Barrier Breached
(A/N: Turns out I got on a writing roll yesterday and ended up churning out a few chapters, so we're still rolling for now.)
The village was in constant motion as families worked fast to pack up all the belongings they could take so that they could move locations. Fear was palpable in the air and no one really spoke unless it was to give directions or reassurances. Some were in tears, some looked terrified, it was just a mess. Hans observed them quietly, arms crossed and expression steely again. His brother stood with him, also with arms crossed and expression steely. From where she stood, Elsa could honestly say she'd never seen the two siblings look more alike than they did right now, and it wasn't a reassuring look. It was a look that screamed they would do whatever was necessary to ensure the many made it to safety, even if it meant sacrificing the few. With luck, she wouldn't have to see that side of either of them and quell it. She stroked her ice mare's nose tenderly and couldn't help but miss the nokk just a little. The mare nuzzled her and snorted gently, icy hooves clinking on the hard ground. She was beautiful, Elsa noted. She smiled fondly and kissed its nose. The action had caught Hans' attention. He loved seeing her with horses. Two of the things he loved most at once? Enough said. She could imagine his idea of a perfect picture. Her on the deck of a ship overlooking a sea at night, curled up against her ice mare, which would be laying down, while writing something in a book. Throw in their baby on her lap and it would be an ideal. It was pleasant to imagine that his thoughts were on beautiful scenes such as that, but she knew the last thing she wanted to know, right now, was what the two brothers were discussing…
"I'll make whatever sacrifice I have to, to keep her safe," Hans murmured to Jurgen quietly.
"I know... Even if it means sacrificing me," Jurgen answered, watching her too. Hans was quiet. His older brother looked over at him. "You aren't saying it, but it's what you're thinking. Not that I can take offense. If our roles were reversed, I'd probably do the same. You're my brother, but for most of our lives, we never had a bond. We hated each other. We were enemies, rivals, I was an obstacle and you were dead weight. The relationship we've built since then will be more easily severed than it might have otherwise been, if everything had been… right." Silence. Jurgen looked at Hans. "If I fall behind, I know you won't come back for me," he said with finality.
"No. I won't," Hans answered. "I won't go back for anyone."
"Not even if she asks you to?" Jurgen challenged. Silence. "Maybe it's more right to say you won't balk at sacrificing anyone who threatens to slow you down too much for you to get her to safety in time." Silence. "Ride ahead with her and the knights. Maybe the Duke and Jekyll. Then you won't have to worry about any of that. The rest of us can take care of it. Me, Anna, Kristoff, Jekyll, etc. Then you'll be sure no one will slow you down. If anything, you, Jekyll, Elsa, and the Duke will be the dead weight."
"She won't leave them," he said.
"Then she won't let you sacrifice them either," Jurgen replied.
"She may not be coherent enough to stop me, if she… if she goes into labor on the way," Hans replied, sounding strained.
"Talk to her," Jurgen replied. "I think she'll be in agreement with my plan. If she goes with you early, your slipping back into the self-preservation methods of the Southern Isles will be one less thing she has to worry about, and that would probably be the biggest thing concerning her anyway."
Silence. "Everything she thinks I am is a lie…" he said, sounding almost numb. "She's formed this-this illusion of me, put hope and trust in me, but it's a lie because… because all I'm doing is hiding what I am. Trying to bury it but never actually letting it go. I'm fooling the both of us, and when she sees that… that the Wicked Prince never really died… If she can't stand my true colors, maybe we shouldn't have been together in the first place…"
"You're thinking of the Nokk again," Jurgen noted. Hans let out a shaking breath. Jurgen looked at him. "You are not the man you once were. You were never really him, I don't think. You did what you needed to, to survive. It's all any of us have ever done…" Jurgen answered.
"Pragmatism isn't something Elsa's much a fan of," Hans dryly said.
