"How can you be so calm?" Kristoff asked, pacing back and forth the room. "Anna has left with this weird man to find who knows what in this strange place, and we are locked in this room! Anything could happen to her, and we would not be able to go and help her!"
"I know, Kristoff," Elsa said as soothingly as she could. "I don't like knowing Anna is out there either. But… I trust the Doctor to keep her safe."
"Why do you trust him so much? How do you know him?"
"It's… complicated. Er… did Anna ever tell you about the blue box that we both encountered in the castle when we were younger?"
"Oooh, yes, I remember!" Olaf interjected, interrupting his attempts at reaching the ceiling in one jump. "Last year you told me there was a blue box in the courtyard but it disappeared when I arrived. Is it that one you are talking about? Or the one we came here with?"
"I think they are the same, Olaf," Elsa said, smiling. "Kristoff, did Anna tell you about this?"
"Well, er, maybe," Kristoff said, looking embarrassed. "Er… she also told me about how she got into arguments with the people in the paintings when she was a kid…"
"Yes she did, and it's my fault," Elsa said matter-of-factly. "Anyway… this box is real, you saw it. It appeared a couple of times in the castle when we were younger, carrying the Doctor and friends of his. They were… kind to us, at a time when we needed it. I even helped him once, I think," she added, smiling at the memory.
"Wait. Anna told me once she had been building snowmen as a kid with a doctor wearing a bow tie… Was that him?"
"Yes. He has… changed since. I don't quite understand how it works, but apparently he can change faces over time."
"So he came back today and this time you left with him in his magic box this morning? And what was that about a, an ice man?"
"This… is a bit complicated," Elsa said, wincing at the conflicting memories still competing in her mind. "Er… someone tried to… change… me… in the past. I'm not sure I understood everything, but…"
"That does not look like it was fun," Olaf said.
"No, it was not. Why do you say that?" Elsa said.
"You have crossed your arms, and there is some frost near your feet," the little snowman pointed out. "This is something that happens when you are worried or sad."
"That Doctor of yours does not seem that great," Kristoff said.
"Yes, he is, Kristoff. He helped us fix everything. In fact… I'm not quite sure, but I think that, without him, and the TARDIS… none of this would have happened."
"I can see that," Kristoff said. "We would still be in the castle with Sven. We had an important delivery to make today!"
"No, I mean… er… you meeting Anna, and me thawing the winter… It would not have happened. Everything would have been worse… much worse. Er… it's hard to explain. I don't understand much of it either. Anyway, I trust the Doctor to protect Anna."
Kristoff grunted dubiously.
"And you have to admit, Kristoff," Elsa went on, "walking on another planet is magical! I'd never thought I would have been able to do this in my life! And meet inhabitants from another world!"
"And understand them!" Olaf added. "They speak far better than the foreign dignitaries we receive at the castle. Some of them had such a strong accent I could not understand what they were saying!"
"I told you already, Olaf, they were speaking French," Elsa said gently. "It is the language of diplomats. But you're right, it is strange that these Ice Warriors can speak our language so well. Maybe it's something the Doctor did…"
"Well, I'd like them to speak to us now," Kristoff said. "They could give us news from Anna and this Doctor!"
"Ixadra told us that we could call them if needed," Elsa said. "Err… we had to press this button, I think."
"Oh, can I do it?" Olaf asked excitedly.
The door opened a few seconds after Olaf had pressed the button, revealing an Ice Warrior standing on the threshold. Elsa noted that the arm bearing the creature's weapon was slightly raised, and she wondered if this was the Ice Warrior equivalent of keeping a hand on the pommel of one's sword.
"What do you want?" he hissed.
"We want some news from Anna," Olaf said readily. "Also, I really wanted to press that button. But mostly Anna and Thedoctor. And why do you speak our language so well. And…"
"I wanted to have news from my sister," Elsa said. "She has been gone for some time now. You said you had a way to, er, know where they are even if they are far away and out of sight…"
The Ice Warrior bent his head, in a move that might have been a nod. Then he clomped away, and the door swished closed behind him.
