Mark glared at the soldiers that he could see surrounding him. They looked uneasy as black flames rippled along his fingers at his sides. Yelena stilled in the arms of the soldiers holding her and gasped out to herself. "The fifth spirit is the Shaman...? Why didn't I see it?" Mark drifted his eyes to Aputsiaq, who had fallen to the ground in a similar way to Nathan. With Nathan unconscious, she too was subjected to a weakened sleep like state. Though unlike Nathan, she growled deeply, and her tail swayed slowly and anxiously like she was in the midst of a bad dream. She had been weakened but was no less dangerous. When his eyes met with Mattias again, he told him seriously. "You just committed treason against your king." Mattias shook his head, keeping his sword trained on him as he blurted out seriously. "No. I didn't. King Runeard is my king. Even prince Agnarr is. But THIS man... I don't know him. I only agreed to help him because I thought he was on our side. Clearly, he's not. I will fulfill my sworn duty. I will protect Arendelle." Mark stared him down, retorting sternly. "We are protecting Arendelle! Arendelle is its people. NOT a castle. The castle will fall but its people are safe."

Mattias didn't let up as he defiantly replied. "Arendelle will NOT fall! I will complete my mission and kill you! You murdered my king! This is all YOUR fault!" Mark curled his fingers to put out the flames, before telling him honestly. "I didn't kill him. His own blind revenge over his uncle led to his end. I never touched him." Mattias' voice turned bitter as he retorted. "Liar! This whole thing will end after we kill you!" Yelena rushed out then to say bluntly. "NO! Lieutenant, you can't! If you kill him, we'll lose the link between nature and magic!" Lieutenant Mattias smirked out with pride. "Exactly. It will put an end to magic. We kill you and the spirits will die. That giant will die and turn to solid stone because you hold their heart!" Yelena opened her mouth to say something, but Mark lifted a hand to signal her to stop. Staring only at Mattias, he asked him curiously with a concerned expression. "Who told you that?" Lieutenant Mattias said nothing, but someone else did. The voice was deep and gave Mark goosebumps all over. He didn't recognize the voice, but his body seemed to know who it was, and it gave him an uneasy feeling as the person said gruffly. "Hello again, Mark. Long time no see."

Slowly turning his head to look in the direction of the voice, Mark stared blankly at the figure that stood alone in the open rocky plain. The figure was a large brown ram with thick spiraled horns that pointed out along the sides of its head, and dangling from them were crystals of all sizes and colors. Its strong muscles stood out under its long shaggy hair and its dark brown eyes stared at him with knowledge beyond the years of a normal mountain goat. Lieutenant Mattias shifted on his feet reluctantly, mumbling out to Mark. "Maybe I got a little desperate to end this and asked for some help. He's no fan of yours or the Northuldrans!" Mark tensed as he stared at the large goat that stood just a bit smaller than the reindeer. The goat didn't move or say another word, but Mark recognized the crystals it wore and uttered coolly out to Mattias. "He's not a fan of humans in general. He's a troll. He used you, Mattias." Mattias lifted his chin, stating out smugly. "All he wants is you, Shaman. I can't kill you with your magic... but HE CAN! Thank you for showing yourself!" Yelena gasped as she stared at the goat and blurted out in disbelief. "Oh, no... Jara... The Troll Chief." Mark winced as he tried to recall the name, but he couldn't remember. Did he know him?

Jara snorted out frost from his nostrils aggressively, then bellowed out in a deep aggressive tone. "Your power will be mine, human!" Raising a hand, Mark unleashed black flames from the tips of his fingers at Jara. Jara didn't even move. He just kept his eyes locked on Mark and lowered his head enough to put his horns in the line of fire. The crystals hanging from his horns jiggled so softly and began to glow, causing Mark's flames to slam into a barrier set before his horns that appeared to suck the oxygen from the intense flames and turned them into just hot air. Lowering his hand, Mark exhaled out uneasily. "Oh shit..." Jara raised a hoof and stomped it down, causing the grass to grow under Mark. The grass intertwined together and then started to wrap around his legs, but he used his flames to burn them away. Jara looked to Mattias, ordering him sternly. "Keep his lover alive and under control, until I can remove his power. The others are yours." Mark started to run toward Nathan, prompting Mattias to raise his sword to swing at him. However, it was Jara that charged him with his horns, knocking him clear off his feet and across the ground.

