Sorry for the long wait. I have a new job that takes p most of my waking daytime so writing will no longer be a hobby I can indulge in whenever I feel like it. However, I will finish this story, so you have nothing to worry on that front.
Without further ado, enjoy the chapter!
Ingrid, along side Arianna and Fredrick, at the doors to the gates of the castle of Arendelle. Seeing the castle up close for the first time in decades made Ingrid's heart fill with sadness. The castle was different now, surrounded by ice not unlike her own, most likely Elsa's doing. Her niece did this all by herself, after years of torment and guilt, it made Ingrid realize how much she missed home and hat she could have done to help her dearly departed sister. Smiling, despite the pain in her heart, Ingrid stood tall and confident, before approaching several guards stationed outside the gates. However, knowing that it would be hard to get her point across without suspicion, she said nothing, instead giving a subtle glance to Arianna, whom had a more personal relationship with Elsa and would be more than likely to get into the castle given her connection to the monarchs of Arendelle.
"I need to speak with Queen Elsa of Arendelle!" The Coronan Queen said with regality, causing one of the nearby guards to glance at her, before bowing and giving the visiting Monarch a smile, "your majesty" he said formally "I am Captain Caleb of her Majesties castle guard. The Queen is expecting the Ridgfellian King. I was not aware of your arrival."
Before he could continue, Arianna waved her hand impatiently so that she could explain " I understand this is such short notice young man, but the Coronan kingdom have reason to believe that Queen Elsa is in danger from the Risgefellian empire and we need to speak with her urgently" she stated quickly. Upon hearing the elder Queens words, Caleb's face fell and he immediately turned to one of his troop. "If King Ivar should arrive, let us know. If he is truly a threat to Arendelle, we must not let him near this castle. Gather the men and set up a perimeter, and get evacuations ready, should we need to evacuate the town" he then turned to the visiting monarch "Follow me" he told them, before he led them inside the castle.
When Elsa heard the door to her study open, she was expecting Anna to come running in like a tornado was behind her, something she shouldn't be doing since she was pregnant (or anything else that Anna did with her crazy stunts for that matter) or a guard saying that the Ridgefellian king had arrived. Instead, she saw an unfamiliar blonde woman wearing rather foreign style armor. Correction, it was a complete stranger Elsa was sure she had never seen before in her life stomping into the room with a rather grim, yet determined look on her face, her fist clenched tightly at her side, not being escorted in by a guard. As a matter of fact, no one was to be in Elsa's private study unless it was someone she trusted.
So she did what any mature regal queen did when a supposed assassin enter the room. She stood up and threw her hands out ice shooting from her fingertips. Now of course, Elsa wasn't the best fighter in the world, though she did try to practice in her spare time, as she was much better at defending herself than she was when attacked by Hans guards at her ice castle. But having been pregnant for so long didn't leave much room for being able to practice. Not to mention, assassin' were practically bred for bloodshed and lived for battle. To make a long story short, Elsa was unsure whether her skills would be able to match this assassin in her study.
The blond woman ducked and rolled, Dodging Elsa's attack, before jumping over several spikes that erupted over her narrowly missing being skewered by nature's wrath.
Before Elsa could counter with another attack however, the blond grabbed something from her belt and threw it at Elsa.
Elsa gasped seeing a staff extended, aimed right towards her and she threw her hands up, an ice wall shielding her from the attack. However in that moment, the blond ran past the ice wall, grabbed Elsa by the back of her neck, then threw her against the wall of the room. Dazed, Elsa shook her head, trying to regain her senses, but before she could, a vice like grip suddenly wrapped itself around her throat, while a hand was pressed to her mouth, preventing her from screaming. "shhh!" the blond hissed urgently, giving Elsa a rather panicked look "I'm not here to harm you!" the woman whispered, before letting go of Elsa allowing her to fall to the floor. The young Queen got on her knees, gasping for breath. She looked up at her attacker; half expecting to see a dagger, but what he saw instead shook her to her core. Instead of a weapon, the woman was holding out her hand in a helpful gesture.
In the palm of her hand was the wedding ring Ranger had given to Elsa what seemed like a lifetime ago. The same ring she had cast away because she could no longer trust the man she loved.
Ranger reached into his pouch, where he kept his most precious possession. Carefully, he took out the engagement ring that he made for Elsa, before turning to Guinevere. Grabbing her hand, he placed the ring in her palm, closing her fingers tightly over the ring. Guinevere looked at him, confused by the gesture, but knowing Ranger like she did, he likely had a good explanation for this, cause if he was asking him to marry her, then she would have to say no.