"So that's how it goes?" Kristoff burst. "Esteemed guests, really! We should try to get out of here, now!"
"Do you think I should press this button again?"
"No, let's wait a little," Elsa said. "It… he is only a guard. Maybe he went to ask someone."
Elsa was proven true when the door slid open again a minute later. What she had not expected was that Ixadra would be the one standing in the doorway.
"You have been asssking about your sssissster, Queen Elsssa?" she said, pointedly ignoring Olaf and Kristoff.
"Yes. She's been gone for a while now. I think you have a way to know where they are…"
"Walk with me, Queen Elsssa," the Ice Queen said, beckoning to her.
"Wait. What about us?" Kristoff asked.
The Ice Queen snarled as she turned toward him. The ice harvester seemed still unsettled to need to raise his head to look at someone, but he stood his ground.
"You will wait here," Ixadra hissed. "You will be given newsss of Princessss Anna when we have them."
Elsa gingerly followed the tall creature out of the room and past the Ice Warrior guard standing at attention near it, letting the door swishing shut behind them. On another occasion, Elsa would have marvelled at this sliding door that opened and closed by itself, but she had experienced too many incredible things today to be properly impressed by that one. Ixadra began walking slowly down the corridor.
"How long have you been ruling?" the Ice Queen asked abruptly.
"Err… four years now, but I've only been crowned last year," Elsa said. She thought quickly. The Ice Queen seemed to have a perfect mastery of her language, but a year was, after all, specific to a given planet. "Er… Earth year. One revolution of the Earth around the sun," she added.
"Half a Martian year," Ixadra said almost immediately. "You are a young Queen…"
"Yes," Elsa said simply.
"How many warsss have you fought?"
"None, thank goodness. We are at peace with our neighbours. And I do my best to keep it that way."
"Why? Are you afraid of fighting?"
"I just don't want anybody to be hurt."
"You're sssoft. Did your mothersss fought more warsss?"
"My father favoured peace. My grandfather did fight some wars, but he died in a skirmish with an ungrateful tribe."
"Your father and grandfather… were rulersss?"
"Yes." Elsa remembered that customs varied across countries, even on Earth. "In my kingdom, the crown is passed to the first born when the ruler dies or abdicates. The gender is irrelevant."
"Ssso your father… isss dead?"
"Yes," Elsa said.
"Do you… missss him?"
"Yes, always. I… have not spent enough time with him. Er… you… you lost your father too…" Elsa began, deciding to ask some questions for a change. She really regretted now that she didn't have her sister's easygoing friendliness that served her so well in diplomatic situations – even if Anna's carefree attitude also sometimes caused problems. "Do you miss him?"
"My father disappeared while ssserving Marsss. My only regret isss that I don't know where his body liesss, so that we can honour him properly," Ixadra said in one breath, or the closest achievable by an Ice Warrior.
"But do you wish you could have spent more time with him?" Elsa persisted.
Ixadra did not answer for a few seconds. They were walking slowly through a large corridor, each Ice Warrior they passed by saluting stiffly.
"He wasss with me when I firssst went into battle," Ixadra said eventually. "We sssang the sssong of the Red Sssnow together. I am… content that he could give me… thisss. Your father never led you to battle?" Ixadra asked abruptly.
"No, he never fought any war. And my grandfather died before I was born."
"Are you avoiding fighting because you fear to sssuffer your... forebearsss' fate?" Ixadra hissed. It was hard to be sure, but Elsa was pretty sure her tone was scornful.
"No, I avoid wars because wars kill people. People who are siblings, parents, spouses. I don't want anybody to suffer the loss of someone they love."
"They should be honoured that one of their own gave their livesss to the kingdom."
"There are better ways to honour the kingdom than dying for it," Elsa said forcefully.
