Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognise; the elements taken from Frozen are obvious, and while this version of Zorro is taken mainly from Mask and Legend, I've incorporated elements of his history from other adaptations. Even the original idea for this fic was inspired by the artwork of shishyoukai on DeviantArt, although I have created my own narrative for it; the artwork only inspired the idea of a certain sister becoming Zorro.

Feedback: Always appreciated

AN: This chapter ended up a bit shorter than some, but it sets the stage for the next few; hope you enjoy what's coming up.

The Frozen Fox

Tearing away from the cart that she'd just raided, Anna restrained the urge to smile as she felt the books packed into her satchel. She still wasn't sure if Runeard had any particular agenda in mind by gathering all these books apart from wanting to keep them away from the general public, but so long as she was keeping everything herself, she could control what would happen with it.

Maybe that made her just as selfish as Runeard in some way, but at least she intended to share this all with people eventually once she found the right opportunity. The king would keep it all for himself and may even destroy the books just because they didn't fit in with whatever he wanted to be, but she was just… keeping the books secure until the right time.

She appreciated that her current campaign was still taking some time, but she had to get some traction going before she could start to more actively oppose the king, She wasn't even sure how many people actually knew about what she was doing as Zorro right now outside of the royal family and whoever the king felt had the 'right' to know more details, but she didn't want to force the issue in case it made her seem like she was just trying to set herself up as a new force in Arendelle when she just wanted to help.

Anna was just about to turn around and start heading back towards the main city when she heard the sound of hoofbeats from a short distance behind her, not close enough to be a serious concern right now but close enough to be a problem if they kept up the pace. If she tried to get to her usual secret entrance back to Arendelle, that secret wouldn't remain a secret for long, which could compromise her future plans.

OK, so that's the worst-case scenario, but if someone's following me like this in the first place, they're probably not doing this because they're fans of my work.

Recalling the maps she'd studied of the surrounding country when she first started her work as Zorro, Anna changed her direction to head towards an old church she'd noticed during an early scouting ride. She doubted that the holy nature of the building would stop her pursuer doing anything, but it was a potentially secure area that wouldn't put anyone else at risk. After a few more moments of intense riding, she came to a halt along the side of the church, tying her horse to a tree and then hurrying into the main building. The bag holding the books was left hanging along the horse's saddle, but Anna doubted whoever was chasing her would take the bag back without confronting her even if he noticed the horse.

With the door left open to indicate that she had entered the building, Anna quickly found a few remaining candles and lit them with the box of matches she kept in one pocket in case she ever needed any extra light. The church was still dimly lit, but all she needed was enough light that she had some idea of where her opponent was; she had trained to fight in harder conditions than this. Either her pursuer would pass by the church and she could get back to

her plan to head home, or she would face him in a situation where she had at least a degree of control.

After a few moments of waiting, Anna allowed herself a small smile as the church door swung open to reveal a man in a thick coat with weathered skin. Even in the relatively dim candlelight, Anna could see that the new arrival had rough patches on his skin, as well as a beard that gave Anna the impression he had grown it to hide the worst of the still-visible scars and burns around his face. The way he kept a hand under his coat suggested that he was carrying some kind of weapon under there, but at the same time the way he was standing didn't quite fit the idea that she was facing someone with a gun.

"Good evening," Anna said, lowering her voice to her usual tone when she was wearing the mask. "I assume you're looking for me?"

"Correct," the man responded, his face partially hidden in the shadows of the candles even as his stance reflected that he was prepared for a confrontation.

"May I ask why?" Anna asked, hand resting on her sword even if she avoided drawing it. Whatever this man was going to do, she didn't want to provoke him into using his weapon too quickly when there might still be a chance to talk him down.

"Let's just say that someone very rich is willing to pay a considerable amount to deal with your interference," the man said, flexing the hand that wasn't under his coat to reveal further burns on his skin. Anna's gaze shifted to that hand for a moment, but it was enough for the man to take his other hand out from under his cloak and hurl the thing he was holding towards her. Reacting on instinct, Anna drew her sword and knocked the object back towards her attacker, only registering after she'd reacted that the object she'd just deflected was a stick of dynamite with a particularly short fuse. As the other man instinctively grabbed the dynamite, Anna dived behind the nearest pillar, wincing as the explosion went off at the other end of the church, followed by the sound of collapsing stone.

"Oh, crap," she said, cursing her instinctive reaction. Deflecting the object that had been thrown towards her was a natural response, but she hadn't been intending to actually kill the other man. She could appreciate that she hadn't done it on purpose, and it was basically the other man's fault that he had used such a dangerous weapon in the first place, but she hadn't wanted to kill someone who'd just been paid to kill her. Defending herself against enemy soldiers who loyally served their king was one thing, but killing a man who had just taken on a contract without any personal reasons for wanting her dead...

Carefully looking around the pillar, Anna winced as she saw the pile of rubble gathered around the area that had once been the entrance of the church. She could see an arm sticking out of one side of the pile, and what looked like a foot on the opposite end, but clearly the explosion had basically crushed the man who'd set it off.

"One way to kill someone, I suppose," Anna mused, as she carefully walked over to examine what she could see of the body. She could only guess at the specifics of what had happened, but she guessed that the dynamite he'd thrown at her had either had a particularly short fuse or this man was used to timing when he would toss the explosives so that his target couldn't deflect them in time. She could at least flatter herself that her training had been good enough to ensure that she could beat an apparently experienced assassin, even if she hadn't wanted to actually kill him.

Crouching down beside the pile of rubble, Anna carefully moved a few rocks away from the nearest available limb, wincing at the limp way the arm moved around when she pushed it aside. She had to move carefully to avoid dislodging any more rubble and risk another collapse, but so far as she could tell the worst of the damage was done. She was trying not to think about how parts of the body felt a bit 'soft' already, but her searching fingers soon found something promising in the form of a piece of paper in an upper coat pocket. Anna had to be careful as she took the paper out of the pocket and drew it from the pile of rubble, but she was fortunate that the paper was relatively close to the 'surface'. She guessed that the coat and other clothing had contained any potential blood loss, and the paper itself was only slightly torn as she took it out. Studying the paper in the candlelight, she nodded as she took in the contents; just as she'd anticipated, it seemed to be a declaration that a bounty had been placed on Zorro's head, even if she wasn't sure how to feel about the cost. A hundred thousand krone was a considerable sum even if converted to American dollars, but she wondered if she should wish for a bigger sum to show that she was making more of an impact…

"Talk about skewed priorities," she smiled to herself, walking around the church to blow out the candles. This place probably wasn't in regular use any more, and she wasn't sure if someone would come out after her to find this man, but there was no point taking the risk of making it easier for them by leaving the church illuminated. She wasn't Julius Caesar, who had allegedly told pirates who had taken him hostage to ask for a larger ransom; she saw no point complaining about the fact that someone wasn't asking for enough money to arrange her death.

Leaving the body behind felt a bit wrong, but she didn't even know this man's name, and while she was fairly sure Runeard had hired him she wasn't going to make that particular detail public when she had so little evidence. She wouldn't put it past Runeard and his men to basically try and claim that she was trying to frame him if she told anyone about this right now, so she would just have to keep more alert for any other potential assassins and hope for the best.

At least it shows I'm making an impression, she reflected as she scrambled out of the church and headed for her horse, who was apparently a bit spooked by the recent explosion but overall seemed to have coped with everything fairly well. The question now is how I make a big enough impression on the right people…