Chapter Twenty-Six
"Some souls are connected by an ancient calling beyond worlds"
…
The sound of the waves crashing over the hull of the ship has been a constant ever since Silvanna sails away from Arendelle with fifteen other large Galleons with their accompanying war galley escorts as the army of Arendelle sails for Lescana. The journey is at best, a two week long sail with good weather and fair winds. So far, it seems that fate is once more kind to the Arendellians as the trip so far has been smooth.
Silvanna has to admit that she misses this; the feeling of going to the unknown and into battle. In her previous life she had her fair share of tours as she was deployed to different countries. There is that apprehension, the tingling in your bones that is a combination of nervousness, anxiety and fear. As a veteran of war, she has seen men at their worst; and also their best. That is why Silvanna does not spend the entire journey cooped in the rather magnificent cabin reserved especially for her, no.
Instead, she spends her time visiting the troops cooped up on the lower decks of the ship that once is designed to carry large amounts of cargo alone. The Arendellians as a rule has large amounts of people used to the sea due to the rather absurd number of villages located on its shorelines. Many of the recruits though are still unused to the sea being either from inland or a foreigner resulting to them being seasick with all the swaying of the ship. Miya of course anticipated this and many Healers and Physicians are found on each ship distributing panaceas and potions to alleviate the issue and avoid a plague of sickness in the ship.
Boredness is also another enemy of everyone literally that is not an officer or a sailor. The Galleon despite its size can barely accommodate the men. There is only so much a man can do when you are stuck in your bed for two days. This results to gambling, and pit fights. They are soldiers; of course it is only to be expected for them to release some of the tension, especially since they are sailing to war. The captain makes sure however that the fights never get out of hand that it would cause a mob inside the ship.
Her presence of course caused many of the men to perk up at her presence. Silvanna Highwind, Baroness and Steward of Arendelle after all is a well-known figure. Many of the men simply haven't seen her personally up close other than lousy imitations of her at brothels. Seeing the beautiful Knightess up close and personal simply is more than enough for them to be in their best behaviour. Silvanna has to admit that it is a fun experience watching the ruff and gruff soldiers try their utmost on "proper behaviour" in her presence. They are especially overjoyed when she starts asking them how their day went, or their opinions of the army and of her. So far they are flattering and positive. Many said their thanks and their honour of being in the royal army organized by her and more than one are happy of singing praises of her beauty. Being in the rough crowd that they are though, some of the comments are less than flattering as they are vulgar and Silvanna has to push down the urge to ran the naïve idiots down with her spear. There is after all only so much you want to hear about your ass being bounced by a dime.
Not all is peachy perfect though. There are always some bad eggs in every army and this one is no exception. In the tight corners of the ship, she has been groped three times and lost count of the number of times her ass is "accidentally slapped". The perpetrators of course soon found themselves on the hands of the ship's quartermaster who is more than happy to dish out punishments to the idiots.
"Beautiful is the sea aren't it?" the sage-like voice of Lord Viktor brings Silvanna out of her musings as she turns her attention to the old noble who leans on the edge of the ship beside her. Silvanna simply looks at the old man appraisingly. She has been surprised that Lord Viktor and Lord Blackwall have both insisted that they accompany her on the battlefield. Not that she regrets it though. Lord Viktor's presence means being accompanied by a thousand Death Dealers who is the noble's personal guard and Lord Blackwall is a fountain of knowledge despite his surly attitude. There is nothing about Lescana that he does not know.
"Lord Viktor," Silvanna nods her head in recognition the older council member.
"Don't be so formal when there's no need for it Lady Silvanna," the man smirks wryly. "We are almost at the island of Lescana and I believe that we will have little time to no time for peaceful moments like this one,"
"I don't suppose you simply came here to tell me that we are nearly there Lord Viktor?" asks Silvanna.
"No, I admit, it doesn't," chuckles the noble. "My half-sister, born from my father's mistresses at his late age, Amelia is a headstrong woman. She is a lot like you preferring to ride horses and fight with the blade. She has accompanied me on this trip. I would like to request that you take her on your wing as a squire during the duration of the fight. Now I know that that is highly unreasonable," cut off Viktor as Silvanna opens her mouth to protest that staying by her side is not the safest of places.
