Kristoff ran as fast as he could to the harbor toward a secret passage Anna told him about during one of their dates. It was a tunnel that went from a cave under one of the guard towers that lined a wall around Arendelle. The tunnel led all the way under the wall into the castle's cellar. From there, he just needed to ascend the stairway leading out of the basement and he could get to Anna's room in no time.

As he ran his thoughts did turn to Sven but he reassured himself that no one would target a reindeer who was in the stables. This was one of the only times the ice harvester was glad Elsa insisted that his friend be left out of dinner since they'd be having royal guests. Speaking of the dinner, Kristoff knew it would start soon, meaning Anna and Elsa should be in the dining room already. If some of the guards were bandits then they might try kidnapping the two sisters while they were together.

Whenever they ate dinner together, there were usually no guards in the room seeing as it would make them feel uncomfortable having people stare at them. Hopefully if the bandits entered the dining hall one of the sisters would be able to notice something was up. He could only hope he could get there in time, when Kristoff got to the mouth of the cave, his pace doubled as he prayed he'd get there in time.

Anna was in the kitchen looking in wonder of all the delicacies the chefs were making for the dinner. As she scanned over some of them, her eyes were instantly drawn to a plate of rather delicious-looking truffles.

Hello…

Glancing at the staff who seemed far too busy bustling around to notice her, the redhead snuck up to the plate and was about to grab one when a tap on her leg stopped her. There was only one thing with a light yet somewhat prickly feel to it that could only reach that high on her leg. She turned around and knelt down to the snowman's height who seemed to have an odd expression on his face.

"Hi, Olaf, what's wrong?"

The snowman looked thoughtful for a moment as if trying to organize his thoughts and speak them out clearly. After a moment he looked back at the woman with a worried expression.

"I don't know, I feel very weird. It's becoming hard to move around and my flurry disappeared a while ago."

That got Anna's attention as she hadn't noticed the little cloud over the snowman's head was gone. Thankfully it was getting cold enough outside that the snowman wasn't running the risk of melting immediately. That still didn't explain why his flurry disappeared, maybe Elsa was sick again; Olaf's flurry during her birthday was really weak when she was.

"Maybe we should check on Elsa, and see why your flurry is gone."

"I tried to find her but she's gone, I thought maybe she went outside to join the fire in the courtyard but there's no one out there."

Fire in the courtyard, that's odd.

Anna got to her full height and motioned the snowman to follow her as she hiked up her dress and began to jog down the hallway toward the courtyard. As she ran, she noticed some of the guards looking in her direction with odd looks. Most of the castle guards were used to her zipping down the hallways and only spared one look before resuming their duties. These guards watched her like a hawk and made the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end as she took each step away from them.

She finally made it to doors that opened up to the courtyard, there were two guards in front of the door blocking entry. The one on the left stepped forward and stiffly bowed before speaking.

"Your Majesty is there anything we can assist you with, we were informed you were to attend the dining hall at this hour."

That same feeling she got from the other guards returned when she looked at these two men. She felt something was wrong when these men looked at her, she couldn't tell why but knew it was something. When she was taught how to use a sword by Captain Stonewell, he would always tell her to trust her instincts. Even if they were dead wrong, having the sense that something was amiss had saved his life many times and it would only take one time ignoring your instincts that could end your life.

She hoped that her face didn't give anything as she chuckled nervously before speaking. "No, I'm fine, I just wanted to get some fresh air and walk around the castle before dinner. You know, work me up an appetite."

The guard shared a look with the other one before turning to the woman with the same unreadable expression. "In that case, we will accompany you." Anna fought to keep the look of surprise off her face as she tried to wave them off.

"Oh please, it's no trouble I'll just be out in the courtyard for a moment and be right back. I don't want to pull you away from your duties." The guard took a step forward and looked down at her which made the redhead want to take a step back but did not to keep them from knowing what she was thinking. Now she knew something was off with these two.

"It's no trouble at all and a Princess should not be out on her own without an escort." While the first guard towered over her, Anna could see out of the corner of her eye, the other guard pulling something out of his pocket. She didn't take her eyes off the man in front of her but from what she could distinguish at a side glance the object covered his hand as he held it at his side. It seemed somewhat like a cloth of some sort, whatever it was, the guard hid it behind his back as he kept his eyes firmly on her.

