Chapter 14: Sneak Attack

One week later, Elsa found herself at another informal council meeting: dinner with the Companions, Robert, and Eugene. A temporary headmistress and a headmaster had volunteered to watch the children while she was out, although she still slept there and talked to them in the evenings. But this meant she had missed some council meetings and progress updates, which is what they were talking about now.

"How's the training going?"

"Great!" Merida responded enthusiastically.

"We've taken turns teaching our own type of warfare," Eugene explained. "Which is…ah, different."

"Not surprising, since mine is from a different time zone altogether, and a different culture."

"But anyway," he continued, unfazed by Merida's interruption. "Most of them seem to have mastered both techniques. Well, maybe mastered isn't quite the word, but they won't die immediately in battle."

"They've been helping keep the soldiers away from the wall," Jack added. "Very helpful."

"What have you been doing, mom?"

"I've been helping sew tents," Rapunzel said. I spent a lot of time sewing, knitting, and crocheting in my tower, so I'm really good at going fast. We're all caught up now, I think."

"That's great!"

"So now the question is," Hiccup spoke for the first time that evening. "When are we attacking the castle? Have we weakened the forces enough?"

"I don't know," Jack said. "I haven't been keeping track of how many soldiers have been killed."

"You should probably do that," Robert said. "I'm surprised you haven't done that yet."

"I've been a little busy fighting them," he said, annoyed. "But I'll send out...the spy right away."

"When do we get to meet this spy?" Merida asked. "Whoever it has been very helpful."

"His identity must remain a secret," Rapunzel said firmly.

"Well that narrows it down considerably," Hiccup said. "Unless you deliberately said the wrong gender."

But judging by Rapunzel's face, she had accidentally slipped up. "You can't know," she said simply.

"Alright, fine. Merida was the one asking, not me."

"Right, sorry. Difficult subject, makes me on edge sometimes."

Merida and Hiccup exchanged glances. They were even more puzzled than before. But they trusted their friends, and dropped the issue.

"Back to the castle," Hiccup said. "When is the earliest possible time we could attack?"

"Tomorrow evening?" Jack said. "If enough soldiers have been taken care of. We'll know that tomorrow morning, if I send out the spy immediately."

"Then do it," Robert said. "We've wasted enough time already. Who knows how Rue is faring."

Everyone looked down at their plates. In the hectic pace of the last ten days, they had nearly forgotten about her. Even Rapunzel, although she was ashamed to admit it.

"I'll get right on it," Jack said, flying out.

The rest kept eating in awkward silence. In the distance, a troubled whinny could be heard. But they had grown used to those sounds, and ignored it, even when a different, more wild sound rang out, much louder. They only looked up when they heard a terrified, piercing scream.

Elsa got to the door—er, tent flap—first, since she was seated the closest. Quickly she scanned the field, and instantly took in the situation. One of the unicorns, a big strong male, had broken out of the stables, unable to contain his energy any longer. He was racing spiritedly across the meadows…right towards a group of children. To her horror, Elsa recognized them.

"LILITH!" she screamed.

Without wasting anymore time, she ran toward them, Merida right behind her, shouting in Gaelic. Elsa tripped on her dress and realized how much it was inhibiting it. She shortened it to a shocking length and continued running, dodging tents and leaping over cooking fire. People kept coming out into the narrow lanes, curious about the screams. It was only natural, of course, but they were slowly Elsa down.

"Get out of the way!" she screamed, panic starting to grow as the unicorn charged closer.

Suddenly she stopped, and Merida slammed right into her. Not bothered, Elsa rose on a snow column, rising three times her usual speed. When she couldn't go any higher, or risk any more time, she formed a gradual ice slide to the fields. Quickly, she formed ice skates on both her feet and Merida's, grabbed her friends hand, and skated down. Merida screamed.

"Ah still can't skate that well!"

"Then slide normally!" Elsa yelled. "I'm sorry, I have to let go!"

As much as she hated to leave Merida rocketing down a huge, perilous ice slide with very little experience in ice skating, she let go and propelled herself down even faster.

But she knew she wouldn't get there in time. The unicorn was seconds away from Lilith and her friends. Meredith and Glenda had enough wits about them to lead the others away, but they were still in danger. Not to mention, Lilith was paralyzed in fear and awe as the beast thundered closer. She would not move. Even if she could, Elsa saw the unicorn had selected her as a dangerous play thing, and would chase her wherever she ran.

There was only one thing left to do. Still flying down the slide, she steadied her hands and shot out a blast of ice. But this time, it was controlled. It formed a safe ice bridge over Lilith, and spooked the unicorn into darting to the side, considerably slowing it's process.

