Acknowledgments
To my loving parents, Major Sudheer Anandath and Captain Babitha Anandath, who did not overlook this work as a mere ‘retelling’ and understood the potential of the story it had to tell the world.
To my little sister, Geetika Anandath, whose comments, recommendations and criticisms helped develop my work.
To Captain Abhaya Nath Tiwari, author of Self-Knowledge: A Critical Factor for Self Transformation, who listened to my ideas at length and held my hand when I needed it the most by guiding me through the world of book marketing, even though our endeavors were not successful.
To Mrs. Sahana Ahemed, author of Combat Skirts, for familiarizing a new author like myself with traditional publishing and teaching me how to write a query letter, synopsis, and contact literary agents.
To the Grammarly editor, whose suggestions, revisions, and polishing touches shined my manuscript like an army boot.
To Mr. Juan Pedro Muñoz, for the spectacular illustration of the cover for Part One and the painstaking efforts he put in to capture every detail.
To Ms. Diana Laudando, for the awe-inspiring character illustrations and scene creation for the cover of Part Two.
To Mr. Nick Russ and Ms. Yanina Sol Sidelski, whose impassioned voices breathed life into one of the most evocative scenes in my story.
To Astitwa Das, my dedicated proofreader.
To everyone else who contributed to this book.
And last but never the least, to God and time, without whose will and availability this project would have never been possible.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
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PROLOGUE
A long time ago, high up in the Scandinavian mountains, a tribe of brave and strong mountain men roamed the glacial landscapes over the frozen rivers and mountain ranges.
If you were ever to ask these men what they did for a living, one of the stout and rosier ones would have blared out,
“We break the frozen heart!”
If you stood confused, he’d give you a stare you would seldom want to challenge. Then his red face, only becoming rosier, but this time with a smile, would have told you that they harvest ice and sell it for a living.
Yes, that is what these traveling ice harvesters called the deep ice over the rivers—
‘The Frozen Heart’.
Perhaps it was the warm leather clothing on their body, insulated with fur, that kept their hearts warm and welcoming. Among these humongous and warm-hearted men lived a little, icicle-breaking boy called Kristoff and his tiny but ferociously loyal companion: a reindeer named Sven.
Kristoff tried hard to pick up a block of ice with his small ice tongs, but all in vain. On the other hand, the ice harvesters cut the ice into long strips and then into blocks and picked up several enormous pieces. The harvest was then loaded and tied up on sleds, pulled by big, muscular reindeer—an extraordinary bond connected the reindeer and these men.
As the ice harvesters called it a day and began to pull out of the frozen landscape, so did little Kristoff, who successfully got one block of ice on a tiny sled driven by Sven.