Frozen in the Void
Chapter 1
A Jovial Winter Festival. New Arrivals Bring News of Impending Danger?
A light snow fell to the ground around Arendelle and a cool, light wind blew. The day was still a nice one as the citizenry was busy all around as they celebrated their Winter Festival. People danced, moved in and out of stores, and stopped at booths. Among the citizenry walked Queen Elsa and her sister Princess Anna. All was normal and jovial like it was planned but the Queen couldn't help but look at the sky. Though she was enjoying the festival, and had been the past couple of days, she couldn't help but remember the dark streaks she saw across the sky and seemed to crash into the mountains last week. And she couldn't forget the spontaneous feeling of dread it made her feel.
Anna noticed her sister looking at the sky, "Hey sis, what's wrong? You're enjoying the festival aren't you?"
Elsa looked at her younger sister and responded by nodding her head, "I am Anna. Something just crossed my mind but don't worry about it."
Anna made a quick sigh of relief.
"That's good! Since you said you saw some random blob streak across the sky, you've had this worrying look across your face every now and again." She then giggled and entwined her left arm with Elsa's right.. "Kristoff says he hasn't found or seen anything whenever he's gone to the mountains for ice."
"I know, I know Anna. I'm sure it was just a large bird or my eyes playing tricks on my. It was getting pretty late at the time."
"Hey guys, I need some help!"
The two turned to the sound of their little friend Olaf calling to them.
"I think these dogs want to play fetch with my arms!"
The two royal sisters couldn't help but chuckle as the little snow man was playfully running away from two dogs.
...
The docks were just as busy during the Winter Festival but to the Dockmaster, he'd known he has seen it worse. Suddenly one of the workers ran up to him.
"Sir! We have a large ship on the horizon."
The Dockmaster turned to the young man and raised his eyebrow, "And why should that be brought to my attention?"
"B-because it has an unfamiliar coat of arms. And it is massive too!"
The Dockmaster had the worker lead him to the watch tower he had been stationed on. When he was at the top he saw what he meant.
"Do you have a spyglass?"
"Yes sir. Here you go."
The older man extended the spyglass and peered through it. You could already tell it was a large vessel but now he could see it was some kind of large galleon. And galleons were already quite large to begin with. The coat of arms on the sails were definitely unfamiliar.
"I'm sure she'll fit since the harbor has cleared a little but I better alert someone to act as a guide for it."
The young man adjusted the collar of his coat, "Should we be worried about anything sir?"
"We won't be able to tell until it gets here or does something before-hand. I'll get someone to deliver a message to Queen Elsa." With that said, he pushed the spyglass shut with a light click.
...
"Captain Miguel, how close are we to that city," a man of about 62 years old asked as he shut his own spyglass.
Captain Miguel looked up at the human after analyzing his ship and the surrounding weather.
"Shortly. The Sea Rose will get there when she gets there general. Best ready someone to greet them though. They'll surely not know who we'll be like those people at the last place." The Halfling stuck his old pipe back in his mouth as he concentrated at his ship's wheel.
"I already have that covered," the older human responded.
He then adjusted his cloak and walked down some nearby stairs to the deck. As he crossed it, he kept his eye on the two young people at the front of the ship. Since they had seen this "Arendelle" they hadn't taken their eyes off it or the mountains surrounding it. They only turned to him when they heard his boots knocking on the planks of the ship; the eldritch tattoos always the first thing he saw.
"Raven, Dimitri: is this where you sensed it?" he asked.
"Yes Roda," Dimitri, the boy, responded in his usually monotone style.
Raven pointed to the mountains, "We can sense somewhere in the mountains. I'm afraid the storm slowing us down gave it time to grow and infest."
The older general put his hand on his sword as he gazed towards their destination. A shiver ran down the stoic man's spine but it wasn't due to the cold of this land's assumed winter season. It was dreading an infestation of the other worldly monstrosity that nearly destroyed his home land of Dessila a year ago.
"The Void can not spread to other lands. No land shall suffer like Dessila and I will die before I let others go through that which nearly destroyed us. May Victus watch over us all."
...
Elsa was watching a group dancing in the square, Anna and Kristoff being among them, when she was tapped on the shoulder. As she turned around she saw one of Arendelle's guards.
"My queen I have a message from the Dockmaster. He says that there is a large ship coming into port that has an unfamiliar coat of arms."
"Was there any problem or a threat by them?" Elsa inquired.
"Not that was seen when I was given the message to come find you. They appeared to just want to dock. However, given that it was a ship from no familiar lands, the Dockmaster felt it necessary to have you informed."
"Thank you. Can you escort me to the docks? I think I'd like to see this ship for myself," Elsa said looking back to her sister.
