AN: Before you ask, NO, I haven't forgotten about The Viking and the Snow Queen, I just wanted to focus on this story a little more than I did so far.

So enjoy! :)

Chapter 8: Fire storm

Merida woke up to a warm darkness. That may not have made much sense, but that was the best way she could describe how she felt at the moment. The dark was the only thing she could see as she started to gain her consciousness back. And she felt warm. Very warm. Hot, actually. She felt heatwaves washing over her body.

As she slowly opened her eyes and her sight became fully functionating again, she saw ceiling made out of wood. She didn't need to ponder much to realize she was still in the witch's cottage. Though she was all alone. The spellcaster, her crow or Merida's horse were nowhere to be seen. As her other senses started to wake up too, she felt something soft benath her. She noticed that she was lying on a bed.

She slowly sat up, but immediatley regretted that decision as she felt an incredible headache hit her. She groaned in pain and put her hands on her head as a hopeless attempt to ease the pain. It didn't help much, but eventually the pain got a little more bearable. Sensing this, the princess tried to stand up. Right after that, the pain got even worse. She shouted in pain as she fell to the floor.

Merida felt the hot sensation slowly spread across her body. She didn't even hear the witch entering. She felt herself being helped up from the floor by the old woman. She put Merida's right arm around her shoulder and was carrying her back to the bed, mumbling something about how impatient young people were these days.

"What..." Merida tried speaking, but it was hard. "...what did you... do to me." she managed to finish.

"This is perfectly normal." The woman explained as she laid the princess back to the bed. "I didn't say having one of those stones is going to be a pleasant expereience." She snapped her fingers and a chair from the other end of the workshop flew behind her and she sat next to the bed. "You of all people should know that nothing is for free. Especially power. Someone always have to pay the price. Your body is getting used to the stone because it is created just for you. You need to fuse with it's power. This is your price."

Merida acknowledged this fact with a sour frown. The pain got so bad that she wasn't sure if it was a price worth paying, but then she remembered. She's doing this for her kingdom and her family. No price was too high to pay for them.

"How... long... will this take?" She asked between heavy breaths.

"It shouldn't take too long from now on." The witch replied. "I'd say around... half an hour at least and one at most. Until then, rest. You'll need every bit of your energy for the upcoming task."

"But..." Merida tried to protest. "...my family. They are alone with... her."

"I'm sorry, princess, but until you are fully bonded with the stone, you can't go anywhere." The witch explained on a grim tone. "Remember what I just said! Someone always have to pay for power."

"Aren't I... paying enough already? I'm paying... this is for me... not them. They shouldn't..."

"That is not for you to decide." The witch replied. "You can't do anything for them in your current condition. All you can do is wait."

Merida didn't like this one bit. But she was right. Right now, every inch of her body was burning and she was basically swimming in sweat. She could barely move. Or talk.

"How... how long was I out?"

"You slept through the whole night. It's dawning over Dun'broch."

Merida was shocked. Her family was probably worried sick. When she gets back to the castle, she won't even have a chance to deal with Elsa. Her mother will eat her alive before she can get to her. Merida shuddered at that thought. She would rather face the devil himself than her mother when she's angry.

"That... is inconvenient." She said with a deadpan voice, making the witch chuckle.

"Yeah. It is."

Merida fall deep into her thoughts. What would happen now, she did not know. She needs a plan. But first, she thought of something else that interested her. She decided to ask the witch. With some talking the time will fly faster.

"You... you said that everyone needs... to pay for power."

"That's right. Not always directly the person who wields it, but someone always does."

"So... did she as well? She... had to." The witch was silent for a few moments. Merida broke the silence. "Do you know?" Another moments of silence. "You know, don't you? When you sought me out yesterday, you were talking about her, don't you? You knew this was coming!

The witch finally answered. "That is something everyone who works with magic knows. Yes, she wields great power, that is true. But she didn't ask for it. Long ago, when the kingdom of Arrendale was in a dark time of it's history. It's king fell in the war against Dun'broch and it was left without a ruler or an army. They needed something else. Something... better."

Merida frowned. "Elsa. But how did they... you know."

"There was a man in Arrendale. Someone who was a very skilled sorcerer. He managed to harness the magical power of winter and fuse it with the bloodline that eventually took the throne. Elsa was born with this power."

"And now she's here to finish what her ancestors couldn't." Merida finished for her. "So, I guess it was this guy who piad for her power." The witch nodded.

"Yes. Burned at the stake for practicing sorcery, which was a common thing back in those days. There is a reason magic users don't share their knowledge with the public. It's ironic if you think about it. Such a sincere and well-intentioned act for his kingdom with such dark magic he used and tragic fate he suffered for it." She said solemnly. Merida was not moved however. One of her mother's favorite sayings were "The road to Hell is paved with good intentions". One of the few things they agreed on. And that saying couldn't have been more true then it was at this moment.

