Author's Note: Sorry this chapter took a week or something to write. I had massive writer's block for a few days and it's a bit longer than the previous chapters, so this took longer to write. Next chapter should come sooner, as I already have it mostly planned out.
The Queen approached the cage holding the duke of Weselton, who was sitting with his back to one corner, his head low and bobbing occasionally as he slept. With a flick of the Queen's wrist an icy formation appeared in the back of the duke's throat. He woke immediately, terror in his wide eyes as he frantically looked for the source. As he rested his gaze upon the hooded figure before his cage, his eyes opened even further in recognition. His words caught as he tried to speak to her, finding the magical blockage stopping his attempts.
Elsa lowered herself down and brought her face to the bars before addressing the duke in a whispered tone, "I want to you pay close attention to what comes next." She raised herself and turned her back to him. As she was bringing herself to position in between the other two men from Weselton, the Queen paused and looked back at Hans. She dismissed the pointed ice from the bars of his cage. "You can rest, for now," she said.
Standing between the cages containing the two men, Elsa repeated what she had done to the duke, blocking them from talking and jolting them awake. Before giving them time to comprehend what was happening, the Queen gave them a command, "Stand. Tonight we are going to discuss your earlier indiscretions." The two men stood slowly, warily eyeing each other as well as the hooded Queen.
"The two of you were ordered to kill me by this man, is that correct?" Elsa asked, pointing at the duke. Both men nodded in response. "Do you remember which of you was the first to fire at me?" she asked. The men looked at each other for a moment before the mustachioed man nodded alone. It had been he that loosed the first bolt at the Queen back atop the North Mountain. "Correct," the Queen said with a smile, "I feel like we're beginning to understand one another. One final question, then. Be careful before you answer, it will determine your fate. Was it worth dying for?" Both men's eyes widened in fear as they shook their heads solemnly.
"For your honesty, I'll grant you the privilege of quick deaths." The Queen said, a grin stretching from ear to ear, and she conjured a pair of already-loaded frozen crossbows in her hands. She quickly took aim at each man and fired two shots at their chests, her targets slumping to the ground with a pair of dull thuds. Turning to face the duke again, she flourished her hands and the frosted bolts in the dead mean disappeared and fresh ammunition loaded itself in her weapons. "Hmm... I can't imagine this will bode well for our nations' relationship," the Queen added, almost as an afterthought, as the crystalline strings of her crossbows snapped forward and released their payloads into the duke's lungs.
The crossbows were already disintegrating as she dropped them and sauntered past Hans's icy prison, it once again filling with vicious protrusions that prodded at his flesh. "See you again soon," Elsa whispered demurely to him as she disappeared into the night.
It was nearly noon before Elsa woke the next day. Gerda had tried to rouse her earlier, both for breakfast and then later with some sort of important news, but she was shooed away by the groggy Queen. When Elsa finally did pull herself from her sheets, she felt refreshed and better than she had in years. Taking her time dressing and fixing her hair, she pondered how she would explain this to Anna. Thinking back to the second time Gerda interrupted her, Elsa thought she remembered her mentioning something about another attack. Surely the princess would have questions about what happened, especially after how Elsa had dismissed the topic the previous day.
Eventually deciding that it wasn't worth the headache and not wanting to lose her current feeling of contentedness, Elsa decided to take her lunch in her study instead of in the dining hall. She could tell Anna later on that she had business to take care of and wanted to work through lunch. It wouldn't be a total lie; various treaties and proposals had started to pile up for her and they needed to be addressed. Resigning herself to the fact that the work in front of her was only slightly less intimidating than having to explain herself to her sister, she began trudging through the legal documents on her desk.
Just having finished her lunch, Anna was rambling about Elsa not showing up to Kai while she waited for the plates to be cleared and her dessert to be brought out to her. "I just wish she would tell me what she's thinking. I know she has a lot to deal with, having to run Arendelle all by herself, but that doesn't mean she can avoid me all day, does it?"
"I won't presume as to what Queen Elsa can or cannot do, your highness," replied Kai in a level voice.
"Oh! You said you had something important to tell me. What was it?" asked the princess, suddenly realizing she had interrupted him and was probably keeping him from some of his other duties around the castle.
