Chapter Eight
Beginning of the End
ANNA
"They violated all the rules of civilised warfare." A red-faced Horatio shouted. He slammed the table in Helmsley's tent, making the already on-edged duke jump. "We need to strike back, show them we're willing to play their game!"
Anna pressed the bridge of her nose. If there was one person she didn't mind being assassinated, it would have been the marquess. Horatio had apparently survived the attack, thanks to Melody's intervention, though he claimed that he'd had things all under control.
She shot a look over at Melody, who looked equally as tired as Anna herself, but with a few cuts to prove that she'd survived a fight against a Mage Slayer. Melody had told her afterwards that the marquess had already been brawling with a Mage Slayer by the time she'd arrived. Together, Melody and Horatio had managed to tip things in their favour though the assassin slipped out of their grasp. And of course, the marquess tried to make it sound like he'd been the one to save Melody, much to her immense annoyance.
While the assassination attempts had been going on, an attack had been launched at both ends of the camp borders by enemies in white, according to Field Marshal Frederick. Both Frederick and Kristoff had been at one end of the camp personally overseeing the defence, and the Warriors had split into two teams to aid the Coalition in their attempt to fend off the attackers. But these were no ordinary soldiers. No one could positively get an identification on who they really were, for they slipped off into the night almost as soon as the assassination attempts had failed. It must have been a coordinated effort, with the border attacks being distractions while the Mage Slayers went about trying to kill the Confederation leaders.
That really made Anna wonder why there hadn't been any assassins sent to personally kill her. Of course, not that I'm complaining. It was just that it seemed strange why the Order - or the Empire, she really couldn't see the difference in her groggy state - hadn't wanted her killed as well.
And now, the Confederation members were holding an urgent council of war to discuss their next steps. Anna had hoped that the assassination attempts - though unsuccessful - would be enough evidence to prove that the Coalition was up against way more than they could possibly handle. Duke Helmsley and Marquess Horatio had both seen the Mage Slayers in action, and Anna fervently wanted them to both decide to turn the Coalition back to Korynes to quarter over the winter with the Vjormans. Unfortunately, that didn't seem to be the case.
"Yes," Duke Helmsley cleaned his spectacles furiously with a handkerchief, and wiped the sweat from his forehead. Despite the bitter cold outside, the duke was sweating profusely, possibly still reeling from the knowledge that he'd almost been killed had it not been for Anna's timely intervention. "Unfortunately, this changes nothing. I will not turn the Coalition around until I receive my orders directly from the King of Einsfelt to withdraw from the campaign. It is simply not done."
"Are you both insane?" Anna couldn't help but blurt out. She was tired, both physically and mentally, and now she was frustrated too. "You both were nearly killed earlier tonight. They're trying to stop us from intruding further into their territory, and you're saying you still want to advance?"
"Yes!" Horatio roared, slamming the table again and making the duke jump a second time. "They tried to kill us to make a statement. They wanted to derail the campaign. Are we going to let them think they've won?"
"That's not the point," Anna gritted her teeth, adding "you idiot" in her mind.
"Can you stop thinking about yourself for one second and think about all the men in your divisions?" Kristoff spoke up for the first time since they'd come in.
He looked like he hadn't slept in a few days, and the smell of sulfur and powder smoke reeked strongly in the duke's disorganised tent, where things had been strewn everywhere during the assassination attempt. "Do you really want them charging into a war zone where supernatural assassins and new enemies are attacking us, on top of having to deal with the full strength of the Imperial Horde led by Field Marshal Kane?"
Horatio narrowed his eyes at Kristoff and for a moment it seemed the marquess would challenge Anna's husband to a duel to settle things.
"Please." Desperately, Anna turned to Helmsley. "You have to see that this is crazy."
"We're two days away from Luftzeit." Helmsley pointed his quivering finger in the direction of south. "Two days. We're almost through with this campaign, and you're telling me you want all this to be for nothing? All we have to do is endure for just a little longer."
"And at the end, we'll have to fight the Imperial Horde and whatever else the Empire throws at us." Melody argued. She'd managed to hold her peace till now, but enough was enough.
"And we'll win." Horatio insisted. "I don't know about your guys, but my two divisions are ready to kill."
"And what if you're wrong?" Anna asked desperately.
Horatio puffed out his chest. "Then we'll all die in the snow with honour."
ELSA
"I take it the council of war didn't go too well." Tracy quipped as Anna, Melody and Kristoff pushed aside the tent flap and trudged into the royal couple's tent.
"What do you think?" Kristoff grumbled as he collapsed into a nearby chair.
