Not So Frozen

Not so Frozen

Thank you so much to my editor incredimeters

There is sex in this story but it is not the main focus.

Book 1

Elsie lay in the snow face-to-teeth with a very large grey wolf. Elsie stood 5'7 and weighed only about 115 pounds. She had long hair that was so blond, it was almost white. She was staring into the wolf's angry eyes with her ice-blue ones, wearing her usual mischievous grin, but the wolf was not backing down.

She was so tired from tracking the wolf and wasn't sure why. She didn't get tired like this unless she used her ice powers a lot and she had barely used them today at all. She felt fear for probably the first time since she was made Queen. Then she felt something she had never felt. I drop of sweat rolled down her forehead and into her left eye. It burned with irritation. Elsie couldn't ever remember sweating before in

her life.

With help from her sister Anna, the current Queen, Elsie had learned a lot about herself from a cache of documents they had found together in the castle. It seems that their mother had been some sort of myth collector. No doubt preparing for the day when she would reveal to Elsie that she was the fifth spirit. Elsie had learned that being the fifth spirit didn't make her immortal. Her aging would slow but not stop completely. In other words, this wolf was more than capable of killing her. She also knew that long life would come at a price. She had to return to the northlands on a regular basis or her powers would weaken and eventually fail.

Could that be what is happening here? Have I been gone from the northlands for too long?

She thought.

That's crazy, I was there less than a week ago.

The fact was, she barely left the northlands much anymore. It was beginning to feel so much more like home. The only reason she had left this time was to see Anna and Kris celebrate their first wedding anniversary.

There had been too many people and too many walls. Way too much food and even though most of it was chocolate Elsie had hardly eaten anything. She explored the stable and said hi to Sven, Kris's reindeer, but Elsie had still felt, well, trapped. Even talking to Olaf had not helped much.

Anna, seeing her sister in distress, had formulated a plan to get her back into the woods and to the freedom she needed.

"Elsie?" Anna asked, tapping her sister's shoulder.

Elsie almost jumped, but somehow managed to keep herself grounded.

"Anna, you and Kris look so happy."

"Thank you." Anna blushed. She wanted to say "you don't", but her diplomatic side took over. "I hate to ask this of you, but you are so good in the forest."

The thought of any opportunity to get back to the forest made Else ready to say yes to anything. "You know you can ask anything, Anna. I already owe you my life, twice," Elsie held up two fingers.

Anna smiled, "Well. One of the local farms keeps losing sheep to a wolf and I was wondering...?"

Elsie was practically out the door. "No worries, Anna. One wolf popsicle coming up."

"You don't have to kill it, Elsie." Anna grabbed Elsie's arm and turned Elsie to face her. Anna handed Elsie a map she had drawn on a napkin. "Just suggesting it find a new home would suffice. And be safe."

The two women hugged and Elsie headed for the gates. Kris came up behind his wife. "Where is

she going?"

"She needs some air, so I sent her after that wolf that has been giving the Johannsen's trouble."

"But that report is weeks old," he said confused. "And there are signs of a storm."

"Well then," said his wife, "She will go for a ride, find nothing and we can tell her about our surprise later when she is refreshed and it's just us."

"Beauty and brains. You have it all."

Anna leaned back into Kris's chest. "Only because I have you."

The wolf's growl brought Elsie back to the present situation, which was becoming more difficult by the minute. If only she was closer to her forest. The rock giants or her Nokk horse friend could make short work of this wolf. Even Bruni would be able to distract the thing long enough for her to get away.

"Gale? Gale are you here?" Elsie asked no one in particular.

The wind began to blow, but not in the playful manner that denoted Gale's presence. Elsie was crawling back away from the wolf, but now she found she had backed herself up against a tree and

was trapped.

In her periphery, she saw something approaching. It was about the size of a man but was covered in fur, almost like a small bear.

Oh great, my situation has just gone from bad to worse

. Elsie thought.

Maybe a small bear could distract the wolf. On the other hand, then I will have to deal with the bear. And the way my luck is going today the bear and the wolf are probably best friends.