Kai cleared his throat before answering, "Yes, your highness. You said you wanted to be informed of anything that happened to the prisoners in the town square. There was another attack last night." Anna's eyes widened as she stared intensely at the portly man in front of her. "Three of the men were killed – the three men from Weselton. Prince Hans appears to have suffered no further injuries from this attack. The Queen has already been made aware of the situation."
As soon as he finished, Anna launched into a barrage of questions, "What did she say? Has she moved Hans somewhere else yet? How were the men killed? Have they found who did this? Where's Elsa?"
Kai had retreated a step at the sudden outburst, and he took a moment to straighten himself before replying, "Her majesty hasn't said anything on this matter directly. Gerda spoke with her earlier. She asked Queen Elsa what she should have the guards do about this and her response was to have them do nothing."
Anna was furious. "Have them bring Hans to the castle and put him in one of the cells in the dungeon! I don't care what Elsa says."
"Yes, your highness." Kai said with a bow before making a swift exit from the dining hall.
Anna turned back to the table. A plate with some kind of fluffy chocolate confectionery she couldn't name sat in front of her. She had been so caught up in her conversation with Kai that she had missed when it was brought out for her. Grabbing a spoon and poking at the dessert in front of her for a moment, she sighed before placing it back down and rising from the table. She had lost her appetite, even for chocolate. This was unprecedented for Anna; she knew she needed to get away from the castle – from her sister – for a while, or she would go crazy.
Anna didn't have any place in mind to go, but she walked with purpose as she left the gates of the castle behind her and began the trek across the bridge into town. She was so focused on trying to get her mind off of Elsa and the men who had been attacked that she walked right past the large blonde man who smelled vaguely of reindeer without even noticing him. Truth be told, Kristoff almost missed her as well; he was too busy thinking about how not to embarrass himself when he made it to the castle. He had been trying to think of what would be 'proper' to say when requesting an audience with Anna, figuring that knocking on the door and asking "Can the princess come out to play?" would not be appropriate.
Barely noticing the flash of strawberry blonde hair he caught out of the corner of his eye, Kristoff spun around and saw that it was, in fact, the princess that had walked past him. He hurried to her side and matched her pace as he greeted her, "Hey, Anna – err, Princess Anna. Where are you off to in such a hurry?"
Her eyes lit up as she recognized the voice and turned to look at him. "Kristoff! Perfect. I need to get away from the castle for a while. Can we find a place to talk?" Anna asked him.
"Yeah, sure. Got anywhere in mind? I have a cabin not too far from the city if not. It's quiet and Sven could use the company. If you don't mind, that is," he replied, a bit uncertain how she would take his suggestion.
"That sounds great! And I was wondering where you lived, so I can't wait to see it," she said with a smile, doing her best to be cheerful despite how she was feeling. Running into Kristoff was helping to ease her mind, but only slightly.
They made their way through Arendelle, taking a quick detour into the market so Anna could buy some carrots for Sven. Kristoff could tell that something was bothering Anna from how quiet she was; he wanted to say something but he couldn't find the right words so they just continued in silence and enjoyed each others' company.
Before too long, the pair arrived at their destination. Sven was lazing around in a makeshift stall outside the modest log cabin. His ears perked up as he heard them approaching, and when he saw Anna (and her small basket of carrots) he bounded towards her and skidded to a stop in front of her.
"Hiya Sven," she said affectionately as she moved her free hand to scratch his chin and a look of pure bliss formed on the reindeer's face. "I missed you, too." She pulled out a carrot from the basket and held it out for him. "The rest of these are for your dinner, okay?" Sven grunted in the affirmative and returned to his stall, while Kristoff opened the door to the cabin and motioned to Anna to enter before following her inside.
Anna wasn't sure what to expect the interior of the cabin to be like, but she found that she liked the homely feel of it. The modest furnishings were very different to the extravagance of the castle and she decided that this type of home suited Kristoff perfectly. "I know it's not much compared to what you're used to, but..." Kristoff started before being interrupted by the princess.
"Oh Kristoff, it's wonderful!" she exclaimed as she spun around to take in a full view of the cabin. "It's so cozy in here. I love it!" Anna said as she plopped herself onto a wooden chair near the unlit fireplace.
