Summary: After years of solitude, Elsa now seeks to be the queen Arendelle deserves. But when Arendelle is invaded by a Southern King who is intent on deposing Elsa and claiming Arendelle, Elsa must muster all her courage to protect her country, and herself.
Chapter Four
- Chained -
The walls of Elsa's dungeon cell were slick with condensation. The stones may as well have been carved from ice, for the cold they radiated seeped deeply into her bones. For the first time in Elsa's life, she shivered and shook; her teeth chattered in her mouth and goosepimples on her arms and legs seemed ever-present.
Her wrists were the red-eyed woman had touched her were the only parts that didn't ache from the cold. They burned as if a hot iron had been pressed against them and not even holding them against the cold stones could ease the flames. She could feel the soft drum of her magic nearby but when she reached for it, the burns around her arms ignited like she had plunged them into open flames.
It was darker than the blackest night alone in the dungeon. Elsa couldn't see her hands in front of her, much less anything else. She was afraid to move around her cell – for what if this wasn't some cell at all, but one of the caves deep below the palace? She could go ten steps and be lost forever, until some explorer found her bones dressed in her blue silk dress.
But that was a foolish imagining, or so the rational part of her mind told her when the thought became unbearable.
The hours turned to days, or so it seemed. Elsa slept fitfully, dreaming of things horrid and hopeful interchangeably. One moment she dreamed of Anna galloping through the forest with Kristoff and Evangeline. The next she dreamed of good Ser Lennox fighting his way through the palace to rescue her. But when she removed his helmet, it was only to see a bloody emptiness where his head should have been.
She found herself thinking of Lennox more often. Aside from Anna he had been her staunchest ally over the last year. Perhaps she might have married him if they had more time. . . He didn't have the blood, and the other nobles were bound to protest, but he possessed a noble character, and he was well-respected throughout the kingdom. If she were to marry anyone, then why not him?
The sound of footsteps woke her. At first, she thought she had dreamt them too; it had been so long since she had heard anything but her own movements and quiet sobs.
The first voice was muffled by distance. "Alexia is doing all she can but. . ." the voice hesitated. "He has fought valiantly, but it doesn't look like he'll survive the night. The wound is deep, and fever has hold of him now."
The second voice was unmistakable. "She must do whatever it takes, whatever the consequence, do you understand?"
"Your Highness?"
"And tell her that if he dies, then she will soon share his fate."
"But. . ."
"Do as I have commanded, Ornsten."
"I . . . at once, Your Highness."
One set of footsteps disappeared back the way they had come. Then Elsa heard a key turning in the lock. She stood uncertainly, for the cell was still black, and did her best to smooth her skirts and scrub away the tears she knew were on her cheeks. The door creaked open, and the glare of a torch made her squint.
There were three men standing outside the door, but only Maximilian entered. His nose crimpled at the smell and his breath turned to steam as he breathed. The king's face looked stretched and worn. "This dungeon is not what I intended for you," he said, voice weary. "But I had little choice after you tried to renege on our agreement. There are those in my service who would see you dead as consequence."
Elsa swallowed, but her voice still came out sounding dry. "Then why haven't you killed me? Isn't that why you sailed here in the first place?"
"If only matters were so simple," Maximilian said. "But you have made things infinitely more complicated than they needed to be. . . I don't suppose you'll tell me where Anna has run to?"
"She'll be far away from here by now."
"I mean her no harm."
"Forgive me if I have trouble believing you.
Maximilian smiled. The shadows picked up the lines on his face and twisted them until that smile made him appear gaunt and ghostly. "I've given you no reason to doubt my word." Maximilian breathed deeply and rubbed the corner of his eye with his thumb. He leaned against the wall.
"Did you know that you and I were once betrothed?"
Elsa's eyebrows rose at the abrupt change of topic. "I'd heard something of the sort."
