Chapter 11 Strike for Love
"She what!" Ramberg shouted.
"She kidnapped the princess, sir," the guard said, saluting nervously.
"How dare she! How dare that general order his giant monster to kidnap one of our subjects—our princess!" He glowered at the guard. "Why did no one stop her?"
"We… er, we… didn't see her."
The left side of the duke's mouth twitched. "You didn't see a fifteen-metre tall woman?"
The guard blanched. "It was… the storm… I mean, visibility was…. Er, she came from the fjord. And by the time we realized, uh, what she was doing… we couldn't stop her."
The duke hissed like a kettle reaching the boil, then became calm again. He carefully stroked his moustache, and smiled at the guard. "I'm sure you couldn't. Do you know where they have gone?"
"The giantess was last seen heading along Route E10 towards Flakstadoya, sir."
"Towards the—? I see. Thank you. Dismissed."
The guard saluted and left while Ramberg walked over to the window. The snow had stopped falling, but the sky was still heavily overcast, grey and featureless. He pulled out his phone.
"Agent Smith? I can assume there were in fact no survivors?"
"There couldn't be," Smith told him. "If they survived the crash, they'd be dead soon from cold and exposure."
"You know what's at stake here," the duke said. "We cannot risk that stupid little girl interfering with our plans. Do not assume. Know."
"You want us to—"
"I want you to make sure there are no survivors," the duke said. "The giantess is carrying a tracking device—can your people locate her?"
"No problem. We have contacts within the US military."
"Good. And Smith? Make sure your men get there before that American monster does. I don't want anyone to know about your involvement. Or mine."
"Don't worry. This will never be traced back to you. Weselton Oil has experience with this sort of thing. We're not amateurs. By this time tomorrow, the throne will be yours."
Anna realised she was lying on her back in a hollow, formed when she fell, and she could see the snow howling across just above her. Her left leg was throbbing painfully, but somehow she was still alive. Somehow, incredibly, the pilot had managed to ride out the sudden storm blast enough that they merely crash-landed rather than being blown straight into the side of the mountain. Somehow she had been thrown free, landing in the deep, soft snow. The snow that lay all around her, filling her vision with whiteness. The entire world was white—a vast, empty nothingness of pure whiteness, with her alone at the centre, an insignificant speck, a tiny spark of life adrift in the blank void, slowing flickering, growing dimmer and dimmer.
Her consciousness kept fading in and out, and it was getting hard to determine reality from hallucinations. One thing was crystal clear, however: the blast had been caused by her sister, the Snow Queen. Could her uncle possibly be right? Was this a final attempt on her life? Well, it looked as if this one would succeed. While she had never believed that the accident when they were children was anything more than a simple mistake, and even the avalanche was just an unfortunate side-effect, this current storm was another thing entirely. It was as if Elsa had deliberately summoned up a blizzard; as if her sister had truly become the merciless Snow Queen of myth and legend; her heart full of cold, deadly, ice.
In her mind's eye, or possibly a dream, Anna felt she could see the Snow Queen now, seated on a great throne of ice, in a huge hall that glittered and refracted the light, casting a thousand tiny rainbows across the room. Deep blue depths lay between the pillars, leading away into darkness. The Snow Queen rose, and with a sweeping gesture from her hand, conjured up a hideous creature of snow, five metres tall, with great spikes of ice stabbing from its body. Anna tried to run, but she couldn't—her feet were trapped in ice, and she was powerless to move, powerless to defend herself, as the huge creature approached, its arm raised to strike. She screamed.
"How far now?"
"Not long," Elsa said, blasting snow from the ground ahead of them. "Over the other side, that's Vestvågøya. And straight ahead, that mountain, that's Himmeltindan!"
"Great!" Susan glanced up, seeing a sharp-edged peak on the other side of the strait. She hurried along the road, then stopped after rounding a low headland. The road dipped, vanishing into a tunnel. "Oh. That's a problem."
"No, it's not," Elsa said. "Keep going."
"You want me to crawl through?" Susan asked. "I don't think I could fit."
"No. Keep going to the edge of the strait."
In a moment they were at a small cluster of houses along the shore, facing a narrow strait, its cold grey waters still unfrozen but dotted with large chunks of sea ice. Beyond soared several peaks, stabbing almost directly out of the sea, with the highest a little further back, its summit shrouded by black clouds.
"I suppose I could swim across," Susan said, somewhat dubiously. "If I had to."
"Too cold," Elsa stated. "I think this is where I need to go alone."
"How?" Susan asked, raising her eyebrows.
