Stone Streams

It was nearly afternoon when sun finally started to slide down over the ragged, mountainous horizon. Standing halfway in the Stone Streams, soldiers winced and cursed as it nearly blinded them. Everybody was fully aware that if Weasels wanted to attack, that was the best moment for them.

Not that it would be easy. While the ice under the Arendellan feet melted some time ago, everywhere else the Streams were coated in it, making any sort of descent or ascent a training in uncontrollable skiing. Below the line, soldiers worked hard to crush the ice and make the path safely passable, but over it, slippery layer reflected the sunlight like a giant mirror.

The line itself was no laughing matter. All over its length, in all canyons forming the Streams, is was bristling with fang-like, long blades of pikes and shorter, but no less dangerous muzzles of muskets. Of course, one could count only for the first salvo to be truly devastating - reloading the damned things took nearly a minute. As Weasels couldn't be counted on to give them enough time, crossbows waited for musketeers to pick up.

In the northern, wide canyon called unimaginatively N20, captain Soren Nexø watched the "riverbed" impatiently through the spyglass and snow goggles, hoping that Supplies could send a bit more of them. Of course, counting on Supplies to do its job properly was a recipe to get oneself killed quickly, so Nexø sighed and lowered the spyglass. He looked at the soldiers standing up and down the fifty feet wide line. Men seemed slightly stressed, the more the longer the sun shone over the horizon. Nexø understood them perfectly. What were the Weasels doing? Maybe they weren't going to attack at all? Or maybe they didn't even notice that they have the perfect opportunity? No. Weasels weren't idiots, whatever one might think about attacking a country whose ruler controlled winter itself.

Minutes and quarters passed by with Nexø looking through the spyglass more and more often. But no figures or weapons appeared at the top of the canyon. Sun was going lower and lower, robbing the Weasels of opportunity to strike.

Finally it stopped shining directly into their eyes. All around the captain, soldiers started to sigh and breathe with relief. The worst part was over. Somebody slung his musket over his shoulder. Somebody else said a joke about stupid Weasels, prompting men next to him to laugh. Nexø, though… couldn't get rid of a feeling that something bad was going to happen any moment now. Wouldn't it make more sense for Weasels to attack just as Arendellans relaxed?

"Stay alert.", he ordered. His men shot him surprised looks but obliged, picking up their weapons and resuming the watch…

Right on time, as suddenly dozens of mounted Weasels appeared over the horizon.

The charge started with a yell that echo took up, making it seem as if there were thousands of cavalrymen running down the slope at them. Nexø gritted his teeth as the battle cry was drowned by sounds of hundreds of hooves hitting the ice in near unison, speeding up and resounding in people's heads. He took a deep breath.

"Fire!"

Boom of firing muskets nearly deafened him, and clouds of black smoke blinded everyone, changing the visible downhill charge into a terrifying sound in the darkness, in which screams of man, splashes of metal hitting the body, sounds of scared horses, of hooves and bodies hitting the ice, mixed together.

"Pikes forward!", Nexø hardly heard his own voice, but the men reacted and clank of metal was heard through the hooves. It was strong sound, but it quickly made way for smoke-enveloped charge.

"Bolts!", he screamed and crossbows shot without a sound. Another wave of screams and screeches could be heard and Nexø would swear there were less hooves running down now, but they grew closer and louder like a drums that couldn't be silenced…

And then they met the pikes.

Horses, generally, don't charge on the pikes. They have more sense than to try throwing themselves on ten feet long blades. However, the ice was against them and terrified animals, trying to stop and back down, were sliding down, crashing into those who managed to slow down, barely losing their speed and falling, falling down.