"But she's not blind to the practicality that can be found in it," Jurgen answered. Silence. Jurgen put a hand on his brother's shoulder. Hans looked over. "If you must sacrifice, don't sacrifice lives. There are other ways. Like the one I've just suggested to you. Sacrificing without sacrificing. No, Elsa won't be happy with the idea of ditching these people and hoping they happen to find their way to Ahtohallan, but she'll be a lot happier with that sacrifice than she will be if you kill off or abandon the old, the sick, the young, the slow, and the lame. Of course, personally I don't think you would do something like that, even if you feel certain you would right now. When faced with it for real? You won't be able to. It's not who you are. It never was. You could play the role, you could bury away your conscience and all you felt, but inside of you, in the parts you hid away from the world, it was a lot more complicated than that. I know because I lived it too… Though I think I was and am far crueller than you. Pretty damn certain I could pull a trigger on any of these people. On you? Not so much. Once upon a time I would have done it with glee. Not anymore."
Hans sighed, turning to Elsa again. "Okay," he finally relented. "I'll pitch the idea. Anna knows the way to Ahtohallan, I assume, so I might be able to convince Elsa to go ahead with me."
"Good luck," Jurgen said.
"I'm going to need it," Hans replied, heading down towards her.
Frozen
Elsa watched her husband coming warily. She could tell in the way he was carrying himself that he was coming with the intent to say something she wasn't going to be happy with. She frowned warily and braced for it. She suspected the worst but hoped she was wrong. "We need to leave them behind," he said.
"No," she immediately answered.
"Just hear me out," Hans said. "I don't mean abandon them, but they have entire lives to pack up in a really short period of time, and it's time you might not have. We will be the first ones Carabis comes after. I need you to be safe. Whatever the cost. We may even be making ourselves a sacrifice by going ahead, which is the last thing I want to think about right now, but whatever we do, we still have a better chance at getting somewhere safe and sparing these people needless grief if we leave ahead of them. Olaf, Anna, and Kristoff can lead the way to Ahtohallan with my brother, but we have to go. Now. We'll take Jekyll, we'll take the Duke maybe, we'll for sure take the knights, but we're leaving, Elsa. This isn't up for argument. I'll 'kidnap' you if I have to." She snorted a bit at that, a smile dancing across her lips before she quickly schooled her expression, banishing the amusement she really shouldn't be feeling to hear him say something like that, but the mental imagery was humorous. Him carrying her over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "I'm serious!" he insisted, looking offended.
"I know," she replied, reaching out and taking his arms gently. She pressed her lips to his. "There's no convincing you otherwise?"
"You might not like the outcome, if I agree to wait for them and we travel all together," he answered seriously.
"I won't like the outcome," she acknowledged sadly, looking down.
"I'm sorry," he quietly and ashamedly said, closing his eyes. She deserved so much better… "But I will do whatever I have to, to protect you."
"And I'll do the same. Which is the only reason I'm agreeing to this mad plan of yours at all," she said.
He looked up a bit hopefully. "Really?" he asked.
"Yes," she answered. She hugged him gently. "Where you go, I go." He breathed a sigh.
Frozen
The four knights, Elsa, Hans, Jekyll, and the Duke of Weselton rode into the quiet woods carefully. Oh yeah, and Thord was there too. He'd seen them slipping away. Their mistake to let him see. He had revealed his presence to them too far along for them to go back, so now he was in the group too, to Hans' chagrin. Still, they might garner use out of him yet.
"This is a mistake. If Carabis breaks through, we're without the protection of the group," the Duke nervously said.
"Your shadows," Hans pointed out.
"And the Ice Maiden, and Vertigo, and all their little extended family, but whatever danger that wicked troll brings may not be of the variety they can easily stop. He may not be looking to win a war here. Only a battle," the Duke replied. He looked at Elsa. "She will be the prize," he gravely stated. "More accurately, what's inside of her will."
"The group could do nothing for us, if Vertigo, the Ice Maiden, the shadows, the knights, and me and Elsa can't stop them," Hans answered.
"You're going to make me say it," the Duke flatly replied.
"Don't," Hans warned.
"Then I will," Thord spoke up. "We need canon fodder, Hans. The shadows will be near useless for that depending on what faerie trick this 'Carabis' falls back on."
"Canon fodder indeed," the Duke darkly confirmed. "Carabis has it by the hundreds. Numbers overwhelm."
"I see you never really abandoned ruthlessness yourself, Dear Duke," Hans bitterly said. He hated how appealing the idea was to him.
"Whatever it takes," Thord said.
