Elsa looked at the scene before her with wide, terrified blue eyes, and she began to panic a little as fresh ice formed in the palms of her hands, and Mia was squirming, scared of the chaos surrounding her, frightened by the cries of the others and the loud bangs and smashes.
People were rushing around, not knowing what to do, all rational thoughts lost in the terrified atmosphere. Windows were smashed and those lucky enough to reach them were jumping through, trying to escape, while others were frantically trying to find something to protect themselves with.
The main source of the trouble came in the direction of the main doors, in which a group of twenty, perhaps more, men and women stood, swords, daggers, and spears, along with multiple other weapons, in their hands. Two full grown cheetahs stood on the ends of leashes, snarling and growling at the terrified crowd before them, and a man, who was easily recognized by Anna, Kristoff, Odd, and Elsa, stepped forward, grinning sadistically.
"Salut, Madam," He said in a high pitched voice, mock curtseying as her glanced towards the princess with an evil smirk. Seeing her gasp and recoil he then allowed eyes to turn to the Queen, his gaze shining with hatred. "Remember me?"
Elsa's eyes widened, and she stepped out of the doorway, ice materializing dangerously between her fingers. Her glare was evidence enough that she did, indeed, recall who he was, as did Anna who immediately gritted her teeth, seething at herself and at the nerve of the suited man before her.
"Ah, you do remember me. That's nice." The man opened his palm, and a ball of fire appeared, spinning dangerously. Elsa growled in the back of her throat instinctively, and quickly sent a jet of ice his way, but it only disappeared when it hit the flames, and the magician grinned.
"Now now, Elsa." He said, and the Queen snarled at him.
"That's Queen Elsa, to you!" She snapped loudly, and the inhabitants of the room watched with great interest as the two people stared each other off, none of them missing the ice-coated walls surrounding them. Many even sent scared glances towards the Queen, almost as worried about her loss of control as they were of the sorcerer.
"Elsa, Queen Elsa, whatever." The man said, non-committedly. "The point is, you have gotten in the way of our plans one too many times."
Turning to the crowd, the man smiled, his teeth flashing an unnatural shade of white. "Dear people of Arendelle," He said, indicating to the few upper-class members of society who had attended the ceremony, and the Priest. "I have no quarrels to settle with you. I do not wish to harm you, and as such, you are free to leave."
Stepping aside, he opened his arms wide, and a small number of the attendees ran out quickly, fleeing the scene, whilst only a few villages remained behind, stubbornly, who were, essentially, ignored. The sorcerer then turned to the remaining royal guests, and waving his hand, bringing them all together, including Anna and Mia from the other room.
"As for you..." He said, and the people behind him tightened their grips on their weapons. "You have something that I want, and believe me when I say that I will not be leaving without it."
Elsa glared at him.
"And what is it that you want?" She asked, her voice dark and cold, hatred dripping from every syllable.
"Oh, something I'm sure you won't miss much..." He said, and clicked his fingers, making his men and women jump into attention, and they ran towards the group of royals, who hurriedly scampered back at the approaching people, whose swords glinted dangerously in their grips.
Elsa's eyes widened, and she held out her shaking hand, the other still hanging limply, useless at her side. "Stay back!" She cried, shooting ice towards the onslaught, and with her momentary advantage, she urged the people to get the stained glass at the back, and to try and escape.
Anna stood by her side stubbornly, a screaming Mia in her arms - the poor child had never made so much noise.
"Anna!" Elsa cried, distraught, "Go! While you still can! I can hold them off for a bit if you'd just get to safety!"
Anna stood, stubbornly, with her sister, and Kristoff ran over.
"Anna!" He cried, but she spun on him, as Elsa began to sweat from the pressure and the difficult magic to complete. She was trying to push them back against the wall, but with so many strong men and women, it was proving to be very difficult.
"Anna!" Kristoff called again, "Go to the window - Sven can take Mia somewhere safe! You need to get out of here! I'll help Elsa!"
Anna looked over at the window, and then ran, flat out, as Kristoff made his way quickly to the ice wall, trying to push it himself. Gently laying Mia in Sven's antlers, the Princess said, "Take care of her, boy," patting his side as she rushed back to her sister's side.
"Anna!" Elsa cried, "Why aren't you going!"
Anna looked at her sister, her stubbornness shining in her eyes. "I won't leave you, Elsa!" She cried, and Kristoff raced back.
"Your Highness!" He called, accidentally slipping back into calling his sister in law by her formal title, but she ignored his mistake. "The ice won't last - it's simply melting away!"
