Chapter 26: Journey Back South
Anna sat in a chair next to a bed in the upper hall of the Riverview keep, her helm as well as Aldren's sat on the floor next to her while she twiddled her thumbs anxiously, staring down at the floor. Lying in the bed with bandages wrapped around his arm and hand was Aldren, his eyes closed as he breathed peacefully...'peaceful', not a word she would normally associate with him. She would occasionally glance up at his wounds and she was reminded of her failure at Stoneshire. The shame filled her heart each time...if she had only stayed back. So glad that he was alive, Anna was nearly brought to tears when she imagined how Elsa would react if she'd been forced to tell her the man she loved had been killed...because of her.
She reminded herself that she wouldn't have to, but there was little comfort to be found when that reality had come so close at all. She did however steady herself with the knowledge that they were one step closer to Ashla's Pike, one step closer to making their family whole and in the knowledge that her sister had found true love after all. Elsa might not like her calling it that but Anna could see it whenever they were near, in little ways. She had known for sure Christmas night when she saw it in their eyes, the way they looked at each other when they had finished their dance, she so greatly wanted that for Elsa. But if she had learned anything from Aldren's stories and experiences: it's that war has a way of taking families apart in the worst ways...as it had his.
A sharp gasp interrupted her thoughts, she looked up to see Aldren awake and very much aware of his discomfort. He groaned, when he attempted to sit up, he fell back to the bed, his hand reaching up to his head. His gaze turned to Anna, she smiled, happy to see him awake. He blinked rapidly before his eyes widened, "She didn't...kill me?" he asked.
She shook her head and quickly moved forward to hug him, "No, I didn't let her."
He winced slightly from her tight grasp, he smiled and hugged her back, "That's, hm… thank you."
She leaned back and knelt beside the bed, her face sad and ashamed, "Aldren...I'm so sorry, I should've listened to you. If I had stayed like you told me too-"
She was stopped by a gentle hand on her shoulder, Aldren looked her in the eye, "I still very well could have died."
"I-"
"We were outnumbered and even if I had defeated Venereth, she had poisoned her blade...you saved my life Anna...again." he finished in a joking begrudged manner.
She laughed slightly, "Yeah, you don't exactly make it easy but then again...neither do I."
He frowned, moving his hand to the side if her head ,"Putting your life at risk like that was reckless, but then..." he pursed his lips in thought.
"What?"
He smiled, "But then you would not be who you are."
She smiled toothily but he noticed the dark circles around her eyes, "You look tired Anna, how long have you been here?"
She rolled her eyes, "A while...few hours."
He took his hand away and gingerly sat himself up, "And... how long have I been here?"
She seemed reluctant to answer, "Well I, eh..." she rubbed her arm and smiled nervously, "Almost two days..."
He sighed and rubbed his head, "Manticore venom is strong..."
She cocked her head, "Man-manti...what now?"
"Man-ti-core, I used my power to burn the poison out of my veins."
"How did you know that would work?"
"...I didn't."
"Oh...OK, but what's a manticore?"
He smirked, "I'll tell you about them some other time, for now just know that they are nothing you ever want to meet face to face..."
"I'll take your word for it."
He nodded and sat himself up on the edge of the bed, "Did you send word to Elsa about our progress?"
Anna nodded, "Yep...might've left out the part where you almost died..."
"Good thinking."
"I also made sure Elsa's orders about preparing to march back to Hammerhel were followed to-the-letter. We're ready to move out when she sends word." she noted proudly.
"Very good Anna, you are learning after all."
She punched him in his unwounded arm and they both laughed. He stood and she stood next to him as he unwrapped the bandages around his arm and hand, the wounds had completely healed, her eyes widened.
"One of the...advantages of being an elemental." he then spotted his missing vambrace on the bedside table along with Black Autumn in its scabbard against the wall, reequipping them and shaking his hand, "Tell me, who do I have to thank for my recovery?"
"Freja, believe it or not."
"Really...interesting."
"I made sure she didn't try to kill you in your sleep, but I don't think she was going to."
"I suppose we could note that as progress..." he picked up his helm from the floor and donned it while Anna did the same, "Well we should get back to it, still much to prepare for the journey back." he opened the door of the room, they walked down to the lower levels and opened the doors to the outside. At the threshold he turned back to her, "One more thing Anna; while I appreciate what you did at Stoneshire, I want you to leave more dangerous conflicts to me from now on."
She grinned, "No promises."
He did not grin back, "I'm serious Anna."
She stepped closer, "So am I, I said we were family and family protect each-"
"You are the princess and it is my duty to keep you alive, even if I must take a blade through the heart to do so." he stated firmly.
