Lady Rialto still sat with magnificent posture in the dingy, cold prison cell. She couldn't notice Anna or Conrad yet.
"You have an interesting way of doing things, Anna." Conrad spoke in a hushed tone. Anna didn't answer him. Instead, she stepped towards the prison cell.
"You've come back." Lady Rialto was glaring at Anna, clearly not pleased to see her. "Come to bloviate yourself, pretend your something more than a lucky little twit?"
"It's funny you talk like that. It's almost like you think nothing is going to happen to you. Well, with Elsa not here, I'm the one in charge of Arendelle's affairs. Including you. So, I decided, I'm going to have you put to death."
"That's hilarious, Princess." Lady Rialto was about to collapse into a spasm of laughter. "I thought you wanted to know who I was working with."
"Oh, that. When I asked you, I did. But I just got a messenger. Really important one to come so late at night. My sister and Prince Hans were able to take the palace and Prince Ferdinand has been captured. He's promising all information in exchange for his life."
"That's our Ferdy for you. Slippery as a snake and twice as scaly. Probably scared we'd tan him and turn his skin into boots."
"So, I don't need you anymore." Anna shrugged and turned back towards Lady Rialto. She seemed a little surprised, but neither scared nor intimidated. "I thought I'd have to find a…whatever the people that chop off heads are called is."
"Headsman." Conrad interrupted. "Pretty easy to remember. You've never seen an execution, have you? We get the best seats, and we break out the good wine."
"But that feels like such a hassle, and I don't even like wine." Anna shrugged. "And like you said, I probably should act more responsible, and queen-like. So, I remembered Conrad said he fought in a war before, so he'd know how to do it."
"You're bluffing, little girl!" The slightest bit of hesitation was in her voice.
"Go ahead, Conrad. Let me know when you're done so we can go see Elsa." Anna turned around and started to walk out the room.
"Gotta warn you, I'm not the best at this. So, if you're dying but not dead yet, use a code word. Ummm…broccoli! That it, eating that makes me think I'm dying. If you're dead, obviously, don't say anything. All right, see ya."
"Agh!" Anna could hear the old lady gasp. Did Conrad stab her?
"Princess, Princess!" Lady Rialto screamed a second later. Anna walked into the room. Conrad had his two daggers out and was in the cell.
"So you wanted to watch? Well, maybe having an audience will help. It's more fun, at least. Stand still." Conrad took a few steps forward and swung his daggers. Lady Rialto ran from him towards the cell bars, ramming into them.
"Princess, I…I have information!"
"Ferdy's already tellin' us everything. He thinks he'll avoid a death sentence if he tells us it was your idea. I mean, it won't, I know better, but I don't have to let him know that." Conrad was chuckling, spinning his daggers in his hand. He was enjoying this.
"There's others." Lady Rialto, however, was not.
"Other what? Ferdinand talks pretty easily." Anna didn't want to say a whole lot, she didn't want to give away that she was bluffing. So many bad things happened when she just blundered her way through things.
"He doesn't know of Arendelle, or my other machinations. Think you that I wouldn't suspect treachery from him?"
"Speak quickly, then. Conrad, don't leave the cell." Anna started to tap her foot. Feigning impatience was easy, it was just like trying to get Elsa to open her door. She started to talk, but Anna could barely make sense of it.
Conrad's eyes nearly lit up, though. She'd have to ask him about it. There were many names. General Solas she remembered, but everyone else, at best, she only heard in passing. More nobles, probably.
"And I…I will be your ally, Princess. I…I live to serve our royal line." Boy, was she laying it on thick. Hans was infinitely better at it.
"You will speak to Queen Elsa about this. And I will tell her you cooperated." Anna didn't like the words coming out of her mouth. She didn't trust this woman, and Ferdinand wouldn't surrender simply because they caught this lady. Otherwise, would Hans be wasting his time with…whatever he was planning back in the capital?
But…she didn't want to kill her. The thought of what she did to that servant, Waverly, still spooked her. If she looked at her hands, she saw blood that disappeared when she blinked.
Maybe she'd never get used to it. When she was moving, doing, she wasn't thinking about it.
Marcus had left already, Conrad was in charge with her here. For now, Anna would listen intently again, to what this woman had to say.
Elsa was taking deep breaths. It was hard to make out all of the details of the barricade, and since it was cobbled together from furniture, there were plenty of tiny gaps.
The ice was starting to work. It would be much harder to chop through frozen furniture than normal: Elsa still remembered as a child, accidentally freezing things. They were practically indestructible.
The men were looking at her.
"You…you." They were gasping, but they didn't seem threatening. Perhaps they recognized it when she and Hans used the magic to break open the men's cells.
Once she was certain enough ice had formed, she stopped. It wasn't more than she usually did, but one of the men immediately stepped next to her, as if he thought she would fall down.
"You…you are that Snow Queen!" Elsa took a few steps back from them: They didn't seem to be attacking, but Hans had said the Southern Isles was very inhospitable to magic.
"Yes."
"Can yer magic help my friend?" One of the men came over. He was pointing to the two men that had been injured by the spears.
"It…I'm sorry, I've never been able to do anything like that." She made ice and could get rid of it, but she didn't think she had the power of healing. Hans did, perhaps she should tell him when he returned.
"Here I am." She heard the sound of boots nearby, and she could see Hans, weighed down by heavy packs stuffed to the brim.
"Prince Hans!" A hero's welcome he was receiving. Elsa supposed it was kind of nice, just like when the people accepted her as their Queen, ice powers and all, even after she froze the kingdom. She didn't even understand how they could, but it was lovely regardless.
"It took longer than I thought it would, but I have brought some provisions. We should be fine until…what happened here?" Hans started to take the foodpacks off his back and hips, but stopped when he saw the ice.
"I…you know what it is."
"Well, there's no getting around it now. Come on, help me with the wounded." Elsa was about to ask him about his magic, but she stopped. He would know to use it, but something held him back. According to what Anna told her, he wasn't exactly certain how his power worked, and only used it because he didn't see any other options. Were these men in such dire straights? Hans didn't seem to think so. Elsa couldn't hear anything of the men on the other side of the barricade. Had they given up? Their sea plan and land plan failed. They probably couldn't jump from the buildings, not without getting hurt.
Elsa went to help Hans.
In all my years, I never thought I'd be doing this. He was close to forty, and he had seen a lot, but, just like Alexander, much of what Marcus saw kept him away from the Isles. At least, the land parts of the Isles.
His assembled troops seemed no more pleased than he was, standing on the hill just overlooking Varisen. The sun was starting to rise over the horizon.
"Troops. We stand on solid ground before our capital. And we're about to march upon it. We now stand against our own brothers. Some of you do not want to be here, and neither do I. We've only fought foreigners who came to our soil. But, now, we fight our own. Brotherly squabbles aren't something that my troops should get involved in, but when brother fights brother with a throne on the line…No, it isn't about the throne anymore. This is about our nation. I came here today not just because my brother Ferdinand murdered the King, our Crown Prince, and rules through proxy, but because of everything he will continue to do. He seeks to draft our soldiers in an endless war, destroying one of the few trading partners in the northern seas. One gluttonous war will not satisfy him and he will turn elsewhere. We do not seek war for glory's sake, we war to save our homes and our people. Ferdinand would sacrifice it all for his ambition. Prince Hans saved our men from the maw of the beast for now, but he can't save them forever."
He pulled out his greatsword. "Let us march to his rescue. We will show our Prince what a true soldier of the Isles is!"
He held the blade aloft towards the sun, and watched it shine. For a second, there were no words. And then the men roared, and marched in regiment towards the city.