And, lo-and-behold, Kristoff was right - watching the ice, Elsa could see that it was simply running, dripping into a large puddle on the floor, which the sorcerer simply evaporated.
"You forget, dear Queen." He said, "That I have more magic than you do." He paused, as he stroked the slight stubble on his chin. "In fact, I'd go as far as to say double, maybe even triple."
Elsa glared at him, and the sorcerer grinned a toothy smile. Opening his palm at her, he concentrated, before his smile fell, and he looked at his hands in surprise, making the Queen feel a little bit more relaxed, until an arrow randomly shot from his palm. Odd, who had been watching quietly from the sidelines, cried out, "Elsa!" and ran towards her, grabbing the arrow in mid flight as he jumped, and he landed, skidding a little across the floor.
The sorcerer glared at his, his eyes flashing red. "Well, well, well." He muttered, "What do we have here, then?" Frowning, he stared at Odd for a few moments, before he laughed loudly. "Can it be!" He asked himself, chuckling. "Why, it's Arne's boy! Odd, am I right?"
The arrow in his hand disappeared, and Odd glared at the man. "So what if I am?" He snapped, and the sorcerer shook his head.
"Tut tut tut." He scolded, "That's no way to treat a new acquaintance now, is it? My name is Karleif, it's nice to meet you."
Odd snarled at him instinctively. "The pleasure's all yours." He said through his teeth angrily, and the sorcerer - Karleif - grinned.
"Fine, then." He said, laughing. "We don't want a pathetic little runt like you, or your sister, for that matter." Turning his gaze to the royals, he said slowly, "We only want them."
The group began to move forward, as Karleif flicked his hand lazily, making iron bars rise up from the smashed windows. Bjørn, who had been standing in the window frame, watching the action, looked around him worriedly, something Elsa noted.
"Help us, Bjørn!" She cried, but the Prince simply took another glance at the bars which were quickly spreading across the room, and jumped from the window into freedom.
Coward, Elsa thought darkly to herself, as she slowly walked backwards with Anna, Kristoff and Odd.
Surveying the room, it became clear to Elsa that there was only one exit that they could reach - the door on the opposite end of the church, and she silently cursed in her head.
"What do you want from us!" She cried, and Karleif smiled happily, in his element.
"Do you know how I developed magical abilities, your Highness?" He asked darkly, mysteriously. "I'm guessing not, so let me enlighten you."
"I'm listening." Elsa said as she continued to back up. Just above the oncoming onslaught's heads, she could see Rapunzel and Eugene rushing in to help, and she was certainly glad.
"Well, here's the thing. There's something strange, about royal blood. Or, at least, a few samples of it. That is to say, it has strange properties." Karleif took a few steps forward, before continuing. "The first Kings and Queens, and this is a little known fact, but the first monarchy had magic. At the time, only a little, turning grass blue, for example, and over the years, it has lay dormant in their descendants, growing ever stronger. Take yourself, for example, Elsa. Your magic is, I must admit, astounding."
Anna froze as she felt the wall behind her, and looked around, panicked - there was no way out!
"So, it's simple, really. All we need is a bit of magical blood in our system, and given the right... conditions, shall we say, we should gain the powers ourselves, and be able to harness them." He then frowned. "Annoyingly, Elsa, your blood's of no use to us, because you can already harness it yourself, thus rendering it useless to us, but Anna - your blood is just perfect. As the sister of the Queen, you should, in theory, have the same quantity of magic in your blood stream as is necessary for us to use. And, once we've killed you, your little daughter should have the same magical blood for us to harness, for as far as I am aware, she cannot control it either. Am I correct?"
Anna stared at him, and stood taller, tightening her lips and refusing to speak defiantly. Even if he knew Mia's blood was of no use to him, she'd still be killed anyway, so there was no point in admitting to him that she had her own magic, and the Princess' disobedience made Karleif's face redden, as a plant pot near the doorway smashed.
Elsa glared at him. "Surely you've already killed enough royalty to complete your sick little scheme, then?" She snapped, her voice sharp as the edge of a knife.
Karleif twirled a small piece of silk absent-mindedly between his fingers.
"Well, here's the thing," He said, and he indicated to the people all around him. "Only a few royals actually have the magic in their system, because so many have lost the magic over the years, or else, the original family died out. So, of course, only a few still have the magic running through their veins, except it is very hard to know who does and doesn't. Out of all the royals who we've... tested on, shall we say, only five, so far, have been positive."
Elsa paused, thinking, then suddenly, something hit her. Frowning suspiciously, she stared at Karleif, who had stopped advancing now, and was simply standing there, waiting to finish his story, so that he could finish them off too.
