July 26th, 1840
Tryggvason, Northern Arendal
Ásta stuck a finger into her still desiccated mouth, forcing herself to purge of her stomach into the sink of her apartment.All night she had become incredibly sick after killing and eating the flesh of two rebel soldiers, which did not please her palate whatsoever. It also caused her some annoyance.
It's just my luck that the old stories of my kind consuming human flesh with ease were bullshit. Fucking hell.
As the last bit of stomach acid dripped into the sink, she wiped her mouth and rinsed with some water before collecting herself. After all, she had work to do. She turned to her table of ancient Norse artifacts, selecting a specific necklace.
It was a beautiful silver and sapphire necklace, though the silver was so minimal it was as if the necklace was entirely blue, blue as a cloudless winter night sky. Each gem had been shaped into a long rhombus, with the largest centered at the bottom. And while the others were certainly beautiful, it was this one that crowned them all. Stark as an icy night, it was hard to tell if it was one's imagination or magic itself that caused one to see falling snow in the gem.
Despite being quite familiar with it, even the Draugr couldn't help but take a moment to appreciate the beauty of the necklace before she donned it. Turning to face the mirror, she mentally prepared herself for a moment.
Well, it's about that time.
She began to mutter in ancient Norse, as both her eyes and the necklace began to glow blue. Whereas before the necklace drew light in like the night, it now expelled radiance. She continued to chant for a moment, before finishing her spell as the both the necklace and her eyes surged before returning to normal. A twinge of sadness set in as she put on her cloak and mask, as a thought struck her before setting out the door.
Let's hope I don't have to carry this on for long.
…
It did not take too long before Ásta found Surtrsen, just as crazy as ever. Propped up on a wagon serving as a stage, as rain lightly sprinkled about him, he nonetheless was in the middle of a diatribe which was as far as she could tell by the number of officers and sergeants standing by tables with documents and clothing, was an attempt to draw in recruits. And by the very small amount of onlookers and even fewer takers, he was failing. That didn't seem to discourage him.
"-and if we do not strike south with a sizeable host, the Wicked Witch of the South will curse this land again! To merely wave flags and cheer is not enough! The men of the North must take arms to defend their homes!"
The men gathered merely shrugged, and carried on with their business, as the Major wiped a mixture of rain and sweat off his brow, before spotting his savior out from the corner of his eye. Gesturing for one of his officers to continue on, he hopped down and quickly stepped over to her. Happy as a school boy, words began to flow from his mouth before he even reached her.
"You're back! Thank god in heaven! With your miracles, we will have no trouble in rallying the people to march south!"
Asta's eyes grew angry. "What did you tell the people of me?"
Surtrsen shrunk a little, but still took a defensive tone. "Nothing, as you instructed! But now that you are back, what reason do we have to not show people that god is truly with us?"
Relieved that a spotlight was not thrust on her, she relaxed a little. It was bad enough that her failed plan in Arendal led to her discovery, she didn't want Elsa to know she was leading this army just yet.
"Tell me, Major. We lead an army south to fight the sorcery of the Snow Queen. And you think showing my divine powers to the masses, which may mistake them for sorcery, would be wise?"
Surtrsen face developed into a confounded mess. "Well, no-"
"Exactly. Besides, God needs the people of Arendal to save themselves from this wicked magic. If not, he would have simply struck the foul sorceress down already."
"I see your point, your Holiness. But how do I rally the people? Our forces have taken considerable ground, but the people are not rising up as expected! Without the aid of the masses, we cannot hope to best the loyalists!"
"Surtrsen, I have heard of your work so far. You speak to all the Christian faith, which is proper. The divides that separate the faithful is wrong."
"It is? I merely worked towards that direction with the impression that you would show us the true way god intended to be worshipped."
"No. God and our Lord are not concerned with such small matters of procedure and customs. All that matters is to hold a love for our Lord and savior in your heart."
The major looked really moved, but still a little torn. "That is wonderful, but the ceremonies I've held sacred all my life… I figured some would be wrong but to find out that all of it is meaningless…"
"Fret not, Surtrsen. God finds it all beautiful, no matter the faith. His only concern is that good Christians have butchered each other while pagans and heathens plot against us. Christianity must stand united in this regard. But let us put this aside, god has shown me much, and he assures us that we will have what we need to prevail." She paused, before smiling and gesturing up. "After all, our enemy will give us every cause. Look."
