To Intercept a Prince

Hey all!

It's becoming a regular thing now, but still I am shocked at how popular this novel is becoming! I never intended this!

Now, as promised, lets take a trip away from Arendelle, where a plot thickens...

A few days before…

These infernal waves are proving very difficult to navigate using such a small boat, but any bigger and we'd be easily spotted. To my left I see one of my bandits, Razor, hurling his last supper overboard, and to my right, watchful as ever is my trusted assassin, Shade. Small in comparison, but of excellent muscular build, enabling him to confidently take on the largest of opponents and brush them aside with ease. I had a competition held to decide who was the most combat-able of all my bandits, with the addition of him; a human, but I was secretly scouting for an assassin to accompany me on this journey. He won by a considerably large margin, defeating my defending champion by parrying and dodging his way around him, then using his agility to land lots of powerful, quick blows to the torso that stopped his heart, to which he simply folded his felled opponent's arms over their chest and closed their eyes, muttering something respectful under his breath. The fight was over in under a minute, and then he just stood well composed, his stamina unaffected and awaited my judgement. The reason I have hired him over all others is down to his unfathomable discipline to me; he is fiercely loyal and without emotion during combat, making him the deadliest kind of soldier; perfect for my cause. I trust him with my life.

"How goes our progress Shade?" I ask.

He stands to attention and faces me, "we are making good time my lord, but I fear we are moving too slow against this storm. We may miss our window of interception." He summarised with a bow.

"Hmmm… That will not do." I ponder to myself. "How would you recommend we remedy this?"

"I'd suggest losing any unnecessary weight to this ship. I'd recommend allowing myself to leave and return to the island my lord."

"That's out of the question, we are miles off shore and though I have no doubt you'd make it, you are vital to the success of this journey. But I do agree with our weight problem…" I look around the ship for options, and my eyes find Delph, one of the poorest excuses of a bandit there is. He's overweight, lacks combative skill and is consuming all our supplies as we speak! Shade follows my gaze and instantly understands my intentions. We both step towards our subject as he notices us and freezes in terror. My eyes glow blue as a cloud of frost develops and shrouds my hands.

"My lord? My lord! No, please!" he begs, but his efforts are futile, my mind is made.

"You have been faithful to me Delph, but you will halt our progress through no fault of your own. I will make it quick."

I twitch my hands and a small bolt of blue lightning shoots out from my right hand and charges into Delph, instantly freezing him into a statue of ice. Now Shade lunges forward and delivers a blow so powerful it smashes our old friend into several pieces, causing a shockwave to erupt from the point of contact, stirring up the ocean even more.

"Clean it up, and throw it over board" I command and instantly my small team of cumbersome bandits begin sweeping small bits of Delph over the edge and to the depths of the sea, some tripping over into others and starting small brawls as they do so.

I turn away and shake my head in disappointment, "These fools are so cumbersome. Why on earth did you suggest we bring them Shade?"

"You alone are an extremely powerful force my lord, but we require numbers if we are to accomplish our goal" he has wisdom in his words, and he's never let me down before so I know he shan't now.

"By your guidance" I acknowledge.

"SHIP TO THE BOW MY LORD" One of my bandits calls out, pointing to the left of the ship.

"That's the port side you fool-" but I stop there.

He is right, through the fog I can just about make out a ship flying the French colours.

"That's it, line us up!" I call out as I hurry to the Bow of the ship and shoot another bolt at our makeshift ram, freezing it solid, hard as steel. I return to the quarterdeck and begin to focus my thoughts.

Feel the heat in my veins,

Feel it embrace me, as I it,

My emotion is fire.

As I open my eyes my hands become encased in heatless fire and my eye colour adapts to a fiery red/orange tint, as it always does when I tap in to another element.

"Ready my lord?" calls out Shade.

"Ready!" I confirm.

"Ready crew?" he turns to the deck.

