Frozen | Huke Stemmings

-10-

Luke brought his pile of supplies to the front counter.

"That'll be forty, ja?" Zayn said.

"Forty?" Luke barked. "No, ten."

"No, see, these are from our winter stock," Zayn told him. "Where supply and demand have a big problem."

"You want to talk about supply-and-demand problem?" Luke asked. "I sell ice for a living!"

Harry walked over to the counter and smiled at Luke. "Ice. Really?" he said. "That's a tough business to be in right now."

"Forty," Zayn repeated. "But I will throw in a visit to Zayn's sauna. Hoo, hoo!"

Luke and Harry both peered over Zayn's shoulder to see a family waving from a toasty sauna in a room behind him.

"Ten's all I got," Luke told him. "Help me out, ja?"

Zayn held up the bag of carrots. "Ten will get you this and no more."

Luke glared at Zayn, seething.

"Just roll me one thing," Harry said, moving closer to Luke. "What was happening on the North Mountain? Did it seem . . . magical?"

Luke pulled down his scarf, revealing his face. He looked down sharply at Harry. "Now back off while I deal with this crook here."

Zayn rose from his chair. He did not appreciate being called a crook. "What did you call me?" he said. He was much taller and wider than Luke had expected. Zayn loomed over the counter. Then, with a frown, Zayn swiftly threw Luke out of the shop.

Luke went flying out the door and landed face-first in a mound of snow next to Sven, who had been waiting patiently outside. Luke pulled his head out of the snow. "Ow!" he moaned.

"Goodbye!" Zayn said pleasantly, and slammed the door.

The reindeer snorted and moved over to Luke, snuffing and searching in the snow.

"No, Sven," Luke told him. "I didn't get your carrots."

The hungry reindeer huffed in his face. Then Luke turned his head and spotted something that made him brighten. There was a barn behind the trading post—a warm place to spend the night.

"But I did find us a place to sleep," he added. "And it's free."

Back in the shop, Zayn returned to his other customer. "I'm sorry about this violence," he told Harry. "I will add a quart of lutefisk so we have good feelings." He looked over at what he had selected. "Just the outfit and the boots, ja?"

Harry looked at his supplies and then over at the bag Luke had left on the counter. He smiled as an idea occurred to him.

Shortly afterward, Harry left Zayn's shop and looked around. He could hear singing coming from the barn. He pushed open the door quietly and peered inside. Luke was lying against a bale of hay playing his lute. He was singing to his reindeer . . . and then, singing as Sven, he finished the song from the reindeer's point of view.

"Ahem." Harry cleared his throat. When Luke looked over, he smiled. "Nice duet," he said.

"Oh, it's just you," he said when he saw Harry standing in front of him. "What do you want?"

"I want you to take me up the North Mountain," he declared.

"I don't take people places," Luke replied. He closed his eyes and lay back in the hay.

"Let me rephrase that," Harry said. He threw the sack of carrots he had just brought over to Luke. They were exactly the items he'd wanted.

"Umph!" he grunted as the heavy bag landed on his chest.

"Take me up the North Mountain," he ordered.

Luke regarded him carefully. He was not used to take orders. And he especially couldn't see any reason to follow Harry's.

"Look," Harry said. "I know how to stop this winter."

Luke hesitated. If the cold weather stopped, he might be able to sell his ice down in Arendelle again.

"We leave at dawn," he said finally. "And you forgot the carriers for Sven."

Harry dropped a bag of carrots on Luke's face.

"Ooh!" he said.

"Oops, sorry, sorry," Harry said. Then he caught himself. He was trying to take charge, after all. "We leave now," he declared. "Right now!"

Luke looked over at Sven and offered him a carrot. Sven took a healthy bite. So did Luke. They looked at the stranger before them as they chewed. They both knew he had no clue what was ahead.