Chapter Three

Confederation / Crash

ANNA

Taking a deep breath, Anna walked down the long carpeted hallway of the Grandé Hotel towards the ballroom that had been reserved months in advance for the summit. The Annual Confederation of the North Summit was taking place today, and this was Anna's first time attending it, as was Elsa's if she was even going to make it. These high key meetings only took place once, at the beginning of the year. Since Elsa had been crowned Queen in the middle of the year, this was the first time they would both be attending it as the royal representatives from Arendelle.

In the years after their parents' death, Arendelle was represented by a senior member of the Regency Council, or in some instances the fiend ex-Chancellor Tobias who had recently exposed himself as a criminal. Anna was legitimately feeling a little jumpy about being at such a grand and important event such as this one. The Confederation of the North Summit wasn't just some elaborate party, but a meeting to maintain the peace between the various kingdoms and nations, as well as address significant global issues that need to be resolved.

Anna turned to her Royal Advisor, Colonel Frederick Valquerson, who was also the Commanding Officer of the Arendellian Brigade. Arendelle never really needed a huge army since no one had ever courted war with them, and thus only a force as big as a Brigade was necessary. Or some of the Council members might have even argued that it was too excessive. Nonetheless, Anna and Elsa had appointed the former Senior Captain as their Royal Advisor, given the fact that he was an incredibly intelligent man.

"Fred," Anna said.

"Yes, Your Highness?" Frederick answered, voice calm and demeanour composed as always.

"What time is it?"

Frederick removed a military issue pocket watch. "Five minutes to ten, Your Highness."

"Ughh." Anna rolled her eyes.

"There's still time, Anna. Don't worry." Vonco said, and Jordan nodded in agreement.

Elsa had assigned both Vonco and Jordan, two members of the League of Sorcerers, to tag along as bodyguards for Anna. For one thing, Vonco had the ability to travel long distances through shadows, so it had been convenient enough, given that they had taken literally a minute to reach Molcorra from the Arendelle castle.

Anna had at first protested against having escorts, but then relented when Elsa had reminded her that it wasn't because she was being overprotective of her younger sister. It was a foreign country after all, with unknown elements of danger probably lurking around. Having League members to accompany her for the Summit was only safe. Not that she really had a say in it, since Elsa had firmly insisted.

Frederick might have been somewhat insulted, but Anna didn't know since he had chosen not to say anything about it. The steadfast and unflappable officer was always a reserved man, saving his intelligent words for when he really needed to use them.

Anna looked at the two. Vonco was actually a Molcorran orphan who had left everything behind to join the League of Sorcerers. He seemed genuinely happy to be back in his hometown, even though no one recognized him or knew who he was.

Jordan, on the other hand, was the silent brother of Jade, who had lost his voice in a childhood accident. He was one of the powerful and rare Elemental Sorcerers, and Anna was glad that he was on her side. There was a time when they were at war with the League - actually a few short months ago - and that had been utter chaos.

"Elsa's cutting it a little close." Anna said. "Where is she?"

"I think Her Majesty is still out with the-" Frederick cleared his throat. "-Warriors. She mentioned that they were on some special mission."

"Yeah, I know she's out with the rest to stop the Warmongers," Anna rocked back and forth on her heels. "But she's going to be late!"

"Pardon me, Your Highness, but I suggest that you make an appearance first. If you wait for your sister, you'll both be late and it won't give the Confederation representatives a very good impression of Arendelle." Frederick said. "At least if you're in there, they won't think both sisters are equally unpunctual."

"You're right, I guess." Anna shrugged as they arrived outside the door of the reserved ballroom.

"Just remember, Your Highness," Frederick added. "Remember your authority and social standing. Don't be intimidated by the other representatives."

"Thanks, Fred." Anna grinned at him. As far as she knew, the Confederation representative were a bunch of hypocritical rulers from various kingdoms around the continent who were all talk and no action. This should be fun.

To keep up appearances, Vonco and Jordan pushed open the door for Anna and she took a deep breath before drawing herself up. First impressions. She strode into the large ballroom and looked around, trying to look regal.

The ballroom was large, and the ceiling was ornamented with beautiful chandeliers and jewels. The ground had expensive looking carpeting that was made out of thick wool, with patterns detailing the entire room from end to end. Lining the walls were long white panels which stretched from ceiling to floor, covering every inch of the ballroom. It was truly a sight to behold.

