill in the air now. The cold bit at my hands, ears, and nose, and I blew into my hands in an attempt to gain at least some warmth. I walked past each gate in the stables, darting my eyes quickly from horse to horse, looking for one in particular.

"Maximus!" I called, hoping he would reveal himself.

He did. After I said his name, he stuck his head over the gate of a stable. He looked rather irritated. He saw me, and I thought I could almost see a smile on his long face. His eyes quickly zeroed in on the small bag I had strapped to my side.

"I got you a little treat, boy," I said, opening up the bag and presenting one of the apples in front of him.

He leaned his head over the gate and sniffed at the apple in my hand. Then he gave a happy neigh and snatched it up with his mouth, chewing and swallowing very quickly.

"So, Maximus," I said, and he looked at me. "I … I need your help. I need you to take me somewhere."

His eyes narrowed in what I assumed was suspicion, but he didn't outright refuse. I took that as a sign to continue.

"I'm sure you've noticed how … strange, the weather is for the time of year, right?" I got a nod in response. I realised that Maximus and the other horses looked uncomfortable – probably due to being unable to move in order to raise their body heat in the cold. "Well, you see, the thing is … it was kinda the Queen that did this. But she didn't do it on purpose!" I amended when I saw that Maximus' face was taking on a stern quality. "She got scared, and this happened, but she didn't mean to do it." I took a deep breath. "I … I think I might be able to help stop this. Or, at least, I want to help stop this. I want to help her …"

Maximus' expression noticeably softened. I think that, even then, he knew that my feelings for Elsa were deeper than I said out loud.

I looked into his big, round eyes pleadingly. "Please, Maximus … I need your help." I grinned deviously. "And if that doesn't do anything to convince you … well, let's just say there's plenty more where that apple came from." I tapped the bag at my side.

Maximus fully perked up. He nodded his head rapidly and started scraping one of his front hooves against the gate.

"Well, all right, then." I unlatched the gate of the stable and let Maximus out. I threw him an apple, which he caught in his mouth and ate instantly. "I can't give you all of them at once, because we might have a long journey ahead of us. I'm not really sure how far Elsa will have gotten by now, but we should be able to catch up with Anna quickly enough. She only left a couple of minutes ago."

I climbed onto the saddle on his back, and grasped his reins in my hands.

"Oh, and by the way, no one gave me permission to do this, so I'm technically stealing you," I said.

He looked back at me, and, to my complete and utter surprise, he grinned. The way he was looking at me seemed to say "You didn't steal me if I chose to help." Then, at my prompting, he set off in a gallop.

As I felt the cold wind rushing through my hair, I couldn't help but grin. "Ride like the wind, Maximus!" I yelled, and he whinnied in response.

After we left, it very quickly occurred to me that Anna might have gotten too much of a head start. I rode north on Maximus, as that was the direction Elsa had been going in, and it was the direction Anna was most likely to be in. The snow picked up very quickly. There was around two feet of the stuff by the middle of the next day. It had gotten colder, much colder, and while it still wasn't quite cold enough for me to be concerned with my health, it was still way past chilly at this stage. I fed Maximus a couple more apples, and I even had one myself when I got a little hungry.

Running became no longer an option very quickly. With the rising snow beneath Maximus' hooves, it was taking longer and longer to make any real progress as the day went on. Occasionally we'd come across some ground where it seemed like somebody had already been there due to the intentional-looking breaks in the snowy floor, and we'd be able to pick up some speed, but such instances were few and far between.

It wasn't until night had fallen once again that we came upon Anna … without her horse.

The snow had, quite mercifully, stopped for the time being, but I didn't think we would be lucky enough to have it stop permanently. We were making our way through what appeared to be a kind of "road" dug in the snow, so Maximus could have broken into a run again if he really needed to. But it was late at night, and we were both rather tired, so I let him settle into a faster than usual walk.

