Adult-FanFiction.org : Cartoons

In the Light of Day: A Frozen Epic	By : GeorgeGlass Category: +1 through F > Frozen Views: 21531 -:- Recommendations : 1 -:- Currently Reading : 1
Disclaimer: I claim no ownership of Frozen or its characters. I made no money from writing this story. I am completely divided about whether Elsa or Anna is hotter.

Chapter List
- 13
- 14
- 15
Chapter 14: The Trolls

Anna left the castle with her two new bodyguards and Gerda, who was holding a huge umbrella over the princess’ head. Anna wanted to ensure personally that the harbor defenses were ready.

As the four of them walked, Anna found her eyes darting around the courtyard between the castle and the gate, as though searching for some clue as to what was really going on. Inwardly, she chided herself for this pointless behavior; surely, there was nothing out here that-

Her mind stopped in mid-chide, because there was something odd. Looking back over her shoulder, she addressed one of her protectors.

“Do you recognize those three guards walking towards the gate?”

The man looked ahead, squinting. “No, ma’am. But they could be new.”

“I…don’t think so,” Anna replied. “Have them stopped before they get outside the wall.”

The guard jogged ahead, waving silently but vigorously to get the attention of the guards at the gate. By the time Anna got there, six guards were blocking the exit of the three she had pointed out. It was their number that had originally drawn her notice—guards typically moved in pairs or squads, and sometimes singly, but not usually in threes. And now that she was close and could get a good look at them, Anna was sure that there was a problem.

“These three are impostors,” she said. “Arrest them.”

One of the three—a big, bald man—protested, “Your Highness, there must be some mista-”

“Royal guards,” Anna interrupted, pointing at the man’s feet, “wear dark-brown boots, not black.” She turned to the next, who was equally large, saying, “Your overcoat obviously doesn’t fit you.” Then, to the last man, she said, “And royal guards’ gloves are decorated with a crocus—not a tulip hastily painted blue.”

Judging from the glances the man who had spoken was getting from the other two, Anna guessed he was the leader. She turned back to him.

“Why are you here?”

The man gave no reply beyond a stony look.

“If your being here has anything to do with the attempt on my- on the Queen’s life, you three are in for a very rough week.”

“Ha!” the smallest of the three men said defiantly. “You don’t have that much ti-”

The leader shot daggers from his eyes at the smaller man, making him go silent.

Anna turned to look at the head gate guard, a sergeant, and said, “Take them to the dungeon and question them.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the sergeant replied.

The guards shackled the three prisoners and began to march them toward the castle. The sergeant, lingering behind, approached the princess.

“Your Highness,” he said, with an awkward look, “how…thoroughly…do you want them questioned?”

Anna apprehended the sergeant’s meaning instantly. If these men had, in fact, somehow aided in Lord Otos’ attack on Elsa, then they might possess valuable information about what, if anything, was coming next. And there was a part of her that wanted to see them suffer. But even the Crown wasn’t above the law—including the laws pertaining to torture—and Anna didn’t want Elsa to return to a throne tarnished by scandal…or stained with blood.

“Keep it legal,” Anna replied. “But inside of that, be as creative as you need to be.”

“Yes, ma’am,” the sergeant said. He stood there for a moment.

“Oh, um, you’re dismissed,” Anna said.

“Thank you, Highness,” the sergeant said, and hurried off after his men.

***

Kristoff made his way through the forest as best he could, given the slickness of the ground and the awkwardness of his burden. Elsa wasn’t very heavy, but she was tall enough that carrying her in his arms through the trees—without bashing her head into one of them—had proved an impossible task. He had ended up throwing her over his shoulder in a manner that she no doubt would have found undignified had she been conscious.

It didn’t help that his vision was blurred by the mix of hot tears and cold rain that pooled in his eyes and ran down his face. He hadn’t been able to go after Sven; once the reindeer went under the muddy water’s surface, Kristoff could no longer see him, and no doubt Sven had been carried away too swiftly for Kristoff to keep up on foot, anyway. Even if he could have, there wasn’t much that even a strong ice-man like himself could do to rescue a four-hundred-pound reindeer from the powerful current.

And there was still the Queen to think of. So now, he staggered as quickly as he could through the woods, even as he wept.