A flicker of genuine amusement appeared in the corners of Maximilian's mouth. "I must have been seven when my father told me I was to marry you one day. You were perhaps a year or two old at the time. I now realise why the engagement fell apart. How ashamed must your parents have been when they discovered that had birthed a witch."
His words scratched at her old wound. "Don't talk about them," said Elsa through gritted teeth.
Maximilian held his hands up in a pacifying gesture. "I meant no offense. I don't hold your magic against you. I've found sorceress to be exceedingly useful when the occasion calls for one. I wonder how different things might have been if your parents thought the same." He smothered a yawn with his fist. "Father always wondered why Arendelle closed its doors to the world. All his meticulous planning with King Frederic unraveled and he was powerless to stop them. He went to his grave with his peace slipped through his fingers.
"Then last year I hear that Arendelle has finally reopened its borders after so many years, with a queen who commands winter with her fingertips."
"What are you getting at?"
Maximilian looked at her as through the answer was obvious. "You spent more than a decade of your life hiding in your bedroom. Arendelle needed a queen after your parents' death, and you were not there. And when you finally ascended to the throne, you abandoned your people to the worst blizzard this country has seen in centuries. I truly wonder how much loyalty you've inspired since then.
"I want to see Aredelle restored, but not with a sorceress on the throne. Tell me where Anna is, and I swear by the Almighty's true name that she will be queen."
Elsa scoffed. "With a suitable Ovelian husband to guide her – I remember."
"It is the only way Arendelle can move forward without further bloodshed. I'm sorry you don't see it the same way." Maximilian returned to the cell door. "I pray you'll reconsider."
The door closed and locked behind him, leaving Elsa alone in the darkness once more.
#
"Who are you?"
The voice was gravelly and filled to the brim with desire.
Elsa stirred and peered blearily into the darkness. The faint light from a shuttered lantern flickered from the hall outside her cell. A shadow waited on the other side of the barred shutter in the door. Elsa breathed sharply and scrambled backwards.
"Who are you?" the shadow asked again.
"I'm Elsa, Queen of Arendelle." Elsa hated how her voice shook.
"Lies," the shadow breathed. "Elsa is dead. I see you for what you are, Changeling. Tell me, when did you murder Elsa Arendelle? As a babe?"
"I haven't murdered anyone!"
"Lies." There was a lust in the shadows voice now. Elsa heard thick fingers grasp at the lock. The door rattled at the hinges. Once more, Elsa grasped for her magic. It twinkled in the darkness, but as Elsa dove for it the invisible wall bounced her back. Her arms burned.
The fumbling ceased, and Elsa saw large hands wrap around the grate's bars. A face appeared between them. Elsa choked back a scream.
The face was bleached white like a skull. Its smile was full-teethed and vicious. There was no hair on that face – not even eyebrows. Elsa met the things eyes, sunken deep in its skull and saw nothing but black hatred.
"One day, Changeling," the man warned. He disappeared from the grate, and Elsa heard monstrously loud footsteps retreat down the hall.
Elsa sunk to the ground – body wracked with shivers that had little to do with the cold. It was hours until the image of the man's face faded from her mind.
#
A week passed, maybe more. Elsa tried to judge by how often a soldier or frightened servant came to her cell. They came twice a day to deliver her a tray of food, and once more to replace her chamberpot. Elsa did little more than pick at the food they brought her. If she couldn't control her situation, she could at least control what she put into her body.
That morning's meal had been a small bowl of chicken stew and a heel of crust bread. Elsa satiated herself with a few bites of bread dipped in stew before the clamp of footsteps echoed down the corridor. Elsa started; the bread slipped from her fingers. It hadn't been that long since her food was delivered; it would be hours yet before someone else came. Her heart suddenly beat too loudly. The image of that man's white skull-like face broke out of its box and grinned at her.
But it couldn't be him. Elsa breathed out and tried to settle her stomach. These footsteps were too soft – too normal, nothing like the door-rattling stomp that his had been like.
The steps paused outside her cell. The lock clicked and Elsa squinted at the sudden light from a lantern as her cell door opened.
