Author's Note: I make no apologies for the cinematic battle scene in this chapter. NONE. In fact, remembering this chapter's theme music when you get to that part will help ensure you get the full effect.
Cover Art for the story is from the LexaRecovery tumblr. Stay strong together.
I do not own the television show "The 100" or make any claims upon it or its characters. Similarly, I do not own Frozen, its characters or any Disney characters or property. All these characters are used under the concept of Fair Use, and I make no profit or income from using any of them.
Our Fight Is Not Over
by Jo K.
Chapter 10: Challenge Accepted
Where have all the good men gone
And where are all the gods
Where's the streetwise Hercules to fight the rising odds
Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed
Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the end of the night
She's got to be fast and she's got to be strong
And she's got to be fresh from the fight
I need a hero
I'm holding out for a hero 'til the morning light
She's got to be sure and she's got to be soon
And she's got to be larger than life
-Bonnie Tyler, "Holding out for a Hero" (corrected for gender for this story)
—O—
Though the sun was just now rising over the walls of Polis, casting a rosy tint across the clear sky, it had already been an emotional—and eventful—morning for Clarke and Lexa, both of whom had been up for several hours.
"I wish I could do more to prepare you," Lexa said, admiring Clarke's strength as well as her beauty as the blonde slipped her trusty navy jacket over her shoulders. Like Clarke, it was worn in a few places and not all the bloodstains would come out, but it hadn't fallen apart, had been mended where possible and still did what it was supposed to do.
"Lexa," Clarke marveled, staring into her wife's bright green eyes. "You've already done..." she said, voice trailing off. She shook her head in wonder. "Honey, what else could you do for me, after what you've done this morning?"
Lexa swallowed. What she had done already...
Well, it was done. No use debating with herself over it further.
They were now back in their chambers, gathering the last few things Clarke would be taking with her to Arkadia. "I could go with you," Lexa said quietly, holding Clarke's hands in her her as they faced each other.
Clarke shook her head, tears running down her face and crossing the corners of her mouth as she smiled at the wonderful, amazing, loving woman who had chosen HER to be her mate. "You can't, Lexa. We both know it."
Lexa sighed tiredly. "I could let Aden lead the raiding party. He—" She stopped, knowing what she was saying wasn't just wrong, it was foolish. When she glanced back up into Clarke's blue eyes, she saw a knowing humor in them. "That... would be a terrible mistake," Lexa admitted, irritated that even love would make her suggest such a ridiculous idea.
But Clarke responded with not chastisement, but with a loving smile and a soft kiss on the tip of Lexa's nose. "Yeah, it would," she agreed softly. "Aden's not going to be Heda for a long time, if I have anything to say about it." She smiled. "And I mean that in a good way."
Lexa allowed herself to smile weakly. "I know."
"If the Azgeda are holding people hostage to force their clans to follow her, then of course you need to free them. We need all the allies we can get to stop her, plus an act of heroism like that could very well save the alliance as a whole."
"Heroism might be a bit much," Lexa said. "And if the spies are correct about them being held in Coldspire, then freeing them could be impossible. It remains one of the most secure locations in alliance territory, on the border of the Blue Cliff Clan and Azgeda territory. It has never fallen to siege, and we have neither the time nor the forces for a prolonged assault."
Clarke smiled. "But you've never attacked it, have you?" she asked, eyes bright.
Lexa stared for a few seconds before she blinked. "No, I have not," she admitted.
"So you'll be the first one to capture it, then."
Unsure of what to say to that, Lexa allowed herself to smile, getting a playful ruffle of her dark hair from Clarke in return.
"I believe in you, Lexa," Clarke said, putting her arms across Lexa's shoulder and around her neck. "I'll deal with Pike, and hopefully I'll be able to bring some Skaikru and their guns back with me when we have to meet Nia's army."
"The small bands I have sent north should be able to hinder her progress for at least a week or two, perhaps longer, once she finally consolidates her forces and begin her advance south, which will almost certainly be within the month. I have two locations where I would be comfortable with our forces meeting hers. The farther of the two is a week away, the nearer four days."
"And you're comfortable with letting her advance that deep into alliance territory?"
"No, but we have no choice. I will notify those leaders I trust most to be prepared to retreat and only put up token resistance. But the others must truly fight, or Nia will know we have something planned for her."
Clarke took in Lexa's argument and nodded. "I understand," she said, and she did. But it still sucked, to know that others were going to die fighting when they really had no chance. But this was Lexa's command, and her experience far outweighed Clarke's when it came to fighting Nia. "And I support you," she finally said, meaning it.
Lexa searched Clarke's light blue eyes for any sign of deception or regret, but there was none to be found. "Thank you," Lexa said. She looked Clarke up and down once more, running her fingers down Clarke's arms to her hands, then grasping her hands in her own again. "And you're sure you feel fine?" she asked, once again the concerned houmon.
Clarke nodded, a warm, happy feeling flowing through her body at Lexa being so protective of her. "Absolutely. I promise."
"Good," Lexa said, smiling. "Then there is one more thing I must give you before you set out for Arkadia."
Clarke was a bit confused when Lexa turned and walked into the main room of the chambers, coming back a few seconds later with a small wooden box. She placed the box down on the nearby table, opening it carefully to remove what looked like a small piece of metal armor attached to a thin leather strap. There was something dark attached to the metal plate, but Clarke couldn't tell what it was.
"Lift your right arm," said Lexa; Clarke immediately complied. It was when Lexa placed the metal object on Clarke's right shoulder and began buckling the strap around the blonde's torso that Clarke realized it was a pauldron to match the one Lexa herself wore that carried her red Commander's sash, although Lexa wore her pauldron on her left shoulder.
"Uh, Lexa..."
"Shhh," Lexa whispered as she finished buckling the second strap, securing the decorative piece of armor in place. She then pulled a string, untying the knot around the tightly-rolled dark fabric, allowing a thin strip of deep blue fabric to unfurl, falling nearly to Clarke's knee.
Clarke turned to look at the thin strip of satiny fabric, a royal blue throughout its length, although a bright spot at its end caught Clarke's eye. "Lexa, what have you done?" she asked, amazed, as she pulled the length of fabric closer to her, lifting the bottom until she could see a handful of tiny white stitches placed at the sash's end.
"They are stars," Lexa said, watching Clarke examine her new decoration. "To honor your birthplace. I thought it a fitting touch for Wanheda's sash."
Clarke looked up into Lexa's bright eyes, blinking against the moisture gathering. "What—"
Lexa cut her off by pressing her index finger against Clarke's lips. "This formally signifies what the Alliance already knows—that you are my second-in-command, and that you are to be honored and respected... not as my houmon, but as Wanheda."
Clarke threw herself forward, nearly toppling Lexa backwards with the force of her embrace. "I'll make you proud," she breathed into the soft fabric of of Lexa's shirt, her breath warm on Lexa's shoulder beneath the fabric.
Lexa's eyes were also closed tightly as she relished this moment, for the possibility would always exist for each moment, each embrace, each kiss to be their last. "I... I know you will," she managed to whisper against Clarke's hair.
—O—
As Clarke stepped out of the tower's main doors, she noticed the guards turning to regard her closely. She scanned their faces, looking for any who seemed upset or resentful at the sash she now displayed fluttering along her right side, but she found only the same combination of fear and respect that she had been shown by the people of Polis for weeks now.
"Is my horse ready?" she asked the nearest guard.
