Skjelstadmarka, Norway, 10th April 1015
"Sire-"
"Shh!" he hushes, tilting his ears to the trees. Despite the silence, every little movement from the forest sends a shudder through his veins.
"Stay with the horses," he orders, motioning for the men to retreat, "she might not come out if there's too many of us."
He gives one final glance at the position of the midday sun, before unmounting his horse and making careful, calculated steps further into the forest. It only takes him a moment to find the landmark, a flat granite slab buried in the earth and littered with ancient runes.
The sun casts a ray of light through the leaves and onto the black stone. He lets out a gasp, and kneels before the sight.
"Seeress of the ancient woods," he proclaims, lowering his gaze upon the mossy earth, "I am King Harald, of Stiklestad. My Crown and Sword, I put aside in this sanctuary. I only seek your wisdom and counsel."
Leaves rustle in the breeze. A deer bounds through the trees. Nothing.
Harald stands, and looks about the forest; the silence palpable like it's staring him in the face.
Gritting his teeth, Harald yanks a hare from his satchel, its body warm and writhing about beneath his gloved grasp. He breaks its neck and spills the blood upon the slab.
"There's no need for that," a voice lights up behind him.
Harald whirls around to see a naked red-headed girl, and stumbles backwards.
"Poor rabbit-"
"Immortal Seeress of the ancient woods," Harald exclaims, dropping to a knee before the girl and averting his gaze from her naked form, "forgive my intrusion upon-"
"There's no need for all this either," the Seeress says, chewing on a stalk of wheat, "we all know you're a barbarian King who loves looting and pillaging, so politeness is...odd?"
Harald rises, his imposing frame towering over the adolescent girl. The sight of her glowing fair skin, with leaves studded in her red hair and green eyes so bright they resemble emeralds, steals the words from his mouth. Instead, he stares at her with his jaw hanging open.
"Introductions first, shall we?" she says, tossing the wheat away, "My name's Anna."
"I'm sorry," Harald stammers, "I've been here for the past month looking for you, and I never really thought I'd find you. I'm not the superstitious sort but I'm at my wits end and…"
"You sacrificed the blood of a hare seeking advice from a mythical forest fairy," Anna chimes, "sounds rather superstitious to me."
"Please, I am desperate, I...I...have no heir, my Queen is ill, and everyday my enemies press in on my flank…"
Anna closes her eyes, and sings into the breeze picking up around her.
A son you desire
Yet a princess you will sire
With ice in her grasp
Your line will always last
And your enemies shall conquer you never
The melody of her voice blankets the forest with silence, as the birds pause their tweeting to see if she'll continue her song.
"A daughter," Harald mutters under his breath, before a smile spreads across his bearded face, "Aye, I could live with that."
Anna opens her eyes, only to slump against the forest floor as a torrent of thoughts flood through her mind. Her slender fingers dig through the soil.
"Seeress Anna," Harald stoops to her height, "Pray tell, what ill-omen do you foresee?"
The skies darken as Anna whispers to the wind.
I can see her born,
as cold as winter's frost and terrible as a storm.
Nations will fear her, Kings will bow to her,
But her greatest ruin when she comes here.
"It was a goddamned mistake bringing her on a campaign," Harald scowls, as he paces outside the tent. The words from the Seeress echo in his head, but nothing rids the thought that something is about to go horribly wrong - so far removed from his fortress is he. The bitter cold bites into his face, but his spirit rises when the midwife emerges from the tent.
"She's alright, Sire-," she says, holding the entrance open for him, "you can see them now."
Everything the Seeress told him fades away as Harald lays eyes upon the baby perched on his wife's bosom. Saddled in animal fur, the infant turns to her father, and lets out a coo of joy.
"She's beautiful," Harald says, looking into her blue eyes, the same ones his wife has.
The Queen smirks, "Oh Valhalla above, How'd you even know it's a girl?"
"I...I just knew," Harald replies, smiling as he allows the newborn to grasp his beard.