"Being your squire after all is a great honour. I implore you however to please take her as your squire Lady Silvanna and I will be extremely grateful. You can ask me anything later in return for this service," he says sagely before his stern features softened. "And you don't have to worry about her. Amelia can take care of herself; she is quite handy in a fight, better than me in fact. I just want her to learn some things under you and gain some semblance of self-control and patience. Amelia I believe is almost as the same age as you my lady. It would do the both of you good to have someone your age in the coming battles,"
"Very well, I'll think about it Lord Viktor," Silvanna answers simply. Inside though she is intrigued; it seems as if her actions of going against the social norms of this world are slowly starting to affect people's way of life also.
For now though she focuses her attention to the view ahead as a darkening shape starts to appear over the fog on the horizon.
She can hear sound of seagulls in the distance welcoming waters between the North and Eastern seas. They have finally arrived at their destination, the country of Lescanna.
…
Ullon is just a regular farmer in the lands of Lescanna that belongs to the Vingimar tribe. Life is simple in the country in fact. The renaigse under the rule of Lady Ingrid and Sir Sebastian are a peaceful people. Just like the previous monarchs before them, the rulers of Lescanna have always maintained a good trading friendship with the natives that also call the island their home. It all changed though when more Renaigse wearing those awful furs and cow shields arrive. They burned the Renaigse that the natives call their friends and there is word that they are also responsible for the death of Lady Ingrid when she is away. Sir Sebastian with their Mal marched off to fight the other Renaigse,with many of their hunters and warriorsonly one came back bearing bad news that the battle is lost and Sir Sebastian is drawn and quartered.
Thus here they are, taking refuge on the isolated villages of the Vingimar with the support of the Dedravads, the Storm Crows housing the last of the Renaigse warriors alongside the self-proclaimed king of Lescanna, Pac Katari. The Renaigse cow skin wearing soldiers number in the thousands and even the renowned Doneigere Egsregaw under their Queen, Siora cannot challenge them and hope to win. Thus they are stuck on hit and run tactics on the much bigger force, doing their best to bleed their enemy dry as they loot the former cities of the Renaigse of Lescanna, torturing and making slaves of its locals.
Ullon sighs as he fills his skin of water on the small river that flows to the sea. He is, was a farmer before all this. Now he is just another of the natives drafted into the cause under the orders of his Mal. In a way , he would have joined even if he is not drafted. The Renaigse that are crawling all over their island are butchers and slavers killing other Renaigse and natives both.
Ullon is just about to yawn of tiredness when the yawn stopped midway as his eyes is drawn towards the fog. A dark shape appears coming bigger and bigger until the wooden carriage of the sea is joined by another and another, each as large as the other sailing towards the shoreline.
Abandoning his skin of water, Ullon ran as fast as his legs can carry him towards the small outpost hidden at the top of a tree.
"RENAIGSE! RENAIGSE! RENAIGSE!" he shouts at the top of his lungs.
…
"Bleeearrrgghhhh!"
"There, there, just let it all out," Alucard sighs as he pats the back of the armoured figure of a Winged Hussar which is the disguise of Anna who is hurling her guts out for the umpteenth time at sea.
Suffice it to say that the two week long voyage towards here at Lescanna did not agree with the Second Princess of Arendelle at all. Of course Alucard has expected this. Sea voyage is never kind for first timers after all. For the pampered princess of Arendelle who suffers very little issues when it comes to hardship, it certainly is a less than stellar experience. It would take normally three to five days for someone to get over their seasickness. For Anna though, the two weeks is not even enough to lessen her bad reaction to the sea.
Alucard has to admit that he is impressed though. Not even once did Anna sound off a wail of wanting to go back to Arendelle. Sure the war galley the two of them have stashed in might be more of a high class with it carrying Winged Hussars compared to the poor sods at the Galleons who has to make do with cramped conditions. At the end of the day though, it is something that does not belong to royal accommodations.
