Chapter Thirteen: Mjosyndi
Mjosyndi, a small village in Arendelle
May 1, 1813
Tommy Thompson carefully wrapped his notes and repacked them into his satchel. He hoped the airtight containers would at least keep the fragile papers from the elements and allow them to survive through this nearly impossible mission.
Over the week through the help of Mags, he carefully gathered information from the families of soldiers who were sent over to Moscow. All of them, as Mags told him, experienced the same hardships. None received pensions and were told that there was nothing to expect. Most, like Mags resorted to carrying out tasks of the Brothers of the Purification League, an organization, Tommy quickly realized was there to malign Queen Elsa and her family.
Through a series of careful investigations, Tommy managed to track down various members of the League. A lot of them were local thugs who were been paid to recruit, but at least two of them were from outside of the village and they both had connections with Mjosyndi's governor. It didn't take a genius to know the governor was dealing in underhanded practices. The pension money for the soldiers was under the governor's supervision and it was easy to spot who benefitted from the missing money. The governor's sudden spate of personal purchases, the deliveries of luxury goods constantly coming into his house as witnessed by ordinary citizens within the village, all pointed a clear picture that the governor was living beyond what Tommy knew was the standard salary of an Arendellian public official.
Tommy had only scant information which could barely prove all of his suspicions, but he knew his report was enough for Kai to launch a full-scale investigation on this matter. Once that happened, there might be a way to root out who was really behind the Purification League.
Of course, Tommy had to find a way out of this village first and get his report back to the capital. It was not exactly something easy to do as someone had tried to kill him last night.
He had been cornered on the dark street by three unsavory men who told him with full confidence and bravura that he was about to be dispatched for asking too many questions. It was Mags who saved his life when she distracted the men with a rolling cart of iceblocks. He managed to run but found himself in a dead-end street block. It was there that Mags had grabbed him and shoved him through a tiny hole in the wall that led through a maze of back alleys. Together, they navigated in the darkness the entire night and kept to the shadows as they listened fearfully as men of the Purification League searched through houses in the entire village for him.
There was only one road out of Mjosyndi and Tommy knew the Purification League would be on the lookout for him there. His only recourse is to escape through the fjord. This was precisely where he was now with Mags: on the shoreline of the half-frozen fjord figuring out a way to get out of this god-forsaken village.
"It might be solid enough for us to walk along the shoreline to the next town," he said to Mags as they surveyed the vast expanse of white before them.
"Don't be an idiot," Mags told him. "We can probably do that in February, but not in April. The ice wouldn't be able to hold all the way through. And how long would walking take? We will die of frostbite or dehydration before we can even leave the borders of this village."
Tommy had to concede that she was right. As a survivor of the Moscow march, he knew well how fast he could die of exposure.
"We need a boat to get us out of here," Mags said.
"Right," Tommy said as he faced the land and saw nothing but a wide expanse of frosted shoreline for miles. "Do you know anywhere we could get one?"
"No," Mags said then stopped. "But I bet that ship knows."
"Ship?" Tommy whipped around fast in the direction Mags was looking. Facing southwest was the faint outlines of what was unmistakably a large ship approaching the shore.
"We could start a fire, make a signal so they can see us."
Tommy shook his head. "Not yet, not until we know if it's friend or foe."
"How do we know that?" Mags said.
"If I had a spyglass I can check right now, but as it is, we just have to wait until they are near enough for me to get a good look at their colors."
"So we wait then?"
"Half an hour at most," Tommy agreed.
They settled beneath a tiny hill under a wooded area where they had a good view of the shoreline and the approaching ship. He turned to the girl who had become his fast friend over just a few days and one who paid for it as he just made her a fugitive from her hometown. The Purification League members had seen them together and so she was no longer safe to stay in her village. She sat down and stared out into the fjord but she seemed to not be seeing the ship there at all. He knew she was thinking of her mother and sister who she had to leave behind.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry for getting you involved in all of this," he said for what seemed like a million times since last night.
"I already know you are," she said sullenly. "It's done. All you can do is get out of here so we can get help."
He sat beside her and put a hand on her shoulder. "I promise you, I will get you back home. Once the Queen knows what's happening here in Mjosyndi she won't let it go on."
"I still don't have much faith in the Queen," she said. "She's the one that let this happen in the first place."
"She's can't be blamed for everything, you know," Tommy remarked. "She can only control ice, not people's minds."
"I know," Mags admitted as she heaved a sigh. "I suppose she's not so bad if she has you defending her all the time. You believe in her and I have faith in you so let's leave it there."