"Carabis' numbers so far outweigh what our own would be, that the Northuldra would be useless as canon fodder anyway! And frankly I'd more likely freeze the forest as well as the three of you than let that happen!" Elsa indignantly said. The trio winced, glancing sheepishly and guiltily back wondering how much she'd heard. Probably all of it, or she had had it transmitted to her by the knights or Jekyll. Traitors. "I can form an army of ice for myself," she threw in, riding up to them all with an angry frown. Jekyll followed her, looking unimpressed.
"Ice that can be shattered like crystal if you know where to hit," Hans said with a sigh.
"We have the elements," Elsa said.
"What will they be able to do against the fae?" Hans asked.
"Those are the answers we need to find," she replied. "If they're as strong as my father believed, the fae won't stand to them."
"Your father never considered their power in relation to the Fair Folk," a new voice said. They all gasped, turning quickly. There, lingering in the woods, was a woman!
Frozen
"You," Thord said, bristling immediately. It was the woman he and Honeymaren had briefly encountered! And she was as shrouded in the woods now as she was then.
"Who are you?" Elsa called out.
"You've met me many times before, Queen Elsa," the woman said, stepping into the light.
Elsa's eyes widened slowly. The Queen of the Sprites. Carabis' mother. "You," she said in realization.
"What is she?" Dr. Jekyll uneasily asked.
"The Queen of Sprites," Hans answered, jaw set tightly. "She's our enemy's mother."
Jekyll and the Duke started and looked quickly at the creature in disbelief. "Sprite? Then you may have many of the answers we seek! Perhaps answers to the only questions that matter," the Duke urgently said. Clearly his priorities were not Jekyll's. Jekyll looked uneasy they were even addressing this fae queen at all.
"That depends on the questions you ask," she replied.
"The questions we ask depend on the price you'll want us to pay," Lamiel spoke up before the others could. They were silenced by the interjection, suddenly remembering how big a risk they could be taking.
"I ask no price. Not in this," she replied.
"Then might I quiz you, my lady queen?" the Duke asked reverently, really pouring on the schmooze. Which in some odd way was actually very genuine, for what it was.
She tilted her head at the man curiously before nodding her assent. "Explain first, if you please to, what you meant by King Agnarr not considering their power in relation to the fae," the Duke pressed.
"Explain the nokk and its place in all of this," Hans said.
"Both requests are part of the same answer," she answered. She waved her hand and images started to appear of the things she was speaking of. "Just as there are many rock giants, there are many water sprites who share the element of the waters," she answered simply.
"Well that was… straightforward," Raynold said, a little curious but also low-key annoyed by how little that actually answered.
"Their powers are not spectacular or unique," the Queen of sprites said.
"What does that even mean? My father said..." Elsa began.
"Let me continue," the sprite cut off. They went quiet. She formed an illusion of the giants, albeit much smaller. "The Rock Giants are what is known as Bergrisar. Mountain giants. You have met only three, but there are others. Closely linked to giants, sometimes even interchanged, are ogres and trolls, both of which are related to them. Closer related than you might think, because each and every one of them falls under the races of the Jotun, a word you're doubtless familiar with in some shape or form. They are identified as nature beings or as all-purpose otherworldly beings, equivalent to the races of the Fair Folk or faeiries in Anglo-Cletic traditions, but distinctly different. A sort of Yin and Yang to each other. In mythology Jotun, giants in particular, are often found in opposition to gods, though to say they stand much a chance depends on which legend or myth you're reading. More often than not, they don't," she explained.
"The Rock Trolls are Jotun," Elsa realized.
"Unfair Folk, I often teased in jest to Pabby," she ruefully confirmed.
"The ogres we crossed or knew were that too, then," Bedivere put in.
"Yes. Then Faerie met Jotun, and what was born to them was both but neither," she said. "It took both the best and the worst from both worlds and became… unstable and deadly and dark and unpredictable."
"Carabis," Elsa said.
"Fair Jotun," Jekyll dryly joked.
"You're missing the point," the sprite queen said.
"The point?" Sir Kay asked.