"Well... than his... sacrafice will be in vain." She growled. "Magic or not... no one will hurt Dun'broch on my watch!" Though she was still breathing pretty heavily, her voice was full of determination. The witch sadly smiled at her.

"It's good to see you have spirit." She told her. "I knew I chose wisely. But this..." she paused for a few moments before continuing. "This task will be more difficult than anything you've ever done in your life. This is not something a little girl could accomplish. You will have to become the woman you need to become." Merida stared up at her expressionlessly. She was talking about growing up. Which of course she always knew would come and she knew it. What's more, she anticipated it greatly. But not this way. Growing up, becoming a woman, this was not how she expected it to happen. So suddenly, without any time to prepare for it. Most people slowly mature up as time goes on, but she would have to do it in a moment to save her kingdom. To be honest, this scared her, In fact, it terrified her. As if sensing her discomfort, the old woman spoke again.

"I know it is hard. To grow up in a second. But I also know that if anyone can do it, it's you. You have taken great steps towards maturity last year when you broke the spell that turned your mother into a bear."

"Your... spell." The princess reminded her with a frown.

"Which you ordered." She countered.

"I didn't know..." Merida was about to say, but then she realized that she was doing the exact opposite of what she was supposed to do. This wasn't really a mature behaviour. The witch smiled at her. She seemed to have the same idea. "Sorry."

"No problem." She reolied, but then her expression turned serious again. "Now as I was saying, this will be much more challenging than that. You need to risk your life. You may even need to take lives. Do you think you are able to do that?" Merida's stomach turned at those thoughts. She didn't know which one was worse. Of course, she was more than willing to put her own life on the line for her kingdom, but taking lives? Killing? She may have threatened a few people with it before, but she never meant anything by it. And back when she was fighting Elsa's snow soldiers, well... she wasn't sure if that could be considered killing. By killing, they usually meant only other people. But those things looked living, sentient beings and she ended their existence. Did she kill them? She didn't know. She didn't feel anything back then. Probably because of the heat of the moment or the fact that they weren't human. But she had a hunch that she probably wouldn't feel anything if she killed in battle again.

"I think." she said.

"That's not good enough." the witch told her. "You need to be absolutely sure in the decisive moments. You can't hesitate even for a second or you may pay with your life. And it's not just your life on the line, but also the fate of all Dun'broch. You must be stronger than you ever were. Braver. You fought one battle, but there is an entire war waiting for you."

Merida lied in the bed silently, as if thinking what the old woman said over. The witch was about to leave her to think, but she was stopped when the princess spoke up.

"Well... we'll just have to... find out... won't we?" Merida said weakly. At this point she was willing to jump into anything to mess with Elsa. The old woman shook her head.

"That is another thing you need to work on. That temper of yours' is going to be your undoing if you don't do something about it. You must keep your calm to be able to think properly. You can't just rush into the palace ant deal with her like that. You need a plan."

"I have... a plan." Merida said. "I'll reveal her as a true threat to the kingdom and we will deal with her after."

"And just how are you going to do that?"

Merida said nothing.

"Thought so. I'll be outside, collecting wood for my carvings. When you're ready, come find me." With that, she left the cottage.

Merida spent the rest of her recovery thinking on her words. Growing up, fighting, killing, her temper. Merida was always proud of what she was. The short tempered, free spirited girl who was an an excellent horse rider, one of the kingdoms best swordsfighter and a master archer. But it looks like she would have to wrestle with her pride to become something else, something more, what her kingdom needs. And if Dun'broch needed her to do so, she would do it without a second thought. It was due time that she realized that this was about much more than just herself. And the best she could do was to accept this. She was insignificant in this whole ordeal. She has to focus on what was truly important at the moment. Without thinking of herself. Perhaps for the first time in her life, she was certain of what she had to do.

She would wait until the heatwaves were gone. Until she wasn't sweating anymore. She would also test if she could talk properly at the moment, but her only company were a few of the wooden bear heads her host has made. That would have been strange.

She first tried if she could move again. She slowly moved her arms to find that she could do so without any trouble. Good. She then tried to get up. She sat up on the bed and it went smoothly. Standing up, she felt like all of her strength has returned into her. Good. She would need it.

Stretching out her muscles, Merida's hands landed on her hips, where she felt something. Looking down she saw the gem that the witch gave her yesterday. It was tied to her dress by a small rope. Merida frowned. First thing she would do when she gets back to the castle is to dress into something more suitable for fighting. But for now, she took the stone in her hand.

It was no different from when she first saw it. Glowing red, with her clan's symbol in the middle of it. But when Merida took it into her hand, she almost felt like as the stone was calling out to her. Must have been the side effects of her new "bond" with it. She put it away and took a look around the cottage. It was a good thing that the witch who looked after her was also a woodcarver, because she needed to carve something herself right now. And while she was not a skilled carver herself, she knew how to make this one thing. Noticing a small axe on the witch's workbench, she picked it up and headed outside.