Surtrsen looked up, as a sense of dread set in. He hardly noticed that that the sprinkling had stopped, and in its stead, white snow had begun to fall from the grey skies. He looked about, and noticed that a few others had begun to notice, and had begun to panic. Already a handful of men were inquiring with the recruiters. Little did he know, that within hours the tables would soon be packed with potential recruits.
…
The Royal Palace, Arendal
Anna slipped downstairs for a late breakfast, as even the dread and loom of the council's actions did not rob the princess of her late wake ups. Her own fears had nagged her all night and since waking, but it paled in comparison as to when she saw Elsa enter the room.
She entered the room with a troubling happy expression, as she bore a nervous smile despite massive bags under her reddened eyes. The dark rings circling her clearly exhausted eyes, as well as her smeared makeup and her clothes quickly told Anna that Elsa had not slept last night. But she didn't seem upset, which Anna didn't know if this was good or bad. Either way, it scared her.
"Elsa, are you alright?"
"Anna, I did it! I found a solution to our problems!" Anna noticed that Elsa's eyes were unfocused, likely a side effect of having had no sleep all night. She likely was running on fumes at this point.
"Elsa, whatever you found, it can wait till you've gotten some sleep."
"No, don't you see?" Elsa produced a stack of papers, pointing to it excessively. "I can't believe it's been before us this whole time!"
"What has, Elsa?"
"The answer to all of this! It's simple, I'll make you my regent!"
Anna's eyes narrowed in shock. "What?"
"I can't believe I didn't notice it before. The Great Freeze, even before that, you've always been a leader Anna!"
Anna raised her hands in protest, as if telling a class of children to quiet down. "Elsa, this is insane. You are the queen, it's what you've been raised to do your whole life!"
Elsa's tone shifted slightly, as she shifted to a defensive tone. "Anna, leaders are born. Not made. I'll never be a charismatic leader. Not like you. People are drawn to you."
"Elsa. I don't want to be Queen." Anna didn't know how else to put it, and she had to knock some sense in Elsa. As much as she felt a little useless as the Spare at times, she had no burning desire to rule either.
"You won't be Queen, Anna. You'll be Regent."
"That's the same thing Elsa!" Anna was shifting from stern to angry, though her mind was too distracted to notice. "All the burden, all the responsibility, Elsa I can't handle it!"
Elsa herself was becoming cross. Why couldn't she see the brilliance of this? "It won't be that bad Anna, I'll be there to advise you every step of the way. All you need to-"
Anna stamped her foot down. "Elsa, no! I can't do it!"
Elsa snapped, thanks to a good deal of anger and sleep deprivation. She would immediately regret the words to come. "Yes you can! You're just being selfish!"
Anna's face was blown back with offence. "Selfish? I gave my life for you Elsa! What have you ever done for me?" Anna too felt a twinge of regret, but hurt feelings and pride had a funny way of overpowering such things. "You locked me out for 13 years, you abandon me and Arendal when your secret was discovered, and now you want to do it again! Did you ever care for me?"
"Anna… Everything I did was to protect you…"
"Was it? Or is just what you tell yourself?!"
Anna turned to storm out on a high note, flinging the door open. However she froze, before turning back to Elsa with an extremely worried expression. "Elsa?"
Elsa stepped forward, to investigate before herself freezing in terror as she saw two things that struck fear into her heart. Firstly as expected, a large streak of white flooded through Anna's hair, signaling her growing anger in Elsa. But it was out the window across from the door that concerned Elsa and a larger scale. There in the courtyard, snow fell heavily.
A ghastly Anna asked the question that needed asking. "Is… is this you?"
It was a fair question. The room had turned into a meat locker as a direct result of the argument, with some corners of the room having frozen over. And while Elsa had a firmer grasp of her powers, she still didn't understand it all. After all, she didn't know she had cast a region-wide cursed winter, and didn't know it. How could she know if this was here or not?
"I don't know Anna. I really don't."
…
Eva sighed in relief as the outer walls of the Town of Arendal appeared through the silent snowfall, before turning about and signaling the others forward. Tired, foot sore and now cold, she really wished her horse wasn't exhausted. At least then she wouldn't be walking. She and the others had been trudging southwards for two days now, first through rain and now through snow. Nobody had said it, but they were all thinking it.
Elsa had caused a second great freeze inside of a single month.
To think I haven't even gotten paid for this shit yet…
She was joined by a recently conscious and mobile Kristoff, who came trudging through the mud, still wet and unfrozen yet. Unlike many of the refugees fleeing south, the Sami had winter clothes packed. Arms crossed and bundled up, he began to walk and talk with the former soldier.
"So, I didn't thank you yet."
