Many Beauty and the Many Beast

by Felicity Collins

  "I have to admit, you fight almost as well as a man, sis" he said smugly, calling me 'sis' in plain mockery.

  "Thank you, too bad you don't" I provoked.

  "You are going to regret that" he said with a deadly glare, pushing me away.

  "I'm waiting, Big Boy" I taunted. He growled in rage and tried to hit me, first I deflected, then I blocked, and then I kicked him where the sun doesn't shine, sending him to the ground in pain. Gordon was still sprawled to the ground, touching his head where I had hit him, but then he got up trying to hit me again while I had my back on him. I saw it just in time, but he managed to hit my left arm as I deflected his hit, blood immediately trickling out of the wound.

  "Hey! This is my official uniform!" I complained, parring another hit, not caring about my stinging arm. Plus, I liked my uniform!

  "Well, look on the bright side! You won't be needing it much for much longer" he said and tried to hit me again, but I parried "I really hope my useless baby brother doesn't make it. You'll have a little company once you join him in Hell" he snarled. That made me furious.

  "You lost the right of being his brother!" I yelled deflecting the hit and wounding him on the arm "You are not worthy to be called a brother!" I deflected another hit and wounded his leg, Gordon yelped in pain "You are not a brother!" and I slashed him on the waist and on his cheek "A brother doesn't brutally beat his younger sibling!" I blocked a hit and wounded his knee, making him kneel down as he let out another painful growl "The twelve of you are just a pathetic excuses for a prince. It's you Albert should be ashamed of!" and I punched him on the cheek with enough strength to send him down to the ground, making him let go of his sword. In the meantime, Herbert had gotten back on his feet and tried to hit me, but I blocked the hit and swiftly wounded him on his arm, on the leg, on the waist and elbowed him straight on the nose sending him down as well in a yep of pain.

  "Come on! Finish us off! That's what you want, right? Do it!" Herbert said clutching his bleeding nose. I held my sword straight towards his neck ready to screw up my life for good and commit fratricide. My sword begging me to really taste blood once more. I would have lowered myself to their level, but unlike before, after this fight, I didn't care anymore. They deserved it. In a way… what did I have to lose? Family is not all about blood-ties, it's about bounds of unconditional love. It is support and in a way friendship as well… when did they ever show any sign of that? All we had in common were half of our blood and genes, nothing more. Those men were enemies, not my siblings and the more I was convincing myself of that, the more the impulse of thirst for blood made itself stronger. I was not a hero, I was scoundrel who was ready to kill those worse than her. The moment I pressed my sword on Herbert's neck, he remained silent, but a look of fear passed through his eyes… and that was good.

  "There it is…" Gordon said with a sly half grin "The curse of the Westerguards, the thirst for vengeance… See, Skylynn, you talk a lot, but we are not that much different in the end" Something in my brain clicked as I heard him speak those words and a lesson I learned came flooding in to my mind like a wild stream: Don't let your anger get the best of you. Don't be the monster people would want you to be . I remembered Hans telling me that like it were yesterday. I pulled my sword away from Herbert's neck and pointed it at Gordon's, who's eyes immediately flashed with Herbert's same fear.

  "It's your curse…" I said seriously "…Not mine, not Hans's" I said. My sword lingered on his neck a moment longer, then keeping my eyes on them, I put it away, stepping back "Maybe next time, I'd rather start screaming like it is more appropriate for a lady to do" I said with a grin and turned around, walking away. The moment I did, I saw Elsa appear from behind a corner of the gardens. My first thought was: crap. Lecture coming up. But not a scolding came out of her mouth as she spoke up.

  "SKYLYNN, LOOK OUT!" she yelled. I turned around and in that precise moment, Gordon had gotten up and was about to strike me, when a blast of ice blocked his hit pinning him to the ground blocking his legs in a huge piece of solid ice. The same went for Herbert. Realization dawned on me: Queen Elsa had just saved my life.

  "Queen Elsa! What's the meaning of this?!" Herbert said playing stupid.