Little did Elsie know she was not far from the mark about the approaching creature's relationship with the wolf. The man, yes it was definitely a man, moved closer with his hands raised in an open palm gesture. Now, upon closer inspection, Elsie could see what she had thought was a bear was a very tall man dressed in a coat and hood made from the pelt of a brown bear.

The wolf started to move away from Elsie, moving in the man's direction but it was still facing and growling at Elsie. The possibilities that went through Elsie's head were all bad. The wolf could attack her. The wolf could attack the man. The wolf could attack the man, then come back to attack her. She could not let an innocent suffer because of her. She was totally against killing, but she had no choice.

She raised her hands.

"Fenrir, No!" The man screamed

A very weak yellow beam shot from Elsie's hands and hit the wolf dead center in his chest, turning him to solid ice. Elsie passed out.

"Hey!" said a male voice followed by a gloved hand slapping Elsie's face

"Hey! Hello in there." And another gloved slap.

"I'm awake," Elsie said her head pounding.

She felt herself being lifted, the bark of the tree scraping her back. Normally her dress would have protected her by sealing the rips as fast as they happened but, in this case, only one in four was repairing itself. Her head was swimming.

The stranger yelled in Elsie's face in some foreign tongue. She didn't understand a word. The only thing that Else noticed was he was strong and his breath smelled of mint.

Elsie's fingers, feet, and face were starting to hurt. The stranger stopped supporting her and she slumped back to the ground.

Elsie's vision started to clear. The bear man pointed at the wolf again. Switching to her language he yelled, "Bring him back."

"I'm sorry. I can't." Elsie admitted. "Only an act of true love can bring him back."

Elsie detected a smile on the man's face. He then put his thumb and his forefinger in his mouth and whistled. It seemed like forever to Elsie but only a few minutes later a pure white wolf appeared. By way of explanation, the man said, "This is Nisse, Fenrir's mate."

The white wolf walked over to the ice sculpture that had been its mate only moments ago and let out the most mournful howl. "I'm so sorry Nisse," Elsie said as the white wolf wrapped her body around him in a protective embrace.

That isn't going to work,

Elsie thought, but sure enough, when the white wolf uncoiled herself, from Fenrir, he was not a statue any longer. Both wolves gave Elsie a growl and bark and then ran off into the woods, headed for their den.

The stranger pulled his hood back over his head and looked to the sky. "I guess we all need to get home. There's a storm coming." It was then that the stranger looked down and discovered that Elsie was unconscious. He turned his eyes skyward and thought to himself,

Odin. Why me

?

Chapter 2

Cold

, Elsie thought.

So cold

. Elsie had not felt this cold since that time in the northlands when she had dived too deep and frozen completely. She could not remember if she had dreamt during the brief time she had been completely turned to ice, but she had certainly had several dreams since she saw the two wolves disappear into the underbrush. One was of her and Anna playing house and Anna getting married to her rocking horse, Buckskin. One was of Elsie being carried by Marshmallow with Olaf shouting, "Ice palace for one, ice palace for one," in the background. The final dream was of a bear forcing her to drink lava that tasted like chocolate and mint.

His eyes shot open to what looked like a cave in the dim light. There was a fire burning in a large fireplace. The floor was packed-earth. There was a layer of straw beneath her, then a blanket, then herself, and another blanket on top of her. She should have been roasting but she wasn't. She was still cold.

"Elsie?" The voice was deep tentative and definitely male. "Are you awake?"

Elsie's head was a lot clearer than it had been before. Her eyes followed the voice to the form of a man sitting in a chair at a makeshift desk. "How are you feeling."

Elsie didn't want to move away from the warmth of the fireplace but she also need to put some distance between herself and the stranger. He had shed his bearskin coat and stood there in trousers and a flannel shirt. He stood five feet eleven inches tall. He was easily two hundred pounds with large arms and a strong chest. His legs matched his arms and Elsie thought that he would probably be as good at hauling ice as Kris. Unlike her brother-in-law, the stranger had a beard and jet-black hair that he had tied back with a simple leather thong and fell down his back past his shoulder blades.

He was approaching her just as he had walked up to the wolf Fenrir. His arms were spread wide and his palms were face up and empty. "Easy there." He cooed.

"Where am I? What am I doing here?" asked Elsie.

"You're in my home. You fainted and so I brought you here to keep you safe and warm."

