ELSA


The queen of Arendelle walked ahead of the first volley of arrows and erected a wall of ice to protect herself from the second. The arrows fell to the side of her barrier, missing it entirely. She advanced.

"Don't let up, men!" shouted a voice from across the narrow field. "Keep her pinned!"

She inhaled and then loosed a blast of magic from her fingertips in the direction of the voice. The light smashed against the trees, freezing all that it struck. Her target stepped around the newly formed blockade, sneering. "That all, witch?"

Elsa checked her reserves. Her light had depleted somewhat, but still shone brightly. She closed her eyes and inhaled. The wall of ice behind her disappeared as the magic returned to her core.

"How about this!" she muttered, sweeping her arms in a wide arc in front of her. The ground exploded as ice shot forth in the form of icicles. They soared towards the bandits who retreated behind the trees. Planting her foot forward, she focused light into her palms and pushed.

Fight for me.

The light from her palms caught up with the icicles in mid-flight, transforming them upon contact. They took a bipedal form and bared sharp teeth and claws.. The ice gremlins sunk their claws into the tree trunks and then leaped onto the frightened men. Lines of blue reached back from the transforming icicles, connected to Elsa's chest.

Don't kill them. Please.

A pulse travelled from her chest, down the lines and to the gremlins, who suppressed their aggression accordingly, striking to disarm. When a gremlin was destroyed a connecting line vanished. The leader of the bandits swore, cutting at the creatures with his sword. Elsa retreated behind another wall of ice as the bandit leader commanded another volley. The arrows fell short. In her brief panic she severed her connection to the gremlins, who fell in clumps of shattered ice around her foes.


KARAH


"She's quite good." Karah said, impressed. Around her, soldiers stared in awe.

Her brother shifted uncomfortably. He wasn't fond of acknowledging the talents of another lightcaster. "Well she has had practice before we came here."

"It's not just that." Karah watched as the queen danced across the field. "Look at how she moves. She's a natural."

An arrow landed next to the queen's foot. Elsa jumped back in alarm. An angry voice rose from the forest. Karah's heart skipped a beat. Another wave of arrows flew, but they did not come as close.

"Her footwork leaves much to be desired." Khan noted with a humph.

"Oh don't be such a critic." Karah waved at him. "If I remember correctly, during your first battle, you were floundering around like you were a fish caught out on land."

Khan's ears turned red, much to Karah's satisfaction. They watched the battle continue in silence.

"Are you sure this is wise, brother?" she whispered, after a time. "Letting her fight alone like this?" The two twins were standing before the wooden embrasure, watching the battle below. "She could get hurt."

"She's" said Khan as Elsa erected yet another wall of ice to deflect the incoming projectiles "not going to."

"Maybe not." Karah bit her lip, watching the men behind the trees nock and release. The arrows went wild, falling in the peripherals of the queen. Again.

Khan looked at her. "They seem a little idiotic, don't you think?"

Karah hummed. "What do you mean?"

"They have technique, but their aim is off by miles."

She bit her lip. "Well, I wouldn't exactly call not knowing how to use a bow idiotic."

"I'm not saying they don't know how to use them!" He pointed. "They do, that's what's so idiotic."

Karah frowned. Something was off. She turned back to the bandits, watching their movements carefully. They drew their arrows and nocked them in fluid motions. The way they held their bows bespoke experience. Yet when they released, the arrows went wild.

"They're not aiming for her?" she wondered. She drew looks from the soldiers around her.

"No." said Khan, as the latest wave of arrows missed their mark. The queen stood perplexed between the gates and the bandit position. Light streamed from her arms but she no longer made any moves to defend herself. "She's not in danger. Not from the arrows anyways."

"The archers aren't aiming to kill." said a new voice. A man stepped up beside him. His graying hair was slicked back and he wore a sword at his hip. "It's a distraction."

Karah flared her light. In the forest was a dim cyan colored orb, growing larger with each passing moment. "Or a trap." she said, her voice wavering.

"Or both." Khan said with a curse. He spun away as the gray haired man barked an order to the soldiers to open the gates.


ELSA


Elsa stood in a field of arrows. Shafts protruded from the ground on both sides of her, but aside from the one arrow that almost struck her foot, none of them had even come close. Even the ones deflected by her wall would not have harmed her. Arrows continued to fall, behind her, in front of her, and around. Her hands dropped to her sides, blue light streaming from the tips, as she stared at the bandit leader with a look of bafflement on her face.

