Hi! Here we are with the second chapter!

Thank you all very much for reading. And also for subscribing and following this story ^^

We hope you like this chapter. Like the previous one, it is quite short and introductory, but it begins to introduce Elsa and Anna and the situation of Arendelle.

Once again and as always, thanks to Marcus S. Lazarus for translating the chapter and to the anonymous person who left us a first comment.

ENJOY IT!

Warning

Contains violent descriptions and a sex scene.

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CROSSED SOULS

Written by Sandy97

Translated by Marcus S. Lazarus

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2. TALKS

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A cloud of smoke invaded the night sky while a deafening echo of voices calling for help spread unstoppably. Elsa couldn't see anything, her eyes were stinging from the smoke and it was difficult for her to breathe. She tried to look for Anna everywhere, but she couldn't find her.

"Watch out!" she wanted to shout when seeing a ray of fire fall on a group of people, but the voice didn't leave her lips.

However, she acted fast enough to stop the fire with a blast of ice that instantly turned into searing steam. People ran in terror, no doubt burned by the temperature of that steam, but at least saved from being burned to death. Elsa was overwhelmed. That would not end well. She could not allow her people to die at the threat.

Then a shadow caught her attention: the alpha dragon and its rider. She didn't think for a second when she launched into action. She was too tired to rise into the air on an icy path, but at least she still had the strength to run. And so she did, chasing the shadow of that assassin through the streets of Arendelle, which she tried to extinguish in her path.

However, she was surprised by a terrified mass of people who started running in her direction, flooding the entire narrowness of the street, or what was left of it.

"Stop!" she tried to tell them, but once again the words didn't come out.

She struggled to contain them, but it was impossible and despite her efforts they overwhelmed her. She struggled to stay upright in the confusion, but was hit by a robust man and fell to the ground, hitting her head on some rubble. The commotion came immediately as her vision blurred. She blinked several times, fighting the new pain in her hands, trying to get back up to stop the beast from capturing its prey, but it was too late. In the background, all those people caught on fire, as the dragon's blaze instantly drowned their screams. The smell of burned meat was unbearable and Elsa thought she would die right there in fear. She held the bile as she got up. She had bruised her knees and had to lean on some rubble to avoid falling again. Her head ached with horrors, and blood began to soak her wisps of blond hair.

And then she saw Anna in the distance. And nothing else mattered.

Elsa staggered off, trying not to think about the pain.

"Anna!"

The alpha dragon and its rider were after her sister and she would not allow it.

Using her last forces, she created a great blast of ice that hit the dragon, piercing it like a blade. The screams were appalling as it began to stagger into the sky. However, its rider had not lost his cool and after a hard landing that knocked down a house, the rider appeared in smoke, ripping that gigantic chunk of ice from his dragon's chest.

"Anna, run! Get out of there!"

Elsa could not move. She couldn't even breathe. Anna didn't listen to her and that huge man looked at her with a merciless smile. Everything burned around him. And then, suddenly, the dragon stopped screaming and stood up as its viscera re-entered its body and the wound disappeared. The rider laughed.

"Anna!" She tried to scream without a voice. "Anna!"

Then she passed out.

—. —. —. —. —. — .—.

"Elsa, calm down," whispered a kind voice that measured her temperature and caressed her forehead.

Elsa opened her eyes uncomfortable by the light in the room. He still smelled of smoke and his head ached with horrors.

"Elsa!" her sister's voice shouted.

Anna ran to hug Elsa, who managed to get up slightly in bed.

"Elsa, thank God you're okay!" Anna had tears in her eyes. "I was afraid you wouldn't wake up."

"Be careful," asked the healer, a dark-haired middle-aged woman, "she's not quite recovered yet."

Elsa was very confused and exhausted. Her mouth was dry and everything was spinning.

"Anna?" she managed to say.

Anna released the hug and took her sister's bandaged hands, leaving her lying on the bed again.

"Yes, it's me, I'm here," she said, wiping away her tears.

"She has been calling you for a while," the medicine woman said to Anna. "She has a high fever, I haven't gotten it down, but she seems to be better."

Elsa tried to remember what had happened, but the headache clouded her senses and prevented her from thinking clearly.

"Where I am?" she asked. "What happened?"