"Are you sure my queen?"
"Yes. If trouble should start, it would be best if I can stop it in a more contained area than let it spread to my people."
"As you wish."
With that exchange said, Elsa walked off with the guard while Anna was turned away. On the way, her demeanor and stature changed from a queen enjoying the festival to a queen ready to greet visitors or handle danger should it arise. When she arrived at the docks, the large ship was being guided in. Elsa had seen all kinds of sailing vessels coming in and out of the harbor but this one was not of any familiar appearance. And like she was told, the emblem on the sails was not a familiar one. Upon its largest sail was a hand holding a sword with a blazing red sun to its left and a moon to its right. As it docked and was being set up so it couldn't float off, the deck of it became abound with activity. The young queen half expected supplies to be hauled off of it when the ramp was placed but only one person, and one extremely short at that, walked off it and called for someone to speak with. The Dockmaster, she presumed, walked toward him and the height of the man was almost comedic in nature. He appeared to be a dwarf.
...
The Halfling, Captain Miguel, lit some of the last of his pipe weed for his pipe. As he lit the weed and waved out the match, he held the pipe in his mouth. A middle aged and balding man, not much younger than the General was walking towards him. The activity on the Sea Rose stopped as the passengers and crew lined the rails of the deck.
"I was hoping when he said he had it covered, he was going to be the one who did it," he thought.
When the man got closer he exhaled a smoke ring in his direction and adjusted the gray eyepatch over his left eye as well as the cutlass on his belt.
"Common?" he asked, pointing at the approaching man. "Do ye speak the common tongue?"
"We don't call it Common but I understand you. Welcome to Arendelle for starters. And who might you be?
"Miguel Dorner. Captain Miguel Dorner of the Sea Rose and the Halfling Republican Navy. You?"
"Mathias Andersen. I am the master of the docks here in Arendelle."
"That's good to hear. I'll get straight to the point though Mathias. I assume you have never seen people like me or some of those on my ship?" Miguel asked pointing to the different people lining the rails.
The taller man nodded.
"We come from a land called Dessila to put it simply and right now we're on a mission of some importance. I'm sure the general on our ship will appreciate you giving this to whoever rules this particular land."
The Halfling captain pulled a letter with a seal sharing imagery with the crest on the sails from his coat's pocket. Then he held it out to the other man to take it.
"It's a letter from the human's emperor in Amarh. It will explain our mission to some degree and ask for a meeting between General Centuri and whoever is in charge here. In the mean time I was asked if the land lovers on my ship could stretch their legs on the docks." He turned to the crowd on his ship's deck and shouted, "They never seemed to have developed their sea legs!"
Mathias took the letter.
"I can see about getting it to her. Queen Elsa usually likes to meet without envoys. Just don't cause us trouble and we should be alright."
Miguel shook his head, "No promises there with some of these people. One of them even has a bear with them."
Mathias just stared incredulously at the Halfling and the Captain gave a throaty cackle before he slapped his pipe against his hand to shake out the pipeweed in it.
"That's a much nicer response than I gave them. There isn't an easy way to hang a bear's arse over the rails and let him shite in the ocean!" There was a collective chuckle from those on the ship and even a loud throaty growl that seemed to laugh along.
"I'll reiterate: don't cause trouble please." Mathias turned away and started to walk off. "Enjoy the Winter Festival too Captain. Its finale is tomorrow."
"So they're having a festival of sorts huh? Hopefully we can squash that blasted Void before it ruins something." Miguel thought as he flashed an "okay" sign to Roda. "Wonder if they have any pipeweed here though. I'm just about out and if I die, I want to die with a lit pipe in my mouth."
...
The young queen looked on as some of the ship's riders ferried themselves off. She could hear the little man shouting orders to haul certain supplies off. Dockmaster Mathias made his way to her when he noticed her watching.
"Your majesty," he said bowing. "I hope you are enjoying the festival."
"I am thank you." She noticed the letter. "Who was this for?"
He held it out to her.
"He said it was from the human emperor and was some kind of prepared letter. Some of those people on the deck didn't even look like people and with that coat of arms, it is safe to say they don't come from anywhere we're familiar with."
Elsa carefully undid the wax seal and removed the letter. She unfolded it and read it to herself, noticing the refined and professional penmenship.
