Kristoff brought his pile of supplies to the front counter.
“That’ll be forty, ja?” Oaken said. “Forty?” Kristoff barked. “No, ten.”
“No, see, these are from our winter stock,” Oaken told him. “Where supply and demand have a big problem.”
“You want to talk about a supply-and-demand problem?” Kristoff asked. “I sell ice for a living!”
Anna walked over to the counter and smiled at Kristoff. “Ice. Really?” she said. “That’s a rough business to be in right now.”
“Forty,” Oaken repeated. “But I will throw in a visit to Oaken’s sauna. Hoo, hoo!”
Kristoff and Anna both peered over Oaken’s shoulder to see a family waving from a toasty sauna in a room behind him.
“Ten’s all I got,” Kristoff told him. “Help me out, ja?”
Oaken held up the bag of carrots. “Ten will get you this and no more.”
Kristoff glared at Oaken, seething.
“Just tell me one thing,” Anna said, moving closer to Kristoff. “What was happening on the North Mountain? Did it seem... magical?”
Kristoff pulled down his scarf, revealing his face. He looked down sharply at Anna. “Yes!” he shouted. “Now back up while I deal with this crook here.”
Oaken rose from his chair. He did not appreciate being called a crook. “What did you call me?” he said. He was much taller and wider than Kristoff had expected. Oaken loomed over the counter. Then, with a frown, Oaken swiftly threw Kristoff out of the shop.
Kristoff went flying out the door and landed face-first in a mound of snow next to Sven, who had been waiting patiently outside. Kristoff pulled his head out of the snow. “Ow!” he moaned.
“Goodbye!” Oaken said pleasantly, and slammed the door.
The reindeer snorted and moved over to Kristoff, snuffling and searching in the snow.
“No, Sven,” Kristoff told him. “I didn’t get your carrots.”
The hungry reindeer huffed in his face. Then Kristoff turned his head and spotted something that made him brighten. There was a barn behind the trading post — a warm place to spend the night.
“But I did find us a place to sleep,” he added. “And it’s free.”
Back in the shop, Oaken returned to his other customer. “I’m sorry about this violence,” he told Anna. “I will add a quart of lutefisk so we have good feelings.” He looked over at what she had selected. “Just the outfit and the boots, ja?”
Anna looked at her supplies, and then over at the bag Kristoff had left on the counter. She smiled as an idea occurred to her.
Shortly afterward, Anna left Oaken’s shop and looked around. She could hear singing coming from the barn. She pushed open the door quietly and peered inside. Kristoff was lying against a bale of hay, playing his lute. He was singing to his reindeer... and then, singing as Sven, he finished the song from the reindeer’s point of view.
“Ahem.” Anna cleared her throat. When Kristoff looked over, she smiled. “Nice duet,” she said.
“Oh, it’s just you,” he said when he saw Anna standing in front of him. “What do you want?”
“I want you to take me up the North Mountain,” she declared.
“I don’t take people places,” Kristoff replied. He closed his eyes and lay back in the hay.
“Let me rephrase that,” Anna said. She threw the sack of supplies she had just bought over to Kristoff. They were exactly the items he’d wanted.
“Umph!” he grunted as the heavy bag landed on his chest.
“Take me up the North Mountain,” she ordered. Kristoff regarded her carefully. He was not used to taking orders. And he especially couldn’t see any reason to follow Anna’s.
“Look,” Anna said. “I know how to stop this winter.”
Kristoff hesitated. If the cold weather stopped, he might be able to sell his ice down in Arendelle again. “We leave at dawn,” he said finally. “And you forgot the carrots for Sven.”
Anna dropped a bag of carrots on Kristoff’s face.
“Ooh!” he said.
“Oops, sorry, sorry,” Anna said. Then she caught herself. She was trying to take charge, after all. “We leave now,” she declared. “Right now!”
Kristoff looked over at Sven and offered him a carrot. Sven took a healthy bite. So did Kristoff. They looked at the stranger before them as they chewed. They both knew she had no clue what was ahead.
第10章
克斯托夫?qū)⑦x好的補給品放在了柜臺上。
“一共40塊。”奧肯說。“40?”克斯托夫還價說,“不,最多10塊。”
“哦,親,這可不行。這是從冬季庫存里拿出來的,”奧肯告訴他,“現(xiàn)在冬季物品緊缺,供求很不平衡。”
“你跟我談供求問題?”克斯托夫說,“我還是賣冰的呢!”