"Sha, Wanheda," he replied, pointing to a small gathering of people and horses farther out in the courtyard. Clarke saw a half-dozen Trikru warriors, along with one of Anna's and Elsa's frosty white horses. The blonde and redhead were there as well, talking and sharing what appeared to be a meat-filled pastry of some sort. Elsa had her icy rapier sheathed at her side, the white belt cinched snugly around the waist of her sky blue gown. Her shoes were as clear as crystal, but were modest flats rather than heels. Anna was wearing dark green pants and a matching shirt with dark boots, her bright white ice mail visibly covering her neck and arms.
"Not taking both horses?" Clarke asked as she reached the group. The Trikru all bowed their heads briefly, while Anna and Elsa turned to their friend. Elsa smiled happily, while Anna continued to chew her food, cheeks stuffed full.
"I told her not to take so big a bite, but she never listens," Elsa said teasingly. "That's my Anna," she added before placing a kiss on the redhead's freckled cheek.
"Hey, you luf m—" Anna mumbled, only to be cut off by Elsa's hand covering her mouth.
Elsa turned to look at Clarke again. "Anna is going to accompany Lexa, while I go with you," she said calmly. "That way we can help both of you, should it be necessary."
"I didn't think you'd want to split up," Clarke said, a bit surprised.
"We don't," Anna replied, mouth finally empty. "But I'm sure neither do you and Lexa, right?"
Clarke's mouth opened to reply, then stopped. "Good point," she finally said. "Then let's get going. It'll take three days to get to Arkadia. The roads are better than they used to be, but it's still a trip."
"Bye, love!" Anna said, pulling Elsa close for a kiss, which the fair blonde didn't resist in the slightest. "Be careful, okay?"
Elsa nodded. "I will," she promised. "And you do the same. No foolish risks, alright?"
"No foolish risks," Anna promised. "My armor and weapons still work fine, too." That much they had settled to their contentment over the last four days. While Elsa still felt drained when she attempted to use her powers, Anna's shield, sword, spear, armor and ice dagger retained all of their qualities.
"That gives me some comfort," Elsa replied, still visibly worried by the way her hands were twitching.
"Hey," Anna said, stepping close and letting her hands subtly drift down to Elsa's stomach. As Elsa put her arms around Anna to hold her, Anna's fingertips shifted to where she could feel the outline of Elsa's snowflake charm through the thin material of her sky blue gown; the charm, piercing and chain were all crafted from her magical ice, following Anna's design. As Anna gently teased the charm, lightly tugging on the chain connecting it to Elsa's belly button piercing, Elsa closed her eyes at the delicious sensation that always evoked in her.
"Mmmm, you know what that does to me," Elsa whispered in Anna's ear, knowing that Anna was likely smirking at that very moment.
"Uh huh," Anna replied softly. "It—" Anna gasped softly as she felt a tug against her matching charm, sending the same jolt down her gut into her pelvis. "Not fair," she whispered against Elsa's throat. "Using your powers."
"Don't care," Elsa breathed softly, a smirk of her own now on her lips. "You deserve to feel it too."
Anna enjoyed the sensation for a moment before she lightly kissed Elsa's throat. "These are special to us," she murmured against the faintly freckled skin, "because they have a piece of both of us in them. Something we share, something that connects us just like our wedding rings, but in a more intimate way."
The two of them stood still, Elsa's arms around Anna as Anna's free left arm gently wrapped around Elsa's waist, holding her close while they savored the sensation of being in contact with each other for as long as possible. Finally, though, they knew they needed to part, so Elsa could set off with Clarke.
"Take care of yourself," Anna said as she kissed Elsa's lips, then she moved to gently kiss Elsa's left ear. "And take care of our daughter," she whispered, punctuating her sentence with a light squeeze from her left arm where it encircled Elsa's waist.
"I will," Elsa replied, looking slightly down into Anna's eyes, more green than blue in the soft light of the breaking dawn. "And you take of yourself as well. I expect you to behave like the Queen you are."
The twinkle in Anna's eyes left no doubt how hard she would try to behave. "Yes, Your Majesty," Anna dutifully replied. "Love you."
Elsa's nose wrinkled slightly as she smiled back. "Love you, too."
Anna walked with Elsa to her frost-covered horse, gently holding Elsa's hips as the blonde queen stepped up into the stirrup and mounted her horse, subtly changing her gown's skirt into flowing loose pants of the same design. Once Elsa was firmly situated, her white rapier visibly hanging at her side, Anna patted the bare skin of Elsa's lower leg just above her ankle lovingly. "I'll see you in a few days," Anna said, smiling.
"Yes, you will," Elsa replied smugly, before blowing a frosty kiss that literally sparkled, sending a small cloud of blowing frost that engulfed Anna's head, making the redhead laugh.
As the Trikru watched and quietly laughed at the antics of the two, Elsa turned to Clarke. "Are we ready?" she asked, smiling as if they were going for a simple ride in the country.
Clarke smiled back. "Yes we are," she answered.
—O—
As the shouting picked up for the second time, Anna found herself wishing that she'd gone with Elsa and Clarke after all. So far, council meetings in this world were annoyingly similar to ones back in Arendelle, with all the posturing and bickering, although her and Elsa's ministers were at least much more polite.
The sound of steel clearing a scabbard, though, made things a bit more interesting.
Anna turned to see Lexa now standing in front of her fearsome throne, her sword drawn and brandished before her.
"DOES ANYONE HERE SEEK TO CHALLENGE ME?" Lexa roared, immediately cowing the squabbling council members and representatives into silence.
Anna just watched, a look of curious amusement now on her face as she looked around the room at grown men and women utterly petrified with fear.
Lexa's glare swept across the entire council room once, twice, then a much slower third pass before she relaxed her stance. "I take your silence as recognition that I am still Heda and I still command this Alliance," she said angrily. "This Council WILL oppose Nia and her latest attempt to sunder the Kongeda, and there will be no argument."
Lexa looked at the despondent face of Bent Trees, the leader of the Broadleaf Clan. "Bent Trees, please step forward," she said, using her more usual tone of voice as Heda.
Obediently the older man walked forward. His hair was white, his skin leathery from years in the fields and hills. He had been one of Lexa's earliest supporters, and when she had been told that several from his clan had been taken hostage by the Azgeda since Nia's return, Lexa knew exactly what the Azgeda ruler's plan was.
Lexa sheathed her sword, not taking her eyes off the weathered clan leader. His clan had not been the only one targeted by Nia's forces; the Blue Cliff clan, Glowing Forest clan, Delphi clan and Shallow Valley clan had all suffered abductions of key clan members or those close to them. However, of those five, only the Broadleaf clan had sent a representative to this meeting of the Kongeda to inform them of this development; Lexa figured the other clans were either fearful of revealing that information or simply terrified of her wrath when she found out Nia was forcing those clans to join her forces in the looming civil war.
The much older man refused to cower or plead with his Heda. He understood that his life was hers to take, and perhaps were she to claim his head, the next leader of Broadleaf Clan might not be so troubled by attachments. But Bent Trees was old, and he loved his houmon. He was old enough to have met his grandchildren, a rarity among the Grounders, and they were among those held captive by the Azgeda.
"Bent Trees," Lexa spoke carefully, "you have led Broadleaf Clan since long before I was Heda. The news you brought us today about Azgeda capturing prisoners to force clans to join her army is terrible, but in the end the fault for this rests upon Nia and the Azgeda, not on you, your clan or the other clans.