Anna couldn't stop crying and released her sister's hands to try to cover her face and wipe tears from her face.

"Everything is fine, we are at home, in the castle," she began. "A week ago Arendelle was attacked, remember?"

Anna feared that the blow to Elsa's head might be more serious than it appeared, but to her relief her sister seemed to remember.

"The dragon rider..." Elsa whispered, "Where is he?"

Elsa tried to sit up, but the woman stopped her.

"You have to rest, your Majesty," the healer affirmed.

Anna nodded and helped the healer lay Elsa flat on the bed. The ice queen groaned in pain, but obeyed.

"Anna…" Elsa fought again, closing her eyes to avoid dizziness. "Where's the rider?"

Anna stroked her sister's face, which was sweaty from the fever.

"He's not here to harm us…" her sister tried to reassure her. "Just rest and recover, please."

"We have to get people out of here…" Elsa rumbled in her delirium. "We have to ask for help..."

Anna continued to caress her sister's face and smiled sadly.

"Help is on the way, take it easy."

Those words had a calming effect on the queen and she inadvertently fell back into a deep sleep.

—. —. —. —. —. — .—.

"We can't answer this call for help," Spitelout ruled in the great hall. "It's suicide."

The Viking council and the riders had met again that same night, as soon as the foreign boy woke up, and they had been together ever since, even though the sun had already risen. Most struggled with sleep and tiredness, but the impending state of alarm carried more weight at that moment.

Everyone was arguing heatedly about what was right in a situation like this. At that time, no one respected the turns to speak and everyone gave their opinion without listening. Stoick felt that he was going to get out of control at any moment if that bunch of big heads and socks didn't shut up and reached an agreement.

"What is suicide is just standing here doing nothing while Drago Bludvist rampages across entire islands," Alea said.

"Islands that are beyond our jurisdiction and with which we have no alliance," an old man named Gervasio argued.

"We cannot go to foreign territory and leave our island unprotected," added another in support.

"We also can't wait here for Drago to get stronger and unstoppable," Astrid interjected.

"We should warn the rest of the islands, maybe if we fight together we can beat them," said Fishlegs.

"And who are you planning to call? The Berserkers? Those thugs suck too much; they would leave us without food in a war"

"We are not going to enter a war!" Hiccup tried to calm the Vikings. "Do you forget that we have the alpha with us?"

That seemed to silence the Vikings a little, who were still talking loudly, but at least they were no longer shouting.

"Sorry son, but I don't think Drago would have ever climbed on a dragon again if he's not sure your dragon can't control him," his father said shrewdly.

Hiccup snorted and the tide of screaming continued.

"Besides, that island is haunted," Gervasio spat. "Vikings do not help witches.

"If Toothless can't control his dragons, perhaps the ice queen's magic is the only option to defeat him," Fishlegs observed.

"If that queen were so powerful, she wouldn't be asking for our help."

"Or perhaps she can't even kill an immortal dragon."

"Or all of this is a Drago trap to lure us into hostile territory."

"The witch may work for him."

"Or he may work for her."

"That doesn't make any sense," Ruffnut countered, "why would he sink his own ship?"

"They are villains, sister," Tuffnut replied, "they do bad things, kill people, gut goats, and worship man-eating yaks."

"Shut up asshole!"

"Shut up!"

"No, you shut up!"

"I'll shut up whenever I want!"

"Shut up, woman!" Another intervened.

"Hey, nobody tells my sister to shut up except me!"

"Shut up, both of you!"

"We are not silent!"

"He is silent!"

Astrid couldn't bear the Viking quarrel anymore.

"Well that's fine!" she yelled, knocking on the table and getting to his feet.

Everyone was stunned by the Viking's reaction and for a moment the absolute silence made everyone aware of how tired they were.

"If we continue to discuss in this way, we will never agree, so from now on, whoever is not going to propose solutions," she said, looking at the twins, "listen."

Astrid sat down again and Stoick looked at her with pride at her courage. The fatigue had taken its toll on everyone and that pause seemed to have awakened more than one.

"Thanks Astrid," Stoick cleared his throat. "OK," he got up from his seat, "taking into account all the opinions thrown on the table, I am obliged as a chief to make a decision consistent with what was discussed here tonight."

Hiccup looked at his father while his head kept plotting.

