Under the stars and the gibbous moon, the forest looked like a pale blue blanket dotted with black specks. The Valley of Living Rock was minutes behind them now. Anna glanced over at Kirsten on the other flying snowmount with Hansel, eyes clamped shut, behind her. Anna overheard the troll hunter muttering something Anna suspected was a prayer.

She herself was much more at ease riding a flying reindeer this time. Maybe it just paled in comparison to facing off a murderous giant. Or maybe it was hard to feel fear when she had Hans's arms around her.

Anna shook the thought away instantly.

"What's the matter?" she heard Hans ask.

Where to begin?

"N-nothing!" she said too quickly. She almost squawked in alarm when he gave her a light squeeze.

"If you say so... just keep in mind we're pretty high up off the ground. You may want to focus."

She wanted to turn back and see if he was laughing at her. But he had just advised her to focus.

Hmph.

"I was just thinking—I wonder if all this magic takes its toll," Anna said. It wasn't exactly a lie. She did sometimes wonder if magic was a physical exertion to Elsa.

"What do you mean?"

The question caught her by surprise; or rather, his interest did.

"Well, I mean... Elsa didn't seem tired when she set off that blizzard. But that was an accident, you know? More of a reaction to all of the stress of hiding her magic, the coronation, all the people, us popping that surprise engagement on her—err—"

"Uh huh?"

"...and I wasn't there when she whipped up that ice palace, so I don't know if that was accidental too or if she actually had to concentrate for that."

"Where are you going with all this? Not that your rambling isn't adorable."

"Look, it's Judet's cabin!" she yelled, outwardly oblivious to his remark as she pointed down to the structure in a clearing far below.

Inside, she felt like fireworks. But she chided herself as well.

Fool me once, shame on him. Fool me twice? I don't think so, Your Highness.

"I think I see them," Kirsten said.

Them, the trolls.

All at once, reality came crashing down around Anna. This was no time to be reading into Hans's words, flirtation or not.

"Did anyone here have a plan?" Hans asked. The question was met with a silent pause. "Did reinforcements follow you?" More silence made both the prince and troll hunter groan. "Nothing?!"

"We had to sneak out to rescue you!" Anna hissed back. "...I didn't get a chance to think much beyond that."

The troll hunter let out a whimpering laugh at that. "Maybe we'll think of something before they reach Arendelle!"

Anna went red in half embarrassment and half anger. She was about to snap at Hansel when Kirsten spoke.

"Pabbie seemed to think we could reason with them."

Hansel snorted. "Judging from our own experience, I'd say probably not."

"Well, we were armed," Hans said. "And marching toward their territory."

Anna found herself beaming over his fair reasoning. "Yeah, and none of us are technically armed!" Kirsten's magic could of course do damage if the princess wanted it to.

"Which means we have no way of defending ourselves!" the troll hunter snapped back.

"I think I liked you better when you were crying," Anna muttered. It was worth seeing Hansel's face pinch up as if he'd just accidentally swallowed a bug.

She felt Hans shaking against her back as he tried to hold in his laughter.

"Enough joking around. Are we doing this or not?" Kirsten asked.

Anna glanced at the princess, surprised by the fierce glint in her eyes. It was that look that made Anna calm down and re-evaluate the situation.

"Yes... we'll go down and reason with them. With those who can be reasoned with, anyway."

Kirsten wielded a ghostly white torch to light the way as the four crept through the snow, gaining on the giant infantry. Anna worried that Volco would sense their approach the way Pabbie could. But even a dozen feet away, the trolls continued their march forward.

Anna counted ten in all. She hoped that they would only have to worry about Volco.

She hoped Pabbie was right. Otherwise, the only one among them who stood a chance against ten giant trolls was Kirsten.

Hansel hung back a little, gesturing his impatience for the others to do something. He looked ready to take off running the moment something went wrong. Anna frowned, wondering at how the troll hunter had slain so many magical creatures when he lacked courage here and now.

Well, there was no use putting it off any longer.

"Excuse me!" Anna shouted, her voice withering into a weak yelp as the giants froze and turned around. "Didn't...want...to startle you."

She gulped at their uniformity. Their hulking bodies were grey as stone and covered in moss robes. They all had trees of varying growth stages rooted to their backs. Both males and females, easy to tell apart from the males' beards, had white willow-like hair.

At first, there were only a couple of surprised grunts. Then, Anna heard a savage growl from the back of the troop. The ground quaked as Volco stomped up to meet the intruders.

"What, no army?" he asked. Even the trees shook when he spoke.

"We're not here to fight you," Anna explained, her hands outstretched with the intention of showing she was harmless.

Volco laughed. For a fleeting moment, Anna felt hopeful. If she could make him laugh, maybe—just maybe—she could talk sense into him. But he would still have to answer for all the lives he took earlier.

That hope fell away from her and buried itself somewhere deep in the snow, never to be considered again. Volco's cool silence confirmed Anna's worst fear. There would be no reasoning with him. The troll was mad with hatred.

"No," Volco agreed. "You're here to die."

"Just a minute!" Kirsten yelled. Volco's head snapped to the right as he switched his gaze from Anna to Kirsten. "We understand your hostility. The king has been taking too much of the forest—"

The troll leader interrupted her with a roar that nearly knocked the four humans off their feet.

"It's not just about the forest!"