Well if that isn't ominous then I don't like chocolate.

The sound of panting made all three of them look down the hall to see Olaf running toward them. When he got to them, he went to his 'knees' and continued to pant. "You're...so...fast Anna…" The redhead couldn't be happier to see the snowman, she rushed to him and picked him up while pretending to fuss over him. "I'm sorry Olaf I didn't mean to leave you behind…" As Anna straightened the snowman, the guard closest to her began to advance as her back was turned.

Their orders had been to capture the princess since Záviš had already captured the Queen. His plan was for them to grab her at the dinner along with the foreign dignitaries so they could ransom them off and get some extra money. However now that she had come on her own, now was a good a time as any to grab her and bring her back to their hideout. If they could capture her sister who had ice powers without a fuss then a little girl would be no problem.

What the bandit didn't plan for was that Anna was a lot more aggressive than Elsa and she had been getting lessons in self-defense to cure her boredom.

Before he could pounce on her, the redhead had turned around holding something in her hands and smashed him across the face with it. All at once his vision was cut to white as he immediately brought his hands to his face to restore his sight. His hands grabbed whatever was on his head to find it firm yet soft and no matter how hard he pulled it wouldn't get off his head.

"Olaf don't let him knock you off alright!" When Anna reached down to pick up the snowman she whispered hastily that the men behind her were bad and that she needed his help. When the little guy agreed she swung him with all of the force she could muster in that quick instant. With the first guard blinded, the other rushed at her with the cloth at the ready. The redhead quickly dove for the first guard's sword and managed to pull it from its sheath before turning it to her aggressor.

That halted the man in his tracks as he stared down the blade with an unreadable expression. at first, the princess thought he might back off however when he widely smiled and pulled out his own sword she quickly shot that thought down. "Do you really think this is wise poppet, swords aren't toys for little girls."

Anna was more than a little miffed with that little comment and got into her stance as she squared herself to face her opponent. Seeing this, the guard chuckled before getting into his own stance and thought he'd give her a scare by throwing a slash her way. He was greeted with more than he expected when the redhead exploded into action, she easily swiped away the slow swing and shoulder bashed him with a roar. The bandit took a step back but remained on his feet due to the fact he was larger than her and the force of her bash wasn't too significant.

The redhead swung her sword overhead seeming planning to cleave his head in two but was stopped by him raising his sword to meet hers. Before the bandit could push away her sword, Anna dropped down to a kneeling stance and with the hilt of her sword she hit the back of his knee causing him to drop onto one knee. Surprised at her moves, the bandit didn't notice the hilt that was flying toward his face before he felt a blinding pain explode in his nose. The man instantly dropped his sword before grasping his nose and began screaming in pain as blood began to drip from it.

Normally Anna would've been sick to her stomach at seeing blood but with the exhilaration of knowing she just fought off someone with a sword, she couldn't help but smile.

"Anna! Look out behind you!"

The redhead turned as fast as she could to face the threat behind her only to be tackled by a large body mass. Somehow she didn't lose her grip on the sword but a large hand pinned both her wrists to the ground while another was around her throat. With her airway beginning to be crushed she could only wheeze as she looked up to the first guard whose face screamed anger.

I guess he didn't appreciate me throwing a snowman at him…

"You know when the boss gave us our instructions for this job he told us not to kill neither you or your sister. This could've been a whole lot easier if you just came with us but no, you had to try and be a brave little girl. Now I and my buddy over there are gonna have some fun with you before giving you to our boss. That prince said you were courting some ice cutter, for your sake I hope he got you to open your legs for him first."

Anna's face blanched if it was possible with the lack of air in her lungs. She knew what the man was referring to thanks to her mother and father giving her "the talk" before they left. Kristoff being the gentleman he was never pushed the subject and said he was more than willing to wait for their wedding night. While she appreciated that he respected her that much there were times she wished he would've loosened up with that notion whenever she was...excited.

Not like now!

