The King of Arendelle

Maskerade

Sophie padded down the hall. She was hyperaware of her surroundings, and any little sound made her twitch with panic. If any of Hans' men caught her, she was as good as dead. She had to find her family, or Mattias, someone who could help.

Why did the halls feel so much longer than she was used to? Her fingers were so tight around the hilt of her blade that her knuckles had turned white. Years ago she wasn't holding a sword, but a stick. How strange that those memories were still so clear in her head.

"High!" Mattias would call out, slashing her head. The stick swords clacked as Sophie parried. "Right," he said, and "Low," and "Left," and "Left" again, faster and faster, moving forward. "Lunge." He warned, and when he thrust she sidestepped, swept his blade away, and slashed at his shoulder. She almost touched him, almost, so close it made her grin.

Sometimes, Mattias would trick her. "Left!" He said, and then he whacked the right side of her chest, leaving a bruise.

"Ow!" Sophie cried out. She made a face, "You said left!"

"I did, and because of that, you're dead."

"You said left and you went right, that's not fair!"

"Sophie, I might have said left, but see my arm and my sword. I was clearly intending to swing right."

"I was watching you every second!" Sophie argued, face heating up from the embarrassing loss.

"Watching is not seeing, jeune fille." He teased. Sophie had long outgrown that nickname, but to Mattias, she would always be a young girl. "All right, weapons down. That's enough for today."

"Will you tell me another story about France? Or before you got to be a knight?" She asked eagerly.

Mattias was surprised at her, "I thought you'd be sick of those by now."

"No. I love listening."

Such a charming little face... How could he ever say no? "Did I ever tell you how I came to Norway?" Sophie shook her head. "Well, I was already a trained swordsman when I decided to leave home. I went to England first, which is a ways west from here."

"I know that."

"I did mercenary work; whoever hired me to protect them, I did. From working-class families to aristocrats. I got to see much of the land."

"But then...?"

"It's not terribly exciting, so I'll keep it short. The last English Lord I worked for would have me travel to other lands and bring him back exotic animals; animals you probably haven't even seen. Not up close, anyway. Two-legged lizards, zebras, a giraffe... Then one day, he asked me to bring him a puffin."

Sophie didn't understand. They saw those all the time! "Why a puffin?"

"He'd not seen one before, and someone was offering good money for their feathers and meat. So I was sent back east, and it just so happened I docked ship here."

"What made you want to stay?"

"Again, to make a long story short, I fell in love with the land before I even met the king at the time. Something about this place hardens people into true warriors. When I went back to England with my Lord's prize in hand, he explained to me the real reason he'd made such a specific request. He'd lost a good portion of his money gambling, he was hoping the puffin would help repair some of the damage, but it barely gave him enough to last through the winter... I stayed with him until spring to make sure his family didn't suffer, but after that, I was let go since he couldn't afford my services any longer... I was free to come here then."