"However, you alone among these clans Nia has targeted had the courage, the loyalty and the integrity to face me, to deliver this news. For this, I promise you that I will lead an army to storm the Azgeda prison and free the hostages."
The wizened man smiled, finally. "Th-thank you, Heda," he said, simply.
Lexa smiled, genuinely. She hated having to lie to him, but it was a necessary part of her plan. "I will send out riders to gather forces beginning tomorrow. We will have your family back and the prisoners freed in a few weeks." She looked him directly in the eye, holding that gaze seriously before she spoke again. "You must not speak a word of this to the other clans. Go ahead and allow Broadleaf Clan to join Nia's forces until you have word that I have freed the prisoners. Only then can you safely slip away from her forces, for by then she will be marching on Polis and unable to pursue you."
The man bowed once more, waiting until Lexa nodded and dismissed him. After he and his small contingent left the council chamber, the remaining councilors began to argue again.
"We already face an army made up of five clans," spat Trajan, the ambassador from the Plains Riders. "Those numbers are already nearly a match for the rest of us! And now you want to take some of our warriors into certain death, attacking one of the most secure citadels among all the clans!"
"It's not certain death," Lexa replied, her tone of voice cold, but Trajan was hearing none of the warning signs. "Like all targets, Coldspire can fall."
"But at what cost?!" Trajan argued, his voice rising. "How many lives will you throw away on this—"
Lexa was off her throne and halfway to Trajan before the man could flinch, but when he did, he bumped into those standing behind him, nearly sending one smaller man sprawling. "Either challenge me, defy me or be quiet!" Lexa shouted, hands still empty. "Which one you choose makes no difference to me, as long as your cowardly whining ceases!"
Trajan's mouth opened and closed, but no sound came out. Finally he clamped his mouth shut.
Lexa nodded. "The wisest choice available to you," she said coolly. She deliberately turned her back to him as she walked back to the raised dais bearing her throne, watching the faces of Anna and the guards flanking her throne for any sign of reaction, while she also focused her hearing for any footsteps or sounds of leather sliding against metal. All remained calm, though, as Lexa once again sat upon the Heda's throne.
"Queen Anna of Arendelle, standing here beside me, will be accompanying our forces when we strike Coldspire," Lexa stated. "Her skills and experience with the cold with be most valuable."
"How do we know she's not a spy for the Azgeda?" spat one of the counselors shielded by those in front of him.
"Or an assassin?" shouted another, this one a warrior of the Crimson Plains tribe on the front row.
Lexa raised her eyebrows. "I know because I have personally witnessed the truth of her intentions, when she and her people came the aid of Wanheda and me, after we were attacked by an ambush party of Azgeda, including an Azkripa they loosed upon us."
"Where is this Arendelle?" asked Niobe, the older woman who led the Lake People. "I have not heard of it."
"It's..." Anna said, thinking as she stepped forward, finally smiling as she settled on an acceptable choice of words. "It's very far away." She turned to Lexa. "What was the region Clarke said it corresponded to on your maps? Europe?"
"Yes, a region called Scandinavia."
"Across the ocean?!" shouted a voice, along with a general rumble of disbelief spreading through the chamber.
"Across more than one ocean," Anna said, honestly, although her words were lost in the rising discourse.
"She speaks the truth!" Lexa shouted, standing to emphasize her point. At once the crowd halted what they were doing, with the few who didn't see Heda's movement quickly stopped by those around them. "We will not discuss how we traveled there and back today. That is a discussion for another time. But Queen Anna's Arendelle is most real. Wanheda and I have seen it. And Nia and the Azgeda have been there as well."
"They killed hundreds of my people," Anna said, her voice tightening. "My wife and I will have justice for our fallen men, women and children. As Lexa and Clarke helped us, we're here to help you in your conflict."
Nods went around the room, which Anna felt was a good sign. Whispers were still passing back and forth, though.
"How many warriors have you brought with you?" asked Trajan, eager to put something (or someone) else in the harsh glare of the spotlight besides himself.
"Oh, just my wife Elsa and me," Anna said pleasantly. "And our horses."
The onset of silence in the room was so sudden that Anna actually looked around to see if someone had somehow paralyzed all those assembled. Lexa was blinking, as were a few others, then she could see a few of the ambassadors and their retinue uncomfortably shift back and forth.
"Two of you," Trajan said, his voice measured. "That is what your 'help' consists of?" he asked flatly.
"Uh huh!" Anna answered happily. "Lexa very thoughtfully suggested we should be discreet and try not to draw attention, so it was just Elsa and me."
"Nia wields magic now!" shouted someone from behind Niobe. "How can two girls help us against that?!"
Seeing the disgruntled expressions spreading around the room quickly, Anna asked over her shoulder to Lexa, "Is this where I have to kick somebody's ass to get them to take me seriously?"
But a playful smirk crossed Lexa's lips then. "Trajan!" she called out. "Try to kill her."
Anna sighed as the broad-chested man immediately plucked an ax from its sheath on his back. "Really, Lexa?" she asked teasingly, reaching down and sliding her left forearm through the straps of her shield as the man charged her. The shield shot upward to meet the overhead strike of Trajan's metal ax, which promptly shattered as if it was made of glass the second it touched Anna's shield, now glowing with a white light.
Trajan's moment of disbelief lasted less than a second before Anna's fist struck his left jaw with surprising force, sending him reeling on his heels. Anna promptly dropped to the floor, using her right leg to sweep Trajan's feet out from under him. The man hit the hard floor with a resounding smack; Anna was up and standing, shield between her and her attacker, as he woozily sat up.
Trajan eyed the brightly glowing shield, as did most everyone else in the room. The temperature had begun to drop in the room, but that wasn't as notable just yet.
"Nia's not the only one who wields magic," Anna stated firmly. "And Elsa and I have much more experience with it than she does."
"Magic does not exist!" Trajan bellowed from his position on the floor. "Tricks, just like the Ice Queen!" he added, pounding his fist on the floor.
Anna's sword was drawn in the blink of an eye, its long, slender length glowing an intense blue-white, with the shield glowing even more brightly to match it as Anna pointed the sword's tip toward Trajan's head, less than a foot away. Frost began to form over his face immediately as the room's temperature dropped precipitously; the blood running down his lip and chin froze in midstream, a tiny crimson icicle stretching below his chin.
Then Anna's sword was gone, held down at her side as the light gleaming from it and the shield faded to a weak glow. The temperature stopped dropping and began to rise, but it would remain uncomfortably cold for several minutes in the room.
"If I had wished it, you'd be frozen solid right now, Trajan," Anna said, all trace of humor gone from her voice and face alike. "My wife and I have dealt with threats like Nia for over fifteen years. She's dangerous, certainly, and she does have some magic, or something like it, but she's no 'Ice Queen,' and calling her such is an insult to my wife."
Anna's face grew slightly flushed with anger. "Nia is a monster, reborn through the blood and suffering of my people," she said sternly. "And she's no match for those truly intimate with the cold."
Trajan brushed the frost and ice off his face and out of his hair and beard, skin numb and stinging from the intense cold. "Are you really a queen?" he asked.
Anna thought was an odd question, but still. "I am," she replied.
Trajan rose to his feet, nodding his head. "I yield to you then, Queen Anna," he said calmly.
Anna held his gaze for several seconds before finally nodding and sheathing her sword; her shield's glow faded further until she returned it to the hook on her belt as well, when the glow stopped entirely and it once again looked like simple frosted ice. "So noted," she replied with a nod of recognition toward the man, who took his place back with the others, while Anna stepped backward, returning to her place just in front and left of Lexa.
