Chapter 9

Prince Lars brought Elsa and Anna inside the castle to a small sitting room. With them were Erik and Alexander, the two gate guards who were instructed to accompany them as they knew the women’s identities. Other guards were sent to cover their gate duty as they were now tasked with guarding the prince’s guests. Waiting for them in the room was Helga, Prince Lars’ wife.

After a brief exchange of greetings, Anna and Elsa explained the situation to the others. “So you’re sure my brother is the one behind this?” Lars asked.

“Not absolutely sure, no,” Elsa admitted. “But who else could it be? And from what I saw in Ahtohallan, the mercenary leader basically admitted it, though never actually said his name.”

Lars nodded. “Very well. However, neither my father nor any of my other brothers have so much as seen him since his release from prison a few months ago.”

“How is it that he’s already out?” Anna asked in anger. “He tried to kill me and my sister and steal our kingdom, yet he only served what, three years?”

Lars gave Anna a sympathetic look. “I’m sure I don’t need to remind you, but Hans has been disowned and banished from the castle. He is essentially dead to his family. That was his primary punishment. As for him being out of jail, he was granted parole for good behaviour, if you can believe that.”

“He can certainly put on the charm when he needs to,” Anna admitted bitterly.

Lars nodded. “He’s still forbidden from leaving the Isles but is free to earn a living, meagre though it may be compared to what he had before.”

“Then you have no idea where he is?” Elsa asked.

“Unfortunately no, but there’s only so many places he could go. It shouldn’t be too difficult to track him down but if we want to do it inconspicuously it could take a while. My concern in doing so is what you mentioned before, about how the mercenaries are quite willing to kill your husband should anything happen to disrupt their plans. Us taking Hans into custody would definitely qualify.”

“So what is the plan?” Helga asked. She hadn’t said much but was busy making sure that Anna and Elsa’s immediate needs were being taken care of. She had brought tea and sandwiches so that the two of them could eat something while they brought everyone else up to speed.

“My best bet would be to set up an ambush. Find out where they are and as soon as Kristoff is out of the hands of the mercenaries, we swarm them.”

“That’s certainly better than our plan,” Anna admitted.

“And that was?”

“Board their ship and pray they were all asleep so we, or Elsa really, could take them out before they could do anything to Kristoff or Sven. But we had decided against that since it was far too risky.”

“So what are we waiting for?” said Elsa. “We still don’t know what ship they’re on or when it’ll arrive.”

“I’ll have to bring a few more men into the fold,” Lars said. “Just us here won’t be enough manpower if we want to do this quickly.”

“But we have to be stealthy about it,” Elsa reminded him. “If word gets to Hans that you’re looking for him...”

“We’ll be as subtle as possible,” Lars reassured her. “Now, it’ll take a bit for me to gather men I can trust with this, so in the meantime why don’t you two let my wife get you into something a little more ... fitting.”

Elsa and Anna glanced down at their clothes. While the borrowed dresses did their job of protecting the women’s modesty, they were made for a woman over twice their size, and calling the clothes unflattering was very much an understatement. Not to mention that if they were to bend over a little too far there was a very real possibility of a breast being exposed due to the overly loose neckline.

Helga nodded in agreement. “Come, come. When you rescue your husband you don’t want him seeing you dressed like this, do you?”

Anna and Elsa agreed so Helga brought them to her dressing room where she allowed them to pick through her own clothes for something that was suitable. Elsa probably could have dressed herself in her magical ice dress, but with her powers being a little difficult this far from the Enchanted Forest, she didn’t want to take the chance of something going wrong and her dress vanishing on her, which would leave her completely naked.

Helga, being nearly a decade older than Elsa and having already bore a child, was slightly larger than either of the sisters, so nothing she had on hand was a perfect fit. Still, her outfits were much closer in size than those they borrowed from Ethel, not to mention far more fashionable, and a slight tightening of cords or laces was all that was needed for their outfits to fit rather well.

