The Love That Bonds Us

Chapter 21 : A Cryptic Warning

AGNARR

"We've found them!" I cried in disbelief and excitement, my eyes flitting between Iduna and Arianna who just stared at me with stunned expressions. "We've found the rock trolls!"

Iduna blinked in surprise and her mouth fell open slightly, and a faint crease formed between Arianna's eyebrows, but neither of them said anything.

Unable to hide my happiness and triumph, I jumped to my feet and gripped their shoulders in turn, "Isn't this brilliant! Don't you know what this means?" I then gave a probably insane sounding laugh and took off amongst the rocks, "I mean, I expected more sentient beings but ..." I trailed off as I kicked the side of my boot into one of the rocks.

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Arianna shake her head, "I don't think so brother. You saw that thing twitch." she jerked a thumb over her shoulder, "I think they're more alive than you realise."

"Well then, why don't they show us?" I drove my foot into the rock again, thinking nothing would come of it, but boy was I wrong.

Arianna reached out and screamed, "NO!" but she was too late; the rocks surrounding me suddenly started rolling around, making the floor tremble like before, and I soon found myself on the cold, earthy ground, scurrying backwards away from the trolls, completely freaking out and on the verge of screaming - very unprofessional.

Then, one by one, the rocks all sprang up; complete with arms, legs, feet, hands, and faces! They looked very strange and I had to bite my lip to stop myself from yelping in shock.

I then felt myself knocking against the girls' legs, and we all froze, watching as the trolls watched us.

None of us dared speak, and for what felt like hours, neither did the trolls. We just stared at each other waiting for the other to pluck up courage and do so much as blink. That is, until an older looking one rolled into view and the rest moved to let him pass. When he sprang up, he revealed a thick beard made of what seemed to be straw, a long green cape and a necklace of crystals. Upon closer inspection, I realised they all had a necklace like this, only some had more crystals than others. Maybe it had something to do with age and wisdom.

"Your Majesty." the elderly troll bowed deeply before me and I scrambled to my feet, unsure of how to respond. "You've come just in time."

I furrowed my brow at that, bewildered as to what he meant, "In time for what? And how do you know who I am?"

"How could I not know who you are?" the troll returned cryptically.

"Because you don't live in Arendelle." Arianna answered, folding her arms. Trust her to be skeptical of these creatures after everything we'd been arguing about.

The troll turned to her, a lazy sort of look in his eye, "And I know exactly who you are too, Princess Arianna."

Fear dilated in my sister's eyes, but she would never show it, least of all to the troll. She instead deepened her frown and stepped forwards, pressing for answers, "How do you know who I am?"

"If you really must know the answer to such an unimportant question when there are more serious matters to discuss, I can see things. I have these visions, of sorts."

Arianna snorted, still not satisfied with his answer, "See things? Visions? Please." she rolled her eyes.

A frown formed on the old trolls stony features - Arianna was clearly getting on his nerves; it was one of her many gifts.

He lifted his hands into the cold air, causing a shimmering blue scene to appear before us. It was Arendelle, complete with the people walking or playing in the spring sun.