Chapter 2: ...who is pure of heart….
The atmosphere in the castle had become dreary and somber ever since news of Kristoff’s discovery, But that didn’t stop one occupant of the castle from skipping down its halls whistling a jolly tune. Of course Olaf, the talking snowman, had no idea what had happened, but still his beacon of positivity was always welcomed, even if he couldn’t find those that needed it.
“Elsa! Anna! Sven! Kristoff! Kai? Hm. Where is everybody?” Continuing to Wonder, and not finding anyone in their usual places, Olaf headed for, what was in his opinion, the most boring room in the castle. The meeting room. He sighed heavily, remembering just how boring meetings were, so he had opted to simply skip them all together.
“And if I’m lucky, they’ll be done for the day!” The idea of “no more meetings” put a small spring in his step as he skipped his way to the meeting hall.
Coming to the double doors he first tried to open them manually but found them locked. Thinking it was odd at first he then reached for his carrot nose and jammed it into the lock. As he jiggled his nose the doors suddenly opened, revealing a troubled princess Anna.
“Olaf,” she stepped out Into the hallway, shutting the door behind her, and grabbing his nose in the process, “you know your not supposed to come in when the rooms are locked.”
“I know,” He shuffled his snowy feet like a child that had been caught doing something wrong. “I haven’t seen you guys all day and for all I know you could both be having a party without me.”
Anna placed his nose back into his head with a chuckle. “Olaf, we’re fine. But right now we have some serious kingdom matters to deal with.”
“I can be serious!” He did his best to put on his best “serious” face before erupting into giggles. She shook her head with a smile before holding him in a tight hug. “Awe I love warm hugs!”
She laughed. “Just be sure to give out a lot of warm hugs.” Beneath her breath she added. “We’re gonna need them.”
Elsa had her chin resting on top of her hands as her royal guard explained to her what they had discovered. However Elsa hadn’t heard a word he had said. Too much in shock she had only managed to hear that a young man, from her kingdom, was brutally killed. Coming out of her daze she looked at her dark skinned, large necked Captain of her Guard.
“I apologize Bjorn. I’m out of sorts right now. Would you mind repeating yourself?”
He may have been a very large man, but he was a gentle giant, and incredibly sympathetic towards his queen.
He offered a small nod and cleared his throat. “We’ve examined the, um, kill sight and came to the conclusion that this was indeed a wolf attack.”
“I respectfully disagree.” Elsa turned her attention to the other man in her meeting room. A short portly man with an unusually pale skin complexion, almost a light purple, and was well known as the kingdom physician. Although he was a human physician, he also worked with some of the animals too, but in this case his expertise was needed as to what kind of animal made this attack.
Adjusting his glasses he took out a small notebook. “Looking over the kill sight, while disturbing, was NOT typical of your mainstream wolf attack.”
Bjorn narrowed his thick brows. “Your saying a human did that?”
“No I am not.” Flicking through the pages he clarified. “Wolves Hunt in packs and when they find food they eat the carcass to its bare bones. This poor soul was killed by a singular animal and most of the ‘thicker’ portions of flesh, such as the legs and buttocks, were left untouched. Instead, whatever creature this was, opted to take only small portions of meat around the chest cavity, completely removing the heart.”
That caught Elsa’s full attention. “The heart?”
“Yes,” said Bjorn, “the heart was gone, but everything else was still there. For the most part.”
Elsa leaned onto her knuckles again. “Dr. Rolf What do you think this mean?”
Dr. Rolf adjusted his glasses again. “I can’t say for sure your highness. I’m sorry.”
Elsa stood from her wooden chair, pacing about her meeting room as she chewed on the tips she of her nails. Ignoring the small flurry of snowfall around her she thought back to her lessons with her father. Two things she had learned from him, fear her powers and how to be a queen. Never once was she taught about what to do in situations like this, but one lesson stood out.
She straightened her back, exhaled to extinguish the snowfall and faced Bjorn and Dr. Rolf. “I need you two to keep this a secret. The last thing we need is a panic. Bjorn, double the guard around the woods and fields. Our number one priority is keeping our people safe.”