Where the pikes awaited. The men nearly backed down when hundreds of pounds hit and got themselves pierced, dying with horrified howls, screams and screeches. Their riders, those who weren't crashed by the falling animals, tried to get over them and over the Arendelle line. First human blood was spilled as they jumped at them and the men couldn't get their pikes out of the falling animals. The musketeers were quicker, dropping the crossbows and pulling out their swords. Screams of rage and pain were heard in the dense, acrid smoke which clouded the vision, making every man in the both units fight on his own. Nexø didn't even know when did he join the combat, but there was a man in front of him in red uniform, so he attacked. The blood was nearly invisible on the material, but the man fell on the ground and another took his place among screams and darkness. Nexø stroke with a sword and punched in the throat at the same time. He finished with long slash that split his opponent's throat open and looked around, frantically trying to make something out in the smoke. He only heard screams and saw half-visible silhouettes fighting each other. He didn't have time to look more, because he was attacked again and had to fight.

There were much more Arendellan infantrymen than Weselton cavalrymen and soon it started to show. Men in red uniforms started to run back and Arendellans started chasing them. Nexø took a deep breath.

"Keep the line!", he screamed. "Stay on the line!"

For a long, terrible moment he thought they're going to ignore him and just run all the way to Weasel's lines. But they stopped, and those who didn't were stopped by their comrades. Nexø took a deep breath of the clearing air as the sounds of battle started to diminish. It was still going on, he heard it - other canyons had to be attacked as well. He looked on the ground. Less than twenty of his men had died, while the ground was nearly littered with Weasels' bodies, but… but… he didn't feel like he won. He felt like vomiting.

So that's what war looks like, he thought, looking up. His men had just finished reloading the crossbows. Nexø pointed at the Weasels, running away. He couldn't let them get back, so that they'd return to slay more of his men.

"Fire.", he ordered.

After the last screams faded, silence was ringing in his ears.


3rd Corps headquarters

General Olafsen rubbed his temples, looking at the detailed map of Stone Streams. All over the line, Weasels were attacking, either trying to break through or just probing his defenses. Most of the time, it ended like in N20, with nearly complete annihilation of Weselton forces. In one canyon the line broke under the weight of bodies that fell on it and Weasel's invaded… only to be cut down when Arendellans surrounded and swarmed them.

All in all, it was fairly good day for the Royal Army, as long as one could call war and two percent losses a good day. Olafsen doubted, though, that it was the first in long line of victories. Even if Weasels decided to go with the tactics of hammer, just hitting him head on, they had much more men to spend than Olafsen. And that presumed that they wouldn't try something tricky.

I just don't have enough men, he thought. I'm the one who has to be tricky, not them. It would be perfectly fine for them to just stay stupid!


Arendelle

"Rise and shine, Kai.", Madsen heard when he groaned and opened his eyes.

He was looking at lavishly decorated ceiling with the royal crest in the middle. I'm in the royal castle, he realized with some incredulity. I'm alive and in the royal castle. What am I doing here?

"Woke up already?" He finally recognized the voice as belonging to Andreas. He turned to see the major sitting on a chair next to his bed.

"Um, uhm. Apparently.", he said and felt his stomach rumbling. "A… any chance of getting something to eat?"

"There should be.", said Andreas and went to the door, then knocked on them and leaned out. A moment later, he came back.

"Breakfast will come in a moment. Nice to see you back awake and responding, by the way."

"Right, thanks." Kai returned to staring at the ceiling, feeling completely exhausted.

Suddenly a though hit him and he sat upright, then stopped as his head started to spin. He looked at Andreas.

"What is it?", Andersen asked.

"Andreas, general Berg… He… he's planning…"

"What? He's supposed to be in the capital in a few days. Seeing how Kristiani's not here…"

"What?"

"The queen returned to find general Kristiani's army leaving for somewhere without an order."

Kai suddenly realized what happened. Kristiani… He must be on it with Berg. Who else?

"Hadn't Kristoff told you?"

"Christian, you mean? The moment he woke up he requested to talk with Her Majesty. What is it with the two of them, anyway?"

"He's name is Kristoff and he's princess Anna's boyfriend. Her Majesty put him in the army as her spy. Andreas, Kristiani's going to start a war with Weselton. And Berg is helping him."

"Whaa…?", Andreas opened his eyes widely. Then he cursed.

"Army messenger has galloped to the castle just a moment ago. Judging by his state, buddy, you woke up slightly too late."