  "It means that: I saw and heard everything, that King Theodore will be informed right away and that you two will face the consequences of attempted regicide" she said in a stern voice as a couple of guards appeared "Guards, take care of these two. Lieutenant" she called a guard.

  "Yes, ma'am" he said

  "Go inform King Theodore that Prince Herbert and Prince Gordon have attempted to Queen Skylynn's life and that I leave their punishment to him" she ordered.

  "Yes, your Majesty. Right away" he said and ran off in search of King Theodore. Elsa's eyes set on me immediately.

  "Skylynn, are you okay?" Elsa asked me as she got next to me.

  "Yeah, I'm fine" then she saw my arm-

  "Your arm, it's bleeding" she said.

  "It's fine, just a scratch. It's nothing serious" I answered.

  "That's up to the doctor to decide. Let's go" she said taking my other arm and leading me back to the castle. We walked in silence and as we passed through the castle corridors a few servants looked at us weirdly as they noticed my bleeding arm. We remained silent as we walked, then as we were out of unwanted earshot Elsa broke the ice.

  "So, Hans really did try to take over Arendelle to prove himself to your brothers" she stated. She had figured it out. Good, that spared Hans some work.

  "Yeah" I answered. Then Elsa went in what Hans would call it 'worried-little-sister-mode'.

  "Why did you face them alone?! You knew it was dangerous, yet you did" she said.

  "I had to" I said "What would you have done?"

  "I would have gone to King Theodore right away, Skylynn. They could have killed you" Elsa said worriedly. I literally lit up.

  "Is that concern, the one I hear in your voice?" I said with a small cocky grin. Elsa lightly glared at me.

  "The only concern I have is not having a foreign queen murdered in my country" she said waving it off. I didn't say anything but couldn't help letting out a side smile.

  "Anyway… what do you think about Hans now?" I asked seriously. Elsa remained silent for a moment.

  "This still doesn't change things. Knowing the reason for his actions, won't take away what he did to Anna and I" I narrowed my eyes at her and was about to say something but Elsa cut me off "But now, I will be more willing to give him a second chance" she said. I shut my mouth and when we stopped I realized, we were in front of the doctor's study. "I'll see you later, Skylynn" she said and was about to walk away when I called her.

  "Elsa" I called. She stopped turning around "Thank you, for Hans" I paused "And thank you for saving my life today" None of us said anything, but our gazes met. My grey eyes and her crystal blue ones and then I saw it in her eyes. Only in that moment Elsa realized she had used her magic and saved me. She had used her powers and saved a life.

  She didn't reply, she just gave me a curtsying nod of the head, I did the same and then she walked away as I turned around and got inside the doctor's study to have my wound treated.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  After the… uhm… let's call it 'Skylynn attempted regicide incident', I went straight to my study mainly because I knew King Theodore would want to talk to me, second because I had to check the 'mail'. Once I was in my office I immediately got to work. As usual, I leave my study for less than an hour and my desk is packed with papers… being queen sucks at times…Not to mention that once again I found myself writing other two refusals to Weaseltown- I mean Weselton- to re-establish trading with them. I had just signed a few more papers when I heard loud footsteps and a knock on the door. This must be Theodore, he's not very light on his feet.

  "Come in" I said standing up. Just as I thought, Theodore opened the door.

  "Queen Elsa, I've been informed of what happened" he said worriedly, closing the door behind him.

  "So
you are aware that your brothers tried to kill Queen Skylynn, who is also your half-sister?" I said sternly clasping my hands in front of me.

  "Yes, I am" he said "How is Skylynn?" he asked, with what seemed like concern.

  "She'll probably need a couple stitches on her arm, but she's fine" I answered "You should see your brothers, Prince Herbert probably has a broken nose"

  "I better ask our doctor to take a look at them" he said gravely, shame written all over his face "But I'm not here to discuss that, I came here for their punishment, the guard said your will was leaving it to me"

  "Precisely" I said.