The redhead tried to turn and squirm out of his grip but the bandit held fast and pressed harder on her throat causing black dots to dance in her vision. She tried looking for Olaf for some help but the guard had thrown the little guy down the hall in pieces so he wouldn't be able to put himself back together to help quick enough. Her efforts to struggle began to diminish as more black dots appeared, she almost missed a new voice that originated right behind the guard.

"Well, that's not a way to treat a princess…"

Instantly the pressure on her neck disappeared as the guard's body was sent flying away from the redhead who instantly released the sword and clutched her throat. She hacked and coughed, trying to get air back into her lungs as she looked up at her savior. Prince Ahimoth had changed out of the suit he was earlier, he was now in a white long-sleeved collared shirt and some black dress pants with nice shoes. The shirt exposed his extremely large physique as it looked ready to rip apart if he flexed too hard.

The large man knelt down to Anna's side and picked her up bridal style before placing her against a wall. He looked her over in search of any injuries and so far the only thing that made him frown was when he looked at her neck. There were signs of a bruise beginning to form around her throat but otherwise, she looked fine.

"Your highness are you alright, Lilian and me were on the way to the dining hall when we noticed there was something burning in the courtyard. I told Lilian I'd investigate and happened upon you being attacked."

Usually, Anna would've been more suspicious of the prince seeing as the night he stayed in their castle, the guards attacked them. However, him saving her banished all doubt she had for the man, it was true he could've just hired them so he could save the royal sisters from the bandits but the expression of worry on his face seemed genuine. She massaged her throat before speaking in a hoarse voice and tried ignoring the pain of making her voice respond.

"I'm ok, thank you for saving me. I'd hope I was able to take them both on by myself but perhaps I need more training.

Prince Ahimoth was about to respond when he whirled around without warning and grabbed the bandit with the bleeding nose's hilt before the man could run him through. The guard tried to overpower the large man but the prince seemed quite unimpressed with the attempt. Raising his right hand while still keeping the sword at bay with the other. The large man clenched his fist and with so much force that made Anna hitting him with her hilt look like a love tap, he smashed into the man's temple and watched him crumple to the ground immediately.

The redhead couldn't help but look at the now unconscious man and noticed a steady stream of blood coming out the side of the man's head. Ahimoth seemed oblivious to the fact that the blood was beginning to pool under his shoes, he was more concerned with the remaining guard getting to his feet. The man drew his sword and his eyes were unfocused as he wobbled from side to side. It seemed that the blow the Prince inflicted earlier had much more effect on him than he realized.

Ahimoth continued to blankly stare at his opposition before nonchalantly cracking his fingers then getting into a boxer stance. When the guard stabilized himself he charged with a roar and his sword held above his head ready to cleave the large man in two. Unfortunately for him, Ahimoth was deceptively fast for a guy his size. Anna barely caught the man shuffle his feet to the left dodging the attack before throwing a vicious left hook that knocked the guard to his knees. Before he could even think about recovering, the bandit only noticed a foot stepping into his line of sight then another one cracking him across the face. The blow had enough force to completely knock the man out but not cut his head the way the Prince's first one did.

With the two guards on the ground, Ahimoth went back over to Anna and checked her over one more time before offering her a hand when he ended his quick examination. The redhead took his hand and yelped a bit when he hauled her to her feet with only a quick tug. The grip on her hand was firm yet not crushingly painful and she couldn't help but look back at the two guards on the ground. Anna could tell that the man was large as well as strong but to be able to drop one guard with a single punch as well as move fast enough to dodge a smaller man's attack with no effort.

The redhead had heard many rumors about the warriors from Blackdust and wrote them off as just exaggerated rumors. Now that she was seeing their Prince in action, dispatching two men with no effort or fear made her think those rumors may not have been so exaggerated.

"Now that's been handled, why did your guards attack you, Princess?" Anna blinked at the question before her senses returned to her.

"I..don't know. I was trying to get to the courtyard but then these guys attacked me."

Ahimoth nodded before stepping over the unconscious bodies on the ground and reaching out to touch the gate then pushing it open. The redhead followed behind him as the two of them walked to the center of the courtyard where a small fire was burning. When the two of them reached the fire the stench made Anna recoil in revulsion but the Prince knelt down to get a closer look.