"The most important thing now is to stay calm and avoid a war," Stoick continued. "I don't know if we can trust The Ice Witch, or if her magic is real, but if Drago's return is true and he has an immortal dragon, the only certain truth is that everything we love is in danger and if we must ally ourselves with this island to defeat him, then so be it."

The Vikings began to talk, but fell silent as Stoick raised his voice again.

"Today I will send a statement to our neighbouring islands to be on alert," they all agreed, "and you riders, I want you to review every corner of the archipelago in the next few days in search of some clue that can help us learn what we are dealing with. The rest of us here will leave this afternoon for Arendelle to start diplomatic arrangements. Riders, you will meet us in the kingdom of Arendelle in a week with all the information you have. Any questions?"

The Vikings looked at each other and Gervasio, the oldest of them, raised his voice.

"How do we know that an ambush at Arendelle isn't waiting for us?"

"We'll split up into two groups," he explained and pointed to the map of Arendelle on the table. "Some will descend from the dragons and arrive by land and the rest will watch from the air to avoid surprises. When we all meet in Arendelle, we will make a light signal from the castle. If not, fear it is a trap."

"According to the boy, his ice queen pierced the heart of Drago's dragon and it recovered immediately… if this is true, what are our chances against that dragon?" Alea asked cautiously.

"Every dragon has a weak point," Hiccup replied. "And this one is not going to be the exception."

Alea nodded at the assurance the young Viking showed.

"Any other question?"

No one answered and in the face of this unanimous silence, Stoick gave the emergency advice as settled.

"Okay, you can all go to rest," he said, "it's been a very long night."

The Vikings rose from their seats, grateful that they could go to rest after all night arguing. Assemblies usually lasted several hours, but the well-known stubbornness of the Vikings meant that they sometimes took days and nights at a time.

Hiccup was the only one of all present who was still sitting in his seat, thoughtful. He kept looking at the map, analyzing that small frozen peninsula on which Arendelle was standing. It was totally protected from storms and tides due to the cove on which the peninsula sprouted, but totally cornered if it was a fire, since everything around it was forests and the only way out was the sea, protected by a cove that was easy to invade with boats. Those people were not warriors, that could be deduced with the naked eye from the map. They were too exposed to their enemies.

The Viking rubbed his eyes wearily. He needed sleep to think clearly. He looked up at the other side of the table, where Astrid was gathering her things. The girl had been taking notes earlier in the night and was now rolling up the paper to put in her leather bag. The truth is that Hiccup privately hated that carelessness of her with which she treated the role; she rolled it up without any care and then kept it anywhere. This was the reason why most of the time the Viking found nothing of what she kept. Hiccup couldn't help but let out a tired smile when he saw her press all those papers into the bag, crumpling them with the pressure; she'd surely have lost them all by tomorrow. He also observed the dark grooves under her eyes. She also looked exhausted.

At that moment Astrid looked at him and rolled her eyes, smiling mischievously, as if supposing that Hiccup was mentally complaining about how poorly she had kept the papers. The Viking also smiled at her and wished with all his might that he could go to sleep with her that night-morning.

"Hiccup, son."

Hiccup was startled to feel his father's hand on his shoulder.

"Dad?"

"We're going home, a long journey awaits us this afternoon."

Hiccup nodded, but as he got up he realized what his father had said.

"This afternoon?"

"Yes Hiccup, you will come with us as a diplomat."

Hiccup pondered that for a few seconds.

"But the riders need me," he said. "Toothless is the fastest dragon we have, I can help patrol the area"

"Son…" Stoick didn't want to argue with his son any more. "Please, if you want we'll talk about it at home."

Hiccup was going to complain, but he repressed himself when he saw his father's face. Stoick seemed to have aged decades in one night, and for the first time Hiccup realized that his father was older. And that he would not live forever.

"Come on, go say goodbye to Astrid," he added as he turned to leave, "but don't take too long."

—. —. —. —. —. — .—.

The foreign boy shyly ate the scrambled eggs that Gobber had prepared at Gothi's house while trying to decipher the language that both spoke. Gobber argued with Gothi about the remedies for gases and the old woman did not thing more than bang her cane on the floor, showing disagreement. However, what really kept the boy uneasy were the dragons. More than eight terrifying terrors were flying around the room, chasing each other or resting on the old woman's head. This was something that fascinated the little boy and terrified him equally.

