It built up slowly, the vibration from the center of the world, and wound its way up from the three roots to the trunk of Yggdrasil itself. A humming arose from the great tree, causing panic among those who dwelt upon the great Yggdrasil. Ratatoskr could feel the sensation deep in his bones, and for once, kept quiet as he scurried up the massive trunk.

Níðhöggr ran up from one of the three roots, from the vaporous depths—from where Elsa had banished him—and screamed as his claws dug into the pure white bark of the tree. "The time of reckoning is at hand! All is lost! All is lost to us!"

The humming and the vibrations grew in intensity, and the first droppings of blood, oozing from the three roots, drizzled into the wells with malicious intent.

They were coming, and the great white tree hummed even louder in the hopes of getting the attention of all the creatures dwelling on its massive branches. They were coming, and Yggdrasil knew that even though they bore the countenances of men on the outside, inside they were hideous demons. Demons who appropriated the souls of men and devoured them with a never-ending hunger. And the steeds they rode on were the darkest of black with red eyes that burned with an inner fire.

The nine worlds.

And all the gods awoke from horrible dreams—dreams filled with the wrath of men—and quivered where they lie.

… Time 'tis to discourse from the preacher's chair.

By the well of Urd I silent sat,

I saw and meditated; I listened to men's words…

The fields just beyond the city propter, where the great tents had been erected, now bustled with the activity of soldiers and sailors, as the made the last preparations to sail to Arendelle the next day. The temporary dwelling places were filled with the men from Weselton, who, along with the sailors and soldiers of the Southern Isles, rested for the upcoming war. But, for now, they ate and drank with their companions and busied themselves with fellowship and games of strategy.

In the middle of the large compound, a considerable dais had been built, and a huge royal table had been placed upon it along with the Thrones of the Southern Isles. Only two were being used at the moment, and their occupants were of a somber mood.

Magnus admired the scene before him. "I must say, dear cousin, that this exceeds my expectations." He lifted his pipe and lit it.

Hans settle back in his chair and nodded. "Mine too, I'm afraid. This was not of my doing, but of the my brother, Johnas. I had more important things to think about this past week."

"I would surely hope so," Magnus said. "Leave the lesser tasks to your inferiors, I always say." He sat up and pulled the battle plans closer to him. "Do you want to go over these now, my friend?"

Hans sat up, as well, and leaned over the table. "Of course. I thought I would defer to you concerning the actual voyage to Arendelle itself. It seems perfectly perfunctory to me, all things being equal. You arrived with forty-five ships and a flagship. We will match yours with forty-five of our own, plus our own flagship. Most of our ships will be filled with soldiers, who will proceed to land once your own fleet has destroyed the Arendelle harbor."

Magnus smiled. "I like that idea; I like it a lot. It has a certain grace to it that I'm sure the people of Arendelle will fail to see. Tell me, Hans, do you plan on an equestrian contingent?"

Hans frowned, and then shook his head. "No. We could not come up with a plan that would have safely seen our horses to their lands."

"Hmm, that's a pity." Magnus relit his pipe. "We could not do it, either. I seemed too much a risk to have our equestrian units travel such a length of miles."

"How so?"

"Well… what if there were a multitude of Arendelle sympathizers to hamper and block our way. Let alone be ready to commit murder."

Hans nodded, and then glanced briefly at the Duke. "Such a force stood the chance of being dwindled down to nothing before reaching the outskirts of Arendelle."

"Exactly." Magnus knew that Hans was watching him, and hoped his face did not betray the truth.

Because Weselton was doing exactly that, and had a large equestrian force on it's way to Arendelle, sweeping destruction as it went. For its commander, Aleksander, had a bit of the devil in him, and showed no mercy to those who tried to get in his way, and had an uncanny sense about him, knowing where possible ambushes lay.

Hans looked more closely at the Duke, and saw a peculiar gleam in his eyes. You are not to be trusted, cousin. It's too bad your ships will sail before ours. "My brothers will be travelling with us, as I do not trust them not try a coupe when we are gone."

"I was not much impressed with them at our formal dinner last night—Except for Johnas, perhaps. He's the only one who is truly loyal to you."

Hans chuckled. "I know. He'll be rewarded generously when this whole affair is over. The others, well, let's just say they will get what is coming to them."

As will you, cousin.

By the time Anna rushed into Elsa's parlor the Queen was already dressed in her black military uniform, the one with the dark gray cape and black boots. As she was adjusting the sword at her side the alarm turned off. "Snowflake, please go and get Leif."

When Anna returned with the baby there was a loud knocking on Elsa's door. The Queen growled at the intrusion and slammed open her door. "What is it?"

Lindar took a few step back and collided into the soldiers who were standing behind him. He held up his hands. "I just bring Her Majesties messages to her."