"Both Queen Anna and Queen Elsa are skilled fighters, wielding magic born of the cold itself," Lexa said. "They are also excellent rulers, possess keen minds and fierce hearts, and are experienced in the matter of warfare. We are fortunate to have their assistance, and the Thirteen Clans recognize them and their country of Arendelle as honored allies." She looked around the chamber. "Treat them as such," she stated in a slightly lower register, "or suffer the consequences."
—O—
As the men and women filed out of the council chambers twenty minutes later, Anna and Lexa stood in front of the Heda's throne, watching as the last of the representatives exited and the guards closed the doors behind them, leaving the two women alone in the large room.
"So was it really a good idea to tell them our plan to raid that prison sometime in the next two to three weeks?" Anna asked, not really wanting to anger Lexa but thoroughly unsure as to why she would announce such a plan to a room full of people like she did.
Oddly, Lexa was smiling when she turned her head to look at Anna. "Of course not," she replied smugly. "That's why we're leaving to raid it tonight."
—O—
The first night Clarke's group pushed until dark, with the Trikru quickly setting up a simple camp and starting a fire in minutes. The six warriors accompanying Clarke and Elsa moved with the quiet precision of colleagues who had worked together for some time. The lack of speech was so simple and comforting that Clarke allowed herself to get lost in it for several minutes, enjoying the simple noises of the forest around them.
It was the sight of Elsa sitting down by the nearby creek that finally drew her attention. The queen had drawn her knees nearly to her chest, head resting on her knees as she silently watched the moonlight reflecting in the swiftly-flowing stream beside her. It was then that Clarke realized Elsa hadn't said a word for hours.
She softly thanked the Trikru for setting up camp and preparing the meal; she knew it wasn't expected, but she liked tweaking precedent when she could. She took her wooden bowl and cup with her as she made her way to the stream, roughly twenty meters away.
At the sound of approaching footsteps, Elsa lifted her head and looked up, seeing Clarke's face faintly lit in the moonlight. "Is everything alright?" she asked.
Clarke smiled and knelt beside Elsa, checking visually for snakes before quickly dipping the bowl in the stream, then briskly washing it out. "Funny, I was just about to ask you the same thing," she said quietly.
Elsa tipped her head back to look up at the sky, taking in the full, heavy moon towering over them. She sighed. "You'd think, after spending nearly thirteen years apart from Anna while we were growing up, I'd know how to handle being apart from her by now," she said longingly. "Or that the fifteen years we've been married would have better prepared me for the periods when we have to be separated."
Clarke dried her cup after rinsing it off, placing it in the bowl where she had laid out the towel on the grassy bank, then wrapping the utensils back up. She then sat down beside Elsa, facing the opposite direction so they could look at each other. "I want Lexa and me to have what you and Anna have," Clarke finally said, keeping her voice low. They were still within clear sight of the others in the camp, but something about the moment felt like it required some semblance of privacy and restraint.
She was surprised when she felt warm fingers slide across her left hand, gently grasping and holding her hand. She looked to Elsa, only to see eyes that shouldn't be as blue as they were in the dim light looking right back at her, framed with a caring smile that made Clarke's jaw tremble slightly.
"You do," Elsa said, voice so soft that it was barely louder than the burbling of the stream beside them, but the words hammered in Clarke's ears with the force of thunder, ringing for several seconds while Clarke tried to collect her wits.
"True Love is real, Clarke, just like magic is real. It's rare, and it's not always easy to see, but it does exist. And you and your wife have it."
Clarke swallowed; she was trembling in the face of being told what she had thought about, what she had dreamed about, what she had hoped for, ever since hearing the unique story of Elsa and Anna. "Does..." she began, words choking in her throat as she tried to swallow them back down. "D-does it... make it easier?" she finally managed to whisper. "When you have to be apart?"
Elsa's smile shifted with a hint of sadness in the moonlight, and she released Clarke's hand enough to give it a motherly pat. "No," she admitted. "But it gives you strength to get through those times when you can't be with her. Because I know that no matter where I am or where Anna is, our love binds us in a way that can only be felt, not seen."
Clarke nodded, wondering when she suddenly became such an emotional wreck. And then the realization dawned on her: she was married. She had a wife, someone to build a future with... in a world that had proven incredibly adept at yanking hope and life away in the most brutal ways possible.
She had something to lose now. Something incredibly, indescribably precious.
"How do you do it?" Clarke asked, her throat raw and voice hoarse as she looked away from the stars and back at Elsa. "Kiss your kids goodbye, trust them and your friends to run your kingdom and step into a world where it feels like everything and everyone wants to kill youand the ones you love?"
Elsa blinked a few times, unsure for a moment of whether Clarke was being critical of her and Anna's decision to travel to this world or whether it was honest curiosity asking a question in a poorly-worded fashion. And then she remembered something crucial, something she and Anna had been told that first night they had been able to sit and talk with the two visitors from another world.
Clarke was just six years older than Elin and Erin. A bit less than six years, actually, as the twins would be turning fourteen in a few months.
Elsa felt her heart break at that sobering realization. Clarke, and to a slightly lesser extent, Lexa, were just outside of being children themselves, still in the throes of adolescence, and the cruelty of fate had forced them into roles that would be heartbreakingly painful for experienced adults... exactly as fate had forced the same upon her and Anna, at almost the same age.
So Elsa bit back the sharp reply she had been prepared to make, and she took a moment to soften her words and voice. For once, her powers being hesitant to work in this world was a good thing, otherwise plummeting temperature would have given away her irritation at Clarke's question. "We do it," Elsa said finally, "because it needs to be done. Because we have friends who could use our help, and because we're in a position where we can."
Patiently, she held Clarke's gaze for several seconds, neither of them blinking or looking away. "You already know the answer, Clarke, because it's why you do what you have to do. Because it needs to be done, because you're capable of carrying the burden, and because you can't look away while other people are suffering. Because you have a responsibility to others who look up to you and follow you. Because you're a good person, and a person who needs to do good."
Clarke made a noise that hinted of disgust. "I don't feel like a good person sometimes."
"That's because you care enough to question what you're doing," Elsa quickly replied. "To ask if you've done enough, if it was worth the cost to you physically and emotionally. To ask if what you did was right, or if it was easy."
Clarke smiled, looking down at the flowing water for a few seconds before looking back up at the blonde intently watching her. "You're a pretty good mom, you know that?" she said, voice breaking slightly.
Elsa's eyes practically sparkled, and again Clarke wondered if there was something to her magic making them look so blue, even at night. "That's one of the highest compliments I could ever receive," Elsa replied. "Thank you."
"I mean it. You and Anna, you have just, such a gentle way about you, that it's easy to forget that you've raised three daughters together. And done a really damn good job, from what I can tell."
Now it was Elsa's turn to laugh, briefly but fully. "Well, I hope you never have to see either of us when we're not being 'gentle,' because it might frighten you."
"I hope so too," Clarke answered softly. "Thank you. For coming with us, to help."
"Of course," Elsa said politely. "Arendelle will not turn its back on a friend. Neither will Anna nor I."
Clarke gestured at the stream. "Is your magic getting any easier?"