"Who were the two positives?" She asked, but she already knew what the answer was.
Karleif laughed harshly. "Do I really need to answer that, Queen Elsa?" He said, grinning, and Elsa's eyes widened at the confirmation.
"You killed my parents." She said, straight out, and deep down, her blood began to boil, whilst the frost snaked all over the floor like wildfire.
Karleif smiled, happily, an evil glint in his eyes. "You're very smart, aren't you, your Highness?" He said, as the Queen continued to stare him down. "Yes, we killed your parents for our cause. It wasn't easy, as we didn't have any magic back then to control the seas, so we simply had to request an audience with them when we knew a storm would be coming. Thankfully, it worked. My mother received a small injection of your mother's blood, and I had some of your father's, and now, here we are."
Elsa glared at him, while Anna felt like screaming at him in anger.
"How many have you killed for your experiment, then?" The younger Princess snapped, harshly, and Karleif shrugged.
"Oh, not too many. Probably about... a third of the monarchy now. Sadly, though, we were never able to use the blood of three people, which was a shame, because it was too old by the time we got their bodies retrieved. There's a fine line between good for use, and useless."
Anna felt sickened, and Karleif clicked his fingers, making his followers ready their weapons, and Elsa's eyes widened, as she readied her hand to shoot some ice.
"Now!" The sorcerer shouted, and the men ran forwards, weapons in hand, but Elsa reacted quickly, making a large wall of ice rise up from the ground. A few of the attackers smashed into it and were rendered unconscious, but most remained fine, although some of the weapons were stuck in the ice.
"Quick!" Elsa muttered, "Go around the side, before they regain their senses!"
Nodding, Anna, Kristoff, Odd and the Queen ran around the corner, but they were quickly met by a guard, who held an axe in his hand. The group backed up a bit, but the younger Princess grinned confidently, quickly readying her fist and sending a powerful punch to the man's nose. Yelping, he stumbled backwards, and the royals, plus Odd, tried to go around again, only to be met by more men.
Elsa grinned, and waving her good hand, a large blanket of snow fell upon the attackers, before it froze and locked them in place, solidifying around their feet so that they struggled fruitlessly. Freezing their hands for good measure, she ran past, and her companions followed, meeting Rapunzel and Eugene half way across the church hall.
Hearing yet more footsteps, they spun around, to see the remainder of Karleif's followers charging at them, and in less than a second, there were two cheetahs snarling at Kristoff and Odd's necks. Kristoff struggled around, shoving the cat off, with the help of a well aimed kick from his wife, and the feline yelped, while Odd bucked his hips and flipped himself over, so that the animal on top of him ended up flying against the wall with more force than should have been possible from the man. He was only average height, and was in no way extremely well built, but he was very quick and intelligent.
Jumping up quickly, the group just about managed to dodge the onslaught of attackers, although Odd did receive a hard blow to his nose, leaving it streaming with blood and definitely broken. Rapunzel glared the the people, and looking around, she noticed the icicles protruding from the walls, and she grinned. Throwing a lock of hair at it so that it locked on tightly, she pulled hard and ripped the ice clean off of the wall, so that it flew towards the attackers and bowled them over, knocking a couple unconscious and leaving the others dazed.
Unwrapping her hair from the ice, the group ran towards the door quickly, but skidded to a stop as two people popped out of thin air, standing in their way.
The taller of the pair - a woman - grinned at the man next to her.
"Not perfect, but not badly executed at all, Son." She said, turning towards her partner, who nodded his head in thanks, then he turned to the royals.
"Sorry it had to be this way," He said, grinning. "But don't worry - we aren't just targeting you. It's nothing personal, really. We'll be killing the other royals too once we're finished with you, and they can't even escape." He looked around lazily, before he sent a sudden jet of fire towards Elsa, leaving her with a large burn across her cheek, and she growled angrily. Opening her hand, she sent a quick beam of ice straight back, and grinned as her attack pierced Karleif's skin, and she quickly thawed it away, so that the blood flew freely.
Karleif cursed, and used his magic to make a bandage, while his mother took over, sending a shower of glass towards the royals, and Elsa quickly made a strong snow storm in front of her, blowing the shards in the opposite direction. Breathing heavily, the Queen sighed, while her enemy snarled and paused for a moment, before grinning, and she waved her hand, creating a large snake, at least twice the size of the people, on the ground.