"I think I see it," the Duke said. "Elsa, when your father claimed the four 'elements' were the 'most powerful spirits of all', he wasn't wholly wrong. Just misinformed. The 'most powerful nature beings of all' were the races themselves, not the individuals of the races, like the nokk et al. It wasn't goblin spells that gave this forest its magic because items, in this case the 'spells', are not on par with the physical beings that brought them forth. When your father said the magic wasn't of lost fairies either, he was further misinformed. Fairies are only one race of the fae. It wouldn't have been them alone to give the forest its power, it would have been many different sorts. She said the powers of the entities in this forest weren't special or unique because the Rock Giants are of the Jotun and the Nokk is of the faerie folk," the Duke of Weselton spoke up. "And you and your sister are human."
"A bridge has two sides… I couldn't have done any of what I did without Anna," Elsa realized, understanding, at least something close to understanding, starting to dawn on her. "It was never all about just one nokk, or just three giants, or just one force of nature. It was about many! They're just the ones that happen to reside in this particular forest!" Her and Bruni were oddities she didn't have answers to yet, but the explanations for them were probably in line with the explanations for the other three.
"What of the confusion between nature beings and forces of nature? And where does Elsa fit?" the Duke asked.
"Elsa's mother was Northuldra," Thord realized. "That means the Northuldra are of faerie blood. Just like you and I speculated, Hans!" Just like that, more pieced of the puzzle slammed into place. Why she's seen her mother reflected in Ahtohallan, why her mother had seemed to 'control' the wind in the memories and her dreams. Why hadn't she seen it? "Elsa is in part Fair Folk! And Anna too, but like demigods can be born either mortal or immortal, those with faerie blood only in part can either be born with or without powers! If I understand right?"
"And even then they are better attuned or more talented at certain things than others," the sprite queen somewhat confirmed. Hans was quiet. She was so far beyond him… And the Nokk had known it well...
"That was why the Nokk could be tamed by her," Hans murmured. "Why it let itself be tamed and didn't drown her. It sensed her heritage..."
"And what this all boils down to, once we cut through the discoveries and newfound understandings, is that at best what we have at our disposal in this forest is evenly matched with Carabis and his army," Lamiel seriously stated, speaking up again finally. Immediately a heaviness fell over them as they realized the truth in those words.
"We have forces of nature at our aid," Hans finally spoke up. "Vertigo? The Ice Maiden? The Sunbeams?"
"Forces of nature can do far less than you seem to think they can," the sprite queen said. "What is vertigo?"
"A sensation of feeling off balance," Dr. Jekyll answered. "A treatable condition, more often than not, but sometimes quite severe."
"And that's all he is. The sensation of feeling off balance," the sprite queen replied. "It can be useful, yes, even against entities that fly, but not for very long in those cases."
"And the Ice Maiden…" Elsa began.
"Effect to your cause," Thord grimly said. "Or winter's. They'll be helpful alright, but not enough so to swing the tide of this battle if we get overwhelmed."
"What is Gale?" Elsa asked.
"The North Wind. A force of nature. The North Wind is all he is. Fortunately, wind is among the most powerful forces of nature of all," Bedivere volunteered.
"We have to get to Ahtohallan," Thord said.
"We've found our answers here," the Duke argued.
"But she hasn't confirmed or denied how screwed we are, or if we're even as badly screwed as we think we might be," Thord said, jerking a thumb at the sprite queen lingering in the forest. He looked at the Knights. "Those four are apparently good for something, so obviously they can put up a fight. Maybe they'll turn out to be the edge we need. We meet Carabis in a location we choose and we'll have a better edge still."
"In Ahtohallan, can Carabis and co escape into the skies?" Jekyll asked Elsa.
"No," Elsa answered. "They can fly high, yes, but they can't escape into the sky. We could trap them in there and pick away at them until they retreated, it would be like catching fish in a barrel, but pulling that feat off would require staying alive."
"We're good at that," Bedivere said, smirking. He frowned again more seriously, though. "Except when we're not," he lamely and somewhat sheepishly threw in.
Hans face-palmed. "Whatever. You're something at least," he said with a sigh. "So let's stop wasting time, now that we know where we stand in this, and get to Ahtohallan so we can prepare for when Carabis gets through the fog."
"Agreed," the Duke said. "Our thanks to you my…" he began, turning to address the sprite. He cut off, catching his breath. "Where did she go?" he asked nervously, looking around.