Anna also it seems is playing her part well. Winged Hussars after all are nobles and Anna with her etiquette of experience blends in like powder through water. She even participated in some of the mock sabre fights with some wins in her belt. Alucard after all has not been fully truthful about his assessment of her skill when he told her. Honestly, Anna is becoming good that at times, he is forced to fight her seriously lest he suffer a humiliating defeat. Perhaps there is some truth about Anna's conviction to participate in this war.
More than once however during the duration of the trip, Alucard wonders about the wisdom of this decision of his to acquiesce to the demand of the second princess. This escapade after all goes against his orders directly from the Knightess of Arendelle herself. Silvanna might be the paragon of light and leadership as everyone looks at her to be, but the Knightess is a big fond of doing things exactly as she wants them to be. Alucard knows that if she ever gets wind of Anna's presence in the army, he might as well throw himself to the sea for she would skin him alive and salt him for the sharks in good measure.
Alucard however believes in Anna and for some reason he is starting to enjoy the presence of the fun loving princess. There is an innocence in her that Alucard finds attractive despite the age gap between the two of them. She is not a rare beauty like her sister or a goddess in human form like Silvanna, but she has her own assets that make men turn to look at her.
"Hey Alu, stop staring in empty space, you coming?" the voice of his student and charge makes Alucard look up to the expectant face of the disguised princess holding the reins of his horse. "Come on, our company is riding out soon with the rest of the Hussars,"
"Of course, of course as you will, Sir Ann," Alucard simply rolls his eyes as he accepts the proffered reins and mounting the horse easily before gesturing at Anna to follow him towards the beach where the rest of the Winged Hussars are gathering.
To war.
…..
Elsa discreetly follows the cloaked form of Will, the leader of the five Rangers left at Arendelle to personally guard her. She has left at the moment Kaldita under the care of Gerda with the old nursemaid reacting way too happy to be caring for another baby despite said baby having powers. In a way Elsa understands why Gerda is comfortable around little Kaldita. If she is used taking care of an out of control baby Elsa, the behaved water controller mermaid in hiding baby is a piece of cake.
But that is not the main issue, no.
"Ever since Silvanna left, things had been going down the drain," Elsa morbidly thinks as she remembers the events in the past two weeks.
First of all is that issue with her sister, Elsa nearly breaks down as she reads the letter from her sister's bodyguard of the two of them eloping with the army due to her sister insisting. She almost ran after them if not for the assurance of the Prime Minister that Elsa's presence is sorely needed in Arendelle and the bodyguard of her sister promised in the letter that he would keep her alive. Elsa begrudgingly agrees. It is Silvanna after all who assigned that bodyguard to Anna and Elsa trusts Silvanna's decision above all else.
Secondly, the outlaws and brigands that had been stomped by the efforts of the Knightess once more become active. Apparently with the news of their bane sailing away with the majority of the fighting men, they believe it is hunting season once more. Villages are raided, noble houses are burned and more than one courier got waylaid on the road. Captain Rex, the head of her bodyguard detachment has to lead sortie after sortie after the troublemakers to lessen their damage. Thank heavens the Bounty Hunting Guild stepped in, sending Silvanna's old friend, Ashe the Frost Archer as a favour to Silvanna to help Elsa keep the peace on Arendelle.
Thirdly however is the most problematic of all. Some kind of plague seems to appear out of nowhere crippling people left and right. This forces Jonathan Johnson and Elsa to declare a martial law and allow the healers and doctors to isolate and study the cases.
"This way, my lady;" urges Will leading her to one of the healing houses established post-haste in response to the epidemic. "Take care to be beside the screen always. The last thing that we need is for you to be infected also,"
Elsa only nods as she steps behind a raised transparent plastic screen showing her the rows and rows of patients rolled out on makeshift beds and mattresses. Doctors and healers wearing what seems to be full overcoats and strange masks with rubber beaks go back and forth gathering samples of blood or forcing victims to drink their concoctions. She almost vomits at the sight in front of her. Black veins jut out from the skins of the victims giving them a ghastly deathly pale look. Some are vomiting some kind of black ooze mixed with crimson blood and others are spasming on their beds even as doctors bind them down.
