Chapter 29 - Rasmus' Final Move
The Odin was finally free of the iceberg that Elsa had rammed into them. Having blasted it to pieces, the ship was now floating freely on its own, still facing the Boreas and not going anywhere. The damage from the impact and following extraction was severe. The entire front end of the ship was in ruins, crunched up and twisted. The bowsprit had broken off and fallen into the water and several of the interior decks were now completely exposed due to the gap in the Odin's front. Considering the extent of the damage, they were fortunate that the hull below the waterline was still mostly intact, otherwise they might have started to rapidly sink as water poured into the vessel's wound.
Sitting on a bench behind the ship's wheel, Rasmus held his head low in both hands. His fingertips were emitting snowflakes and a trickle of frost was starting to creep across the deck from where he sat. His emotions were getting the best of him, and it was showing through the involuntary use of his powers.
Ready to give a report, a crewman timidly walked up to Rasmus where he sat with his face in his palms.
"The forward armoury has been destroyed, sir." He began. "The only standard ammunition we have left is what's already loaded into the cannons. A few dozen shots at most, Your Majesty."
Lowering his hands and slowly looking up to the crewman, the realization was now starting to fully sink in for Rasmus. The Odin was crippled. It could no longer effectively fight the Boreas in a drawn out battle. He didn't want to waste what little cannonballs they had left on it when they were sure to need a few once they reached Arendelle.
Arendelle.
They had still not continued on towards their primary objective. Rasmus had wanted all of Elsa's powers for himself so badly, that he hung around during this battle so that he could eventually get them. Now, Dagmar was dead, Hans had still not returned from his boarding party and was also probably dead, a good percentage of his crew was dead, and his ship was critically damaged. He realized that he had wasted far too much time focusing on Elsa. Getting her powers was a crucial part of his larger plan for expanding through Europe, but at this point, it seemed unlikely that he would ever get all of the magic. Half would have to do, therefore, Elsa served no more purpose.
"Deploy the mortars." Rasmus commanded the crewman who was still standing in front of him. He then turned his head to stare at the Boreas sitting defencelessly in front of the Odin. "Destroy that ship! Then set a course for Arendelle. We must complete our mission."
The crewman looked shocked, but nodded in compliance and headed back down to the deck.
Rasmus leaned back slowly into the crates behind him, his hands were still giving off shards of ice and the deck was still slowly freezing over. He was recalling the conversation he had with Elsa out on the water a short while ago. She had implied that she was willing to die in a futile attempt to stop him from reaching Arendelle, an act that he had found to be foolish at the time. But now that he was pondering what he was willing to give up in order to see his plan through, perhaps it did make sense.
"I guess some things are worth making sacrifices for after all, aren't they Elsa?"
His next actions meant that he would never get all of her powers, but that was a sacrifice he was willing to make.
The crew of the Odin immediately began the procedure to raise the ship's bombardment mortars up to the deck from underneath where they were safely held. It was a lengthy process that took several minutes, mainly due to the weight of the mortars combined with the massive support plate that they were firmly attached to.
The first step in readying the mortars was to flip up the large hatch doors that functioned as the deck over top of them. A number of men unlatched the hatches and pulled them up with ropes. In the mean time, the crewman who had taken over the ships' wheel was starting to slowly turn the Odin to face the Boreas sideways. This would allow for a more accurate, and more deadly attack.
On the Boreas, Halvard, Anna, Rapunzel, and Eugene were all helping Elsa who had mostly recovered from exerting herself by ramming the iceberg into the Odin. She was standing now, leaning against the ruins of the main mast in the center of the deck. Anna was close to her. She was worried about both Elsa and Kristoff, who she hadn't seen since she left him with Hans on the lower decks. Fortunately, the debris on the deck had been cleared enough to allow crewmen to head down and help him.
Halvard stood near Elsa as well. He had not known what the Queen had planned to do when she initially asked him to lower the ships anchors. He was impressed once again by her abilities when she created a massive iceberg to ram the Odin. Looking over at Rasmus' ship, the resulting damage left by the impact was also impressive. The entire front end of the ship was mangled. It was undoubtedly a crippling hit.