Hitting the ground on his side, Mark rolled across the dirt and coughed as his side flared up in pain. Jara snorted more thick gusts of smoke, bracing to charged him again with the intention to impale him now. Yelena screamed out for Mark to run, and Mark staggered to his feet unable to convince himself to leave Nathan behind. From the camp of Northuldrans, Mark spotted a few chasing Donner from the herd of reindeer to encourage him to go after Mark. They drew the attention of Mattias and the soldiers holding Yelena, leaving a small opening for another group to knock out a few soldiers with their staffs in order to reach Nate. Upon reaching him, two Northuldrans grabbed Nathan's wrists and started dragging him over to Aputsiaq as fast as they could. Jara charged toward Mark as Mattias whirled around to see the Northuldrans dragging Nathan away. Jara leapt into the air and aimed his horns at Mark's chest, only to get swatted off course by Donner's long antlers that broke off with loud clattering as they connected with Jara's shoulder and thick horns. Jara fell in a heap on the ground away from Mark. Donner let out aggressive snorts and restlessly shifted on his feet as blood from his antlers poured down the sides of his head.

Mark climbed onto Donner, turning him to bolt after Mattias as he was just reaching one of the Northuldrans to swing at him with his sword. Rushing between them, Mark kicked Mattias onto his ass and started to turn him around, until he saw Jara hot on their tail. Jara leapt to try impaling his horns in Donner's ass, but Donner leapt away and kicked out to hit Jara's face. Jara snorted blood, but adjusted course to pursue them. He was barely phased by the pain he was in. For having the look of a muscular goat, he acted more like a frightening predator. Forced to lead Jara away from Nathan and the others, he took off across the valley. Nathan opened his eyes in a bit of a daze. The two Northuldrans with him patted his face and splashed him with water as they yelled out to him. "GET UP! WAKE UP! HURRY!" Nathan leaned back against something solid, when a sword barely missed impaling one of the men, and instead was jammed into something over Nathan's shoulder. Nathan yelped as the solid form behind him let out a loud thunderous roar. It dawned on him that it had impaled into Aputsiaq as he quickly realized where he was and what was happening.

Kicking out at Mattias to knock him and his sword away from Aputsiaq, he looked for Mark but couldn't see him among the chaos that was breaking out. The Northuldra where engaging in a fight with the Arendelle soldiers. Yelena shoved one of the soldiers holding her to the ground as others came to her rescue, allowing her to scream out at Nathan. "GO! WAKE STEN! LEAD HIM TO MARK! HURRY!" Nathan didn't hesitate, he quickly climbed onto Aputsiaq as she shook her head and staggered up to her feet. People fled from around her, even Mattias as she snarled and collected herself. Grabbing the harness on her neck, Nathan gasped as he saw Mark riding Donner through the thick trees in the direction of Sten. Something was chasing him, but he couldn't see it before they vanished into the dense forest. From his seat on Aputsiaq, he could see how far it would be before Mark got to Sten. However, Aputsiaq could reach Sten quickly. She wouldn't be able to see Mark through the trees to help him, but they could help if they could make it easier for Mark to reach Sten before Donner got tired. Patting her neck, Nathan called out to her. "Aputsiaq! To the river!" Her large head turned to find the river, before she spread her massive wings and braced to jump into the air.

Below them, Nathan heard Mattias yell out to his men. "STOP HER! HE'S TAKING HER TO THE RIVER!" Flapping her wings hard, strong winds blew away those that tried to run up on her. Pushing off the ground, her sharp claws cut trenches into the earth as she took to the air. Nathan held on to the icy harness with ever bit of strength he had as she soared low over the treetops. She didn't have much lift to go higher into the air, but she didn't need it. She had enough that she could glide to the river at a fast pace. A few arrows whizzed around her hind legs and tail, but they missed as she increased her speed enough to make the trees sway beneath her. The sun glinted off her body and Nathan screamed out to her over the wind. "WAKE HIM, APUTSIAQ!" Giving him a slight nod, she inhaled and opened her mouth wide to roar as loud as she could. The treetops ahead of them shook from her roar and spooked birds to take flight in fear. She sounded like an approaching storm as her voice thundered across the sky. As she soared over the river, she circled wide around the incredible sleeping form of Sten. Her roar hadn't awoken him.

