I liveeeee. Okay but no joke. I've just been swamped with schoolwork, studying, and tedious tedious tedious exams. Ughhh but I managed to get this out to you guys. Please welcome back, sporadic-tiger, as my patient beta reader. Thank you, all of you, for your continued support whether it is leaving a critique or a review, favouriting and following it, recommending it for the pleasure of others, or any combination thereof. Thank you so much.
Disclaimer: I do not own Frozen and its characters, plots, etc and I do not make or intend to make any profit from this.
Anna heard the soldier's roar, saw his enormous axe coming down at her, and hopped back, watching the axe crash where she stood just seconds before. As he lifted the axe and thrust, she stepped to the side and swatted his weapon aside with her shield, following with a thrust of her own. Hers had better luck than his and the blade went through his wool coat, between his ribs, and into his flesh. Crying in shock, the soldier dropped his axe and fell to his knees. With a hint of regret, she pulled her sword from him and turned away from her defeated and dying foe.
Within the first minutes of battle, Anna had quickly realised that the corrupt officer had been right. The fancy duels filled with politeness and courtesy in tournaments were worlds away from the gritty bloody battles she fought on this wall. All around her were the sounds of yells, cries, metal clanging or bashing against each other. The noise only grew worse when the invaders brought their battering ram. The sounds of each impact hurt Anna's head so much she might as well as been hit by the ram itself. And the smell. God, the smell! The air reeked so strongly of sweat, blood, and other foul things that every breath almost made her gag.
Looking over the battle either side of her on the wall, Anna knew that they needed to win this battle soon. Otherwise they would get tired soon. She made her way towards the, or rather her, commanding officer with her ice guardians. Gareth led the way to clear a path for her while Bob followed behind, stepping backwards with his shield raised. Thanks to them, she managed to reach the command tower with no trouble.
"Commander, what's the situation?" she asked once she entered and saw him looking at a map. When he started to bow, she waved her hand dismissively. There were times for courtesy and this was not one of them.
"Putting it lightly, Your Highness, it's not good but not as bad as it could be," he replied. "The mercenaries are pressing against us but at least we've managed to contain them around the gates."
There was a nervousness in him and Anna felt like he wanted to say something but wasn't quite sure if he should. So she began for him, "But…?"
"But my men at the gates are telling me that they will break through within the hour. I was actually about to summon you when you came in."
Anna wasn't exactly sure why. She would be the first person to say she had no idea about battles and wars. Yeah as a kid, she read stories about them but they never told her how to actually fight one. But maybe he needed to move her, either somewhere safe or just somewhere she could help out more.
"So you need me in the gatehouse then or…?" she asked.
The commander nodded and said, "I don't wish to order but I think you and your retinue would be more useful there than on the walls."
"Of course, Commander," Anna said. She wasn't exactly sure why he was so nervous about that since it was obvious he was better at this than she was. Otherwise, he'd never been given this position. "Whatever you think will win this battle sooner."
"Very well. I'll remain here to direct our forces on the walls. An officer will be waiting for you below and he may advise as necessary. Good luck, Your Highness."
"You, too," Anna replied and she caught his curt nod before she turned around and left to gather her guards and friends.
Much to Anna's relief, they were unharmed aside from bruises and scratches and more than willing to join her at the gatehouse. The situation there was as she imagined it if not a little better. The gates were splintered and cracked and it was clear that a few more hits would break it down. The defenders seemed to have given up trying to repair them and were preparing to welcome them with pikes and bolts instead. A man with those fancy red shoulder things stood behind everyone, barking orders. A man she figured to be the officer her commander told her about. He noticed her come down and immediately walked towards her.
"Your Highness," he greeted, bowing before Anna could stop him. "Captain Andreassen. What brings you here?"
"I just want to help," Anna said, more honestly than she thought was right.
"Of course, Your Highness. But perhaps it might be safer if you…"
"No," Anna interrupted. "My people need me to defend them from these people and that's exactly what I'm going to do."
The captain frowned and looked like he wanted to argue his point further but another boom from the battering ram changed his mind.
"Very well, Your Highness," he said. "You don't seem too bad in combat anyway. Just be careful. Your sister and the commander will have my head if you get injured under my watch."