"Hey these men are wearing your guards' uniforms, and they were killed in an odd fashion. One had his head turned completely around while the other had a sword thrust into his skull. Whoever did this is no stranger to combat and has no qualms about desecrating a corpse. Your highness, I think it'd be wise if we go find your sister and your loved ones to confirm their safety."

Anna nodded her head and turned toward the castle but stopped when a thought occurred to her. "Shouldn't we raise the alarm?"

Ahimoth stood up to his full height then walked past her toward the castle while turning his head to answer her over his shoulder. "You can if you wish to but we don't know what guards to trust. It may be just these men masquerading themselves as your guards or some of your men are traitors. In both cases I doubt there are only two of them just guarding the courtyard, the men here were probably stationed here to act as an entry point as well as escape route once they've achieved their objective. What that objective is in unclear but we must make sure no one is harmed, I left Lilian in the dining room so I will be going there."

The more the Prince spoke so calmly about the situation the more suspicious Anna couldn't help feel toward the man. Doing what he suggested and not raising the alarm was smart however it put them ultimately on their own. Just her and the man who dispatched two guards with no effort whatsoever. It was also the same night he just arrived here that this was happening, for all she knew he could be apart of it and planned for those men to stay in the courtyard. Him saving her might've been a ruse as well so she'd trust him the way she trusted Hans.

But what could he want?

He's been here for hours since arriving and all of his guards stayed on the ship when he left earlier today. Surely they couldn't infiltrate the castle so quickly and without raising any alarms. As she continued to think of the possibility of him being the mastermind behind this, the man was already ascending the steps inside the castle. Looking down at the burning corpses and the unconscious men, Anna grounded her teeth before making her decision.

"Hey wait for me!"

Edward ran as fast as he could while following the tracks from the carriage as it exited the village. The man directing the carriage hadn't looked behind him while he was still in Edward's eyesight so he had no idea that he'd been seen. The young man hoped to catch up while the sleigh was being set up and confirm if Elsa was really in that carriage. If she wasn't then he would return to the village to warn Captain Stonewell but if she was…

Then the only thing to do is go get her.

Edward shook his head, his first priority was seeing if she was there then forming a plan when he found out. Fortunately for him, the carriage had horses instead of reindeer so they couldn't travel too fast in the snow. The paved roads stopped a mile out of the village so the man would be forced to change the carriage out for the sleigh to continue wherever he was going. All Edward had to do was get there while the man was setting up the sleigh and see if Elsa was there before he left.

To avoid detection as he ran, Edward ran off the side of the road using the large snow banks as cover. If the young man comes across the carriage while he ran he could easily dive into one before the carriage driver could turn around.

It didn't take long until the checkpoint that was at the end of the paved road came into view. At the checkpoint was the carriage parked next to what seemed to be a group of guards. Edward skidded to a halt and got as close as he could without being discovered. He managed to get a few meters away from the carriage by diving under the snow and slowly crawling until he could hear the guards speaking.

"We need to inspect your sleigh and carriage, open them up now." The man driving the carriage stood up from the front of the carriage and hopped down before walking toward the back. From what Edward could see under the carriage there were five sets of feet heading to the back, so there were likely four guards to this one man. So why was he leading them to where he could be hiding Elsa at a casual pace? When the man turned the corner of the carriage and Edward got a look at his face he got his answer.

Red eyes... Those guards don't stand a chance.

Edward decided to stay hidden when he recognized those eyes, no one had blood-red eyes like that except for a very short list of people that he knew off. It wasn't that red irises weren't such a rare color it was the depth and intensity behind it that the young man knew exactly they belonged to. Revealing himself to this man was out of the question, there were too many things that could go wrong. So for now, he would stay hidden and come up with a plan.

When the red-eyed man unlocked the back of the carriage, the guards immediately noticed the blue fabric that caught Edward's attention. The man stood off to the side while three guards watched him and the last guard got inside the carriage to inspect the inside. The man watched the guard get closer and closer to the sleigh until he opened the top then gasped in surprise what was inside.

"Queen Elsa!"