  "Queen Elsa, with all due respect, I don't think I can do that. I suppose you remember our law" he said.

  "I do and this is my decision" I said "This attempted regicide has nothing to do with Arendelle, I was just a witness, so you can't leave this to me. The fact that your brothers have tried to kill your half-sister is personal family business in which I don't want to have anything to do with, in the first place, and second of all, you need to sort out"

  "What you say is true, Queen Elsa, but our law says that I can't do that" he said.

  "With all due respect, King Theodore, weren't you the one who told Queen Skylynn that you could ignore that law and sentence Hans right away? Why does it sound like you are… how shall I put this?" I said unsure of what his reaction might be. The fact that Theodore was trying to avoid his responsibility was clear, but he was still a king and I had to be careful with how I spoke to him.

  "Don't sugar-coat it, say it 'Skylynn style' if you have. I can take it" he said. Okay, so brutally untactful it is.

  "Like you are afraid of taking on your responsibility as king" I stated.

  "Excuse me?" he said glaring at me with indignation.

  "You said to say it like Skylynn would. No sugar-coating and I did" I said raising my hands in surrender. His angered face immediately relaxed as he silently reminded himself that he had indeed said that. "You know that another thing I can do is handing the Princes to Queen Skylynn herself and you and I both know she will stick to her country's laws, send them to Drakora and have Princess Angel sentence them. I suppose you know what is the penalty for attempted regicide in Drakora, if Skylynn hasn't changed some laws already" King Theodore nodded defeated.

  "Death by beheading" he finished. I gave him a small nod of the head looking at him sternly "Alright" he said "I'll take them back to the Isles and deal with them, if this is your sentence" he said.

  "It is" I added.

  "Very well" he said "We'll leave this evening, your Majesty. Thank you for your hospitality and I wanted to formally apologize for my brothers' behavior. I promise nothing like that is going to be repeated ever again"

  "It better not" I said coldly "Apology accepted" Then King Theodore gave me a bow of the head and was about to leave the study, then he stopped and turned around.

  "Queen Elsa" he called "Would it be too much if I asked for General Ryder to stay here until Hans has paid his debt with justice? Consider him an ambassador of the Southern Isles" he suggested. I thought about it for a moment. If there was someone who I was more keen into trusting between the Westerguards, the drakorian queen and the Southern Isles' general, that would definitely be Storm.

  "I'll inform General Ryder myself about his new orders" I said. King Theodore gave me a small nod "I'll meet you at the docks when you depart"

  "Very well. See you then, Queen Elsa" then he bowed his head again and left the study. As soon as he got out, I went on taking care of my queenly duties, like paperwork and meetings. Speaking of which, I need something for that particular meeting with my ministers.

  Immediately, I went out of the office and into the castle halls looking for Anna. As I was about to pass a hallway, walking in silence, I overheard a few of my ministers speaking my name. I stopped right around the corner, listening to their conversation. I know, it's rude to eavesdrop, but after what I found out, I didn't trust the aristocracy speaking my name as much.

  "I wouldn't worry too much about this Friday's meeting, gentlemen" said one of them.

  "Yeah, I suppose you are right, Marquise" said another.

  "Count George, you don't seem very convinced about this" said the Marquise.

  "Well, there has to be a reason if the queen wants us all there. I believe we should be a bit concerned about this" said the Count.

  "Oh, come on! What will she do? It's not like she will… I don't know... freeze over our house if we did something she doesn't really approve of. Plus, I personally wouldn't care if she did. My last household was a present. I didn't even know about it!" said the third man with pride.

  "You mean the one in front of Arendelle's Arena, Baron Westley?" asked the Count

  "Precisely" Someone gifted you with a household in front of Arendelle's Arena and you didn't even know about it? They can't possibly say any bigger crap now, it's not possible…

  "She probably is going to lecture us about our pay checks" said the Marquise "We all know that Queen Elsa is a democratic monarch who sincerely believes in the power of the people, and by 'people' I mean the middle-class and the commoners. She's probably going to complain about our pay-checks and do nothing afterwards, waiting for us to lower them, just like her mother. Queen Idun used to do that but in the end, followed King Adgar, now he was a king" he paused "Personally, I agree with what Sir Harold Brenner once said: I don't know if we're paid too much for what we do, certainly we aren't paid enough" Forget what I said earlier, it is possible to say even bigger crap.