Anna scoffed and said, "No need to worry about that. You've got other things to do so I'll just be there. If you need me or anything."
The captain bowed once more and resumed yelling out orders as she and her little band went towards the gates. While her fencing teacher and his partner seemed calm and her bodyguards were emotionless as ever, Kristoff looked rather pale under his helmet. She placed her hand on his shoulder and asked, 'Hey, you okay?"
Kristoff lifted his visor and smiled weakly. "Yeah, I…I'm fine," he said. "Just nerves."
She smiled back and nodded but before she could say anything, the line of soldiers in front of them turned to face her and immediately bowed their heads, chanting, "Your Highness."
"Gentlemen, ladies," she replied, nodding back at them. She walked through the ranks until she were right behind the archers. Gareth and Bob trudged in front of her while Evald and Tormond stood on either side of her and Kristoff. Her fencing instructor and his partner settled themselves behind her. Anna pulled out her sword as her muscles coiled tighter and tighter and beads of sweat trickled down her neck. Then the battering ram struck the gates and punched through them with a loud crack. On the other side, there were loud triumphant cries.
Pointing her sword upward, Anna yelled back, "For Arendelle!" Her words were repeated by her soldiers, lifting her heart for the second time today.
Her good mood quickly disappeared when the gates were pushed open, revealing a whole mess of mercenaries swarming forward. In front of her, the archers fired with a chorus of heavy whacks and sharp whistles. Even as the first line of attackers fell, their comrades still continued forward with their shields raised and huddled closer together. Anna gripped her sword tighter as her archers fired again. This time fewer enemies were shot and they continued their charge until they reached the defenders and the close personal fighting began.
At first, Anna just stood there. Anyone who slipped past the pikemen were swiftly defeated by her own guards. But before too long, she was fighting against an axe-man who attacked with wild savage swings. After one brought him far too close to her, she stepped around him and slashed at his knees. As he fell, she finished him with a downward thrust near his neck. She still flinched when the blood splashed over her chest but she recovered quickly enough.
She had just turned around when something heavy hit her on the left shoulder. Not again! she thought as she grunted in pain and stumbled back. Grateful that her armour had softened the attack, she attacked back but her rapier bounced harmlessly off his breastplate. As her sword moved over his shoulders, she flicked it to her right, gaining her a cut across his cheek. Her opponent growled and attacked back with his war hammer. She raised her shield and readied herself for the blow when suddenly someone slammed into her on her right. She only saw who it was for a second but she saw enough to know he wasn't on her side and he didn't have long to live. She moved the body to block her opponent's attack and thrust again, this time aiming for his throat. Instead of going through, the blade went across the side but it was enough. He made one last desperate attack, one that Anna easily parried, before blood loss overtook him.
Anna took a short moment to look at the battle around her, trying to see how her side was doing. Her eyes had just settled on a pair of fighters who looked like Lord Halvert and Trym standing back to back when her instincts screamed at her to move. Seconds after she jumped back, a giant sword slammed down against the ground that would have cut her in half. Anna panicked inside when she saw the person holding the sword grunt in frustration and walk towards her. Her opponent was armoured from head to toe and his sword probably weighed more than she did. She tried looking for any weak spots in the armour while weaving and dodging around the boulder of a man.
There weren't any. No matter where she placed herself and no matter where she struck, none of her attacks seemed to do anything to him except when she hit him in the back with her shield. She supposed she could dance around him until he just dropped from exhaustion but he didn't look he was slowing down and he wasn't the only person she had to fight. She was stepping around him for the twentieth or so time when her foot slipped on something wet. While she stopped herself from falling completely into the blood, she still landed awkwardly, leaving her vulnerable to an attack. As he lifted his sword up, she raised her shield and braced herself, hoping that it would be enough. The sword fell, not onto her shield like she thought, but onto an ice sword stretched several inches above her.
Gareth forced the locked swords upward and away from Anna before fighting the armoured mercenary for her. Grateful that someone else was fighting him, Anna looked for Bob, just in case another person showed up who Anna couldn't fight. She found him fighting against three enemies and moved towards him to help out. But she hadn't moved five paces before another mercenary came towards her. Compared to the last guy though, this one was much easier to deal with, armed with a sword like hers and barely armoured. Their fight only lasted for seconds before Anna ended it with a stab through the chest.