"But you have these… abilitiesss. They could give your army an edge in battle."
"I don't want to use my powers to harm anyone," Elsa said. She was unable to repress a shiver at the muddled memories from simultaneously earlier in the day and one year ago. "I already hurt my sister with them… twice. By accident," she added, in case hurting your siblings was considered differently in Ice Warrior society. "I don't want anybody to suffer this."
"Are your abilitiesss capable of killing?"
"I will never use them for that."
"Even to protect those who serve you?"
"Protecting does not mean killing."
They had arrived in a room that looked like an antechamber, decorated with strange crystals and other devices of dubious purpose. Ixadra paced across it, then turned to face Elsa. She gave her a long, appraising look, although it was hard to be sure given how little Elsa could see of her expression under the helmet – and how alien whatever she could see was.
"Sssometimesss you have no other choice."
"There is always another choice."
Ixadra walked slowly toward her and bent forward so that her face came uncomfortably close to Elsa's, who got a close view of the Ice Queen's pointy teeth.
"One day you will find none, Queen Elsssa. Even in your… peaceful kingdom," Ixadra spat the word "peaceful" as if it was an insult, "it will happen. You should be prepared."
Elsa was trying to come up with a suitable answer when something lit up on Ixadra's wrist. The Ice Queen looked at it, then slapped the blinking light.
"Was that some news about Anna and the Doctor?" Elsa asked.
"Yesss. They had essscaped our sssensssorsss for a while," Ixadra said. "And now they ssseem to be… in our base."
"What? But they were outside, right? We saw them leave…"
Ixadra strode toward the exit without answering. Elsa could hear her hiss something into her wrist, but was unable to make out the words except that they sounded like orders.
"Are you going to meet them?" Elsa asked, almost running to keep up with the Ice Queen.
"Yesss, I am, Queen Elsssa. And I will want to know why they returned hiding in our base inssstead of honouring their agreement."
"Maybe what they were looking for was in your base?"
"Do not insssult my intelligence, Queen Elsssa. We know our base. There is no enemy there."
"But you just said that you were unable to, uh, know where Anna and the Doctor were…"
They were walking through the corridors, with a growing number of Ice Warriors now in tow. Elsa realised the guards were slowly but surely surrounding Ixadra, separating her from the Ice Queen.
"Er, Queen Ixadra?" Elsa called. "Can someone tell Olaf and Kristoff to come as well?"
Ixadra did not answer, and Elsa kept following the small group of Ice Warriors, trying hard not to be distanced. They seemed to be moving deeper into the Ice Warrior base. After a few minutes, she was relieved to see Kristoff and Olaf join them from a branching corridor, escorted by two Ice Warriors.
"What is going on?" Kristoff asked. His long strides allowed him to avoid running to follow the group, but it was a close call.
"I don't know," Elsa said, wondering if it would be appropriate to freeze the floor and glide to go faster. "It seems Anna and the Doctor were found somewhere in the Ice Warrior base…"
"But, weren't they supposed to be outside?"
"Yes, and I think Ixadra doesn't like this."
The Ice Warriors almost collided with Anna and the Doctor a couple of turns later, as they both came racing out of a branching corridor. The Doctor turned and waved his sonic screwdriver. A large door slowly closed behind him, blocking the path they had come from.
"Good, there you are," he said without letting Ixadra the time to speak. "You are in big trouble."
"I would sssay, Doctor, that you are the one in trouble. Why were you hiding in our base inssstead of fulfilling your part of our agreement? Why are you sssealing thisss door?"
"There is a Dalek in your base," the Doctor said flatly.
"Thisss is impossssible!" Ixadra said. "Why sssuch an outrageousss lie, Doctor?"
"Because it's not a lie. The Dalek was hidden in a discarded section of your base."
"Ridiculousss. Even there it would ssstill have been detected by our internal sssensssorsss."
"It probably hacked into your feeds," the Doctor shot back. "That would explain the glitches you have been having."