That seemed to be the trigger word because before the other guards could raise their weapons at the man, he moved first. He quickly grasped the handle of the crossbow on his back and brought it down on the head of one guard before spinning to another and pulling the trigger. The bolt pierced the guard's shoulder and put him on the ground next to the stunned guard leaving only one guard on his feet. The man watched his opposition rush him with a sword and danced just out of his reach with every swing he took at the red-eyed man.

The guard in the carriage noticed that two of his comrades were already on the ground with the third trying to hold off the mysterious assailant. He thought about joining them to help combat the man but rescuing Queen Elsa was always the top priority. The guard quickly jumped into the sled and kneeled over to her side and undid the gag while hastily shaking her. All he got in response was a groan for her which relieved him because it meant she was still alive. He took a look at the shackles on her wrists and deemed them too thick to attempt to break at this moment.

The guard then gathered the Queen in his arms then jumped out of the sleigh and carriage before making a run for their own horses. As he was doing this the other two guards that were on the ground joined their comrades in attacking the man, only for all three of them hit nothing but air as he weaved through all of their attacks. The man had a shit-eating grin on his face as he danced through their attacks but slightly frowned when he noticed his captive was getting away.

Pulling a bolt from seemingly nowhere, the man reloaded his crossbow and aimed it at the horses the guard was running to. As he jumped over a horizontal swing of one guard he fired his crossbow and watched the bolt fly towards the animals. When it got close something odd happened, the bolt actually ignited and fell short of the horses hitting the ground right in front of the guard.

The guard carrying Queen Elsa felt the explosion before hearing it, his feet left the ground and blew him back toward the carriage. The horses being spooked took off in the opposite direction at the noise while the horses tied to the carriage tried the same but couldn't move due to the carriage wheels being locked. The other three guards made the mistake of turning to see what had caused the explosion, turning their backs on the man who seemed to smile in glee.

A blade stuck out from the throat of the closest guard while the other had his neck snapped like a toothpick. The third guard gained his wits and tried pulling out his pistol and took aim at the man. This actually made him pause as he looked down at the firearm. With a lazy pace, the man raised his hands next to his head with the crossbow in his right hand still in the after firing position.

"Don't move!"

The man didn't seem at all threatened by the firearm as he studied it with a critical eye. The pistol was very mahogany with silver ornate designs on it that resembled a flower. At the barrel, the design spelled out the letters 'R' and 'T'. The flintlock pistol was beautiful to look at and didn't seem to be a standard issued weapon for the average guard seeing as the man had already gone through a few guards' weapons after killing them.

"Is that pistol a family heirloom?"

The guard ignored the man's question as he backed up and called to his comrade. "Hey, are you and the Queen alright?" The guard got a groan in response and risked a look to see if they were alright. The blast only knocked him off his feet and had no shrapnel so he and the Queen received no cuts. The guard was scrambling back to his feet before responding. "We're good, just keep an eye on him." The guard with the pistol nodded and when he turned back to the man his eyes couldn't help but widen.

In the man's left hand was his pistol, he could tell from the initials on the barrel that belonged to his father when he received the weapon many years ago before passing it down to him. He couldn't help but look down his hand and notice that he still had his pistol in his hand, so why there two one of a kind pistols here of all places?

"This is a very beautiful pistol you know, I'm envious that you have it. The more I study it, the more I desire it, you do not deserve such a beauty…"

The guard ignored the man's ramblings before calling out to his comrade. "Get back to the village I'll keep him covered while you return the Queen." The other guard agreed and unlocked the wheels on the carriage before putting the platinum beauty on the seat and climbing into the driver's seat.

The man broke off from his ramblings to see the guard beginning to commandeer his carriage and began to walk toward it when the guard in front of him roared at him. "I said don't move!" The man didn't seem to care he was still being threatened as his gaze zoomed in on the woman who was beginning to stir in her seat.

"Looks like I spent too much time playing."

Elsa slowly began to regain consciousness as she slowly opened her eyes to see that she was against a wooden seat of some kind. She had a slight headache as she attempted to rub her head with one hand only for her to feel a tug on the other. When she saw the shackles on her wrists, all of her memories came flooding back to her; the guards, Záviš, the shackles, her kidnapping, all of it.

"Your Majesty!"