Eva grunted. "For what?"
"For helping my people, both born and adopted?"
"It was on the way. Besides, wouldn't do to possibly cross my employers' boy-toy."
Kristoff would have turned red if he wasn't already rosy from the cold. "What-"
"Oh come on. Fairly attractive lad travels with the Princess, next thing you know he is randomly chosen for a court posting that has little to no responsibilities, yet keeps him close to home? Don't insult my intelligence."
"It isn't like that… I haven't done anything with the Princess. Or anyone else for that matter…"
Eva, quite familiar with the shy admittances of more than one virgin soldier, turned and gave Kristoff a hard, shocked look. "You're shitting me. How have you not beaten around the bush with a nice Sami girl?"
"Uh… Trolls?"
"Yeah, but you harvest ice with the other Sami, don't you? You don't visit their villages from time to time?"
"I'm not really a people person…"
"Well no fuck. Neither am I, but that never stopped me from having a good time. In any case, what are you doing with the Princess, courting her?"
An unsure look told Eva what she needed to know. Stopping in her track she turned and began to chuckle. "Holy fucking shit, she is! Good luck pal, when she inevitably dumps you for a marriage alliance, give me a call. I'll use you, sure. But at least I won't fucking tease you about it. You'll have a good time."
"Okay, ignoring the randomness of your rather forward suggestion, Anna's not like that."
"Oh, I meant no disrespect to the Crown Princess, but let me dish some reality out for you. She is a lonely, socially inept Crown Princess in dire need for companionship that isn't her sister and Queen. Sure, compared to her last suitor, you are the greatest shit ever. But chances are, another Noble or Prince is going to come along, that blows you out of the water. It's going to happen. She doesn't know it either, but that isn't going to change how this ends."
"Yeah, but she trusts me. As far as she knows, anybody else could be just another Hans."
"True. But trust is just one part of what make couples click. I trust a number of men implicitly, doesn't mean I wanna marry them. Besides, how do you two bond? What's your favorite work of Voltaire? Or perhaps you are a Dickens man?"
"I don't speak French. Or English."
"She does. But that's Okay." Pausing for moment to mentally switch languages, she continued in German. "Perhaps you know a good poem from Goethe for the lovely Princess?"
Kristoff was awkwardly silently for a moment, before answering. "I'm not too fluent in German, only passable."
"So, tell me again how you intend to woo the Princess when you can barely speak her native tongue?"
"Be myself…?"
"Well, at least you get that much right. And sincerely, I hope you get the girl. But if you get passed over, and you will, don't let it get you too far down. You shot for the stars, and you missed. Shit happens. Just give me a call, and I'll give you one wild ride."
Eva quickened her pace, moving to the head of the column to once again scout for the group. Kristoff shoulders slumped, before settling on a confused expression. "Why are you so obsessed with having sex with me!?"
Without even turning around, Eva answered sure of herself. "I helped your mother change some of your bandages last night. I know what you got down there!"
Kristoff stopped, as a certain realization dawned upon him.
I didn't have any leg injuries…
He turned about, finding Bulda closer than expected. Certainly close enough to have overheard.
"Mom, why did you check my legs for injuries? I wasn't even hurt down there!"
Bulda smiled. "Better safe than sorry, but now that I think of it she was awfully focused on the lower half of your body…"
"Mom!"
Bulda simply shrugged, causing Kristoff to scoff in embarrassment and keep trudging on. As he shook his head, a strong gust of cold wind brought on a dose of reality. He had nearly forgotten that the land was in another cursed winter. Funny thing that.
I just hope you're safe, Anna…
…
Bit of Notes
Well, it's been over a year since I published this mess. When it started it was supposed to be a simple "Courtroom" piece that was merely a bridging work leading to other things. But then our lovely friend the Draugr came along and threw one hell of a monkey wrench into matters.
When I started this I was a bored, homesick soldier in Afghanistan, marking time into I would come back to the USA. Now I mark time till I leave the active duty army and go to the National Guard. To all of those that have stuck around this long, thanks a ton. Hopefully, I'll won't be writing one of these in a year and Aftermath will be done. We've entered into the Endgame now, and things are coming to a head. Let's just hope real life doesn't get in the way.
To all my reviewers, thanks a ton from the bottom of my heart. Your responses and criticisms is what keeps me writing, and I couldn't do it without you. Shout-outs to those who have favorited the work, and the silent majority who read my work. You guys are the best.
Hopefully I'll get something else in January, but until next time, peace out.
O7,
Dragunov888