  "That's exactly why we shouldn't worry too much" said the Baron "She has always followed her father's rules, plus, she's too much of a softy to risk losing our support for the commoners and middle-class" he paused "This is something that worries me, our queen may have ice powers, but she is a softy, and she's now 21 years-old. I suppose we all agree she should be looking for a suitable husband by now"

  "Of course, but she has rejected all of them and now that her secret powers are out, many rather not get involved with… whatever forces she wields. Maybe that is something we should bring up during the meeting and try to find her a husband" said the Marquise.

  "I agree" said the Count "We should find her someone who realizes the importance of our supremacy over the common ignorant people. Someone who can help her be a great monarch. Queen Elsa has potential, I have to give her that, but… a queen without a king? Not possible, especially for someone as soft and mentally fragile as her"

  "You are absolutely right about that, Count" said the Marquise, then they turned the other corner and I couldn't hear anything. I narrowed my eyes at the conversation I just heard.

  "Mentally fragile, my foot" I muttered under my breath and continuing my search of Anna, fuming with irritation. A husband? Thanks, but no thanks. Point 1: I'm perfectly capable of ruling on my own. I'm who I am and I don't need a man. Point 2: if I'm getting married that will be because I want to. Point 3: my mother was a great queen. She never did anything because she made a pact with my father. And point 4: You all wait until Friday, then you'll see how I'm going to kick your asses- excuse my French, but- hey!- no one said a queen can't curse in her head.

  My search for Anna, became frantic, I needed to speak with her now. Then I needed to speak with Kristoff. When I checked the library, oddly enough, I found both Anna and Kristoff there. Kristoff was sitting on the couch with Anna laying on it resting her head on his lap, while he was reading a book, holding it in one hand and holding Anna's with the other as she fiddled with his fingers. None of them noticed me. It was a cute scene, really, I was tempted to walk out of the room and not disturb them. I stood there quietly, then after a few verses I figured out what he was reading: Dante's Divine Comedy, Cantos V.

  "Love that in a gentle heart is quickly learnt,

  Entangled by him by that fair form, from me

  Ta'en in such cruel sort as grieves me still" Kristoff read, it was my favorite part, so I joined in the last line he had just read, surprising th
em both. But Kristoff kept reading smiling at me.

  "Love that denial takes from none belov'd,

  Caught me with pleasing him so passing well

  That, as thou see'st, he yet deserts me not" we read in chorus before stopping "I still can't believe you actually got him into liking Dante, Anna. It looks like our mountain man has good taste" I said smiling at them, as Anna sat up straight.

  "Thank you" Kristoff said with a nod of the head.

  "I didn't do anything. I just suggested him to read it" Anna said smiling "Isn't he handsome when he reads Dante?" she said giving him a kiss on the cheek. I shook my head holding back a smile.

  "I'm sorry to interrupt you two lovebirds, but I need to ask you both a favor" I said stepping closer to them in a more serious tone "This Friday, I have a meeting with all my ministers-"

  "-Is something wrong? Did something happen?" Anna asked cutting me off.

  "No, not yet. But there is something wrong, a lot of things are wrong because of our father's -uhm… friendliness towards aristocrats" I explained "Some things need to change, but I need your help to do what I intend to" the two shared a look with each other.

  "Shoot" they said in unison.

  "Anna" I said "I'm going to ask Kai to summon a public assembly in Arendelle's square. You need you to go there and select 2 representatives of each district of Arendelle, make sure that the selection is purely made by the people and as random as possible. I just need representatives to listen and report to their districts. No decisions that need the ministers are going to be taken. The selection must be from both middle-class and commoners. Tell them that they will participate to Friday's council meeting"