She had just pulled the sword from her defeated foe when two more mercenaries charged at her at the same time. Really? she thought exasperatedly, trying to figure out which of the two would be the easiest and quickest to defeat. She had just decided on the one holding a spear when both of them suddenly stopped. Fearing the worst, Anna stepped to the side and turned her head so she could still see them and whatever was behind her. Much to her relief, it was Gareth lumbering forward, his armoured foe presumably defeated. She turned back to face her opponents to see them walk away from them. At first Anna didn't know if they didn't want to fight or just didn't want to fight him but when she looked around, other mercenaries began doing the same. Some even dropped their weapons before they fled. She wasn't sure what to make of this. Sure she was, for the most part, winning her fights but she hadn't thought her side was actually winning.
Squealing in delight, she wrapped her arms around the closest being, which happened to be Gareth, and watched as the rest of her soldiers chased the invaders from their gates. Then she suddenly remembered she had completely forgotten about Kristoff since battle started.
"Kristoff!" she called, leaving her ice guardian's side and looking around. She hoped she wouldn't find him among the countless bodies on the ground. "Kristoff!"
"Here, Anna," a voice replied. She looked to find him leaning against the wall and immediately rushed towards him, sheathing her sword and dropping her shield as she did. They hugged as best they could and she held on to him for what felt like forever. When they finally parted, Anna looked over the Ice Harvester. His armour was dented in quite a few places with some blood splashed on it for good measure. His hair was slick with sweat and grime. Honestly…
"You're a mess, Kristoff," she declared.
He chuckled and said, "Well, you're one to talk."
Anna looked at herself and saw that she looked as bad as Kristoff. At least I'm not worse than him, she thought, rubbing her forehead. Then she looked around her, watching the soldiers busy with their tasks with falling spirits. Just because the fighting was over, it didn't mean that the work was done yet nor any easier. The fallen were retrieved and placed in lines leading from the gates that were being patched up. Wounded from both sides shambled around until they reached the arms of medics or just collapsed where they were. A small bundle of mercenaries who had given up sat off to the side, bound and guarded.
"Your Highness!" called Captain Andreassen.
Anna turned towards him just as an injured mercenary stumbled into Kristoff. She placed a hand on Kristoff's shoulder before going to her captain at the foot of the stairs.
"Captain," she greeted as he bowed. "Report. Please."
"The mercenaries are withdrawing their attack. For now, at least. But the commander thinks they've had enough for today."
"How many did we lose?"
He frowned as he said, "Around a hundred. Maybe a hundred twenty. But for every one we lost, we took four from them."
"But we can't leave the bodies here!" exclaimed Anna. "They'll stink up the place and spread disease."
"I know. Which is why the commander will allow a few representatives from the mercenaries to collect their dead. As for ours, he seemed to think Her Majesty has something prepared for them while the siege continues."
"Great, okay," said Anna. "Does…the commander need to see me?" she then asked, eyeing the stairs anxiously.
"Not unless you have something to tell him. Do you have something to tell him?"
"Umm, nope. Nothing at all."
"Well, then…" he began when his voice faded away. He looked up and Anna's eyes followed his gaze. Then they widened and Anna jumped back as a bird fell right in front of her feet. Poor thing had an arrow stuck through him but he flew on just to deliver the message tied to his claws. She carefully slid it out and read with widening eyes.
"Elsa's ice wall…" she said. "It's been breached." Realising what that meant, she gasped, "Elsa!"
Shoving the note into the confused captain's hands, she dashed off to where she hoped was the stables. On the way she brushed against Kristoff, shouting an apology as she flew by him. She heard him cry "Oh come on!" but he faded from her thoughts when she skidded to a stop in front of the stable master.
"A horse. Quickly. Now," she said in between breathes.
"Of course, Your Highness," he said with a bow. "It'll only be a moment."
God, I hope so, she thought, her heels bouncing up and down. A hurried movement behind her drew her attention and she saw Kristoff running towards her.
"Anna, what happened? What's going on?" he asked.
"Elsa," she replied. "Her ice wall. It's been breached. She needs my help."
"What? How?"
"They set their ships on fire and crashed them to the wall, I think, or something like that. Doesn't matter now. I need to go to her."