"She's Fair Folk. Did you expect her to stay?" Bedivere asked. "She said what she needed to, to push us on our way. Her work was done so there was precious little reason she had to stick around."
Elsa was quiet, digesting all of this. Nokk, the Fair Folk; Rock Giants, the Jotun; Northwind, a Force of Nature; her, human but with faerie blood. What about Bruni? She supposed that didn't really matter, because whatever he was, it likely fell into a category too. All of this was a lot to take in. She still wasn't clear on what it meant, but she had a better idea now. Regardless, it wasn't a matter she needed to think of anymore for the time being. It had given them knowledge, and knowledge could only help them against what was coming…
What was Hans then, and where had his powers come from? A faerie curse had been claimed, but was that really all there was to it? Why fire in particular?
The thought startled her a bit. Her husband wasn't part fae, she knew that for a near certainty, and the only one she knew of with powers similar who wasn't of faerie descent was Sir Kay! So what did it all mean for what Hans was? She pushed the thought away. Right now it wasn't important. That was a question that could wait. They had to move now and deal with this situation as it stood at this moment.
Frozen
They rode along in silence, all of them digesting the information they'd been told. They horses clopped along a hillcrest as they came temporarily out of the trees, and the knights looked towards the skies. Lamiel's lips pursed and he looked after Elsa, Hans, and co. "The mist is gone!" he called to them. They looked quickly towards it and gasped, paling. Oh. Damn.
"We have to hurry," Elsa said in concern, turning her mare and starting quickly down into the woods. She froze on the way, though, tensing up. Suddenly the forest seemed… darker. A lot darker. And far more unsettling. She stared quietly. Hans rode up alongside her. "Am I seeing things?" she asked.
"No," he grimly replied, expression grave.
"Hans…" she started in unease, looking at him. He shook his head. He didn't know what to make of it.
"Perhaps we should go down into the field instead," the Duke said.
"We'd be sitting ducks there," Hans answered.
"Not as much so as we'll be in that forest," Thord answered. He turned his horse and rode back to the crest only to stop dead in his tracks. The horses were beginning to get uneasy, and what he saw in the field? His mouth dropped open and he wished he hadn't looked back. There, staring up at them in the tall grass, were a whole lot of really unsettling human figures that definitely weren't human. "Oh my gods…" he breathed. The Knights' gazes were fixed on the field too. Hans, Elsa, and the Duke rode nervously back. Elsa caught her breath. Hans bristled, eyes widening in horror.
"I feel faint," the Duke said, sounding a little sick at the sight.
"Thord was wrong. The forest is so much better," Jekyll grimly stated.
"No, it isn't," Hans answered. He looked back at it. "It's where they're trying to herd us…"
"Hans," Elsa fearfully said, arms wrapping protectively around her abdomen, her eyes wide in fear. He moved to her and pulled her close, staring into the woods.
"What are we supposed to do?!" Thord demanded, thoroughly freaked out now. The horses were starting to balk and act panicky, like they were ready to bolt at a moment's notice. Hans half thought they should let them, but he refrained. Sitron and Elsa's ice mare, and the horses she'd formed for the others, were their fastest means of escape if they had to run. The knights all drew their swords in tandem. Thord looked over at them in disbelief. "You can't be serious!" he exclaimed. "There's no way you can take them on!"
"We can buy you time, whether we can take them on or not," Kay replied.
"You'll be of more use to us staying near," Jekyll said. "If the forest promises to be the greater danger… Enough said."
"The fae are their rivals, likely their enemies. If we can make it to an elven realm or fairy glen…" Thord began. "I saw a fire burning in the woods while I was trying to find my way back to you and Anna, Elsa. I saw it after crossing a white stag. It may not be in the same place, it wouldn't matter if it was because we're a long way from it now, but it means they're here. Somewhere."
"The water is his domain," Elsa said in a serious tone. She looked at Hans, who's jaw was twitching a bit at the remark. "We could be safe with him."
Hans frowned at the words and looked at her, examining her. His eyes fell on her stomach and remained. "No… You would be safe with him…" he finally said.
Elsa looked quickly to him. She wasn't sure she liked what those words implied. "Hans?" she cautiously asked.
Hans shook his head and met her eyes before turning to Jekyll, Thord, and the Duke. "Get her to water. As quickly as you can."
