Anna tried to focus as the waves of water rushed among her troops. With their heavy armor, much heavier than the boiled leather Anna had been given, they wouldn't have been able to swim. Fortunately, not all of the troops were swept away, and a few were knocked down, but were getting to their feet.

Anna was about to signal them to stop their advance and help the others, but before she could use the horn that Finn told her gave the signals, Anna could see the troops on the other side of the river, the Southern Isles's troops, advancing towards them.

"This isn't good." Finn looked over at the field of battle. "Our troops are in disarray, the Isles will march over us."

Anna tried to think. Even if the soldiers retreated, the enemy would continue advancing. There had to be a way to get them to back off. It was hard to see, since the sun was going down, but it looked like the soldiers were marching in rows, on the small rivulets of land not covered under seawater, nearly single-file.

In her time shut up in the castle, Anna had ready nearly every book the castle had. That included military texts, Anna had, quite literally, read everything. She remembered stories of archers launching arrows in volleys to defeat charging foes, and heroic cavalry charges thundering forward and routing the enemy.

She didn't have enough archers, but everyone here with her was on horses.

"Could we charge their ranks?" Anna asked. "So our people can get away?"

"Uhhh...well, some of that land looks shallow enough that the horses won't mind. The other soldiers won't walk on it in armor, though..."

"Okay!" Anna pulled out the sword her armor had come with. It was really heavy in her hand, and it didn't feel right.

Well, I shouldn't get used to holding this. If she was used to holding a sword, she would soon get used to using one. And that...she wasn't that type of person.

"Charge!" She pointed with it towards the people. And the soldiers, to her surprise, agreed. They thundered across the plains, Finn in hot pursuit. Anna marched behind them. While they dealt with battle, she could assist any soldier from the water that needed assistance. If their armor was full of water, that could only make it much harder to walk.

She could hear steel ringing against steel as she made her way into the shallows. She could see a soldier lugging himself from the river. She dismounted from her horse to help him.

"Welcome. Welcome to my battlefield." The deep voice of a man came from behind her. Anna turned around to see a man in full plate armor, hefting a large two-headed axe with both hands.

Anna pulled the shield from her back, and held it tightly by the center grip.

"So fearful in the face of your enemy? New to combat, are you?" He squinted, and Anna couldn't help but feel small in his presence.

"Hmmm...well, well. New indeed. My greetings, Princess Anna."

"P...Princess!" The water-logged soldier immediately stepped in between Anna and the man. Without hesitation, the axe-man hefted his weapon effortlessly. With one swing, the Arendelle soldier was stunned. The second swing caught him in the chest, and he went down. Anna could feel the blood spray her face.

"Please, stop. We don't need to fight." Anna protested.

"Do not dishonor your soldiers by bringing diplomacy here, Princess. It is not the place for it, and I haven't the patience to listen. Brothers have I lost, and families have they lost. Only the heavens can stay my wrath now. I am Natan, Prince of the Southern Isles! My axe has tasted the blood of many today, and still it thirsts for more. Warrior you are not, Princess, but if you seek a warrior's death, I shall oblige!" Natan hefted his axe.

Oh no! Anna wanted nothing more than to run, he was easily more dangerous than Elsa, but if she did, he'd just get her in the back.

She still had that sword, it was shorter than Hans's sword. She didn't want to use it, but didn't know what other choices she had. Natan swung his axe horizontally, and Anna jumped backwards away. He took a few menacing steps towards her. He was slower, she noticed, much slower than she was. Maybe she could run away, but then the rest of the soldiers here would face that axe.

She had to stop him. Somehow. That axe was big and scary, but only the sharp head part was dangerous. The rest of it was a pole, and since Natan was using both of his hands for the axe, he couldn't use them for anything else.

No...free hands. Anna dodged another blow, athough part of it hit her left arm, and came up with a plan. When Natan swung a third time, rather than dodging backward, she went forward, and he hit her with the wooden shaft instead. It hurt a little, her left arm was ringing, but he was startled for a second that she got in so close. Quickly, Anna took the little sword that was in her hand, and plunged it pointy-end first into Natan's wrist, which had less armor on it than the rest of him.

"Ergh!" Natan grunted with pain, and staggered backward. Anna grabbed hold of the axe shaft, and quickly forced the head of it into the ground. He'd have to heft it up if he wanted to use it again, and Anna would be right there to stab him again.

He looked into her eyes. They were almost exactly like Hans's, mostly yellow with some green. And they were just as cold as his were, when he left her to die. Did they ever sparkle, like when he was faking it?

"Princess Anna!" Finn's voice was coming from somewhere nearby. Natan took a step back.

"Well, you're either lucky, or more tenacious than I gave you credit for. Either way, I concede the engagement. Take pride, Princess. Precious few have come even as far as you did." Leaving the axe in the ground, Natan turned away, and walked back towards the garrison. Anna let him go, she had no desire to continue that battle. Her arm was starting to throb, and she was sure it was bleeding.

Finn came up to her, and helped her onto his horse, and they rode off the battlefield.

