Chapter Twenty Nine

The Trump Card

ANNA

"Sorry." Tracy stomped her shoes, which squelched and squeezed even more seawater onto the floor. "We got back here as fast as we could."

"Sorry about the carpet too." Melody glanced apologetically at Anna, and glared at Tracy. "Stop that."

"It's fine, I'll just get the staff to clean up the place later." Anna looked at the two girls. "Boy, are you two a sight for sore eyes."

"Huh?" Tracy looked confused.

"Did you find the amulet?" Kristoff asked.

"Yeah." Melody pulled out the bronze item. "The Qa'nneth was stolen by a corrupt wealthy merchant who monopolized a nearby trading post."

"You conveniently left out the part where you went to steal it from him, got caught and thrown in prison, and I had to stage a mini revolution to save you and retrieve the Qa'nneth." Tracy added and received a scowl from Melody. "What? It's true."

"Regardless," Melody had turned red with embarrassment. "We found the Qa'nneth." She passed it to Anna.

"Wow." Anna glanced at the two incredulously, intrigued by their story. No wonder they had taken so long, even with Tracy's magic teleportation abilities. She glanced down at the Qa'nneth in her hands. The main piece was a thin circular slab of bronze with a flat red garnet in the middle, supported by another thin strip of bronze. It had a short handle that was also made out of bronze…in fact the whole thing was made out of bronze except for the jewel.

"So this is supposed to stop the Pilgrim, huh?" Anna tested its weight in her hand.

"In theory, yes." Melody said.

"So how exactly does this work?"

"Ahh, step aside. Allow me." Tracy said in an exaggerated tone of elegance and sophistication, taking the Qa'nneth out of Anna's hands.

"Your Highness."

The Warriors turned to see Captain Frederick at the door.

"Fred? What is it?" Anna walked over to him. There was somewhat of a sense of urgency in his tone when he had called out to her.

"After you left your coat with the cleaners last night, they went through your coat and found this," Frederick produced a folded piece of paper. "They informed me about it and I had the feeling that this is something important."

Anna frowned. "I don't remember carrying any paper with me when I left for Srevnjor yesterday. What is it?"

"That's for you to know, Your Highness." Frederick was as honourable as ever, and Anna couldn't help but immensely appreciate his presence.

"Thanks." She took the paper from Frederick and unfolded it. Her eyes widened as she scanned the contents, walking over slowly to the couch to sit down, as the rest of the Warriors watched her quizzically. "Woah…" she blinked a couple of times and read it again.

"What is it?" Kristoff and Melody asked at the same time.

"A letter," Anna kept her eyes glued to the paper. "From Elsa."

"What?"

Anna looked up at them suddenly, waving the paper in front of them excitedly. "I think I found a way to take down the League. Well, not really. She told me where she is but she isn't expecting that I would show up, but that's exactly what we're going to do, and-"

"What are you saying?" Maui asked, vocalizing the thoughts of everyone in the drawing room.

"Elsa," Anna jabbed at the paper wildly. "She was never on their side! I was half right all along! Look!" She held out the letter for everyone to see, and they all gathered round.

"She managed to explain what happened the night she disappeared." Anna said triumphantly. "I knew it wasn't true. Elsa never turned on us. She appeared to be on the side of the League, but she's always been on ours, even though it didn't seem like it."

"Anna, I don't know." Kristoff scratched his nose. "I want to believe it, but-"

"We saw Elsa for our own eyes." Maui said. "Her allegiance to the League of Sorcerers seemed so real."

"Don't you see, that was exactly the point!" Anna cried eagerly. "She had to keep up the facade as part of the deal, to keep me out of their crosshairs! Remember my father's journal? The Pilgrim made my father the same bargain. Become part of the League and she would steer clear of Elsa and myself. Only, she didn't keep that promise. She came after Elsa, and made her the same offer. She would leave me alone if Elsa did her bidding and kept things quiet."

She paused and stared round at the faces which had expressions ranging from hope to skepticism. "And she wasn't bluffing. The Pilgrim had spies planted in Arendelle, ready to assassinate me at her order. Right, Fred?"

"Indeed." Frederick stood with his hands clasped at the small of his back by the door. "I went and did some digging, and I have a list of all the confirmed traitors in our midst. Tobias was the chief amongst them of course, and then there's others like Count Griffith and even Colonel Jakob himself. We're going to have to take action after this League business is dealt with."

"We will." Anna nodded gratefully. "Thanks, Fred."

"Of course, Your Highness." He bowed and walked away. "I'll be outside if you need me."

