Anna saw it at the same time Kristoff did: several pairs of yellow eyes were looking back at them.
Wolves.
A distinct growl sounded in the distance and the pack of wolves emerged from the trees. Anna couldn’t believe how sharp their fangs looked.
Kristoff placed the lantern back on the hook and grabbed the reins. “Sven! Go!” The sled lurched and Sven took off at top speed.
“Aww, look! Doggies! Aren’t they cute?” Olaf said.
“They’re not dogs, Olaf! What do we do?” Anna asked as Kristoff tried to stay ahead of the pack racing after the sleigh.
He reached behind their seat, grabbed a stick, and lit it from the lantern. It immediately flamed. “I can handle a few wolves,” he said, waving the fire in the air.
“I want to help!” Anna shouted.
“No!” Kristoff cracked the reins harder.
“Why not?” They were moving so fast the falling snow felt like daggers hitting Anna’s face.
“Because I don’t trust your judgment,” Kristoff snapped.
Anna set her shoulders. “Excuse me?”
“You’re not thinking straight! Who keeps insisting on going out in this weather when they’re clearly getting sick?” He kicked a wolf and it flew backward. Anna hadn’t even seen the wolf coming.
She reached for something in the sleigh to use as a weapon. Olaf handed her Kristoff’s lute. “I am not getting sick!”
“You keep passing out and mumbling to yourself,” he reminded her.
“That’s because I’m seeing things!” She swung the lute. It connected with a wolf, and the animal ran away.
“Whoa!” Kristoff actually looked impressed. “What kinds of things?”
Anna stopped swinging the lute and looked at him. “I know it sounds crazy, but I keep seeing myself with the princess when I was a little girl.” Kristoff held the torch over the side to keep the wolves at bay. “I mean, I guess it’s not entirely crazy. I’m pretty sure I was kissed by a troll once, but I don’t remember it happening.”
“You weren’t kidding about that?” Kristoff’s eyes widened. “Do you actually know Grand Pabbie?”
“Who is Grand Pabbie?” Anna asked as Kristoff singed a wolf about to land in the sleigh.
A second wolf snatched Kristoff’s overcoat. Kristoff tumbled out of the sled before he could answer her question.
“Kristoff!” Anna screamed, grabbing the torch before it fell. There was no time to signal to Sven to stop, and if he did, they’d be done for.
“Here!” she heard Kristoff shout.
He was holding on to a rope that was dragging him behind the sleigh. The wolves were gaining on him. Anna lit the first thing she saw—Kristoff’s sleeping sack.
“Ooh!” Olaf said as the fire ignited the bedding.
Anna picked it up and tossed it out the back of the sled. Kristoff screamed as the flames shot toward him, narrowly missing his head.
The wolves retreated, then came racing back again.
Anna rushed to the back of the sleigh to help him up. Kristoff was already pulling himself in.
“You almost set me on fire!”
“Guys?” Anna heard Olaf say, but she ignored him.
She pulled Kristoff the rest of the way in. “But I didn’t!”
“Guys?” Olaf tried again. “We’ve reached the end of the path!”
Kristoff and Anna both did a double take. A ravine was a half a mile in front of them and Sven was barreling toward it, spurred on by the sound of the wolves. Anna and Kristoff hurried to the front of the sleigh.
“Get ready to jump, Sven!” Anna shouted.
Kristoff picked up Olaf and threw him into Anna’s lap, then lifted them both his arms.
“Hey!” Anna protested.
Kristoff tossed her forward, and she landed on Sven’s back with Olaf in her arms. “You don’t tell him what to do! I do!” Kristoff cut the line from the sled just as they reached the ravine. “Jump, Sven!”
Sven leapt into the air. Anna looked back in a panic for Kristoff. He and his sled were already airborne. Sven landed on the other side of the ravine, almost pitching Anna and Olaf off him as he came to a grinding halt. Anna jumped off and raced back to the edge of the cliff. Kristoff leapt off the sled as it plummeted into the ravine. She watched in horror as he attempted to reach the other side, instead hitting the edge of the cliff and sliding backward.
“Hang on!” she shouted. “Rope! I need rope!” Anna called in a panic to Olaf, but she knew everything they needed was in that sleigh. Please don’t let anything happen to Kristoff, she silently begged.
Suddenly, a pickax with rope attached to it flew through the air above her head. The ax