The Six Stones of Karabraxos

By MySoapBox

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Elsa

Though Elsa felt as if she knew the Trolls well, because of Kristoff's stories, Elsa could count the times she had actually visited the Valley of the Living rock on one hand. The first time as an adult had been for Kristoff and Anna's wedding. She wasn't prepared for how small the Trolls were (they had certainly shrunk from the time she had seen them as a child), and she wasn't prepared for how loud and ridiculous and absolutely loving they were. She was forced to hide her giggles beneath her hand as Kristoff and Anna were draped in capes of moss and crowns of leaves for the wedding ceremony, but somehow, as she watched them standing there, love in their eyes and radiating happiness, it didn't seem so odd to have a royal princess of Arendelle married while covered in greenery standing in a pit, not odd at all.

Pabbie had requested that they visit again when Kristoff and Anna had a child, and so they took the trip again when Elisabet was born two years later, where they presented the baby to Grand Pabbie for an anointing and blessing. Eight years passed before they visited with Agnarr, and then only eleven months later with Kristofer. Such happy occasions, so full of joy.

So it was a testament to how unusual and desperate it had gotten when Elsa decided to send a band of men to the Living Rock to find the Trolls for help a few days after the death dogs first appeared. Only one man returned from that journey to report that the Trolls were nowhere to be found, the valley was empty.

So far, their ride had been easier than expected. Nerves were on edge and, as a result, no one was very talkative. Kristoff rode far in the lead, hardly looking back and communicating with the Captain only when needed, not passing one word with Elsa. In a full day's travel they had only encountered a few small packs of the unearthly dogs, which the band dispatched without any injury, but now that evening was coming, there would be many more of them. They would make camp in the Troll glen to see if there were any clues of the Troll's flight from there.

Though Elsa had not been there often, still it felt strange to ride into the Valley of Living Rock to find it empty, just moss and rock and gnarled trees. No rolling stones, no laughter, no music. The Captain sent Moris and Anders to scout the area and watch for the dogs while the rest of them examined the glen.

Elsa walked in circles, taking in the site and feeling the place. "I knew they were gone, but being here makes it feel all the more real."

"That many people moving would leave marks," the Captain said. "I'll walk the perimeter and try to figure out what direction they were headed."

Kristoff stepped up onto the stony ledges, looking around. "Don't bother. You won't find anything."

The Captain grunted. "Nevertheless, it's worth the look."

Elsa turned to Kristoff. "The ancient books talk about a cave, two days ride from here; I'm guessing that is where they went,"

Kristoff picked up a twig and cracked it in his fingers. "It doesn't make sense."

Elsa looked up to him. "What doesn't?"

"The trolls leaving. They've never left before. They have powerful magic."

"I have powerful magic, but it's been no match for the dogs. They just keep coming, and coming."

Kristoff snorted, but said no more.

A few minutes later the Captain returned. Elsa looked up at him expectantly. "Nothing. I thought I saw something over by that wall painting, but it turned out to be dog tracks."

"Wait? What wall painting?" Kristoff asked.

The Captain pointed across the glen to the sheer rock wall. That one with black scribbles over there."

Kristoff looked at Elsa, "I don't remember any wall paintings."

"Show me," Elsa said.

The trio walked across to the mossy glen to where the ground raised slightly and ended in the sheer face of the mountain. There, low on the wall, was a cacophony of black markings and smudges.

"I've never seen this before," Kristoff said. "It isn't like any Troll art I know of."

The Captain touched it and a little of the black came off on his hand. He rubbed it between his fingers. "Coal dust maybe? It's fairly fresh, maybe only a few weeks old."

"Do you think it's a message of some kind?" Elsa asked.

"Could be some sort of map," the Captain suggested.

Kristoff crouched down and tilted his head. "Well, these are definitely hand prints."

Elsa looked closer and could now make out the four fingered prints, so thick and round that she had missed them before. "There aren't just a few handprints, but it's all handprints. Handprints on top of handprints."

