After shopping in Oaken's store, Anna had thought about her situation. On foot and without equipment, she could never cross the heights of North Mountain. So she decided to hire a professional, and knew where to find it. The young princess walked towards a wooden building at the back of the shop, which was surely acting as a reserve. As she approached, Anna could hear the calm, melodic sounds of a lute. She listened, hearing this man, Kristoff, singing that reindeer are better than people. She was a little surprised when she heard as if he was imitating another voice, as if someone was answering him. She made the decision to enter.
_ "Nice duet." she commented, pushing aside the wooden door. Kristoff and Sven, about to fall asleep, jumped up in surprise.
_ "Oh, it's you ... what do you want?" Kristoff asked, still unwilling to be friendly. Anna preferred to ignore his complete lack of politeness and focused on the main topic.
_ "Um ... I want you to take me up to the North Mountain." she demanded bluntly, but not very confidently. Kristoff stared at her like she was crazy.
_ "I don't take people places." was his answer as he lay limply on the pile of straw, covering his head with his cap. Faced with this refusal, Anna did not allow herself to be so easily.
_ "Let me rephrase that." and with these words, the princess awkwardly threw a bag over Kristoff's stomach, who gasped. Anna again ordered him to take her to the mountain, to which Kristoff could see that the bag contained all the necessary equipment for a climb.
_ "Look, I know how to stop this winter." Anna said, hoping this time to convince him for good. Although he didn't seem very happy with the idea, Kristoff sighed and seeing that she had bought the equipment he wanted for him, decided to pay this debt and agreed.
_ "We'll be leaving tomorrow at dawn ... and you forgot the carrots for Sven."
Again, Kristoff received a bag, on the face this time. This new bag contained carrots, which made the reindeer eyes glow with lust.
_ "Sorry ..." said Anna "... Um, I mean, we're leaving now."
_ "In that case, allow me to come too." Then came a loud voice just behind Anna, which made her jump in surprise. She immediately recognized the stocky warrior with the thick beard who was in the shop.
_"And you're?" Anna asked, quite intimidated by the massive weapons the dwarf warrior carried on her back.
_ "Muradin Bronzebeard, at your service, my little lady." replied the dwarf with a proud smile. Kristoff and Sven stared at him with some suspicion. Anna was also on her guard, but at the same time, looked fascinated by the stoutness of the armor and weapons this stranger was carrying. How did he manage not to be crushed by all this weight?
_ "And ... why do you want to go to the North Mountain too?" Kristoff asked.
_ "You have your reasons, I have mine ..." replied Muradin clearly "... listen, I don't know what triggered this winter, or how you plan to stop it ... But I can assure one thing: without me, you will never reach this mountain... alive."
His decision not to say anything about his motives made him even more suspicious, but yet his words sounded sincere. Anna could see it in his more serious eyes and her voice that had grown much darker and less confident. He knew about something in that mountain ... something dangerous, far more than Elsa's power ...
_ "Muradin, isn't it?" Anna said as she approached the dwarf. "Any help is good to take, but you have to promise me one thing: that you will never hurt my sister."
Muradin raised an eyebrow, wondering why she was asking him that.
_ "I told you ... I don't care what motivates you to go to this mountain ... there is only one target that interests me, and it is surely not your sister."
A little later, in the dark night and in the middle of the snow-covered pine forest, Sven was galloping as fast as possible, pulling behind him the sled in which the trio were in. Kristoff held the bridle, driving his sled with perfect control. Anna was sitting next to him in the front and Muradin was sitting behind. The dwarf remained silent, his hands within reach of his weapons and constantly on his guard, looking around as if to watch the forest.
_ "So tell me ... what made the queen go all ice-crazy?" Kristoff asked, breaking the silence that had been in place for several minutes.
_ "Oh, uh ... well, it was all my fault ..." Anna replied, a little ashamed. "I got engaged, but then she freaked out because I'd only just met him, you know, that day, and she said she would'nt bless the marriage and..."