It was at the end of this "road," exiting the forest, that we came across the first piece of civilisation we had seen since leaving Arendelle. It was a small shack of sorts that had a chimney with smoke pouring out of it, and through the windows I could see that the place was lit up rather warmly. There was a sign on the front that said Wandering Oaken's Trading Post. There was a smaller sign underneath. And Sauna. There was a sled outside, and nearby there appeared to a shed or a small barn that had its roof coated in snow.

Deciding that it was a good idea to go inside the building and ask if anyone had passed through recently, I urged Maximus to a stop and climbed off him. Just as I hit the ground, the door to the shack opened, and by some cosmic coincidence it was Anna herself who was leaving. She was in a different dress to the one I had last seen her in, this one more warm-looking, and she was wearing a pair of boots, too. She was wearing a pair of mittens on her hands for warmth. She had the hood of her cloak up, and there was a bag hanging around her shoulder.

"Anna!" I said in relief, approaching her as swiftly as I could manage in the snow.

"Simon?" she said, confused. "What are you doing here? I thought I told you I was going."

"You did, and the message was received. But I care about Elsa, too, and I wouldn't have felt right if I didn't do something to try and help. So … here I am, I guess. Oh, this is Maximus." I gestured to Maximus, who had come up beside me.

Maximus, apparently knowing he was in the presence of royalty, leaned his long head down in a polite bow.

"Oh, a horse!" Anna said, looking both happy and disheartened. "And after I bought all this so that the guy with the sled would give me a ride to the North Mountain …" She looked down at her bag.

"Well, to be fair, it's not like you're struggling for money," I said, grinning slightly. Then I thought for a moment and got serious again. "It'd probably be a good idea for you to ride in a sled, anyway. If we're going up the North Mountain, it might be a little too treacherous for two people to be able to safely ride on a horse. So you should probably stick with that plan." I heard some string guitar music, or something similar, emanating from the snow-covered shed. I looked between the sled and the shed. "Is the guy who owns the sled in there?"

"Seems like it," said Anna.

"Huh … I wonder what pulls it …?" I shook the idle thought from my mind. "Not important, I guess. So, shall we go talk to him?"

"Yeah."

Anna and I made our way toward the shed, Maximus following closely behind. We stopped outside the door when we heard a man singing from inside.

Reindeers are better than people.
Sven, don't you think that's true?

His voice took on a deeper quality for the next line, like he was mimicking somebody.

Yeah, people will beat you, and curse you, and cheat you,
Every one of 'em's bad, except you

"Aww, thanks, buddy," said the man, not singing this time.

But people smell better than reindeers.
Sven, don't you think I'm right?

His voice took on that deep quality again.

That's once again true,
For all except you.

His voice went back to normal.

You got me.
Let's call it a night.

Deep.

Goodnight.

Normal.

Don't let the frostbite bite …

Anna seemed to take this apparent end to the song as a cue to go in. "Nice duet," she said as she pushed through the door. I went in after her, and Maximus stayed outside for the time being.

The man jumped slightly upon our entry, as did his animal companion, which was, true to his song, a reindeer.

How the hell did the reindeer even get in here …? I wondered. The door looked far too small to fit a creature of his size through it.

"Oh, it's just you," said the man. He had blonde hair that looked like he hadn't brushed it at all in his life. His brown eyes were hard, but with a hint of playfulness. What he wore was little more than rags by most standards, but it covered his body well enough, and the fact that there were several stitches on his clothes made me think he was practised in mending his clothes on the fly. He was a big, bulky guy. It must be a requirement for travelling, which his sled and reindeer would indicate he did often. He looked, exasperated, at Anna. "What do you want?"

"I want you to take me up the North Mountain," said Anna.

"I have a horse outside, but I don't think it's a good idea for us to both be on it while riding up a mountain," I said. "Plus, I'm not that good with directions. Never really been out of Arendelle before, actually. We'd be really grateful if you could help us."

The man looked between us, disbelieving, and then simply laid down on the hay. "I don't take people places," he said, putting his wool hat over his eyes.

"Let me rephrase that," said Anna. Then she threw her bag at him.