Anna chose a green dress that matched her eye colour and came in two separate pieces. The skirt portion was a little shorter than what she was used to, only going down to her calves, but it was light and gave her a great deal of movement. The top was quite a bit different from her standard fair in that it left her midriff completely bare. It was entirely inappropriate for a queen to wear something like this, and having her belly exposed was something she’d never done outside of the bath or bedroom, but Anna had to admit she liked how sexy it made her look when she examined herself in the mirror. It seemed to be a popular trend here on the Isles as nearly half of the outfits Helga showed them were of similar design.

Elsa went with something a little different. Her dress was pale red though it had elaborate patterns of gold woven into it, and covered a lot more skin than Anna’s dress. It was a single piece that went down to her ankles, up to her neck, and completely covered her arms. However, it was very form fitting and there was a large oval of fabric missing from the front, revealing a large amount of the upper portion of her breasts.

They also quickly combed their hair, working out the worst of the tangles, then Anna put hers up in a basic bun and Elsa put hers in a ponytail. It wasn’t anything fancy, but at least they felt presentable now. The finishing touches to their outfits were matching shoes and dark cloaks that would both protect from the night’s chill and cover their faces to help hide their identities as they conducted their search.

They were still adjusting their cloaks when Prince Lars knocked on the door. “Are you ladies ready?” he asked.

“Yes, just a second,” Anna replied. She and Elsa threw up their hoods, hiding their faces in shadow, then opened the door.

“Ah, excellent,” the prince said, seeing their outfits. “Unless someone is right in front of you, they shouldn’t be able to recognise you. Helga, unless we are lucky at locating my brother, we may be gone all night. Don’t wait up for us.”

Helga nodded. “Very well. I know you were Hans’ favourite brother, but don’t let that trick you into thinking he’s not a threat. To the ladies or to yourself. Good luck.”

Anna, Elsa, Lars, and a small group of soldiers headed out into the night. Most of the men quickly dispersed, going to various pubs or other places of interest where they might seek out information regarding the former prince. Erik and Alexander stayed with the women as both guides and guards as they searched around the docks. They would investigate that area while the others roamed the town. An hour later, they all met up at the town square to share any findings.

Unfortunately, nobody had caught sight of Hans, though one of the soldiers had heard of a pub that he had been frequenting of late. He had checked the place out but came back empty handed. Having no better lead, the group headed back to the pub. It was a relatively small ale-house, near the docks so plenty of sailors visited but not so close that it drew a huge crowd. Tonight was no exception and the number of patrons was such that if everyone in Lars’ entourage entered it would more than double the number of occupants.

Instead, only Lars, Anna, Elsa, and Erik entered, while the others remained outside. Lars approached the owner, an elderly but well built man behind the bar. The man eyed up the new arrivals, eager for more customers, then recognised the prince.

“Prince Lars,” he said, standing up a little straighter. “What brings you to my humble little establishment this fine evening?”

“I’m looking for someone, actually.” Lars replied. “My brother, Hans. I haven’t seen him since he was released from prison and I wanted to check in on him, make sure he’s eating properly and all that. He’s been rather difficult to find, but I’ve heard he was here recently.”

The man scratched his chin, thinking. “It’s hard to say. He may have been here, but with so many customers, I’m afraid I’m not entirely sure.”

The prince looked around the room. While it was far from empty, it certainly wasn’t so busy that one would have a hard time remembering those who were here. He sighed and set a few coins on the bar. “Does this help jog your memory?” he asked, pushing the coins towards the man.

The other man quickly swept the coins up and made them vanish into one of his pockets. “Ah! Now I remember!” he said, exaggerated. “He was here. Last time was about a week ago. He and another fellow rented out the back room for a while.”

“And do you happen to know who this other fellow was?” Anna asked, stepping up to the bar. “Or what they were discussing while they were here.”

