A drop of sweat slid down the man's temple as Olaf moved in to study him with sharp eyes.
"Closer," Olaf commanded. Olaf's face moved in, his carrot nose now poking the man's double chin.
"Is this necessary?" Kristoff mumbled, holding Olaf up on his shoulders so that Olaf could look each individual in the line of guards face-to-face.
"Not him," Olaf answered, ignoring Kristoff's lack of enthusiasm. "Next!"
Kristoff side-stepped to the next man in the line. This one shifted his eyes as Olaf moved in.
"Oh?" Olaf said. The shiftiness was certainly familiar. He tried to recall the face of the man who had questioned him in the dungeons. But with every hour, the face became blurrier. Typically, Olaf remembered smiles better than frowns. His captor had only smiled once, and Olaf would never forget the malice that was in it. But Olaf was already starting to forget the rest of the man.
"Closer?" Kristoff offered.
"Nope, not this one."
Kristoff sighed. This went on for almost thirty minutes as Kristoff took Olaf through several rows of royal guards all lined up in the castle courtyard. When they reached the end of the last row, Kristoff muttered something about his aching shoulders before he picked Olaf up and held him out toward the guard.
"Eek!" the guard recoiled.
"Definitely not this one," Olaf said immediately. His captor had held no qualms about getting in his face. This guard couldn't be him.
"Are you sure?" Kristoff asked, settling the little snowman back down on his own two feet.
Olaf gave him a solemn nod and glanced over at the queen. She was deep in conversation at the other side of the courtyard with her servant, Kai. Olaf hated to disappoint Elsa again.
"So if none of these guards are the one that locked you up… where could he be?"
Olaf shrugged. "Maybe he went on vacation?" he suggested. Kristoff raised his eyebrow. "Do guards not take vacations?"
"Nevermind…"
They both glanced over, noticing as Queen Elsa walked across the courtyard. Her eyes looked weary but hopeful.
"Well?" she asked. Kai stepped up after her, looking at Olaf expectantly.
"None of them," Kristoff said.
"Really?" Elsa asked, her eyes widening. Then she looked down, furrowing her brow as if working over a puzzle in her head.
"It seems that someone infiltrated the castle to hide Master Olaf. But why?" Kai said.
Olaf wished he had an answer for them, but he was just as confused. At the time he was seized, he had just assumed that the guard overheard him say he lied. But he hadn't actually said he lied. He only voiced his regret that he said he'd seen Hans.
"Olaf," Elsa said softly. Olaf looked up at her, his eyes drooping. "Do you remember anything else about this guard? What did he say to you?"
"He asked whether I'd seen Hans leave the kingdom," he answered. He avoided her eyes as he continued, "That was part of Anna's plan to sneak out of town. I distracted the guards at the gate by saying I'd seen Prince Hans elsewhere. They all went running. There were three of them. But the guard who took me was not one of them."
"This gets more puzzling by the minute," Kristoff commented.
"I believe we were interviewing the castle staff at the time Olaf was abducted," Kai said.
"Yes…" Elsa nodded, then gasped. "…and with Hans and the Duke of Weselton gone, there's no one in the dungeons. Who knows how long it would have been before we found Olaf?"
"But Gyda found me!" Olaf cheered, hoping his smile would ease Elsa's concern.
"Gyda?" Kristoff asked.
"One of my snow angels," Elsa explained quickly.
"Oh, those…"
"That's right… if Olaf had come to me sooner, I wouldn't have wasted time interviewing anyone. I would have searched the forest sooner, possibly found Anna before she went to the trolls."
"So someone wanted Anna gone?" Kristoff asked. "But why? Hans was already out of the picture. I hate to say it, but it wouldn't be his doing. So who?"
"I…" Elsa faltered. "I don't know. You're right, it doesn't make a lot of sense. It would make more sense to want me gone—I'm the queen." The others nodded in agreement.
"Maybe it isn't about Princess Anna," Kai said. "And perhaps they did want you out of the castle, just not soon enough to find your sister."
"But why? No one attacked. Nothing was reported stolen," Elsa said. "No one took over."
"Could it be the Ice Maiden?" Kristoff whispered.
Elsa shook her head. "It just doesn't seem quite her style, putting Olaf in the dungeons. Besides, Olaf said it was a man."
Olaf nodded. He still wasn't sure who this 'Ice Maiden' was, though it sounded like she was bad news. Then, he remembered something Gyda had communicated to him.
"Gyda said that something was wrong inside the castle," Olaf said. He almost regretted saying anything when Elsa's face grew dark.