Kristoff nodded before shouting "Stable master, fetch two horses!"
"What are you doing?" Anna demanded.
"What does it look like?" he asked in reply. "I can't let you go alone. The last time I let you run off on your own, you were nearly killed."
"I won't be alone. Gareth and Bob will be with me. Besides don't you have orders or something?"
"Not if the Royal Princess says otherwise."
Anna glowered at him but before she could do anything else, the stable master finally returned, leading two horses with him. Deciding to bring the smelly ice harvester along, she mounted her horse and waited. As soon as he was properly mounted, she squeezed her lower legs and they rode on, followed by her ice guardians. The streets had long been emptied of anyone except soldiers and City Watch officers and they were too busy running about that they completely failed to notice that the princess of Arendelle was riding through protected only by an ice harvester and Elsa's creations. Then again it probably helped that she didn't have a long line of guards trailing behind her. They had just reached near the city square when Anna heard a new set of bells ringing. She coaxed her horse into a halt and listened closely. It wasn't the low tolling used by the military but the fast shrills of the City Watch. They sounded like they were coming from the south, far from where she wanted, no, needed to be.
"What's up?" asked Kristoff with a hint of nervousness as if he was worried she was going to do something rash. Again.
"Something's happening inside Arendelle," she replied. "Towards the south."
"The south?" repeated Kristoff, his face turning pale. Anna knew why. The majority of the Sami population were housed there during the siege with the poor of the kingdom as well as the children she had rescued so long ago. "Do we have anyone there?"
"Just the City Watch. The Lord Commander didn't think the mercenaries would attack there and we don't have that many men so…"
Anna stopped as she realised the decision she had to make. She thought about it, biting her lips and tightening her hold on the reins. Her heart told her to go to Elsa, to help her, to save her, to guard her, whatever. But she remembered that she wasn't just Elsa's sister and lover. She was also the princess of Arendelle. Like Elsa, it was her duty to protect her kingdom from harm and if she failed that duty, there was no telling what people would think of her. Or what Elsa would think of her.
Sighing and hoping to God that she was making the right choice, she said, "Change of plans. We're going to help those people out first."
Kristoff nodded and they began moving again. The bells continued to toll and as they got closer to their destination, they started to hear panicked cries. It wasn't long until they found who was making them. A large crowd were running towards them driven by panic. The four of them quickly split up, Anna and Bob on one side and Kristoff and Gareth on the other, to let them through. In their craze, they didn't seem to notice her at all. They were forced to waste a few precious minutes waiting until the crowd grew small enough for them to pass through them without trampling them. All the while Anna wondered just what had happened to cause such a fright.
Despite her immense imagination, all the situations she thought of were not as bad as the one that they faced when they arrived at the southern side of the harbour. The City Watch were battling against a new band of mercenaries, ones that looked tougher than the ones she encountered in the morning. But that wasn't what made them scary. It was what they brought with them.
Wolves. They had wolves. Larger and meaner than the ones in the mountains. It seemed that each soldier had one, or at least the ones wearing black fur cloaks. As she stopped her horse to see exactly what was going on and where she needed to go, one of them turned his snout towards her and with a harsh bark, rushed towards her, followed swiftly by its human companion. She charged towards them, steering her horse so that she wouldn't be between them. She aimed for a spot on the mercenary's upper right chest and drew back her rapier, hoping that she'd be faster than him. She was. She managed to pierce through her target and steer the horse away from the mercenary as he fell. One down, one to go, she thought when something heavy hit her side and knocked her off the horse.
Gasping in shock and pain, she leaned her head away from the snapping and snarling jaws of the wolf as her right hand desperately reached towards her sword and her left pushed the head away from her. Hot drool dripped onto her face while her nose was overwhelmed by its putrid breath. Giving up on the sword, Anna punched the wolf's snout with all her might. The wolf howled but otherwise made no other reaction so she tried again. And again until the wolf toppled off her with a pitiful whine. Anna rolled towards her sword and grabbed it as the wolf steadied itself and charged at her. This time, she was ready to meet it and she lunged just as it leapt up. Her sword pierced between its jaws and through the top part of his head and the wolf collapsed on top of her again.