A few steps after she left the cottage, she ran into the witch who was magically levitating a few blocks of wood towards her home. If she was surprised that the princess was up already, she didn't show it.

"Where are you off to?" she asked.

"How am I supposed to go to war without a weapon?" she replied, before going deeper into the forest. The witch didn't quite understand that, but she thought it would be better to let her be for the time being.

Merida walked between the trees, looking over each of them for a few moments, as if she was measuring them. She even knocked on a few of them to see if they were solid enough for what she was about do. Unfortunatley, she hasn't found one that would satisfy her so far. As she continued her search, she noticed something. She saw a tree lying on the ground that look like it was severed from it's lower half. But not by an axe. It almost looked like it was torn in two.

Surprised by this, Merida – for a lack of a better weapon – riased her axe and slowly moved forth to see more. Peeking out from behind the tree's lower half, she saw a trail of torn out trees lying on the ground. If she hadn't seen what she had seen earlier, she would have been shocked, but since she did see it, she knew what it meant. That thing has been there.

She continued to look for a suitable tree for her plan. And now that there were so many lying around, she would have an easier job. She didn't think she would ever thank something to Elsa. She knocked on a few more trees lying on the ground and after a few failed attempts, she finally found the one she was looking for. It was an old oak tree. It was pretty solid, so Merida had to see if she could cut down a little of it. It wasn't an easy task, but she was able to do it with the axe.

Finished with that, the princess sat down onto the fallen tree and took out the axe to start carving. It wasn't a big piece she carved off of the tree, but it was still way bigger than what she needed. Merida was never known for her patience and this kind of work required taking her time. Doing it slowly. Carefully. If it was a few days earlier, she would have slammed the axe into the closest tree in frustration, but now she just smiled at it, thinking to herself. 'That is part of growing up.'

She was sure she sat there for a good ten or twelve minutes, but she only focused on the work. She was pretty surprised at how much effort she was putting into this. She probably never worked on anything this hard before. And her hard work was rewarded. The princess smiled proudly at the end result of her handiwork. She managed to make a bow that was exactly like the one she lost. Well... except for one thing.

It had no string. But could easily be fixed. Merida reached into a small bag, hanging on her waist that she used for carrying stuff around and pulled out the string of her former weapon. She snatched from the battlefield when Elsa wasn't looking. She knew she would have to replace her bow at one point and bow strings were not easy to get you hands on. She would have to cherish it.

Tying the string to the bow's two ends, she decided to test it out. Since she's gotten so much into carving, she decided to make some arrows as well. It was an even more challenging task, but managed to make some really fine ones. Of course these would only be a temporary weapons until she's gotten her hands on some better arrows. But perhaps...

Merida took out the Fire Gem and one of her handmade arrows. She had an idea. She wasn't sure it would work, but it was worth a try. Taking a few steps back from the fallen tree, she riased the arrow to the stone and slided the weapon over it. To her greatest surprise, her plan worked. The arrow was now on fire!

In that moment, she also realized that she was holding the arrow on fire. She panicked at first, but then acknowledget that she wasn't feeling any pain in her hand. In fact, she didn't even feel the heat. This was perhaps an even bigger shock. She pondered for a moment and figured that this was because the fire was from her stone, which's power was, as the witch said, a part of her now.

Getting over the shock, she took her new bow and fired the arrow at the fallen tree. The tree caught on fire which slowly started to spread across it until the entire thing was burning. Merida couldn't help but smirk. They always said she was a fiery one, but she never thought she would one day take it literally.

The princess then heard an all too familiar caw that caused her to roll her eyes. The witch's crow had found her once again. But instead of landing on a branch next to her, he flew over the burning tree and the fires disappeared. Merida just raised an eyebrow at it. Did the old woman gave magical abilities to her bird as well?

The princess then felt a familiar sting in her head, which meant she lost another lock of her hair. She would have to be prepared for this in the future. The crow spat out her hair and looked at her scoldingly.

"What were you thinking? You could have started a forest fire!"

"I was just discovering the stone's abilities." Merida countered with a nonchalant voice. "Which is what your master told me to do." The bird wasn't amused.

"Princess or not, I swear I would carve your eyes out at the moment. You should have done that back at the cottage with her supervision!"

"Don't get your feathers in a bunch!" Merida told him. "A lot more will be destroyed, than just a part of the forest if there is a 'war' coming, as she told me. Besides, she won't be there to hold my hand all the way." The bird clearly wasn't happy with her answer, but he decided not to push it.

"Come with me. She is getting worried." Merida nodded. She did take her time out there. She grabbed her new weapons. And followed the bird back to the cottage.

Wow! That got way longer than I first planned. I was thinking of starting to write shorter chapters so I can update faster, but I really gpt carried away with this chapter. Which I hope you liked. :)

Thanks for reading it! As always, remember, reviews make me happy! :) This is fanfictionmakermachine, signing out, peace!