It landed on his stomach, and apparently the contents were so heavy that the impact winded him. He sat up suddenly, grunting. "Hey," he said weakly, starting to glare.

"Take me up the North Mountain," Anna said assertively. "Please."

The reindeer sniffed at the bag, prompting the man to look inside it. He pulled out a length of rope and a pickaxe. He looked up at Anna suspiciously, and eyebrow raised.

"Look, we know how to stop this winter," said Anna. "Simon has a horse, but we need you to help us get to the mountain."

The man sighed and laid down again, putting the hat back over his eyes. "We leave at dawn," he said. "And you forgot the carrots for Sven."

Anna then flung a second back – one which even I hadn't seen – at the man. This one hit him in the head. He yelled out slightly this time as some carrots fell out of the open bag. He sat up, rubbing his head.

"Nice throw, Anna," I said. "Bad aim, but a nice throw."

"Oh, I'm sorry, sorry, I'm sorry, I didn't mean …" Anna stopped apologising, stood tall, and cleared her throat. "We leave now. Right now." She walked out the door as confidently as she could manage.

I looked at the man and simply tilted my head to the side as if to say "What are you gonna do?" Then I walked out after Anna. "Not the best save in the world, but it seems to have worked," I said to her, grinning. "I guess you and Prince Hans have something in common."

"Shut up," said Anna. Then she smiled. "I've got to admit, I'm really glad you showed up. When find Elsa and get her to come home, it'll be just like old times."

I smiled. "I hope so, too." I took an apple from my bag and threw it to Maximus. "Hope you've enjoyed the rest, Maximus, because we'll be setting out again in a couple of minutes."

He breathed out in what I assumed was a sight, giving me a deadpan look. But he didn't really argue.

"Sorry, buddy, but it's for the best. We have to get the weather back to normal."

He nodded solemnly. Then he walked up to me, and I climbed on. Anna and I waited for awhile, then the man and his reindeer came out, and the lot of us set off.

After getting fully introduced to one another – the man's name was Kristoff, and, as he'd stated before, the reindeer was Sven – Anna climbed into his sled, and he strapped Sven into it. Then he cracked the reins, and I got Maximus running again.

"Hang on," Kristoff said to Anna. "We like to go fast."

"I like fast," Anna said, smiling, as she put her feet up on the front of the sled.

"Whoa," said Kristoff, gesturing for Anna to remove her feet, which she did. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa! Get your feet down. This is fresh lacker. Seriously, were you raised in a barn?" He spat on the wood where Anna's feet had been and rubbed away at it with the sleeve of the large coat he was now wearing. He also had a pair of gloves on.

Anna made a disgusted sound. "No, I was raised in a castle," she said.

"So was I," I said as I rode beside them on Maximus. "But, to be fair, I probably have a much greater appreciation for keeping things clean than you do, Anna. Y'know, considering I've been cleaning that place up for years now."

Kristoff hummed.

I didn't know what to think of him just yet. I was grateful enough to him for helping us get to Elsa, but the fact that he seemed to be doing so only because Anna gave him the stuff made me feel conflicted. On one hand I could understand; one can't be expected to do huge favours for free all the time, especially people who spend a lot of time on the road, like Kristoff probably did. On the other hand, however, it seemed almost like he was trying to profit from our troubles.

Only time will tell, I guess, I thought.

I had noticed that Sven was an incredibly intelligent animal, much like Maximus and possibly Pascal. (I hadn't seen enough of the latter to know if he had this degree of intelligence or not.) I started to think that maybe my castle life was a lot more sheltered than I had previously thought. Until this turn of events, I'd had no idea animals could be this intelligent.

"So tell me: what made the Queen go all ice crazy?" asked Kristoff.

"Oh, well … it was all my fault," said Anna. "I got engaged, and then she freaked out because I had only just met him. You know, that day. And she said she wouldn't bless the marriage. And—"

"Wait," said Kristoff, shocked. "You got engaged to someone you just met that day?"

I laughed a little at his reaction. Maximus made a sound that I only assumed was laughter.

