Chapter Sixty Nine
Fire in the Sky
ANNA
"Open fire!" A lieutenant bellowed, and his war cry was echoed by the remaining lieutenants who were standing by their artillerists.
The men assigned to their pieces went to work methodically, the powder having already been added to the barrel together with a wad of hay to cause the explosion. They tossed in the balls into the gaping mouths of their pieces, and rammed them home.
The elevation of each had been set at roughly a thirty degree angle, since the fjord wasn't wide enough to be set at the optimal forty five degrees which would ensure maximum range and results. Instead, they were positioned to rain down fire on the ships below.
Once the Southern Isles fleet had emerged from the fog, Anna could see that they were steam propelled warships deployed in a "line of battle" formation, as Matthias had called it. Large frigates were positioned on both sides of battleships in the middle of their lines, rolling towards them at three abreast. The frigates would theoretically take most of the damage from the Arendellian artillery, while the main battleship in the middle would begin firing salvos of round shot upon the city.
A deep emphatic boom shook the ground as the large twelve pounders deployed on the coast road made its opening move of what was going to be a fierce, drawn out battle. Anna's teeth rattled in her head and her ears rang as an after effect as the balls whined through the air towards the Southern Isles' first line of ships that were making its way through the fjord. The first salvo crashed just a short distance in front of the fleet, sending a tirade of water springing out and drenching the front row, which was exactly the idea.
If the powder got wet, then that would take away the firing power of the guns. But not the ships in the second row behind that were still a distance away. The second row of the fleet answered the Arendellian guns with a bellow of their own, and balls arced dangerously through the air, crashing a distance behind where the coastal guns had been positioned.
Anna winced as the balls brought up dirt from the ground, boring deep, ugly skid marks into the road. The huge balls tore up concrete, soil and grass like they were nothing, wrecking destruction all along the coast. At least she, Kristoff and Matthias were at a safe distance away to observe without really getting hurt. But still…
It almost seemed like there were endless rows of these ships now that they had come into full view, and the length of the column appeared to stretch far out of sight. That the Southern Isles Navy had come prepared was an understatement.
"Tell me the truth. At this rate, we're not going to last very long, are we?" Anna said, glancing at Matthias.
He looked grim, arms folded tightly. "No, Your Majesty. By the looks of it, they're going to outlast us, and they know it too."
Anna shook her head slowly and watched as the artillerists on the two hills launched another simultaneous salvo which resulted in a thunderous crash, smoke erupting from the barrels and obscuring the hills with thick, heavy smoke, sending round shots arcing and plummeting downwards at steep trajectories. Some balls crashed on the rocky walls of the fjord, while others found their targets on the frigates.
And then, the frigates responded in turn. The broadside of their ships had been armed with guns of their own to fight back, and they had readied their howitzers for this eventuality. The enemy's naval crew worked rapidly to aim their cannons at an estimated angle, and opened fire.
A few erratic flashes and rumbling booms later, the Southern Isles' own howitzers had opened fire, and deadly balls arced upwards, and sent a few teams of Arendellian artillerists scrambling out of the way for their lives as the balls crashed into the hill and began rolling downslope.
"No," Matthias lamented and looked pale. "This isn't going to last very long at all."
"There must be something we can do, Matthias." Anna said urgently. "Tell me there's something else."
"I'm afraid not, Your Majesty. We just don't have the numbers or firepower to turn the tables. I'm sorry."
And so they had no choice but to wait it out, hoping that the tide would turn in their favour at some point during the exchange of cannon fire. But alas, it was not to be. Increasingly, the Arendellian artillerists were getting worn down as they had to keep manoeuvring to stay out of the way of the frigates' well placed shots, and the time it took for them to get back into position and aim their guns meant more distance covered by the enemy fleet.
The six pounders and eight pounders on the Arendellian boats and ships had also begun raining down fire on their enemies once they had gotten into range, and had even resorted to canister and grapeshot for increased effect. The front ranks of the enemy ships however, had been outfitted with rams which were meant to collide head on into Arendelle's harbour, and at the same time they acted as an extra layer of armour against the cannon fire.