"Wow." Anna whispered.

"It's something, isn't it?" Vonco said proudly. "Molcorra's the best."

"And you are?" A haughty voice called out from the other end of the room. Eight people, the royal representatives from each kingdom, sat around a large curved table.

They all looked solemn and stiff, staring straight at Anna. The two Kings from Rafrantar and Molcorra were present, and so were the Dukes of Archdan and Einsfelt. The Princes representing Eliqnoir and Vjor were present too, and so were the Duchess of Xerflorn and the Queen of Exon.

"Princess Anna of Arendelle." Anna answered as majestically as she could.

"Ahh." the Duke of Einsfelt, a middle aged balding man whose name was Helmsley, said. "So you're her."

"Excuse me?"

"You're the sister of the one they call the Snow Queen."

Anna resisted the urge to say something unpleasant. She hated being known as Elsa's less interesting sister. Whatever. She knew she could hold her own against evil sorcerers and ride with the Warriors any day of the week. She returned a bright smile.

"Yes. That's me."

"Please, have a seat, Your Highness." Another young man, the Prince of Eliqnoir, gestured at two empty seats. "Will the Queen be joining us?"

"Yeah, she'll be along soon." Anna sat down in a comfortable chair and felt extremely out of place, like a fish out of water. She so badly wanted to slouch. "My sister's just…stuck in traffic."

"Well," The Duke of Archdan pulled out his pocket watched and peered dramatically at it. "I suggest we begin without Her Majesty, Queen Elsa. Her sister is here, at least."

"Your Grace," Anna protested lightly in a trained subtle tone that denoted slight displeasure. "Could we spare a few more minutes? I'm sure my sister is rushing here as we speak right now."

"And deprive everyone else of their time?" The Duke of Archdan said curiously. "Your Highness, that wouldn't be fair to everyone else, now would it?"

"Agreed." Nods went round the table.

Anna winced a little. This was exactly what she was afraid of. Now she had to tread water with the sharks. She wished her sister would arrive sooner. Elsa was way more experienced at handling politics and would easily be able to hold her own amongst the haughty representatives of the Confederation. However, this didn't look good for Elsa, seeing as the other members of the Confederation had all opted to start without her.

Come on, Elsa. Where are you?

ELSA

If what she knew about the Warmongers was accurate, they would take the weapons and the ammunition, and then execute the innocent civilians in public to incite more terror and chaos. It never ceased to befuddle her why anyone would want to do something as cruel as that.

They had to be stopped, here and now. Elsa gritted her teeth. She feared for her two League members, even though they were both experienced sorcerers and more than able to take care of themselves. Still, a huge part of her felt responsible for the safety of her League and Warrior companions.

"Jade, Deirdre," Elsa said through the mind link. "Are you both in the third carriage?"

"Yeah," Elsa panicked when she heard the urgent whisper from Jade. "Where are you?"

"Outside your carriage."

"Finally. These guys aren't fooling around." Deirdre hissed. "How do you want to play this?"

Elsa crouched and peeked through the glass of the compartment door which was stained and scratched. She could barely see anything, but she made out five men dressed in tactical attire with balaclavas prowling amongst the cowering passengers. Jade and Deidre were seated together in one of the aisles, surrounded by the terrified civilians. Elsa had to admit they were doing a fantastic job of lying low and blending in, after taking part in quite a few missions similar to this one.

The five terrorists were spread out evenly at different parts of the carriage, and it would be impossible to take all of them down at once. They were armed with muskets and knives. They weren't messing around. There was only Jade, Deirdre and Elsa herself to oppose them. Even if they managed to take down three simultaneously, at least one or two would be alerted to the presence of the sorcerers, and either hurt a civilian or escape to warn the other Warmongers at the front of the train.

"The same way we handled the Tradrock debacle. You two ready?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah." Jade said. "We are."

"Good." Elsa took a deep breath. Still remaining crouched, she placed a hand on the carriage door, and it began to slowly freeze over, ice covering it inconspicuously to avoid attracting the attention of the Warmongers who were still occupying the carriage. Then, as the door became brittle with ice, Elsa stood up quickly and clenched her fist. The frozen door crumbled in on itself, disintegrating into fragments. She quickly stepped through the gap where the carriage door used to stand, and shot two consecutive blasts of ice which knocked the muskets out of the hands of the nearest two terrorists.