"Thanks, I think," Tommy smiled. They sat in companionable silence for a long time. Tommy savored this moment of calm after the horrendous time he had undergone over the past twenty-four hours. He knew, however, that if he could do it all over again, he would still come here to do this mission. It was worth it, just meeting this girl. He had never met anyone like her: brave, kind, outspoken, and had the prettiest dark eyes he had seen.
He was just contemplating how to introduce her to his family when he saw another ship appeared beside the one they were eyeing. This was a smaller ship and he can recognize it immediately as a sloop.
"The other one looks French to me. Looks like one of the supply ships I took to Poland."
"Arendelle is allied with the French," said Mags. "So they're friends right?"
Tommy wasn't so sure about that anymore. Relations between Arendelle and France had been tense when he left the capital. Who knows how things had changed in the last two weeks.
In another few minutes, the bigger ship came into clearer sight and Tommy was finally able to make out the colors it flew.
Swedish.
Fear gripped him even more. What was a Swedish ship doing in Arendellian waters entering through some remote village? Sweden declared war against France months ago. If relations with France continued with Arendelle, there was only one answer to this question.
Sweden was invading them.
Then he sighted two more ships appearing on the horizon. It confirmed what Tommy suspected.
I have to warn Anna and the Queen!
How he would do that, he had no idea.
Then he heard the barking of dogs in the distance followed by shouts.
"Tommy, they found us!" Mags stood up fearfully.
Tommy took her hand and they both ran. He chose the thickest of the wooded area surrounding the fjord, hoping they could lose them, but each time, he heard the barking of the hounds coming even closer. He knew if they were caught, it would be all over. The men last night were willing to kill him. He had no doubt they would kill Mags too if she was caught with him.
"We can't lose their scent," Mags said to him as they kept running for so long. "They'll find us anywhere."
"Unless it's over water," Tommy realized. He pulled at Mags and they both ran in the direction of the waterline. He easily found a patch of solid water, but there was no telling if it was frozen enough for them to cross through the narrow gap of the fjord to get them into the forested hills on the other side. The Swedish ship was now near them enough that he knew he would be heard if he called out. But he also knew shouting would give away their position and alert the League.
He resolutely moved forward over the ice. It held and he helped Mags moved slowly over the precarious floor of solid water. They haven't gone far when he heard the pursuing dogs come closer. There was no alternative now. They wouldn't be able to cross that fjord in time to get to the other side before the dogs and the League got to them.
He turned to the ship, raised his hands, and shouted for help.
Someone shouted back from the ship but he couldn't make out what that person said for a shot rang out near him. He realized the League was firing at them.
Another shot erupted in the air and Mags screamed. She ran forward on the ice but her movements were too quick. Five steps forward were all she made as the sixth one caused her to fall when the ice crumbled beneath her.
"Mags!" Tommy shouted as he saw her fall into the icy water below, just as another shot rang close to his heel. It missed him completely but it hit the ice he was standing on causing it to crack. Desperately, he tried to find footing on anything solid but could only see widening cracks all around him. He stumbled and fell on his knees just as he heard a third shot ring. He felt a whiz near his ear. He expected pain from the bullet, but he felt nothing. Instead, he heard a tinkling sound as small shards of ice rained on his head. He looked up and saw to his astonishment a wall of ice now beside him and the bullet had been stopped by it. The ground he was on, though cracked was now completely solid as if the ice had re-froze on itself.
He stood up and saw that the fjord was freezing over. He felt a chill and saw his breath emit a puff of smoke. Footsteps were running on the ice. From a short distance, he saw Mags being hauled up by two men into the now solid ground. She was coughing out water.
He felt another set of footsteps approaching behind him and Tommy turned. He recognized the man immediately.
"Colonel Jorgenbjorgen?" Tommy greeted him. "What are you…?" The question died on his lips as he saw something astonishing in his peripheral vision.
It was Queen Elsa sliding across the fjord as if she was on skates and casting a wall of ice that surrounded the men and the hounds that had been pursuing him.
"Hello Tommy," the former French officer greeted him. "In answer to your question, I brought your queen home. Care to tell me what's going on here?"
Author's Note: I decided a brief chapter in Tommy's POV would be a nice change of pace for the story and could shed some more light on the internal problems Elsa would be dealing with in the future.
I want to thank everyone who is still reading this and I'm glad a lot of you are liking my take on the Duke of Weselton's involvement in this story. He will be appearing in more scenes soon as a secondary character.