Anna sensed a sudden change in the troll. But she couldn't tell what it was until it was too late.

Volco moved with smooth haste, swiping one hand out to knock Kirsten over. The princess fell backward, her magic torch flying out of her hand and landing in the snow. The troll hunter rushed to Kirsten's side as Hans sprang toward Volco, who plucked Anna up off the ground with his other hand. Hans held himself back as a pained scream from Anna indicated the troll had squeezed her in his fist.

Anna choked and tried to gasp for air as Volco's fist closed around her. He'd left her so little leeway, she couldn't even squirm. The troll leader brought her up to his face where she could look directly into his dead, terrifying eyes. All the other trolls had earthy irises, but Volco's were colorless, like ice. Anna could see herself in them.

She half-expected Volco to eat her—that's what some children stories said giants did, didn't they?—when Volco sniffed instead. Anna watched in disgusted horror as the troll's nostrils flared again. Was he... smelling her? She shut her eyes as her sides started to ache from the pressure. Sure, it had been a while since she'd bathed, but Volco smelled just as awful. At least, she thought he did. She was getting lightheaded in the troll's grasp. It was hard to think, much less register odor, when she couldn't breathe well.

"Let her go!" Hans yelled, grabbing Kirsten's torch off the ground to wave it for Volco's attention.

"You smell like magic," Volco said, ignoring the prince with the torch entirely. The troll's voice sounded like falling rocks.

Huh? Anna popped one eye open.

"But it's different magic," the troll went on, now accusing. "Strong."

Anna shook her head. She would be only too happy to tell Volco to get his nose checked, but she couldn't speak with her ribs on the verge of cracking in his horrible grip.

"Where did you get such power?" he demanded, shaking her a little.

Small lights danced across her vision as Volco shook her. She forced herself to groan, to show him she could not speak unless he loosened his hand. Miraculously, Volco took the hint.

But she wasn't about to tell him it was Kirsten who had power. Anna opened her mouth, still unsure of what to say. Angry words spilled from her.

"You're a monster, Volco."

It was obviously the wrong thing to say. Volco clutched his fist around her once again and raised her high in the air, knocking what little wind she had left out of her. The world moved around Anna in a series of vertical brown and blue blurs. She tried to scream, but it only came out as a weak rattle. She felt him start to bring her back down, surely to splatter her upon the ground or some rock or tree.

"Volco!"

The world stilled—or rather, Volco's fist did.

Anna had to close her eyes again. Her forehead pounded. After a few seconds, she registered Hans's voice. The prince was addressing the troll leader. She had to use the last of her strength to strain her neck so she could look down. There was Hans, flashing the torch over his head like some kind of beacon.

"...the one with magic!" Hans shouted. He glared up at the troll with a look of venom.

What was he talking about?

"See?! This is no ordinary torch. This is what you smell!"

Hans, what are you doing...?

"And if you want it, you better set the girl down. Carefully, troll."

Volco paused, considering the auburn haired man. He narrowed his eyes, most likely wondering how the man had escaped the Valley of Living Rock. The flame Hans held was very clearly not normal fire. But Anna wasn't so sure Volco was going to believe that Hans had magic. Why then would he have let himself and Hansel get caught?

But Volco was either too power-hungry or too stupid to realize this. He slowly brought his hand down, Anna with it. As soon as she was freed of the troll's grasp, Anna collapsed in a series of coughs. She inhaled sharply, drinking in the frigid air, not even caring that her ribs stung. She was alive. She could breathe in sweet, delicious air.

Volco took a step toward Hans. Anna looked toward them, the word 'no' forming on her lips even as Hans bolted away from the troll leader, racing past the other trolls and into the forest. Anna struggled to stand, weakly watching Volco let out a terrible snarl and chase off after the prince. Her gaze shifted to Kirsten. Hansel had pulled the princess to sit up with her head leaning on him. Kirsten's eyes were closed. That worried Anna, but there was only so much she could tackle at once.

Next, she looked at the other trolls. Relief struck her when she realized they weren't following Volco. In fact, one by one they reverted to their smaller physical states.

After a second's pause, one of the she-trolls scampered up to Anna. She had lavender crystals strung up around her neck. The troll stopped a couple of feet away and held one of her crystals up, closing her eyes as she waved one hand toward Anna. A purple, glittering light moved from her and encircled Anna.

Anna felt a blip of panic as the light landed on her and then seemingly sunk into her. But when her pain receded, so too did her fear.

"Th-thank you," she said.

The she-troll waited around like she expected something from Anna. They both looked down at Volco's giant foot steps, and Anna understood. She looked to Hansel and gave him a short nod before she broke into a run, following Volco's trail. She had no idea what either Hans or herself could do against the mad giant, but hopefully she could reach them in time to do something.

A/N: Thanks for reading! The focus will be on Anna and Hans again in the next chapter. Won't go back to Kristoff or Elsa until after that.

The torch flame isn't actual fire... it's Kirsten's snow/ice magic, strictly used for lighting their path. It's not warm to the touch or anything, hence why it doesn't set the forest ablaze when Kirsten drops it. There was some confusion about the torch, so I'm adding a note here.

Also, Anna just assumes the magic that Volco senses is Kirsten's. But she might be wrong.

Oh, and Judet was the old Sami woman who took Hans and Anna in in the beginning, for anyone who forgot.