The woman turned to her side to see a guard and instantly she assumed that he was another imposter and screeched while jumping out of her seat. Before she could take off running to get to Anna, she noticed that Záviš was staring at her with a pistol aimed at his head by a man in a guard uniform. "Queen Elsa please we're here to rescue you!"

Elsa turned back to the guard who was climbing out of the carriage and approached her with his hands in a nonthreatening gesture. The platinum blonde looked around her surroundings as she took in the situation around her and began to relax. It seemed the man had taken her outside of the village but was intercepted by her guards. As she dropped her hands she was reminded of the shackles and held them out to the guard closest to her.

"Can you remove these?" The guard had already examined the shackles binding her and shook his head. "They're too thick to just break with force Your Majesty, we need the key."

"You mean this key?"

Elsa and the guard turned toward Záviš who held up a key in his right hand. The smile on his face returned as he placed the crossbow on his back and began tossing the key up and down in his hand. The pistol aimed at the back of his head didn't seem to cause him any worry whatsoever as he slowly walked forward.

"You aren't getting those off without this, Your Majesty."

Elsa scowled at the man when she thought back to his threat against her sister. Part of her wished she could access her powers and blast him with a bolt of ice but with these shackles that was unavailable to her. She could order the guard behind him to shoot the man and kill him where he stood but she felt that killing was never the answer. The guard next to her held out his hand while drawing his own pistol.

"Give me the key."

Záviš caught the key in his hand and looked down at it for a moment before turning his gaze on the guard in front of him. He held it out and wiggled it as if it was a treat for a dog then sang.

"Make me."

Before the guard had a chance to rise to the bait, a gunshot filled the night sky and Záviš fell face forward into the snow with a hole in the back of his head. Elsa and the guard recoiled in shock and looked up at the other guard who had smoke coming from the barrel of his pistol. Before they could question his actions, the guard grabbed the crossbow and threw it away before patting down Záviš's body for any hidden weapons. When he finished the guard looked around in the snow as he searched and searched for something. The guard closest to Elsa crouched down and felt for a pulse on Záviš's neck, when he felt none he shook his head toward the woman before reaching for the key in the man's hand. When the guard managed to turn over Záviš's hand he noticed the key was missing.

Knowing the key couldn't have gone that far he began to search in the snow hoping he'd grasp it soon. As he looked at the other guard still searched for whatever he was looking for before getting up to his feet.

"I can't find it…"

Elsa still being in shock that the guard had shot Záviš in the back couldn't help but ask. "F-find what?"

"His pistol." The guard searching for the key looked up in confusion for a moment. Záviš had no pistol when they fought him or searched his corpse. "What pistol, he only had a crossbow." The other guard shook his head as he looked around the snow.

"He had one while you were putting Her Majesty in the carriage, it looked eerily like mine and he held it in his right hand...the same hand he had that key." That made Elsa and the guard look at each other in confusion before looking at the corpse on the ground in front of them.

"That's why I shot him, if he could hide a full pistol and swap it out for a key without anyone noticing then I'm sure he was going to try something when you went to grab it from his hand." Elsa still thought shooting him was wrong but couldn't fault her guard for being careful. The other guard agreed and went down to search the inside of the man's clothing to hopefully feel for a key.

"Ouch, I can't believe you shot me in the head."

No sooner as the three of them heard that sentence, the corpse at their feet sprang into action. A sword instantly appeared in Záviš's hand as he impaled the guard closest to him with it before turning and pointing his arm toward the second guard. What happened after that, made Elsa and the other guard freeze. A pistol materialized into his open hand out of thin air, the same pistol that he was just shot with.

"As I said, this is a very beautiful pistol, especially with it being able to shoot two bullets before needing to be reloaded." Záviš then pulled the trigger and shot the guard in the forehead and watched him rock backward before hitting the ground. Elsa couldn't believe her eyes as her feet froze in fear as she watched the man walk over and reached down to pluck the pistol from the guard's hand. As he began to inspect it again she could see the hole in the back of his head close in dim red light that crackled as if lightning was in his head. When the light disappeared, so did the hole, Záviš turned back to her while holding up a pistol in each hand.

His blood-red eyes had amusement in them as she watched the pistol in his right-hand turn to black dust and blew away with the wind.

"Did you really think you were the only one with magical abilities?"

