2-Arendelle Under Attack
"Your Majesty! Get DOWN!" Elsa's guard captain roughly shoved her to the ground, under one of the tables of the inn where she had been having tea. Elsa had been caught by surprise, but stayed down as she heard the "BOOM" of cannon fire. What was going on? One of her guardsmen was lying almost on top of her, shielding her with his own body. The rest of them surrounded the table, backs to her, weapons ready, scanning for threats. They didn't know anything more about what was happening than Elsa did, but they knew how to protect their Queen. Putting their bodies between her and danger was their duty, and they would do that duty even at the cost of their own lives.
Elsa was confused and a little frightened. Why was there cannon fire? Was Arendelle under attack? Who would do such a thing? She thought the day had been going so well...
It was the middle of October, three months after Elsa's coronation as Queen of Arendelle, three months since the spectacular blowup of her efforts to hide the fact that she was blessed/cursed with the magic power to control ice and snow. After exposing her secret, running away from her kingdom while causing it to fall into a devastating winter in July, almost killing her sister and dying herself, then gaining true control of her power and thawing the kingdom, Elsa had settled into her role as Queen with some trepidation. But it seemed that most people were willing to give her the opportunity to prove herself, and she had steadily gained confidence in her own ability. It was, after all, something she had been training to do her entire life.
Her parents had made some deplorable errors in her upbringing, but her father had been competent and thorough as he educated her to follow him as ruler of Arendelle. Her mother had likewise directed Elsa's training in diplomacy, etiquette and protocol. They did not neglect the education of their younger daughter, Anna, but her training was not as intense as Elsa's. When the King and his wife perished in a storm at sea three years ago, Elsa continued her lessons with her advisers until she came of age and could rule in her own name.
It was rather more difficult than learning from her mother and father, if only because her grief made focus and motivation much harder to come by. She had also gotten the distinct impression that many of her advisers were unhappy with the thought of a Queen Regnant who was only 21 years old. Since her father had ascended the throne at the age of 22, Elsa sometimes wondered if their attitude would be different if she were the eldest son, instead of the eldest daughter. No matter. She would do everything she could to bring credit to the memory of her mother and father.
One of the errors made by her parents was isolating her from most people, and especially from her younger sister, Anna. That isolation had stunted Elsa's ability to deal with people, or even understand them sometimes, and it was something she had to work very hard to overcome. She had chosen to schedule days where she would go to the town square, mingle with her people, and make herself available to anyone who wished to talk to her on any topic. The first time she did it was very hard on her. But she had now experienced several such days, and she was getting more comfortable with her ability to enjoy other people's company, make small talk, and even entertain the children with small displays of her magic. Dancing snowflakes and little figurines made of ice delighted the little ones, just as they had delighted her sister Anna when they were small girls.
Since she was still a little unsure of herself, she would bring Anna and Olaf along to share the experience, and help divert attention from Elsa if necessary. Olaf, her walking, talking snowman, was a favorite with the children. He often wandered around town by himself, looking for flowers to sniff, and playmates for games, so he was a familiar sight that no longer startled the citizens of Arendelle town. And Anna could make friends with a rock, she had seen her do it before, so she was always a welcome companion for Elsa.
They had spent a productive day getting caught up on the happenings of the kingdom, and it was approaching evening. Olaf and Anna had both decided to wander off to some other part of town. Elsa suspected Anna really just wanted to find Kristoff, who was becoming a close friend. Kristoff and his reindeer Sven had first met Anna on her quest to find Elsa and bring her back to Arendelle after the disaster of her coronation ball. Elsa approved of Kristoff, and had bestowed upon him the title of Royal Ice Master and Deliverer to humor Anna. It had been meant as a little joke at first, but it turned out that Kristoff really was quite competent as an ice harvester, and was working to organize all of the ice harvesters into a well functioning guild, just like the other guilds in the kingdom.