"Get this ring to Elsa" he told her, a grim frown etched on his face "I don't think she would believe that you're here to help unless she knows you're a friend." He told her, with a glint in his eye daring her to not lose the ring.
Guinevere looked at Ranger "I'll find a way I myself, just tell me where to go." She told him, knowing that it would be easy for her to be able to infiltrate the castle. Even though she hadn't infiltrated Arendelle before, Guinevere was good at sneaking around when the time called for it.
Ranger bit his lip, almost chuckling, but maintained a serious face "Elsa will likely be in her study…." Guinevere listened intently; absorbing all the information that Ranger was providing her. " Once she knows you're not a threat, she will be likely to listen to you. Get her out of the castle and away from the arriving armies."
Guinevere nodded, taking the ring and placing it in her pocket. " Be careful," she said to Ranger, before disappearing in a flash of light.
Elsa grabbed her new found ally's hand and pulled herself up, taking the ring as she did so. She gazed upon the gleaming stone for a second, before looking at the blond "is he alright?" she asked, her voice choking with tears.
Guinevere shook her head "he is about to launch a one man assault on King Ivar; his armies are approaching Arendelle."
Elsa was shocked "armies?" she cried, fear flooding her veins. She didn't know what was worse: The idea of Ranger taking on an army single handedly, or the idea of her kingdom being invaded. On one hand, she rather admired Rangers dedication to her, despite the fact she had irrevocably ruined her relationship with him, but she certainly didn't want him to die protecting the kingdom, let alone die gain again! On the other hand, war was the last thing she wanted brought to her kingdom and only Gran Pabbie knew how to get so many people out of the kingdom, even with Ranger buying her time.
Guinevere nodded "Ivar seems to be under the impression that you're hiding him here. Or at he very least know where he is, and intends to conquer Arendelle to draw him back here. A mutual friend has gone to the Coronan kingdom to plea for help, but in the meantime I'm supposed to get you and everyone important to your boyfriend out of this castle." She told Elsa.
Elsa listened to her newfound allies words, a sense of dread forming in her stomach. She didn't want to believe her, but Elsa could hear the honesty in the woman's tone and she couldn't bring herself to deny it.
Elsa's hands fell to her side clutching the ring tightly. It was, as she feared. War was coming to Arendelle and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Shaking herself out of her shock, she took a deep breath. "Come with me" she told Guinevere. Despite the anger and pain that she still felt at Rangers betrayal, Elsa slipped the ring on her finger, if just to keep to safe.
Elsa and Guinevere made their way to the throne room, where to the young monarchs surprise, the King and Queen of Corona stood waiting for her, along with another woman whom looked vaguely familiar to Elsa. While she was certain that she had never seen the woman before, there was something about her that Elsa couldn't shake.
How ever there was no time to dwell on that, because as soon as she saw the young Queen, Arianna flew towards Elsa in a manner reminiscent of a mother worrying for their child.
"Elsa!" Arianna cried, embracing the young woman in a rather tight hug, almost causing Elsa to faint from the lack of oxygen getting into her lungs. However, given the situation, Elsa couldn't help but be glad to see that Arianna and Frederic had managed to safely get into Arendelle before the coming war. "Arianna…" she groaned, causing the Queen to back off, but she still held onto Elsa tightly, a sad smile on her face.
King Frederic on the other hand, seemed less eager for a family reunion, and more eager to get straight to the point. Clearing his throat, he shot a glance at his wife, who sheepishly back off, before allowing her husband to step forward. While he was rather stoic, Elsa could see the concern in his eyes.
"Elsa…. I'm very sorry that we have to meet under these circumstances." He told her grimly " but I want you to know that as we speak, a fleet of my best troops and several of our allies are on their way as we speak and should arrive in no more than a few hours." He told her.
Elsa clasped her hands together to keep them from shaking the mere idea of war coming to Arendelle frightened her. Her people, her family, her children. They were all in danger and she was afraid that there wouldn't be enough time to get everyone out safely.
Elsa lifted her head and despite her nerves, quickly asked "how many troops do you need to assist with the evacuation?" upon Frederic's confused look, Elsa clarified her statement. " While I have no doubt that your troops are certainly capable, Frederic, the fact remains that Ridgefall is known for battle and given the circumstances, I doubt that Ivar will be concerned with civilian casualties, particularly if he is looking to draw Ranger back here. "
Frederic rubbed his chin in thought, and his eyes suddenly lit up "what about your powers your majesty?" he suggested quickly. "surely you can create a few ice troops capable of defending the town; it would certainly tip the battle closer to our favor, and we would be able to have help in any evacuations, should the battle move to close."