Anna, Olaf, and Ahimoth all strode through the castle until they made it to the dining room. The trio stopped when they noticed two more guards standing in front of the large door. The two of them respectively bowed before opening the doors to the dining room and let them pass. Anna was a bit hesitant to walk through the doors thinking that these guards could be more imposters but Ahimoth was already striding toward Lilian who was already sitting at the table.

When he got to her, he wrapped her in a hug before giving her a kiss on her cheek. Anna and Olaf hurried to their side as the guards closed the doors behind them. "Lilian I'm happy to see you're alright." The woman raised an eyebrow at her fiance as she hugged him back.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

No sooner had she said that did the doors to the dining room burst open. Ahimoth's eyes darkened as he turned with a murderous expression on his face and got into a fighting stance as he pushed Anna behind him next to Lilian. When the princess recognized who burst into the room she couldn't help but smile in joy.

"Kristoff!" The redhead ran past the large man and wrapped her mountain man in a warmer hug than the Prince. The ice harvester was instantly relieved to see his girlfriend was ok as he wrapped his arms around her and put his face in her hair. As he ran through the castle avoiding any guard he came across until he got to the dining room, his face drained of color when he saw two of them posted outside of the large room. Thankfully the guards recognized him from all of his running around with Anna and didn't spare him a second glance as he entered into the room.

"Anna you need to listen, Hans is back and he has men in the castle dressed as guards. He's after you and Elsa!" The redhead's eyes widened when she heard that and realized her sister wasn't in the dining room.

"Kristoff, Elsa isn't here we need to find her!"

"I'm afraid she's quite busy but I'm willing to take you to her my darling."

All of them turned to see Hans standing at the door with six men all dressed in guard uniforms with their pistols pointing at them. Kristoff looked past him at the open doors and was sad to see two bodies laying on the ground, the two guards he passed where actually real ones. His viewed focused back on the Hans as the son of a bitch began to slowly clap in his direction. "Bravo Kristoff your escape earlier was very ingenuitive using the steam as a smokescreen. I must admit, I wasn't expecting that."

The mountain man pushed Anna behind him as he faced Hans's firing line. With the banished prince being here and Elsa not, the mountain man could safely assume that unfortunately, they had her. He hoped that Edward made it to Captain Stonewell so they could get the guard situation dealt with as soon as possible.

"Now my darling Anna if you could please walk over here we'll be on our way." Kristoff instantly had an arm around his girlfriend when he heard Hans's words. He would not let anything happen to Anna, he promised Elsa he'd take care of her and more than anything he promised himself that Hans would never hurt her again. Seeing this the former prince couldn't help but laugh as he snapped his fingers and the flintlocks next to him clicked into firing position.

"Last chance, I already have the witch I don't need you, you coming with me spares your life but I can easily make do without you."

Anna had her head down as she listened and thought about what she should do. She was happy Kristoff cared so much for her safety but they were about to die, if she turned herself over to Hans then maybe he'll let her boyfriend and the engaged couple go too. She really didn't want to, she was downright scared, but she boldly pushed past her mountain man and took a step forward.

"I'll go with you just please don't hurt them."

Hans smiled as she raised a hand and wagged a finger to tell her to come to him. Angered that he was signaling her like a dog, the redhead maintained her regal posture and took another step forward before a large beefy hand grabbed her shoulder. She turned her head to see Ahimoth with a fierce expression on his face as he stepped in front of her.

"She's not going anywhere with you. I've heard of you and your poor attempt at taking over this kingdom in my travels. If you pulled any of this crap where I'm from you would've been beaten to death but here their Majesties allowed you to live and sent you back home. You are not worthy of their mercy and you will not have any of mine."

Hans tried to retain his aloof expression but looking into those green eyes shook him to his core. Faking a cough, the prince tried to regain control of the situation as he raised a hand signaling the men to prepare to fire.

"I suggest you lower your tone before I lose my temper. Princess Anna come over here or I will order my men to kill all of you."

Ahimoth kept his firm grip on the redhead's shoulder as he smiled in a devil may care fashion.

"You don't have the balls."