"What shall we name her?"
"I know this too," Harald says, picking up his daughter for the first time, "She shall be called Elsa."
The princess spots the grey tuft of fur nestled amongst the leaves, barely a stone's throw away. At once, Elsa draws her bow and ponders dismounting to get a closer shot. Instead, she coaxes her horse to trot closer.
Wrong choice - the rabbit darts into the woods like an antelope.
"Go!" Elsa urges, and her horse takes off after her prey. Her eyes follow the trail of leaves being kicked up, and she looses an arrow after it
The ruckus on the forest floor stops in its tracks, and Elsa grins at the arrow sticking up amongst the leaves. She dismounts to enter the clearing, only to see that her prey had died against a strange granite slab buried amongst the leaves. Its blood had spilled all over it.
"Weird," Elsa ponders, looking at the runes carved into the black stone.
"Good shot," a voice drifts to Elsa's ears. She looks around, before finding its source - a young girl dressed in lace, emerging from between the trees. Sunlight shimmers against the girl's red hair and her fair skin, and Elsa's lips part at the sight.
"W..who are you?" Elsa asks, tucking a fringe of blonde hair behind her ears.
The girl takes another bite from a half-eaten apple, and shrugs, "I live around here."
"Oh," Elsa says, looking at the dead rabbit, "look, I wasn't hunting for food or anything, you can have the rabbit if you need-"
"Nah," the girl replies, chucking the apple core into the leaves, "I'm vegetarian."
Despite being raised as a princess, being told the forests belonged to her family, and everything could be taken by force; something about this girl makes Elsa feel like she's intruding on something forbidden. The girl stands a stone's throw away from her, but Elsa can't resist staring right at her, at her radiant skin and unkempt hair. The feeling ties Elsa's stomach into knots.
"Aren't you cold?" Elsa asks, "It's fall and t-that dress looks pretty thin. Don't get me wrong, it's a lovely dress-"
"It is!" the girl replies, doing a twirl, "your father gave it to me."
"You know my father?" Elsa asks.
"Yup! Harald the third, or fourth, I forgot," Anna replies, "big guy, bushy beard, polite fellow."
Elsa's eyes widen, before she lets out a gasp that sends the squirrels scampering.
"Y-you're the Seeress of the woods," Elsa gasps, dropping to her knees, "I-I thought you were a fairytale-"
"Well, I am a fairy," Anna says, stepping closer to the princess, "and people tell tales of me, so...I guess you're right?"
"Y-you're real," Elsa gasps, daring to look straight at Anna's freckled face as she sits down beside her, "and you're even more beautiful than what they say."
"Thank you!" Anna replies, biting her lip and twirling a lock of red hair between her fingertips.
"Is it true you can read the hearts and minds of men?" Elsa asks, shifting closer to her.
"Nope!" Anna tilts her head and ponders, before answering, "I can...just tell the future. Nothing too crazy."
"My father said you foretold my birth," Elsa quizzes, "What else do you know about my future?"
"That depends, really," Anna frowns, "if you've figured it out or not."
"Figured what-"
Her words are cut off when Anna grabs hold of her gloved hands. Accustomed to holding her father's calloused hands, she'd never imagine anyone could have a touch so soft and gentle. Her hands begin to shake as Anna slips off her gloves. Warmth spreads through Elsa's cheeks as the Seeress draws a line across her palm.
"Figured this out-"
Elsa's eyes widen when ice appears on her palm, before she snatches it away from her.
"No, no, I can't," Elsa exclaims, yanking her gloves back on, "Father said it was dangerous, it was a curse unto myself, and I'd be ruined if I brought more of it into the world."
Anna sniggers, "Did he also tell you never to go into this part of the woods?"
Elsa looks down at the grass, and nods.
"But here you are hunting rabbits for no goddamn reason other than sheer boredom, aren't you?"
Elsa lets out a laugh, before covering her mouth, "Well, yes, I mean-"
"It feels pretty good doing something you're not supposed to, isn't it?"