"Yeah. Anyway, I got mad, and so she got mad, and she tried to walk away, and I grabbed her glove, and—"

"Hang on," Kristoff said abruptly, turning to face Anna with a look of disbelief on his face. "You mean to tell me you got engaged to someone you just met that day?"

I exploded into full-on laughter this time. "Tell me about it, man!" I said. "I didn't comment on it at the time, because I dropped some glasses, and then Elsa froze everything, but I've been having the exact same thoughts." I noticed Anna giving me a look. "Hans is nice, though, don't get me wrong. I definitely like that guy." She nodded, turned away, and I let out a breath of relief.

"But the thing is," she continued saying to Kristoff, "she wore the gloves all the time, so I just thought maybe she has a thing about dirt."

"Didn't your parents ever warn you about strangers?" asked Kristoff.

Anna looked at him warily, then backed as far to her side of the sled as she could. "Yes they did," she said. Kristoff rolled his eyes at her. "But Hans is not a stranger."

"Oh yeah? What's his last name?"

"Of the Southern Isles."

"What's his favourite food?"

"Sandwiches."

"Best friend's name?"

"Probably John."

"Eye colour?"

"Dreamy."

"Foot size?"

"Foot size doesn't matter."

"Ha!" I laughed loudly at her unintentional innuendo.

"Have you had a meal with him yet?" Kristoff asked. "What if you hate the way he eats? What if you hate the way he picks his nose?"

"Picks his nose?" Anna asked, disgusted.

"And eats it," said Kristoff.

"Excuse me, sir, he is a prince."

Kristoff smiled smugly. "All men do it."

"I certainly don't," I said, glancing at him as best I could considering we were using different modes of transport. "That's disgusting. You're disgusting."

He looked over at me. "Liar," he said.

"Look, it doesn't matter," Anna said to Kristoff. "It's true love."

"It doesn't sound like true love," said Kristoff.

Anna scoffed. "Are you some sort of love expert?"

Kristoff hesitated. "No … but I have friends who are." He looked over at me again. "And they'd tell you that this guy is in love. I can see it in his eyes."

"… You are mistaken, sir," I said, trying to avoid letting the red rush to my face. It was cold, so I was already pretty red, anyway, but I was still paranoid.

"Oh yeah? What's got you going after the Queen, then? You seem awfully close with the royals."

"He is," said Anna. "The three of us grew up together. Honestly, he's like my brother. That doesn't mean he's in love with my sister."

"Yeah, Anna's like my sister," I said.

"What about her sister?" asked Kristoff.

I had no response to give him. Anna looked my way with slightly wide eyes when I didn't respond, but quickly shook her head of whatever thoughts were going through them. "Why should I believe you?" she asked Kristoff. "I mean, you have friends who are love experts? I'm not buying it."

"Stop talking," said Kristoff, suddenly serious. He slowed Sven down, and I did the same with Maximus, sensing that we were now in a very serious situation.

"No, no, no, no, no," said Anna. "I'd like to meet these—"

Kristoff shoved one of his hands against her mouth to shut her up. "Stop talking." She brushed his hand off, then went to speak again, but he shushed her. He stood up in his sled and lifted up the lantern he had in it, looking around intently. Sven looked around, ears perked up, and Maximus did something similar, though with much more energy and suspicion. Kristoff looked off into the darkness behind us, and I did the same. After a moment or two, I saw several sets of luminescent eyes, and heard a series of deep growling noises.

Well … damn … I thought, gulping.

"Sven, go!" Kristoff said, and Sven was off running.

"Maximus, get us the hell out of here!" I said frantically, but Maximus was already running. He had caught up with, and even slightly overtaken, the others in no time flat.

"What are they?" asked Anna.

"Wolves," said Kristoff.

"Wolves?"

I wasn't sure what Anna and Kristoff were doing in the sled because I was too busy keeping my eyes ahead and trying not to look at the wolves, but I could hear what was happening.

"What do we do?" asked Anna.

"I got this," said Kristoff. "Just don't fall off and don't get eaten."