Still looking at the Odin, Halvard noticed that the ship was resuming its slow turn to port, bringing more of the starboard side to face the Boreas. He was also easily able to make out the sight of crewmen on its deck pulling back the large covers that he had observed when he was sneaking around it a few days ago trying to locate Elsa when she had been captured. He knew what those covers were for.
"Oh no..." Halvard whispered. It was still loud enough for the others to hear him though.
Anna looked over at Halvard, confused.
"'Oh no' what?" She asked him.
"The Odin." Halvard pointed across the water towards Rasmus' ship. All of the others saw as the hatches continued to be pulled up and off to the side.
"What are they doing?" Rapunzel asked, her eyes still focusing on the Southern Isles' ship.
"They're getting ready to fire their mortars."Said Halvard. "The ones I told you about."
Anna spoke up again. "At what? Us?" She had assumed those mortars were only for attacking castles and towns on land. Not for firing at ships on the water.
"Apparently."The Captain answered. "They are designed for bombarding targets on the shore, but they can still be very effective against another ship."
"Especially when we're just sitting here. Wheel destroyed, masts damaged, sails torn." Added Eugene. After the battle they had just been in, the Boreas was a little worse for wear. The main mast had been gone since the very beginning of the battle, but the other two masts were now damaged as well. Of the sails that were still attached to them, many of them were full of holes from cannon fire.
"Can we move out of the way or something?" Asked Anna. "You know, just avoid the mortars?"
"Even though they are damaged as well, they can still out-maneuver us at this point. We'd have no hope of getting away." Halvard hated to keep shooting down Anna's suggestions, but the situation was so dire that there simply was no escape. Like a limping criminal trying to out run a firing squad, there was no hope of making it away unscathed.
Elsa did not try to offer plans for escape. After looking around the deck, noticing the destruction all around her and listening to the comments of Halvard and Eugene, she realized that fleeing was not an option. Another choice had to be made.
"How long until they can fire?" She asked the Captain.
"Probably about six or seven minutes." Halvard told her. "Once the mortars have been cranked up to the level of the deck, they can aim them, load them and then fire. There are sixteen of them arranged in a four-by-four square which can all fire at once, blanketing us with shells. And if even one of those exploding shells hits us..."
He didn't have to finish for Elsa to understand what would happen. The shells fired by those mortars were designed to obliterate the thick stone walls of castles. It went without saying that those same shells would be incredibly destructive against the wood planking of a ship's hull.
Anna was starting to panic now. She had taken a little comfort from the knowledge that Rasmus wanted Elsa alive, meaning that her sister wouldn't be immediately killed by him. Now, it seemed that the King had changed his mind.
"How can he?" The redhead asked her sister with a worried voice. "He said he wanted to capture you! If he does this he'll kill you!"
Elsa stood up from leaning against the mast and looked over at the Odin as she spoke.
"It's not about me anymore. His desire to exact revenge against Arendelle, and then move onto expanding the Southern Isles further, is stronger than his desire to get the rest of my powers."
Elsa contemplated her options once again. Judging by the look on Halvard's face, he was doing the same thing. Unfortunately, he appeared to be at a loss. She was struggling to find a favorable option at this point as well. Hitting the Odin with the ice had damaged it, but not destroyed it as she had hoped. On top of that, doing so was very difficult for her and she did not think she could try it again. Smaller use of her magic felt possible at the time, but anything large would be too difficult. That meant she would only be able to be effective in close range.
Close range. Elsa thought to herself. It also has the benefit of being the last thing Rasmus would expect at this point.
She had made up her mind. It seemed like the only option that would get everyone else to safety.
"Captain." Elsa began, getting Halvard's attention. "Would it be possible for one person to go over to the Odin and disable the mortars in some way?"
Halvard was surprised by this question. He had not considered the option of sending a boarding party over to the Odin since they would be greatly outnumbered. Regardless, he responded to the Queen's question.