Elsa sighed, glancing round. Tracy, Deirdre, Maui and Janus were sitting on the floor of Anna's tent, propped up against the sides of the tents' walls. Meanwhile, both Hansel and Gretel had returned to their tents to catch some sleep after the skirmish. Everyone was tired and on edge. It'd not been more than a few hours ago when a night ambush had thrown the entire Coalition camp into confusion and disarray. Her heart had skipped a beat when she'd realised that the entire thing was a trick and a distraction, and the real danger was taking place in the camp itself.
With whatever energy she had left, Elsa had run through the camp, heading straight for the Einsfeltai where Duke Helmsley's tent was. The moment Elsa got to the duke's tent, she was close to tears with relief when she saw that the assassin had been dealt with, by Anna no less. Her sister had collapsed in the snow after an intense scuffle with the intruder, the Einsfeltai officers told Elsa. Queen Anna had saved the duke's life.
Whatever happened next seemed to be a blur to Elsa. There was mayhem and confusion, that was for sure. After some semblance of order had been returned to the Coalition camp and the attacks were warded off, Anna had negotiated with the Confederation once more, together with Kristoff and Melody. However, it seemed that their requests had fallen through the cracks once again.
"They didn't agree to turn the Coalition around?" Elsa asked anxiously.
Anna nodded sluggishly. She looked more tired than Elsa had ever seen her in her entire life. This whole campaign had really taken a toll on her.
"The Coalition is leaving at dawn again." Melody said. "We're two days out from Luftzeit."
"Frederick expects that we'll run into very heavy resistance at Luftzeit." Kristoff ran a hand through his soot-covered hair, resignation on his features. "Frankly, I don't know if we can survive what's coming."
"Is there any chance at all that we can…you know." Tracy mimed splitting the army into two.
"No." Anna shook her head, this time with more vigour. "We can't afford to do that. Helmsley and Horatio have the support of their divisions. We can't just abandon them and turn around."
"And we don't think we can't afford a rift now." Janus added from his corner. His mask lay discarded by his side and his hair was messy and tousled, the hood pulled back. "Even if the Arendellians, Northuldra, Danish and League of Sorcerers retreat, there's no guarantee the enemies won't still come after us. We're nowhere near strong enough to fight the Mage Slayers, Imperial Blitzguard and Imperial Horde."
"Which is besides the point. We can't abandon the rest." Elsa shook her head.
"What's the Blitzguard?" Maui asked. His shoulder had been injured in the fight, the first bruise and wound that he'd sustained as a mortal, but otherwise, he was still in good fighting shape.
"The skirmishers in white fur coats." Janus explained. "I interrogated one. They're the new elite guard of the Empress, assembled by Hans."
"Terrific." Anna threw up her hands. "So now we have an elite unit of Exonian soldiers to deal with too."
"They were trying to slow us down, distract us from the real danger." Maui looked grim. "The Confederation members were the real targets all along."
"I'm curious though." Melody turned to Anna. "The Mage Slayer didn't even try to assassinate us."
"Right?" Anna said a little louder than she'd intended, glad that someone was wondering the same thing as her. "The assassin had every opportunity to kill us when we were in the duke's tent. Why didn't she?"
"The Mage Slayer didn't try to kill you?" Janus asked.
"She did, but only because I intervened." Anna answered.
"Maybe Magnus knows you'll pull the Coalition back the first chance you get." Elsa said. It made sense to her, at least. "If he kills the other Confederation members, there's nothing stopping you from turning the entire column around and retreating. Remember, Magnus has a personal stake in all this, just like Eleanor."
"What about our own plan?" Deirdre spoke up, having remained silent till now. "To get to the Order, rescue Jade and finish them off once and for all?"
Elsa looked at Deirdre, and then at Tracy. "Have you managed to get a lock on Jade's position?"
"I've tried." Tracy said slowly. "But nothing. There's a lot of sorcery interfering with mine."
"Must be Lord Magnus trying to block us out." Maui suggested.
"We'll have to figure out something. And really soon." Elsa said tiredly but with a sense of urgency. "We need to get Jade back before Magnus turns her into one of his assassins." She turned to Tracy again. "Speaking of which, where's the one you caught?"
"Ah." Tracy cast a sidelong glance at Maui. "She got away."
Janus shook his head.
"But you had her." Elsa said in dismay.
"Hey, these guys are more sneaky than we gave them credit for." Tracy argued. "I knocked her out with a kick. Or so I thought. Then when we let our guard down she fought her way out and escaped into the woods!"