Though the Arendellians' canister shot had ploughed through the hulls of a couple of less protected ships, the vast majority kept advancing forward at a steady pace, ramming their broken and damaged companions out of the way mercilessly. The battleships in the centre of the rows had been reserving their ammunition, only taking turns to fire one round shot at a time from their eighteen pounders, resulting in a dreadful rhythm of bass-heavy thunder which grew increasingly louder as the ships drew nearer and nearer.
They were saving their shots for when they drew near enough to fire directly into the heart of the city where they would cause maximum damage, which Anna had to admit, was a very intelligent plan on their part. And not so good for us. Not at all.
Maui was doing the best he could, having shape-shifted into a large brown falcon to provide air support. He weaved in and out of the paths of the balls, both friendly and enemy alike, to attempt to heckle the enemies and to slow them down by crashing into one ship after another, doing his best to ram into the enemy cannons with the sheer force of his bodyweight. From where Anna was, she could see him relentlessly gliding overhead and dive bombing straight into one ship after another, in the hopes of destroying enough, but he had already taken a few direct hits from canister shots, blasting him into the fjord multiple times. Each time he had gotten back into the fight, though evidently getting worn out slowly but surely.
No, no, no. Anna winced as she saw Maui get blasted back into the water by a point blank shot by a twelve pounder from one of the battleships of the fleet. She knew that there was only so much that he could take, and the same went for the rest of the artillery who were doing their best.
A few of the Arendellian boats and ships had already been destroyed, sending scores of soldiers tumbling into the water and sinking the heavy six and eight pounders. Some of the artillerists along the coast road had also been dragged away by a well placed round shot every now and then, making deep skid marks in the ground smeared with sickly red.
Screams rang out across the terrain as both sides sustained injuries, though she swore she heard more coming from her side. Anna felt desperate, powerless to do anything in a time of crisis such as this one. Was there anything…anything at all that she could do but look on as the battle wore on for what felt like hours?
"There must be something we can do!" Anna whirled around to face Kristoff. "We can't just sit here. We have to do something!"
"What can we do?" Kristoff shouted above the volleys.
"I don't know!" Anna was almost in tears. "Our people are dying out there. We're losing!"
"Anna! There's nothing we can do!"
"No, it can't be. There must be-"
"Anna, look around!"
She glanced at the scores of men obscured by smoke, and every now and then saw a few fall out of the fight, being hit by enemy fire and spinning away screaming as blood poured from their open wounds. Others lay dead, squashed flat by round shot, and a few severed limbs had been strewn across the coast. Blood curdling screams and shrieks pounded in her ears and the unshed tears freed themselves from her eyes. Anna felt her gorge rise, and swallowed quickly, blinking.
"We're not artillerists and we're definitely not soldiers!" Kristoff continued to keep his voice raised. "It's all well and good when it comes down to fighting sorcerers or hired thugs, but this…" he jabbed a finger at the fleet which was now dangerously close to the shore. "…there's nothing we can do!"
"No…" she closed her eyes and felt them grow increasingly wet.
"I'm sorry, Anna," He pulled her into a hug. "But we might have just lost."
She opened her eyes and turned back to the scene of the carnage before her. Deep down, she knew he was right. They were absolutely powerless to stop the Southern Isles now. It seemed that this was the end.
"Look!" Matthias came running back towards them, having come from the coast himself, handing Anna his personal spyglass and pointing at the surface of the water. "Your Majesty, look! Something's happening in the water!"
She blinked away her tears and levelled the spyglass to her eye. What she saw brought a surge of relief rushing over her like waves from the fjord, and she felt a dead weight lifted off her shoulders almost instantaneously. Maybe this is our second chance.
Author's Commentary:
You wouldn't believe how ridiculous and incredibly hard this was to put into words. This entire chapter is about artillery and cannon fire, and painting a scene of carnage and epic destruction was stupidly difficult to describe with emotion. But hopefully it conveys the intended atmosphere.
This is war the characters finally find themselves in, and its not pretty. It seems like they're going to lose and there's nothing they can do about it. But stick around, they might be able to turn the tide just yet.