Conrad, despite his silly tendencies, was a decent fighter among the Princes. He was better than Harold, or Tobias, but he was not the best. He fought fast and tried to overwhelm his opponent, often getting them off guard. He tricked Samuel, goaded him into opening his guard up, a number of times with insults about his wife, some of which were actually rather funny, like the one about the goat and the iceberg.

Hans had actually never fought Conrad before: By the time Hans was good enough to fight with the sword, Conrad learned the invisibility game. And by the time that was over, Conrad was living with his wife and son away from the Palace. Did he even get the message that the game had ended?

Hans had his sword out immediately, and starting parrying Conrad's blows. Quick blow from the left followed with two jabs from his right.

"It's like we're dancing." Another swipe, this one caused a nick in Hans's forearm. A razor-thin line of blood oozed from the wound. Hans stepped to the right and delivered a fierce slash. Conrad had to block with both his daggers, and dropping his weight.

"Coming in close? Looking for a kiss?" Conrad was still teasing. A quick slice with Hans's blade opened Conrad up for an attack, but with only one sword and a bad angle, Hans had to settle for kicking his elder brother in the gut.

"Ooh. Nice." Conrad started to laugh, and Hans was pretty sure now the man was more insane than usual. He never did like pain. A few other slashes from Conrad's daggers. Most, Hans could parry. He came in close once, close enough for Hans to punch him to get away, but Conrad was able to see through the pain, enough to slash across Hans's chest. Not a deep enough wound to be fatal, it mostly just ruined Hans's shirt.

He's trying, but...these wounds are all superficial. If Conrad wanted to, he could have delivered more debilitating strikes than these.

Conrad was starting to get a little winded, and Hans stepped close, close to enough to smack Conrad across the face with the hilt of his sword. The elder brother stumbled, and Hans quickly slashed Conrad across his upper right arm, next to his shoulder.

"Good!" Conrad was cheering now through his ragged breaths, even weirder. He gripped his daggers tighter, and started pacing around in a circular motion. Hans matched the pacing, not letting Conrad get too close. Occasionally, Conrad would pull off a few motions, but they were bluffs, he never meant to attack.

Hans took a few quick moves, made a downward thrust to Conrad's legs.

"Hah!" Hans's hit went wide, and Conrad took the motion, but that was what Hans had hoped for. Hans pivoted on his heels and let Conrad thrust into nothing but air. He then brought his sword down on Conrad's forearms, cutting deep gashes into both of them.

"Agh!" Conrad might have been cheering earlier, but he couldn't hide his pain now. Hans threw a quick piercing shot at Conrad's right leg before drawing himself back into a defensive stance. Conrad took his time turning around to face him.

"No...no fair, Hans." He dropped one of his daggers, and shifted his weight to his uninjured leg.

"You got...you got real good at this." Conrad started laughing again, but he was crying too. From the pain?

"Whatever happened to the little boy? The little boy who was always chosen last? The little boy we tied to a tree and left out for the night."

"I learned a lot." Hans got out of his defensive stance as Conrad dropped his other dagger, and started swaying back and forth. "You didn't notice because I was invisible."

"Ha! Ha! Yeah, I guess I deserved that." Conrad fell down to his knees. "I guess it's fitting after all we put you through, that you're the one who finishes me. You got so strong, Hans. Maybe you can end this war. Just follow it through to the end, and take down anyone who tries to stop you, like me."

Conrad spread his arms wide.

"Finish it, then."

"Conrad..." Hans's hand started to tremble a bit.

"Josephine...I'm coming. We can be a family again in the heavens. Come on, Hans, don't hesitate." Conrad shut his eyes, and a smile spread across his face again. Hans took a step forward, and rose his sword.

His hand was shaking as he brought up the blade. Conrad...would be an obstacle. He could, and probably would, interfere. He couldn't keep his mouth shut, and loyalty was not something he prized. He'd blab any secret to anyone who was interested enough to simply ask for it.

And he could interfere, even accidentally. As Elsa would well know, accidents still caused problems. Even without all of it, Conrad wanted death, or at least, preferred it to life.

"Hans..." He saw Elsa out of the corner of his eye, and she was flinching, clearly upset about the whole thing. Did she understand their thoughts? Could she see another solution?

Hans brought the pommel of his blade on Conrad's face with all his force, enough to knock the man out. He collapsed to the floor in an unmoving, but breathing, heap. Hans picked up the daggers and put them in his belt. He'd need a new shirt, but the belt could stay.

"You...spared him?" Elsa was clearly confused about the whole thing. Part of Hans did think this...could cause a problem down the road. Maybe Conrad could be a help, heavens knew Hans would need allies. It couldn't be pity, Hans didn't believe in it.

"He isn't a threat to me." He wasn't, at least. He could be, but he wasn't right now. Perhaps, though, it didn't need to end with violence. As he was learning, Hans couldn't see all of the paths his ambitions would take him. He didn't see himself gaining fire magic, or getting kidnapped by Eddelbrek. If Elsa hadn't been there, he might never have gotten out. If he killed Conrad, future paths would close, and, although there was the potential of it becoming worse, having more options meant better paths could be chosen.