Frozen Fire - A Helsa Fanfiction

Chapter 18 - In the Treehouse

Hans headed past the ice palace, further than any of the mountains near the North Mountain. He was heading for the tallest mountain in Arendelle. It was almost three miles further than that of the North Mountain, and although it sounds strange, it was actually the South Mountain.

Elsa had only ever ventured as far as the North Mountain, which was the closest to the main kingdom of the four largest mountains of Arendelle. Of course, the only time she'd been in any proximity to any of these mountains was when she was at the North Mountain in her ice palace.

Elsa argued with herself about whether it was worth going to search for Hans. She didn't know how far he'd gone or what direction he'd headed in but she felt in her heart that it was the thing to do. If he was alone amongst the thick snow with very limited food and clean water sources, he could easily die.

Why should she care?

She shook her head and ran, trying not to think of the consequences of going after the most hated criminal in all of Arendelle.

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It had been nearly two hours and Elsa had stopped running long ago, short of breath. She was barely scraping halfway the journey to the South Mountain, and knew she'd have to set up camp. She was glad about her immunity to the cold because she didn't need to make herself a camp fire to keep warm by. She stopped in her tracks and began to collect some branches. She didn't want to be spotted amongst the trees by any criminals or dangerous animals.

She spent almost an hour collecting wood for her temporary treehouse. She didn't care if it was ugly, she just needed a place to stay for the night. A benefit of being isolated from the world for years was the amount of reading time she got. She had read three survival guides, so she was very knowledgeable on survival when in situations like this and knew how to craft a quick, stable den (whether it be a hut or a treehouse).

The sun began to sink in the beautifully-painted sky. Elsa turned her head to see the opposing side of the sky was deep blue, with a beautiful full moon appearing from the horizon. Elsa loved the day time and the sun but she'd always loved the night time, the moon. She found it so mysterious, and the fact that the night was generally cooler too. She felt the adrenaline of being out in the pitch black, the sun no longer there to fend off any danger.

Elsa placed the last branch on her treehouse. It was very small, just over 2x2 metres. It had a small gap in one of the walls, but still large enough to let someone as small and fragile as Elsa through. She quickly created a ladder up to the treehouse with her ice powers and thawed it, making it almost inaccessible to those below. She curled up, not at all affected by the cold temperature of the night. She drifted off into a deep, but dreamless, sleep.

Elsa half-awoke to the sound of scrabbling outside. It was still night; she'd only been sleeping for a few hours. She silently peaked out of the small gap.

Elsa gasped as she saw the figure of a man and a pack of dark wolves scraping behind him. She didn't know what to do, but quickly created a glowing snowflake in her hand to signal her location to the figure. As the figure rapidly approached, she noticed it was a young man, probably just a little older than herself.

"Quickly! Come up here2! She called, creating a ladder of ice. She climbed it, almost slipping a few times but just about making it up. She quickly thawed it so there was no chance the wolves could get up. She shot ice in front of the wolves and scared them off. It was dark and Elsa didn't know who the man was. She created another glowing snowflake and lifted it up between herself and the man. She didn't recognise him, but he wasn't actually that harmed from the wolves.

He had dark brown hair, green eyes and was resonably tall and muscular. Elsa noticed he was wearing an outfit similar to Kristoff's, so he was probably an ice harvester. She noticed he was tucking his knife into his belt. He'd clearly used it to fend off the wolves.

"So, who are you?" Elsa asked, as he starred worriedly at the ice shots outside of the treehouse and the glowing snowflake.

"Erm... I'm Maximus. Most call me Max," he stuttered, continuing to stare at the ice-related things Elsa had created. Elsa hadn't noticed he was reaching for the knife in his belt.

"How did you create that ice?" he asked, awaiting his confirmation to kill her.

"Oh, I was born with ice powers," she replied. All Max could thing of was the fact she must be a powerful monster. He pulled the knife out very quickly, giving Elsa a matter of seconds to block his stab with a wall of ice.

"What are you doing?!" she cried.

"You're... an ice witch!" he cried, throwing the knife in her direction. Fortunately for him, he kept a small stock of weaponry, mostly knives, in the inside of his coat. The knife almost missed Elsa, leaving a cut across her face. She knew she had no choice but to run. She jumped out of the treehouse, landing lightly on the ground.

Another knife hurtled towards her, narrowly missing her back. She upped her speed, terrified of the man behind her. She tried shoot ice but it was difficult to aim when running without slowing down and putting herself in more danger. She ran and ran through the forest, noticing that there was a mountain ahead of her.

The South Mountain she thought.