"What is this sickness?" asks Elsa to nobody exactly as she watches a girl as young as four years old vomits to a dish at her side.
"The Healers call it the Malichor. As to where it originates, we are not exactly sure. Word is, the villages at the North of Arendelle are the first ones to be infected. Everyone thought it then to be nothing but a seasonal plague and the fugitives from the villages heading everywhere soon spread out. We are looking at a nationwide epidemic here my lady. The first symptoms are the showing of the veins as you can see. As it progresses, the patient starts vomiting blood and that strange substance. Then the final stage is the spasms followed by death. Transmission so far is being near to the victim. That is why the healers set up screens," explains Will.
"I see, what are the doctors doing?" Elsa asks pointing at a crow-head raising a black vial to the light before putting it with the others.
"They're testing for the presence of the Malichor," Will answers simply. "The doctors take blood and with some chemicals added on it, see whether a person is infected by the Malichor or not. If the blood is red, then that means the person is simply suffering from a disease that is not the Malichor. But if it is black, then you know already,"
"I see, keep me updated on this Will," orders Elsa trying her damnest not to let her powers show as she feels a slight bit of panic at the number of lives at risk currently of this disease. "I will convene the Council and decide on how to deal with this epidemic. The sooner we can decide on what to do with this and find a cure hopefully, or at least at the moment, lessen the number of cases. Also send word to the Nord healers at the North. We might need some of their help and advice seeing that the virus originated North,"
"Yes, my lady. I'll get on it right away," salutes the Ranger before turning back but pausing at the sight of Elsa still looking at the poor people trapped in sickness inside. "My lady, nothing you can do will help these people. Please return to the palace where you will be safe. Arendelle needs its Crown Princess now more than ever,"
"Yes, of course, thank you Will," Elsa smiles sadly as she turns her back awat from the moans and of pain and agony. Inside her gloves, the entirety of her hands are already encased by snow though without anyone noticing. She keeps it entirely to herself though.
Elsa is afraid and she feels so alone.
…
"I admit that I am not impressed by what we have seen so far," Price grumbles beside her making Silvanna grunt in return as she leans on the ornate wooden chair she is sitting on.
Suffice it to say that Lescanna does not impress her at all. Unlike Arendelle which is found all the way North; Lescanna's weather is warmer and more tropical compared to the continuous cold of Arendelle. This results to only two seasons on the large island, rainy and sunny. Normally Silvanna enjoys the tropic; that is the reason why she has beaches in her business line in the first hand. Lescanna however is a land ravaged by war and has a continuous rainfall that results too many of the Arendellians grumbling as they make their camp in this place currently. The continuous showers after all is not the clean water you expect falling from the sky, no. The rain is coloured black, courtesy of war when smoke from burning bodies or buildings char the very sky.
It seems also that their arrival has caused what it seems to be a massed panic among the natives of the island believing them to be another set of invaders like the Nogorodians. A small army bearing what seems to be wicker shields and crude swords made of sharp stones and wood bear upon them as they make their camp on the shore. Thankfully the Arendellians outnumber them a lot and whoever it is that is leading the natives is wise enough not to order a banzai charge against them. The two camps are in the opposite sides right now with the Arendellians grouping themselves on the shoreline where the engineers are making a make-shift harbour for easier access to their ships and the natives under the eaves of the woods.
Now here they are on this makeshift tent between two camps responding to a parley from a messenger from the natives. Silvanna hopes that the natives would be reasonable and not jumpy. The last thing that she needs is fighting between them and whatever potential allies that they can get against Nogrod. With her of course is Lord Blackwall, the Foreign Minister; Price, the Ranger Commandant and General Horst. Lord Viktor alongside Sir Eric, the Commander of the Winged Hussars had stayed back at camp to address the thousand and one things needed as they set up base.