The owner shook his head. “No, miss. I’ve not seen the man before. He had a captain’s hat on, though. As for what they were doing, the whole reason people use the back room is to have a bit of privacy. I honestly have no idea what they talked about while they were there.”

“Is that room available now?” asked Elsa.

“It is, for a nominal fee,” the man said. Lars handed him a few more coins and he smiled. “Thank you, Your Grace. The room is yours for the next hour. But I don’t see how it’ll help, they didn’t leave anything behind when they left.”

“Oh, I’m sure we’ll be able to find something,” Elsa said confidently.

The owner shrugged then led them to a room at the back of the main area, held the door open and gestured for them to enter. It was a rather small room and with the four of them inside there wasn’t much space to move around. The room was sparse, with just a single round table surrounded by four stools. A window in the far wall would have let in sunlight, but with it being night the only source of illumination was a single lamp on the table.

“If you would like anything, please ask,” the man said.

“One thing, actually,” Lars said. He handed over several more coins. “If anyone asks, we were never here. Understand?”

The owner nodded and closed the door, leaving the four of them alone.

Lars looked around the room but didn’t see anything other than the furniture. “Well, now what? As the man said, there really is nothing here.”

“Not true,” Anna said, walking to the window and looking outside to make sure no one was looking in on them. Fairly certain that there was no spying, she pulled down her hood before continuing to speak. “There’s wood, and while there may not be much, in that wood is moisture.”

Lars and Erik were both confused as to where Anna’s logic was going. “And?” Lars asked.

Elsa removed her hood and continued the explanation. “Moisture means water, and water means memory.”

“Huh?” the two men said, utterly confused.

Elsa ran her hand along the table, trying to sense the correct moment she was searching for. “Water is able to store memories, memories that I can manifest by using my powers.” She closed her eyes and concentrated, tapping into her magic and sending it out of her into the surrounding space. The trace amounts of water in the wood around them and in the air itself began to collect into a single area next to the table. Elsa gritted her teeth with effort as she strained to make the water respond as it had back in Arendelle. Slowly the water formed into the shape of two men, and with a final burst of power from Elsa, the water froze in place. She gasped from the effort and nearly collapsed, but Anna was right there to support her.

“Amazing,” Lars said as he stared at what Elsa had conjured. Before them was a perfect statue of Hans, made of ice, shaking hands with another man.

“Do you recognise him?” Elsa asked. Anna continued to help keep her steady as she still felt light headed from the effort she just exerted.

Lars inspected the statue of the other man carefully. With every part of the statue coloured snow-white it was a little hard to separate the various facial features, but he eventually had to conclude that he didn’t know this man. “I’m sorry, ladies, but I’m sure I’ve never met this man before. Erik?”

“No, sire,” the guard said. “Though he definitely looks like the captain of a ship.”

“And if he is a ship’s captain, then I know who we need to speak with next,” Lars said, then he turned to Elsa. “Can that statue be moved?”

Elsa shook her head. “It is just an ice sculpture now, so probably, but I wouldn’t chance it. If something goes wrong and it breaks I don’t know if I can repair it.”

“Then how long will it remain if we don’t move it?”

“It’s ice. It’ll start melting soon if I don’t do something more, but I don’t have to actively maintain it if that’s what you’re wondering about.”

Lars nodded. “Alright then. Wait here, I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Having said that, he left the room, closing the door behind him.

He was gone only a few minutes, and when he returned he was followed by the harbormaster the women had met earlier. The man entered and looked around the room, momentarily distracted by the unexpected ice sculpture in the middle of the room before really noticing the women. “I met you two a few hours ago. You were wondering about ship arrivals.”

“That’s right,” Anna confirmed.

“Is this why I was brought here? You had more questions? Had I known you were acquainted with the prince I would have been more accommodating.”

Elsa shook her head. “No, we honestly didn’t know you were the person Prince Lars went to get. I hope we aren’t disturbing you with this.”

“It’s alright. I was busy when you were trying to talk to me before, but that ship and its cargo are all sorted out now, so I have time.”