"Kai," Elsa said, lowering her voice. "Be sure to alert me if you or the servants notice anyone unfamiliar lurking about the castle. Perhaps Weselton left behind a spy."
"Or maybe the Southern Isles sent one," Kristoff suggested.
"I will be vigilant, Your Majesty. You will be the first to know of anyone out of place. But I fear we must be prepared for one other possibility." No one said anything to this. Rather, they waited for Kai to continue. "That is… that the guard in question may not have been one of your guards, but may also not have been a stranger to Arendelle."
After crossing the bridge, Anna scowled and glanced over her shoulder at the imposing castle structure. The scaffolds made it appear larger than she was used to. She wondered if the outside of the building would look more like home to her after the renovations were completed. Not that she wanted to be stuck in 1749 long enough to find out.
She'd discovered the year from Hans after breakfast. Princess Kirsten had not joined them, sending a servant down to excuse her absence due to poor sleep the previous night. Anna had been hoping to converse with her great-great grandmother again. But now it seemed the princess was avoiding her.
Anna turned, now noticing someone standing in one of the upper floor windows to watch her and Hans as they left the castle. A breeze blew the window curtain in front of them, masking them from view. The curtain grew still after a second, but the person in the window had gone. Anna was sure it was the aloof princess. Kirsten reminded her more of her sister than of the woman their mother had spoken of.
"Are you finished?" Hans asked.
She turned toward him, still trying to get used to him with the crossbow carrier on his back and axe and sword dangling from his belt.
"You grow less and less charming, you know," Anna remarked.
"The sooner we complete this mission, the sooner we can return," Hans answered matter-of-factly. Anna wasn't sure whether he meant their return to the castle or return to 1839. She convinced herself that it was better not to ask.
As they moved through town, they were stopped several times by villagers who wanted the troll hunter's autograph. Each time, Anna rolled her eyes and forced herself to look away for fear that she would blow their cover. It was sickening how the people fawned all over him! But soon Anna discovered that the autographs were just the beginning.
A shopkeeper leapt over his windowsill at her as they entered the market, wiggling two little dolls. One was distinctly in the image of the troll hunter while the other resembled a troll with twigs sticking up out of its back. Anna shook her head, defiantly turning down the merchandise. But as soon as she stepped away from his reach, a woman in a market stall appeared before her, offering wooden axes and swords her children might want to slay pretend trolls.
"I haven't any children, thank you. No, thank you," Anna said, waving the woman away.
"Angel scented candles! Angel scented candles! Keeps the trolls away!" another vendor cried.
Anna sighed in relief that at least one of them appeared to be selling something completely unrelated to Hans the troll hunter. Her relief was short lived, however.
"Hero scented candles! Hero scented candles! Said to smell like the sweat of Hans the troll hunter in battle! Sure to win a lovely lady's heart!" the vendor shouted next.
Anna groaned in disgust. Hadn't Hans only been in this Arendelle a day longer than she had? How could anyone possibly know what his 'sweat' smelled like in battle? Why would anyone want to make a candle out of it, for that matter?!
At the sound of Hans's chuckling, Anna slowly turned her head to find him surrounded by a group of doe-eyed young women, all pawing at him. One of them asked to see his muscles. Anna thought of Kristoff and how much manlier he was than the idiot soaking up all this attention. Kristoff would never behave like that. How lucky she was that she'd missed getting hitched with such a ham!
"Brother!" she called, putting on a particularly high-pitched voice. "Shouldn't we be leaving now?"
Hans looked away from his admirers long enough to scowl at Anna.
"We don't want to keep the trolls waiting," she reminded him, making sure to add just enough whine to her voice.
Hans excused himself from the crowd, visibly reluctant as he rejoined Anna and turned his back toward his admirers.
"You enjoyed pulling me away from them a bit much, didn't you?" Hans asked as they neared the edge of town. Anna noted that the west gate had not yet been built. Instead, the town just seemed to dwindle at the middle of the slope up to the forest.
"Hah, not as much as you enjoyed all the ogling," Anna replied.
"Jealous?"
Uncomfortable with the accusation, Anna promptly smacked his arm.
"Hardly. But boy, you sure are famous," she said.
Hans reached into his coat and pulled out a leather-bound book. He flipped it open. Anna assumed he had ignored her comment, but he suddenly started reading off some kind of list.
"The troll of Grimmstad, slain. The wolfman of Tyr, slain. The white horses of Mare, the griffin of Corona, slain. The golem of Glowerhaven, slain. The fairy of Briarwood—"
"Please stop," Anna interrupted, her mouth turned up in disgust.