Elsa looked the blonde for a few moments before she turned to look at the creek. "I've learned a bit more," she said. "For instance," she said, extending her right arm over the water. "I've learned it's much easier to do this," she said, dipping the tip of her finger into the creek and sending a pulse of magic to freeze the surface solid for several feet around her before lifting her finger out and letting the ice crumble back into water, "than it is to do this." Now she held her hand several feet over the water, and she had to lightly strain to freeze the surface of the creek solid once more, the solidification spreading significantly more slowly than it had the first time.
"So distance is important," Clarke remarked.
Elsa nodded. "Yes, much more than it is back home. My powers are also slower to respond and to react, and as you've already seen, it's much more draining to use them than I'm used to."
Clarke considered all that as she thought about how quiet Elsa had been through the day. "Do you think your magic is protecting you from the radiation?" she finally asked.
Elsa tilted her head. "I hadn't considered that," she admitted. "I haven't felt any effects from this invisible toxin you spoke of since we've been here, but I suppose I wouldn't if the cold was shielding me from its effects." Immediately Elsa's mind went to the next logical place, and she felt a cold gnawing of concern in the bottom of her gut.
"Do you think..."
Elsa's blue eyes snapped back up to focus at Clarke, stopping the other blonde's words. "I... I don't know," Elsa finally admitted after several long seconds of consideration. "Anna has a connection with the cold herself, slightly different than mine, so hopefully she'll be protected as well," Elsa spoke, trying to reassure herself as much as she was Clarke. "She's not in any pain, at least."
Clarke nodded, unsure if Elsa could somehow actually feel Anna through their magic or if she was just trying to convince herself. "I don't want either of you to get hurt trying to help us," she finally said.
"It's a risk we're willing to take for our friends," Elsa said, looking back at the camp to see that all of the Trikru were standing up and looking in their direction, possibly to make sure Clarke was safe but more likely watching what Elsa had done with the creek. With a flick of her wrist, Elsa dismissed the magic keeping the surface of the creek frozen, causing the sheet of ice to crumble back into water with a light splash.
"I think our companions are a bit nervous about my magic," Elsa said quietly, a slight grin on her face. "It doesn't bother me. It's just funny. Freya knows they're more polite about their curiosity than some have been over the years."
Clarke stood, extending a hand to help Elsa up as well. The queen politely accepted Clarke's hand but took her feet with only minimal assistance. "Make sure you make one of those little ice houses to sleep in, like you did for you and Anna," Clarke whispered, patting Elsa's back as they started back toward the main camp. "They'll love it."
—O—
The full moon shined through the dark night as Anna looked up at the steep slope of the ridge atop which the citadel Coldspire rested. The walls of the fortress were clearly visible from the valley below, sheer stone that stretched across the entire narrow ridge, lit by the torches placed at the corners of the fortress. Only a single road approached it from the front, long and winding to force an attacking army to slowly make their way up the road, exposed to attack the entire way. Its occupying force knew how to use the land and environment to their benefit, and they were well-accustomed to the frigid temperatures here.
It was a well-defended place, Anna had to admit. But tonight it was going to fall.
—O—
"So a direct attack is out of the question," Anna asked as she and Lexa examined the detailed drawn map of the fortress and the old, strangely marked map of the mountains around it. A small table had been set up outside Lexa's tent, much smaller than her usual traveling quarters due to the need to travel light and fast. It had taken them two days of hard riding with the eight warriors Lexa had chosen to accompany them, but they were finally near the Azgeda mountain citadel. They had set up camp under the cover of thick evergreens, further shielded by the layer of snow that always seemed to be falling this far north.
"Absolutely," Lexa nodded. She placed the tip of her index finger on the hand-drawn map of the fortress, indicating the serpentine path leading to the fortress's massive metal gates. "The curves of the path prevent an army from closing with speed, providing multiple opportunities for the archers on the walls to whittle away at an attacker's numbers as the invading force has to twist and turn back and forth, moving in a predictable pattern. The curving path also drastically limits the effectiveness of any rams or siege engines, both by increasing the distance that has to be covered to actually reach the gates as well as removing any chance to build up momentum for a charge."
Lexa slid the hand-drawn map around, pulling the worn multicolored map with incredibly clear details, something she called a "satellite imaging" map, closer. "Coldspire sits here," Lexa indicated, pointing first at a rectangular structure, then at a small line that looped back and forth on the map. "Here is the circuitous path to the front gates," she added, tapping twice. "And here," she said, sliding her finger to a much smaller line on the opposite side of the fortress, "is a supply road, used by the Azgeda when the fortress needs to be provisioned. Far too small to bring a large force, but a small force could use it to reach the citadel... IF the Azgeda didn't take precautions to prevent an attacker from doing that very thing."
Anna thought for a moment as Lexa paused. "Okay," she finally said. "What precautions?"
"First, archers at lookout points scattered along the path's approach. Then a smaller but still quite sturdy gate at the rear of the castle, made of reinforced iron bars. But the most effective obstacle is the path itself."
Lexa looked up; Anna met her gaze. "Go on," Anna encouraged her, curiosity piqued at Lexa's presentation. Which she was sure was the brunette's point. Lexa was going somewhere with this, so Anna was going to play along. Despite Lexa's serious demeanor most of the time, Anna had learned the woman also possessed a well-hidden appreciation for modest theatrics, which Anna thought was a perfectly good quality, considering she possessed it as well.
"The path has a significant slope as it rises to the citadel, with its sides falling away to nothing but steep cliffs on both sides through most of its length. The only safe way onto the path is deep in Azgeda lands, guarded constantly. There are a few places where the slope is more reasonable and could scaled in good weather, but once on the path there remains one final problem that must be surmounted.
"The Azgeda have channeled the small stream that feeds the citadel so that they can use it to flood the pathway with water, kept from spilling off the path by small walls built along the sides of its length. The walls are just barely knee-high; ineffective to keep someone from falling off the sides, but perfectly suited to direct water down the sloped road. No attackers have ever been able to use this supply road to reach Coldspire because the Azgeda use the water flow, the low temperature and the high altitude to create a solid sheet..."
Lexa paused as Anna began to grin madly.
"... of ice."
—O—
"Are you ready?" Anna asked over her shoulder.
Lexa's arms tightened around Anna where she sat behind the Arendellan; the two of them were both on Anna's frost mount, looking at the angled side of the ridge leading up to the supply path. The magical creature was more than strong enough to carry both women, with Anna holding the reins and Lexa seated behind her. There had been a bit of adjustment required with Lexa's sword and scabbard, but shifting her belt to the side had corrected that.
The "bulletproof vest," as Clarke had called it the morning she had left for Arkadia, wasn't the most comfortable thing Lexa had ever worn, but she understood the need to protect herself from arrows during this attack. While Anna would be the one exposed to frontal attack during their ride, Lexa's back would be exposed to any archers they left in their wake. It had taken some effort on her houmon's part to convince Lexa to even touch anything that came from Maunon, but in the end Lexa had succumbed to practicality (and her houmon's very earnest concern for her safety) and agreed to take it with her for the raid on Coldspire. She had quickly adjusted to the garment's modest weight; in fact, it reminded her of the weighted training vests she used to wear during her childhood training.
"Lexa?"
Pushing the reminiscence aside, Lexa focused on what they were about to do. "I am ready," she replied. "And you're sure that—"
The abrupt jerking of the horse beneath them cut off Lexa's words, and she nearly bit her tongue at the sudden surge forward. The protective enchantment Elsa had placed on her to protect against the cold was continuing to work, thankfully, or the icy saddle and the frost mount's body beneath her and between her legs would likely have already started to cause frostbite to sensitive areas otherwise.