"Here, son," said Gobber in his best accent, putting a glass of yak milk on the table.

The boy stared at the glass, not quite knowing what to do.

"It's for you," he said, pointing to the glass. "Drink it all, it will be good for you."

The boy nodded and grabbed the glass, quickly gobbling up its contents.

"Wow, it looks like he was hungry," he said to Gothi.

The old woman gestured to tell him that it was obvious, that this poor man must not have had anything in his stomach for days, other than salt water.

Gobber rolled his eyes and sat down on a stool next to the boy, putting his hook on the table.

"What did you say your name was?"

The boy looked at him thoughtfully.

"Finn," he cleared his throat. "My name is Finn sir."

"Sir! Gobber laughed at the boy's surprise. "Gods, how educated northern children are."

The boy seemed not to understand, but he grinned halfway.

The truth is that despite speaking the same language in both lands, the Vikings had been deforming the language until they built their own dialect. However, due to their status as travelers, it was common that they could perfectly understand the mother tongue that the northerners still kept. However, this was not reciprocal, and where the boy came from, it was difficult for them to understand the Viking dialect, especially because of his rude jargon and his rough accent. Hiccup and Fishlegs were one of the few Vikings in Berk who could hide their accent when they spoke common Norse.

The rest of them could scare a baby just by saying good night.

"Are you feeling better this morning?" He said as he ruffled his hair with the hook.

The boy smiled sheepishly and nodded.

"That's good, boy, now eat."

At that moment, someone opened the half-open door of Gothi's house. It was Stoick, who looked bad.

"Good morning," he said as he entered.

"Good morning Stoick," said Gobber. "You're just in time for breakfast, haven't you gone to sleep yet?" He got up to give him the seat and go to a plate of scrambled eggs. "Boy, say hello to the chief," he added, elbowing the boy in complicity.

"Good morning sir."

Stoick smiled. The thought of holding that child in his arms on the brink of death still made his hair stand on end.

"I see you're recovered," he said, sitting down where Gobber was. "Did you have a good breakfast?"

The boy nodded shyly.

"This afternoon we will set sail for Arendelle," he informed him in a friendly tone. "Could you show me the message of the ice queen again?"

The boy nodded again and rummaged in his pocket for a small cylinder of ice, where he kept the message.

Stoick unrolled the message and read it again. Last night the boy had insisted that he should keep the message —and seeing his terrified face— Stoick thought that the best thing would be for him to keep it. Now, however, he needed to reread it.

The calligraphy was perfect and elegant and despite the shipwreck the message had been perfectly preserved inside the ice cylinder. Stoick reread that message again, though there were words he couldn't understand.

"Anna…" He read the signature at the end. "Is the ice queen called Anna?"

The boy looked at him blankly and shook his head.

"No, Anna, no," said the little boy. "Anna, princess."

Stoick nodded, remembering that the king had two daughters.

"Anna wrote this message?"

The boy nodded again.

"Why hasn't the queen written it?"

The boy remained thoughtful for a moment. Stoick couldn't help but see his own son in that skinny blond boy. He had the same shy look and seemed very smart. He didn't appear to be more than ten years old.

"Queen Elsa is ill," he explained, "Anna has written the message."

'Elsa' Stoick repeated in his mind, trying to remember that for the next few days.

"The message," asked the boy, who insisted all the time on having the message.

Stoick explained that he would return it, but that he had to show it to his son first, since there were things he didn't understand. The boy didn't seem very convinced about it, but Gobber's promise to take him to see dragons made him finally give in.

Stoick left Gothi's house discovering that the sun was already high in the sky. He needed to rest as he was starting to get sick.

When he got home he found Hiccup still awake, taking off his riding clothes. Hiccup greeted him out of inertia as he unbuttoned the ropes from his breastplate and hung it on the wooden bars by the fireplace.

"You look bad, Dad…" he said as he took off the shirt to put on a nightgown.

"Today has been a long day," he sentenced as he stroked Toothless, who circled around the Viking, welcoming him.

Stoick looked at him wearily. No doubt his son had grown, he thought as he watched the little hair the Viking had on his chest. Stoick didn't know when he had grown up and yet looking at him he realized that his son was no longer a child. It could be seen in his gaze, but also in his body. Those fine charcoal-covered hands had been covered with keys and cuts, and the musculature of his body had developed covered by a scar cloak.