"Hans," she said a bit sharper and darker. She really, really didn't like what his words were implying now.
"I'll cover you with the Knights as best I can, but whatever it takes, get to the safety of the water," he pled again.
"Hans!" she shot, seizing his hand lightning fast and gripping it tight. "I'm not going anywhere without you."
"You have to," Hans answered, covering her hand with his other and pressing it tenderly. "There's no guarantee we'll ever find a faerie ring, especially not wandering blind, but we know where we can find water. He won't accept my presence, but he'll accept yours. Probably Thord's, Jekyll's, and the Duke's too."
"I'm not leaving you!" she said.
"You are, Elsa! I'm not giving you a choice!" Hans said.
"They're coming," Raynold tightly said, eyes fixed on the field. They all looked over with gasps. Sure enough, the figures in the grass were advancing and growing increasingly more rapid in their movements. They'd delayed running into the forest long enough. Now they would be forced there. Sir Kay immediately acted, throwing a wall of flame down in front of the entities. A good number ran through, a fair few stayed back. Some who ran through eventually collapsed to the fire, others kept coming.
"Run!" Hans exclaimed, turning Sitron, seizing Elsa's mare's reigns, and darting into the forest quickly. The others followed hot on their heels, dashing into the forest at a gallop and racing through the trees so thick they were blotting out the sun.
Frozen
It almost seemed like the blackest night inside of that forest as they charged through it near blind. They stuck close together. Bruni was ablaze with flame, eyes set determinedly ahead like he knew exactly what was happening. He probably did. Hans also caused flames to appear to light their way. Kay's powers were a little more complex, but he had tamed flame before and could do it again. He too lit the way. Bruni clicked and looked nervously around.
"Gale, help us!" Elsa cried out. The wind whipped through her hair in a direction other than the one they were running. She immediately turned her mare. The others followed quickly. "To a faerie ring," she said to the air.
"To water," Hans argued.
"To whatever is our best chance!" the Duke blurted out. The North Wind switched directions sharply once more. They followed it. It suddenly split into different paths. Two of the knights' hair blew one way, the other two knights' hair blew the other. Something was coming at them from the sides. The wordless command was clear.
"Keep going! We'll hold off whatever we can!" Lamiel ordered them, pointing.
"You can't just leave us now!" Hans protested.
"We wouldn't be told to leave your sides if it wasn't necessary. Something is coming," Lamiel answered. "We can keep it back, but you have to press on! Raynold, with me!"
"Kay, come on!" Bedivere shouted, charging into the forest. Kay looked worriedly at Hans before shaking his head and following Bedivere. Lamiel and Raynold took off a little further up ahead. Then it was just Elsa, Hans, Bruni, Sitron, Jekyll, and the Duke trying to stumble their way through this nightmare they'd fallen into. The air continued to direct them as they charged through the forest, eyes darting frantically around as they sought some way to escape. The Duke suddenly reigned his horse in, looking around quickly. He leapt off it.
"Papa!" Elsa exclaimed, reigning in.
"Keep going! The shadows will be of use here," the Duke said. "They'll help to cover your escape!"
"No, I'm not leaving you alone!" Elsa shouted.
"Yes you are!" the Duke shouted. Suddenly a wall of shadows sprang up between them and him, causing the horses to scream and rear back in a panic, turning and bolting in terror.
"No!" Elsa cried out, trying to turn the mare.
"Elsa, keep going!" Hans shouted, seizing her horse's reigns again and leading it into a gallop away from the Duke. Jekyll and Thord quickly followed them. Behind the shadow wall, the shadows could be heard cackling and screaming as they went on the attack. Something was far, far too close behind them.
The North Wind kept blowing, guiding their path. In the distance the sound of a river could be heard. Elsa was gravely silent. The forest was starting to freeze all around them, her attempt at defending them from whatever was out there. Ice creatures were appearing and attacking unseen entities coming upon them from the darkness. It would have been beautiful if not for the pitch blackness. Instead, the light of the fire emitted by Bruni and Hans warped and twisted the beautiful ice and snow into something utterly horrifying. Thord tried not to look, focused solely on Elsa. He'd wondered a few times whether he would be willing to die for her and Anna, if it ever came down to it. He had doubted it… Oh how wrong he was… He would die for the either of them in a heartbeat, if it meant they got away safe. He set his jaw. The feelings of cold fingers reached out towards them until they broke out of the treeline and charged towards a cliff. At least they could see now. Thord looked back and screamed. Oh regret! Oh instant regret! He wished they couldn't see!