"YAAAAA!" they call out. What they lack in discipline and skill they more than make up for in passion.

Another minute passes as we creep up to the French vessel, a typical Frigate with green trims to it, and that prominent French flag flying amast.

"Identify!" Shade commands.

"The Jeanne d'Arc! She's the one!"

Excellent I think to myself "Brace!" I call out. "Remember, the crew is expendable, but the prisoner must be taken alive!"

The crew all grab a hold of different parts of the ship; the cleaner seems to think that just holding on to the mop is going to suffice…

"That won't do Froyd!" Shade calls out clutching the rigging, but it's too late.

I release all my energy into two beams of fire erupting from the stern and a group of bandits start to freeze a long path in the ocean ahead. Instantly we build up an enormous amount of speed and mount the ice as we speed towards the Vessel, as Froyd slams into my Captains Quarters door, winding himself.

I don't think I've ever felt so lousy in all my life. I hate ships and sailing in general, which is odd for a prince. The bucket in my cell is proving insufficient at providing enough 'storage' for my barf, but no one will listen to my pleas asking for it to be emptied. No wonder, this is what I deserve for my schemes. I will no doubt be found guilty of High Treason, and sentenced to death upon my return to my loving brothers. It wasn't entirely my fault though! If they hadn't been so neglecting of me, maybe things would have turned out differently! I could have had my royal duties in the palace in the Southern Isles and lived a life of peace, met a nice girl, settled down! But no! I was pushed to this plan of overthrowing Arendelle and taking the throne for myself! Again, not my fault!

Oh who am I kidding? This is all my fault. I'm a murderer. Well, more of an attempted murderer, you can't even do that right could you! Couldn't even kill off a Princess that was doomed to die by her sisters' hand anyway! I should have just married Anna, maybe we could have been happy together? She was completely infatuated by me, maybe I could have loved her? She was very beautiful and trusting, caring, loving, everything I could have wanted in a woman.

Blah! It's too late for that now. I am captured awaiting punishment from my older brothers, but surely this treatment is harsh enough? I've been in this small cell for days now, being fed on just slurry or whatever this stuff is. I've been completely stripped of all my honour and stature, and been reduced to a prisoner on a French ship. Nothing could be worse for me here-

SMASH!

I'm thrown into my cell door with a huge amount of force. Gosh that hurt! I lift myself up, only to be met with a searing pain in my back, that's definitely going to bruise! What happened? Have we collided with something? "What was that?" I call out clutching my cell bars, but no one responds, they are all rushing around the deck in panic! I then notice a grapple hook thrown up and lodge itself into the ship's barricade, followed by another, and another?! Pirates, in the North Sea? That's unheard of! Just then a group of small goblin-like creatures clamber over the side of the ship and engage the French crew! The crew are far more skilled against these opponents, but there's so many of them, they don't stop coming! We're being overrun! I can feel the ship tilt to the stern and slightly to the portside. I have enough experience under my belt to know that that is a sure sign that we are taking on water.

Panic insets. I'm locked in a cage! If this ship goes down I'll drown! I start shaking the cage door in fury, but it's securely locked. "Please let me out, I can help!"

One of the crew hears my plea and seems to think twice about his decision. Thankfully he comes to his senses and rushes over to me with keys, "Try anything, and you're dead, understand?" I Nod as he fiddles with the large batch of keys he is holding. Why is it always a huge batch? How can one ship have so many keys?! Just as I think this, he flinches and collapses to the floor in a heap, a crossbow bolt, protrudes from his back. I reach out to try and grab the dropped keys, and thank gosh they drift towards me- DRIFT?! We're taking on water that fast it's already seeping onto the deck. After a long time playing with the keys I get to the last one… It doesn't fit!

