A/N:Sorry for the long delays. Just finished my Apprenticeship exams as an insulator, and am now a Canadian Red Seal Journeyman (AKA I passed). Between studying, helping classmates, and home drama from that hot place down under (and i don't mean Australia or Africa). I'll get this completed in 26 chapters, with a additional note at the end for where I got my inspiration from (a song from another animated movie). On with our story!
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Anna lifted her head where it sat on cold stone. A door closing in the distance still echoed beyond the door she leaned on. She immediately snapped her head up, completely alert, looking for Patty and Trish. The two girls were sitting in their corner starting back at Anna. The noise had apparently interrupted a quiet conversation between the two. The room was in half light, with lanterns just about ready to go out.
Anna quietly made her way over to the girls. "I'm going to check out that noise before the lights go out. If they're coming, I may be able to see what we are up against before they attack. I'd like to be ready. I don't expect anybody else to be joining us, so that noise was not likely a good thing. Patty, lock the door after I go and don't open it for anybody but me. Remember what I'll say if I'm going to lie to you."
"Of course we'll remember!" said Patty with only a slight emphasis on the first two words. Anna chose to ignore the implied lie from Patty's response.
"Good girl! Lock the door right away after I go through." Anna readied her crossbow with a poisoned bolt and pulled the bolt from the door. It was becoming damaged already and wouldn't be good to shoot anymore. Sighing, she passed it to Patty. Anna glanced into the next room before slipping through the door.
"Be careful," whispered Patty, worry showing in more than her voice. Anna flashed her a weak smile before she closed the door.
Surveying her surroundings, most rooms appears to already have no light. The bath room was dark as the inside of a boot, as was the bedroom. There was some light in the chess room at the end of the hall, but it didn't look right. Some of that light spilled into the sitting room, but not much. She could see the lantern there was very low, and very close to going out. Watching the chess room eventually gave her the idea it was torch light because of the way it flickered.
Moving as silently as she could, she shifted into the sitting room. Both the library to her left and the dining area to her right were completely dark. By staying back from the door and moving inside the sitting room, she was able to discern only two people. There were two people looking at a chess board. One was a guard holding a torch, no sign of rank was visible. He would be the big threat. The other caused Anna to pause briefly. It looked like Elsa. Again. The door to the right in the chess room was still closed, but the left one was propped open with a book.
Taking cover by the loungers in the center of the room, Anna got ready. 'Not again. You fooled me before, but not this time. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. The letter said Elsa hadn't found us yet. Anyways, I'll have to remove her first. If I have to face her head on, I may hesitate. Actually, I know I'll hesitate. Hesitating would kill me, followed shortly after by Patty and Trish. NOBODY ELSE DIES, I promised!' thought Anna angrily.
Raising her crossbow, she made sure her bolt was still in place. Taking a deep, slow breath, she took aim with slightly shaking hands. 'Get a grip Anna! For Patty!' Anna knew she would have to move quick after shooting so she paused to make sure she was ready and steadied her hands. She took aim at the woman's back again. She and the guard were quietly talking, still looking at the chess board. Even though this would be her best chance, she still hesitated several second before she could bring herself to pull the trigger. Not waiting to see if she connected, she moved towards the dining room. She only managed to move two steps before she heard the meaty thunk and cringed in guilt. A quick glance told her she could still see the woman. She had been driven forward onto the chess board and was crumpling to the floor. Once the door frame was in the way, she sprinted on bare feet into the dining room. Behind her, she could hear the guard, "NO! Get more guards!". It wasn't hard to tell he was drawing his sword, the steely hiss was a dead giveaway.
Slipping around to the side of the door, she pulled out her other poisoned bolt. She could hear the guard enter the sitting area. Anna carefully pulled the bow back to the ready position as quietly as possible.
'Snick'
'SHIT!' thought Anna as she grabbed the bolt. She could hear the guard walking to the door, her door. Racing to load the bolt, her heart felt like it was trying to hammer out of her chest. 'Just another second... DONE!'