“Sven,” he sobbed. “You were my b-best friend. You always sh-shared your c-carrots, even if I h-had to remind you. I’m gonna miss you, b-buddy…I’m gonna miss you so much...”

A warm muzzle landed gently on his neck, nuzzling the side of his face comfortingly.

“Th-Thanks, boy. You always- SVEN!” he cried, practically scaring the reindeer out of his hide.

“What- How-?”

Sven mimed holding his breath, then reared up and cycled his front hooves in a swimming motion. Coming back down on all fours, the reindeer circled his head slowly.

“You swam with the current,” Sven interpreted, “and then got out of the river when you reached an eddy. You are one smart reindeer!”

Sven licked the side of Kristoff’s face as the ice-man threw his free arm around the reindeer’s neck.

Then his eyes flicked to the human load over his right shoulder. “Hey, we’re almost there; you up to carrying us the rest of the way to the troll village?”

Sven snorted and bent his four legs as if to say, Get on already.

“Sorry, boy. I’ve gotta stop underestimating you!”

***

Anna, Gerda, and the two bodyguards passed through the center of town. People looked variously somber and nervous as they went about their business.

“News travels fast, Highness,” Gerda said.

Anna looked ahead and saw a crowd of people filing into the cathedral. Curious, she approached, and the crowd parted for the Princess.

Inside, there was an array of lit candles, and one by one, people were passing in front of it and lighting more of them. Each of them murmured something as they lit a candle, and Anna moved closer to hear.

A middle-aged woman lit a candle and whispered, “Please save our Queen.”

An old man lit another. “Please save our Queen.”

A small boy, helped by his mother, lit a candle. “Please save our Queen,” the child said.

Anna had managed to keep the worst of her fears about Elsa at bay, but now she felt a sharp pang of guilt. What if Elsa needed her? What if she were dying, and Anna wasn’t there to hold her hand, and say goodbye?

She shook her head sharply. No. Thinking about such things was worse than pointless—too much depended on her being in the here and now.

Anna looked past the candles and saw that the line of people waiting to light them went down one of the cathedral’s two main aisles and back up the other. As the princess backed away toward the cathedral door, a small, slightly disheveled girl in a blue hair bow approached her.

“Princess Anna?” the child asked timidly. “Is Queen Elsa gonna be okay?”

She swallowed and reminded herself that she needed to be strong for her people. Especially the small ones.

“I hope so, sweetie,” Anna answered, smoothing the child’s hair.

“I made this for her,” the girl said, holding out a sheet of paper. On it was a crude pencil drawing of a woman with her hand outstretched, shooting a cloud of snowflakes over a crowd of smiling people—including a little one with a hair bow who was reaching up to catch the falling snow.

“I know she’ll love it,” Anna said as she accepted the picture.

A woman, presumably the girl’s mother, approached from behind the child.

“Thank you, Princess,” the woman said, curtsying respectfully. Then she led the girl away.

***

The rain was beginning to lighten as Kristoff, Sven, and the unconscious Elsa rode into the troll village—finding, as usual, a clearing full of scattered boulders. The trolls always camouflaged themselves this way whenever they heard someone approach.

“Grand Pabbie!” Kristoff shouted. “Please, I need help!”

The rocks rolled and then unrolled, the trolls popping up onto their feet en masse.

“I am here, Kristoff,” said Grand Pabbie, waddling toward Kristoff as the young man lifted Elsa from Sven’s shoulders.

“She’s been poisoned,” Kristoff said rapidly, “with something from the petals of the white iris. A doctor gave her medicine to slow it down.” Kristoff took a gasping breath. “Please tell me I’m not too late.”

“Bring her here,” Grand Pabbie said, moving over by a rock outcropping covered in hanging moss. The troll pulled the moss aside to reveal a small cave that was filled with bottles and vials.

Kristoff laid Elsa on a flat rock next to the cave. Grand Pabbie came and looked at her for a moment.

“Elsa,” he said. “If you can hear me, then you must listen. Your body can be purged of this poison, but the process is difficult, and dangerous. You will need to hold on to your life. You must think of that for which you most want to live, and keep that thought foremost in your mind.”

Kristoff saw no sign that Elsa had heard Grand Pabbie’s words, or that she was even still alive. Nonetheless, the aged troll began taking vials from the shelves and pouring their contents into a stone bowl.

