James shook his head. "I'm done hearing about this," he complained. "Fakes shown to the Queen are a dime a dozen. Does this scrappy tomb even look like the tomb of the hero who stopped his uncle? The Queen will never believe us. In fact, she'll throw us into the dungeons if we show it to her. I'm sorry, but this map will never see the light of day." James took out a match and lit it. He was about to light the map on fire when Liz pressed her fingers against the match and diffused the flame. "I'm sorry, but I can't let you do that," said Liz, pulling the map away from him and placing it in the open coffin. "But you can't…" protested James. "I'm the leader!" boomed Liz. "I give the orders!"
Seeing an opportunity, Gerda tossed the bottle she held in her hand as far as she could. Crash! Everyone could hear the sound of the bottle hitting the ground. "What's that?" Finn shouted. "Did a rat knock something over?" "I hope it is," said Liz. "Because if it isn't…" Liz placed a finger across her throat, gesturing to them that she would kill whoever made that noise if she found them. The three of them explored the chamber until they stopped, having seen the broken glass bottle close to one of the walls.
Gerda crept as quickly as she could and smashed the lantern that was on the platform. The light of the lantern went out and everything went pitch black. Then Gerda attempted to generate a few glowing snowflakes, hoping that the air wasn't too dry. This she managed to do, but she had to act quickly because the light from the snowflakes wouldn't last. Running towards the open coffin, she grabbed the map and made her way out of the chamber. "Look!" cried Liz, noticing the faint light of Gerda's ice magic. "Someone's there." Gerda moved as quickly as she could out of the chamber. She picked up the wooden bean lying on the ground and used it to bar the door. Now the three treasure hunters in the cave couldn't get out. She could hear them pounding on the other side of the door. "I'll come back for you later," Gerda muttered to herself, as she picked up the lantern she left by Bae's side, and jumped on his back.
"Run as if your life depended on it," she shouted to Bae. Later, Gerda noticed multiple passageways in front of her. For a moment, she was lost. Then she remembered that she had made a cross-shaped marking on one of the passageways. If she could find that marking, she'd know which passageway to choose. It took her several minutes to find the marking, but when she found it, she wasted no time in riding away. She was just about to reach the entrance to the cave when she noticed what appeared to be a lantern light straight ahead. Upon closer inspection, it appeared to be a girl her age who was holding the lantern. She sat on top of a dark horse, and tied to the saddle was a net filled with two dead rabbits. She had brown skin and dark hair that was tied up in a ponytail with the aid of a hairpin.
Gerda was about to warn the girl about the cave being like a maze when the girl passed out, fell off her horse, and hit the ground. "Hey, what's wrong?" shouted Gerda, getting off Bae. "Are you thirsty?" After two minutes, the girl opened her eyes. "Thank you," she said, with a mischievous look in her eyes. Gerda helped her sit up, took out a soft container filled with water, opened it, and gave her some water to drink. Gerda heard the sound of a sword against a sheath, and then felt the tip of the sword against the back of her neck. "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you to help me a little more," the girl smirked. "Give me the scroll." Gerda hissed and reluctantly gave her the scroll, and the girl quickly placed it in the bag she carried with her. "Thank you," said the girl. "I could freeze you to death," threatened Gerda. The girl laughed upon hearing it. "Sure you could," she scoffed. "Why haven't you then?" It was because Gerda knew that even though her ice magic wasn't nearly as powerful as Elsa's ice magic, Gerda still didn't like how dangerous her magic was. Her powers were not a toy. But Gerda kept silent. "Slowly exit this cave," the girl said, still grabbing Gerda tightly and pointing that sword at her throat. "We don't have all day. Move it! Don't make any sudden movements or I'll cut your throat." Gerda reluctantly began walking slowly out of the cave. Bae and the dark horse followed from behind them.
While this was happening, the three treasure hunters who were trapped in the chamber, managed to ram open the door.
Once Gerda and the girl left the cave, they walked towards a nearby tree and stopped when they reached the tree. There was a rope in the girl's bag. She slowly reached for the rope in her bag, careful to not take her eyes off of Gerda. There was a rock on the ground near the shallow puddle she was standing in. She bent down in an attempt to use the rock to knock Gerda unconscious. This would make it easier for her to tie Gerda to the tree using the rope. Seeing that the girl was about to harm Gerda, Bae grunted out loud. Gerda heard this and understood this to be a warning. She turned around and froze the puddle the girl was standing in. There was now an expression of fear and disbelief in the girl's face. "I'll be taking that," smirked Gerda, taking the scroll out of the girl's bag and placing it in her own bag, which was attached to Bae's saddle. She had no time to lose. She jumped on Bae's back and rode away from the area as fast as she could.