Kai just stared at him for a moment. Then he felled back on his bed in despair.

He failed.


He was just lying there for what seemed like a really long time before the smell prompted him to get out of the bed. Breakfast.

While he was eating, Andreas just looked at him, worriedly. Finally, he said:

"Kai, there's nothing you could've done. Kristiani left the capital the same day the avalanche struck. And you couldn't have predicted the avalanche."

No, not really. Berg caused the avalanche. Damn him.

"Yeah. Alright." He nodded. "You think you can find out what's going on?"

"I think you've got better chances. Your father is in the palace."

Kai looked at him in surprise.

"My father? What is he doing here?"

"Well, he arrived two days ago, apparently for the annual report, but as the situation is as it is, he stayed."

"Ah. All right.", Kai nodded. He finished eating and stood up.

"Well, then, let's see if we can find something out."

Before he started to approached the door, they opened and elderly man in butler's livery looked in.

"Major Madsen, major Andersen, Her Majesty and general Madsen request your presence."

They were led to the room with oval table littered with maps in the middle of it. Around it stood the man with messenger's badge, Kristoff, Her Majesty and general Hakan Madsen.

Kai and his father weren't all that similar. General was nearly a head higher than Kai and while young Madsen always looked five years younger than he really was, baron Madsen's hair grayed early, giving him the look of elderly statesman. He eyed his son with slight, well-hidden look of relief in his eyes.

Kai saluted, first to the queen and then to his father. At his left, Andreas did the same.

"Your Majesty. General."

"At ease", his fathered ordered and motioned him to come closer.

"Majors, I've already heard Kristoff's description of what happened.", the Queen picked up. "I'd like you two to tell me as much as you remember about it."

Andreas apologized for knowing nothing and so Kai told the entire story, starting with the missing muskets and ending with Berg causing the avalanche and his further plans.

"We couldn't find his army anywhere.", Andreas added.

"I see.", Her Majesty nodded and turned to look at the messenger. The man seemed to be in late phases of shock - he had probably heard the entire story from Kristoff.

"Well, Your Majesty, sirs, I'm afraid it doesn't matter much anymore.", he said. "Wease… Weseltonians attacked us first. General Olafsen tries to hold the Stone Streams, but there's much more of them than us."

Her Majesty nodded, thanked the messenger and let him exit the room. Kai breathed deeply with regret. So whatever I tried to do, it failed. Weselton attacked us anyway. Maybe the general was right…

That doesn't make him less of a monster for killing half of his men, he reminded himself. Meanwhile, the Queen looked at his father.

"What's your opinion, general?"

Standing next to baron Madsen, she seemed really young. She is young, Kai realized with a bit of shock. Younger than me, in fact.

General looked at the map, stroking his beard.

"Well, with how the situation turned out, we can hardly continue chasing Kristiani and ordering him to return. Honestly, we'll be better off if he manages to get to Olafsen in time."

"And Berg?"

"He's probably already halfway through to wherever they planned him to strike." He turned to look at Kai. "How do you think, is Olafsen on it as well?"

"Well, sir. I know general Berg was meeting with generals Olafsen and Kristiani quite often shortly before we left. I think general Olafsen was in activist faction as well. So… yes, sir, I'd say he was on it."

General nodded.

"Actually, that's good. He's probably in contact with Kristiani and Berg, so for now, he'll manage. We can't really do much more in short term."

Her Majesty nodded. General blinked twice and added more thoughtfully.

"What worries me, Your Majesty, is that my agents' reports didn't seem to indicate that Weselton's planning a war."

'My agents' reports'?, Kai repeated in his head in surprise. Was his father a Royal Spymaster as well? This… actually made sense. With Fifth Corps he commanded scattered on dozens of islands and ships, he probably didn't have much generaling to do.

"They weren't planning a war?", the Queen asked.

"No. They apparently caught wind of Berg's maneuvers and sent somebody to check out if we're not planning something."

"So, why did they attack?", asked Kristoff, leaning on the table and looking at the general in surprise. If elder Madsen felt surprise that man without title or rank dare interrupt him, he didn't let it show.