Alone with her guard detail, Elsa had decided to enjoy some tea and krumkake at the inn before she returned to the castle. She was just finishing her tea when she noticed something odd in the harbor. Five ships were sailing into the dock area, and they looked like warships. Large warships. Their gun ports were open, and their cannons were run out. Suddenly, several of the cannons fired, striking the castle wall and the mountains above the town. Elsa abruptly found herself on the ground underneath the table as her guard captain pushed her down with a warning shout. The peaceful market square quickly became a pandemonium of panicking people scrambling to get away from the docks and the hostile cannon fire.
"Your Majesty! We have to get you away from here, to safety!" The Captain yelled, trying to be heard over the cannon and the screams of the townspeople fleeing the scene. The attacking ships continued to fire, although it still seemed they were avoiding targeting the town buildings. The boom of their fire was continuous, and it looked to Elsa that they were attempting to dock and land troops!
"No, Captain!" Elsa scrambled to her feet, with help from the Captain. "This attack must be repelled immediately! I need to repel it! By the time our Navy and the Marines get organized, they will have landed those troops," Elsa pointed at a ship that had docked, armed men already running down the gangplank onto the quay, "And we will be engaged in a general battle, with who knows how many casualties!"
The Captain protested, "Your Majesty, we can't risk you..."
Elsa cut him off. "Captain, I understand your concern, but I am the only one with the power to stop this before it goes too far!" And she began running toward the docked enemy ship. Her guard ran to keep up with her. It was too late to knock her out and carry her bodily back to the castle, so the Captain decided to just roll with it as he ran along side her.
"Elsa, what are you DOING?" she screamed internally, trying not to panic. This wasn't a situation that her father had trained her for. Most monarchs don't do any fighting themselves, and rarely exposed themselves to the chaotic dangers of battle. But her instincts were sound. She knew that if she acted quickly and decisively, she could probably bring this under control long enough for her military forces to engage and overcome this unknown enemy. Her heart was pounding and her breath was coming in great, shuddering gasps as she approached the docked ship and the men milling around. It looked like the hostile troops were getting organized, she didn't have much time. She skidded to a halt about 25 yards from the ship. Her guards immediately began to surround her, but she barked, "DON'T get in my line of fire!" and let go a blast of ice that created a wall surrounding the enemy troops that had disembarked.
Seeing that the attackers were at least temporarily stymied, she then iced over the ship they had come from. Using the same gestures she had used to raise her ice palace, she built a pillar of ice under the ship that elevated it about 50 feet above the water of the harbor. She froze over all of its cannon as well. The men remaining on that ship wouldn't be joining their fellows on land any time soon. She thickened the wall of ice surrounding the troops on the quay. That group wouldn't be causing any trouble for a while, either. With the immediate threat neutralized, she looked for the other ships.
To her dismay, two more were almost docked, and she could see the troops ready to leap onto the quay as soon as they did. The last of the ships were still bombarding parts of the castle, and still aiming at the hills above the town, rather than the town itself. "Come with me!" she screamed to her guards. As if they wouldn't follow her to the very gates of hell to protect her. Elsa wasn't thinking very clearly. The danger to her people was unnerving her, she wasn't sure quite what to do next. In a frenzy, almost without realizing what she was doing, she froze over the water of the harbor, which locked the ships into immobility. Then, in a most desperate act, she gestured as she had when she created Marshmallow, the giant snow golem that guarded her ice palace. Frightening everyone, friend and foe alike, 10 giant snowmen with ice shards at fingers, elbows, and knees rose up on the iced-over harbor, and attacked the enemy ships.
To say that the invasion force was terrified by these giant snow soldiers vastly understated the impact they had. The snowlems split up, dividing their attention between all four ships. Cannon and gunfire had no effect on them. They ignored these futile attacks and snapped the masts on the ships like twigs. Plucking cannon off the decks of the ships as though they weighed nothing, Elsa's frosty giants threw them onto the ice far from the ships. Sailors and soldiers on the ships were bowled over by the rocking of the decks as this damage was being done, but as far as Elsa could tell, no one was being killed. A few minutes of this carnage, and the invaders were waving anything white they could find amongst the wreckage, hoping they could convince SOMEONE that they were trying to surrender.