Bjorn looked at Dr. Rolf as if wondering if he had heard the same order. “As much as I agree with you, my queen, I’m afraid I don’t have the manpower to patrol that large an area.”
Elsa looked down at the table in thought, but her response was quick. “Yes you do.”
Elsa watched with trepidation as the sun began to set over the fjord, still she had her worries about the coming night. She took in a deep breath repeating to herself the fact that the safety of her people was more important than her own fears and anxiety. She had earned their trust, even after she had coated her kingdom in ice, and she was determined to keep it.
She went to her mirror, this time forming an outfit that would function in the wilderness better than a dress. Outfitting herself in ice blue boots and matching coat over a sparkling icicle unitard she finished the ensemble with a dark cloak with the hood up.
“Okay,” She gulped, “I can do this.” Now she just had to sneak out of the castle without anyone noticing. Luckily her servants had been excused for the evening so really her only issue was her sister.
Peeking through the doors of her chambers she hoped that Anna was busy taking care of Kristoff. He had been out of sorts since finding the poor man that had died earlier and was in desperate need of companionship. Elsa just counted in her sister to be that companionship. Last thing she needed was Anna trying to stop her.
She snuck through the hallways, as stealthily as she could, making sure to take extra care to sneak quietly by Anna’s room. Once she had passed she quickened her pace, her hands gripping the edge of the cloak tightly around her to keep it from flapping in the wind. Down the halls she went to one of the smaller doors at the side of the castle, one of the better ones to sneak out of.
Coming to the door she looked around, still finding herself alone. “Huh. I didn’t expect that to be so easy.”
She opened the door, surprised, and yet not really, when Anna’s mud covered face was thrown into hers.
“Well took you long enough.” She grabbed her by her hand and led her sister out of the castle and towards the woods. It took a moment for Elsa’s brain to catch up, but once it had she had found herself at the woods edge with Kristoff, Sven and Olaf waiting for her.
“Come on you didn’t think we’d let you do this alone huh?” Anna joined at Kristoff’s side with folded arms with her hip stuck out.
Elsa shook her head with a smile. “I’d tell you all to go back to the castle because this is just to dangerous, but I doubt any of you would listen.”
“NOT a chance!” Olaf shouted chipperly.
“Shhhh!” Anna clapped her hand over his mouth. “Remember? Stealth mode.” Mumbling beneath her hand, he gave a salute. “Oh! That reminds me.” She grabbed a small bowl and dipped her fingers into its contents.
“Anna, what are you—“ her eyes and mouth instantly shot when Anna began smearing mud all over her face.
“Remember Elsa,” Anna said as she finished, “stealth mode.”
Wiping away some of the access mud, Elsa noticed that Olaf, Sven And Kristoff were all caked in the same, dark sticky goop. “Just roll with it.” Kristoff shrugged. “Besides it’s not that bad of an idea.”
“Alright,” Anna revealed a brightly lit lantern and headed off into the woods, “let’s do this—“
“Whoa whoa whoa, eager mcbeaver.” Kristoff grabbed her from around her waist and pulled her back. “What happened to ‘stealth mode’?” He took the lantern and turned the light down a little. “Besides we're not going into the woods.”
Setting her down he went to a bag he had set aside, removed another lantern and some ice picks and handed them out. “We’ll divide into two teams—“
“Whoa, whoa, whoa! ‘Split up’?!” Elsa looked at him as if he had gone insane. “You do know there’s a killer… something out there?” When Kristoff had frozen in place with a haunted expression, Elsa realized her mistake. “Kristoff I—“
“Yes, Elsa, I’m aware something is out there. I also know that Sven And I know these woods backwards and forwards, and to draw as little attention to ourselves as possible, we’ll need to keep the lanterns low.” He stood beside Anna. “Anna And I will head in this direction,” he gestured behind himself, “Elsa, you, Sven And Olaf will head east.” He pointed opposite behind them. “We’ll do a few passes of the forest and then meet back here in a few hours. Agreed?”