Hiccup, for his part, spread his clothes absorbed on the wooden bars, along with the rest of riding clothes, as he did every time he went to sleep, to prevent the clothes from getting wet from the humidity.

"I thought you were already sleeping."

"I escorted Astrid to her home," he explained calmly. "You?"

"I went to see Arendelle's boy," Stoick said as she extracted the cylinder of ice. "He has given me the message, so we can read it calmly."

Hearing that, Hiccup looked at his father with curiosity and then at the object in his hands. Her father tried to extract the rolled message from that small container but his fingers were very robust.

"Let me help you," Hiccup offered.

The Viking carefully removed the message from the ice object and spread it in his hands.

"I'm sorry for what I told you yesterday about Astrid, Hiccup," Stoick snapped suddenly, almost surprising himself.

Hiccup looked at him not quite knowing what to say.

"Nothing's wrong, Dad, I get it." Then he added, "Astrid and I talked about it when we got home and decided to leave the night visits until the subject gets a little forgotten in town."

Stoick nodded, wanting to change the subject.

"And the message? Have you read it already?"

Hiccup immediately began to read the message.

The calligraphy was long and elegant, fit for royalty. In addition, the quality of the paper and the seal verified that it was a real letter. However, Hiccup detected a certain tremor in the writing of that letter, as if the last sentences and the signature had been made in a hurry.

The letter read like this:

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Whoever can read these words of help,

We write these lines to ask for the help of the dragon master in the face of the attack we suffered last night by an army of dragons and their solitary horseman who calls himself Drago bloody fist. The kingdom of Arendelle is a peaceful kingdom and this attack has taken us by surprise, taking the lives of many innocent civilians. We ask for the help of one who knows how to defeat these beasts since our queen pierced the heart of one of them without causing any damage, and according to the sailors, only you, master of dragons, can control these beasts. We are desperate and trapped in Arendelle, protected by a wall of ice. However, it will not resist another attack and due to the civilian population and the number of wounded we have no way to flee from the castle. We fear that this man is looking for something in our lands.

Follow the ice and you will know how to find us.

Anna.

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Those words churned Hiccup's stomach, causing him some unease. When he got home, he thought about asking his father to stay and explore the area with the riders, but now he understood that they really needed him in those lands. He didn't want to imagine the carnage Drago would have left in his wake, attacking innocent civilians caught by surprise in the middle of the night. Anger began to wash over him, and he knew instantly that they had to hurry if they really wanted to save these people.

—. —. —. —. —. — .—.

It was only a few hours before sunset when the Viking council met in Berk Square. They were all preparing their dragons for departure and carrying provisions for the journey. Stoick also ordered to fill some saddlebags with bags of oats, flour and cereal since he didn't know in what conditions the kingdom of Arendelle would be and believed it convenient to offer them basic necessities. That would also help secure a pact, since he didn't know under what conditions they could negotiate with the ice witch. Stoick really didn't trust that woman, much less the customs of that people who had so much renounced and persecuted the Viking traditions. If he had agreed to come to their aid it was for no other reason than the common fear that Drago might become unstoppable.

"Are we really doing well to go help those people?" Spitelout asked Stoick as he walked alongside his dragon.

"Drago is a powerful enemy and if he is looking for something on that island that can give him more power we have to go there to prevent it," he said flatly.

At heart Stoick was not at all sure of the decision he was making, but something told him that it was the right thing. He already tried to run away from Drago once and almost got his son killed. He was not going to allow himself to make the same mistake. This time, they would take the first step.

"We are ready," said Gobber behind him.

The blacksmith had decided to take care of Finn, the castaway boy, so he had prepared a special mount to take him with him on his dragon. That afternoon the boy looked better, but still had a tremendously sad look. Stoick and Gobber had discovered that their parents died in the Arendelle attack and that of their own free will he had decided to sneak into the messenger ship that Princess Anna sent. The reason why the boy had gotten the message from Princess Anna was something that Stoick and Gobber had not discovered, since the boy had not mentioned it and when asked he didn't seem to understand.

"What about Hiccup?" Gobber asked, glancing around.