No… not like this… I can't die like this! Just as I say this in my head, there is a burst of light as the water over the deck freezes over and the ship halts in its place! Ice I think to myself. Elsa? It can't be! Just then a bolt of ice strikes my door, instantly freezing it solid. Then one of the pirates, though he is more human than the rest approaches my cell and kicks it with such force it throws me back and makes my ears pop! Argh my back! I think, clutching my spine. I then meet my rescuers gaze. "Thank you sir, I thought I was a gonner-" WAM! He slaps me around the face, making me spin on the spot. I then feel him grab me and lock me in a choke hold!

Ack! I can't breathe! I feel his knee slam into the back of mine, forcing me to kneel. I now focus on the person that is standing in front of us as he begins to speak.

"Hello Hans. I believe you have knowledge I greatly desire."

"I…. wha…"

I try to get the words out, but I can't, as a knapsack is thrown over my head.

And everything goes black.

Ahhhhh… my head hurts so much… And I'm cold, very cold. Am I sat on ice? I can't tell but, from what I CAN tell the knapsack is still on my head obscuring my vision, and my hands are bound behind my back. I'm very scared now. I try and loosen my wrists from these binds, but it seems they only get tighter and tighter the harder I try. My knees have gone numb, have I been out for all this time? I try and stand up, but I instantly feel a firm grip on my shoulder pushing me back down to the floor, making my head pound. I feel so weak and helpless here. "This is NOT how a prince should be treated! I demand that you remove this bag on my head immediately!"

This didn't work, and I hear much laughter at my pitiful attempt to assert dominance. I give up now, I just want to see where I am. "Can you please just remove this bag so that I can at least thank my rescuer?" This seems to work as I hear silence and footsteps start to approach me.

"Now that wasn't hard was it?" said a voice, muffled as I hear it through the sack "Let our guest thank us for saving him" After a swoosh and a burst of dazzling light that makes me squint, I can finally start to take in all my surroundings. I'm in some form of Ice Cave. The floors are made of ice, the walls are styled like a palace, but they too are made of ice, though this is not as flawless as the ice that Elsa has made her castle out of; this is rough around the edges, with cracks and scrapes everywhere, could it be manmade?. My rescuer, and now my capturer, is standing behind me. He's so small! How did I let this little man best me? But there is something about him that I recognise, I just can't place him. In front of me is a different story however, towering over me is someone who instantly makes me think of royalty, possible even a King. He is wearing a strong purple jacket with a strange marking on it, complimented by black trousers and boots with such quality I've seen the kings guard wear worse. He also is wearing a gold ring with a large gemstone in the middle that seems to pulse different colours ranging from blue to red, then to purple, white and back to blue. He has striking purple eyes and hair that is jet black, but seems to radiate with a purple glow?! What is this guy? He doesn't stand like a King though, his shoulders are far back, his hands clenched into fists and his arms bend out at the elbows. He is very stocky, he sort of reminds me of one of my brothers back home.

"Sorry about the rough intro Hans, but from what Shade has told me you can be… very unpredictable at your best." He says in a very calm tone.

"How do you know my name?"

He gives a slight chuckle, "Wow, Shade did a very good job in tailing you, nicely done Shade!"

"Thank you my lord"

What is he talking about? "Tailing me?" this Shade character was now untying my binds.

"Wow you really don't recognise him do you? He was with you the whole time! Up at the North Mountain when you went to search for your… true love! Ha!" he said in a mocking tone.

Ah! Now I remember. He was part of the Arendelle guard that accompanied me to Elsa's ice castle. Wow he really did do a good job. "But why did you send him to tail me?" it still doesn't make sense.

"Actually I didn't. Shade's mission was to gather Intel on the population of Arendelle for me. Well it turned out that he was so impressed by your progress you had made towards killing the queen and princess that he figured he had enough for me to decide to bring you in."

"Bring me in on what?" I said as I bring myself to my feet, I must admit the air in here is a lot fresher than the air that was trapped with me in my cell. "I don't even know how much use I could be to you"

"Oh believe me, I know you won't disappoint, come, we shall discuss this more in my chambers.