Everyone nodded just as Elsa reached into her cloak removed one more item. “Take these horns. Bjorn and his men are patrolling nearby and when he hears them they’ll come to your location.”
“Alright then,” Anna put her hand out and motioned for everyone else to put their hand on top of hers, “and remember—“
“Stealth mode,” Olaf finished seriously.
Anna kept herself low to the ground holding the pick axe like some kind of sword as she krept along the woods edge. Kristoff wasn’t sure, but he was almost positive that he could hear her humming some sort of intense tune under her breath.
“What are you doing?” He chuckled.
She straightened up as if she had just been caught singing in the shower, but was still bouncing around eagerly. “Oh come on. You can’t tell me this isn’t a least a little exciting?”
“Uh, wandering around in the dark while some man-eater stalks the woods isn’t exactly my idea of excitement.”
She bounced towards him, wrapping her arms around one of his. “Oh come on. I’m sure whatever it is, we can handle it, just like that pack of wolves a couple years ago. I mean, how bad could it be?”
His steps slowed, that same haunted look coming over his features. “Bad Anna. Very bad.”
Noticing his change she stepped in front of him, the palm of her hand resting against his cheek. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make light of this whole thing. It’s just… how I work ya know? ‘Doom and gloom, but Anna is a cheerful ball of sunshine’ kind of thing?”
“Anna,” he said taking her hand in his, “don’t feel like you need to be happy all of the time for mine, or your sisters, sake.”
“Oh don’t get me wrong I’m not happy ALL the time. But when Elsa, or you, need me I’ll always be there.”
A warm smile spread across his lips as he kissed the palm of her hand. “And that’s why I love you so much.” He continued on, Anna however seemed to be stuck in place. “Anna? You okay?”
She slowly turned around, her mouth slightly open with one side quarked upwards. “Did you just say… you love me?”
His heart stopped. It was made apparent early on that they both cared about each other, but neither one of them had said the words “I love you” to each other. To be honest it was more like an unspoken game to see who would say it first.
“Uh… I… um… no. No I did not.”
She coyly approached him, her smile widening as she swayed her hips. “Yes you did,” She said in a sing song voice. “You said you loOoOoOoOve me.”
“N-No I didn’t! I-I-I said … uh…”
She shut him up by kissing his lips. “I love you too. But know we’ll always know who said it first.” She playfully patted his cheek and began skipping away while singing, “you love me first, you love me first.”
About the fourth time she sang the words, Anna was about to belt them out as loudly as she was able until Kristoff came up behind her to slap his hand over her mouth.
“Your just upset you said it first.” She mumbled beneath his hand.
“SHH!” He turned his attention to the forest. “Listen.”
Going completely silent, she did as she was told and strained her ears towards the woods. It took a moment or two, but from the darkness they could hear branches snapping, wood being strained, and possibly growling. They listened for a few minutes before Kristoff removed his hand from her mouth and went for the horn.
“Hold on. Don’t sound the alarm just yet. What if it’s just a deer, or a fox or something?”
He looked at her like she had gone crazy. “Yeah, a deer is capable of making those sounds.”
She rolled her eyes. “I just don’t want to call in the Calvary unless we’re sure that there’s a reason to call them.” She began to make her way into the woods with Kristoff calling after her, quietly yelling that she shouldn’t be doing that.
Cursing beneath his breath he followed her. “See this is why I didn’t bother telling you not to come out here tonight. I’d have a better chance of winning a thousand gold pieces from Oaken's shop then telling you NOT to do something.”
“Just as long as you never forget it.” She smirked. “Now come on. The noises are this way.”
“Would it make much of a difference if I told you this was a bad idea!” He called again, but Was close enough to keep his voice low and she’d still hear him.
“All we gotta do is figure out what this is. If it’s nothing, great, if it is, then that’s why we have the horn.”