Elsa, Hans, and Jekyll, startled, looked back. Their eyes widened in horror, terrified gasps escaping them. Out of the woods flooded horrifyingly hideous creatures closing in on them quickly, looking ready to rip them limb from limb. Hans reigned Sitron in and drew his sword, throwing up a fire wall to slow them like he'd seen Kay do. "The way down to the river!" Jekyll exclaimed, pointing to a narrow but steep trail down. The horses wouldn't make it, but if they were lucky, they could move in single file down it.
"Take her and go!" Hans shouted desperately.
"What? No! No, you're the last person I'm going to leave! Hans, I'm not going to go without you!" she screamed.
All at once she cried out in pain. Her horse whinnied. She gasped for breath as the eyes of the others went quickly to her. Jekyll's eyes widened in horror. "My gods… Your water's broken. The baby is coming!"
A mix of unbridled love and longing, but also unspoken grief and regret, passed Hans' features. He shook his head in denial and sobbed, closing his eyes and clenching his teeth. He looked determinedly back at them. "Go! Take her and go!" he ordered Jekyll.
"No!" Elsa cried out again, though she knew it was fruitless. She screamed in pain almost immediately after as a violent contraction worse than all of her others began. Jekyll cursed, leaping off of his horse and running to her, pulling her from her mare and getting her on the ground. Quickly he led her towards the path. "Hans!" Elsa cried out again. Again, she knew it would do no good. She couldn't stay, and he wouldn't follow, but she felt like she had to at least try! "Hans, you damn well survive this. Hans! Hans, you have to stay. You have to be there, please! Please, don't leave me! Please!"
Thord was silent as he watched Jekyll hurry Elsa down towards the water. Hans looked at him. "You should go with them," he said.
"Not happening," Thord immediately replied, giving him a fiery look. "If she can't stay, I will."
"You can barely wield a sword or gun," Hans said.
"I manage. And it's more of a chance than you'd have if I went. I'm staying with you," Thord said.
"Dammit, Thord, I'm not asking you to sacrifice yourself to help me!" Hans said.
"If we're fortunate, I won't sacrifice anything," Thord answered. Powerful, heavy footsteps could be heard upstream. The two of them looked. There, slowly rising from the cliffs—the hadn't even seen them!—were three tall, massive figures. "Are those..." Thord began, eyes wide.
"The Bergrisar? Yeah. Best we not get in their sight lines. Hopefully Carabis' army will be their focus, not us," Hans said. He looked ahead again. "We have enough to deal with as is." Thord nodded. "I can't believe I'm going to miss my child's birth," Hans quietly said.
"You're going to miss a lot more than that if we can't weather this, so head in the game, majesty," Thord replied. "If fortune favors us and the Duke and the Knights catch up, you may get to see it yet." Hans nodded in understanding, took a breath, and braced as the army broke through the flame wall and ran charging at them, some on fire. Bruni hissed and darted towards them, immediately spreading fire wherever he went. Hans hoped the little guy would be okay…
Frozen
Jekyll hurried Elsa down the steep embankment and to the river's edge. He looked back quickly and saw the silhouettes of a battle raging above. Hans and Thord didn't look as though they'd last long… "The rock giants," Elsa gasped. He turned his head and his eyes widened. Either Hans and Throd's chances had just skyrocketed, or they'd plummeted even more. He swallowed and hoped it was the former.
Jekyll turned to a gasping Elsa quickly. "Form an ice boat," he commanded. She winced and did so to the best of her ability. He helped her quickly into it and pushed it off before joining her in the vessel and starting to paddle with the river rapidly. He didn't know where they were going, he just knew they had to get away from here. Hopefully this led them to the Dark Sea, which would take them to Ahtohallan. He wasn't putting much stock in their luck at the moment though. "Try to reach the nokk," the Doctor said to her.
