Love That Thaws

Chapter 9

Back in Arendelle people rush about trying to stay warm as the cold sets into their bones. Hans hands out blankets as he tries to direct them to the castle.

(Y/n)'s horse gallops through the gate startling the people standing nearby. The horse rears back and whines in fright.

"Whoa boy! Easy!" Hans calms the horse down.

"It's (Y/n)'s horse!" A woman exclaims in the crowd.

"Where's the princess? What happened? Where are they?" The crowd spoke aloud in fear.

Hans looks towards the mountain. "Princess Anna is in trouble. I need volunteers to go with me to find her." He shouts into the crowd.

"I volunteer two men, my lord." The duke speaks up. "Be prepared for anything. And should you encounter the queen, you are to put an end to this winter." He whisper to his men. "Do you understand?"

(Y/n) POV

I glance wearily at our new surroundings. Long spikes of ice taunting us. Almost daring us to continue. I rub the cut on my arm as I carefully navigate the terrain. I can't imagine the guilt Elsa must feel from this.

I lift my sleeve slightly to reveal the flaming tissue. The cold air nips at the red skin causing me to shiver slightly before putting my sleeve back down.

I glance up to see Kristoff almost impale himself in the nose on one of the many spikes. He carefully steps around it and continues talking to Anna. "So you're not at all afraid for her?"

"Why would I be?" Anna asks.

"Yeah I bet she's the nicest, gentlest, warmest person ever." Olaf says while he impales himself on an ice spike. "Oh look at that... I've been impaled." He laughs.

A couple hours later we reach a cliff side with dangerously slick rocks. I glance up the steep face as my heart sinks, this isn't good.

"So now what?" Anna asks as she too looks at the rock face.

"It's too steep. I've only got one rope and you don't know how to climb mountains." Kristoff says as he digs in his bag.

"Says who?" I hear Anna retort. I look over to see her attempting to climb the wall. I sigh and shake my head.

"What are you doing?" Kristoff asks, equally confused as I am.

"I'm... going, to see... my sister." She says as she climbs higher.

"You're gonna kill yourself." Kristoff deadpans. "I wouldn't put my foot there."

Anna slips. "You're distracting me."

"Or there."

She slips again.

"How do you know Elsa even wants to see you?" Kristoff asks.

"I'm just gonna tune you out so I can focus." Anna says as she continues to climb.

Noticing Olaf isn't with us, I leave the two to their bickering and follow the snowman. "Olaf?" I question but my words die on my tongue as I look and see a beautiful staircase of ice leading to a giant castle. "Wow."

"Hey Sven? Not sure if this is going to solve the problem but I found a staircase leading exactly where you want it to go." Olaf says.

"Ha ha, thank goodness." Anna smiles. "Catch!" I watch with wide eyes as she throws herself from the mountain side into Kristoff's arms. "Thanks, that was like a crazy trust exercise." she says as she walks over to me.

We walk together towards the staircase and we're all in awe. Olaf runs up the stairs like a giddy little boy. I follow after him.

"Now that's ice." Kristoff says. "I might cry."