Elsa bit her lip "I suppose that if I must I will." Elsa was not fond of that idea, but she knew she had no other choice if she only wanted to defend Arendelle. And to be honest, she would have to embrace the change eventually.
While this was going on, Ingrid shared a look with Arianna. Ingrid had no intention of revealing herself to Elsa; there just wasn't time, but Elsa was not as experience with her powers as Ingrid was; therefore, Ingrid would likely have to add to Elsa's labor in creating ice soldiers to defend the town.
Frederic nodded "I understand your majesty, but we are short on help. If Ranger were here, would he be able to help us?"
Elsa looked at the ground. She knew that Ranger was nearby, but she didn't know what he was going up against directly "we can only hope…"
Ranger remained in place at the top of the North Mountain, gazing at the sun in the distance. He could feel the warmth gracing his skin, like a warm blanket. The flames inside him were burning inside him, feeding his rage and his motivating him to protect what he loved. It soothed him, feeling his element surrounding him; he was feeding on its power it made him feel strong, and ready for what would come.
War was coming to Arendelle because of Rangers mistakes, because the past refused to die. Judas and Marco one again tried to finish the job that they failed to complete many years ago, and even in death, they still controlled Rangers fate. They tormented him haunted him, continued to guide him towards misery, refusing to allow him the peace that had evaded him since birth.
But not anymore. No matter how this ended for Ranger, he was not going to allow Elsa to continue paying for his mistakes. No matter how this ended, Elsa would not be forced into Rangers war with Ivar. It would end before Ivar could cross into the borders of Arendelle.
Turning his gaze to the wilderness below, Ranger walked down the north mountain, ready for what was to come.
Inside of Arendelle castle, a long figure sat in a empty room, reading the book that they had taken from the shelf in the library. The book was large and quite majestic. The most interesting part about it was that it seemed to be filled with ancient spells from ancient times, with tales of dark magic, almost legendary. One in particular stuck out to the reader. The tales of two gods, one of light, and one of darkness. The one of darkness was particularly interesting. A destroyer and an agent of chaos. along with the description of the Gods power, there also seemed to be an ancient incantation enabling the reader The reader skimmed through the pages, reading the ancient incantations, and feeling the dark power emanating from its words.
A cruel smile appeared on the figures lips. It had been easy framing Ranger for the death of King Vidar back in corona, with the help of a common ally and the chef, but now that she found this, the figure would use it to destroy everything Ranger held dear just as they had lost everything so long ago to Rangers fury.
Shutting the book, and hiding it securely in the room, the figure grabbed a crossbow from its place in the room, and left, knowing that the time was soon coming for everything to fall into place, and their revenge would finally be complete.
Later that day, Elsa and Anna stood atop the castle balcony, gazing at their home for what could be the last time. The day had gone off to a rather painful start ever since Elsa learned of Ivar's treachery. After meeting with the Coronan monarchs, Elsa had the royal guard as well as some ice soldiers go around the city, gathering as many citizens as possible and evacuate the city, getting them onto any boats they could spare, or getting them out by taking them outside the city on foot, but avoiding going toward the north mountain. Ivar's kingdom was toward the north; that was the direction that they would be coming from.
The idea still seemed so foreign to Elsa. Arendelle was so full of life even during the short reign she had so far, but looking at it now, it was a ghost town, with nothing that made Arendelle the snowflake in the sun that she had come to see it as. Her kingdom…. Gone, like it was never there to begin with.
Behind them, Caleb, as well as the Coronan monarchs and Guinevere, as Elsa had learned was her name stood waiting for them. The only one not present was Ingrid, the woman who came with Frederic and Arianna. She opted to go and help with the evacuation, not that Elsa could blame her. The only thing that Elsa was curious about was what Ingrid could do. But Elsa decided to go on faith with the woman. If she said she could help, then Elsa would take her word for it, and focus on helping everyone else that needed it to.
"Your majesty," Caleb whispered, causing Elsa and Anna to turn to him. "Its time."
Elsa nodded "are the twins onboard?" she asked her trusted captain, who nodded "Yes your majesty, the captain is on standby right now."
Elsa bit her lip, glad that her children would not suffer through what was to come, but nothing could stop the guilt that tore through her heart at the idea of leaving home for good. She glanced at Anna, who grasped her hand for support likely feeling exactly how Elsa felt, before walking away from the balcony and out of the castle for what felt like the last time.
The next chapter will be the beginning of the end. The villain will be revealed and the final battle will begin! Till then.