Her grin was gone, she looked at him shocked and in disbelief, "Are- are you saying your life matters less than mine because I'm the princess?"
"I am."
She frowned and folded her arms, "Well not to me...and not to Elsa. Nothing will ever change that...don't-you-forget-that." she said very seriously.
"I haven't..." he sighed and turned, walking away to assume his duties once more. Leaving the young princess concerned and upset with him, they would lose more than a family member if he died...
OoO
Elsa stood in the middle of the Starlon courtyard in full battle dress looking upon a rather lengthy parchment in her hand. It had arrived earlier that morning and she had been pleased to learn that Anna and Aldren had successfully retaken Riverview, her sister had also provided a very detail account of the other events. She couldn't help but smile widely at Anna's hyperactive style of writing, it was like reading a fantasy novel. What made her even happier was it seemed Aldren was starting to learn control over his power. He was learning without her there, perhaps he would grow to have faith in his ability without her presence.
What was less pleasant to read was Anna's description of their encounter with the witch knight Venereth, her sister wrote that they had defeated her without incident but even on paper she could tell when her sister was fibbing...she knew there was more to it than that. Elsa's eyes shifted to slowly scan the rooftops around her, she wondered if even now she might be under the gaze of the Witch King's favored killer...
She shook her head, deciding that she was being paranoid, for now it was enough to know that they were both safe and that she would be with them soon. Pocketing the letter, she surveyed the activity that surrounded her, she had already given the orders to prepare for the march back to Hammerhel. Wagons were loaded, weapons and munitions gathered and horses readied, a small garrison would be left behind to watch over Hadenville to continue reinforcing its defenses and protect Lord Starlon.
Baldrek approached her and bowed, "My queen, we're almost ready to leave."
"Very good captain, have the men get in formation, we leave as soon as we are ready." He nodded and left to relay her orders.
"Your grace." She turned to see a now recovered lord Starlon approaching her, a change of clean clothes that made him appear as a proper lord, though now that he was standing she could see that he was a very short man...no taller than Anna in fact. As he was about to speak a large shadow cast over him that preceded a guttural roar, the sudden sound made him duck while Elsa didn't even flinch. Trolgon flew over them as he circled Hadenville to keep himself busy. Elsa watched her creation fondly while Mane cleared his throat and stood, "You...you have a dragon..." he said pointing to the icy beast, slightly nervous.
"I do indeed."
He watched the dragon as it flew towards the opposite side of the city, he smirked slightly, "I'd like to see the look on their faces when they see him, well...your grace, I simply wanted to wish you good luck and to say farewell." he smiled and bowed with his hands behind his back.
"I thank you lord Starlon." she walked up to him and put her hand on his shoulder, "As I said: I make no promises but we will do everything in our power to save lady Sol, you have my word."
He looked towards the ground a moment and then looked back up, masking his doubt behind a forced smile, "I know you will..."
She could see behind his mask, no words could really comfort him so she smiled and did what came naturally in the moment. She moved towards him and put her arms around him, caught by surprise he wasn't sure how to react at first but slowly put his arms around her as she squeezed tighter. She eventually released him and held his shoulders at arm's length and smiled, "Stay safe...Mane."
He nodded to her, "And you, queen Elsa."
She nodded back and released his shoulders, she turned away to see Krar approaching with two horses, including hers. She walked to her horse and mounted, behind her she surveyed that her army was ready, Krar and Baldrek rode to either side of her, she nodded to them and the trio snapped the reigns of their horses. The hooves clapping softly against the snowy earth was followed by sound of Arendellian boots marching in unison behind them. As they started towards the gate she looked over her shoulder and waved to Mane who smiled slightly and waved back, hugging him might have been considered another breach in etiquette but she could tell he had needed it...and in a moment of perhaps somewhat childish daydreaming she imagined that under certain circumstances, circumstances she desired greatly, Mane would be her cousin in law if she were to wed a certain lord in the future...
She turned back to the gate which was being opened for them and they began their journey across the Glister Lands back into the Forge lands while Trolgon flew overhead. Soon she would be reunited with her sister and her Master of War and they would make the final push to retake their homeland from the Naga Ai and relieve her kingdom from the Shadow of the Witch King...
OoO
Aldren, Anna and Barec rode ahead of their war party away from the Troll's Pine woods and back into the Forge Lands. Within their marching group was a wagon that held Freja and the children from Riverview, it had taken some work but the former Ramdon overseer was eventually convinced to leave with them for Hammerhel away from the war front. Much of their journey had been held in silence, an odd thing as Anna rarely ever ran out of things to say. But she had been thinking about his last words to her for quite some time, she wasn't necessarily angry but it did upset her: she didn't understand his lack of self-worth and thus far he had not elaborated on it. She would endeavor to understand him more, they had plenty of time at the moment.