I follow this peculiar man out of the small room we were in, gently rubbing my wrists now that they were free from the most uncomfortable rope in the world! As we head out, I find myself walking through a balcony that looks like it has been cut into the side of a mountain. I look out to the horizon over the Balcony wall; these mountains aren't like the ones around Arendelle though. No, these are very different. The carved-out balcony however is beautiful, the sun is glistening off of the floor and pillars that fracture the light into dancing patterns of gold. These pillars of wood and ice are holding against what I can only imagine is an enormous force from the sheer weight of the terrain we are currently concealed under. Every now and then on our walk we encounter some sort of gremlin, goblin-like creature. Not like the ones on the ship, these ones seem more orderly and well fashioned. It actually reminds me of an army the way they react as this 'king' walks by; straightening up their backs to attention, turning to face us. This is all I ever wanted; to be respected by my own people, although these don't seem very much like people.

We pass what seems like hundreds of wooden doors as we pass through the balcony, though now it's more of a hallway as the exposed area to the outside world is now left behind. I think we are heading deeper into the mountain now; yes it is definitely getting colder in here. I start to shiver, though my capturers don't seem remotely concerned about the cold. Alright for Lord Purple over there, he's wearing a thick jacket and shirt, but Shade is only wearing a vest, thick as it may be, leaving his arms exposed, although I genuinely think all his bulk is keeping him warm because he doesn't even appear the slightest bit chilled; these people have been here a long time. We finally arrive at a set of open double doors bordered with what looks like solid steel? Or iron? Some form of strong, expensive metal. As we head in Shade halts and turns his back to us. "You're not coming?" Why do I feel like I can connect with this guy, he did choke me out earlier!

"No my Prince, as personal assassin and bodyguard to his lordship, I must stand in as sentry to his accommodation whilst he is alone."

"Oh okay…" I continue in but stop briefly, "Hey, I know you were just following orders anyway, but thanks for busting me out, you saved my butt back there." I said sincerely.

"Thank you for your appreciation my prince" he now turns to face me, "I hope our work together will be enough to satisfy your reimbursement".

I nod and walk in, that last sentence has shaken me a little. Work together? What is going on here?

As Shade locks the doors behind us, I instantly feel a sense of warmth flow into me. This room feels more like a warn log cabin that a simple study, the walls are made up of stacks of parallel logs, crossing over each other in the four corners of the room, that are every now and then cut away to hold hundreds of books ranging from Geographical atlases to books on biology and military history, this room reeks of intelligence. Of course there is a raging log fire in the centre of the side wall and a very comfortable looking set of lounging chairs in the middle of the room around a small table with a set of used mugs in the middle.

"Please have a seat" he says, whisking up the cups in his grasp and gesturing towards the left side seat, closest to the fire. I gratefully accept and slump down into the chair. I was wrong; it's MORE comfy than it looks… I look over at my host who is preparing two mugs of what smells like hot cocoa- he's heating it with fire from his hands!? He is just warming the mugs in his hands? With fire! From his hands! What the heck is this guy? Could it be that he is in control of fire in the same way Elsa is in control of ice? He then finishes up and heads over to my direction and puts one of the mugs in front of me.

"Careful, it's hot." He calmly warns me as he takes a seat opposite me. He had taken the purple jacket off to reveal a gleaming white shirt with golden buttons and a thin stripe with colours of red, grey, purple and blue. Now I can see his stature and I was right, he is built more like a fighter than a king or prince or- whatever he is. I think I heard Shade refer to him as a Lord?

"Right, now that we're alone, allow me to again apologize for the brutality of your rescue", Hmph, so now it's a rescue? "I couldn't risk any of the crew believing you had been involved in a planned break out"

"Ah. Well I doubt they could spread word too quickly marooned in the middle of the North Sea now could they?" I joke, and he seems to find it humorous. Phew!

"Ha-ha! A very good point indeed, though I did thaw the ice before we left."