"The cold doesn't bother me," Elsie snapped back.

"Really? Because it looks like it bothers you a lot. You are already shivering again. Come, move back to the fire."

Elsie hated that he was right. What was wrong with her? She never had trouble with the cold like this before. The man moved away to both grab another log from the firewood pile that took up the entire wall in front of her, and give her more space. Elsie moved back to the straw bed and the blanket slipped. She looked down to see that the elegant blue dress she had been wearing was gone and instead she was wearing a sheet wrapped around her body in a pretty good approximation of a toga.

Her cheeks burned with embarrassment. Her chest burned with anger. She stared daggers at the stranger. Without looking down, her right hand began to glow. In seconds a small icicle dagger appeared. Elsie faltered for just a moment as it felt like she had just run a mile.

"What happened to my clothes?"

The stranger had been ready for this. He brought the log he was about to throw on the fire up to protect himself if Elsie lunged. "I know this is going to sound weird, but as I was carrying you back, they melted."

Elsie threw the dagger into the fire and watched as it melted. For the last year, her powers had been getting stronger and many of her creations had taken on a protective magical coating that allowed them to stay frozen even on the hottest of days. That was failing too. Elsie collapsed onto the straw and began to weep softly.

The stranger was well-versed in how to behave around a wounded animal. He moved in cautiously. Elsie recovered and looked up at the man again. "Am I your prisoner?"

The man fell to one knee so they would be more on an even level. "Of course not." He handed her a handkerchief, "Your Majesty."

"Then may I ask you a personal question?" asked Elsie. "What is

your

name?"

Her smile was brilliant. He had heard the rumors of how cold Elsie was, but obviously, those had been spread by people who didn't know her. He could only imagine how anyone could consider her cold and unfeeling. He had seen her display everything from rage to humor in only a few minutes. This woman was a free spirit that should never be caged.

"Josef," He bowed his head, "Your Majesty."

"Thank you, for saving my life and for your hospitality. How long was I out?"

"Only a few hours. The problem is, that in that time the storm moved in and while you are not my prisoner, we are both now captives of the storm. I have not seen a storm move in this fast since, well, your coronation, Ma'am."

She grimaced reminiscing about that interesting day, "It's that bad?"

"The snow is not that bad and the temperature is not out of the norm, but together they are deadly, Your Majesty."

"I'm sorry, but I guess I just don't understand," Elsie said in a conversational, not commanding tone. "What do you mean together they're deadly?"

"Under normal conditions, you could walk back to town in about two or three hours. At the current temperature, you would be very cold by the time you got to town, but you would be fine. The snow is going to slow you down, however, so that two or three-hour trek will now leave you exposed for five or six hours." He looked at the floor again. "Ma'am."

"How are we set for supplies?" Elsie asked.

"I keep two weeks' supplies on hand at all times and enough wood to keep us warm for at least that long, Your Majesty."

Elsie still didn't feel like her old self, but she felt way better than she had before. She walked slowly but steadily over to him. She held out her hands just before she reached Josef. He knew it was to steady herself, but pretended like she was helping him to rise from his knee. She had to look up at him "I'm Elsie. I'm not the Queen anymore. I'm certainly not a Ma'am. Elsie is fine."

Now more than ever before,

Elsie thought.

"Yes, Elsie."

She taped his chest. "You have another one of these I can borrow?"

Josef stared at her. This was the former queen. This was the woman who had brought the entire country to its knees with a single tantrum. He could not believe how vulnerable she looked or how much he wanted to hold her. He could not control his feelings, so Josef retreated. "Of course."

Gods, he's handsome,

Elsie thought. She had never even looked at a man like this before, much less thought the thoughts she was thinking about him.

He looked a little like Papa, but a whole lot more filled out. He's sweet and smart and kind to animals. If I had to get trapped with someone, I could have done worse.

He smelled of woodsmoke and if she wasn't mistaken, bread.

"Anna. I'm so sorry I ever doubted you. You were so right."

Elsie said, thinking out loud.

"About what?" Josef asked. Elsie jumped and her sheet fell.