Anna raised the bow triumphantly, aiming it at the doorway. 'This guy is an idiot! He's announcing where he is with the stupid torch he's still carrying.' As the guard was just about to go through the door, she realized she was holding her breath. Quietly, she let it out. 'Any second now,' thought Anna.
The top of a sword slowly worked its way into the room shortly followed by an arm. As soon as she saw a head clear the door frame, she pulled the trigger. Once again, she was rewarded with a meaty thunk as the bolt buried itself in his left ear right up to the fletching. She could see his head snap sideways and his torch went flying. Obviously, he was dead before he hit the floor.
Once again, Anna raced to ready and load her crossbow with her only remaining bolt, the plain one. She didn't know if anyone has heard the guard and didn't want to take the chance. Working her way back to the chess room, Anna didn't see anybody new. As she looked into the chess room, she saw the woman sitting on the floor next to the chess board. She still had her back to the door and chess pieces littered the floor. Blood was staining her dress down her right shoulder. She was attempting to reach over her shoulder with her left arm to reach the wound.
"Get up!" demanded Anna. When she didn't move right away, Anna added "Now!"
Slowly the woman began to rise. A fresh wave of blood ran down her shoulder because of her movement. The blood was easily reaching down to her waist. Anna struggled to remain patient as she struggled to stand. As she staggered to her feet, Anna demanded for her to turn around.
"Anna?" Said the woman as the younger woman came into sight. She looked right down the top of the crossbow into Anna's face, her eyes struggling to focus and her face a mask of pain. As Anna approached with her crossbow raised, she saw the frost around the woman's feet.
"Elsa? It can't be!" whispered Anna in disbelief, carefully walking up. Elsa removed all doubt when she reached up to her wound and, with a pained expression, froze the wound over. Ice covered her whole shoulder, immobilizing the bolt on the process. The bleeding was effectively stopped, although you could see where it wanted to try and get out. Anna had heard about her doing the same thing after she was shot before. "No," she whispered in horror at what she had done.
Anna almost threw her bow away, but it was loaded and the assassin's bow had fired as it broke. His was empty, this one wasn't. Now all she wanted to do was curl up in the corner. Stepping away from the bow, she inched toward her sister. Elsa was very wobbly on her feet. Anna's eyes looked back to the wound and locked in on the bolt. THE POISON! "Please no, not you. No... I... You... How? Elsa, please tell me this is another trick, that this isn't really you!" begged Anna.
Elsa looked up to Anna's face and she could see them become more unfocused by the second. "Anna... Why? Why would you try to kill me? I... I love..." asked Elsa, half slurring her words. She would have continued, but she lost her balance. Anna rushed forward to catch her as she stumbled to her knees. Gently, Anna laid her sister on the floor. Tears mingled with the blood on Anna's hands, Elsa's blood. Blood she had thoughtlessly spilt without checking it's she was real or not. She knew her actions had a habit of killing people she cared about, but she never thought she could actually get to Elsa. She would die before deliberately killing Elsa. Maybe a part of her did die, she wasn't sure. All she could focus on was the blood on her hands, and that it was her fault. Anna was so self absorbed and in shock, she didn't hear our care about the door that opened behind her. Her self loathing was interrupted by a make voice.
"You, go ready our horses. You've done well keeping me informed on queen Elsa. Dispose of that uniform as quickly as you can. Well, well Anna. Your training went far better than expected. You followed our directions beyond our wildest expectations for the time we had. We knew that with the right prompting, you would be just about the only person who could remove the monster of Arendelle from the throne. Well done."
Turning her head, she could see a worn out looking man gloating at her. She knew this man, though he appeared to be a shadow of his former self. The last she saw of him was just after Elsa's coronation debacle. Smiling, the duke of Weselton stood by the door to the right of the chess board. An Arendelle guard was just walking through the door, unbuttoning his shirt as he went.