"Oh, so they could sail back and tell word that they were boarded and I was killed? Wow that's good…" he seems confused though.

"Well it would be difficult for them to even stay afloat with the hole we left in their vessel!" that's when it dawned on me; the ship was going down before he froze it in place, does that mean- "I assure you no word of your escape will spread!"

"So it sunk? I see…" all those people, the French foreign dignitary and the man that was going to release me, all sent to a watery grave. So many innocent people. I know that's rich coming from me but, given the choice, I would have let them live. It sent a shiver down my spine, which he seems to notice.

"That cocoa will be cold if you don't drink it, it'll warm you up!" he says changing the subject. He does have a point, I'm still freezing! I take a sip, and the sweet chocolate taste straight away overwhelms me with a sense or relaxation and pulses out warmth all through my body as it makes its way to my empty stomach.

"Oh boy that's good…" I find myself slurring, not even sure if I meant to say it out loud, but I did.

"Thought that might do the trick!" he began, "Now, I know so much about you but you must want to know all about me eh?"

"It could make for good conversation yes, and forgive me but I do have a few questions about some things" I say as I tap the mug, still under the influence of this smooth, warm drink.

"Ah yes I think I have quite a bit of explaining to do, so allow me to start offering answers to any and all questions you may have!"

I consider this, "Very well, may I start with your name?" I ponder.

"Seems only fitting doesn't it?" he agrees, "I am Lord Cyril of the High Islands, first of my name, Controller of the Elements, Commander of the Gremlin Empire & Captain of the Iceblade Vessel"

"Wow, that's quite a title!" I breakdown each section in my head, "So these must be the famously secluded High Islands I've heard so much about?"

"They are indeed," he pulls out a map from below the table and opens it, spreading it across the table, it's a map I recognise after studying it for so long myself. It's one of Arendelle and its neighbouring settlements. "We are right here" he says, pointing at a set of unlabelled islands about halfway between Arendelle and the coast of the Sothern Isles, where twelve older brothers will still be eagerly awaiting my arrival.

"Why isn't the High Islands on any maps?" I ask.

"It's a long story, but explorers never pass through this route because of how dangerous people say it is."

"Well they do have a point" I say raising my mug.

"They do indeed" replies Cyril, raising his in mutual admiration.

I take one more sip before asking my next question, "So am I right in assuming that you have some kind of control over fire?"

"At first I did, but I sought further knowledge and expanded my abilities to ice, wind and I'm starting on water in its natural form, though it's proving a challenge" I must admit this is very impressive.

"Wow, I thought Elsa was respectable with her control!"

"This is something we both agree on, Elsa's control over Ice and Snow far exceeds my skill in these elements, it's incomparable."

"I see. I believe that brings me on to my next question: What is it you think I can help you with?" I believe I already know the answer.

"A good question indeed, you see as controller of the elements, I possess control over the power of power itself."

"Okay now I'm confused" Darn it, I was doing so well so far!

"I can manipulate the anatomy of the source of power in people that possess it, I can absorb it, learn from it, improve my existing understanding of my abilities, even use it against my foes."

I think I get it now. "Okay, I believe I understand now: You took me from that ship because you think my knowledge of Elsa and her sister will get you in position to execute some kind of plan of yours?"

"You're right on the money!" he applauds, "I knew Shade had found a winner!"

I take another sip of my drink and organise all this new information; so I have been rescued by Cyril because he believes I know how to get to Elsa so he can somehow 'absorb' her power to use as his own? That sounds about right.

"So, what do you say about turning your back on Arendelle and your life back in the Southern Isles and join forces with me? In return," he nods towards the map, "When I take command of Arendelle, you will take my place as its ruler, so that I may continue expanding my empire here in the High Islands. I will give you the position in the kingdom you always wanted. You will be King of Arendelle, and ruler of its people and its lands, respected by its people as the saviour of the city once Elsa and her sister mysteriously disappear. Now I appreciate this may be a lot to take in, so allow me to get you a refill while you gather your thoughts" he says as he rises and collects my empty mug and heads over to his kitchen, little does he know my mind is already made.

