Adrenaline rushed through her body and, completely awake, she stood up. She heard screams and hits, people running and giving orders.
"Stay inside," she asked him.
Olaf hid on a nook, scared, and Elsa went outside posthaste.
"Elsa!" Astrid and Hiccup appeared from the darkness and met her. "What's going on?"
"I don't know, but let's find out. Gale!"
The spirit didn't answer the call. That was the first time it happened and Elsa felt puzzled. She tried on calling Gale a couple more times, but it was useless.
Who appeared was the fire spirit, jumping to her shoulder.
"Perfect," the Arendellian said. "We need some light. Could you set the treetops on fire?"
The salamander gave her a leave-it-to-me pose and, then, it jumped from her shoulder and lost quickly in the dark. A moment later, all the treetops around were on fire, lighting the whole camp.
On one flank they saw some Arendellian soldiers facing fiercely with some Northuldra who, in their own fighting style, were fighting back swords and shields with sticks and rocks.
"How did they find us?" Hiccup said, surprised. "We had serious problems finding the camp, even with you with us."
Elsa bit her thumb, visibly irritated. Her internal uncertainty, her situation with her sister, Gale's disappearance, the surprise attack... too many things were coming together that she didn't quite understand and she felt how the frustration was growing inside her.
Her face suddenly changed.
Without saying a word she pounced on Hiccup, knocking him down and getting on top of him, searching his neck, pockets, sleeves, hair...
"Uo, uo, uo!" the Viking complained, puzzled. "What are you doing? You're tickling me!"
Oblivious to his comments, she kept examining the Viking until she was satisfied. Then she moved to Astrid, repeating the process, who curiously allowed herself to be done without resisting.
Finding nothing, Elsa got up and cursed. And then she saw Astrid's ax in the ground. She grabbed it urgently and scanned it carefully, checking every inch. And she finally saw it. A small worm, wedged in a gap between the blade and the handle, completely still. She took it carefully and showed it to the Vikings.
"That's why they found us."
"What the hell is that?" Hiccup said, making a disgusted face.
"A Hoods' grub. Its parents can detect us from kilometers."
Elsa was shaking with anger. Anna had gone too far.
"Elsa... I..." Astrid said, feeling guilty, "I had no idea. It wasn't my intention. They must have put it there when—"
"No," Elsa cut her. "It is not your fault."
She put the grub aside, taking care of not hurting it, and got up to look around. With an ice blast, she knocked out some Arendelle soldiers. He knew it was a matter of time before they were back on their feet, but hopefully, she could buy enough time to escape.
"Olaf!" He went out of the tent, looking suspiciously everywhere. "We need to get out of here. You already know what to do."
Olaf nodded gravely.
"Be careful..."
The snowman gave her a fast hug and went out running to the opposite side of the soldiers.
Elsa turned to face the Vikings.
"I know this is not your war, but having two more pairs of hands would be helpful. We need to evacuate the camp."
While talking, she froze a small group of Arendellian soldiers who got close to them.
"Of course!" Astrid said, who, feeling used, wanted to retaliate.
Without waiting anymore, the Viking ran with her ax in her hand towards a group of soldiers who were surrounding some Northuldra.
Hiccup disposed to follow her, but Elsa grabbed his shoulder.
"Wait, Hiccup. Do you think you could reach the earth giants? It would be great to have their help."
"Sure!"
He turned away and ran as fast as he could. They weren't too far, so he probably would be back soon.
Elsa, without wasting a second, whistled and heard the neighing of the water spirit nearby. She made her way, eager, burning part of the anger she was feeling, until she reached it. Then, she froze it and mounted herself on its back.
She rode across the camp, leaving a trail of frozen bodies. It seemed like they were managing to repel the attack without too much trouble: Astrid was fighting with fervor, even joyfully, against several soldiers at once, and the Northuldra were also doing well despite being a peaceful people. And, even so, Elsa was feeling that something was wrong, although she couldn't explain what exactly was. With no time to think, she just kept riding, helping everyone within her reach.
"Careful down there!" Hiccup yelled, arriving on the shoulder of an earth giant.
With a single roar, the giant created a perfect corridor for escape. The Northuldra seized the opportunity and ran deep into the darkness of the forest.