Kristoff seemed puzzled at the young woman's explanations. Muradin, having listened vaguely, gently shook his head, sighing under his breath.
_ "Wait ... you got engaged to someone you just met that day?" Kristoff asked, unable to believe what he had just heard.
Anna and Kristoff started an increasingly heated argument, the young man pointing out to the princess that she should learn to be more wary of strangers, but Anna seemed to want absolutely to defend this prince named Hans whom she had fallen in love with. Sitting in the back of the sleigh, Muradin listened to the duo arguing almost like an old couple, and it made him roll his eyes. Ah humans, he thought ...
Suddenly the dwarf changed his attitude, seeming to have heard something in the forest. Sven the reindeer seemed to have sensed it too, having slowed down and looking around worriedly.
_"What is happening?" Anna asked, but Kristoff motioned for her to be silent and with his lantern, lit up the night to try and see something. In the sleigh, Muradin grasped his hammer and ax firmly, his gaze darkening. A familiar shiver ran through his back.
_ "We have to go, now ..." the dwarf muttered under his breath, his gaze turning to behind the sled. Kristoff looked back, lighting up with the lantern. About twenty meters behind the sled, a dozen quadrupedal figures gradually emerged from the darkness, walking between the trees and approaching. Their blue eyes gleamed in the night and beastly growls were heard.
_ "Sven, go!" Kristoff yelled immediately, to which, the reindeer obeyed and began to gallop as fast as possible. Anna and Muradin clung together so as not to fall. Immediately, the blue-eyed creatures roared in unison and set off in pursuit of their fleeing prey.
_"What is that?" Anna asked in panic.
_"Wolves!" Kristoff replied. But Muradin was not so convinced.
_ "They are not simple wolves ..." said the dwarf, standing at the back of the sled and taking his weapons, ready for battle, to the great amazement of the duo.
With abnormal speed, the predatory creatures approached from both sides, gradually encircling the fleeing sled. Seeing them appear in the lantern light, Anna and Kristoff were horrified by what they saw. These wolves, with white furs and eyes like blue flames, had bloody and decayed bodies. Some of them didn't even have any flesh on their heads, their skulls completely bare. One of the wolves had its body completely open, showing its ribs and rotten organs inside.
_"Oh my god!" yelled Anna in horror. A wolf roars and leaps powerfully towards the sled, its jaw ready to bite anything that comes within its reach. Muradin let out a war cry and hit the creature with his hammer, exploding the skull in pieces and pushing back the body which fell heavily in the snow. However, another wolf had also jumped up and managed to reach the dwarf. Unarmed and blocked, Muradin struggled fiercely against the wolf in the back of the sled, blocking its jaws with one arm to prevent it from biting and punching it hard with the other hand to try to push it back.
Seeing the dwarf in difficulty and Kristoff absolutely having to hold the bridle to control the sled, Anna decided to act. Noticing Muradin's war hammer nearby, she tried to lift it, but couldn't. The weapon was far too massive. Anna then took Kristoff's lute and smacked the undead wolf's back with all her might. The lute shattered into pieces and the creature seemed to have felt nothing at all. However, the blow received caught the attention of the wolf, who growled in fury, turned his monstrous gaze to Anna, who found herself frozen with fear at the sight of this unreal thing. Muradin took the opportunity to grab his ax and ended the beast with a violent blow to the skull.
Meanwhile, Kristoff noticed another problem further away: the edge of a cliff. The young man then made a decision. Grabbing Anna, he threw her on Sven's back without her having time to understand. Guessing what Kristoff was planning to do, Muradin also leapt onto the reindeer's back.
_ "Sven, jump!" Kristoff ordered while cutting the links of the team, allowing the reindeer to free itself and to accelerate its course. The wolves, on the other hand, had come even closer and several of them had leaped onto the back of the sled, trying to hang on and reach the last prey still on it.
Arriving at the edge of the cliff, Sven leaps with agility and strength, easily managing to reach the other side with Anna and Muradin on his back. Kristoff used the sled as a springboard and jumped as far as he could, barely making it to the edge. the sleigh fell like a stone into the void, with the three wolves that had remained clinging to it. Stuck on the other side of the void, the remaining wolves ceased their pursuit, growling furiously at the prey that had escaped them.