Sighing with relief, Elsa landed on a mound of fresh snow at the bottom. Immediately hopping up she ran over to Lilith, who had snapped out of her paralysis and was screaming. Elsa now recognized the unicorn as Silvermoon, a spirited fellow who was the son of Daystar.* Very little could control him, a thought which terrified her as he turned around, glaring at them.

Just then, Merida crashed into the snow pile. Extremely sore, she struggled to her feet.

"What's his name?" she asked.

"Silvermoon," Elsa said, fixing her dress. "Lilith stay right where you are. I'm going to make an ice bubble for you where you'll be safe."

"Silvermoon, what a lovely name," Merida said in Gaelic. "Now I know you've been cooped up in your tiny little stable for a long time, but you can't hurt my friends just cause you're excited!"

Cautiously, she approached, one hand held out for him to smell. He hadn't moved since she had started talking, but he looked ready to bolt at any second.

"We're almost done living here, I promise. We'll be out of your way soon and you can run around down here all day long. But for now, we need you to stay calm, alright?"

Silvermoon snorted in disdain, but he let Merida lay a hand on his muzzle.

"There you go boy," she said. "That wasn't so bad, was it? Now just for today and tomorrow, could you stay in your stable? We would all appreciate it. And maybe I could come and give you all some extra carrots to express my gratitude."

He seemed to consider the offer, then reluctantly started back towards the stables. Merida walked with him, to the amazement of everyone who saw. Greatly relieved, Elsa melted the ice and hugged Lilith tightly.

"It's alright, I've got you. You were very brave. I'm so proud of you."

"Elsa!" Rapunzel yelled. The others had finally caught up, running all the way. "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, yeah. We're fine," Elsa called. "Merida took care of it."

"We saw," Hiccup said. "How does she do that?"

"Ask my dad," Rapunzel said. "I have no clue. Is anyone hurt?"

Elsa shook her head. "I don't think so. Meredith? How are you all?"

"We're fine," she said. "Just a little shaken up."

"How about we go for some hot chocolate," Rapunzel suggested. "That's always good for calming nerves."

"Olaf would love this," Elsa said a few minutes later as they were sipping their drinks in the mess tent. "We still haven't found him?"

"No," Rapunzel said. "Dad said he hadn't seen him since we disappeared. He thought he was with us."

"You mean the snowman?" Glenda asked. "I saw him before the war. He said he was going north to talk to somebody about finding you."

"Of course!" Rapunzel said. "He and Mavis must have gone to see North about finding us. They probably helped Stoick deliver the snowglobe to Hiccup."

"So why aren't they here yet? Careful, Lilith! It's hot, you don't want to spill it on you."

"They're probably on their way, but you know the snowglobes aren't very accurate," Hiccup said. "I wonder who else was looking for us?"

"Astrid, you moron," Merida said, gulping down the rest of her chocolate in a most unladylike manner. "She wouldn't rest until you were found. Probably worried sick."

Hiccup smiled in a half sad-half happy way. He missed her a lot, and although he and Merida agreed that staying was the right thing to do, he wished more than ever he could see her again.

Elsa was extremely protective of Lilith that evening, pacing the door of the tent anxiously. In the end, she decided icing it over would be a more effective way of protecting them. She fixed it so that the tent itself was not cold, just the doorway. Satisfied, she went to sleep.

The problem started when she woke up. Lilith was gone. Nobody else was awake yet, so nobody had seen where she had gone. Judging by the handprints on the wall, she had tried to push it out of the way, but had failed. Elsa quickly saw the rip in the fabric of one corner of the tent. Sighing, she melted the door and started her search.

She realized how early it must be when she noticed absolutely no movement in the entire camp. The giant torches were burning low, so obviously it wasn't dawn yet, when they were stoked.

She wasn't sure where to begin looking. The mess tent? Maybe she had gotten hungry. It was a start, anyway. Before she could even take step in that direction, she realized that something was very, very wrong. She glanced towards the opening to the forest, and saw smoke pouring in. That was another reason for the dim light. Smoke lay over everything, and it was getting thicker by the minute.

"FIRE!" she yelled.

Icy winds shot out of her hands and tried to disperse the smoke, but the exits were all closed to keep Hans out. The only opening was where the fire evidently was. As worried as she was about Lilith's disappearance, Elsa knew that wherever she was, the fire was the most present danger. She raced to the tunnel, making it snow at the same time. Surely that would wake everyone up.

"DAD! FIRE!" she screamed again as she raced past the royal tent.