Stoick followed suit and released a resigned sigh.

"He went to instruct the riders already for some tools before leaving."

—. —. —. —. —. — .—.

Several bolts fell to the ground as Hiccup lifted Astrid onto the table. The Viking practically devoured him while her hands fought against the buckle of his pants. Hiccup held Astrid's waist with one hand and with the other, tangled in her hair, pulled her to his mouth.

It was extremely hot in that little room in the smithy, full of junk and pieces that Gobber said he needed but never used. It was not the first time that they had met in this place, but it was the first time that they had been against the clock.

Hiccup gasped as Astrid finally managed to push her way through her black fly pants and reached into his crotch. The Viking smiled pleased to notice his erection and pulled him closer to her, wrapping the Viking around her hip.

"You haven't made it easy for me," Hiccup said as he also tried to rid Astrid of her fitted leather pants.

"I'm supposed to be on a reconnaissance mission," Astrid sighed as Hiccup passed his tongue over her neck and managed to detach the garment from her legs. "You wouldn't expect me to be in skirts."

Astrid could hear her boyfriend giggle softly in her ear as he kissed her behind the ear. She felt her body burn with excitement and heat and she couldn't help but lie down a bit to ease his entry.

"Well… you're in a hurry," Hiccup expressed when the Viking grabbed her member.

"You're the one who has to go," she reminded him.

Hiccup wet his fingers and kissed her on the mouth. Astrid responded with pleasure to this kiss and began to stifle moans at Hiccup's intentions, noticing how the Viking's fingers had landed on her intimate lips and were rubbing her clit. She did the same and began to caress the boy's limb violently.

"Astrid, slowly" he groaned. "I'm not sure I can hold on…"

The girl laughed, without stopping the kiss, and took advantage of the fact that her boyfriend caressed her privacy to introduce his penis into her. Hiccup almost instinctively let himself be carried by Astrid and grabbed her hip to penetrate her. The girl gasped at the contact and clutched at his neck, wrapping her hands in his hair. Hiccup began to move slowly inside her as he kissed her, trying not to make too much noise. It was Astrid and her excitement that urged him to move faster, since the Viking kept moving her hips, causing Hiccup to penetrate her faster and harder.

They were both panting quietly as other small pieces fell from the table. The heat in the room seemed to have doubled and they both began to sweat, causing their hair to stick to their faces. Astrid was carried away by the boy's onslaught, noticing his hard member inside her. The first few times she barely enjoyed that part of sex, but as their encounters increased, Astrid's excitement grew as Hiccup entered her. She gasped with pleasure as the boy bit her ear, increasing speed. She clung to his butt, pushing him hard against her, making her moan. Hiccup held his breath for a few seconds, dizzy with excitement.

"Astrid, you are evil… I'm not going to take much longer," Hiccup said, looking at her.

Astrid smiled at him and gave him a short kiss on the lips as she lowered her hand to her clit and started rubbing it. That image made Hiccup lose all restraint as he began to attack her with more force while Astrid no longer bothered to hide her moans. The tightness of the Viking began to become more palpable and Hiccup ended up cumming when he noticed how her body tensed in orgasm.

Both were still breathing heavily.

Astrid hugged Hiccup's body fondly. He did the same, too, giving her a short kiss on the cheek, where the blond locks had stuck to him with sweat. Astrid patted Hiccup's head, lagging on his shoulder.

"Remind me never to do it again with the flying suits," Astrid expressed amused, noting how her back was dripping with sweat under the blue scale leather suit.

Hiccup laughed, agreeing with her.

"Never again," he confirmed, also drenched in sweat and kissing her.

—. —. —. —. —. — .—.

Stoick said nothing when he saw his son appear with a toolbox in hand and dishevelled hair. He would have expressed his disapproval at Hiccup being late if it weren't for the fact that the rest of the Vikings were also late, and in the end it was Hiccup who managed to get everyone to hurry up to pack and prepare the missing supplies.

It was not yet dark when the Viking council took flight.

The riders, for their part, also took flight minutes later, divided into groups and led by Astrid, who had taken the position of leader in Hiccup's absence. She was undoubtedly the most skilful of the group flying and the one who knew the search protocols best. However, she was the last to get on her dragon as she stood for a moment contemplating the council's departure. The girl had a bad feeling about this situation and she know that Hiccup too; even when he had tried to tell her that everything would be fine minutes before leaving.

