Growing Together Chapter 6
From inside their sealed lifeboat, it was impossible for Elsa and Anders to know how much time had passed. They had some dried food to eat, but not much. The Queen could make drinking water just by allowing part of the boat's roof to melt, then reinforce the melted part with more ice that she created out of thin air. They didn't talk much, because Anders was still miserably seasick from the boat's motion on the waves, and Elsa was still in shock that her worst nightmare had nearly come true.
At last, the boat scraped to a halt on a shore of some kind. They waited a few minutes to be sure they weren't going to be cast back out to sea by the waves. Then Elsa made the top of their boat disappear with a handwave, and they stood up to see where they were.
"Nowhere" would be a good place to start describing it.
There was not a trace of civilization in sight. No buildings, no roads or footpaths, no farmland, no fences or stone walls, nothing. There was no beach, just a rocky, narrow strip of land at sea level that rapidly rose to stony hills that offered neither soil nor plant life. Inland, the vegetation looked as much brown as green. They had washed up on a part of the coast that had nothing to offer anyone. If they'd hoped for a quick rescue, their hopes were dashed within seconds. There was no sign of the other lifeboats, either. Apparently, the wind and waves had affected Elsa's special lifeboat differently than the others, and they'd become separated.
"Should we wait for a ship to come along and save us?" Elsa asked.
"No one has any idea where we are," Anders replied thoughtfully. "A rescue ship might take days to get here. We're out of food, and if a storm comes up, we'll be completely exposed here. I think we ought to move inland and try to find food and shelter."
"I can make some shelter for us anywhere, anytime," she answered, "and if a ship does come along, and we're too far inland, we won't see it."
"Okay, we'll compromise," he suggested. "We'll move inland, but stay close enough to the coast that we can still see the ocean. Fair enough?" She nodded; he picked up their suitcases and they climbed up off the shore and into the coastal hills.
The view inland was just as desolate as the view on the shore. There was still no sign of human habitation. "Should we head south or north?" she wondered.
"It depends on whether we're closer to Stavanger to the south, or to Bergen to the north," he thought out loud, "and I have no idea where we are. If we've wound up on an island, it won't matter; we can't go very far in either direction."
"If I remember my geography, there are some good-sized islands just to the south of Bergen," Elsa suggested. "Just to the north of Stavanger is a south-facing peninsula."
"You remember your geography a lot better than I do," Anders admitted. "We'll go north. If we're on an island, we'll soon find out, and if we're on that peninsula, going north will take us toward the mainland." They got their bearings from the sun and headed north. It was slow going. The terrain was rough, and Elsa wasn't wearing walking shoes. They had to stop frequently to rest, and they were also getting hungry.
As sunset approached, Anders looked inland. "I think I see smoke rising."
"What kind of smoke?" Elsa asked him. "Smoke from a fireplace? Smoke from multiple fireplaces? Smoke from a forest fire?"
"Smoke from something that's burning," he shrugged. "It has a pretty good chance of being man-made, so I think we should head toward it." They did so. They crested a low hill, and saw that the smoke was rising from multiple campfires of an army encampment. A quartet of guards from that camp saw them at the same time, and ran toward them with a shout.
"Don't run!" Anders urged his Queen, who had turned to flee. "We can't outrun them, and they'll treat us better if we don't act hostile."
"Who are they?" she asked as they got closer. "I don't recognize those uniforms, and I can't understand what they're saying."
"Me neither," he admitted. Then the guards were upon them. They shouted something in a language Anders had never heard before; he and his bride just shrugged. Finally, the leader gestured toward the camp, and they followed him, with the other three guards behind them, swords drawn. They were marched up to an impressive-looking tent and half-guided, half-shoved in. A man in a fancier uniform than the others sat at a portable writing desk; he listened as the head guard reported something to him.
"Why you here?" he demanded in bad Norwegian.
"We survived a shipwreck, and we were lost," Anders answered. "We were just trying to find food and shelter."
Meanwhile, one of the guards had opened their suitcases. He took one look at the jewelry inside, let out a whistle, and gestured for the fancy man's attention. That man sized up the contents of the cases and gave some quick orders. The cases were closed and given back to Anders, and both of them were led toward an even fancier tent.
"I think I recognize their language," Elsa murmured to him. "They're speaking Spanish."
"Spanish? Here in Stavanger? That doesn't make any –" He broke off as they were guided into the tent. Its sole occupant rose from a chair and checked them out. She smiled sweetly at them.
"Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" she purred. "You're a long way from home. And... what was your name? Baron Anders? No, I remember – you just married the queen! That would make you Prince Anders, wouldn't it? What a lovely promotion for you."
"Princess Urraca of España," Elsa replied with a polite nod. "You're also a long way from home."
"Yes, for now," the dark-haired beauty agreed, "but I'm getting tired of being called 'Princess.' Lovely promotions aren't just for lucky barons. I think 'Queen Urraca' has a much nicer ring to it, don't you think?"
"Perhaps," Anders said, trying not to start trouble. "What land will you be the queen of?"
"Why, Arendelle, of course," she exclaimed, as though it was obvious. "I did give you fair warning that your queen's stubbornness would cost your precious kingdom dearly, so you can't accuse me of being sneaky. You see, we've gotten wind of a plan by Stavanger to invade your charming little kingdom and annex one of your duchies. Unfortunately for you, once Stavanger goes to war, they don't stop until they've won something, and your little peace conference won't offer them nearly enough to satisfy them, so they'll take some of your land instead. We'll send our troops to keep them from taking any more than that one duchy, which will make us look like heroes to the rest of Europe, and will keep us from violating any of those tiresome treaties about European nations not invading each other. Unfortunately, we'll probably be too late to save Arendelle's royal family, so we'll have to put someone else on the throne to keep order. Unfortunate for them, but quite good for me. And now, half of the royal family has just walked right into my camp! I'd call that a sign that God is on my side."
"Did you 'get wind' of this plan with Stavanger, or did you help arrange it?" Anders growled.
"What difference, at this point, does it make?" the Spanish princess shot back. "In the end, Stavanger gets what they want – prosperous land, which they couldn't seem to take away from Glauerhafen. And we'll get what we want – a foothold in Scandinavia, and a place for an ambitious princess to wear a crown without threatening the royal succession in Europe. Not to mention a purging of evil from Scandinavia's royal line." She smirked and walked (with an exaggerated swaying of her hips) right up to Elsa, who was several inches taller. "Are you still going to proclaim your innocence, Bringer of Summer?"
"I don't know what you're talking about, Princess," Elsa replied with amazing dignity.
"I think you do," the princess snapped back. "And I intend to find out for sure. I wish I could have brought an Inquisitor with me – they're so clever at making people talk! – but they're in short supply these days. So I'll just have to improvise." She barked a lengthy order in Spanish at her guards. They siezed Anders and led him out of the tent.
"I just ordered my men to tie his hands and feet, weight his ankles, and sink him up to his neck in the pond about a hundred yards away," she gloated. "That pond isn't frozen yet, of course, but it's still cold. Very cold. Your poor husband probably won't last two hours in water like that; he certainly won't last the night." She got right into Elsa's face by standing on tiptoe. "You have three choices, witch. One, you can tell me which mountain pass is the best route for a small army to march into Arendelle. Two, you can show me why they call you the Bringer of Summer. Or three, you can become a widow." She folded her arms. "What will it be, Your Majesty?"
Elsa glared at her. She knew that Urraca's "technique" wouldn't work, because the cold wouldn't do Anders any harm. On the other hand, this princess clearly meant to kill both of them, no matter what they did. If freezing didn't work, she'd try something more lethal without hesitating.
How should she react? If she let her real emotions show, she'd wind up showing some snowflakes and playing right into Urraca's hands. One possible reaction would be fear; could she fake it convincingly? Or she could try to fake anger instead. Was she a good enough actress to fool this princess? She really wished she had Anders nearby to help her. She couldn't decide which role to play, so she decided to be herself for the time being.
"You could teach Machiavelli a thing or two," she said scornfully.
"I choose to take that as a compliment," Urraca replied with a false smile. "Now, what's the best mountain pass for entering Arendelle?"
Elsa folded her arms and glared down at the shorter noblewoman. "Do you seriously think I'd betray my own land and my own people?"
"I was hoping you might," Urraca replied. "It would have saved me a lot of effort. But you Norwegians are known for your stubbornness; I suppose I should have seen this coming. Guards!" Two men appeared at the entrance to the tent. She gave them some orders in Spanish. They tied her hands behind her back and led her away.
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A/N
At the time of this chapter's posting, this story has just passed the 1000-hit mark. To all the readers who are doing the hitting: thank you, thank you so much.