They climbed onto the deck of the ship like spiders climbing up walls. "Ghosts!" Gerda heard someone cry out from above the deck. There was a small gap on the door of the deck. She tried freezing the lock on the door, but the lock wouldn't break. The lock must have been made out of a different kind of metal. She heard the sounds of swords being removed from their sheaths, the sounds of swords swinging through the air, and the splattering of blood. A few drops of blood dripped through the gap on the door and fell on her face. Gerda quickly wiped the blood away with her handkerchief.
It didn't take long for the sounds to fade away. Now Gerda heard footsteps making their way towards the door of the deck. She heard a smashing sound, and the door of the deck quickly opened. A pair of strong hands grabbed her and pulled her above deck. Gerda felt like she was going to vomit when she saw what had transpired above the deck. On the floor of the deck were the bodies of her crewmembers. They were all shriveled up like mummies, and they were surrounded by humanoid figures that appeared to have cracked skin. The hands that pulled her out from below deck belonged to Jacob, who was holding her right now. "Ghosts!" shivered Gerda. "Not exactly," smiled Jacob. "We're not dead, but neither are we among the living. But we are closer to the dead than the living." Gerda tried desperately to get free. There was a rope with a grappling hook attached that was hanging on a mast. She wanted to reach for it and use the rope to descend off the side of the ship into the water. Then she would use her powers to run on the water to make her escape.
But Jacob simply placed his hands around Gerda's neck when she tried breaking free. For an old man, Jacob seemed astonishingly strong. "I know what you're trying to do," Jacob said in a raspy voice. "You want to break free from my gripe and escape off the side of the ship. Don't worry, for you'll soon have your chance. Since you're the last person standing, I'm going to allow you to swim away." "What… what are you people?" asked Gerda in a raspy voice, for Jacob's hands were wrapped tightly around her neck. "We are cursed men," explained Jacob. "Cursed by magical shards to wander the oceans without any sleep, and with a constant hunger for blood. Why were you in these waters? Were you looking for someone?" "For Prince Hans," replied Gerda. "He tried to kidnap my mother." "Hans?!" Jacob said to himself. "Could this be destiny?" He smiled.
"I'm letting you go, but I want you to deliver a message to him from his father."
"Hans is your son?"
"Aye, that he is," said Jacob, his eyes contorting into an expression of pure rage. "Tell him his father hasn't forgotten about him. That his father will do anything to be with him, and that his father will find him and kill him for humiliating him. Can you tell him that?" "I'll do what I can," Gerda answered. Jacob slowly released his grip on Gerda's neck. "You may go," he said. "But remember, you're only allowed to swim away." Gerda took off her shoes, and then she ran towards the mast and grabbed the rope with the grappling hook attached. She hooked the grappling hook to the railing of the ship, and slowly lowered herself into the water. Ice formed beneath her bare feet and she began to run on it. A smile appeared on Jacob's face, as if he was slightly surprised.
Gerda ran as fast as she could on the ice. She ran well over an hour it seemed. Slowly she slowed to a jog, and then to a walk, until finally she couldn't even walk. She felt so worn out, she stopped using her powers to generate ice and began to swim. She could feel her mind begin to fade and her vision begin to go hazy. She felt her arms touch something soft, yet cold. Then everything went dark and she lost all consciousness.
When she came to, she realized she was on a soft sandy beach. So that was what she touched with her arms. It was sand! She stood up to take a better look at her surroundings. On one side of the beach, she saw the outline of a city in the distance. If there's a city by the sea, then surely there must also be a port. So she travelled the direction of the city on foot, reaching the city in around 2 hours. Sure enough, her instincts were right. There was indeed a port in the city, and there were multiple ships there. Next to a jetty in the port there was a sign that read "You are leaving Weselton". She was pretty sure she wouldn't be able to find a ship here that would take her to Arendelle, but she might be able to find a ship that would take her somewhere close to Arendelle. Suddenly, she paused. A drop of sweat dripped down her face. Her pockets were empty. She didn't have any money! Should she sell her dress? No, that would leave her wearing practically nothing at all. She thought about asking where the ships were headed, and then about stowing away on the ship that lead her closest to Arendelle. That would not be easy, for there were Weselton guards guarding the ships.
There was an old man who was sitting on the jetty with a fishing rod in his hands. Gerda was just about to ask him which ship was headed closest to Arendelle, when she heard familiar voices coming from behind her.
"Uncle, the era of seafaring pirates is over. This isn't the 18th century. It is no longer profitable as it used to be to become a pirate. It's time we moved on to something else."
"Maybe you have a point. Maybe seafaring piracy is no longer as profitable as it used to be. Maybe we could be air-faring pirates instead."
"Air-faring pirates?"
