The Six Stnes of Karabraxos
By MySoapBox
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Elsa
Elsa fidgeted with the stone at her neck as they traveled. Thus far, they had heard the garm a few times, in the distance or beyond the tree line, but they hadn't seen them. Elsa hoped that it was the stone repelling them because if the stone worked with her will, there was nothing she wanted more than to be left alone.
After Elsa had explained everything to Ismund that morning they had traveled mostly in silence. Now they were stopped for a quiet lunch. Moris and Anders sat under a tree playing a hand of cards. Kristoff sat across the way, alone, reading the scroll chewing on a hunk of bread that the trolls had given them that morning.
Elsa sat on a rock opposite the Captain. Her mind was heavy with thoughts of the stones and the garm and all that had happen to Arendelle. She thought of what next steps needed to be taken to prepare for winter. She thought of Elizabet and her first rule. She tried not to think of Anna. She glanced over at Kristoff. He hadn't said much since getting the scroll. Really, he hadn't said much since Anna died. She's like to go over and sit by him now, find out what he was learning but she held herself back.
"It isn't my place to say, My Queen," the Captain said softly so that no one would overhear, "but this will be a long journey if hard feelings are allowed to fester."
Elsa frowned at him and opened her mouth to explain, to say all that was on her mind but then it was easier for her just to say, "You're right, Captain, it isn't your place." Elsa registered the hurt on the Captain's face, but to his credit he hid it quickly. She immediately regretted the harsh words to her old friend, but to apologize would mean opening the door to talk, and she did not want to do that.
As the afternoon progressed, Elsa started to feel tired and saddle raw. Her mind started to wander of its own volition. She thought of Anna, of when she and Kristoff were first married, how Anna insisted they opened the doors and invite everyone in Arendelle. She thought of the day she knew Anna was pregnant, how she had a suspicion even before Anna . Elsa was just remembering look on Anna's face when suddenly her horse reared back and Elsa was falling through the air. She hit the ground and everything around her went black. She struggled to breath, but for a few desperate seconds she couldn't fill her lungs. She struggled and then she gasped. She could hear commotion around her and for a moment she felt heat against her neck, and then it was gone. She shook her head and her vision started to return but what she saw horrified her.
Anders and the Captain were off their horses, blades drawn, backs to Elsa, battling a mass of rotting fur and bones. The Captain was bringing down his blade for the killing blow, when another bound at them from the brush nearby. Elsa raised her hand and sent a spinning ice blade that sunk deep into its skull. It dropped, but continued to twitch and crawl towards her men.
"Elsa!" came a strangled cry and she turned to see Kristoff, still on Little Sven, Little Sven's head and horns keeping another snarling hell dog at bay, but he was losing ground. "Elsa! Use the stone!"
Elsa clutched for the stone, but it wasn't there. She franticly patted at her neck, looking for the necklace, but her neck was bare. It must have broken free. Before she could look to the ground to find it, two more garm came howling and bounding from the trees. They were so close, almost upon her, and out of reflex more than anything Elsa raised her hands and dispelled her magic, turning her head away from the impact. Rather than a single large impact, there were several small ones as chunks of the Hel hounds showered down on Elsa, the hind quarters of one falling at her feet.
"Help," she heard Anders yell, and she looked to see him pinned under one of the beasts, his arm firmly in the hounds mouth. The Captain and Moris were running to his aid. Kristoff and Little Sven were still busy keeping their garm at bay, and then Elsa heard more howling. More were coming fast.
"Elsa!" Kristoff yelled. "The stone!"
Yes, the stone. It had fallen. Elsa started looking around the dirt, kicking aside fur and bones. Anders screamed, but she didn't look up to see why because she had found the stone and lunged for it. Just before she could wrap her fingers around it, four more beasts broke through the brush, snarling.
Elsa snatched up the stone and held the stone tightly. "Go away!" she ordered the dogs and willed them to turn and run. The garm stopped. They didn't run, but they didn't advance. Elsa focused her will on the garm that was on top of Anders. "By the power of the stone I order you to stop!" The garm released Anders and stepped back. An eerie silence filled the air as men and beasts considered each other. "Go!" Elsa commanded in a strong voice. "Leave us alone!"
One garm tilted his head from side to side and looked at her with his swiveling eyeballs, and then they all turned and bounded away into the forest.
Moris immediately rushed to Anders side but the Captain rushed to Elsa.
"My Queen, you are hurt."
Elsa followed his eyes and saw the blood smeared across her shoulder. "It's not mine; It's the garm's."
Kristoff had gotten off of Little Sven and lopped the head off of the remaining injured garm. "Elsa, are you okay."