"According to general Olafsen's message, there was some incident with scouts on both side involved a few days before Weseltonians charged down the Stone Streams. General Potter, their commander, is said to have a tendency to overreact. And there we are."

"The question is,", Her Majesty added. "What do we do now. The best would be to send diplomatic mission and stop the entire thing before it spins out of control, but I'd like to hear some ideas in case this didn't work out."

Everybody nodded and looked at the maps. Kai's eyes focused on that of the continent.

"Confederacy signed a trade treaty with Weselton a week or so ago.", general Madsen said. "Not to mention that they're not our staunchest supporters. If they are to side with anybody, it'll be Weselton."

"Would they attack, sir?", asked Kai, looking at the second biggest country on the map.

"Hard to tell, really. Ever since Isles rebelled and seceded, Confederates haven't been all that offensive-minded."

"What about Corona, then?", asked Her Majesty.

"They'd probably support us."

"But three quarters of their border is with Confederacy.", Kai noted, pointing at the map. "If they declared support, Confederacy could block them entirely in less than two days."

"We can't really do that to them.", the Queen nodded. "Especially as they are our only sure ally."

"Of course, Your Majesty."

Kristoff pointed at large country in the east, taking up most of the map.

"What about them?"

"Tamperans? Recently they've been so focused on the politics in the Far East, I doubt they'll even notice something's going on.", said general Madsen. "And don't even think about this cluster of nations south of Tampere - having the Empire for a neighbor, they're working very hard to look invisible and harmless."

Kristoff nodded.

"Well," said the Queen. "That leaves only one unknown. The Isles."

Everybody looked at pear-shaped Inner Sea. It's north was formed by Arendelle and Weselton, west and northeast was taken by Confederacy, majority of the east was Empire of Tampere and Corona was a tiny dot squeezed between Confederacy and the Empire. The entire southern end of Inner Sea was taken by dotted pattern of islands which shape reminded Kai about giant albatross facing south, with wings spread widely and Island of Westerguard forming the top of its beak.

"Hard to tell what they'll do.", said the general. "For now, I know only that prince Hans' arrival in Koenigsberg caused quite a ruckus. It seems that king Friedrich wants to punish him as he should, while his brother, Michael, is kind of opposed to the idea. They're too far away to be sure about anything, though. And if this war will finish in three weeks, they won't even have time to react to it."

The queen nodded.

"Well, then let's leave them. So our only option is to try to make peace with Weselton and fight on our own?"

"Apparently, Your Majesty."


Unnamed valley

"Sir, a message from general Berg." The messenger stood at the entrance to the tent, saluting.

"At ease.", Olafsen ordered, taking the message from him. "Anything he said?"

"He has a plan regarding Weseltonians, sir. That's all I know."

"Alright. Go, get some rest."

When the man, left, Jens thrown the message on the table. It landed next to the one from Her Majesty - the one he hadn't opened yet. He didn't really feel like opening it.

After the initial catastrophe, Weasels didn't repeat heads-on attack. Instead, Olafsen's scouts found themselves being assaulted any time somebody tried to take a look at High Table. Arendellans hunted occasional Weasel scouts as well, but that didn't really fill Olafsen with joy. There was only one small skirmish when platoon in S6 canyon tried to move their defenses a bit higher up and hit the Weseltonians when both sides surprised themselves by showing up from behind the corner. Cavalrymen were destroyed completely - why did Weasel general even think of sending cavalry down the Streams? - but only two Arendelle soldiers returned. Apart from that, there was odd silence on Weasels' side.

They were preparing something tricky, he knew that.

He decided to start with Berg's message. He opened the envelope and moved himself a lamp.

Jens,
I hope you're doing somehow up there. In theory, I'm two days of forced march from you, but I have to slow down a bit or we'll be nothing more than a load to you by the time we get there. So count it as three days.
I have an idea, though. The maps show there's a small passage north of your position that could - after some twisting and turning, and some mountaincrossing - lead us to the High Table, behind what you marked as Weasel's position on the map you sent me.