After she pushed the carcass off her, Anna panted heavily as her body shook violently. All today never, not on the wall nor at the gates, had she been this scared of losing her life. Not even against the heavy armoured guy. She swallowed her spit several times before pulling her sword out of her defeated foe. The others had found enemies of their own to fight. There was no shortage of them here. She tried to look for another wolf or mercenary but what caught her eye was a City Watch officer crawling away from his foe, his young face stained with blood and tears. Anna rushed towards them and stabbed the mercenary before extending a hand to the officer.
"Th-th-thank you," he said. "I…" Then his eyes widened and before Anna could stop him, he bowed despite his injuries, and said, "Your Highness!"
"Please, are you, well, can you fight?" Anna asked, even though it was obvious that he was a stiff wind away from falling over.
"Of-of course, Your Highness," he replied, suppressing a wince. "Anything you ask of me, I will serve."
"Good. I mean I don't need you to fight, actually. I need you to ride to the northern wall and find either the commander or Captain Andreassen. Tell them the enemy has breached the southern wall and we need help now. Can you do that?"
When the officer nodded, Anna quickly retrieved her horse, thankful that it wasn't harmed during the attack. As soon as he was mounted and riding away, she turned back to the battle. To her distress, she felt tiredness creep into her body as the long hours of fighting caught up to her. Not yet, she said to herself. Not yet.
But despite her best efforts, every move she made felt more and more sluggish. Her fights took longer for her to finish and she relied more on either luck or her ice guardians to win. Thoughts of rest intruded her mind and it was all she could do but just collapse where she stood. But still she fought on, thrusting, slashing, dodging, and parrying. She'd just finished a duel when she heard the cry to withdraw.
Withdraw?! she thought. No way. This was her kingdom, her people she and everyone else was protecting. They were not going to just give them up especially since she'd already given up her chance to help Elsa to be here.
Anna shouted, "No! Stand and fight! Stand and fight!" but no one was listening. It took only a second for her to realise that no one knew that the princess was here and as far as they knew, she was just a random soldier shouting.
Groaning in frustration with the whole situation, she tore off her helmet and shouted again. The few officers closest to her stopped and gazed blankly at her.
"We can't give this up," Anna said. "We can fight them."
"But, Your Highness," one of them said. "Our numbers are too few and we are not trained for this."
"I just sent a rider for help," Anna argued. "Any minute they'll be arriving here. We only need to hold on until then."
"Anna," she heard Kristoff's voice say. "Let them go. They're clearly exhausted and they're right. None of them are trained to fight killer wolves or hardened soldiers. We're outnumbered and outmatched."
She turned to Kristoff who had lost his horse during the battle and said, "But we can't just give up. We can't. I can't."
"I know. But sometimes you just have to cut your losses and take what you can get. We're not giving this part of the kingdom up forever. We'll be back."
Anna sighed deeply as yet again she felt herself being torn apart between two decisions. Just as she made a decision, she looked behind Kristoff and saw a disturbingly familiar sight.
"Look out!" she shrieked before she ducked, pulling Kristoff down with her. She felt the bolt fly inches above her head as they both clumsily fell. Anna pulled herself up, her eyes darting wildly searching for the shooter. She found him soon enough. One of the Duke's henchmen from Weaseltown standing on a balcony away from all the fighting. Snarling at the coward, she quickly ran towards him, once more ignoring Kristoff's cries. Anna saw the henchman aim his crossbow at her again and immediately dove into a roll. Again she felt the bolt miss her.
Anna was sure that he had barricaded the building he was in but that wasn't going to stop her. As soon as she reached it, she sheathed her sword and climbed up. The climb would have been a bit tough with her armour alone but after a good three hours or so of fighting it was difficult. Still she managed and soon she pulled herself over the balcony railing. That was when the henchman attacked her with a swing of his mace. Anna dodged it and whipped out her sword. The two traded blows for several minutes but Anna knew this fight was going to end poorly for her especially if all he's done today was just stand here and shoot at people.