"But I wanna help!"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because I don't trust your judgement."

"Excuse me."

"Who marries a man she just met." The word "man" was accompanied by a grunt of exertion.

"It's true love!"

"Whoa!" There was the sound of an impact and breaking wood. "Whoa …" There was a series of violent barks, and Kristoff gave off a yell.

"Christopher!" yelled Anna.

"It's Kristoff!"

I risked a look over my shoulder and saw that Kristoff was clinging to the back of his sled with the wolves hot on his heels. Two of them lunged, and there was one attached to each of Kristoff's legs by its teeth.

I turned my head to look behind me, checking to make sure none of them were too close. There was one that was running faster than the others, and it was getting uncomfortably close to Maximus and I.

"Maximus, kick!" I yelled.

Maximus did just that, and while it slowed us down somewhat, the cry of pain the wolf let out before it was knocked to the floor sent relief flooding through my body.

Anna lit a big bag – probably a sleeping bag or something – on fire using a torch that had probably been made while I wasn't looking. Then she took the flaming bag and hurled it at the two wolves that were attached to Kristoff, hitting them and freeing him.

"You almost set me on fire!" Kristoff exclaimed as he climbed back into the sled.

"But I didn't!" was Anna's clever response.

Sven made a sudden, loud grunting sound, which prompted me to look in the direction Maximus was running once again. Just ahead of us was a sheer cliff face which, while leading down into more snow, didn't look like it'd be any fun to fall down.

"Crap!" I cursed. "You good to jump that, Maximus?"

Maximus simply nodded.

Once again, I opted to look where we were going. I wrapped my arms tightly around Maximus' neck and braced for the inevitable jump.

"Get ready to jump, Sven!" I heard Anna yell.

"You don't tell him what to do," said Kristoff. "I do!"

Anna gave off a yell.

"Jump, Sven!" Kristoff shouted.

Maximus reached the edge of the drop and leapt. The sudden feeling of flight overtook me, and it was both exhilarating and terrifying. I squeezed my eyes shut as we began to descend. While this whole thing lasted only a few seconds, to me it felt like we were in the air for hours, and my stomach felt a little light because of it. When we finally hit solid ground again it was with a thud that almost unhorsed me, and would have, if not for my strong grip.

Anna landed next to me on Sven. I heard Kristoff yell, and I heard an impact. I turned around and saw that he had landed just on the edge of the drop … but his sled was gone. The wolves stood snarling on the other side of the gap.

I sighed in relief. The animal kingdom still had its share of unintelligent beasts, it seemed.

Kristoff looked down. "But I just paid it off …" he said in despair. Then one of his arms slipped. "Uh oh." He began to slip, trying to gain a hand-hold in the snow, but to no avail. "No, no, no, no …"

I jumped off Maximus and began to run toward him. Come on, come on, come on … I thought as I ran, but I needn't have worried.

The pickaxe from before landed in front of him, seemingly out of nowhere. It was attached to the rope.

"Grab on!" Anna called out. I turned and saw that the other end of the rope was attached to Sven. "Pull, Sven, pull!"

Sven walked forward, and Kristoff, who was grabbing onto the pickaxe, was pulled out of danger and onto the ground. I let out the breath I had been holding, and a smile came across my face. We had all gotten out fine.

Well, Kristoff's sled was gone, but otherwise we were fine.

And that's chapter two, Constant Readers! I hope you've enjoyed it.

As you can see, Simon has taken Maximus with him, because I love that bloody horse. I hope I've managed to accurately portray his personality, but we'll have to see. And Kristoff, being raised by the "love experts," has already sussed out that Simon is in love with Elsa. How do you think Anna will react to this once she's stopped doubting Kristoff's words about them? You'll find out soon enough.

I'm using the T rating in a similar manner to the 12A (or PG-13 if you're from anywhere other than Britain) rating for movies. I can swear and show some violence, but I only get one use of the F-bomb (which I used this chapter) and it can't be in a conversation about sex. So I should still be good.

See you in chapter three!