Frustrated anger blossomed in the prince's veins as he swiped his hand down as hard as he could and was elated to hear the sounds of gunshots go off around him. Anna instantly turned and tried to reach Kristoff as he did to her while Ahimoth stared straight ahead not worried in the slightest. Olaf shrieked and closed his eyes. Lilian on the other hand just wiggled her fingers with her palms facing upwards…

...and a column of flames erupted in front of them creating a shield that melted the bullets on contact.

The men fired the weapons not processing the curtain of fire in front of them as Hans's eyes widened to the size of dinner plates. After the volley had ended, the flames died out revealing a surprise trio of Kristoff, Anna, and Olaf who stared at Ahimoth. The large man cracked his knuckles before slightly turning his head to address his fiancee.

"Thank you, Lilian, I'll take it from here you just look after these three."

After pulling the sleigh off the carriage, Záviš tied Elsa's hands to the front railing and began readying it to move out. All the while ignoring the looks from the blonde. For the life of her, she couldn't believe what she saw, this man had literally come back from the dead right in front of her and he was able to create objects in his hands. Thanks to Edward she knew there were others like her out there but she had no idea that someone like Záviš could exist.

Now that report about the boy killing a hundred men by himself made sense. If he could heal any injury then he could potentially survive any army. She couldn't help but ask her kidnapper the question that was burning in her mind.

"Are you the one of killed all those men from Ashfeld in Rosenburg a few years ago?" Záviš stopped what he was doing and turned around to stare her down with his red eyes. There wasn't any anger or playfulness in his eyes just genuine curiosity as he stopped in front of her.

"How do you know about that?"

Elsa swallowed and forced her mouth and tongue to work as she answered his question. "One of my allies had a report about a Blackdust soldier massacring over a hundred men when they betrayed him. The only description of the boy was that he had brown hair, tan skin, and deviled red eyes."

Záviš chuckled at her answer before turning back around to work. "You should already know your answer, it was a boy who achieved that I am much older than he is but I do know who you're talking about. I've only met him a few times and each time I felt my soul quake in fear at his presence. The boy mentioned in your report is now a man named after his most notable quality."

Elsa felt a small bit of snow hit her in the shoulder as Záviš turned his back on her. Keeping an eye on him but inching her head back, she searched for what had hit her when she saw some more snow fly in her direction from the ground. She squinted her eyes and couldn't hold back a smile when she finally recognized Edward peeking under the snow. Before she could say anything he put a finger to his lips and pointed toward her kidnapper. Understanding she quickly looked back at Záviš who was finishing readying the sleigh. She didn't know how long Edward had been there but she thought back to the four guards who died fighting Záviš. She couldn't take it if Edward met the same fate so she was glad he decided to stay hidden rather than rush the dangerous man.

As Záviš kept her back to him, she barely heard some shuffling next to her as she chanced a look to see Edward crawling underneath the sleigh. Unfortunately, Záviš seemed to pick something up as he stopped what he was doing and looked around. Edward stilled under the sleigh and dared not move or breathe as he hoped the man would not notice him. Elsa couldn't help but hold her breathe also before she forced her mind to think of something.

"What was that quality you mentioned. You said he was named after it, what was it?" Záviš looked over to her for a moment and Elsa fought to maintain her blissfully curious expression and keep no fear from showing on her face. It was a long moment before Záviš answered her as he finished readying the sleigh.

"Pride."

When he finished he grabbed her arm and placed her on the seat in front and walked behind the sleigh to get to his side. As he walked, Elsa looked back in the direction of Arendelle seemingly taking it for the last before her kidnapper whisked her way. Záviš chuckled at the thoughts of fear and worry that could be swirling around in her head so he didn't care to pay attention to what she was really looking at.

She was looking at the slightly disturbing trail of snow that went under the sleigh and as they were off could see the mound that was under it had disappeared. Edward had made it under the sleigh and was holding on as they went off into the night.

I really hope you have a plan, Edward. It looks like all I can do is depend on you, please be careful.

Hey guys new chapter after three weeks. I've been really busy these last few weeks so I couldn't drop a chapter as soon as i wanted. This is one of my longer chapters so I hoped you all enjoyed it. I'm on vacation until the 19th so my goal is to drop two more chapters before I go back to work. Reviews are a great way to motivate me :D.