Lars spoke up. “Then can you help us, Anders? Take a look at these sculptures,” he said, gesturing. “I’m sure you recognise my brother but we need to know who the other man is. He’s supposedly a captain of a ship, and nobody comes to the Isles without passing through you.”

The harbormaster, Anders, approached the sculptures. “What remarkable creations! How in the world did you manage to carve such detail? I swear I can see the individual hairs on their heads.”

Elsa smiled. “Trade secret, I’m afraid,” she said.

Anders returned the smile. “Yes, I suppose it would be. Anyway, yes I do recognize this fellow. His name is Tobias, and he captains “The Swift Stallion”, a vessel normally used as a passenger ship. He’s relatively new to these parts but has a reputation for getting people and things from one place to another quickly.”

“And do you know where he and his ship are now?” Lars asked.

“Not off the top of my head, no. But he was in port last week so we can check my records, see what his latest itinerary was.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Anna said and immediately headed outside, not waiting to see if anyone was following.

“Um, does she know where my office is?” Anders asked.

Elsa couldn’t suppress a small smile at her sister’s impulsiveness. “No, she doesn’t. So it’d be best if we catch up to her before she gets herself lost.”

The rest of them filed out of the room. Elsa lingered just long enough to make sure that Anders nor anyone in the main room would see her use her magic to make the ice sculptures disperse. It wouldn’t do to leave those statues there for anyone else to see, especially Hans, should he return unexpectedly.

Anna was waiting for them outside along with the other soldiers. She had got as far as the road before realising she didn’t know which way to go and stopped. Nobody said anything but Elsa gave her a knowing smile which made her blush slightly, then they all followed Anders to his office. He lit several lanterns to give him enough light then sought out a large book that looked like it weighed nearly as much as both women combined. He placed it down on his desk with a thump and began flipping through the pages.

Near the end of the book he finally found what he was looking for. “Ah, here we are. The Swift Stallion. A two masted schooner. Hmm ... was in port eight days ago ... stayed for a couple of days ... then headed back out. Odd. No destination given, or expected cargo, but has an estimated time of return for today, but since she nerve showed she’s technically overdue.”

“Is that normal?” Anna asked, trying to read over his shoulder.

“Being overdue? Oh, quite normal. Weather, complications with cargo, crew difficulties. There are any number of reasons why a ship might be a bit late. Not giving a destination is a little out of the ordinary, same for what’s being transported. It’d be nice to know who or what to expect when they return, but since they aren’t one of the kingdom’s supply ships there’s no requirement. If I may ask, why are you so interested?”

“I believe my husband is on that ship,” Anna said, “and I’m desperate to see him again.”

“Oh, I see,” Anders said with a grin, misunderstanding. “He’s quite the lucky man for a woman as beautiful as you to go to such lengths for him.”

Anna gave Elsa a knowing look and grinned. “Yes, he’s about to get very lucky,” she said. Elsa did her best to not blush. She failed, but no one noticed as they were primarily focused on Anna.

They again thanked Anders for his assistance and headed back outside. “So now what?” Anna asked. “We know the ship but are no closer to finding it or Hans.”

“But now we know what to look for,” the prince replied. “A ship of that size can only dock here at the main port, so unless they are planning on anchoring offshore and coming in on a landing boat, we know exactly where they’re headed. Plus my scouts can see in every direction from the lookout post atop the castle. They’ll be able to spot any ship, even in the dead of night, and as soon as we spot our quarry we can get into position well before they arrive.”

“And Hans?” Elsa asked.

“I will have my men continue to search through the night, but there are plenty of places to lay low. We aren’t about to invade random people’s homes, and the chances of us stumbling across him in the streets at this time of night are basically non-existent. Since we haven’t found him by this point, the odds are we probably won’t find him until he comes to the ship or we tail the mercenaries to wherever it is they are to meet. In the meantime, you two should get some rest. You are looking rather spent.”