A sound, sharp and rising, suddenly appeared. Astrid and Hiccup recognized it immediately.
"Everybody on the floor!" Astrid shouted.
A dragon, dark as night, appeared out of nowhere at full speed and unleashed a powerful purple blast against the chest of the earth giant who Hiccup was on. The giant staggered and fell to his knees as his entire chest started to fall apart. Hiccup barely managed to balance himself, clinging tightly to the head of the colossus.
Elsa was scared. She had never seen such power as to harm an earth giant and it made her hair stand on end.
"Let's go," she said to the water spirit with a trembling voice.
The horse turned and started to run, but a thick net fell on top of them, trapping them. The weight was suffocating and they could barely move. She tried to lift the net with magic, creating thick pillars of ice from the ground but, for some reason, they broke when they touched it without hardly moving the net. Seeing that this had no effect, she managed to stick one of his hands out of a hole and defend herself by freezing several of the soldiers who jumped on them.
Hiccup watched a dragon shadow approaching the dejected giant, slowly, until the light of the fire illuminated it.
"Toothless!"
The Viking, excited, took a step toward him with an outstretched hand, but the dragon showed no sign of recognizing him. Then Hiccup saw that there was a person on his back. A woman, young, red-haired, with an air of Elsa.
"C'mon bud. It's me."
But Toothless didn't even look at him.
Hiccup noticed his tail at the point where his prosthesis should been, and he was surprised to see that it looked restored as if it had never suffered any damage. If he wasn't so certain that there was no more Night Fury in the world, he would have doubted that he was Toothless.
"What have you done to him?" inquired the Viking.
The woman smiled. She seemed pleased about something, but she didn't reply. Instead, she drew a small crystalline vial from her clothing, opened it, and motioned for the dragon to come closer. Hiccup could see inside the giant's chest an amber gem that seemed to throb. When she was close enough, she placed the mouth of the vial on the gem and, a second later, the gem was gone and the vial was shining with a bright yellowish hue.
Hiccup decided to turn Viking's mode on and, taking a deep breath, prepared to jump on the dragon, but a strong jolt stopped him. The giant was falling apart.
"Wait, wait, wait!" Hiccup said holding on as best as he could.
Finally, he managed to make a small leap into the void, leaving behind the mountain of rocks that was falling uncontrollably, and unfolded the artificial wings that he had in his suit determined to bring down the woman who was flying away with Toothless, but it was easy for the dragon to dodge him and gain some height to be out of his reach.
"Toothless! Bud!" Hiccup yelled as he hovered toward the ground.
But the dragon kept going without even looking back.
A figure appeared before Elsa.
"Kristoff!"
The man in question crouched down and looked at her with empty eyes.
"Thank you," he finally told her. "Without your help, we would never have been able to catch the water spirit."
"What?!"
But the young man was no longer paying attention to her. He took out a small crystalline vial, opened it, and placed the mouthpiece on the horse, who was whinnying desperately. Just an instant later, the water spirit had disappeared and the vial glowed a soft bluish hue.
Elsa tried to stop Kristoff, who was already leaving, but all the weight of the net that was being supported by the water spirit was now falling on her body and she could barely breathe. Arendelle's soldiers surrounded her, ready to finish her off, and Elsa couldn't help but wonder if this would be her end.
Eyes a bit cloudy, he watched Astrid's ax gleam as she finished out the soldiers closest to her. Then, with a series of precise cuts, she managed to create a hole through which to pull Elsa, freeing her.
The Arendellian, lying on the ground, took a good breath of air, feeling how it swelled her lungs again and how life returned to her.
Hiccup, who had been watching them from the sky, landed a few feet away and ran to meet them, ready for battle, but the soldiers retreated. Their mission was over.
"You ok?" Astrid asked Hiccup.
"Yes... No... I... I don't know..." the Viking paced from side to side, scowling. "I've seen Toothless, but it wasn't him. It was weird... I don't know how to explain it, but he needs our help."
"That's what we're here for," Astrid consoled him, placing a hand on his chest.
The Vikings noticed a sudden cold and how their clothes were frosting.
Elsa, lying on her back with one arm covering her face, was quietly crying. Then, she clenched her fists tightly and released all her anger.
"ANNA!"
It was all she said, but her voice reverberated through the forest leaving an absolute silence in its path.