Elsa shattered the ice anchoring her to Susan's shoulder. "Let me down."
"Uh, okay, if you want." Susan reached up a hand and let the princess scramble on, then lowered her gently to the ground. Elsa strode to the edge of the water, paused for a moment, then raised both arms. A breeze caught her ice train, rippling it gently, then more strongly. A sudden burst of light shone forth from Elsa's hands, which sent forth a great blast of ice across the water. It stretched out towards the other island, and Susan braced herself as gusts of wind howled across the land. Elsa's dress billowed, her train streaming out, the edges continually ripping and being reformed. Then the Snow Queen raised her arms higher, fresh blasts of ice streaking out, and the ice rose, arching, forming a gently curving bridge of pure, dark ice that rose above the dark sea, growing longer and longer, supported by slim pillars of ice.
"That's… that's amazing!" Susan gasped. "Come on, let's go!" She took a step towards the bridge, but Elsa held up her hand.
"I'm afraid I'll have to go alone—the bridge won't support your weight."
"Oh. Oh yeah, sorry," Susan said. She looked down at the small, slim queen, and was acutely reminded of her immense size. There were some things she just could not do. She could not follow Elsa, could not help her rescue her sister. She could not cross that beautiful, elegant bridge without destroying it. She was very good at destroying things, she thought with a sigh.
She shook her head. This wasn't the time to start feeling sorry for herself. She might not be able to cross the bridge, but she had saved the world from alien invasion, after all. Then she heard something, up in the sky. "Hey, do you hear that?" she asked, cocking her head to try and find out where the noise was coming from.
"I don't hear anything," Elsa replied, concentrating on finishing the bridge to her sister.
"Up in the sky," Susan replied. "It sounds like a… look! A helicopter!" She scanned the dull grey sky, then pointed up. "There! That's a rescue chopper, right? It's going to rescue Anna, right?"
Elsa looked up at the low grey clouds, and spotted a helicopter heading towards their position. It veered to the side, and her heart sank as she recognised the logo.
"I'm afraid not," she said. "That's a Weselton Oil helicopter. No idea what it's doing here. But I would be amazed if it was anything to do with rescuing my sister."
Susan shook her head in disbelief. "You really think your uncle wouldn't even try?"
For a brief moment, Elsa remembered her uncle as he used to be, when his brother—her father—was still alive. Even then he had been fairly forbidding, even when Elsa grew taller than him. But after her father's death, she had seen another side of him entirely. All pretence at being the kindly uncle had been summarily dropped.
"No. He wants us out of the way."
"You think he's going to—? He wouldn't! Not his own niece!"
"I hope not. But I'm not so sure about the oil company," Elsa said, her face set. "And I wouldn't trust my beloved uncle any further than I could throw him, either."
"Looks like it's going to be a race between you and the chopper, then," Susan commented. "Go, Elsa, and hurry! Can you make it in time?"
"Don't worry—the mountain's just over the other side—my sister's just over there."
"What about climbing the mountain?" Susan asked, glancing over at its steep slopes.
"I got up North Peak by myself. I'll manage this easily."
"Great! Hurry, Elsa. Just in case that chopper is actually going for your sister…."
"It'll never reach her, that I promise," Elsa said grimly. She gave the giantess a quick smile, then started running across the bridge.
Suddenly the ice erupted in front of her, shards spraying into the air as a sharp staccato rattle came from somewhere above her. The central part of the bridge collapsed, falling into the sea, and Elsa barely kept herself from doing the same. Scrambling to her feet, she was almost immediately thrown again as another staccato burst exploded more of the ice. Looking up, she could see the helicopter, diving down out of the low grey clouds and heading straight towards her.
"Elsa!" Susan shouted. "Get out of there!"
The princess pulled herself up again and ran, back towards the giantess, as the ice bridge was ripped up behind her by the helicopter's guns. She was barely conscious of where she was going—her mind was a white storm of fear, unable to think of anything but to flee, to run as far and fast as she could. She was almost at the end—the giantess was stretching out a hand. Then she stumbled again, rolling, the helicopter swinging around, trying to cut her off, swooping in for the kill. Her eyes screwed shut, she raised her arms in a futile gesture of protection—and then there was a blinding flash, a brief scream, an engine racing to its limit, a massive thud, and then… silence.
Or near silence. She could hear the low creaking of cold ice, shifting under its own weight. Elsa slowly opened her eyes. She was surrounded by massive spikes of ice, towering up past her vision. She didn't dare look up: she knew what that sound meant. It was the wolves all over again—in her blind fear and panic, she had unleashed her full power. But this time, it was humans she was aiming at….