As they approached the slope of the ridge, Lexa swallowed her doubt about whether or not the magical creature they were riding could climb the snow-covered side of the ridge, even at this relatively minor grade. Those doubts were quickly dispelled when she felt the pull of gravity against her body as the steed began to power its way up the snowy incline, its hooves somehow finding traction where none should have existed. The horse was moving slower now, but its legs continued to churn beneath them, causing Lexa to cling uncomfortably to Anna out of necessity as gravity tried to pull them off the saddle.
"I don't like being the one holding on," Lexa said quietly, prompting a quiet chuckle from Anna.
"Really," she said sardonically. "I never would have guessed that."
Lexa might have rolled her eyes, but she would deny it if asked later. "No need to sound smug about it," she replied.
And then suddenly the world tilted again, and they were atop the frozen path. Lexa looked down to see the partially translucent sheen of thick ice beneath them, the moonlight casting a silvery shine on the opaque surface.
Anna lifted the hood of her ice mail over her head, leaving her twin braids hanging out to each side of her neck, then leaned to her left and grabbed her shield, sliding it on her left forearm and angling it slightly as she positioned it in front of head.
Though she couldn't see Anna's face, Lexa could hear the giddiness in her voice as Anna said, "Now it's time for some fun."
—O—
While she would have denied it to anyone save Clarke, there had been a few times in Lexa's life when she was truly afraid.
Her first training session with Anya, when the acerbic warrior had stopped just short of driving a sword through Lexa's throat when the young girl became frustrated and let her guard falter while sparring with her mentor.
The first time she kissed Costia, when a newly-teenaged Lexa began to doubt whether the chance of being Heda was truly worth what she would have to sacrifice.
When she had been told of Costia's abduction by Nia, for Lexa knew she would never see the girl she had fallen in love alive again.
When death rained from the sky in the form of a "missile" sent by Maunon to kill Clarke and her both.
When she heard gunshots in Clarke's chambers, and feared for the life of the woman she had sworn never to fall in love with, but did anyway.
And now she could add to the list riding upon a galloping horse, moving much faster than any horse she had ever ridden, racing up a narrow ice-covered pathway with sheer cliffs falling away on both sides, hanging on for dear life to a possibly insane redheaded queen who insisted on laughing as they leaned sharply into each turn while arrows whizzed past them.
It was the lack of control that made her so uncomfortable, Lexa knew. Had she been the one guiding the horse, there wouldn't have been the feeling of not being in control of her life, but even so, gods, it was exhilarating.
Leaning with Anna through the bends and turns of the path, feeling the cold air rush by her head, the arrows invisible in the night until they were close enough to be heard as they shot past, feeling the horse thundering beneath them as it traversed the icy path as smoothly and securely as it would a grassy field...
It sang to the wildness in Lexa's black blood, terrifying and elating her at the same time. They were two women attacking a fortress by themselves, and somehow, someway, Lexa knew they had a chance.
They had been past the first archers before the Azgeda even had a chance to ready their bows. The second archers didn't have time to get a shot off before they were past them as well, their arrows falling well short of their speeding target. The third pair of archers managed to come close with their shots, but other than one arrow that deflected off Anna's shield, they had missed as well.
"How fast can this horse run?" Lexa called out, over the rushing wind blowing against their faces. The mountains to their right and the valley to their left were mere blurs as they raced up the solid sheet of ice.
"I don't know!" Anna replied, guiding Lexa as they leaned into another curve in the path. An arrow flashed in front of them, passing from their right to their left but missing them by several feet. "Do you think I should go faster?"
Lexa swallowed rather than answer that question. "The last set of archers is coming up. They're within range of the rear gate, so we'll have to be quick to get past it, like we discussed."
"Got it!" Anna replied, lifting her shield slightly as she felt the device buzzing against her. The thunk of an arrow deflecting off the shield was distinctive, and Lexa was glad she and Anna were keeping their heads down. Magic horse, magic armor or not, an arrow to the face would still kill either of them.
A smack to the right made Lexa look down; she saw an arrow weakly dangling from Anna's dark green pants, unable to penetrate the mail beneath the fabric, before it tumbled away, wrenched loose by the speed of their approach.
"Use the horse for cover while I cut the bars of the gate," Anna said as they barreled forward, almost at the rear of the castle.
"But that—"
"It won't hurt him, I promise! Then once we're through, you get inside and free the prisoners while I deal with the guards in the courtyard. Once you're out of the open, I can really let loose."
Then the horse skidded to a stop, sliding for the first time since they had started riding. Probably before their momentum had slowed to a safe speed, Lexa slid off the horse, followed by Anna doing the same. Lexa's hand went to her sword but didn't draw the weapon yet, as she crouched behind the horse made of frost and snow.
Anna instantly was running toward the gate, a slightly larger than normal doorway with a gate made of thick iron bars running from top to bottom. She drew her sword as she held her shield in front of her as she charged, looking through the icy device as the archer standing behind the gate fired away at her. After the first shot struck her shield and splintered, his next shot was at her leg, hitting her in the right thigh with a sharp sting but failing to penetrate her armor.
Before he could take another shot, Anna slashed her sword, now glowing a bright blue-white as the temperature dropped even further around her, across the top of the gate with a backhand stroke. The blade sliced through the edge of the stone wall as easily as it did the iron bars, likewise scoring a thin line out of the stone on the other side of the gate. Then Anna dropped to a knee as she drove the sword into the gate at the bottom, ankle-high, raking the magic blade all the way across the iron bars again, eliciting a sharp cry from the archer when the tip of the sword caught the front of his feet.
As she pulled her sword free of the stone wall on her left, Anna ducked and covered herself. Lexa jumped over her, slamming her body into the gate and knocking the severed structure inward as they had previously planned, directly on top of the screaming Azgeda. She rolled off of him, drawing her sword and skewering the nearest man to her as she came out of her roll.
Lexa kept moving, spinning and slashing, using the Azgeda near her to keep the archers on the walls around them at bay as long as possible. Now Anna was running through the fortress's open area, a frosty haze surrounding her. Her sword and shield glowed brightly as she charged across the courtyard toward the main doors, temperature dropping by the second.
The first Azgeda to engage the Arendellan were a pair; the redhead ran directly at the left one, taking his strike on her shield and smiling as his sword shattered. She kept going, slamming her shield into him while driving forward with her strong legs, sending him to the ground. His thick clothes and brief contact kept the shield from burning him, but they were no hindrance to her sword slicing across his torso, nearly bisecting him where he lay. She turned backward and thrust her sword at the other Azgeda charging her, the suddenness of her movement causing him to impale himself on the glowing blade.
Rather than pull her sword out of the dead man, Anna instead jerked it to the side; his ribs and chest shattered into dark chunks of ice as the blade tore free. She spotted the main doors and quickly took stock of the Azgeda deployed around the citadel courtyard, most of whom were now moving to attack her.
Snow and sleet began to fall as the tiny amount of water vapor in the air began to freeze and precipitate due to the extreme cold. However, the Azgeda were possibly the best-equipped adversaries Anna had ever faced when it came to the cold; beating them in their home territory presented a strong challenge, but then she always did love challenges.