安娜走向柜臺,對克斯托夫微笑道。“賣冰,真的嗎?”她說。“現(xiàn)在這生意可不好做啊。”
“40,”奧肯重復(fù)了一遍,“我還免費送一次奧肯桑拿浴哦,呼呼!“
克斯托夫和安娜的目光越過奧肯,瞟見他身后的房間里一大家子人揮著手,正在享受暖和的桑拿。
“我只有10塊,”克斯托夫說,“幫個忙吧。”
奧肯拿起一袋胡蘿卜,“10塊就只能給你這個,別的不行。”
克斯托夫氣呼呼地瞪奧肯。
“跟我說說吧,”安娜湊近克斯托夫說道,“北山到底出了什么事?它看上去……像魔法嗎?”
克斯托夫一把扯下圍巾,露出了臉,嚴(yán)肅地上下打量著安娜。“是的!”他大聲說道,“麻煩你退后,我要收拾這個奸商。”
奧肯從椅子上站了起來。聽到這個稱呼他可不太高興。“你叫我什么?”他說。他的身材比克斯托夫想象中要高大強壯得多。奧肯從柜臺后面怒氣沖沖地走了出來,一把就將克斯托夫扔出了小店。
克斯托夫飛出了門外,一頭摔到了斯特旁邊的雪地里,斯特正滿懷期待地等在門外??怂雇蟹驈难┑乩锾匠隽祟^,哀嘆道:“哎喲!”
“再見!”奧肯一邊得意地說道,一邊重重地關(guān)上了門。
馴鹿嗅了嗅,湊近克斯托夫,在雪地里尋找著什么。
“沒有,斯特,”克斯托夫?qū)λf,“我沒買到胡蘿卜。”
饑腸轆轆的馴鹿顯得有些沮喪??怂雇蟹蚺ゎ^一看,心頭一喜。小棧后面有個谷倉——至少有個溫暖的地方可以過夜了。
“不過我找到睡覺的地方了,”他補充道,“還是免費的。”
奧肯回到店里,有禮貌地對安娜說:“抱歉讓您受驚了。我送親一夸脫腌鱈魚作為補償。”他看了看安娜選的東西,問道:“只要外套和靴子是嗎?”
安娜看著自己的補給品,又看了看克斯托夫留在柜臺上的那袋胡蘿卜。她靈機一動,想到了一個好主意,臉上露出了微笑。
很快,安娜走出了奧肯的小店,環(huán)顧四周。她聽到了谷倉傳來的歌聲,她輕輕地推開門往里瞄。克斯托夫正坐在松軟的干草上,彈著魯特琴。他對著馴鹿唱著歌。然后,他壓低嗓音,學(xué)著斯特的聲音唱完了整首歌。
“嗯哼。”安娜清了清嗓子??怂雇蟹虼蛄恐?,安娜笑著說:“二重唱唱得不錯。”
“是你啊,”他看到安娜走到跟前,問道,“你要干嗎?”
“我想請你帶我上北山。”她說。
“我可不是什么車夫,”克斯托夫回答道。他閉上眼睛,躺在了草堆上。
“那我換個說法吧。”安娜說。她把剛買來的一袋子補給品扔給克斯托夫,這些正是他想要的。
“哼!”他咕噥著,袋子重重地落在了他胸前。
“帶我上北山。”她命令道??怂雇蟹蚰曋材?。他不習(xí)慣接受別人的命令。而且他也找不到任何理由要聽安娜的話。
“聽著,”安娜說,“我知道怎么結(jié)束眼前的寒冬。”
克斯托夫有些猶豫。如果冬天結(jié)束的話,他就又可以回到艾倫戴爾賣冰了。“天亮出發(fā),”他最終答應(yīng)了,“你好像忘了給斯特買胡蘿卜。”
安娜把一袋子胡蘿卜扔給克斯托夫,正好擊中了他的臉。
“哦!”他叫道。
“哦,對不起,對不起。”安娜說。但她發(fā)覺自己說錯了,畢竟,她要盡力掌握主動權(quán)。“我們現(xiàn)在就出發(fā),”她宣布道,“馬上!”
克斯托夫看著斯特,遞給他一根胡蘿卜。斯特咬了一小口,克斯托夫吃掉了剩下的。他們一邊嚼,一邊打量著眼前這個陌生的女孩。他們都覺得她一定不知道等待她的將是怎樣的危險。
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