The bandit leader raised his sword, pointing the tip at her heart as they made eye contact. His men moved forward, weapons drawn for a melee. Elsa felt a stab of fear as she watched the sharp blades approach. A bolt of blue light escaped her hand, flying backwards into the village wall and freezing a portion of it. She clenched her fist, closing her eyes. No! I can control it now!

When her eyes opened, the men had already crested half the distance between them. Elsa tried to steady her breathing, but her breaths came out ragged. She raised her fingers, which glowed an iridescent blue.

"Don't come any closer!" she shouted. The men acted as if they didn't hear her. Many of them wielded clubs, but others carried hatchets and spears. A rare few carried swords.

She heard the gates opening behind her. "Queen Elsa!" shouted the clear voice of her general, accompanied by the sound of shuffling feet. "My Queen, it's a trap!"

Elsa turned. "No!" she cried. She loosed a beam of light, striking the gates. It froze over instantly, sealed shut. She needed to do it alone, otherwise her people would always fear her. Few trusted her truly, after what she'd done. She needed to show them that she intended to use her powers for the good of the kingdom and to protect her people.

She erected a wall of ice and pushed. The wall slid forward slowly, hindered by the grass, so she froze a trail and sent the structure crashing into the lines of the men that were almost upon her. They fell over in a pile of rags and wood and metal. She picked off the ones that sidestepped the wall, encasing them in ice from the neck down. They were just bandits. She could handle bandits.


KHAN


Khan sprinted down the steps, heading for the crack as the gate opened. Elsa's magic struck before he could get to it. He growled, flaring his light. The blue light of the wall interfered with his vision, but he could still see the inferno that marked the queen along with the dull whites of the bandits. Beyond them all was the lone cyan coloured orb that continued to grow.

At first he wasn't certain that it would be another lightcaster, but the way it moved - the speed at which it moved, affirmed his fears.

He kicked at the wall of ice, then closed his eyes. Red light flowed from his core into his right arm. He balled his hand into a fist and thrust it into the thick sheet of ice, permeating his red light through the gelid stratum. The entire blockade melted in seconds.


ANNA


"Elsa!" Anna cried. She couldn't stand it anymore, watching her sister get surrounded and lunged at and insulted and being unable to do anything about it. She searched for a way to get down to the field and join her sister. Khan had melted the blockade, but Elsa had erected another to take its place, trapping the Prince inside. She was losing control!

"No, no, no, no, no!" Anna muttered, holding the hem of her dress as she hurried down the steps of the battlement. She got to Khan, who was frozen from the neck down. Wisps of red light streamed from his mouth as he struggled to get himself free.

A soldier walked by, sword sheathed at his hip. Anna reached forward and grabbed the pommel, tugging the blade free. The man began to protest but apologized as soon as he registered her face. She lifted the sword above her head and began hacking away at the ice. Khan stopped struggling and instead looked at her with a perplexed expression.

"Don't. Say. A. Word." Anna grunted, in between swings.


ELSA


Most of the bandits had been defeated, and only the leader remained. They stood opposite each other, several paces away. The terrain was littered with broken pieces of wood and ice. The bandit leader twirled his sword with a flourish, sneering wickedly. Elsa kept her distance, hands raised. She lunged, blue light streaming from her hand. The man rolled away as ice erupted from the ground where he had just been.

"Your men are defeated." Elsa said, backing away as the man advanced. She breathed, replenishing the light in her fingertips. She launched another bolt of light at the man, who dodged again. Elsa anticipated it, transforming the ground into a smooth layer of ice. The bandit leader stumbled and fell, his rough stubbled mouth scraping against floor. He rolled into a crouch.

"Not yet." he smiled, his eyes flashing dangerously.

"What did you hope to achieve?" Elsa asked, as she sent the man crashing back against the ground. She didn't want to hurt him any more than she had to. The attack didn't make any sense to her. They never would've been able to take the village with their numbers, and if by some miracle they did, they would not be able to withstand a counterattack from the castle. Why make such a fuss over a hopeless cause?

The man got up. He pointed the sword at the ground and used it to steady himself. "The name's Raynalt, if you were wonderin'." He said, spitting out a tooth. Behind him, the soldiers on the battlements were making a commotion. She thought she heard Anna's voice among the chorus.

"I wasn't, but thanks." Elsa tracked his motions carefully. "Now answer my question."

The man shifted his leg forward.

Elsa withdrew, raising her arms in alarm. "Don't come any closer." she warned.

Reynalt shrugged, pulling his leg back. "You're wondering why we weren't trying to kill you earlier." His hair was a tangled mess of black and there was a vertical scar on his right cheek.