Seeing how no one was coming out, she stuck her head inside. Everyone was still asleep, albeit uncomfortably and starting to cough. She knew it was mean, but there was no other way to arouse them quickly, so she yelled,

"ANNA'S BACK!"

And she kept running, ignoring the commotion behind her. She darted into the tunnel, pushing the smoke away with a snowy wind. She saw a shadowy figure running up ahead, and from the clinking it sounded like he was a fully armed soldier. Then she saw he was carrying a small, kicking child.

"Lilith!" she called. The kicking child kicked harder, and Elsa knew without a doubt it was her.

They emerged into the forest where a large fire was burning off to the right and several soldiers were fanning the smoke down the tunnel. The two guards that had been on lookout were dead, and one thing was very clear. Hans had found a way in.

Infuriated, Elsa threw a giant snowball into the fire, sending sparks and splinters everywhere. But it was extinguished. Without thinking, she shot the guards who were fanning the smoke down the tunnel, and although there was still a ton of smoke in the air, she was sure it would help.

Coughing, she held out one hand toward the soldier that had somehow captured Lilith.

"Give me the girl," she said slowly.

Half because of the smoke and half because she had just woken up, her voice was low and gravely. Even Lilith looked scared. Elsa's eyes were dangerous; they flickered all around the circle of soldiers.

"Kill her," said one of them, presumably the captain.

Before anyone could move, Elsa spun around in a circle, shooting everyone down with her ice daggers until only Lilith and her soldier were left.

"Give her back," she spat.

Shaking, the guard set Lilith down. He turned and fled. Elsa flicked her hand at the retreating figure, and he fell, a clear arrow protruding from his back.

Suddenly, Elsa seemed to snap out of her warrior trance, noticing the twenty odd soldiers lying around her. She gasped in anguish and collapsed on the ground. Lilith ran up to her, concerned she was hurt.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"I...I did this," Elsa stammered.

"You saved me," Lilith said simply.

"But I didn't want to kill them," she said. "I only wanted to scare them."

She started to cry, and was surprised when Lilith crawled into her lap and hugged her. That's how Jack found them a few moments later, when he flew coughing out of the tunnel.

"Where's Anna?" he asked. Then he stopped and looked around in awe. He whistled. "Wow."

"I didn't mean to! I wasn't trying to kill them, honest!"

Jack looked down at her, confused. "Elsa, we are at war. You do know that means we have to kill the bad guys."

"But I haven't killed anybody. I was the one fixing the wall, not killing people! I've never killed anyone cold heartedly, not since I was...hypnotized."

"Anna isn't back, is she?" Jack asked.

"I'm sorry. It was a dirty trick. But I had to wake you up quickly."

"I understand," Jack said, disappointed.

"Jack! I need your help!" Rapunzel called from further down the tunnel.

"Be right there!" Jack called. "You coming?"

Elsa shook her head, she couldn't move yet. She was still too shocked. Jack sighed and balanced on one foot.

"I'll send Rapunzel up," he promised. Then he darted into the tunnel.

"You're hugging me too tight," Lilith said.

"Sorry. Are you hurt?"

"The mean man grabbed my arm hard," she said, showing her. "It looks funny."

"It's just bruised," Elsa said thankfully. "My mom will be here soon, she'll fix it."

"Are you two alright?" Rapunzel said, running up to them.

Elsa nodded. "I have a bruise!" Lilith said proudly.

Rapunzel smiled down at her. "Well we'll take care of that right away. Come on, it's not safe up here."

She helped Elsa to her feet and they retreated down the tunnel, passing Hiccup on his way to guard the entrance. Lilith quickly forgot about her bruise and skipped ahead, seemingly not bothered by the heavy smoke.

"I'm sure," Elsa said suddenly, breaking the silence.

"What?"

"You told me to think about it and make absolutely sure I wanted to adopt Lilith."

"And you are?"

"Absolutely. Nothing like danger to make you realize how much you love someone."

Rapunzel smiled. "Yeah."

"Hey, hurry up!" Jack called from the end. "I need to start blowing the smoke out."

Rapunzel and Elsa ran the rest of the way. As they passed, they picked up Lilith and swung her between them. She giggled happily. After they were back in the field, Jack started a whirlwind that blew nearly all the smoke up and out of the tunnel. Then he flew around the cavern, gently gathering the rest of the smoke together. It only took about five minutes for the majority to be cleared.

*Daystar, if you don't remember, was the unicorn that helped heal Rapunzel in Companions United. Merida spoke to him in Gaelic and convinced him to let Robert have a few strands of his mane to make the antidote.