"Do you think the Ice Warriors are foolsss, Doctor? We do not rely sssolely on sssensssorsss. Even the dissscarded areas in our base are patrolled regularly."
"Then that's probably where your missing Ice Warriors went."
"We would have noticed if all the guardsss on patrol had disappeared!"
"Maybe you'll want to check again?"
Elsa finally managed to push through the throng of Ice Warriors surrounding Ixadra and the Doctor and to reach her sister. To her relief, Anna did not seem to be the worse for wear, apart from a little shortage of breath.
"Anna, are you OK? What happened?" she said.
"I'm… not sure, really. The Doctor said that maybe what we were looking for was hidden inside an old part of the Ice Warrior base, and we found some devices he said did not belong to the Ice Warriors, and then we had to run very fast from a metal snowman…"
"A… metal snowman?"
"Yes, it looked a bit like a badly made snowman, but made of metal. Or a giant pepper pot. The Doctor made some doors close behind us when we ran. He seemed really upset."
Elsa looked at the scene around her. Unearthly creatures dressed in armours that seemed to be made of scales were stomping around in a corridor made of stone and some unknown materials, with strange devices full of blinking lights everywhere. It looked like something out of a dream, or possibly a nightmare, and yet the Doctor had seemed completely unfazed to find himself in such a setting. Yet he was now clearly agitated at the idea of these same creatures facing… how did they call it? A Dalek… If such a thing could upset the Doctor so much, exactly how dangerous could it be?
Elsa found herself taking her sister's hand in hers and squeezing it gently. Keeping Anna safe had been her primary concern for years – even when what she was keeping her safe from had been herself. Now that her powers had ceased to be this uncontrollable force of destruction, she had taken some comfort in the knowledge that they could now be an equally formidable force of protection for her sister instead. She had grown fairly confident in their strength - but that was on Earth. One of the first things she had witnessed in this strange world was an unknown weapon shattering her ice wall as if it had been a thin sheet of glass. If there was a greater threat than the Ice Warriors, how safe would her powers be able to keep Anna?
Elsa brought her attention back to the Doctor and the Ice Warriors, who had not stopped arguing.
"The Doctor… sseemss to be right, my queen," one of the Ice Warriors was hissing. "Our ssenssorss are detecting non-Ice Warrior lifessigns beyond this door."
"This door will not stop a Dalek for long if it is really determined to come through," the Doctor said urgently. "Do you have better secured areas in your base?"
"We are not yet sssure thisss intruder isss really a Dalek, Doctor," Ixadra said.
"Yes, because it's busy jamming your sensors to prevent you from having a clear reading. Be sensible, Ixadra! You have to act fast if you want to prevent a slaughter. A slaughter of your warriors, in case I was not clear."
"Do not underessstimate the Ice Warriors, Doctor!"
"I don't. But I'm not underestimating the Daleks either. And I know a thing or two about fighting them."
Ixadra kept her gaze fixed on the Doctor for a few seconds while hissing. The Doctor did not flinch.
"We can enter a lockdown and retreat to the inner base if necessary," Ixadra said at last, spitting the word "retreat" as if it was a swear word. "It isss heavily fortified. But I will not order my warriorsss to dishonour on sssuch flimsssy evidence…"
"Fine, have it your way," the Doctor said, striding away through the crowd of Ice Warriors. "But let me tell you this," he added, turning back, "Daleks usually don't act alone, and they don't content themselves with hiding, heating up the countryside, and making the odd guard disappear. They must have something else in mind. If they decide to attack now, it means they are close to completing their plan. And if they don't… then you should wonder what it is."
"Excuse me, Doctor?" Anna said, walking to him. "What is this Dalek that everyone seems so afraid of?"
"Did you miss what we've been running away from?"
"But why should everybody be afraid of it? It was a metal bin that moved and talked, and that was weird, but apart from that…"
"Oh, why not, let's do this now," the Doctor said with a manic grin. "A Dalek is the most evil creature in the universe. You are all in great danger, by the way. Any other questions?"