Elsa stepped aside to the let the man in. Then she turned wrathful eyes onto the soldiers. "You all stay outside!" Her ears picked up noises outside that told her the stags were in her private garden. "What is it, Colonel?"

"The Commander of the captured Southern Isles ship wants an audience with Her Majesty—he still has not given us his name or rank. Secondly, a few of our scouts at the far borders beyond Arendelle are sending back reports of a large harras of horses with riders on its way to Arendelle. And—"

"Are they carrying standards or flags? Who are they, Lindar?" Elsa felt a tendril of fear creep up her spine.

The Colonel walked to the Queen's liquor cabinet and poured himself a brandy. He drank it in one large swallow. "This is most awkward, my Queen. Their flags indicate they are from Corona."

Elsa blanched. "What?"

"That can't be, Lindar!" Anna cried. "They would not betray us for any reason."

Elsa squeezed her eyes shut for a few moments. "Now, let us get ahold of ourselves for the time being." She glared at Lindar. "Who is in the Castle right now? Any nobles or military men? Get all of them at once to the Privy Chamber … now!"

Elsa swept into the newly rebuilt Privy Chamber with Anna at her heels. The Princess did not have time to change into more formal attire and looked very uncomfortable standing there with Leif in her arms. Elsa ignored this, however, as she had more important things to do. Her eyes focused on those assembled, few as they were.

Lindar was there, along with the Bishop, Johannes. There was a younger man present; one that she had not met before in her Privy Chamber, and knew it must be Zacharia, a Captain in her Army. Just as she was about to speak Admiral Crispin entered along with General Urban. They both took to their assigned seats.

Elsa looked at the assembled group and sighed inwardly. There ought to have been some of her nobility present. She turned to Kai just as he walked into the door. "Kai, have four palace guards go the former Weselton embassy and return with—what was his name—Captain Gardbrand? Yes, we need some definitive answers from him now."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

The Queen then looked at Lindar, who immediately stood. "Tell all those present here, Colonel, what news you brought to me earlier."

Reluctantly, Lindar stood and addressed the assembled. "A few of our spies at the outer boundaries of Arendelle have sent back reports of a large equestrian contingent on its way to Arendelle as we speak. We appear unsure of where they are from."

Anna finally sat down with Leif. "That is not precisely true, Colonel. You told us they carried the flags of Corona."

Urban whirled around to the Princess. "What does this mean? Have our allies turned against us?"

"Of course not." Elsa had calmed a little and moved to the map at one side of the room. She leaned against it and turned her head towards those who were seated. "Of course Corona has not betrayed us. Our Ambassador there, Wolfgang, has been watched for some time now, and nothing reported back to us has indicated of betrayal."

Admiral Crispin looked at Elsa. "It has to be either Weselton or the Southern Isles; and I'm quite sure it's not the Southern Isles. They would have had to pass Corona on its north eastern border in order to get here, and there have been no reports of that."

"So Weselton's attempt at deception is a failure?" Johannes looked at his folded hands. "Nothing is that simple, is it?"

"Occam's razor. lex parsimoniae."

All eyes turned to Elsa after she spoke the words, and at that moment Kai entered the Chamber and sat down. Elsa smiled at him. "Welcome back, Kai."

Kai cleared his throat. "That Captain should be here any time now, Your Majesty."

Anna could feel the tension in the room. "Why must everything be complicated, or part of deceit, gentlemen? I believe Elsa is right—all things being equal, the simplest explanation is most often true."

"Well, Anna, it's a little more complicated than that. Frustra fit per plura quod potest fieri per pauciora." Elsa offered Anna one of her cutest smiles. "Don't worry, I'll explain it all to you later," she whispered.

"Epistemology aside, what are we going to do about this threat?" Johannes demanded.

Elsa sat down next to Anna. "Simplicity, Your Excellency. Simplicity."

The Admiral stared long and hard at his Queen. "Are you thinking what I think you are, Your Majesty?"

"What do we know that neither Weselton or the Southern Isles know?" Elsa leaned forward expectantly. "Well?"

Lindar's eyes widened with the truth of it all. "The prophecies…"

"Yes, the prophecies. From all that we know of the Southern Isles and Weselton, they have no idea about the Ragnarök, which is upon us. No idea at all. I could return to Yggdrasil today and summon all the frost jötnar to come and destroy those equestrian soldiers today if I wanted." The Queen closed her eyes for a moment. "All of our problems would be over—I am Jörmungandr."

A loud knocking on the door drew everyone's attention away from Elsa. Two Royal Guards flanked the Weselton Captain, still dressed in his uniform.

Queen Elsa stood and adjusted her uniform. She indicated for the foreign captain to sit down at the middle of the table. After glancing at Anna, Elsa slowly walked to the man, her eyes never leaving him. "Captain Gardbrand, I presume."