—O—
Lexa reached the door to the interior of the keep, leaving a half-dozen dead Azgeda in her wake. She could feel the cold intensify, gnawing at her back through her thick clothes and the protective enchantment, so she knew she had to hurry or risk finding the limit to her protection's effectiveness. Fortunately, she had killed the Azgeda guarding the door before he could close the small gate guarding the keep's door, leaving just a simple wooden door between her and the keep. Which was locked, of course, when she tried to open it.
Growling, Lexa picked up the dead Azgeda, hefted him over her shoulders, then charged at the door, slamming the corpse against the wood. The impact cracked the wooden door in a few places, but it was hard enough to break the locking pins, which had already been rendered brittle by the magical cold. Thankfully Elsa had included Lexa's sword, Clarke's gun and ammunition and all their knives in the protective enchantment, and as the keep's door flew inward from the impact of the dead Azgeda's body, Lexa drew both her sword and her dagger as she stepped over the corpse and entered the narrow hallway of the keep.
Any Azgeda standing between her and the prisoners was already dead. She just needed to prove it to them.
The first Azgeda that spotted her in the shadowy hallway growled and rushed her, sword extended and pointed toward her. Lexa crossed her dagger and sword, using them to push his blade down and away while she spun with the motion, driving her left elbow into his head hard enough to stun him, then using the dagger in her left hand to slash open his throat.
The man gurgled as he fell to the ground, dying as Lexa already moved past him.
The second Azgeda shouted, "H-Heda!" and turned and ran as if Lexa were the devil herself. Which, she supposed, she likely was, to him.
The third and fourth men who rushed her in the narrow confines succeeded in drawing blood, at least; Lexa used her sword to push away the nearer man's strike at her throat, using her dagger to stab him in the heart, but the man behind the nearer attacker thrust his sword between the dying man's arm and torso, slicing across Lexa's left arm. Her leather coat and long-sleeved shirt absorbed some of the impact, but she felt the sharp sting of a laceration across her upper arm.
She grabbed the dying man's still-standing body and shoved it hard to the left, trapping the second Azgeda's sword and arm against the wall while she drove her own blade deep into his neck. These, too, she left behind her as she kept moving forward, toward the large jail block.
As she kicked open the door to where the cells were housed, she saw the cowardly Azgeda from before standing with a crossbow pointed at a group of prisoners in a large cell.
"Hiding behind hostages?" Lexa growled, disgusted at the man's cowardice. "Dishonorable even for an Azgeda!"
The man trembled as he looked at her, but he kept the jerky aim of his crossbow pointed toward a group of prisoners in a corner. "I-I'll s-s-shoot them!" he stammered, his entire body quivering with fear. "K-kill them!"
Lexa slowly walked forward, eyes glaring from the black mask of warpaint inked across her face. "You may kill one, that is true," she said slowly and clearly. "But that life will bear a steep price."
"Stop!" he called out, gesturing with the crossbow toward the prisoners, who tried to slide out of the way, but he continued to track them out of the corner of his eye.
Lexa ignored his words, continuing her measured approach. "If you do kill one of them, then not only will I drag you back to Polis to face the Death of a Thousand Cuts, but I will force your family to undergo it first," she said, voice deadly serious. "I will find all whom you care for and execute them for your own cowardice, and you will watch them die because of your own actions!"
The man's jaw trembled worse than the rest of his body as Lexa stopped just a meter away. The front of his crossbow tipped upward as he debated his options, and that was all the opening Lexa needed.
She sliced her sword in an upward stroke, catching his arms just short of the wrists. The crossbow discharged, sending a bolt clattering against the stone ceiling and ricocheting off the floor and wall before it struck a woman's leg, its momentum spent enough to only cause a minor injury.
The Azgeda's hands flew into the air with the crossbow, while Lexa lunged forward and drove the blade of her dagger through the front of the man's neck, using it to throw him to the floor. The blade tore a gaping gash through his throat from the movement, sliding free as his body collapsed to the ground.
—O—
Anna kept moving, whether it was a sidestep, a lunge or a spin as she fought her way across the citadel's courtyard. The sting of arrows occasionally hitting her was little more than an annoyance, while her shield and her constant unpredictable motion kept the archers from zeroing in on her unprotected face.
It seemed like the Azgeda weren't used to a sword-and-shield fighting style, which certainly worked to Anna's advantage, but they had definitely proven to be the most prepared foes she had ever faced when it came to the cold magic of her weapons. Their boots maintained traction even when patches of ice sprouted beneath their feet, and their well-layered clothing was very effective at keeping their limbs and blood from freezing. She had let their cold run unfettered for several minutes, and only a handful of the Azgeda had succumbed to exposure.
The rest of the dead, Anna had killed herself.
Finally she was at the main doors of the citadel, a trail of dead bodies spaced out on the stones of the courtyard behind her. She dodged the forehand slash from the nearer of the two Azgeda who had stayed by the large steel gates, jumping back quickly; an arrow flew through the space she had just occupied, striking the second Azgeda, still several feet away, just below his right knee.
Anna ran forward past the first Azgeda, catching his weak sword thrust on her shield, smiling to herself as she heard the metal splinter and fracture after contacting the protective device. She buried her own sword deep in the chest of the second Azgeda as he had bent over, clutching at the arrow in his leg; she released the sword, leaving it in the dead man's chest as he fell and pulling out her ice dagger as she reached the large metal gates. Without hesitation she plunged the dagger deep into the thick metal, all the way to the crossguard. Immediately the massive door began to frost around the embedded blade, the circle of rime thickening and growing larger each second.
Anna turned and extended her right arm, hand open and palm up, as the first Azgeda came at her again; obediently her ice blade slid itself free of the dead Azgeda, who was now entirely frozen solid, and flew back to Anna's hand, handle lightly smacking her palm as her indication that it was ready. She gripped the handle and met the man's charge by stepping forward, deflecting what appeared to be a small hand ax using her shield before thrusting the sword deeply between his left ribs and then slicing free of his torso.
Behind Anna, the circle of frost and ice continued to widen across and through the solid metal doors, which were beginning to groan and buckle as the intense cold wreaked havoc on their structural integrity. Now the effect had almost fully encompassed the right door and had spread to the adjacent left door, beginning where the massive doors touched and overlapped along their length.
Anna ignored that, keeping her back firmly to the doors and her head tucked behind her shield as she now faced four Azgeda closing on her. One of the archers continued to launch missiles at her, but the projectiles were more dangerous to Anna's attackers than they were to her, striking one woman in the shoulder as she swiped at Anna's leg with a spear.
The Azgeda finally began to demonstrate some teamwork when the injured woman and a man attacked from Anna's right, forcing her to turn to that side to meet their weapons. One of her other attackers then hit her squarely in the back with a mace; the flanged metal head crumbled from the chill of her ice mail, but the impact knocked the wind out of the Arendellan queen and sent her stumbling forward, directly into the two Azgeda.
The forward momentum sent Anna and the Azgeda woman to the ground, with Anna landing on her and knocking the wind out of her as well, judging by the startled gasp of air leaving the woman's lungs. Despite her own chest and back burning, Anna rolled forward, trying to keep her shield between her and her other attackers as much as possible as she rolled twice, then rose to a kneeling position.
Something clattered off of her raised shield, followed by the sound of numerous fragments hitting the stone surface around them. Anna slashed at the ankles of the nearest attacker around her, getting a shriek of pain as her sword cleaved a foot completely off of one leg and mostly off of another. Another arrow impacted her back, no doubt leaving a small welt from the impact but nothing worse than that. She twisted while still kneeling, managing to intercept a sword strike at her back with her shield and return a forehand swipe while rising to her feet again; the tip of her blade easily sliced through thick furs and leather, spilling crimson chunks of frozen blood from the gash across the Azgeda's abdomen; he fell to the ground screaming as his intestines and other organs froze into solid ice where the blade's intense cold had struck.