Jade and Deirdre sprung up from their cover, and moved in different directions. A bolt of lightning went out of Jade's hand, giving the terrorist nearest to her an electric shock, causing him to fumble and drop his weapon. By this time, the other three terrorists had been alerted to the presence of the sorcerers in their midst.

The two nearest to the carriage door on the other side of the carriage fled through it while the third covered their escape. The third man raised his loaded musket and levelled it with the butt of the weapon pressed firmly against his shoulder, aiming it straight at Elsa. As he pulled the trigger, Deirdre sent a heat wave gushing towards him, melting the steel ball into liquid metal as it left the barrel of the musket. The entire weapon subsequently melted in the man's hands, and he attempted to drop it in a hurry as the scalding hot liquid metal coated his arms.

Elsa raised her hand and froze the man's arms to cool him down, and the ice melted in the presence of the hot liquid metal. As the disoriented man shook his arms violently to get the feeling back into them, Jade landed a fist laced with electrical energy on the man's masked face. The terrorist dropped heavily.

"Everyone alright?" Elsa called out, looking around at the passengers of the train.

The civilians still looked frightened and in shock, but they were visibly getting less tense as they realised the three Elemental Sorcerers were on their side.

"Two of them got away," Deirdre remarked.

"The priority was the civilians' safety, remember?" Elsa said. "But now we can go after them and stop them before they get to the weapons. Jade?"

"Yeah?"

"Did you notice anything important about the Warmongers? While they were holding everyone captive here?"

Jade shook her head. "They all wore balaclavas and had military gear."

"They're good at hiding anything that makes them identifiable. But it doesn't really matter," Deirdre said intensely. "We're stopping them here and now."

"Follow me." Elsa gestured to Jade and Deirdre to remain stealthy. She led them to the carriage door, and flung it open, one hand outstretched and ready to blast a waiting terrorist with a stream of ice. She found a terrorist rigging the coupling mechanism on the carriage in front of her, and held a hand out to Jade and Deirdre, warning them not to make any sudden moves.

"What are you doing?" Elsa shouted at the terrorist.

The terrorist finished his work and stepped back, smirking. It was then that Elsa noticed a bag of black powder attached to the coupling mechanism with hastily tied rope, and she instantly knew what the man was trying to do. Before she could react, the terrorist ignited a flame and dropped it into the black powder, running further into the next carriage the moment the deed was done.

"Get back!" Elsa shouted to her two companions as the black powder exploded in a blaze of light, which destroyed the coupling mechanism and separated the two carriages that were previously being held together. She hurriedly put out the flames with her ice before they could do any more damage, and the three Elemental Sorcerers watched helplessly as the carriage in front of them began to continue moving forward at a steady pace while theirs slowed.

"At least the passengers are safe," Jade said. "But how do we stop the Warmongers now?"

"I'm thinking." Elsa furrowed her brows as she watched the two carriages drift apart. She watched helplessly as the distance grew with every second. The terrorists were smart. Uncoupling the cars to prevent them from following so that the terrorists could steal the weapons with ease. Now there was no way to stop them.

Just then, a portal of purple mist opened up in the carriage in front of them, and Elsa's hopes were raised. Tracy and Melody stepped out.

"Need some help?" Tracy yelled across the growing gap.

"Just in time!" Jade hollered back, grinning and waving.

Tracy opened up a Crossing Point on the drifting carriage. Elsa, Jade and Deirdre hurriedly stepped through it and disappeared. Tracy then opened up another Crossing Point on the carriage she was on, and the three Elemental Sorcerers emerged from the Crossing Zone, joining Tracy and Melody.

"Thanks." Elsa said.

"I should be getting a prize or something for most valuable team member." Tracy remarked.

"Come on," Melody ignored Tracy. "We need to stop the Warmongers. They think they're rid of us, so we still have the element of surprise."

"There's only two who escaped, now headed to the front of the train." Deirdre said.

"Actually, there's two more." Maui piped in through the telepathic link, still soaring above the train and tracking everyone's movements. "They're at the front of the train, now being joined by the two who escaped."

"So four. We get there and take them down simultaneously." Melody said. "We can't let them escape with the weapons no matter what."

"There's no way they can escape off the train with all the weapons and ammunition. They're trying to commandeer the train. That's why they uncoupled the passenger cars."