She rode up next to him, "You never told me much about...Elom was it? The elf who passed that sword to you."
Aldren looked to her and thought a moment, "He saved my life when the empire was going to execute me...and when most of the other elves thought a human had no place in Anoroth..."
Anna was shocked by his last words, "The other elves...they wanted to kill you?"
"Not all of them...Queen Anaria, my best friends Volengier and Elbereth-"
"What were they like? -Actually, tell me about Elom first...sorry for interrupting." she shrugged sheepishly.
He chuckled quietly, "It's alright your grace, hm... He raised me, trained me to fight as the elves did...as I have taught you and your sister. But more importantly, he taught me how to be a man...something my father never had the chance to..."
She smiled and leaned closer, "What was he like to learn under?"
"Well...if he were the one to teach you and Elsa to fight, it would not be unlike the way I trained you. Though I must confess; he would not have taken it as easy on you as I have."
She rolled her eyes and laughed, "Whew! I'd hate to see his definition of hard."
They both laughed together, Aldren shrugged, "Well he wasn't strict but he knew how to raise your ire, in a way that would make you want to laugh and hit him in the face at the same time."
"Actually he almost sounds better, all I wanted to do was punch you in the face when we trained" she joked with a raised fist.
"I suppose I have that effect on people..."
"You do...but once someone gets to know you...they want to punch you less." she grinned, he smiled and crinkled his nose at her.
Once the humor began to die down she asked a bold question she knew he might not answer, "Aldren?"
"Hm?"
"How did Elom die?"
His smile disappeared and he shifted his gaze ahead of himself, she feared she may have upset him, she considered apologizing and dropping the subject. But he lowered his head, sighing and began to speak. "While I was still learning under Elom, the war with Caldaria had reached a critical point: the empire was beginning to break through the borders and push deeper and deeper into the Eldoron. We did not have the numbers to combat the growing imperial army on open ground, we only held them at bay because we knew the forest better than they could ever hope to. But as their numbers swelled that began to matter little and we were running out of options. That is when Elom came to me and my friends and proposed something...radical."
"Oh?"
"He had already brought this plan before the queen and the knight council but had been refused, so against the council's wishes he wanted to take a small force and infiltrate the Flagrum Keep to sabotage their munitions store-and when I say 'sabotage', I mean 'blow up.'" They both laughed slightly before he continued, "Without their ammunition and the keep severely damaged it would take them months, years even for them to recover. Adequate time to reclaim and reinforce the borders around Anoroth, even if the second part of our plan fell thru..."
Anna's brow raised, "Second part?"
"We were going to kidnap prince Edesious, use him to keep Caldaria at a standstill, force the emperor into a settlement if we could..."
"What...what went wrong?"
"When Elom and I went to confront the prince, he was nowhere to be found...but someone else had been waiting: a powerful sorcerer we had never seen before. I never saw his face; it was concealed by a hood...the only thing I can remember is that he wielded a steel staff that was crowned by a single tyranite gem. Whoever they were, we could not defeat them, their power was too great and he was skilled fighter. At the height of our conflict I was cast aside by the sorcerer's power and Elom was left to fight them alone, he fought valiantly but in the end the sorcerer won...I was not fast enough to save my master...and I was not strong enough to avenge his death."
He looked towards the horizon, his gaze hardened as he seemed more angered than saddened. "And so I did the only thing I could to save his memory: I took his sword before the sorcerer could and I fled, our small army retreated back to Anoroth, our primary goal accomplished...but at a high cost: our prolonged duel with the sorcerer meant that many of our warriors were injured or killed. We had disobeyed the queen and without Elom, it was left to me to explain our actions to her majesty...I imagine Elsa told you how the rest of that story goes..."
"Yeah...But Aldren?"
He looked to her, his face softened, "Hm?"
"I-I know that maybe...you feel weak because you have trouble controlling your powers, because you couldn't save the people you care about but that doesn't make you weak...just human, you know a very special kind...of human, but still human. Just know that even if you don't always want yourself no matter what happens, we want you in our lives...it's kind of your fault actually." she said with a smile.
He scoffed and grinned, "Hmph, and how is it my fault?"
She rolled her eyes, "Oh you know: saving our lives, training us, helping save our friends and retake our kingdom from an army of snake men...you know, the little things." she said with a smirk.
"Well you're welcome...and thank you."
"Ta failte romhat. (You're welcome.)" His eyes widened slightly, she nudged him, "I'm a slow learner, but I learn."
He smiled, "Indeed you do."
She winked "Now, tell me about Volengier and Elbereth!" She said excitedly.
"Very well, I'll have to keep it short for now though...were almost there..."