"Henry, Henry I can't. It hurts. It hurts so much," Elsa said, panting.
"Breathe, dammit Elsa. Breathe!" Jekyll insisted. She cried out in pain as another contraction came full force. He cursed loudly. That was too fast and too violent for him to be comfortable with. Immediately he started looking for a place to pull into shore. He couldn't deliver on a moving boat, not when he was the one steering it. They needed some place solid and relatively safe. Or at least a body of still water! That might be better for her, in fact.
"Henry!" she cried out. He dove for her, seizing her hand and squeezing it tightly, eyes continuing to scan the banks. They were nothing but sheer cliffs!" The rounded a bend in the river and his lips slowly parted. Up ahead there was the opening of a cave. That could work. There was no telling when the river itself would give way to waterfalls, but the cave promised safety! He hoped. The horrible thought he could be wrong haunted him, but Elsa needed someplace hidden and sheltered to have this baby, and the cave offered that. Gritting his teeth, he set his sights on it and began paddling frantically to the opening. They sailed into it without incident, but he didn't dare breathe yet. He looked back at the mouth. He saw it being sealed with ice. Elsa was protecting the little den they'd found for her. The ice would tell the others where she was, but also keep any potential attackers out. Enemies might think it was just a glacier, but somehow their friends would know otherwise.
Then Jekyll heard the roar…
The doctor went white and turned to look ahead of them numbly. His lips parted in horror. "No," he said tightly. Elsa looked up and gasped. Waterfall! She scowled as they rapidly closed in on it, then threw out her hand and began to form an icy slide. The boat slipped onto it and tore down at a fast pace. Jekyll cried out in fear, gripping onto the sides of the boat as Elsa controlled their way down, going in a spiral and heading for a pond where the falls petered out to a gentle trickle that fell off the rocks and pooled there. The boat hit it a little quickly, jolting them, but Jekyll held her firm and soon it slid to a stop.
Frozen
For a moment, Jekyll took some time to breathe before letting himself kick into gear again. He let out a sharp breath of air and scrambled out of the boat quickly. He scooped Elsa out of it and carried the now whimpering woman to the pool. He set her down in it. "Do you know what a water birth is?" he asked. She shook her head. "It's what we're going to do. It may be easier for you," he said.
"B-baby," she stammered.
"It won't drown," he promised. "From liquid to liquid. It will be fine," Jekyll said. If both it and the mother survived, a darker thought threatened. Elsa screamed in agony as another contraction began. She threw back her head and sobbed, gripping the rocks. "I'm going to remove your clothing," Jekyll said. "At least as much of it as is necessary."
"Just do it, dammit!" she shouted out. Jekyll hurried to do so, removing all the clothing that was necessary to remove. He heard horses hooves behind him and tensed. "Nokk," Elsa gasped softly, and the Doctor winced before slowly turning. He found himself staring up into the face of a large and magnificently beautiful stallion formed of water. His lips parted in wonder. It was taking in the scene warily.
"I… I'm helping her to deliver her baby," Jekyll finally found the words to say. He felt like he should explain. This… wasn't exactly a non-compromising position, him undressing her in a dark cave while she screamed. "She is in danger," he continued. Silence from the stallion. "Carabis has come," Jekyll solemnly warned. "He's looking for her. For her baby too." Anger seemed to fill the creature's eyes. "I know what you are," Jekyll carefully said. The horse watched him. "You love her," Jekyll said. Silence. "Protect her now," Jekyll prompted further. The nokk let its gaze wander to Elsa and he stared at her for a long moment.
"Nokk, please," she begged through tears of pain.
The horse snorted before looking upwards. All at once it dove into the water and began racing up the falls, charging towards the entrance of the cavern to guard it from whatever may attempt an intrusion. Jekyll watched it go then looked to Elsa again. "Brace yourself, your majesty. The pain you're suffering now? It's mild compared to what's to come.
"Oh gods, if Carabis and his army don't kill my husband first, I'm going to!" she exclaimed as another contraction began. She cried out once more.
"It takes two to tango," Jekyll said.
"You'll follow him!" she shouted, enraged at the flippant reply.
Jekyll chuckled a little before becoming serious and grave again. "Do all I tell you too," he said. And pray it's enough, he inwardly and darkly added to himself.