"To whom it may concern,
I am Emperor Zephyr of the Amarhian Empire. If you have this letter then hopefully the expedition I have funded has reached you and their first contact has been peaceful. Though as you talk with the leader of it, my right hand General Roda Fontain Centuri, you'll come to understand "expedition" is not the proper term. They are more like hunters and they are after a malevolent and eldritch force we call the Void. I humbly request you speak with General Centuri as he will fill you in on the devastation Void has wrought in Dessila and how we barely claimed victory over it. Victory achieved at a great cost to all our nations. I implore you to hear out the general and allow him to hunt down the Void as we are trying to keep the lands outside our newly opened borders. That is something he will fill you in on too.
With Best Regards,
Emperor Callain Zephyr I"
"Void? Could that have been what I-…" Elsa began to think before Anna interrupted her thought.
"Who's this Callain Elsa? A foreign suitor who has his eye on the Queen of Arendelle?" she asked playfully.
"No Anna," Elsa sighed. "Just a letter from this group's leadership asking me to speak with the general on the ship."
"Well they certainly came at a great time! They'll be just in time for the Winter Festival's finale tomorrow."
"And they certainly came on a big ship! That dwarfs everything in the harbor." Kristoff remarked.
Elsa turned her gaze back to the docks by the large ship. People of different races, from the looks of it, were stretching or conversing around some offloaded crates. She even saw what looked like a massive bear lying on the ground and a short but very muscular, bearded man laying against him. A man in a green cloak seemed to be having a discussion with a group of people. She guessed that might have been the leader of the "expedition". She then saw two people in black cloaks away from the group (who had exited the ship with them) having an intense conversation with each other. They seemed to be pointing past the city and towards the mountains. When she looked back to the general's group, she noticed a skinny man in an old robe looking right at her while scratching his chin in thought.
"I suppose I should go greet them. At the very least I can hear out their general's side of things. As far as I can see they don't seem like they mean any harm." Elsa told no one in particular.
"We'll go with you! I love meeting new people! You know…as long as they aren't like a certain person who won't be named," Anna responded while twirling the braid across her shoulder.
Elsa knew she wouldn't be able to convince her to not go so she made sure Kristoff got it through to Sven that he shouldn't follow. The same went with Olaf. She didn't want something to happen with that massive bear and didn't know what the visitors would think of a walking snowman. Though from what she could tell as she got closer was the new visitors were all…diverse so they probably wouldn't have been phased. Some looked like bipedal wolves, some like cats, some lizards, and some had pointy ears. Others looked like humans, just like Elsa, Anna, and Kristoff.
As she neared the group, a massive man of around 7'0" and who seemed like he was entirely made of muscle pointed her direction. The man in the green cloak turned around. He had blonde hair that went to his neck but it was streaked with gray and his eyes were an emerald green. He had a short beard that had more gray hair than blonde. She could tell by looking at his face and into his eyes that he had seen a lot in his life and she could tell he had to be hardened from decades of battle. The group dispersed with two young women and three young men walking past her to Arendelle. They nodded and gave some light greetings though the blonde girl in black pushed a more richly dressed man down the docks as he tried to give a more lavished greeting.
"Don't do anything that will get us executed yet Bardak!"
"Please Zuretha, you know Roda's warnings were aimed at you and MaLelia more than Jacobe and I!"
They continued to bicker as General Roda and two women who flanked him bowed lightly. One seemed to be incredibly young with black hair that Elsa and Anna both thought didn't match her face while the other was middle aged much like the general. Elsa actually noticed the younger girl shared similar features to the other two.
"Who might you be my lady?" he asked formally.
"My name is Elsa sir and I am the Queen of Arendelle. It is a pleasure to meet you," Elsa responded with a curtsy. Anna followed suit and Kristoff bowed back, both introducing themselves.
Roda absentmindedly rubbed his chin as he looked at the three of them and past them.
"What queen walks among her subjects without an escort of guards?"
He had a no-nonsense and serious tone to his baritone, gravely voice.
"One who is capable of taking care of herself sir."
Roda's right eye twitched and the middle aged woman on his left placed her hand on his shoulder.
"I apologize for my bluntness your majesty. I am usually in charge of our Emperor's protective detail so I believe a ruler should always have guards at most times. Allow me to introduce myself and my comrades: I am General Roda Fontain Centuri."
He motioned to the woman on his left, "This is Sara Centuri."
Then he motioned to the young woman on his right, "And this is Lia Centuri."
"They are my wife and daughter to get that out of the way."
"Greetings Queen Elsa," Sara said.
"A pleasure to make your acquaintance," Lia followed.
"Is it common where you all come from to have a wife and daughter in commanding positions of your…military?" Anna asked.
"Anna please," Elsa was about to chastise her sister.
"It is alright. We actually encouraged him to say that. Our situation is rather complicated to say the least," Sara explained.
"For now though," Roda started to say, "we must discuss why we are here. It is quite literally a matter of life and death."