And sure enough, one particularly poor attack resulted with her sword hanging limply over the balcony railing. Before she could react, the henchman raised his mace and smashed her sword against the railing. The sword broke in two, leaving her with just its hilt and a few inches of the blade. Anna gasped as she saw the rest of her sword tumble to the ground below and then turned to face him with gritted teeth. And completely forgetting that he was still armed and she wasn't, she lunged at him. She must have surprised him because there was no way he would have just let her slam herself into him before toppling on top of him and pinning his right hand against the floor. She tried to stab him with her broken sword when she felt a pressure hit her against her side and was forced off him. She saw him standing up and stretched a hand to grab his leg but he was quicker. A kick into her side drove her a few feet into a wall. Against which his crossbow was leaning.
As the henchman walked towards her, she grabbed the crossbow and to her great relief, it was loaded. Anna didn't know why it was loaded in the first place but she didn't care. Her fingers kept slipping as they scurried over the weapon but just as he prepared to deliver the finishing stroke, she raised the crossbow up and pulled the trigger. With a choked gasp, her opponent dropped his mace and stumbled backwards for a few paces before dropping dead.
Anna exhaled and leaned her head back against the wall. She was so tired. Her limbs felt like they were made of rocks and she wanted nothing more than to just pass out. As her eyes were about to shut, she heard the sound of horns and that pulled her back to full alert. Horns meant more invaders to finish the job here. With her sword broken and hours of fighting weighing on her, she couldn't continue fighting. Gareth and Bob would help, of course, but as strong and powerful as they were, there were only two of them. She had no choice but to run.
As if on cue, she heard Kristoff call out, "Anna! Anna!"
Sheathing what was left of her rapier, Anna scrambled to the railing and looked down. Kristoff somehow managed to find a horse.
"Anna! There you are!" he said. "Come on, we need to go!"
"All right!" Anna said. "Just…give me a minute."
She walked back towards the wall and with a deep breath, ran towards the railing and jumped over it. She had just barely landed on the horse when it started moving, the impact adding yet another pain to her battered body.
"Did you get him?" Kristoff asked as Gareth and Bob joined them and ran beside them.
"The Duke's guy?" Anna said, pressing her head against Kristoff's shoulder and wrapping her arms around him. "Yeah I got him. I got him."
They were silent for a few minutes before Kristoff said, "Didn't get a chance to tell you this earlier but you did good, Anna. Really good."
"Thanks," she said, smiling. "So did you."
"Arendelle is lucky to…" he began but stopped suddenly.
Anna lifted her head to see that far off in the distance a short ice wall had cut through the buildings and across the road. Her eyes could be lying to her but it looked like the ice wall was getting taller.
"Kristoff…" she said but her warning wasn't needed.
"Come on, faster," he said to the horse. The horse neighed in response.
By now the ice wall had risen up to the horse's height. Kristoff steered the horse towards an abandoned cart not too far from the wall which formed a nice ramp for them. The hooves clattered loudly against the wooden surface until once again Anna had the awkward feeling of floating in the air. She squeezed her thighs around the horse and gripped on Kristoff tighter, wincing as the thought of missing the jump ruled in her head. Finally she exhaled in relief as the horse landed on the other side and after a few seconds, continued its gallop. She turned around to see Gareth and Bob making the jump, Bob's foot just barely scrapping the top of the wall.
"Clear out! Make way!" Kristoff yelled, causing Anna to look forward again. Lines of soldiers quickly moved away for them as they tore past them until they were back in the city square.
"Anna!" she heard Elsa cry.
Anna barely had time to look for her sister before she pulled off the horse and into Elsa's chest.
"Anna, oh, thank god you're all right," Elsa said, pressing her head against her neck. She then pulled back and looked at her. "You are all right, right?"
"Yeah, Elsa, yeah, I'm fine," she said. "Just tired."
"We'll go straight to the palace. The commanders can take over from here. Come on."
And without another word, Elsa grabbed Anna's hand and half-dragged, half-led her towards another horse. Her own horse. Apparently her big sister found something wrong with the other horse or perhaps with its rider. With a casual wave of her free hand, Elsa made a stepladder for them to climb. She went up first and gently yet firmly held onto Anna until she was safely seated behind her. Then with Elsa's long line of guards and Anna's ice guardians trailing behind them, they swiftly rode back.
If you're wondering Anna seems a little blasé about killing, don't worry. I'll address that in the next chapter. As always, I welcome any and all feedback or criticism you might have to offer.