Anna gasped, her leg sending a fresh stabbing wave of pain through her. She was still alive—the pain was an acute reminder of that. If she was still alive, there was still hope. Anna took a deep breath, and forced her eyes open. "Don't be… be weak," she stammered through frozen lips. Slowly, fighting a desperate need to just lie down and sleep, she levered herself to a semi-sitting position. A dozen or so metres away was the helicopter, sticking out of the snow. Where was the pilot? Was he still alive? "He…e…eelp…" she moaned, then more strongly, "Help!" She brought up a cold hand and rubbed her mouth. She could barely feel her hand, or her lips. "Help!" she shouted, then again. There was no answer. There was nothing but total, utter silence.
Anna could feel herself weeping. She was going to die out here, in the cold snow, alone. She had always hated being alone. She had been alone ever since she was eight, after Elsa had no longer been interested in playing with her. A void she had quickly filled with other friends, while she spent as much time as possible away from the cold, lonely castle. Away from her cold, lonely sister. Elsa loved being alone, refusing every invitation, every chance to go out and have fun. So eventually she had stopped bothering to even ask her.
And now she would die alone. Apart from everyone, even her sister. That, more than anything, seemed strange, unnatural. All her life, Elsa had always been there. No matter how many nights she spent partying, no matter how long she spent overseas lying in the sun, living the life of a playgirl princess, Elsa would always be waiting for her, always be waiting at home. Like a faithful dog. But now, even if she survived, Elsa was going to leave, to live far away in that American base…. For the first time in her life, her sister would not be there for her.
In the same way, Anna suddenly realised, that she had never been there for her sister…. It served her right, she thought with a long, slow sigh. She had spent half a lifetime trying to avoid her sister, so now they would be parted forever, and she would die up here, her grave her sister's snow. She had a sudden vision of Elsa finding her frozen body, preserving it, in eternal sleep deep within the Snow Queen's castle. She could see it now: a towering edifice of ice, reaching higher than any mountain. And at its heart, two sisters, together forever.
It had been so long since they were together, she thought. So long. She still remembered playing with her sister, playing in the winter snow. Shouts and fun and laughter, sledding and snowballs fights. Then a blinding pain shot through her head, and she could feel herself falling, down and down, into an endless pit. She got a glimpse of her sister, but for some reason, Elsa was just a child. A child with, she saw, an expression of pure horror and despair on her face. She heard a shriek, distorted, echoing. A cry of pain, of fear… of guilt beyond imagining.
Then her world exploded, spinning, twisting. She jolted, blinking, and realised she was awake. At least, she thought she was awake. The wind was howling, driving snow before it. Strangely enough, she could also see the stars through the snow. Part of her, a very dim, remote part, wondered how she could be seeing stars in the middle of summer. They shone, twinkling as the driving snowflakes occluded them, and seemed to be growing brighter.
Anna realised she was looking at candles. It was her birthday, with a cake, and presents. But for some reason, she couldn't see any of her friends. Even her parents weren't there. She was utterly alone. And it wasn't even her room. The walls were a different colour, and there were so many more books. She glanced down, and realised her hands were encased in long white gloves. And the glass of fruit juice by her plate was frozen over.
Then she was walking along one of the corridors in the castle. She passed by her bedroom, but for some reason she didn't go in. She simply glanced at it, listening sadly to the music and sound of laughter that percolated through the thick wood for a few seconds, before carrying on walking in silence, weeping. She turned a corner, and somehow felt as if years had passed. She could see herself, reflected in a mirror at the end of the corridor. No, not a mirror—she was looking at herself, dressed in one of her favourite Chanel outfits, chatting gaily on the phone. She saw herself glance up, then utterly ignore her as she passed on by, talking to one of her many friends about an upcoming visit to the French Riviera. Then she was standing, silent and unmoving, outside her bedroom door. Somehow, she knew the room on the other side was empty, would be empty for weeks to come, and a great pang of loneliness filled her.
She stared down at the telegram in her hands, noticing in passing that once again she was wearing gloves for some reason. The telegram's short, blunt message about her parents was burned into her brain, a cold fire that would never die. A cold fire that burned inside her heart, turning it to frozen ash. She felt she could even see the ash all around her, floating in the air, as if time itself had frozen, suspended in perfect stillness. The same stillness that had settled around her heart.
A horrible sense of loss overwhelmed her. A sadness so deep, so vast, it seemed like there could never be anything else; that there never had been, nor ever could be. She knew she had to be there to support her sister, to mourn her parents, but… she dare not risk it. She would only hurt them. Because she was…
…a monster. Anna's eyes flew open, and she drew a long, ragged breath. It seemed like the first breath she had drawn since she had crashed.