With wide eyes, Elsa tried to freeze the creature, but it was much too big, and simply turned upon her, hissing, making her back up quickly, not sure what to do. It was Rapunzel who acted first, sending a lock of her hair at the creature and pulling it tight, sufficiently blocking it's airways and the animal crashed to the ground with a loud thud, landing atop of Karleif in the process.
The woman screeched a loud, deathly cry, and instantly made the snake disappear, but it had been much too heavy, and the sorcerer lay in a heap on the ground, his spine appearing to poke dangerously out of his back. Odd, noticing the advantage, crept around so that he stood behind the woman, who had now turned on Elsa and the other royals with dark, glinting eyes that shone with malice.
"That's it!" She cried, her voice painfully high pitched, and she created a small, red ball of light in her hands, before shooting it up towards the ceiling, and Odd reacted quickly, grabbing two stones and smashing them down upon the side of her head, and she crumpled in a heap as her son had, just about conscious but in no state to move.
Anna walked over apprehensively, and nudged the man's body with her foot, but he made no sort of reaction, and she grinned, as she turned to her companions and gave them a thumbs up, knowing that the danger was out of the way.
Or, so they had thought - hearing a scuffling noise behind them, they turned to see Karleif's followers looking around dazed, or at least, some were, while others were still unconscious upon the floor. They also heard a crumbling sound, and instantly looked up, to see the ceiling crumbling where it had been hit with the spell.
"Hurry! We need to get out!" Elsa urged, and the group nodded, jumping Karleif and his mother's bodies and rushing to the door, but it was no use - the heavy wood was tightly locked.
"What are we going to do now?" Anna asked, and Elsa backed up, closing her eyes shut tightly, before focusing upon the crack where the two doors joined.
"Watch out." She said, and she began to sweat a little as she tried to stop her hand from shaking, the pressure getting to her slightly. It was a lot easier to focus her powers when she had two hands free, but as it was, that was impossible, and she frowned in concentration.
The ceiling cracked even more, and small pieces of crumbled bricks fell down, panicking the Queen, and she lost focus, slightly.
Anna looked around at the falling down church, panicking. "Elsa!" She cried, "Come here! You'll be crushed!"
The Queen looked at her sister. "Anna! We'll all be crushed if we stay here when the roof gives way! I've got to try!"
Odd looked at her, his eyes pleading, and Rapunzel glanced sadly her way. Eugene and Kristoff shared a worried glance towards the crumbling ceiling, and Elsa concentrated on the doors again, as more rubble began to fall, quickly. Desperately, the Queen sent a spike of ice shooting towards the wood, but her shaking hand meant that it missed the gap, and only smashed a small amount of the wood away.
A large brick fell down, and Elsa gasped as more and more of the ceiling fell around her. In one last bid for freedom, she reacted quickly and sent a beam of ice towards the door, and this time, her aim was true; the doors were forced open with a great force, and freedom was just a few meters away.
The ceiling began to fall all around Elsa, and she yelled, "Run!" to her companions, who obliged and sprinted from the church. The Queen lifted up the bottom of her dress and followed after, but her timing was unfortunate, and a large slab of the ceiling fell upon her dress, successfully stopping her from moving.
"Help!" She yelled, as she tugged upon her dress, but the material was of the very best quality, and simply would not rip. Odd appeared a few meters from the doorway, and his eyes widened, as he began to sprint towards her, but the ceiling was still falling, and Elsa knew he'd never reach her in time.
"I'm sorry..." She whispered, and she waved her hand, freezing the doorway solid, just as some of the ceiling fell just after it. She sighed, relieved that Odd hadn't gotten crushed, but she yelled in surprise as large amounts of debris fell in front of her. She lay down in a ball, hidden in the rubble, as bricks rained down upon her, until a large slab landed with a thud above her head, resting upon the other deposits.
Sobbing quietly, she felt her little prison freeze up around her. The poor Queen was in a terrible state, with an agonizing broken arm, which was squished beneath her, a red-raw cheek that was aching like a knife wound, not to mention all of the cuts across her exposed skin from the falling rubble, and, if she was not very much mistaken, she was certain that she could feel a heavy weight crushing her ankle. Groaning, she turned her head, the action giving her a horrible headache, and she felt her vision go foggy, as she looked out of a small hole.
She could just about make out the body of Karleif's mother stirring feebly, and the woman's sharp, exhausted eyes met her own. With one pathetic little wave of her hand, everything seemed to stop, all movement, and then suddenly, the slabs exploded, with such a force that many smaller fragments came falling back down. Elsa groaned once again, as her body was pounded with an unforgiving onslaught of rubble, and then everything went black, as a brick hit her forehead and she lost consciousness.