Josef's heart stopped at the sight of her naked form. He had snuck a glance or two at her when he was originally getting her settled. Any red-blooded man would have, but this was full exposure and it was like looking at something holy. She was a goddess. They both stood there for over a minute before he did the honorable thing and moved his gaze to the floor. "I am so sorry Your Majesty. I had no idea."

"It's OK," Elsie said, taking up the sheet. "I didn't hear you come back in. It was my fault."

Elsie took the shirt he held out and let the sheet drop again. This was getting fun for her. She didn't know why she was comfortable with this total stranger seeing her naked, but it was warming her better than any fire ever could. Then she saw it; a ring on his finger and the fire within her was extinguished in an instant.

"I'm sorry Josef. I didn't know. I shouldn't have presumed."

She finished buttoning the shirt and retreated to a dark corner of the room. How could she have been so stupid? Of course, a guy like this would be married. What was she thinking?

"You didn't know what?" he asked still very confused.

"That you are married." She said as she covered her legs with the sheet and began to cry.

He sat on the floor next to Elsie. She tried to get up, but his hand easily wrapped around her wrist and she couldn't move. The truth was she really didn't want to. The emotional rollercoaster had left her drained again. He began to twist the ring on his finger. It was a wide band made of steel or silver. It had a large bear engraved on it and each of the bear's footprints was a small green tourmaline.

"Elsie, I'm not married," he finally said, all joy gone from his voice. "Not anymore."

Elsie felt terrible. How could she have been so insensitive? Not knowing what to say, Elsie said nothing. She had completely internalized the grief she had felt when her parents died. She had never been able to help Anna and she was not sure if she even could.

"Her name was Minna..."

"Josef, you don't have to."

He held up his hand to silence her. "Yes, I really do."

He took her hand. "We had known each other since we were kids. Our parents worked in the Palace at Corona. We did too when we got older. It took me many years to earn her father's favor. I asked for her hand and we were very happy. Then she took ill and...she died. After the funeral, I just started walking. I walked for almost a year. I did odd jobs here and there. Not all of them were nice until something led me here. I found this cave and figured I could build a small house here. It's tiny, but it's strong and more than big enough for me."

Elsie wrapped herself around his upper arm and leaned into him. She could feel his pulse beat through his arm and it was hypnotic. The fire began to grow within her again, but much slower this time. The two of them sat there just watching the flames in the fireplace for an hour. Absentmindedly, Josef began to hum. Nonsense at first, but then Elsie could have sworn it was, "Og det var Liden Karen" (And it was little Karen) and she couldn't help but sing along.

"Well. What kind of host doesn't offer his guest dinner?"

Josef stood and walked over to the fireplace and with a long wooden spoon tested the contents of a large pot hanging over the flames. Elsie realized it had to have been there the entire afternoon. Elsie took this moment to fashion the sheet she still had into something more dress-like. She still didn't have any underwear but she didn't care. Josef moved his desk, making it a table for two. He pulled out his chair for her and pushed it in as she sat. A large log would serve as a stool for him. He served them a stew in earthenware bowls, then provided each of them with a small tin cup, into which he poured water.

The stew had meat, carrots, peas, and small potatoes. It was creamy, and for the first time in a long time, Elsie started to feel warm again. After a few bites, Josef presented Elsie with a roll and filled her cup with wine from an old dusty bottle he had over the stove. The wine filled her with all kinds of memories. Elsie looked across at Josef. "Is this what I think is?"

"Tulip wine, 1820," he finished his portion in a single gulp. "Only the best for you, my Queen."

Elsie's face went hot. "And this stew, it's so good. What is it?"

"Lutefisk."

Elsie coughed with her mouthful, causing her cheeks to expand for a moment. She looked like a chipmunk. Josef let out a barrel laugh that Elsie swore shook the rafters.

"It's rabbit," he confessed, still chuckling.

After dinner, Josef cleared the table. He had cut a steel drum in half. One half was set into the wall at head level and the other half was about waist height. Josef pulled a stopper and water flowed from the top barrel to the makeshift sink. "You are so inventive, Josef."

Josef bowed. "Are you tired Elsie?" he asked.

"A little, but I feel better than I did before."

"There is something that I have been wanting to do with you all afternoon," Josef stared into her eyes, "But I have not dared to ask you."