"You're right. But they still need the train engineer to get the train to their destination, which is probably a stop somewhere along the way where more of their Warmongers are waiting to help offload the goods."

"So we get the train engineer to safety first." Jade added.

Elsa nodded. "Then we stop the Warmongers."

"I'll drop in from the roof and get the engineer," Maui said through the mind link. "The cab at the front of the train will be too cramp for all five of you to ambush the Warmongers without putting the engineer in harm's way. Once I evacuate him, the terrorists are all yours."

"We'll do that." Melody agreed.

"Let's go." Elsa said urgently, thinking about the summit. "We're running out of time."

The five girls made their way through the carriage and through another which was occupied by civilians.

"Move to the back of the train and stay there." Melody instructed the bewildered passengers, who hastily followed her orders without any fuss. They were all terrified that their trip had been interrupted by ruthless terrorists, and at this point, they would do anything to get out safely. Elsa had Deirdre and Jade remain with the civilians just in case.

Coming to a stop outside the door of the train engineer's cab, Elsa, Melody and Tracy crouched, waiting for the signal from Maui. When there was a loud crash through the roof of the cab followed by angry shouts from the terrorists, the three girls knew that that was their cue.

Tracy kicked open the door of the cab, and rushed in just in time to see Maui flying out of the train with the train engineer in his claws. The four Warmongers had their pistols and muskets aimed at the sky, too busy to notice the three girls who were breaching the cab.

By the time they realised, it was already too late. Melody had disarmed two of the Warmongers with arrows which stuck themselves squarely in the barrels of the muskets, and Elsa had sent streams of ice which struck the pistols in the hands of the other two, knocking the weapons far out of their reach.

"It's over." Melody said with her bow raised, an arrow nocked and aimed at one of the Warmongers.

"No." one of them growled huskily and inched towards the front of the cab.

"Don't move." Elsa warned.

"I'll listen to her if I were you." Tracy added.

"Or what?" the terrorist challenged. "You'll kill me? Is that it?"

"Last chance." Melody pulled back her bowstring even further. "Get down on the ground."

The man glanced at his companions, who had adopted a kneeling position with their hands behind their heads. He shook his head in contempt, and moved quickly to the controls.

"Stop!" Elsa cried but it was too late.

There was a small but loud explosion which punched everyone off their feet. When they recovered, the next thing they saw was the entire front of the cab blown away and on fire. The terrorist had destroyed the braking mechanism of the train.

MELODY

"What have you done?" Melody shouted, getting back to her feet and rushing over to the fallen terrorist.

"Since we can't get our weapons," the terrorist coughed, his body charred from the explosion and limp on the ground. "Everyone on this train is doomed to die." He slumped, his head hitting the floor.

Melody felt for his pulse. "Gone."

"Get the rest to the rear of the train, as far back as possible." Elsa said quickly to Tracy, who nodded. The three remaining Warmongers dropped into a portal of purple mist, and Tracy joined them.

"Suicide bomber," Melody shook her head. "The worst kind."

"He knew he'd failed, so he sabotaged the entire train." Elsa hurried to the front of the cab which had been blown wide open, and put out the flames with her ice.

"We got to stop this train." Melody said.

"She's right, we do." Maui said through his mind link. "The tracks end at the Molcorra station but if we don't stop there, the train will hurtle off the tracks and into the heart of the city filled with people."

"No…" Elsa's eyes went wide.

"We don't have much time before collision. I'm dropping off the engineer at the rear of the train and coming back to you." Maui said.

Elsa turned to Melody. "Any ideas?"

"I'm thinking. Are all the passengers and the engineer at the back? Are the terrorists secured?" Melody asked.

"Yeah. We have the Warmongers tied up." Jade replied.

"Guys, I have an idea," Maui burst into the cab in his human form, startling Elsa and Melody. "I'll try to slow the train down."

"How?" Elsa asked.

"Watch." Maui sprinted to the front of the cab and leapt out onto the tracks in front of the train. He braced himself with his arms outstretched and collided with the train. He pushed back hard against the fast moving train, his pillar-like legs flexed and digging into the ground. The planks of the tracks split upon impact with the demigod.

"It's barely slowing down." Melody noted, watching as the train continued to hurtle rapidly towards Molcorra station.

"Come with me." Elsa knelt down at the end of the cab and stretched out her hand towards the coupling. Ice covered the coupling which linked the cab and the passenger carriage together, freezing it entirely.