A monster….
Alone….
"Oh, Elsa…" she sobbed, her tears freezing to her face. "I'm so sorry…."
"Elsa? Elsa!"
She slowly lifted her head, turning to face the giantess. What would Susan think of her now, having killed two men? Then she blinked, and rubbed her eyes. With just one hand, the giantess was holding the helicopter, which was missing its rotors, by the tail boom. The two men inside it had nearly fallen out, and were hanging on to the skids for dear life.
"What shall I do with this?" Susan asked, her mouth in a half-smirk, lifting the helicopter up higher. The men screamed and cursed at her, and one nearly lost his grip.
"The… the helicopter?" Elsa was stunned. The helicopter was a good twelve metres long, and must have weighed at least a tonne, and Susan was just holding it as casually as if it was a bunch of flowers. "What happened?"
"It was shooting at you. Only you shot a blast of ice at it—hit the rotors, sheered them clean off. And I jumped up to grab it before it hit the ground."
"You jumped?" Elsa suddenly realised what the thud must have been. "H…how high?"
"I have really, really strong legs," Susan said with a grin. "Strong arms, too, I guess. Girl's got some serious air. So, what shall we do with these two?"
"Keep an eye on them for now. I have to go rescue my sister."
"Of course," Susan said. "Hurry!"
Elsa nodded. She raised her hands, and quickly recreated her bridge. Time was of the essence—she didn't wait for it to finish forming, but started across it as soon as it was a few metres long. It extended as she ran, flowing out from her with the speed and smoothness of thought.
After a few steps, she almost found herself skidding, but realised that she was actually gliding, skimming along the slick surface, propelled by her own snow pushing her along. Except it was both pushing and pulling, swirling around her, not overly fast yet somehow powerful enough to send her sweeping over the ice bridge. Her ice dress lengthened, growing and melding with the ice of the bridge, lifting her up, higher and higher. It was like the ice and her clothing and the bridge were all one, all connected and propelling her forwards, sweeping up and then down behind her, as if she was surfing on a wave of ice.
Almost before she knew it, she was at the end. Yet her feet did not even touch the snowy ground; the wave of ice, now blending with snow, carried her up the mountainside. She no longer even needed to consciously think to command her snow: it did what it needed to, smoothly, powerfully; as much under the control of her will as her own body. Carrying her up the mountain, the centre of her own snowstorm, she was flying through the air as freely as a single snowflake.
Anna moaned. Was she still alive? She couldn't feel her arms or legs. She was barely aware of her body, in fact. She was just a disembodied consciousness, lying still amidst the snow drifts. She was very tired, and the snow was wonderfully soft and warm. Perhaps she should just go to sleep. To sleep, perchance to dream, as her English mother often used to say. Anna could see her now, in her mind's eye. But hazy, indistinct. Auburn hair, shining in the light. A gentle smile, deep blue-green eyes, hands soft and gentle. She almost felt she could hear her mother singing to her, a calming lullaby. Or was it just the wind? The noise grew louder, sounding like a storm approaching. Yet the storm was calling to her, calling her name again and again, a scream that rose above the howling wind. Through her half-closed eyes and frozen eyelashes she could see a white figure suspended in the air, surrounded by a bright iridescent glow that shone like the aurora in midwinter.
The figure grew larger and closer, wreathed in stars that twinkled and sparkled. It was flying, great white wings extending out from it, and a long robe trailing down, fading into the snow in a cloud of ice. By now it was close enough for Anna to make out long white-blonde hair, streaming behind and blending with the snow and the stars. Surely it wasn't an angel? Angels didn't exist—or did they? It must be—what else could it be? Had it come to take her away? To rejoin her parents, wherever they might be? It seemed impossible, and yet… there it was. Coming ever nearer, faster and faster.
And it could mean only thing. Her life was over. Strangely, she felt no sadness at the thought, only an immense calm, a feeling of pure peace and tranquillity. Anna's final thought before she gave up the struggle to live was a brief puzzlement as to why the angel seemed to look so very much like her sister.
"Anna! Anna!"
Elsa cried out in horror as she dropped down to the small, huddled figure almost buried by the snow. She brushed some snow off her sister's pale face, hoping against hope that she was not too late, that the unthinkable had not happened. She wrapped her arms around the other girl's cold, stiff body, lifting her up out of the snow, cradling her on her lap. Anna's lips were blue, her eyes staring, sightless behind frozen lashes.