"It would be... Theoretically someone could disable the mortars in a number of ways." He told her. "But anyone going over there has little chance of fending off the entire crew of the Odin while they do so."
Elsa didn't answer the captain. She just kept staring at the deck, thinking.
Halvard had seen that look on the Queen's face before. It was the look she got when she was about to make a difficult decision, and he knew right away what the decision was going to be.
"...anyone except..." Halvard spoke quietly as the understanding came to him.
Elsa looked up at him slowly, the same resolute determination in her eyes that she had shown before.
"No. No, no, no. I can't let you do that Your Majesty." He stammered.
"Do what? What's going on?" Anna asked. She had no clue what Elsa and the Captain seemed to be talking about.
"I'm the only one who can, Halvard." Elsa replied. "I'm going over there."
"WHAT?!" Anna shrieked. "Elsa, what are you talking about!?" She couldn't believe her ears. Elsa wanted to go over to the Odin? Now?! If she didn't know her sister better she would have thought she was insane.
"Anna, please. This is something I have to do." Elsa told her. She had made up her mind and was not going to be stopped by anyone, but Anna would be the hardest one to convince... as always.
"You keep saying that." Anna shot back. "You keep saying you have to do things. But you have to be here too! You have to be here for Arendelle!" Her voice lowered to a soft whisper. "...for me."
Elsa had to hold back tears. Anna always worried about her so much, and Elsa always managed to get herself into situations that caused Anna even more concern. First with the ice island, then the dinner with Rasmus, now this.
"Anna, I am doing this for Arendelle, and for you. If I don't go over there to stop those mortars... we're all doomed."
Anna, once again, didn't know how to respond to Elsa's explanation. She may have felt a great deal of concern for Elsa, but she also had the upmost confidence in her. If anyone could single-handedly disable the Odin, it would be her big sister. However, she still hated the whole idea. Fortunately, Halvard spoke out to support Anna's dislike for the plan.
"Your Majesty, let me go instead." Halvard spoke up. It would be irresponsible of him to let his queen go by herself on a dangerous mission when it should be him going in her place. "Or at least let me come with you..."
"No, Halvard. I want you to stay here." Elsa replied as she began to walk over to the railing of the Boreas. "You can't effectively fight Rasmus. Not when he has my powers."
He knew she was right. Halvard was a master swordsman, but fighting off the crew of the Odin while also defending himself against the magical attacks of Rasmus would be nearly impossible for him. With Elsa's powers however, it would be much simpler. Still, he felt compelled to try and stop her.
"Elsa." He reached out and gently grabbed her arm to prevent her from going just yet. "Surely there has to be another way? Something else we can do?"
"You said yourself that we have no hope of getting away. This is the only option." She looked at him directly. "Is it not acceptable to risk one life in order to save hundreds... thousands?"
Halvard was the one who didn't know how to respond now. He let go of Elsa's arm and she continued walking. Standing at the edge of the Boreas' deck looking down to the water below, Elsa held a hand on each side of the ship's railing at the gap that led down the ladder on the side of the hull. She psyched herself up before giving one last command to Halvard.
"Try and put as much distance as you can between you and the Odin."
Halvard nodded. Elsa was about to face out to the water again when Anna spoke out for a final time.
"Elsa." Her tone was soft this time, not loud and argumentative. "Promise me you'll come back, okay? Promise me!"
Elsa looked at her sister, then down to the deck near her, thinking deeply about how to respond. She knew the chances of her returning from this were slim, but she didn't want to let Anna know that. She also didn't want to lie to her sister either.
"I promise..."Elsa replied, looking back up at Anna. "...that I will try."
Without waiting for further protest, Elsa created a path of ice in front of her, off the edge of the Boreas and towards the water. She ran onto it and started curving it around towards the Odin. The angle she took towards it was wide and in the direction of the Odin's stern. She hoped that no one would notice her as she ran towards the ship. An element of surprise was not key to success here, but it would help.
