Sgt. Kristoff

        The castle echoed with yells. People screaming, so many people that Elsa simply couldn’t understand a single thing being said. There was a fight, she figured, in the stables she’d guess. Even so she was completely unprepared for the cacophony that assaulted her.

        Men and women crowded the already small area, sitting on wooden palisades; some children were even sitting on the thatched roof of the stable. At the end of the yard, before a wall Anna was standing leaning over stacked bales of straw. Elsa pushed her way through the crowd, never being able to get a look at what all the people were cheering about. It wasn’t until she was nearly pushed out to the front that she clearly saw her sister, and as what everyone was cheering for.

        In the middle of the yard stood a horse with a rope stretched out from it. Elsa didn’t have much of a mind for the beasts, but she was certain that this impressive stallion was Bijorn, the Horse Master’s newest pride and joy. She turned to her sister, “Anna, what is going on? What is all of this?”

        “Well, we were having an early meal, and one of the bailiffs said that he felt as strong as a horse,” she said sheepishly, “So the Herro says, ‘for how much?’”

        Elsa stared dead pan at her sister, horrid realization dawning on her Herro was the Master of the Horse, “They’re playing Tug-of-War with a horse?”

        “Yup!”

        “Anna this is… this is…” Elsa waved her hands in the air, “This is stupid! How could you allow this?”

        A huge cheer went up, and Elsa watched Anna’s eyes brighten as she pointed behind her, “That’s why,” the younger sister said.

        Elsa turned just in time to find Kristoff striding out of the stable doors, stripped down to just his pants. His chest and arms dabbled with sweat; in the slowly waning sunlight Kristoff’s flesh was glowing bronze. As he strode forward and gripped the rope, both royal sisters were leaning over the stacks of straw, both of them biting their lips.

        “They’ve already gone two rounds,” Anna said out of the side of her mouth, “Both were ties.”

        “For how long?” Elsa asked, her eyes fixed on Kristoff’s pectorals.

        “A round last for ten minutes.”

From their position the girls would have a wonderful view of the man’s shoulders, back, and his side. They watched as he wrapped the corded rope around his arm. The horse bowed, Bijorn taking the other end of the rope into his mouth.

        Elsa never saw who shouted for the match to start, but suddenly Kristoff hauled on the rope, the line becoming taught between the two warriors of the rope.

        Elsa and Anna sighed as they watched Kristoff’s muscled back tense and knot, his arms bulge with effort. He turned from a man into a mountain of brawn and muscle and grit. Elsa watched a bead of sweat slide down his neck, over hills and valleys in the man’s flesh, sliding and colliding with others. Sliding down and down before disappearing into the man’s pants.

        They were at it for almost seven minutes. At times the horse would falter, having to take a step forward to steady itself, digging in a hoof, other times Kristoff would be jerked forward before he was able to dig himself in, and hauled back on the cord.

        “You can do it Kristoff!” Anna cheered, “I know you can!”

Elsa watched her sister bounce, punching her fist into the air. She looked back to Kristoff and the cheering seemed to be helping. His large arms were slowly pulling on the rope, It seemed like he was about to overtake the horse when his foot slid forward. A collective gasp went out until he dug in, holding the horse in place.

        “I believe in you Kris!” Elsa found herself cheering. Together with her sister she cheered on the man. Slowly but surely Kristoff hauled on the rope. He took one step back. Then another. Then another. With one mighty haul the hose lurched forward and let go of the rope.

        Kristoff had won.

If Elsa had thought the cheering before had been loud, she simply had no concept of what the word meant. The purse explosion of sound ricocheted off the walls of the castle and could be heard well outside of the city walls. Elsa whispered to her sister and Anna ran to Kristoff, jumping into his arms and throwing her own around his strong neck kissing him.

        “I knew you could do it!”

Kristoff laughed and spun her around before he saw Elsa, “Oh er, uh… your majesty, uhm-“

        “Well done Ice Master,” Elsa said, her eyes roaming the man’s chest, “Such a display deserves a… reward.” She flashed a smile at the man and started to walk away. The exit would have been far more graceful if the rest of the castle household had moved out of her way.

Kristoff pushed people aside, letting the queen through and following behind.

“What did she mean by reward?” he asked Anna.

        “Remember when you told me about the dream you had?”       

        “What dream?”

Anna hugged Kristoff’s arm close, pulling him down and whispering in his ear.

        Kristoff rolled his other arm, he was already sore, “No rest for the weary?”

Elsa looked back behind her, a coquettish smile on her face, “Not for you.”