Terror beyond anything she could have imagined gripped Elsa. The very air seemed to freeze, but she could feel her own heart thumping in her chest, as if it was the only thing alive in the entire world. She hugged her sister to her chest as a wordless lament, soft and low, escaped her. Her world had ended. Nothing else mattered but the frozen body in her arms. Frozen by her snow, her curse. A curse which had now claimed the one good thing left in her life.
"Anna, Anna," she whispered, brushing her lips against her sister's cold forehead. "Please, no… no…. Oh, Anna! I'm so sorry!" Elsa cried, tears running down her cheeks. She gently brushed her fingers over Anna's face, caressing her, touching her as she had not touched another human being for more than half her life. She stroked Anna's hair, tracing the white streak she had caused all those years ago, back when the two sisters spent each moment together, happy and carefree.
"Anna, Oh, Anna…. Please…. Oh, Anna…. Please… please, come back to me…. My darling sister, I'm so sorry. You can't leave me! You can't leave me alone! Not again! No, please!" She choked back a sob, gasping for breath. "Please, no…. Every time you left me, every time you went away to play with your friends, I cried myself to sleep because I was so lonely, because I missed you so much. Because I love you so. Please, stay with me… just this once? Please…."
A tiny figure almost lost amidst the snow, the young queen sat sobbing, cradling her sister, as she gave in to utter despair. There was nothing left to live for now. She would stay here, cradling her sister's body, and let the ice finally consume her, let herself become the inhuman Snow Queen of legend. Descending from Nordfjel with Susan, she had thought she had surrendered to what she truly was, but she had not truly allowed herself to become the Snow Queen—she had still been too jealous of her humanity to fully let it go.
But now, bereft of hope, perhaps it was time to finally, truly, accept what she was. Accept herself for the inhuman monster she was. At least that way, they could be together forever….
Her head was drooped over Anna's body, her eyes overflowing with hot tears, running down her cheeks and dripping onto her sister's skin, trickling over and melting through the thin layer of frost that covered it, leaving trails of pinkish skin.
"El… El… saaa…."
The Snow Queen froze. She stared at her sister, desperately hoping she had not imagined it, and terrified she might have. Then she saw Anna's eyelashes flutter, struggling against the ice that coated them.
"Anna! Anna! Wake up! I'm here! You're safe!" Elsa shrieked, gasping for breath, her heart pounding with joy beyond anything she could have imagined.
"Elsa…." Anna moaned again through almost frozen lips.
"Anna, you're alive…" Elsa whispered, stroking her sister's lips, seeing them change from blue to white to pink, feeling the ice respond to her touch, her power. She could feel it… she could control it. She truly was the queen of ice and snow, and she would not let it take her sister from her, or ruin her country. Her heart thumping, she moved her hand, controlling the ice, pulling it away from her sister, and bringing her back to life.
Anna's eyes slowly opened wide, gazing up at Elsa. Her lips, now fully pink once more, curled into a soft smile.
"Hey… You… took your time, sis. I missed you," Anna whispered.
Tears filled Elsa's eyes as she smiled back. "Not as much as I missed you. Not nearly as much…."
Anna's own eyes grew damp, and she bit her lip. "I know that, now," she said softly, reaching up to stroke her sister's cheek, wiping the tears away. "I'm so sorry, Elsa. All those years—all those times I left you alone. You won't ever have to be lonely again. And that's a promise…."
Knowtes
Another huge delay. Sometimes I wonder if this story will ever be finished. I very much do want to finish it, of course. And there isn't much more to go now that Anna's been rescued. So don't worry, it will be. I honestly do like writing it. The reasons this chapter took so long were that I was on holiday for much of September, and got no time to write at all, I kept rearranging Anna's thoughts and feelings on the mountainside, and I wasn't sure at all how to handle the helicopter attack. I thought about removing it entirely many times, but then that would give Susan less to do. And I don't want to have her just as a hanger-on, an addendum to the sisters' story. The problem is, while both are indeed about accepting what they are, learning to live with their differences, she doesn't currently have the same emotional baggage that Elsa does, so while she can offer guidance and counsel to Elsa, there won't be the same sort of cathartic moment we get between Elsa and Anna. Oh well….
As to any factual notes… not really. I haven't referenced any particular facts as such, although the geography of the places I describe is accurate (thanks once more, Google Earth…). The helicopter dimensions and weight are based on a standard Bell 206. I've snuck in a minor reference to my Frozen one-shot, "For the First Time in Forever," basically as I just like the image. And it fits. At least I think it does.
Anyway, the main climax is now over, so there's not long to go now.
Posted 22 Oct 2017