"Yes. We can tie a gigantic balloon to our ship, and that would turn our ship into an airship. Then we'll plunder the skies for silver and gold."
"But there isn't much in the sky that we can plunder… yet."
Gerda turned around and saw that Hans, Kai, and Gibbons had just left a nearby tavern. Hans held a bottle of rum in one hand. "Hans, you tried to kidnap my mother!" she cried out. "No way!" both Hans and Kai responded simultaneously. But Hans had an expression of fear on his face, while Kai appeared to be excited by the news. With a flick of her wrist, Gerda sent a burst of ice magic hurtling towards Hans. The ice magic hit the bottle Hans was holding. Luckily Hans let go of the bottle in time, otherwise who knows what might have happened to him. The glass bottle shattered and a lump of frozen rum fell to the ground. Gerda's actions hadn't gone unnoticed by the Weselton guards. "A witch!" one of them cried while pointing at her. "With a flick of her wrist, this woman froze that bottle. I saw her!" The Captain of the guards shouted to her, "Place your hands on the ground and don't move them!" Gerda growled and did as she was told.
Around a dozen Weselton guards ran up to Gerda and pointed rifles at her. Hans turned to his companions. "Now's our chance!" he cried. "Run!" Gibbons was the first person to obey Hans and make a run for it. Within a moment, he was out of sight. But Kai stood still. "Why aren't you running?" Hans whispered quietly. "Gerda's in trouble," Kai responded. "I think they're going to kill her." "And what do you propose we do about it?" Hans scoffed. Kai was silent as if he didn't know how to respond. "You don't know what to say?" said Hans. "I thought so. Now let's skedaddle out of here before an accident happens." So Hans and Kai left the scene.
Meanwhile, out in the ocean, THE SUMMER GULL had sailed back and stopped next to THE PURPLE CROCUS. Caleb had just boarded THE PURPLE CROCUS to greet his father. King Jacob was searching below the deck of THE PURPLE CROCUS, when he came across Gerda's bag. Opening the bag, he pulled out Gerda's sketchbook and flicked through it. A vicious smile appeared on his face. "What have you found?" Caleb asked his father. "What do you know about the Eternal Dagger?" Jacob asked him. "That it's a magical item created by a troll," Caleb answered, curious as to why his father was asking him this. "The dagger is almost impossible to destroy. The blade of the dagger is very cold." Jacob turned the sketchbook around and showed him the contents within it. Much of what was written in the sketchbook was written in a code, but some of it they could understand. On one page of the sketchbook, Gerda had written down her objective. On one page were written the words: "Objective: Find the Eternal Dagger to break my aunt's curse." Below the words was a picture of a mirror that was being carried around by horned creatures with wings.
"What do you make of this dagger?" Jacob asked. "The person who wrote these words said that the dagger could be used to break a curse," answered Caleb. "Exactly!" said Jacob, his eyes lighting up. "It's read about this dagger in a book. The dagger has the power to break all curses. If you hold the dagger and make a wish, you can break any curse you desire." Jacob wasn't really telling the truth. The dagger really didn't have the power to break all curses. He really wanted the dagger for his own sinister purposes. Caleb's eyes widened with excitement. Finally, there was a chance that his curse could be broken. Finally, there was a chance he could return home to his wife, son, and daughter. Smiles appeared on all of the crewmembers faces. They were all going to be free! Jacob looked at the faces of his crewmembers, slightly surprised at how easily they believed him.
One of Jacob's crewmembers stood on the crow's nest of the ship and shouted, "My Lord, we've spotted a ship far away in the distance, but it's sailing away from us. Should we go after it?" "Fresh meat!" said Jacob to himself, as black blood dripped down his mouth. "Yes, go after it," he responded. "We'll all get back on to THE SUMMER GULL, and we'll sail after it." All the crewmembers exited THE PURPLE CROCUS, but Jacob took Caleb aside, for he had an errand for him. "Caleb, I have a task for you," he said. "I need you to stay on this ship and search for things that can lead us to the dagger. There has to be something else. A lot of the things in this sketchbook are written in a code that we can't decipher. I will be back soon."
"Yes, father, but can I ask you something?"
"What is it?"
"Can you give me the sketchbook? I might be able to decode what is written on it."
Jacob reluctantly handed him the sketchbook. "Be careful with it, and don't lose it," warned Jacob. "Because if you do, you'll wish you'd never been born. Then Jacob left Caleb alone on the ship.
The guards of Weselton placed special manacles on her hands so she couldn't freeze anyone, then locked her in a cell. The next day, the guards opened her cell door and began to lead her away. "Where are we going?" she asked them. The Captain of the guards looked at her but kept silent. But one of the guards grimly told her, "Take one guess."