Frozen Love: Jelsa

Chapter 15

Elsa

            Elsa left Jack and her sister alone outside while she headed to the Council’s meeting room. All twenty members were already seated around the circular wooden table looking impatient. It consisted of 10 men between 20-40 years of age and 10 of 41-60 years. When she came through the door, they all stood up and bowed to her. Elsa was not fooled by this formality; most of the members gave her the same nasty looks as the townspeople. The entire meeting was mostly the Queen bringing up ideas for trading posts and the Council members declining them.

            “We cannot set them up there your Highness,” grunted Sir Dresnip, a stout and gruff little man. “The natives of that region will not allow us to trade on their coast.” He always spoke to her as if she were a child, as if she didn’t know how to rule a country.

            “Well, they are the only country with a major export of sugar. What about establishing some sort of agreement?” But the Council simply rejected this as well as any compromise Elsa tried to come up with. When the meeting finally ended, Elsa dismissed them all and quickly jogged to her office at the end of the hall. As soon as the oaken door was shut, she slid to the floor and tried to hold back the tears. But they came anyway; hot little droplets sliding down her cheek one after the other. Frustratingly, she wiped them away with her hand. She had done enough crying for a lifetime a year and a half ago. But it seemed as if life just kept throwing things at her and not giving her a break. Just as she stood up she heard an all-too-familiar voice.

            “You know, it’s strange how long it takes for something to freeze, and how quickly it melts. Although, in your case, I suppose it’s the opposite.” Elsa turned around and faced the shadow on the wall.

            “Why don’t you come out of the shadows and face me, you coward?” Elsa had expected a visit from Pitch, but he could only be beaten if Jack and Elsa both came at him. She hoped Jack would have enough time to come and help. 

            “There’s a difference between cowardice and habit. I don’t face people often because they don’t believe in me,” Pitch answered. But Elsa was done pitying this monster. As soon as he was where she could see him, she swept a mass of ice across the floor and slammed him against the wall. Soon he was blanketed in a layer of ice covering his shoulders, chest and feet. But before Elsa could slam an icicle into his head, a Nightmare came out of nowhere and plowed into her.

 While Elsa was getting up from her fall and freezing the horse, Pitch broke out of his icy binds in an explosion of Sand. He produced a great black wave of the stuff to shove Elsa across the floor. She tried to fight back by freezing the Sand, but Pitch was still able to make the Sand/ice swallow all of Elsa’s body excluding her head. Surprisingly enough though, she found that she was still able to manipulate the ice. “Now, let’s see your frosty love come running to your rescue. I’ve been wanting to face him in combat,” Pitch grinned.

  Rising up from his the floor around him were pointy black Sand spikes angled towards her. Pitch made one of them separate from the others and race through the air towards her. Before she could free herself, it lodged itself into the wall right next to her cheek. She couldn’t help but let out a loud scream. All of a sudden, Jack burst in through the door and took no more than a second to stare around the room. Elsa decided to wait to melt the frozen Sand, because Jack probably had a plan. Sure enough, he did. When Pitch threatened him and offered a trade for the staff, Elsa could see the mix of anger and humor in his eyes. As soon as he liberated her, they launched into battle.

They were making good progress with Pitch and his Nightmares until Pitch managed to corner Jack, leaving Elsa to fight off the Nightmares. When she prepared herself to come to Jack’s aid, she felt something like teeth close around her ice cape. The last thing that went through her mind was, I should’ve taken the cape off. Suddenly she felt like she was sliding through a vertical tunnel of black sand with great force and speed. But it all only lasted for a second. When the feeling vanished, Elsa was standing in almost total darkness.

“Where have you taken me?” Elsa called out to her invisible captor. She couldn’t help but smile to herself a little. Pitch had had to kidnap her because she and Jack had been too much for him. He had needed to weaken the only duo that stood a chance against him. 

“I’d like to welcome you to my humble abode,” Pitch’s voice echoed all through the dark chamber. A small green light appeared above her head, casting a ghostly glow on Pitch’s gray face. The light spread throughout the cave to reveal small luminescent crystals clustered on the ceiling. “I do hope you like it here. You are going to be here for quite a while, my queen.” And with that came a small crowd of Nightmares through the walls, who forced her through one of the many stone tunnels in the cavern.

 Elsa tried to fight the mares with ice and snow, but her strength was depleted, and she was certainly not in her own element. They simply caught her again and trekked silently on. She lost count of how many turns they made heading towards her prison. But she managed to memorize some of the path, just in case. The horses deposited her in a bleak, empty chamber with tall stalagmites blocking the only entrance. Elsa knew she couldn’t use her powers to get out of this one; it was all made of stone. She could find another way out, but this network of tunnels was like a labyrinth. A bitter, dark labyrinth of stone.