It's not a hard decision to be fair; the Southern Isles, where my brothers are currently waiting to brutally punish me for my failed schemes; Arendelle, where I will most likely be executed on sight for high treason; or here in the High Islands, where I can aid a powerful ruler into taking control of a kingdom, after which he will hand over to me? Hmmm… What a difficult choice!

"So," Cyril begins as he returns with another mug of that delicious cocoa, "What say you Prince Hans?"

I decide to be honest, "I think you know the answer here, you already know of my antics back in Arendelle, so you'll most likely know what awaits me when I return to the Southern Isles. And to be honest, I've been here for around half an hour, yet you have treated me so much better than my brothers have in over a decade and a half, that's including knocking me out and smuggling me into your home!" I see a grin begin to curve onto his face, "I would be honoured to help you on your task."

"Excellent!" he cries out, throwing his hands in the air in triumph, "then I will not hesitate to share with you my plan of attack!" he says as he swipes the map onto the floor and reveals a newer version, this one had red trails and circled areas that I didn't recognise from the other map, a sign of a real tactician. "I believe with my army stationed at these points here" his finger finds a circled area, "and here" moving to another on the other side of Arendelle, "we can provide enough pressure so that the queen will gather her forces and go on the defensive."

"Forgive me, but that does sound like you're making it more difficult?" I admit, to which he chuckles.

"Indeed it does, which is exactly what I want her to think. On an assault on the city, the queen will retreat to the depths of her palace with those she holds dear. If however, it is a feeble attempt on the city, this will not be the case as she will want to stand up and defends with little risk to her sister"

"Okay, so you want to almost 'stage' a weak attack to expose the queen?" that is genius…

"Exactly, and that is where I will nab her." He explained. "Now this is where I would like your insight Hans."

I think about this strategy a little, "This is a good plan my Lord, but you must remember that Arendelle's walls are next to impenetrable when she is alerted. There's no way you'll get to the queen like that unless you yourself aided the assault"

"Agreed, but if I revealed myself the threat level would be raised. The city would go on lockdown and the Queen would withdraw to the castle. We'd lose our window of opportunity. So I ask you Hans: What is the best way to our beloved Queen?"

"Through her sister Anna," I know this without question, "but she holds her sister dear to her, she's just as invincible as Elsa herself."

"Agreed, yet again. This I understand, but we must get to Anna in order to have a bargaining chip against the Queen"

"Agreed. Anna is Elsa's only weakness but I reiterate, she's just as hard to get to as Elsa, and she never leaves the city, so how do you propose we get to Anna?"

Cyril simply smiles as he points to a section of the map I am unfamiliar with.

Fallcoach Valley.

Update: 01/11/2014- Sorry, forgot the Title!

Well well well! Looks like Kristoff could be in a spot of bother!

I'm really looking forward to what you guys think of Lord Cyril, he is a character I have had in mind for a long time, I was just waiting for an excuse to introduce him. I feel like he'll fit in quite well!

Also, shout-out to Shawn Raven, he is the reason I knuckled down and threw this chapter out for you guys! Thank him!

And while I'm here, someone asked me if I based any of the characters evolved personalities on anyone I know. I haven't until this chapter actually! I am very passionate about the personalities of the characters; I like to display every emotion and feelings in them, especially kristanna! So I had a lot of fun extending them to how I feel they could be. But in this chapter, I have based Shade on a friend of mine, Tom, so thanks for that bud!

So if it's okay, could I hear what you guys think about:

-Lord Cyril and Shade's introductions

-How Anna reacted to Elsa's rather direct approach to her revealing attire (that scene took a long time to get right!)

Until the sixth, stay safe, and I hope you all had a good Halloween!

All the best,

-Dan