Elsa nodded. There was something odd in the way the man stared at her.

"We didn't come for your village." he said, speaking the words slowly. His voice dropped to a whisper as a ball of flame was launched from the battlements behind. "We came for you."


KARAH


Her attack barely fazed the metal man, but it caught the attention of the queen, who jumped to the side right before the rogue lightcaster lunged at her. She was wide-eyed, her features expressing fear. Before her stood a monster of a man covered head to toe in steel. His pauldrons smoked from where her fire struck, though he did not seem bothered by any sort of pain.

The metal man turned his head towards the bandit leader, who nodded, reaching into the folds of his shirt to pull out a large blue gem attached to a length of chains. He tossed it to the newcomer. After a short exchange of words, the bandit spun and fled back into the forest, his sword sheathed at his side.

She's not ready for this, Karah thought, panicked, as the bruiser studied the queen. She ran down the length of the wall to the gate and leaped, her dress flapping around her as she flew through the air. She focused her magic into her palm and held it towards the ground in front of the gate, releasing a torrential burst of flame to slow her fall. She landed with a thud, superheated air and smoke fanning out in a ring.

"Let's go, Khan." she said, sweeping her arm back to break her brother free from his cage."Wait!" the princess of Arendelle cried, as they turned away. "I'm coming with you."

Karah sighed, turning to her. She had on a brave face, but her eyes were wide, fearful for the safety of her sister. Were those tears in her eyes? She wouldn't blame her if they were. Still, it was too dangerous. None of them expected the arrival of a brute. She hated herself for what she had to say.

"Come on, then." said Khan, before Karah could open her mouth to speak. Anna rushed past them, a sword clutched in her shaking hands.

"If you didn't have powers, and I was in danger," Khan whispered "would you try save me?"

"I would." Karah replied, falling into stride alongside her brother. "But I'd rather it be me who got hurt instead of her."

"Then we'll just have to protect both of them."


ELSA


The towering man lunged at her with inhuman speed. Elsa backpedaled, but her foot struck the shaft of an arrow and she tumbled to the ground. She pulled herself up, clumps of grass clinging to her single braid of hair. She snapped her wrist towards her assailant, an icicle forming from the light in mid air. He made no move to stop it as it crashed against his face plate. The man advanced, unfazed by her counter.

She flared her light. The man radiated a bright cyan colour from his core, unlike the whites of the other bandits. He has to be using magic to make himself stronger!

The man continued walking, his pace unchanging. "You should have spent more time practicing and less time locking yourself up in your room, Queen." The man's voice was sonorous, and his words flowed from his mouth like a river.

He jumped towards her.

Elsa scrambled backwards but he had caught her wrist in his hand, twisting it. She felt powerless as he pushed her to the ground.

"Get off of me!" She shrieked, focusing as much magic as she could into her arms, but the faceless man thrust a large blue gem against her chest. There was black disc around its circumference that whirred as soon as the gem made contact. She felt a cold sensation in her heart as light flowed from her core into the gem. She felt her arms grow weak as her power continued to be drawn from her. She closed her eyes. The raging inferno that was her core was shrinking by the moment.

"Wh-what are you doing to me?" she rasped. She tried to kick herself away, but the man's inhuman strength held her in place.

"Stay silent." The man commanded. "It will be over soon. Struggling is-" Clonk! A stone ricocheted off the man's plate.

"Get away from my sister, you creep!"

Elsa's heart skipped a beat. Anna.

"You will watch your sister die." The man whispered into Elsa's ear as he got up. He formed fists with his hands and turned to face the princess. Then suddenly, he froze. Elsa followed his gaze.

Anna stood defiantly opposite from the man. She had a sword in her hands, one that she clearly wasn't experienced in using. Behind her stood the garrison of Arendelle, including Leonius with his sabre drawn and the twins from Vharel, their fire magic swirling around their figures like a tornado.

Elsa took the chance to launch a blast of magic at the man's chest, pushing her away from her captor. He glared at her before taking off towards the forest. Khan and a dozen guards followed in pursuit.

"Elsa!" said Anna, kneeling by her side. "Are you alright?"

The queen of Arendelle massaged her temple. She nodded, sitting up. Anna embraced her, and then helped her to her feet.

"I failed." Elsa whispered.

Anna smiled, cocking her head to the side as if she had just uttered a joke. "Are you kidding?" she said, gesturing towards the rest of the field. The soldiers had begun tying up the bandits that she had defeated, fifty of them at least. Some of the soldiers looked at her with awe. Others with concern. None, she was surprised to see, looked at her with fear.