"Stop!" Elsa bellowed at her creations. They immediately stopped tearing the ships apart, and stood there passively, glowering at their prey. By this point, that was all they needed to do to intimidate the cowering sailors. Elsa looked around her. She could see a large number of Arendelle Marines pounding up to the docks from their barracks, muskets at port arms, bayonets glinting in the light of the setting sun. Until she thawed the harbor, the navy's ships wouldn't be very useful, but the Marines could walk on the ice with their hobnailed boots.
A colonel of Marines ran up to Elsa. "Your Majesty! Your orders?" She took a few deep breaths until her heart slowed its pounding and she could speak coherently.
"Colonel, have your men walk across the ice to each of those ships, and escort their crews and the soldiers to the dock, where you can march them off to the parade grounds. Your men will hold them prisoner there until we can get something better organized. Guard them well, and insure that the prisoners leave their muskets and other arms on the ice, to sink to the bottom of the harbor when I melt it."
The colonel nodded. "Yes, Your Majesty." He looked at the ships. "If I may ask, what about those...those frost giants?"
He was a little unnerved by living snowmen, no matter how successfully they had overcome the attackers. He knew that his Queen had ice powers, but the story of the attack on Elsa's ice palace three months ago had been widely dismissed as gross exaggeration on the part of the men who had been there, by those who had not. Who believed in giant snowmen? Well, now he believed.
Elsa was still shaken, but her thoughts came into focus. "They will help your Marines escort the prisoners to the parade grounds, and they will also help stand guard. Simply tell each one what you want him to do, and explain that it is Queen Elsa's order. They will obey you. I suspect their presence will help deter any foolish thoughts of further resistance or escape." She looked around her.
"Leave me one squad of Marines to supplement my guardsmen. I need to see what damage has been done to the town. And the castle." She suddenly thought of Anna.
"My sister!" she gasped. "Has anyone seen my sister?!" She felt panic coming on again, and she fought it down with iron discipline. "Don't feel, don't feel, DON'T FEEL!" she repeated to herself.
Her guard Captain spoke up. "You Majesty, she was last seen going toward the castle with the Ice Master." He meant Kristoff. "I will send a man immediately to the castle and see if they are there, and unharmed." He turned to one of the guardsmen. "Jorgensen, run, and insure Princess Anna is safe at the castle! Report back to me when you know their situation."
"SIR!" Jorgensen snapped a salute, and ran off. The Captain turned back to Elsa.
"Your Majesty, I understand your desire to survey the damage and insure the well-being of the townspeople. But your duty" he put an emphasis on the word, "is to insure your own safety. Please let us escort you back to the castle, where you can receive the reports as the Marines and the town gendarmerie get assessment and relief activities under way."
Elsa was not quite ready to agree with that. "Captain, I appreciate your unease with my remaining here. However, the greatest danger seems to be past, and I need to stay until the Marines have cleared those ships and taken the prisoners away. I'm the only one who can thaw the ice, and can't do that until they are finished." She checked her surroundings, trying to orient herself. They weren't that far from the market square.
"However, I see no reason why we can't return to the inn, and mingle with the townspeople to reassure them, until the Marines have done their duty. Would that put your mind sufficiently at ease about my safety?" The Captain thought this request over, and reluctantly admitted that his squad and the Marines added to his detail would be able to safeguard the Queen. "Thank you, Captain. I am indebted to you and your men for your devotion to your duty to the Crown of Arendelle."
She turned back to the colonel. "Colonel, would you have one of your men take a message to the castle? Assuming my sister is there, tell her where we will be? She must be as worried about me as I am about her." The Colonel saluted Elsa. "Immediately, Your Majesty!"
"Thank you." She returned her attention to the Captain. "Let's go, then, Captain. I find that I need some tea and maybe more krumkake after all this excitement." She managed what she hoped was a reassuring smile, trying to mask her inner turmoil. The mixed squad of guardsmen and Marines formed up around Elsa, and the party began their walk back to the inn.