He shook his head. “Well for the record I think this is a bad—“ He stopped when he suddenly bumped into Anna. “Anna? Why’d you stop?” He moved himself so that he was now looking at her face. A face frozen in absolute terror.
He followed her line of sight, using what dim light the lantern had to offer to illuminate what she was staring at and was only then could he understand her fear.
Joey Thomas’s lifeless eyes stared unblinking, His chest ripped open and his blood stained the forest floor and surrounding trees. Standing over his carcass, was a large mound of black hair, blood dripping from yellow teeth with a pair of silver eyes glaring angrily at those that interrupted its meal. It’s black fur blended perfectly into the darkness of the forest making it difficult to figure out what they were staring at, until the eyes began to rise.
Anna and Kristoff could only tremble as the eyes rose to at least eight feet in height and slowly came towards them.
“H-H-Horn?” Kristoff quivered.
It took a moment for Anna to respond and when she did, it was only a nod.
“And that is why, in my humble opinion, frogs are pure evil.”
Elsa couldn’t help the small eye roll. “That sounds riveting Olaf. Have you heard anything coming from the woods?”
The snowman was lying casually on Sven’s back looking up at the sky and twirling the horn in his stick fingers. “Nope. Should I be? Hey how can I hear if I don’t have ears?”
She rubbed her left temple with her finger, seriously considering the idea of removing his “personal flurry”. Sven gave a sympathetic grunt and a gentle tap with his antler.
“Thanks. Glad someone understands.”
She patted him on his head. “Don’t worry about it Olaf, just keep your eyes out for—“
Each of their heads jerked in the opposite direction when the sound of a horn pierced the night’s silence.
“Should I be listening for that?”
Elsa had already begun sprinting in the direction of the horn, hoping it wasn’t Anna’s.
Please don’t be Anna’s horn. Please be okay. Please be okay. Her inner thoughts were so loud she couldn’t hear Olaf begging for her to slow down and wait for them. Her focus was so singular she didn’t register that she was creating a sheet of ice trailing behind her. Her goal was clear in her mind.
Get to Anna. She has to be okay.
Just as they arrived to the spot where the horn was sounded, Bjorn and two of his men were seen also responding.
“What is it?” Asked Bjorn from atop his horse.
“I don’t know, we just got here!”
The horn blared again from inside the forest, followed by incoherent, high-pitched babbling.
“Steady men.” Elsa heard Bjorn command, but she was ready to pounce if she had to. Dangerous looking icicles formed at her fingertips, all she was waiting for was the right moment, and like a jungle cat, she’d strike whomever dared harm her sister.
Finally, Kristoff and Anna could be seen running at full speed, weaving through trees, rocks, and branches. Kristoff was flailing his arms trying to get Elsa’s attention while Anna was throwing hands pointing behind her.
“RUN!” They heard Anna yell. “GET AWAY!”
Taking her eyes off her sister for a second, Elsa looked passed them but could see only blackness. Still something was giving chase, she just couldn’t see it.
“ITS BEHIND US!” Kristoff shouted. “IN THE TREES!”
Bjorn and his men raised crossbows, one of them making the comment, “What? What’s behind them? I can’t see anything.”
“Somethings there,” Bjorn aimed his crossbow into the trees, keeping his trained ears on the forest canopy.
Kristoff and Anna emerged from the woods, practically flying from the trees as Bjorn shot an arrow into the canopy, once he was positive something had landed in its branches. Just as he was sure he hit something, a wall of ice had formed around the forest, trapping whatever it was inside.
Elsa lowered her hands and ran straight to her hyperventilating sister.
“Anna! Anna say something!”
Her sister just continued pointing hysterically into the forest. “B-B-Big! T-T-Teeth!”
Elsa waved her hands at the ice wall. “Captain Bjorn!”
He had already mounted his horse with his two men following behind him. “Way ahead of you, your highness!” And with that they vanished into the darkness of the woods.
Olaf waddled until he was standing over Anna and Kristoff, once he saw that they were okay he looked over at the woods.
She glanced over her shoulder. “To stop whatever is in there from hurting anyone else.”