"Lord Aubert?" Elsa croaked in surprise. "How are you here? Have they taken you prisoner too?" She drew up short, frowning at the piteous look on Aubert's face. His beard and moustache were freshly trimmed, and his clothes were too clean and his smell too fresh for him to be a captive.
"In a manner of speaking," Aubert said. He raised his lantern and peered around Elsa's dingy cell. Disgust flashed across his face.
"What does that mean?" Elsa questioned.
"I did as you commanded and left the city, although it was against my better judgement. An Ovelian patrol ambushed my men and I the day after the city fell; it was more prudent to surrender than fight a futile battle." His jaw clenched. "Why did you send me away? This could have all been avoided if you were willing to listen to me!"
And how many would have died if I had? Elsa caught the thought on her tongue. "If you were captured, then why aren't you in chains?"
"Maximilian is happy for us to have free reign of the city and countryside, on the condition that an oath of fealty is made first."
"Which you gave," Elsa accused.
"It was the only real option available," Aubert said. He didn't sound defensive, or defeated, he may as well have been talking to Elsa about the weather. "Or else I would be in a cell, same as you."
"A loyal man might find that option preferable."
"At times, practicality must come before loyalty."
Ser Lennox would disagree. "Why are you here, Lord Aubert?" Elsa asked. "Or was it only to inform me of my failures as queen?"
Aubert sighed. Clearly, he hoped the reason for his visit would come up differently. "I realise you do not like me, Elsa, and I confess to reciprocating your feelings more than once. I used to believe that Arendelle would be better off if you had stayed locked away in your chamber or had remained in the mountains. However, I know that you have tried your hardest over the last year. You've taken hold of the nobility, trade flourishes once more, and the townspeople no longer fear to smile. With more time, maybe. . ." he shook his head and sighed once more. "A pointless sentiment. You are still a sorceress, and King Maximilian is right, you will never be accepted with that curse on your head."
Elsa bit her lip and dug her nails into her palms. She was thankful that her voice remained still when she spoke. "Make your point, my lord," she said with cold politeness.
Emotion stirred on Aubert's face, and as he spoke his voice stirred with passion. "I want to see Arendelle flourish, Elsa!" he exclaimed. "Everything I have done has been for the good of the country. Even if Lennox had defeated the Ovelian champion, and even if Maximilian kept his word and sailed away, they would not be the last. It may be another army, or men with knives in the night. Arendelle will not move forward – cannot move forward – with you sitting on the throne."
And then Elsa knew why Aubert had come. "I thought you were loyal, Ser," she told him.
Aubert flinched but would not be deterred. "Wouldn't you rather see Arendelle ruled by your sister?" he demanded. "Much better Princess Anna than some Ovelian governor or seneschal. The Ovelians have searched but haven't been able to pick up her trail. No one I've spoken to seems to know – not even the chancellor."
Once, Elsa may have offered a prayer to the Almighty in thanks. They haven't found her! "You are a fool if you believe I will betray my sister," she told him.
For a while Aubert was silent, then he nodded as if he hadn't expected anything else. "I had hoped that wisdom would conquer emotion in this matter, but I see there will be no convincing you now. Perhaps with more time to consider what I've said you will change your mind."
"I think you should leave, Lord Aubert," Elsa told him.
Aubert nodded sadly. With a final look at Elsa and her miserable confines, he banged on the dungeon door and waited as one of the Ovelian guards opened it. He was halfway out of the dungeon when he paused. He didn't meet Elsa's eyes.
"I was saddened to hear of Ser Lennox's death," Aubert said. "He and I rarely agreed, but I respected him. He only ever wanted what was best for you and this kingdom."
An image of Lennox's severed head flashed through Elsa's mind. "Just go."
Aubert pursed his lips. When he spoke, it was a bare hint of a whisper. "You will not be forgotten, Queen Elsa." He inclined his head in a ghost of a bow and left the cell. The door swung shut behind him the lock clicked into place.