For My Kingdom
A Frozen Fan Fiction
Chapter Twenty:
Strange Magic
Author's Note: I'm really proud of this chapter... Which probably means it sucks...
As a young boy, Alex heard stories about the troll people of the Valley of Stone. He had never once, however, dreamed that they could possibly exist. When he arrived at the wedding and saw that the side of the room that was meant to hold the family of the groom was filled with the little, odd people it was quite a shock he had to conceal. Now, as he traveled at an ungodly pace through the woods in search of them, he couldn't help but appreciate just how amazing, if bizarre, the kingdom of Arendelle was.
On the back of the old mare, Eira, once again (a guard had allowed him to borrow the horse on the sly when Alex told him what his intention was), he followed the dotted lines of an archaic-looking map of the mountains that surrounded Arendelle. The strangest thing had happened as he was leaving the castle. A young, curly haired woman who couldn't have been older than eighteen shoved the antiquated piece of parchment in his hands and, without a single word or so much as a look, continued forward as if nothing had happened. Upon opening the map he discovered a little "x" over a small valley north of Arendelle just short of the North Mountain. In runes just above the valley was one word: stone.
Looking up from the map, Alex glanced around at his surroundings. He was in a small clearing, and on either side of him he could see rocky faces rising above the trees and into the sky. If his navigation skills were as sharp as he hoped they were, this was the fabled Valley of Stone.
The floor of the valley was littered with stones from smaller ones about the size of Alex's fist to huge ones about the size of a small pony. Not wanting to hurt poor Eira trying to maneuver through the mess, the prince slid from her back and stepped around the rocks and peering into the surrounding brush. "Hello?" he called. All he could hear in reply was a rustling of trees and the hum of the summer birds and insects, but giving up wasn't an option at that point. "My name is Prince Alexander... of Denmark." In spite of his cautious stepping, a stone managed to trip him up so he stumbled forward slightly. "The queen is in trouble; I need your help!"
There was silence for a moment and Alex started feeling really foolish talking to the air when he heard a low rumble beneath him. Looking down, he saw that the stone he had tripped over was now a small, female troll that looked like it could've been a child. "Elsa's in trouble?" the young girl squeaked.
Suddenly the rumbling began again, this time it was a hundred fold as the stones rolled into a group in the center of the clearing and surrounded him, echoes of the young girl's question filling the valley. Before Alex was prepared for it, hundreds of the small stone people were staring up at him with wonder and concern.
"Your highness." The troll that had performed Anna and Kristoff's wedding ceremony came forward from the crowd. "What happened to the queen?"
"I'm not sure..." Alex explained, trying to look politely at the troll man rather than stare. "She's... changed."
The troll turned to the little girl Alex had tripped over. "Gunna, go get Grand Pabbie."
Gunna nodded, but before she could go anywhere, the group of trolls parted as a large stone rolled into the clearing and stopped in front of the prince. Alex looked down on it as the stone unfurled itself into the form of the troll chief, Grand Pabbie.
"What has happened, your highness?" The chief's voice was a low grumble, reminiscent of an avalanche.
Alex had to further steady himself before talking to the old troll. "Elsa," he began. "She was attacked again last night." There was a collective gasp from the gathering, but Grand Pabbie continued to listen with a stone face. "She's still alive, in fact she's in perfect health... but she's not herself."
The troll chief's face morphed into an almost indescribable expression, as if he had an idea, but hoped he was wrong. "How has she changed?"
Alex began to notice the necklaces of gems that were around the necks of almost all the trolls, with the exception of the young ones. The necklaces of the onlookers shined brightly, but he looked at the chief's and found that it smoldered like the embers of a dying fire.
"Her entire personality..." the prince replied, not entirely sure how to describe the queen's behavior and do it justice. "Just the other day she was so kind and pleasant and grounded, but now..." He looked up and away from the trolls, into the forest beyond the clearing. "Now she's just so... angry and, well, unpleasant." Looking down at the chief, Alex decided that it was awkward and not entirely polite to stand over him the way he was. Taking a knee, Alex looked into the golden eyes of the troll chief. "The poison at the reception, it wasn't normal... It was... magic." Alex sighed and glanced down at the ground for a moment before looking back up at the chief. "Could this be magic as well?"