Drago's return was not a good sign and Astrid feared that the attack on Arendelle and her ice queen was nothing more than a bait for Drago to corner them in a strange place. Another thing that troubled her was the idea of an invincible dragon and the fact that Drago was looking for something else.

"What more could you want to get if you already had an immortal dragon?" Astrid deep down knew the answer, but tried hard not to think it out loud.

—. —. —. —. —. — .—.

"Anna!"

Elsa woke up again scared, with the image of her sister cornered by that demon. The nightmares were getting her to mix reality with dreams and she no longer knew what had really happened and what had been caused by the fever.

Elsa was stunned for a few seconds, holding her head with both hands to try to calm the pain she felt. Feeling her hair, she realized that she had a bandage covering the right side of her head and part of her forehead. Perhaps the pain was due to the blow.

It was not long before the woman who attended her that morning arrived again.

"Elsa!" She was surprised to see her sitting on the bed. "Lie down, calm down."

"I need to know what's going on," Elsa insisted as she sat up. "Where is my sister?"

"Princess Anna is meeting with the council," the woman explained.

"Has the council met?" That made her nervous. "Help me up, we have to declare a state of emergency."

Elsa grabbed onto the woman's arms to try to get out of bed, but she held her back, trying not to hold her too tightly due to her injuries.

"Your Majesty," the woman implored her, "calm down, you cannot get up."

"Please, I will go with or without your help," the queen countered, still resisting the woman.

The woman swallowed, not sure what to do. "Well, at least let me help you get dressed first."

Elsa allowed herself to be helped by that woman, who introduced herself as Miranda.

Apparently she was the wife of one of the guards, who was in the castle the night of the attack attending to a soldier sick with pneumonia. Miranda didn't dedicate herself professionally to medicine, but for years the rumor had spread through Arendelle of her good hand to sew wounds and little by little she specialized in the work of caring for the sick. Now trapped in the castle with the rest, she had spent days without sleep taking care of the sick and wounded, but above all paying daily attention to Queen Elsa, who had almost died of exhaustion.

Elsa on the other hand took all her stubbornness to stand up and get out of bed, which was not an easy task due to her injuries. Her entire body was bruised and scratched, —this being most notable in the knees and hands—, which were practically raw. Miranda had even bandaged her hands with oil and aloe vera gauze, trying to heal them as soon as possible. She had also bandaged the right side of her head, where she had sewn up a not too deep wound that had not yet fully healed and that made her forehead look swollen and purple. The queen also had several bruises on her body, but the pain depended on the area where they were found.

Getting to her feet was one of the most difficult tasks the queen had faced so far, feeling like she would lose consciousness from the effort. Miranda helped her get dressed, avoiding putting the corset and the bottoms of her skirt to avoid rubbing the bruises. Elsa also asked her to braid her hair, as it was well known that it was not frowned upon in the kingdom for women to wear their hair down, a symbol of sensuality and disobedience.

When the woman finished dressing her, Elsa asked her to help her get to the council. However, and despite the fact that she had nothing broken, Elsa could not take a single step. Miranda carried her on the shoulder, trying to keep her on her feet, but the Queen contracted pain in her stomach. Tears came to her eyes as bile ran up her oesophagus, but she didn't allow herself to cry or vomit. She straightened up, took a deep breath, and step by step, began to walk.

Arendelle Castle was undoubtedly a huge palace, full of infinite instances and recesses that the princesses knew by heart. However, Elsa had a hard time locating herself when she discovered that all the rooms and hallways were full of people and wounded people moving from one side to the other. Elsa imagined that Anna would have opened the doors to protect all citizens, but she didn't imagine that they could be in that state. Throughout the hallway, cries of children and sick people could be heard, in addition to the sound of people looking for their relatives.

"How many deceased have we had?" Asked the queen, her heart sinking.

Miranda would have preferred not to answer her, but the Queen deserved to know what they were up against.

"There is no exact count," she explained, "since there are many missing, but we believe that there are currently about three hundred inhabitants, including adults and children."

Elsa thought her heart had stopped when she heard that.

"Three hundred…" he repeated quietly as he lost his strength.