"So, a goodbye, maybe," the Captain suggested, "Like carving your name in a tree to say you were there. That sort of thing?"

"Maybe," Kristoff said, stroking his stubbly beard.

"Look at this one." Elsa ran her hands across the handprints. "This isn't a troll hand. It's a human hand."

The Captain and Kristoff looked and sure enough, there in the top right corner was clearly a five fingered human hand print.

"Was there someone with them?" the Captain asked.

Kristoff shrugged. "Not that I know of."

Elsa considered the markings. "I wonder," she said more to herself than to anyone. She pulled off her riding glove and laid her hand against the warm stone, splaying her fingers to match the large print. She held her breath. Nothing happened. Undaunted, she conjured her ice powers and sent a gentle chill through the rock. Still nothing. She pulled her hand back and sighed. "I don't see anything of use here. Let's get settled in for the night. We'll head to the caves in the morning."

She rubbed her hands together to rid them of the coal dust and turned to go, the Captain following, when Kristoff called out, "wait!" He stepped up to the stone. "Look at this print. It's much bigger than your hand, Elsa." He ran his finger across it. "In fact, this isn't the size of your hand at all. It's the size of mine." As Kristoff laid his hand into the outline of the rock, the ground began to shake. There was a low rumble, like the scraping and moving of one large rock against another.

"There!" the Captain said. Elsa looked where he indicated and saw a large round hole had opened up on the rock face.

Elsa looked to Kristoff in disbelief. "How did you do that?"

"I'm a member of the Troll family," he offered in explanation. He turned to walk to the opening. "You aren't."

The opening was waist high, and about the same distance wide. Elsa bent down and looked in. A warm movement of air her face, suggesting some sort of tunnel or passageway beyond, but it was dark and she couldn't see farther in than a few yards.

They heard hoofbeats, coming fast. Anders and Moris road into the clearing. "The dogs are coming," Anders shouted.

"How close?" the Captain asked.

"A league, maybe less, but headed this way."

The Captain looked to Elsa. "What do you want to do?" he asked.

Elsa looked around the clearing, thinking fast. "I don't want to be stuck in an ice fort all night, not knowing what's in that cave." She looked around for other options. "I'll make shelter for the horses. The rest of us will go into that cave. If nothing else, I can seal the end and we'll be safe and warm for the night."

"You heard the Queen," the Captain called. "Unburden the horses. Prince Kristoff, can you make us some torches?"

It was only a matter of minutes before the horses were safely locked away in one of Elsa's ice creations. The howls of the dogs were coming closer by the time Kristoff lit two torches, and handed one to the Captain.

He waved the torch in front of the cave entrance. Elsa could see a little further back now, but not much. At least it looked passable. "Moris and I will go first," the Captain said. "Anders, you and Kristoff take the rear. Ready?" Everyone nodded their assent and the Captain got down on his hands and knees and entered the passage, holding the torch in front of him with his bandaged hand. Elsa entered behind Moris. The long tunnel with clean sides and an even floor stretched out and turned in front of them. As soon as the entire party was in the tunnels, Elsa turned to seal the opening, but before she could raise her hand the ground vibrated and the rock rumbled. The entrance closed on its own, sealing them in the earth.

"I hope that wasn't the lid to our casket," Anders mumbled as he looked back.

"The Trolls don't have this here for nothing," Kristoff encouraged. "They left a way for me to access this. They must want me to find it."

"I just hope we didn't commit ourselves to a night in someone's root cellar. I like carrots, but I don't want to spend a whole night sleeping with them," Moris quipped.

"Enough. Let's go," Elsa said to the group. They all consented and crawled forward. It wasn't long before the small tunnel opened up into a bigger room, and Elsa was glad because the smoke from the torches was burning her eyes and her knees were feeling raw from crawling. Another few minutes of walking and a sharp turn in the tunnel and there was a light. Literally, in the distance, there was a light at the end of the tunnel.