"But why is it so dangerous?" Anna persisted.
"What is the most evil thing you can think of, Freckles?" the Doctor asked abruptly.
"Wait, what? Oh, that's easy. It's telling someone you love her, but actually wanting to kill her sister to take her place."
The Doctor looked quizzically at Anna for a second.
"That's not evil, that's needlessly convoluted," he said curtly. "It's more stupid than evil. It is a little evil, but mainly very, very stupid."
"Well, you see, it was that…"
"I've asked you something really evil, Freckles!"
"Abandoning a little kid all alone in the forest?" volunteered Kristoff, who had joined them.
"Why would that be evil?" the Doctor said. "There are some very nice forests where little kids would be much happier than with whoever was pretending to take care of them."
"It was not a nice forest," Kristoff said.
"OK, so this is a teeny bit evil. Now, can you please make an effort, and imagine something really evil here? If that is the worst you can come up with, you have lived some very sheltered lives until now!"
"The ice man who was in Arendelle?" Anna asked.
"You're getting there, Freckles. But it was only one coward who fed on others' insecurities and loneliness."
"Hunting down and killing people whose ideas threaten your authority?"
All heads turned to Elsa, who smiled apologetically.
"Father taught me about what some heads of states resort to sometimes," she said apologetically. "Not that he ever did that, of course."
"That's a step in the right direction, Platinum," the Doctor said approvingly. "Now, imagine something a thousand times more evil. And then consider that this would still be nicer than the Daleks by several orders of magnitude. They were engineered by a madman to hate anything that is not a Dalek, and to want to destroy all of it."
"Someone made them, like me?" Olaf asked eagerly. "Do you think they like warm hugs too?"
"I don't think they have any common points with you, Ice Cream Brain."
"That almost sounded like a compliment," Kristoff remarked. "You must be very worried indeed."
"You really don't like these Daleks," Anna said softly.
"Oh, you think?" the Doctor snapped, shooting a glance at the group of Ice Warriors huddling behind them.
"I mean, you are always so grumpy and gruff," Anna went on, undeterred, "but you are never really mean. And even the ice man in Arendelle… you tried to talk to him first. But when you talk about the Daleks, you sound really… hateful."
The Doctor snorted without answering. Elsa thought she saw a fleeting shade of discomfort on his face, although it was hard to be sure with this man.
"Have you ever… tried talking to them?" Anna went on. "Maybe this is all a misunderstanding. What do these Daleks want anyway?"
"They want to exterminate everything that is not like them. They can't like someone or something, apart from killing what is not Dalek. They are not a misunderstood, scary but gentle creature who will open up to you if you talk nicely to it or dance with it or sing a duet with it. If they see you, they will kill you. If they don't kill you right away, that's because they have something worse in store for you."
"Doctor!" Ixadra called from behind them.
They turned to see two Ice Warriors clomping through the corridor and coming to stand at attention in front of the Ice Queen.
"These two warriorsss have been tasssked with patrolling thisss area yesterday and the day before. Now, will you dare put the word of an Ice Warrior in doubt?"
"Certainly not," the Doctor said. "But that does not mean they can't be wrong."
"Have you patrolled the whole area beyond thisss door?" Ixadra demanded to the two warriors.
"Yess, my Queen," the two Ice Warriors answered in unison.
"In itsss entirety?"
"Yess, my Queen."
"Have you found any evidence of Dalek activity there?"
"Yess, my Queen."
There was a movement through the crowd of Ice Warriors. The Doctor took a step in front of Anna and Elsa.
"Why have you not reported it?" Ixadra hissed.
"Because it exterminated uss, my Queen," the Ice Warriors said.
There was a sickening crunching noise. Elsa watched in horror as a metal stick with a bulbous end slowly pushed its way out of the helmet covering the forehead of both Ice Warriors. The end of the stick was alight with an eerie blue colour.