"You're mischievous for an immortal forest fairy," Elsa smirks.
"C'mon!" Anna squeals, lunging at Elsa's hands, "Let it go for once!"
"No!" Elsa shrieks, as she tussles with Anna. The girls break out into a chorus of giggles as they wrestle and roll about in the leaves. Birds flutter into the wind as Elsa fights off Anna's attempts to unglove her. However, the Seeress knows her every move, and easily pins her onto the forest floor, ripping off her gloves and hurling them far away.
"Alright, alright, I give up," Elsa pleads, her lungs heaving from the exertion, "Gosh, I haven't had this much fun in awhile!"
Anna touches her fingers to Elsa's reddened cheeks. Over the centuries, she's seen Kings and Nobles seek her powers out, but not a single person with as pure of a heart as this...girl, lying beneath her.
"You're even more beautiful than how I'd imagined you," Anna whispers, leaning nearer to her. The scent of cherries on Elsa's skin sets her senses alight.
Elsa's heart begins to race as the Seeress shuts her eyes and leans closer, and closer, until the space between them vanishes into nothing at all. She's never kissed anyone in her life, and the feeling sends a rush of warmth into Elsa's body. Not knowing how to respond, Elsa slips her arms around the girl's slender body, and kisses her back. She's left panting when Anna parts from her.
"Oh Heavens above," Elsa gasps, her lips still begging for more, "I wasn't supposed to do that either, was I?"
"No," Anna whispers, brushing her knuckles on Elsa's face, "but maybe I was."
Elsa reaches up and touches a lock of red hair dangling over her. Her breathing quickens as she leaves a strand of frost braided amidst the strands.
"See?" Anna says, "That wasn't so hard now, was it?"
A smirk spreads across Elsa's face, "I can do more than that."
Biting down on her lip, Elsa walks her fingers along the Seeress's face. With trepidation coursing through her veins, a snowflake blossoms on Anna's fringe.
"I know you can," Anna smirks.
She sits up, and sighs, "What else do you know about me?"
The sky darkens, and Anna's eyes turn downcast. Her chest clenches with worry, but she shakes this feeling away.
"Well, I know your Father's going to be pissed if you return home after sundown," Anna says
"Ah shit," Elsa curses, before whistling for her horse, "I really should get going."
Despite centuries of seeing the depths of human despair and anguish, a palpable pang of grief strikes Anna cold as Elsa turns to depart. Elsa can't tell the future, but she can see it on the other girl's face.
"I'll see you again, won't I?" Elsa says.
Anna runs her fingers through the horse's mane, before pulling Elsa close to herself.
"I haven't left these woods in a thousand years, I don't think I'll be leaving anytime soon," Anna says, enjoying the way Elsa's thumping heart felt on her chest, "especially now that I've made friends with a beautiful princess."
The cold never bothered her, but Elsa still shivers as she stares at the stone floor. All around her, men and women shuffle around the castle floor, with their heads bowed and not daring to say a word. Every one of them had fear written on their faces. Rife with uncertainty, Elsa clenches her fists, trying to keep the ice from seeping through her gloves. It takes forever, but dread gnaws at her bones when a man finally approaches her and bows. One of her Father's generals. She curls up further into her chair, wishing he wouldn't say anything.
"They're gone."
Two words send her heart plummeting so far she feels like falling. Tumbling. Dropping. Into a bottomless pit where grief would swallow her whole.
Elsa doesn't hear the rest of his sentence, but she grips the chair and seethes between her teeth.
"Can I see them?" Elsa asks, looking away from him.
"It'd be better if you didn't."
A single tear rolls off her cheek, crystallising as it falls and striking the stone with an audible shatter.
"I'd like to see them," Elsa grits her teeth, "Please."
Ice spreads through her palms as the man rises and leads her to her parents' bedchamber. There used to be a rocking horse there, with a cosy fireplace, and her father's warm smile and the comforting embrace of her mother - but when the doors swing open, the sight punches her hard in the gut. Her knees buckle. Shards of ice emerge from the ground and her heart goes cold.