By now the doors had completely frozen, so Anna parried another blow, this time from a wooden spear—it looked like the last Azgeda were finally starting to learn, she noted—so she used a few more slashes from her sword to put some distance between her and her attackers before positioning her lips and whistling loudly and shrilly.
The unexpected noise made the remaining Azgeda pause, allowing the sound of icy hooves clopping against stone to carry easily to Anna's ears. She smiled as she saw her horse round the corner of the keep, only to frown slightly when she saw all the arrows sticking out of its snowy body.
"Aw, poor thing," she said, mostly to herself; being made of magical snow, the horse felt pain no more than Olaf did, but still. It was rude that they had shot the poor horse full of arrows.
Her frost mount reached a full gallop, aiming directly for the now-brittle metal doors. It drove itself into them, shattering them into large chunks of ruined metal and ice. The blow tore most of the protruding arrows free from the horse's body; its hooves bit into the cold stone of the path as the horse leaned into the first turn of the serpentine path, running out its momentum to keep from going off the edge of the road as it slowed down.
—O—
The Trikru warriors had begun surmounting the approach to Coldspire once they heard the fighting start. They watched as an eerie glow became visible from inside the fortress, steadily intensifying as they trudged up the long, winding path. They were halfway to the citadel when they saw the massive steel doors of the fortress blasted open, by the snow-white horse the foreign queen had been riding. Neither their Heda nor the redheaded woman were visible, but by the ongoing sounds of fighting and dying inside the citadel, it sounded like the two of them were still busy. They picked up their pace, not wanting all the battle to be done by the time they arrived.
—O—
As the last of Azgeda still standing in the fortress's courtyard fell over, Anna released a sigh of relief. She let her arms fall to her side, but she didn't release her sword or shield yet, both of which were glowing brightly enough to illuminate the walls on the far end of the courtyard.
She felt exhausted, even moreso than she normally would have after this kind of prolonged exertion. If this was what Elsa felt like here, no wonder her wife had been so tired.
She carefully turned in place, checking for any archers still up and trying to kill her, but the battlements were still now. One Azgeda archer that had been frozen in place toppled over and fell off as she watched, the body hitting the flagstones and shattering like glass. Finally satisfied that no one else was left trying to kill her, she willed her weapons to reduce the intensity of their cold radiation to where they would normally be without her enhancing it.
After still no signs of any Azgeda still moving or alive, she finally sheathed her sword. The glow of her shield instantly faded to almost nothing as the temperature returned to its usual frigid point instead of lethal levels of cold. Her muscles ached from the exertion, again, more than would have been expected, and she briefly contemplated lying down on the ground. However, she decided against that when she realized that it might startle Lexa or the Trikru when they found her.
"Anna!"
Hearing her voice coming from the direction of the keep pepped Anna up a bit. "Lexa?" she yelled back in reply, jogging toward the door leading inward. As she ran, she held her right hand open behind her and summoned her ice dagger from the wreckage of the main doors; seconds later, the weapon slid against her fingers, and she tucked it back into its sheath at her side.
Before Anna could reach the keep door, Lexa looked out, sword visibly brandished, not trusting enough to step out of the cover of the corridor just yet.
"It's okay," Anna said. "They're all dead."
Lexa's eyebrows rose. "Impressive."
"Thanks!"
"The prisoners are freed, and the Azgeda guarding them are dead as well," Lexa said, sheathing her own sword. She had surveyed the area herself, and there were no signs of movement beyond her and Anna. She stepped carefully when she left the keep, as the flagstones of the courtyard were iced over. "I've armed the healthiest of them in case any of the Azgeda remain hidden. When the rest of the warriors are here, we can search the rooms thoroughly. One of the prisoners has a minor injury from a crossbow bolt, so she will need to be tended to before we can set out for Polis."
A soft clopping noise drew their eyes back to the gate, only to see Anna's ghostly white horse come loping back into the courtyard.
"Your horse appears to have been shot," Lexa observed, drily, as the horse happily made its way to the two women, ignoring the few arrows still jutting out of its snowy body.
"Uh huh," Anna replied.
"Multiple times."
"Uh HUH."
"It doesn't seem to be bothered very much."
Anna smiled and ran her fingers through the horse's mane, composed of long fibers of frost identical in appearance to hair, pausing to pull an arrow out of its head and toss the projectile onto the ground. "They don't feel pain unless Elsa wants them to, and neither one of us likes anything to suffer," Anna said simply, plucking the another arrow out of the horse's body. "That's why I told you to take cover behind him outside. I knew being shot wouldn't hurt him."
When the horse bumped Anna with its head, nuzzling her chest, she laughed and rubbed his neck. "No, it wouldn't hurt you, would it, boy?" she said, ending with a playful voice, like she would address a child. "Would it? Would it?" she repeated in baby-talk as she petted the horse's head lovingly. "I think you might have earned a name after this, don't you?"
"HEDA!" came a shout from the main entrance.
Lexa turned to see her warriors run into the citadel, only to stop and skid when they gawked at the bodies strewn across the courtyard. Most of the corpses were more-or-less intact, although a few had been shattered into irregular chunks and fragments of grotesquely-colored ice. A thin layer of ice coated the entire courtyard and most of the bodies of the dead Azgeda by now, causing the Trikru to slip and slide briefly when they tried to move.
"Oh, sorry about that!" Anna said, after she saw them slipping on the ice. She closed her eyes and told the ice that it was alright for it to go away now, and added thank you very much for helping; after a few moments, the ice evaporated.
"Are you hurt?" Lexa asked, seeing Anna wince slightly when she opened her eyes after the ice disappeared.
Anna shook her head, although honestly she did hurt some, particularly in her back where she had been hit by the mace. But she had felt another moment of draining when she had dismissed the ice, and now her skin was starting to tingle slightly, as if it was windburned.
But she didn't get windburned.
"I'm okay, I think," Anna finally said, giving Lexa a smile. "But that took more out of me than I expected. I guess I feel the drain here, too, not just Elsa."
Lexa nodded. "Clarke surmised that while your magical weapons can freely access the magic already instilled into them, they must draw some power from you to work. It would make sense that using them here would fatigue you."
Anna nodded. "Yeah, I guess that could be it."
One of the Trikru stopped in front of them, looking uncomfortably at the snow-white horse, which simply nickered at him in return. He swallowed, then handed a large but surprisingly light leather case to Anna.
"Oh, thanks!" Anna said, smiling as she tied the case to the saddlebag on her horse's flank. She then untied the knot holding the case closed and retrieved a quiver of glittering silvery arrows, smiling at the sight of the matching ice bow inside the case.
She looked back up at Lexa. "Let's go deal with those archers we left along the path."
Lexa smiled back in return, and her fearsome warpaint made the expression more feral than pleasant. "Let's."
—O—
Author's Afterword: Next chapter brings the Clarke/Pike confrontation, which I've been quite eager to commit to pixels. Elsa also gets to meet the Skaikru, although which of the two is more shocked by the other is going to be a close call. I also promise a reunion for another couple, although which one I'm not naming just yet (although it should be reasonably easy to guess; I'm not throwing any curveballs here).
Thanks for reading, and I'll see you with the next chapter soon!