As Kristoff stared, fears flew like a cloud of arrows through his mind. What if Elsa didn’t make it? Anna didn’t need to lose any more family. How would she cope while simultaneously being saddled with the burden of ruling Arendelle?

Someone seized Kristoff by the back of his collar and gently but firmly pulled him away from Grand Pabbie and Elsa.

“You done everything you can for her,” said Bulda, Kristoff’s adoptive mother. “Now let Grand Pabbie work. You and me got things to talk about.”

“How can I think about anything else?” the human man replied as Bulda sat him next to her on a rock. “What if Elsa dies? She’s my friend—one of the only ones I’ve got. And how am I supposed to break the news to Anna?”

“‘What if’ ain’t helpin’ nobody right now,” Bulda said firmly. “Now, let’s talk about you and Anna. ‘Cause I hear you two been havin’ some troubles.”

“Where’d you hear that?”

Bulda crossed her arms. “You ain’t the only human I talk to. Now tell me about you and that pretty princess.”

“Well, we…were having some problems,” Kristoff confessed. “But Anna kind of...straightened me out, this morning.”

Bulda smiled. “I was hopin’ she’d get around to that one of these days. Sometimes, the best thing your lover can do for you is call you on your bullshit.”

“Mmm,” Kristoff agreed, looking a bit sheepish and chuckling weakly.

“So what happened then?”

“Well, we…talked, and, um…”

Bulda smiled and nodded knowingly as she said, “Ohhh, I see. I hope you showed that girl a good time.”

“Mama Bulda…,” Kristoff said, his face reddening.

“Boy,” she said firmly, “I did not raise you to be a lousy lover. Even on your first try.”

“It…It was…Yes, she enjoyed it,” he said, turning even redder.

“Oh, really?” she said with a hint of skepticism.

He looked at the ground. “Loudly. Several times.”

“That’s my boy,” Bulda said, grinning. “So things are good between you two?”

“Yeah,” Kristoff said. “They really are.”

“Good. I was afraid I was gonna have to knock some sense into you.”

“Um, you meant that figuratively, right?”

“Of course, baby,” Bulda replied as a wooden club fell from behind her back and landed on the ground.

***

When Anna reached the Navy dock in Arendelle’s port, Admiral Ostergard was there with one of his junior officers. They were having a heated discussion that Anna could hear even as she walked past the tall spotting tower at the water’s edge and started down the dock toward them.

“Let me make sure I have this right,” the admiral said, steel in his voice. “One of our patrol ships is almost three hours overdue, and no one thought to report it to me until now?”

“I’m sorry, sir,” the younger man said. “It’s...It’s not actually that unusual, what with the rainy weather we’ve been having.”

“This is Europe, lieutenant,” Ostergard said pointedly. “If we can’t operate effectively in the rain, then we can’t operate effectively, period.”

“Y- Yes, sir,” the lieutenant replied, looking down at the floorboards of the dock. He looked up again when Anna and her small entourage arrived.

“Admiral,” Anna said, “what’s the situation?”

“Your Highness,” the older officer said, bowing. The lieutenant followed suit about half a second later.

“I’ve just been informed,” the admiral continued, “that one of our patrol ships is-“

“Sails ho!” cried a voice from above and behind them. Anna turned and saw a Navy sailor in the spotting tower, holding a spyglass in one hand and pointing out to sea with the other.

Admiral Ostergard was sixty if he was a day, but this didn’t seem to stop him from jogging up the dock to the base of the tower and then climbing the ladder to the top. Impulsively, Anna ducked out from under the protection of Gerda’s umbrella—Gerda shouting “Highness!” after her—and followed the admiral to and up the tower. Luckily, the rain had slowed to a drizzle.

By the time Anna reached the top, the admiral had taken a spyglass from the sailor on duty and was looking out to sea. Looking in the same direction with the naked eye, Anna could just make out something on the water that might or might not have been a ship.

“Admiral?” she said. “What do you see? Is it the patrol ship?”

After a long moment, the admiral abruptly lowered the spyglass and turned to the princess, his face stony.

“It’s a warship,” he said. “And it’s not one of ours.”

END CHAPTER 14
- 13
- 14
- 15
You need to be logged in to leave a review for this story.
Report Story

In the Light of Day: A Frozen Epic