"Thanks." Anna called after him.

"Wait, wait, back up." Melody frowned. "So Elsa was blackmailed into joining the League, otherwise the Pilgrim would have you assassinated?"

"Yeah. That and the fact that Elsa wanted to protect me from the truth about our father, which I discovered anyway." Anna confirmed. "Elsa was never on their side. She was doing it all to keep me out of their crosshairs."

"And what about that bruise?" Tracy asked, pointing to the purple mark on Anna's left cheek.

"She had to keep up appearances, I guess." And then it hit her - no pun intended - Elsa had grabbed her coat and held her up before landing the blow. That must have been when Elsa slipped the letter into Anna's coat pocket without the Elemental Sorcerers noticing! Elsa, you genius!

"In the letter, she warned me to stay away now that I know the truth. She wrote this so that I could have peace of mind and go on living my life without her. But we know that's not gonna happen." Anna looked round. "We're getting Elsa back. We have a real chance now. She's still one of us."

"I hope you're right, Anna. I really hope so." Kristoff still sounded a little skeptical.

"I hope it's true." Maui added. "Elsa was my friend and she helped save me. I want to do the same for her now."

"She was our friend too." Melody said. "She gave us hope when we were trapped on that island after Major Kane banished us to the other side of the world.

"Yeah, you're right." Tracy piped up. "Elsa reached out to me when I first joined up with you guys. After the Dark Zone, she helped me to realise I wasn't the only troubled sorceress on board that ship, and it somehow made me feel better about myself."

"It's time we remembered who she really is and what she's done for us." Melody looked round.

Kristoff nodded somewhat reluctantly, but in agreement. "I guess so. We should have seen through her act and known she was still on our side."

"No one could have known. None of us could have seen this coming." Anna said. "What matters now is that we go rescue Elsa from the Pilgrim and the League of Sorcerers."

"And for that, we need the Qa'nneth." Tracy raised the amulet in her hand.

"So how does this thing work?" Kristoff glanced at the amulet warily.

"According to the journal, it's supposed to stop the Pilgrim from using her black magic, right?" Anna said, trying her best to sound helpful.

"Something like that." Tracy whacked the amulet against her hand. "But to use it, you gotta recite a string of spells that'll get it activated. You gotta say the words before the Qa'nneth will work for you."

"But you mentioned that you're a Ha'naeth too." Maui said. "Won't that affect your powers in the presence of the Qa'nneth?"

Tracy nodded.

"But you already knew that, didn't you?" Kristoff said.

"Yeah I did."

"Wait, so in taking out the Pilgrim's black magic, we're forfeiting your help?" Anna asked.

"I guess that's the tradeoff." Tracy shrugged.

"Even without the Pilgrim's black magic to worry about, we're still walking into a stronghold full of sorcerers ready to defend their leader." Anna said. "Swynvort, it's called, according to Elsa's letter."

"Not to mention the Elemental Sorcerers. They're wayyy too powerful." Tracy said with a slight hint of jealousy.

"And Prometheus, along with the League mercenaries." Kristoff added.

"Okay, so let's lay out our cards on the table." Melody said. "Now that we know the Qa'nneth will protect you from the Pilgrim's magic," she glanced at Anna. "Showing up in Swynvort will attract the Pilgrim's attention. That's when she'll know that Elsa betrayed her and she'll turn her powers against Anna, only to find that they aren't working."

"That's when Elsa will know that the deal's off, and join us against the League." Anna continued excitedly.

"But even with Elsa back on our side, we'll have the entire League of Sorcerers against us, including the Elemental Sorcerers, Prometheus as well as his mercenaries." Kristoff argued realistically. "We're still going to be vastly outmatched."

"I hate to say it, but he's right." Maui said grimly. "We don't have a good strategy, and that means we'll just be repeating the same mistake."

"You know what, I think I have the beginning of an idea." Melody turned to Tracy.

"Why look at me?"

"You and the Pilgrim, you're both Ha'naeth, right?"

"Yeah?"

"Which means you both have similar powers and can do the same things right?"

"She's way more skilled than I am, remember? Roughly a century more experience at mastering black magic than I have."

"It doesn't matter." Melody said. "You're familiar with the whole psychic thing too, right?"

"Somewhat I guess?" Tracy replied uncertainly. "Why?"

"Wait, what exactly are we talking about here?" Anna asked, confused as to what was going on.

"I just need to get the facts right," Melody answered, and turned back to Tracy. "Because if I'm right and this works, you're gonna be our trump card."