Frozen | Huke Stemmings

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The castle's library was dark, but the king knew what he was looking for: an ancient book filled with knowledge from centuries past. When he found it, he pulled it from the shelf and quickly flipped through the pages to the section he needed. In it was a drawing of a troll, which seemed to be holding the northern lights in its hands. In front of the troll, a wounded human lay quiet while the troll used its magic of the northern lights to heal him. The king turned the page and spotted a crumbling document tucked into the book. He carefully unfolded the yellowed map.

Wasting no time, the king and queen threw on their cloaks, bundled yo their sons, and ordered that the horses be saddled. The royal family hurried away from the castle. The queen traveled on her own horse with Ashton, while the king held Harry in his arms. The horses thundered the mountain path.

Luke and Sven were walking down the rocky mountain path under the bright glow of the northern lights. But as the rumble of hooves filled the air, they moved aside, wary of the approaching horses. They watched the riders gallop, leaving a trial of ice behind them.

Curious, Luke and Sven followed the travelers to a ridge above a mountain valley. The two hid behind a rock and watched as the horses whinnied and came to a stop.

The king and queen dismounted. The king held a young boy to his shoulder; the queen held the hand of a slightly older boy.

"Please, help!" The king cried out. "My son!"

The hillside appeared empty at first. Then a pile of rocks down the hillside. Suddenly, the rocks unfolded themselves into legs and arms and stood up, revealing themselves to be small gray creatures—they weren't rocks at all! "Trolls," Luke whispered to Sven.

At that moment. a rock next to Luke jumped up, turning into a short troll woman covered with moss. Her name was Dove.

"Shush," Dove told Luke absently. "I'm trying to listen." Then, startled, Dove looked more closely at Luke, realizing for the first time that he was not a troll. Her face broke into a grin, and she reached out to give Luke and Sven big hugs. "Cuties!" she said, laughing. "I'm gonna keep you."

In the valley, the king stood with his son as Louis, a very old troll, made his way through the crowd to gaze at the princes.

First he looked at Ashton. "Was he born with the powers or cursed?" he asked.

"Born," the king answered. "And they're getting stronger."

The troll turn turned his attention to Harry, who was still unconscious. "You are lucky it wasn't his heart that was struck," he noted. "The heart is not so easily changed, but the head can be persuaded." He paused. "We should remove all the magic, even the memories of magic, to be safe."

The king nodded. "Do what you must," he said.

With a gentle touch of his fingers, the troll pulled a series of glowing memories from little Harry's head. The memories hovered in the air as the troll transformed them into more sensible scenes. Harry would now remember a winter scene in the courtyard. Instead of snowflakes in the hallway, he would remember snowflakes falling outside the window. All the magical moments he had shared with Ashton were gone, replaced with normal moments. The only moment of his magical accident was the streak of white in his hair.

"There," said Louis with he was finished. "He will remember the fun, but not the magic."

"He won't remember that I have powers?" Ashton asked.

"No," Louis said.

"It's for the best," the king told him.

"Listen to me, Ashton," Louis said. "Your power will only grow. There is beauty in it, but also great danger."

As he spoke, the troll conjured up an image of an older Ashton in the sky. The image twirled gracefully surrounded by beautiful snowflakes.

Then, amid the northern lights, the snowflakes turned into sharp spikes. The spectre of a crowd joined Ashton in the sky—the people used the icy spikes as weapons, attacking Ashton's glowing effigy.

"You must learn to control your power," Louis continued. "Fear will be your enemy."

The king hugged Ashton close. "We'll protect him," he promised. "We'll lock the gates. We'll reduce the staff and keep his powers hidden from everyone—including Harry."