The troll chief's eyes were distant, concern contorting his face. "You're very astute, your highness. It is strange and dark magic, but magic nonetheless."
"Grand... Pabbie..." The way the chief's name sounded coming out of Alex's mouth was weird to him. "What's happening to the queen? How can we stop it?"
Suddenly the chief looked very tired. "Elsa was not the only woman given the power to harness winter." His gaze fell into the past as memories reappeared before his eyes. "But while Elsa's power was a blessing, the other woman was cursed." He waved a hand in the air. A cloud of white smoke appeared above his head. "The other woman, like Elsa, was to become queen. She was the first born of Elsa's and Anna's great grandfather, King Halvard and her name was Charlotte." Appearing in the smoke was the form of a young woman. Alex stood to watch the scene in the smoke.
"She was a normal girl, not so different from our Anna," the chief continued, "No powers, and she was kind, selfless, and loving to all who crossed her path." Another figure, a woman, appeared in the smoke next to the pre-existing shape. The woman who represented Charlotte curtsied and handed what looked like a bouquet of flowers to the other. "But she also had a secret…" In the smoke, the woman to whom Charlotte handed the flowers, tossed them behind her and wrapped her arms around Charlotte in a kiss.
Alex was slightly taken aback by the scene. He knew that there were a few people who fell in love with those of their own sex, but he had never met, or even seen, one as far as he knew.
When the prince remained silent, Grand Pabbie continued, "On the eve of Charlotte's twenty-first birthday, she and her lover were discovered by a guard on his rounds." A man was now in the smoke. The women parted quickly, but the man ran off. "Scared of what he had seen, the guard returned to the king, Charlotte's father, and told him of his encounter." The king and the guard appeared in the smoke. "The king was furious. Two women would not be able to have an heir, and to have the proclivities Charlotte had was viewed very negatively by the people at the time." The smoke swirled into darkness as the scene changed. "Hoping to dissuade his daughter from her feelings, he had her lover arrested and killed." The scene reappeared in the smoke, Alex had fully lost himself in the disturbing story. The image was of Charlotte again, on her knees and in tears. "Charlotte was devastated. In her sadness and anger toward her father, she ran to the woods to find a witch who, though Charlotte didn't know this, had had a particular resentment for the king." A hunched over, old woman appeared in the smoke. "The witch offered her the power to change her father and create life from lifelessness. In desperation, hoping to bring back the woman she loved and help her father see reason, Charlotte accepted the offer. But the witch hadn't told her the price for the magic, for it was steep indeed."
Alex has a sneaking feeling that he knew what would happen next.
"The spell that was cast on the princess did a lot more than what was advertised, turning her hair white and encasing her heart in solid ice, giving her the ability to control the power of winter, but also erasing all fear and love. It also gave the princess the appearance of eternal youth." The witch disappeared, and Charlotte conjured a simple snowflake from her palm. "Her anger toward the king took over. When she returned to Arendelle, she went to her father, pretending to have seen the error of her ways and promising to marry a man as her father saw fit." The king reappeared as the woman spoke with him. "When the king accepted her apology, she struck him in his heart with her newfound powers." Charlotte flourished her hand and a swirl of ice hit the king and the smoke dissipated into the air. "The king was killed, turned to ice, and Charlotte was banished. Her youngest brother, Faust, who had always admired her, followed her into the wilderness. The second born of the king, Ari, succeeded his father to the throne of Arendelle."
Alex looked back down at the chief, shaken by the story. "So this woman, Charlotte, is still out there? She's the one who did this to Elsa?"
"Yes… She wanted revenge on the family of her brother, who took the throne that should have been hers. She must have learned of Elsa's power when she froze the summer two years ago and thought it the perfect time to begin plotting her revenge." Grand Pabbie looked around the clearing, the group of trolls had curled up into their stone disguise, realizing that they were intruding on something important.
"How do we stop Charlotte? Save Elsa?" Alex asked, the story filling his heart with sadness and dread.
The chief sighed. "Only an act of true love can thaw a frozen heart."
Author's note: Yes, the frozen heart thing again with the true love and all that. But be not afraid! There will be a twist even more twisty than in the movie!