He shot a large ice icicle at him, and it shattered across his thick rock body, but didn't wake him. He just lifted a hand to brush the remnants of the ice off his smooth wet cheek. Nathan took a deep breath, shouting down to him. "STEN! WAKE UP!" Still Sten didn't move. Aputsiaq let out another roar and Sten turned over, causing the ground to shake violently. As he shifted, the river water that he was holding back rushed over his side and crashed through the gorge. Nathan watched it splash up the sides of the cliffs before slamming and pooling at the base where the mist trapped the water inside. He barely could process beyond that, because Aputsiaq went into a sudden dive! Nathan screamed, clinging to the harness as he rose off her a bit. Falling over Sten, she slammed all four feet onto Sten's torso before leaping back off and landing on the shore to look back at Sten expectantly. Sten jerked upright with a loud pained grunt. Shivering as the water rushed around his back and over his hips. Rubbing his face sleepily, Sten groaned a little softer before looking up at them. Sten's sunken dark cave eyes locked on her, his rocky eyebrows furrowing into an expression of pure anger.

Grumpily, Sten moved to grab a large boulder from the water and threw it at Aputsiaq angrily. Nathan couldn't help screaming as it came toward him. The boulder was more than big enough to kill him instantly. Yet, Aputsiaq stood her ground and arched herself up like a cat as she hissed back at him. As the boulder got within range, she swatted it back at Sten with her tail. Chucks of the boulder fell off from the impact, making it shoot through the air faster before smashing across Sten's surprised face! Lifting her head proudly, Aputsiaq puffed herself up like a champion, her lip curling to let out a deep smug growl. Sten exhaled loudly, his hands slamming into the cliffsides as he started to shift to get up onto his feet. The ground shook so violently as he moved that Nathan thought that he'd shake apart, until Aputsiaq leapt off the ground to hover. Sten's joints popped and clicked as his rocky body moved and shifted around. Just as he got up onto his feet, he reached out to grab Aputsiaq's neck, but his movement was too slow, and she leaned back to avoid his hand. As a show that she wasn't happy about him even thinking about touching her, she struck out at him with her jaws to bite his hand!

Sten howled in pain and Nathan could only gawk at them. He'd expected her to break her teeth on his hand. Instead, her sharp icy teeth pieced right into his rock hand to crack it in different places. He had really underestimated the strength of ice. Tugging on Sten's hand, she pulled him off balance and he slipped in the river. Releasing him, she watched him fall into the river with a chiming giggle. Smacking her neck, Nate scolded her sternly. "HEY! Be nice! That's Mark!" Aputsiaq whirled her head around to look at him with wide startled eyes. He opened his mouth to explain, but instead screamed out. "LOOK OUT!" Aputsiaq only got to turn her head back, before Sten's massive rock fist punched her in the chest. Letting out a screech, Aputsiaq fell from the air to crush tail over head into the thick forest below. Nathan held on for dear life as she fell awkwardly but managed not to crush him or get him swatted off by large trees. Curling up in a fetal position, she whimpered and licked the spiderweb crack across her chest. Her whole body trembled and for the first time, Nathan saw how terrified she was of getting hit like that again.

Placing a hand on her, he used his magic to fix her icy body and tried to comfort her. He didn't even get a word out though, before Sten was back up onto his feet and let out a deep thundering yell of his own. The power that came from his voice puffed up the fallen red leaves over Aputsiaq and caused Nathan to slide from her neck to the ground. The ground shook hard enough that Nathan couldn't get up, but when he looked up, he saw Mark. Donner leapt as much as he could to avoid being shaken off his feet. While a strange murderous looking goat did the same to stay hot on their tail. Raising a hand, Nathan shot out a wall of ice behind Donner, causing the ram to hit it head on. Its horns getting stuck in the ice. Nate then quickly encased the ram in a block of ice to hold it there. Donner slowed to a stop, then stumbled and fell as the ground shuddered him off his feet. Crawling off Donner, Mark made his way toward Nate, asking him with concern. "Nate?! Are you ok?!" Nathan gave him a thumbs up, then pointed in the direction of Sten. Mark grabbed Nate's other hand, holding it tightly as he looked off in the direction of Sten, who was trying to make his way toward them. To Be Continued...