The girl was not about to let Gerda get away so easily. Even though she was stuck in the frozen puddle, she was able to escape by removing her boots. The three treasure hunters had escaped the cave and were right behind her. "Merry, what happened?" Liz called out to the girl. Merry was Liz's daughter. Merry had no time to respond to her mother's words. She had to stop her prey from getting away. She hopped on her horse and rode after Gerda. It didn't take long for Merry to start to catch up to Gerda. Gerda rode on until she reached a nearby river. With a flick of her wrist, she froze the river with her magic. The surface of the river was now frozen over. "Ride now!" cried Gerda to Bae. Bae hesitated. "Have courage, Bae!" she shouted. Emboldened by her words, Bae ran across the river onto the other side. Merry witnessed the whole thing. For a moment she froze, utterly surprised at what she saw. Then she rode onto the surface of the river.
Acting quickly, Gerda used both hands to pick up a heavy rock and used it to break the ice. Crack! The ice broke swiftly. Merry and her horse fell through the ice into the freezing water. They barely made it back out of the edge of the river. Then Gerda kept on riding until she made it back to the castle. After bringing Bae back to the royal stables, she crept back into the castle. She was so tired that when she got home, she didn't bother changing into her dressing gown. Instead, she made her way to the study, since it was closer, and collapsed onto the sofa. It was quite warm there because there was a small fire burning at the fireplace.
Hours later, Gerda was woken up by the sound of her mother. "Gerda, where have you been?" Anna yelled at her. Gerda thought for a moment regarding what to say. Surely her mother wouldn't take it well if she knew what would happen if the spirits tried to strip away Elsa's powers. She decided to be as honest with her mother as she could. "I met with Bulda and the other trolls," she sat up and explained. "They wanted specifically me to meet with them. They wanted to tell me about a vision they received about Elsa." "Why did they ask you to meet them without telling us?" Anna asked, squeezing Gerda's shoulder with her right hand. "What information relating to Elsa would they want to keep secret from me?" Gerda gulped. "There's a great possibility that Elsa will never come back," Gerda solemnly said. "And that you'll never see her again." Gerda could see Anna's eyes watering and that she was struggling to hold her tears in. "But what prophecy did the trolls speak of?" Anna continued to ask. "It's time you knew the truth," Gerda sighed. "Elsa doesn't have much time left. The spirits have this way of stripping ice magic from her. They're considering doing it right now, but Elsa can't survive without her magic."
Anna looked as though she was about to burst out in tears. Gerda couldn't stand it, so she said, "Just… just… I was just…" "Just kidding," a voice rang out. "She was just kidding." They both looked and saw that it came from Kristoff. His hair was a mess and his clothes, including his shoes, were dirty from going outside. "I visited the trolls to look for Gerda," he solemnly said. "I heard from the trolls that Gerda had visited them. I listened to what the trolls had to say. That's how I know Gerda was just kidding." Anna looked at Gerda with an angered expression on her face and her fists clenched. "Bulda told me that she had a vision that you would eventually find great happiness without Elsa," Kristoff said, walking closer to Anna. "That you would no longer miss Elsa like you do now, and that you'd stop throwing parties for Elsa on Elsa's birthday because you knew she wouldn't be around to experience them." Gerda glared at Kristoff, suspecting that he was lying.
Anna's lips began to tremble. "Why?" she finally managed to utter. "I thought it would be distressing for you to know that you might one day no longer miss Elsa like you do now," Gerda lied. "Go to your room," Anna said in a soft yet threatening voice.
"But I still have something I need to show-"
"Now!"
Gerda was deeply unsettled by how Anna now spoke to her. Kristoff took Gerda's hand and led her back to her room. Kristoff entered her bedroom with her and sat next to her on the bed. "Dad, be honest with me," Gerda said with a frown on her face. "What did the trolls really tell you?" "All that crap about Elsa not having much time left," said Kristoff. "The same stuff Bulda told you. You know your mother can't bear to hear it. It's time this family moved on from Elsa."
"Not while there's still hope!"
Kristoff gritted his teeth. "There's no hope, Gerda," said Kristoff sadly. "There's no hope at all. Soon Elsa will be no more. Then maybe once that happens, we'll tell Anna about it. Maybe then she'll finally move on." "But there's one hope!" protested Gerda. "Bulda talked about that famous treasure. The dagger of eternity. If the spirits possess the ice magic of that dagger, we can expect Elsa to leave Ahtohallan and return back home." Kristoff crossed his arms. "I'm sorry, Gerda, but the dagger will never be found," he uttered. "It's just a story. Many, including your mother, have wasted their lives trying to find it. She's received map after map of fake maps that claim to lead to the dagger."