"That's them then," Elsa asks, pointing at the two bodies lying by the window, shrouded in blood-stained sheets.
"Yes."
"And the other five?" Elsa asks, pointing at a pile of bodies crumpled against the wall.
"They came in the dead of the night, slew our best men. Your father held them off but it was too much."
Elsa's lips quiver as he looks her dead in the eyes.
"They weren't after him," he says, shaking his head, "they were looking for you."
Without another word, Elsa turns on her heels and flees down the stairs. No one stops her as she heads straight to the stables and rides out of the castle, out of the city, through the gates and deep into the woods. To her other castle. She throws the ice doors open and curses the emptiness before her.
"Show yourself!" Elsa screams. A chandelier, wrought from frozen fractals, tinkles in response. She picks up an ice vase and hurls it at the wall, sending shards flying everywhere. It's only a few seconds of waiting, but the silence infuriates her. She blasts a table with ice magic, and a cloud of darkened frost fills the hall.
She senses the Seeress's presence before seeing her. An explosive cocktail of rage and grief boils over; Elsa hurls herself at Anna, but the sight of the girl, dressed in one of her mother's gowns, proves too much to bear. She collapses in a sobbing heap at her feet.
"Why, why, why?" Elsa screams.
A strange feeling creeps up Anna's spine. She's seen wars and famines and countless human sufferings, but for the first time, a tear slides down her cheek.
"I'm sorry," Anna chokes. Of all the things Anna is sure of, she's goddamnned sure this won't help.
Elsa rises to grab Anna by the shoulders, "Why didn't you tell me?" she yells, her voice echoing around the hall.
The scent of her mother's dress, and the sight of tears in Anna's eyes, crushes Elsa. Tears trickle down Anna's face as she contemplates how withholding the truth from Elsa wouldn't do a damn thing. Knowing this moment, and seeing it from years past, does nothing to alleviate the hurt coursing through Anna's heart.
"It wouldn't have mattered if I did."
"...What?"
"You were meant to be born," Anna says, wiping a tear and looking away from Elsa's face, "You were meant to have powers, your parents were meant to die. You couldn't have stopped any of this even if I told you."
"I can't, I can't, I can't," Elsa repeats, her chest heaving at each word.
"You were meant to be Queen-"
"No!" Elsa screams, sending a plume of icy wind through the hall. She curls up on the floor, and sobs - each grief-stricken sound driving a nail further into Anna's chest. The Seeress kneels, and touches a trembling finger to Elsa's hand. At once, Elsa's eyes widen as she feels a warmth coursing through her veins.
It came from Anna.
The magic spreads through Elsa's body, and materialises above her blonde braids. She looks at her reflection on the icy floor, and gasps at the ice crown adorning her hair.
"I-I didn't make this-" Elsa sputters.
"No," Anna whispers, cupping her face, "this was always your destiny. Just like how it was your destiny to find me."
Elsa looks into Anna's eyes, and presses her face into Anna's hands. The realisation dawns upon her that no matter what happened, Anna would always be there. The immortal Seeress of the woods was there long before she was born and she'd be there long after she was gone. Elsa removes her crown, and passes it from hand to hand.
"B-but why?" Elsa laments, "Why me?"
Anna's chest aches at the prospect of divulging a closely guarded secret, but the hope of alleviating Elsa's pain is too tempting.
"Your heart is pure," Anna whispers, brushing Elsa's tear-stained hair from her face, "and I've only revealed myself to persons with the purest and noblest of intentions. Also-"
Elsa narrows her gaze at the girl, pondering her next words.
"It's because I love you," Anna confesses, twirling a lock of hair between her fingertips, "I've never thought such a human feeling, such a mortal concept could occur to me, not in a thousand years, but it does. And it's you."