"Stop them!" the Doctor yelled.
But one of them was already pressing something on his arm. With a clang the door that the Doctor had closed slid open, revealing a bronze object standing behind it. Gliding smoothly on the floor – so smoothly, in fact, that one could wonder if it was not actually floating over it - the object moved into the corridor, its head turning left and right as it advanced on the group of Ice Warriors.
"That's it!" Elsa heard Anna hiss. "The, uh, Dalek I saw over there."
Her sister had not been wrong – the thing's shape actually evoked a badly made snowman. But the gleaming metal it was made of stopped the comparison here, and there was something disquieting in the way it moved.
Things went very fast. Two of Ixadra's guards fired their strange whistling weapons at the Ice Warriors newcomers, who doubled over and crumpled into a heap on the ground. The rest of the Ice Warriors fired at the Dalek, but this did not seem to have any effect apart from making the air shimmer around it.
"EXTERMINATE," it shrieked in a metallic voice, the two bumps of either side of its head lighting up with each syllable.
With a high-pitched whine a white beam erupted from one of the sticks protruding from the Dalek's midsection and hit an Ice Warrior. For a second the Martian appeared illuminated in white and black, as if seen under the moonlight, and let out a long drawn-out moan as he staggered backward. The white beam disappeared as suddenly as it had appeared, and the Ice Warrior collapsed on the ground motionless.
"Run!" the Doctor shouted. "All of you, run! Don't try to fight it, you are outgunned!"
Elsa was unable to resist the tone of his voice. She found herself running alongside Anna behind the Doctor, with Kristoff and Olaf in tow. Behind them came the whistling sound of the Ice Warriors weapons, the high pitched whines of the Dalek accompanied with its shout of "EXTERMINATE!", and the clomping of Ice Warriors running.
"Doctor!" Anna panted. "Can't we do something to help?"
"We are!" the Doctor shouted back. "We have to be clever, and we need a safe place to do that! It's no use attacking a Dalek head on!"
"But what about Ixadra and her guards?"
"Some of Ixadra's warriors will escort her away from the fight," the Doctor said, skidding as he turned into a branching corridor. "The others will die protecting her."
"But that's sad!"
"Soldiers!" the Doctor said simply, as if it explained everything. In fact, it did – but Elsa knew Anna had never been very fond of the idea of soldiers sacrificing themselves to save their leaders, even though she was one of them.
The sounds of the battle seemed to have died in the distance, but the Doctor was not slowing down. Anna and Kristoff had no trouble keeping up, but Elsa was once again reminded that heels were not the best footwear to be running in, and Olaf was definitely lagging behind.
A strange, wailing sound rose around them, and some lights began flashing on the walls.
"They're going to enter into a lockdown!" the Doctor shouted. "We need to reach the inner base before all the doors close."
With a loud clang, thick panels began to slide out of the walls, ceiling and floor in front of them. The Doctor quickly went through, followed by the group. Elsa turned to see the panels slowly slide toward another to completely block the corridor behind them. She was still looking behind when she felt the Doctor's hand grab her shoulder and gently push her forward.
"No time to daydream, Platinum!" he shouted. "I don't think I can open these doors from outside."
"But aren't we inside now? We just passed them!" Elsa asked as the run resumed, to her feet's displeasure.
"That was only the first level!" the Doctor said, as another set of panels began to close the corridor right behind them.
Elsa spared a glance at the panels sliding into place and thought they were thicker than the previous ones. They also did not seem to be the type to stop or get jammed if something or someone got stuck between them.
Another set of panels closed as they passed them. They were slower, but Elsa could see how thick and heavy they were – probably a couple of feet.
And then something bronze-coloured slid slowly out of a branching corridor.
"THE ENEMY OF THE DALEKS HAS BEEN LOCATED!" the Dalek shrieked. "EXTERMINATE THE DOCTOR!"