"Can I get you anything? Are you thirsty?" Asked Kristoff, barely remembering how to act with a guest in his home after being alone for so long.
"No, but thank you. I just had lunch," came Anna's reply.
Kristoff awkwardly moved a second chair closer to where Anna was seated and sat down himself before deciding to broach the topic that caused this visit in the first place, "So what's bothering you, Anna?"
"Is it that obvious?" She replied, looking down at the floor.
"Well, you said you wanted to talk about something and you were quiet the whole way here. That's not like you."
Anna considered for a moment before gathering her thoughts and speaking. "It's about Elsa. She's been acting funny since everything happened. Not that I really know how she acts considering how little I've seen of her. But she's been acting strange, I'm sure of it!" She paused and looked at Kristoff before continuing, "Have you heard about what happened to Hans and the other men she imprisoned?"
Kristoff nodded, "Yeah, I heard some rumors when I was in town this morning. I don't know exactly what happened because I didn't go and look but I heard they were attacked."
Anna was on the verge of shouting. "Three of them are dead and Hans had his tongue cut out. And Elsa isn't doing anything about it! She isn't trying to find out who did this and she just left Hans there for anyone to attack him again! I had to order the guards to move him to the dungeons myself."
"Whoa, calm down feistypants." Anna took a deep breath at the suggestion "Why are you getting so worked up over somebody who left you for dead and tried to kill your sister?" Kristoff asked.
Sinking into her chair, the princess replied, "Ugh, that's the same thing Elsa says when I ask her about it. I just don't like seeing people get hurt."
"Okay, I get it," he replied, "You said Elsa isn't doing anything about this?"
Anna sat back up and shook her head, "No. Well, when I asked her about it last night she said she sent a doctor for Hans. But when I talked to Kai this morning he told me that she ordered the guards to do nothing about it at all. That's when I told him to have the guards move him."
Kristoff thought he had an idea of what might be happening, but he wasn't thrilled about bringing it up with Anna. He sighed deeply before starting, "Okay now - and please don't get mad at me for saying this - but do you think it's possible Elsa knows who did it or is involved somehow? She did make a pretty big show about 'making an example' out of them."
"No! Elsa wouldn't hurt anyone!" Anna shouted.
"Do you remember what happened last time you said something like that?" Kristoff said softly; he still hurt when he thought of Anna standing perfectly still, body completely frozen into ice.
"That was an accident! You know she didn't mean to hurt me." Anna replied, her voice lowering some.
"Yeah, I know. I'm just saying she's not perfect. She screwed up before and maybe something like that is happening now. Maybe she's letting her emotions get the better of her again."
Anna looked out a window, thinking. It was getting dark and dinner was probably already being served back at the castle. After a few minutes she broke the silence, "You might be right. I really, really hope you're not." Another short silence passed before she spoke again, "Hey, Kristoff? Will you come to the castle again tomorrow, maybe for lunch? I don't want to spend the whole day alone and maybe you'll notice something from talking to Elsa. Or maybe you can even talk some sense into her, since she won't listen to me."
"Of course, I'll do whatever you need," Kristoff said with a warm smile.
No dark, hooded figure escaped from the castle that night. The Queen did have to avoid a handful of servants as she made her way to the dungeon at the far side of the castle. There was no gaoler stationed at night; there was only one prisoner and he had been fed already.
Elsa approached the lone occupied cell and chuckled when she realized that its occupant had been transferred still inside his smaller icy cell. She had made the ice stronger than she realized; the guards must not have been able to break through it. As she pressed her hand to the lock to form a matching frozen key to unlock the door, she dismissed her icy trap and formed tight shackles binding the prisoner to the wall.
"I fear that our time is coming to an end. Others will soon learn that all this was my doing, but honestly it matters little in the end. I get what I want and none of them can stop me." The Queen moved close to him, reaching out and grabbing his right hand. She stroked it gently and looked into the prisoner's eyes. "This is the hand that held your sword, is it not?" His eyes grew wide with fear as he understood what was to come.
The Ice Queen of Arendelle conjured a thick blade of perfect ice and brought it down on his wrist. Satisfied, she turned to leave the cell with her new trophy, already encasing it in a transparent block of ice. As she locked the door behind her, she released the shackles on the prisoner and heard him slump to the ground.
Hans whimpered.