The sound of flaps of the tent opening makes Silvanna perk up from where she sits as a moustached man accompanied by an older gentleman enters. If she is back in her previous life, Silvanna would have referred to the men as someone with Spanish descent. He has that Latino look alongside with the dark brown colouring that belongs to those who dwell on the tropical regions. Silvanna knows immediately that this man is a leader by his bearing alone. Dressed in a simple shirt and pants of dark green and covered with stains of mud, she can see the sort of hardness on him that only comes when people put their trust and belief in you alongside that aura of desperation. The moment his eyes settle on her though, a huge grin appears on his face as he whacks excitedly the shoulder of his companion.
"I knew it! I knew it! I told you that the members of the Seven Seas Alliance will come," he jumps up and down like a small boy not befitting his age as he approaches them with a jovial expression raising a hand towards her.
"Greetings, I am Pac Katari, the current leader of the Katari twenty-six now Katari Twelve I guess. I am the pseudo ruler of the country of Lescanna and its people, or at least whoever that remains,"
"My lord, let me introduce Lady-,"
"Silvanna I know who she is," the man cuts off the page at the side smirking at her before bowing. "I doubt any man in the known world would not know about the most beautiful woman in the world. Portraits and paintings of you depicting your beauty have reached even the most Eastern Seas. Mind you I even have one in the-,"
"Ahem!" the older man coughs up looking sharply at Pac who stops his tirade as he laughs nervously before gesturing to his companion.
"This is Lord Powell, Prime Minister of Lescanna before its fall. He is mostly the one who organizes all the remaining Katari to play nice with one another as we deal with the more serious threat. I would like to introduce you also to my allies and friends,"
He gestures at the page opening the tent meeting showing a spry tall woman marching confidently forward. Silvanna can't help but raise a delicate eyebrow at her appearance though. Her yellow hair is in a braid like the one that Elsa favors. She might have been considered pretty if not for the red and white paint covering her entire face and a scowl that seems permanent on her lips. Her eyes are steely as she eyes all of them and her armour is composed in a combination of animal skin, furs and bones. At her hip is a stone sword sharpened like a scimitar.
"This is Queen Siora of the Doneigere Egsregaw or the Storm Crows in our language. She is the Mal or the war leader of all the warriors of the different native villages that will aid us against the Nogrodians," explains Pac.
"Hmmf! I hope this Renaigse would be different from the ones currently encroaching on our lands. This one," she speaks in halting Englis as she looks at Silvanna with a contemptuous expression. "…seems frail and weak compared to the Renaigse fighting against us,"
The silence that follows is so loud that even the droplets of water outside could be heard. Before Silvanna can explode to the comment though, Lord Powell has the foresight to butt in.
"Forgive her manners my lady! Queen Siora does not mean it. She's just tired of the long journey and her duties as queen. Their culture leans more about strength so please accept our apologies for this mistake and accidental insult,"
"No it's not accidentelle as you say it Renaigse. I''ve heard your men talking about this woman being a great fighter of her tribe. I see no fighter here. All I see is a Renaigse girl standing in front of me, a porcelain doll with looks, easy to break,"
"That's it! I had enough!"
"You looking for a fight Queen Siora?!" Silvanna can't help but spit out the title in the most insulting manner possible.
For the first time it seems, a light of amusement and interest appears on the queen's face. "That's what I'm looking for exactly little doll. What? Are you too afraid?"
Silvanna growls at the question. Despite the insults, she can't help but feel a little exhilarated at this. It has been a long while since somebody challenged her like this in her face.
"Very well, we fight tomorrow. Fists only, no weapons, first one to surrender loses. That good enough for you, your majesty? Until the fight finishes, there would be no negotiations whatsoever,"
The native queen only licks her lips as two of them stares down one another. "I will look forward to it little doll. I can't wait to break you,"
As the two women stand off facing one another, the others at the tent simply groans. At least until Price removes a hat out of nowhere and holds it in front of the others.
"Soo…..bets?"
…..
Author's Note:
Next chapter is the fight between Siora and Silvanna. I hope you do like the problems and different plotlines of Anna and Elsa alongside our OC.
For the record. I don't plan to remove the original plotline of Frozen 1. It will still happen albeit in a different way. Frozen 2 plotline is obviously kumbaya with Kaldita here as Ahtohallan and the natives gone. Though we will have Honeymaren meet Elsa soon.