Melody understood instantly and shot an arrow through the now brittle coupling, and it shattered. The carriages behind started to drift apart, just like the ones behind them had done before.

"What are you doing?" Deirdre shouted through the mind link.

"I have a plan…somewhat." Elsa began hastily. "Tracy, you teleport Jade, Deirdre and Melody to Molcorra to evacuate the civilians in the train's path. We can circle back for the passengers later, now that the Warmongers have been subdued."

"Got it." Tracy opened up a Crossing Point.

"Not you, Tracy." Elsa said. "I need you here with me. I can't do this alone."

"You're not alone!" Maui shouted from the front of the carriage.

"That's not what I meant. Tracy, I need you here."

"Alright."

Melody caught Elsa by the arm firmly just as a Crossing Point opened up near them. "You sure about this? You don't need me here?"

Elsa looked at Melody. "Go. It's the only chance we've got."

Melody gave her a nod and leapt through the Crossing Point to join Jade and Deirdre in the evacuation attempt.

ELSA

Tracy teleported herself back to the cab to join Elsa. She glanced at Maui who was still stuck to the front of the train, attempting to slow it down. Slowly but surely, the train had begun to slow down but only gradually. They had already sped past Molcorra's borders and were now hurtling through the city towards the station.

"The train's not going to stop in time," Elsa said. "Maui's slowing it down, but we have to do something."

"Do what?"

"I have an idea but it's really stretching it." Elsa racked her brains, frowning hard. The station was coming up soon, and so were the end of the tracks.

"Huh?"

"See that hill up there?" Elsa pointed at a hill overlooking the station.

"Yeah."

"Get us up there."

Tracy opened up a Crossing Point on top of the hill and another in the cab they were in. They teleported up to the hill, leaving Maui to continue slowing the train down with his brute strength. It was still slowing down, but he alone couldn't stop it in time.

Elsa aimed her hands at the train beneath her, and tensed her muscles. Ice began to form on the wheels of the train, and crunched between the tracks and the wheels. She narrowed her eyes in concentration, clenched her jaw. More ice began to coat the wheels, this time in thick layers which encased the wheels. This created friction, slowing down the train even further.

"How's the evacuation going?" Tracy checked in with the evacuation team.

"We're almost done!" Jade shouted. "Is that train still gonna collide?"

"I hope not." Elsa said through gritted teeth.

"Hope not?"

"I can feel it slowing! But we're almost at the station!" Maui grunted as he pushed back even harder against the train.

Elsa withdrew her hands and threw them out at the tracks leading to the station. A huge pile of thick snow formed on the tracks, layering itself till it covered the station tracks all the way till where the tracks ended. The train began to slow down even more, but even that was not enough.

Tracy aimed her own hands at the back of the train which now only consisted of the cab, and swirls of dark purple tendrils whipped around it securely. She grunted and drew her hands back. The tendrils snapped backwards as well, as though the train was a dog on a leash that was being jerked on.

The combined efforts of Maui, Elsa and Tracy were finally enough to bring the train to a complete halt, a little past the station. The front of the train rested in the pile of snow, steam billowing from the wheels where immense friction and opposing force had been applied.

Elsa dropped her hands and rested them on her knees as she bent over. She heaved a sigh of relief.

"Everyone okay?" she asked.

"Yup." Maui grunted in exhaustion. "We did it."

"The people are clear of the site." Melody added. "No casualties."

"Good, good." Elsa exhaled. Then, she remembered, and her heart began to pound rapidly again. She spun round to face Tracy.

"What?"

"The Confederation Summit." Elsa had gone pale. Paler than she usually was anyway.

"Oh right," Tracy promptly conjured up a Crossing Point, and Elsa leapt through it.

Author's Commentary:

Well, at the time of this upload, I'm almost done with editing the 2nd draft of this book, and will soon be moving on to sketching out ideas for Book 4. Right now I have a rough idea of what I want Book 4 to be about, but I still need to string my ideas together into a coherent story.

Also, side note, a little bit more about myself. Pretty sure none of you know, but I served in the military and I've just left the service today. Am happy to finally move on from my command post as a sergeant in the armed forces, and am going to head to university soon. Will continue to post as regularly as I can even as I begin plans for Book 4.

Meanwhile, do leave a review if you're enjoying this thus far :)