"She's right." Anna said. "They're slippery. The Einsfeltai apprehended the Mage Slayer that I fought too. They stowed her in a tent with guards posted outside, but when they went to check on her, she'd vanished too."
Elsa blinked. "So we lost our two best leads of finding the Crimson Order?"
"Sorry?" Tracy shrugged.
This can't be happening. Elsa put her head in her hands. How were they going to rescue Jade and ambush the Crimson Order's base now?
ANNA
The Coalition finally crossed into Luftzeit, where the gates of the Empire's capital lay just a day's march away - or two perhaps. It'd taken them three days since the assassination attempts instead of two. For one, food and supplies were already dangerously low, and soldiers had cut their rations in half a while back in the hopes that it would last them longer. However, the Exonians had burnt whatever potential food and supplies that could've been salvaged from the nearby villages, and for some reason the supply train from Korynes hadn't arrived yet.
Anna had a niggling feeling in the back of her mind that told her something must have happened in Korynes, where the Vjormans had stationed themselves to establish the Coalition's new lines of communications. Perhaps Field Marshal Kane had routed a division or two to attack the Vjormans and cut off the supply line. That would've explained why none of the supplies seemed to be getting to the Coalition.
Morale was critically low, and so was energy. The soldiers from all the various divisions were extremely drained of fighting spirit, and it showed on their faces regardless of the colours of their uniforms. It didn't help that there had been on-and-off blizzards the past two days, which slowed the march considerably. It was a miracle that they'd managed to make it to Luftzeit in three days, but the battle was far from over.
Already the Coalition had been forced to confront more skirmishers in the day, which halted their advance and disrupted their rest. The enemy seemed to know exactly when to strike at the most unfavourable moments. And over the past three nights, the Imperial Blitzguard attacked the borders again, though this time the Mage Slayers hadn't shown themselves. Thank heaven for small reliefs.
And now on the fourth day, as the Coalition had just crossed a wide frozen river to reach the southern border of Exon, they were attacked again.
"Again?" Anna sighed as a messenger from Field Marshal Frederick made his report.
"Yes, Ma'am." The messenger saluted hastily and asked to be excused.
Melody, who rode beside her on a wearied horse, looked grim. "I don't know how many more of these attacks the Coalition can take."
"Me neither." Anna looked at the horizon with tired eyes. To say that she hadn't been sleeping well was an understatement. "I should find Frederick. Stay with the Danish for now." She wheeled her mount around and went off in search of Frederick, who had called for the march to halt.
Field Marshal Frederick was busy belting out orders and not far off Kristoff was speaking with his administrative staff. Exhaling wearily, Anna dismounted and approached the Field Marshal on foot. He was holding a hastily assembled council of war made up of the generals and colonels of the various divisions and brigades.
"Your Majesty." Frederick turned and saluted sharply, almost as if he had eyes at the back of his head. The generals who'd gathered around him for orders saluted and dispersed professionally, all looking drained with dark circles around their eyes and sunken faces.
"Another one." Anna said, not knowing whether she'd meant it as a question or a statement. At this point, she was too tired to make the distinction.
"I don't think this is just another skirmish." Frederick looked gravely at her. "I think this is it."
"This is it?" Anna echoed. "What-what does that even mean?"
"The final stand." Frederick answered grimly. "The cavalry scouts didn't spot a skirmishing unit. The entirety of General Hydrech's remaining forces are waiting for us, and Kane brought the entire Imperial Horde with him."
Anna went pale at the words. "It's too soon! Are we ready?"
"We'll have to be."
"What are our odds?"
"With nine divisions, we're down to about a hundred thousand or slightly less, according to the tally His Royal Highness assembled."
"And what about Kane?"
"According to estimates from reconnaissance, two hundred thousand including cavalry and artillery."
Anna's heart dropped. "That's twice our numbers."
"It is, and there could be more on the way." Frederick's military decorum still held up, and his face betrayed no hint of fear or wavering, but this had to be one of the biggest armies he'd ever faced in his entire life.
"Tell me we can fight this. And win." Anna needed some assurance that the Coalition could hold their own, given the state they were in.
"I wouldn't want to lie, Ma'am."
"Damn." Anna uttered under her breath. So this is it. They were about to deploy into battle against the entire Imperial Horde, once again led by Field Marshal Kane. To fight during summer was bad enough, but here in the harshest part of winter? And not to mention the sorry state the Coalition was in. Without much food or supplies left, what would happen when Kane decided to make this a battle of attrition?
Anna suddenly felt very angry at Helmsley and Horatio, who'd effectively led them into this mess with their insistence on finishing the campaign. But more than anger, fear began to set in like a storm. Would we even make it out of this war alive?