Not knowing how to react to the suddenness of Anna's confession, Elsa leans forward and kisses Anna. Despite her grief, the prospect of being Queen, or the million things weighing on her head which didn't make sense, only this does, right now. Anna's lips. The touch of her hands, and the scent of her breath. It whisks Elsa away to a place where nothing else mattered anymore. And to her, that's all she needs now.
So, the princess allows this girl to kiss her, to push her onto a bed of snow, and to consume her with all the hunger that an immortal being could possess. Amidst the dance of rough kisses and intertwined fingers, they cry out in unison as ecstasy overwhelms them.
"Oh God," Anna moans, as she finishes in Elsa's arms, "I never knew this could feel so good."
Elsa curls up next to her. She casts a glance at the ice crown, sitting atop a pile of their hastily-shed clothes, and tears her eyes from them.
"Let me stay over?" Elsa whimpers, brushing a lock of hair from Anna's face, "I built this place for you after all."
Anna's chest clenches, but she steels her resolve.
"The Kingdom needs you now, more than ever," Anna says, dotting Elsa's chin with kisses.
"I'd rather be here," Elsa groans.
"This is your destiny," Anna says, before a mischievous glint shines in her eyes, "c'mon, I've something to show you if you're nice."
Elsa stands, and allows the Seeress to place a hand on her chest. At once, magic flows into her being, and sheets of icy fabric materialise on Elsa's body. The Princess gasps at her reflection.
"T-this is amazing," Elsa gasps, observing how the gown changed in colour as she shifted beneath the light. Snowflakes adorn her cape, and the entire outfit radiated a regal presence.
"This is what you were meant to be. Royal. Majestic. Powerful," Anna says, as she materialises a scepter in her hand, "now go - and fulfil your destiny."
Wind billows through Elsa's hair as she sits astride her frosty steed. Before her - laid a lush plain. Behind her - a snowy landscape, upon which marches Winter's Host; a horde of icy minions as far as the eye could see. An army of beasts and giants whose name alone struck terror into all the Northern Kingdoms.
Despite her numbers, and position on the high ground, Elsa couldn't shake the sense of vulnerability from herself. She narrows her gaze on the few thousand men opposing her in the valley, and tightens her grip on the reins when a single man rides forth to meet her. She yells at him the moment he reaches earshot.
"I will make you pay for what you did!" Elsa hollers at him, her voice echoing through the valley, "Murdering people in the night, you godforsaken dog! What kind of King does that?"
Elsa frowns when the man trots closer. Slouched over in a brown robe, he presents a stark contrast to the majesty of Queen Elsa.
"What do you have to say for yourself?" Elsa shouts.
"Your vengeance is justified," the man says, his hoarse voice betraying every bit of his age like the wrinkles on his face, "but I fear you may not find what you're looking for."
"Explain yourself!"
"The King who sought your powers, who hunted you and killed your parents by mistake, is no longer King," he explains, "under his rule, the Hardradian people have suffered more than you can conceive. He was deposed by his own knights, and executed like a common criminal, right on the steps of his palace."
"Wait, what?" Elsa gasps, lowering her scepter, "He's dead?"
"Yes," the man continues, "the atrocities committed against your family, weren't the only sins he was held accountable for."
The revelation does nothing to quell the rage boiling within Elsa.
"I will raze Hardrada to the ground, your lands will be frozen forever, and your peoples enslaved, your homes and villages destroyed-"
"Is it really worth it?" he interrupts, pointing at the Hardradian army behind him, quivering in their boots, "look at these men, do you think they haven't lost parents, children, wives and relatives to the evils of our last King?"
"Why would you march them out to meet us if you weren't looking for war?" Elsa asks.
"We wanted to give you a choice," he explains, "gathered here are all the sword-wielding men of Hardrada. Should you destroy us in this valley today, it is our hope that you would choose to spare the women and children, in what's left of our Kingdom."