Below this, there was a crude, sketchy map showing the path Berg wrote about. Olafsen nodded to himself and read on.

I propose, then, a plan: as I'm traveling lightly, I can walk this way without much ado, and strike Weasels - focused on you - in the back. Hopefully, it will ease the pressure they put on you and take them by surprise, meaning we could inflict considerable damage on their supplies. We can return the way we came there and I assure you, those lowland-bred horses of theirs have no chance to keep up with us.
Tell me what you think of it, but write quickly - tomorrow I'll have to decide whether I go to you or push to the north.
Bjorn

Jens thought about it. The idea was a bold one, and if Bjorn was so sure about his chances of success, surely worth a try. He wrote as much in his message and called the man who brought Berg's letter.

"Could you find the general and pass him my message?"

"Of course, sir."

The messenger left a moment later and Olafsen took another piece of paper. He started to write.

Rasmus,
It was good to hear you're on the way. You'll sure be a welcome addition to what I already have here.
Bjorn won't join us, though. He has a plan to surprise Weasels from behind - take a look at the map.

He redrew Berg's sketch and wrote on:

He believes he can succeed and I generally agree with him. He plans to strike them from behind. Long story short, he'll be the hammer and we'll be the anvil. I wrote him to go with the plan, so I hope you'll manage to get here.
Fare well,
Jens

I just hope he'll make it in time, Olafsen thought, folding the message and calling for someone to carry it. And I hope neither anvil nor hammer will shatter.

Having sent the message, he finally took the one from the Queen and opened it with some trepidation.

General Olafsen,
I am aware of the plan you, along with generals Kristiani and Berg, made regarding the war with Weselton. I know that you planned to start it and ruin the neighboring nation. I am definitely not grateful, nor am I happy about it and if the times were normal, you can be sure you'd all hang for treason.
However, times are not normal. For whatever reason, the Weseltonians decided to attack us and you are Arendelle's only defense against them. Therefore I have no choice but to give you free hand in your plan to protect our country. Yet remember that whatever your initial plan, it is not your task now to invade Weselton and I am wholly against any such actions. I seek the end of this conflict as quickly and smoothly as possible.
Whatever the outcome of this war, though, I will not forget what you and your fellow conspirators intended. Even if you shall become our nation's heroes and champions, I will keep in mind that the first of your plans was to betray us, and I will act accordingly.
May good fortune befall you,
Queen Elsa the First of Arendelle

Well, thought Olafsen, his fingers shaking slightly as he folded the message, at least she's clear about it.


Weselton

Prince Eric walked down the beach, watching his path carefully. There was a storm last night and furious sea threw a lot of trash and junk on the sand. He passed rocks, huge pieces of wood smoothed by the water, tangled fishing nets, something he couldn't name… He tried to, the exercise providing a much needed rest from the court work.

There was something going on in the Broken Back. He knew that, his father knew that, the generals knew that, but general Potter, so far, hadn't sent any message. It would be about time, Eric thought with annoyance. What does he have, memory of a goldfish? He should've…

His train of thoughts crashed suddenly when he stumbled on something soft. For a moment he thought he hit some unlucky seal, but when he looked down, he froze.

There was a human face staring back at him. It didn't have eyes and it was just beginning to decompose.

Eric stared at it for a moment before regaining his senses. He noticed that a black line on the dead man's forehead was not a scar or wound, but a tattoo. He remembered a person with such a tattoo, as a matter of fact, even though he met him only in passing.

This man was a captain of small merchant ship that sailed between Weselton and Arendelle. He was also the agent of royal spymaster, colonel Hunter, and he specialized in army reports.

And now he was dead.

Arendellans hadn't killed him, that's for sure. Eric remembered something his father had told him when he was younger. Royal castle lay in an awful place, because everything from Port Royal and city of Weselton drifted into it.

So the men had had to be killed there. Maybe it was just an accident. But… he specialized in Arendelle army. And just as Arendellans were doing something strange, just as Hunter convinced the king to put an army at the border, just as there were no news… He ended up dead.

Something bad was going on.