"It's the troll hunter's log," Hans explained, shutting the book before he put it away.
"He sounds terrible," Anna said.
"You're quick to judge. Terrible or not, he saved my life. The least I can do is to finish what he started here in Arendelle."
Anna did not reply. She didn't know what twisted delusion Hans had concocted up in his head, but it was clear that his motives were selfish whether or not he realized it. She would take him as far as the Valley of Living Rock. Then perhaps she'd find a way to overcome him; she could knock him out with a rock or something, whatever she had to do. When they met the trolls, she'd explain her story and beg them to send her back to their descendants in the future.
But she knew it wouldn't be that simple.
They walked in silence for some time, coming to the crest of the hillside. Here the land evened off into the vast forests. Anna consulted her map once. But the forest road was a little different than she was used to. She wasn't even sure if it was the same road. But she did not tell Hans this.
She gazed at him walking beside her. It only occurred to her now that Hans probably had plans he was hiding from her too. It was tedious, constantly having to be on guard around just one person. Being careful was not a practiced skill of hers.
"See something you like, princess?" Hans grinned at her. Anna jerked her head away, looking elsewhere.
"N-no!" she objected. "I was just thinking… perhaps the real troll hunter is alive. Then what will you do?"
Hans actually laughed. "Did you not hear me when I said we were facing an entire band of trolls? There's no way he slew them all, and certainly no way he could have outrun them."
"O, ye of little faith," she said.
"Ye of too much," Hans countered sharply.
Anna did not press any further. She knew Hans preferred not to think of his savior's survival. After all, what would it mean for him? Hans had stolen the man's identity.
Some minutes later, he called for them to pause at the side of the road. Anna raised her eyebrow.
"We haven't been walking for that long," she said.
"I have business to attend to," he answered, setting down the crossbow carrier. He took a coin pouch and his hunter's log out from his coat, leaving those with the carrier.
"Ugh," Anna said a moment after realizing what 'business' he referred to. "Less and less charming."
Hans smiled over his shoulder as he stepped into the trees off the side of the road. "I do try," he called back to her, disappearing behind a cluster of spruces and bushes.
Anna counted to ten once he left. Then she grabbed the hunter's log and took a seat on a large stone. There she flipped through the log's pages, wondering just how many creatures the troll hunter had slain. If he killed more than trolls, why did Arendelle call him 'troll hunter'?
"I guess just 'the hunter' doesn't have as much of a ring to it," she thought out loud, turning through the pages. She saw several of the creatures Hans had listed off. Each one had a sketched drawing along with the date discovered and date slain. There were also a few facts about all of them; frequented locations, strengths, weaknesses, that sort of thing. It made Anna dizzy.
Then she turned a page to something different. A little more than halfway through, the 'dates slain' were missing. Anna supposed that the creatures without were those not yet defeated by the troll hunter.
"The sea witch of the Southern Isles… the bansidhe of Eryn. The serpent of Crete," she read aloud. When she turned another page, she noticed a page had been torn from the book. Shrugging it off, she flipped ahead a few pages. A folded piece of paper fell from the book. Anna caught it with her free hand and unfolded it. At first she thought it was the missing page. But upon reading, she discovered it was a letter from the real troll hunter's wife. In it, the woman wrote of their children's health, problems with the roof of their home…and longing for her husband.
Anna frowned at her unexpected pity for the troll hunter. When she had spoken of his possibly being alive earlier, she hadn't really believed it. Now she found herself genuinely hoping that he had survived. But what if he hadn't? Would his wife and children ever find out, or would they think they'd just been abandoned?
She herself used to hope that her parents' deaths had been mistaken news. She'd dream of them coming back to Arendelle one day. They would take away Elsa's burdensome crown. They would be a family again.
"What are you doing?"
Anna jumped and rubbed the heel of her hand across her watery eyes. This was no time to get emotional. She looked up at Hans, surprised by the hardness in his eyes.
"I was just looking—"
"Give me that," he snapped, yanking the log book out of her hands.
Anna stood up, balling her fists. "I'm tagging along on this crazy journey. I have a right to any information that may help!"
"Don't meddle. You could have damaged the pages," Hans said, stowing the hunter's log back into his coat.
"What is your problem?!" she yelled.
"I don't have one. I just don't want you to create any," he answered.
Anna opened her mouth to argue, but there was a snarl from the right. A howl sounded off deeper in the forest. Pointy teeth, alert ears, long snouts appeared everywhere. They realized too late that the wolves had crept up on them; now they were surrounded.
A/N: Ahh, yes... an obligatory wolf-attack scene. :P Thank you for reading!