Elsa sighs, and turns her gaze to the skies. A flock of crows had already began circling overhead, anticipating the feast which usually came after large gatherings of soldiers in the valley. On one hand, she's sure her thirst for revenge would never be quenched even if she destroyed the entire Kingdom. On the other hand, leaving them unscathed would surely invite further tests of her Kingdom's weaknesses, and bloodshed.
It could all be a lie, really, and the man who killed her parents could've been right before her.
"I wish you were here," Elsa thinks, "you'd know what to do. You probably already know what I did."
Anna's words drift back to her.
Royal. Majestic. Powerful.
Elsa clenches her jaw.
"Tell your army to retreat to the river," Elsa orders, as her frozen cavalry begins to trot forth, "you and I have a lot of talking to do."
It's dawnbreak the next time a crowd gathers in the valley. Hundreds. Dressed in black, they form a line at the border of Elsa's two Kingdoms. The crowd parts when a carriage arrives, and soldiers disembark the Queen's coffin. Some might've called it old-fashioned to build a circle of stones for her final resting place - but it was the least they could've done to farewell their Queen.
So when the soldiers send Elsa off on her last march to the end, no one says a word, save for muffled sobs amongst the mourners.
As they line up to lay tulips on the late Queen, a breeze wafts through the crowd. Veils flutter in the wind, among them; a black lace veil revealing a head of brilliant red hair gleaming beneath the rising sun. The red-headed girl wipes the tears from her eyes, but her posture is resolute.
She sings into the wind
Behold, the majesty of the ice Queen
She ruled the North and quelled her fiends
With ice in her hands and love in her heart
Elsa's legacy shall forever last
From the inevitable, no mortal can run
Winter's past, and Spring has come
No one hears the girl singing, or sees her as she kneels and weeps by Elsa's grave.
But as the sun rises, there's nothing left on the plains, save for the memory of the Seeress and her Queen.
Æfterhæl (After Death)
Elsa's lying on the stairs when she comes to. The impact of her fall had left a frozen crater a foot wide, and split the stone steps open.
"Oh God," Elsa groans. She expects a violent headache from her fall, but there's nothing, apart from a calmness in her spirit, and the unshakeable feeling that everything is at peace.
"What is this?" Elsa asks, looking up the stairs at a line of imposing stone columns, before a multitude of oaken doors, each as wide as a house. A chorus of tumultuous cheering reverberates from deep within.
"How did I end up-" Elsa thinks, before the memory of her death triggers a sudden realisation, "Valhalla."
Upon her utterance of the word, the door nearest to Elsa creaks open, and a familiar sight emerges.
"Father!" Elsa exclaims, throwing herself into his open arms, "I missed you so much-"
His lips tremble as he looks upon his daughter. Fair and wise. He left her as a young woman, and now a Queen stood before him.
"This is it then, the hall of the slain," Elsa says, moving towards the boisterous rancor behind her father.
"No hurry for that," he says, taking her hand, "come, I have something to show you."
He leads her down the steps of Valhalla, past the glittering golden leaves of the Glasir, and down the river. Along the way, he asks her countless questions about the Kingdom, nodding with approval at every unfinished task she had completed on his behalf, and at how she unified and ruled the Northern Kingdoms.
"Father," Elsa queries, "have you ever wanted a son in my place?"
"If only you knew the circumstances behind your birth. I'd gladly trade ten sons for one of you."
The thought jogs her memory back, and she asks, "Where's mother?"
"She held a sword on the day we died," Harald says, the memory sending a tremor through him, "Fate has it that she should dine with Freya, in Fólkvangr. We will see her when it is time."
They continue walking until a modest manor comes into view. Though a far cry from either of her earthly palaces, something about the house puts Elsa at ease, like it's meant for her. He doesn't have to say it for her to know that this is her new home.
"I built it for you," Harald says, "took me a goddamned year and a half."
Elsa gazes upon the rough timber planks making up its walls.
"I d-don't get it," Elsa says, running her fingers along the wood, "legend has it that only those slain in battle would come here. How'd you even know I was coming?"
Harald smiles, and knocks on the door.
"Someone told me."