Miranda used more force to hold her while Elsa leaned against the wall. That number was less than half of the inhabitants of Arendelle. At that moment, when she thought she would fall, a force more powerful than her powers urged Elsa to continue.

The wrath.

—. —. —. —. —. — .—.

Arendelle's council had not met as usual in the assembly hall, but had moved to the east wing of the castle, to one of the small rooms where Elsa and Anna used to play as children. The unstable situation of the kingdom meant that most of the rooms were requisitioned for the sick and families. The council, fleeing from the bustle, had hidden within those walls to prevent anyone from hearing them, much less knowing the hopeless situation they were in.

"We can't keep waiting to entrust our safety to some barbarians," Colonel Roston shouted.

"Barbarians whose help we don't know if we'll receive," Lieutenant Riell added.

"We have no choice," Anna defended herself, taking Elsa's seat at the table. "That dragon master is the only option we have to defeat those beasts".

Anna looked at Kristoff, looking for some supportive look at the table.

"We have already told you, Your Majesty," said the colonel again, "that it was unwise to send that message to the Vikings. You are not aware of the danger that this poses if we have confessed to friends of our enemies that we are in a situation of extreme weakness".

Anna felt helpless. She had acted as best she thought fit, thinking of her people and their options for surviving further attacks.

The night Arendelle caught fire, Anna sent Kristoff into the woods in search of the Trolls in a desperate attempt to find an answer to defeat those flying demons. The Trolls were the ones who read from the stones that the only way to end this evil would be with the help of the dragon master, the first man to establish peace between humans and dragons.

For this reason, she sent a boat in search of him, to bring him to Arendelle in search of a solution. However, practically a week had passed and she was beginning to think that either such a dragonmaster didn't exist or help would never come.

"With all due respect," said Kristoff, "we have nothing to lose if that's the situation we find ourselves in." He shot Anna a reassuring look. "Likewise, a wall of ice covers Arendelle; if they come in war they won't get very far."

"Our queen is very weak," said the lieutenant, "the wall will not resist if she does not improve."

Lieutenant Riell, despite his youth, had shown great courage during the battle, but his outsized sense of responsibility made him dismiss any plan led by magical agents or hunches.

"My sister is better," Anna said firmly, "the wall will hold, and you yourselves will be able to judge the dragon master when he arrives."

"If he arrives…" the legislator observed, prompting a glare from Anna.

"He will come," she said, refusing to be intimidated by them, "and if he doesn't, we'll find another solution."

"Tell me, Princess Anna," the legislator leaned back in his chair, clasping his hands, "what are you planning to negotiate with the Vikings with?"

Anna didn't understand the question.

"What do you mean?"

"Well, I mean, what do you intend to give him in exchange for their help? They are dedicated to looting islands and conquering new territories." Anna paled upon hearing this. "It will have to be something very juicy so that they do not stay with Arendelle once they defeat this Drago… Or did you think they would help us because they believe in justice?

Anna could see how some at the table were giggling, blaming all this on their lack of maturity and innocence. Deep down she read on their faces that they took her for a fool for being a woman. None of those men had yet digested that Arendelle had a queen and a princess in power, no matter what they weighed on.

"Of course I know how the world works…" she said hesitantly, but without being intimidated. "But I don't think there is anything better to offer them than friendship between kingdoms and more considering that they would ally with a magical ice queen."

Most of them looked at each other, unconvinced.

"Queen Elsa has not proven to be of great help in this situation…" the legislator complained again. "And more considering that after a week she is still in bed".

At that moment, the doors of the room opened wide, entering a cold current of air whose force also opened the windows of the room. The legislator sat back straight in his chair, mute, like everyone in the room.

Elsa, despite being covered in wounds, had a cold and determined look. Miranda was in the background since the queen had told her that she wanted to stand up on her own, even if she leaned against the knobs on both doors.

"The queen of Arendelle is no longer in bed, Mister Legislator," she said solemnly. "And whether or not those Vikings arrive, I'm not going to let that monster destroy Arendelle, whatever the cost."

See you next week! :D

REVIEWS:

Guest: THANKS SO MUCH TO YOU! You're the first one leaving a comment! You can not imagine the illusion that made me read you. In the Spanish version no one left a comment until the third chapter (I cry xD). I hope you enjoy this story very much. ¡Un abrazo!

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