She looked down and around her, as if the answer lie somewhere in the carnage. "Fine."
"Your bandage," Kristoff said, gesturing to her face.
"Elsa reached up and felt that half of her bandage had torn away.
"It's nothing. I'm fine."
The Captain sheathed his sword. "Well, that didn't go quite as planned."
Elsa looked down at the stone in her hand, at its inky blackness. "No, it didn't."
The Captain turned his attention to his men and Elsa saw that Moris was already wrapping Anders arm with a bandage.
"Seemed to work to me," Kristoff said. "The garm did leave."
"But not until one nearly killed me," Anders complained bitterly.
"Anders!" the captain barked, "watch your tongue."
Elsa raised her hand. "No Captain. He's right. I was supposed to use the stone to protect us and I failed."
"It wasn't your fault, My Queen," the Captain protested. "You were caught unaware."
"The thing that bothers me is," Kristoff began, "If Elsa was wearing the stone, how could they attack us at all?"
Elsa thought. "Pabbie said it works on will. When I was knocked from my horse my mind was wandering. I can't be willing them to stay away every moment. " Elsa flipped the stone a few times in her hand.
The Captain said, "What bothers me even more is how slow the garm were to respond. It worked on six, but will it work on twelve? Or twenty?"
"Just another reason why we need to find another stone," Elsa said.
The Captain scanned the tree line. "We aren't going to find answers here, and I want to be gone in case those dogs decide to regroup and come back. Anders, are you okay to ride?"
"I've had worse," Anders said.
"Good, we ride in ten minutes."
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Ismund
That night Ismund found a flat patch of ground and the Queen built an ice igloo for them to sleep in, and another for the horses. Having Queen Elsa's powers sure made making camp much easier and more secure. It would be chilly, for sure, but the Queen had opened a vent at the top and a warm fire burned in the middle. No one said much as they ate their evening meal, and then one by one they laid out their packs and went to sleep. Everyone but the Queen.
Ismund woke after a fitful dream and saw her sitting there silhouetted against the fire, moving her hands in some sort of exotic dance to music only she heard. As he lay there he thought, not for the first time, how amazing her magic was. Even though he'd seen it now a hundred times, he was still awed by it. And as much as he would love to stay warm in his blankets and watch her all night he needed her fresh in the morning; they had another full day's ride ahead.
She looked up when he approached. "Do you like it?" she asked, holding something up to him. He step forward and took the thing which she offered. At first he couldn't make out what it was and then he saw it was a chest plate. It was sturdy and strong, it felt impenetrable, like nothing he'd ever seen and this one had all the curves of a woman. It was beautiful, like everything the Queen made, it looked like blue glass, with the motif of the snowflake splayed out under the breasts, and there in the middle was embedded the black stone. He ran his finger over the surface; it was smooth, as if the stone was one with the armor.
"It's the most beautiful thing I've ever seen," he said, and then looked back at her and knew he had just lied.
The Queen took the chest plate back from him. "Thank you," she said modestly. "After what happened today I decided that I needed a way to protect the stone, so that it would never be taken away from me, and this is what I came up with. If I'm ever knocked off a horse again, it will keep the stone of Karabraxos close to my heart. "
Lucky stone, he thought, but out loud he said, "A wise idea, My Queen."
She smiled back at him and he noticed for the first time that her face bandage was gone. He didn't say anything, but she must have followed his gaze because the Queen touched her cheek self consciously. Two angry red lines marred her white skin from her cheekbone her hairline.
"They're going to scar I'm afraid."
"Not necessarily," Ismund said.
"No, they are. But it's okay."
"There are worst things than scars," Ismund agreed. "Would you like me to rebandage them?"
The Queen tried the marks with her fingertips. "No, they're closed. They should be fine. And your wrist?"
Ismund flexed the wrist and grunted. "Fine. A little stiff, but fine."
The Queen's lips turned at the corners, a half smile that disappeared as quickly as it had appeared, and they both turned to watch the fire for a time.
The next words the Queen said were soft, but Ismund heard them clearly. "Princess Anna would have told me that they give me character."
Ismund did not want to make the Queen sad with more thoughts of her sister, but he didn't know what else to say so he only chucked weekly and said, "I believe she would say that, My Queen. Indeed she would."
The Queen smiled in return, and Ismund thought it was the first time he had seen her real smile all day. They sat quietly across from one another and watched the fire, neither of them having more to say. Ismund looked at her as much as would be proper without staring. The wrinkles in the corners of her eyes bent the scar lines just a little when she had smiled. He hoped he would see that happen again. He did not think it proper to tell her, or to even say out loud, but Ismund though she was still beautiful, even with the new scars, even with a hundred scars.