Muradin and Anna immediately came to help Kristoff up and dragged him several yards in the snow, far from the edge. Both panting, Anna and Kristoff remained silent, failing to realize what had just happened. Muradin, on his side, remained unusually calm in the face of this situation and looked towards these undead wolves with a certain bitterness.
_ "What ... what were these things?" Kristoff asked, trying to catch his breath and calm.
"I don't know ..." Anna told him, who then turned her attention to the dwarf who had remained silent on the subject. "But you, Muradin ... your way of fighting and looking at these things ... you know what it is, am I wrong?"
Muradin turned to her, and judging by his closed expression, she concluded that she was right. The dwarf walked over to the princess and stopped right in front of her. He almost looked like he was going to hit her, but she did everything she could not to show fear.
_ "I told you earlier ... without me, you will not survive ... your sister may have triggered this eternal winter, but I can swear to you that in this mountain, there is a power far more terrifying and dangerous than hers ... "
With those last words, he returned his gaze to the undead wolves on the other side. Anna and Kristoff, afraid to guess what power it was, could not conceive of such a thing.
_ "And I intend to put an end to it, once and for all." added the dwarf with more than palpable determination.
**********
During this time, in the city of Arendelle, the situation became more and more worrying. The streets, the houses, the castle ... everything was absolutely covered in snow, and the temperature kept dropping to levels never felt before. All the inhabitants were trying to find solutions, some gathering immense reserves of wood to be able to heat themselves. Having been left at the head of the kingdom in the absence of the queen and the princess, Prince Hans took his charge to heart and accompanied by several guards, distributed warm blankets to the inhabitants in need.
_ "Arendelle is indebted to you, your highness." said a woman thanking the prince for his kindness.
_ "The castle is open ..." then shouted Hans to the attention of the inhabitants "... There is soup and hot glogg in the great hall ... guards, continue the distribution of blankets."
_ "Prince Hans!" then shouted an unpleasant voice against him. The Duke of Weselton, rubbing his shoulders in an attempt to warm himself, and still escorted by his two unfriendly-faced bodyguards, approached Hans.
_ "Are we expected to just sit here and freeze while you give away all of Arendelle's tradable goods?"
_ "Princess Anna has given her orders ..." Hans wanted to answer, but was again interrupted by the nervous little old man.
_ "And that's another thing!" replied the duke without shyness "Has it dawned on you that your princess may be conspiring with a wicked sorceress to destroy us all? »
_ "Do not question the princess!" Hans replied firmly to the duke, looking at him with a defiant gaze. "She left me in charge, and I will not hesitate to protect Arendelle from treason!"
_ "T ... Treason?" the duke gasped, feeling himself personally targeted by Hans's gaze. Behind the old man, the two bodyguards frowned, standing as if ready to intervene in defense of their boss. Suddenly, the approaching neigh of a horse brought them out of their discussion and caught everyone's attention. A horse that everyone recognized then entered in panic at a gallop in the middle of the square. Hans rushed forward, grabbing the bridle and managing to calm the animal. The inhabitants approached, all looking horrified.
_ "It's the princess's horse!"
_"But where is she?"
Hans, while stroking the horse's muzzle to calm it, then turned his worried gaze in the direction of the mountain to which Anna had gone. The prince of the islands then made a decision.
_ "Princess Anna is in trouble! I need volunteers to go with me to find her."
Faced with the prince's request, several of Arendelle's guards, the bravest, did not hesitate and came forward, proclaiming their desire to go with him to the aid of the princess.
_ "I volunteer two men, my lord!" announced the duke showing himself in good faith and pointing to his two bodyguards. Hans nodded thanked him and turned to the guards to begin preparations for the expedition. But secretly, the duke addressed his two men.
_ "Be prepared for anything, and should you encounter the queen, you are to put an end to this winter."