"You guessed right."

Lindar was at his side in a flash, and struck him fiercely. "You are addressing the Monarch of Arendelle! You will address her accordingly."

Gardbrand looked up at Elsa, and then proceeded to wipe the blood off his mouth. "Forgive me, Your Majesty."

Elsa coolly regarded the man. "Tell me, Captain, why did you come here?"

"We were on a mission from the Duke, to bring back his sister—Aida—to the Duchy of Weselton." He wiped at his mouth again, and needed to spit out blood, but swallowed it instead.

The Queen cringed on the inside, but was loath to let anyone see it. "The Countess Aida? I'm afraid I have regretful news for you, Captain. The Countess is dead."

Gardbrand remained calm, but one of his fists clenched. "I'm sorry for that, Your Majesty."

Elsa regarded the Captain closely. "What other orders were you given?"

"Pardon me, Your Majesty?"

"You can stop the honorific at any time, and you can also stop your false innocence. I'm sure your main charge was to find the Countess, and I am also certain you were given other orders, as well. Am I right?"

"I'm not sure—"

The Queen stood closer to the man from Weselton. "Of course you are sure! Now tell me—what were your other orders?"

"To kill the Princess, Anna."

Several things seemed to happen at once. First, the General and Admiral both bolted out of their seats and grabbed the prisoner, and held him between them. Then Lindar punched him again and shattered his jaw. As Anna gasped Elsa took two strides to stand in front of her, and took a protective stance. She gently took hold of Leif and glared at the captain. "Why would Anna be a target?"

Kai stood up and examined the prisoner's head. "You gentlemen can stop beating this man to death." He turned to face Elsa. "He won't be talking anytime soon, Your Majesty."

"Have one of the Army doctors take a look at him—and I want his confession on my desk tomorrow. Have him write it down." Elsa looked down and caught Anna's stricken look. "It will be all right." She tried to smile but couldn't, and then looked pleadingly to her general and admiral. "I need some good news, gentlemen."

"We know that our fleet will be here by tomorrow evening, or the next day," Crispin said.

"That's not good enough, Admiral."

"Excuse me, Your Majesty?"

Elsa turned cold eyes onto the man. "Not good enough. Nothing is good enough anymore, I'm afraid. Here is what I want, and, by God, it will come to pass. First of all, I want someone sent to the forests that surround Yggdrasil to search for Kristoff and the—trolls. They promised to come to our aid, and I want them here now. Urban, see to it that all of Arendelle's armies take up positions around the city propter now, except for the advanced groups you already have in the forests. We have two major problems as I see it. One, there is a considerable equestrian force on it's way to us and I want it stopped, far from our borders." She turned and handed the baby back to Anna.

When no one spoke up she continued. "Admiral, I want at least a hundred cannon spread out on all the parapet walls that surround the harbor, and I want them stationed there by tomorrow. If any ship that we don't recognize tries to enter our harbor I want it blown out of the water. Master Kai, see that the city is in complete lockdown by tomorrow night. If there are objections to this, and some of our citizenry should protest, they are to be arrested immediately and sent to the old Weselton embassy. Have it fortified, starting right now. Go on, Master Kai, and see to it. Call on Steingard."

Kai stood up and nodded to his Queen. "As you wish, Your Majesty."

"Linder, I'm giving you a very important assignment, one that has a potential to go awry. But I need it done, and I can't go myself."

"What is it, Your Majesty?"

"What I said earlier, about contacting the frost jötnar at Jötunheimr—one of the nine worlds. They must come now. I have business with Thor and will not be able to lead them once they are here."

Lindar gasped slightly. "You want me to lead an assembly of magical, immortal beings? I don't know how to do it, my Queen. What you suggest terrifies me."

Elsa smiled at the man. "I'm not sending you out alone, Lindar. Bishop Johannes will go with you. Won't you, Your Excellency?"

"What would you have me do, Elsa? I am old and far from healthy…"

"But you are a religious man, Johannes, and familiar with what is holy and numinous. You will be the spiritual leader who will understand the sacredness that will be all around you."

Johannes sighed deeply as he got to his feet. "I will go, Your Majesty, and thank you for the compliments."

"It is nearly late afternoon , but you can still leave today if you want. Of course I'm not sending the two of you out on your own. You'll have ten soldiers with you on your. " Elsa admired the determination in Johannes eyes. All of them, however, bore a look of steadfast optimism. "But I would suggest when the time comes for you to descend the three roots you leave them to guard your camp. Those who dwell within the protection of Yggdrasil would not like idea of military men within their domain."

"We understand, Your Majesty." Lindar looked at the Bishop and indicated for both of them to go.

The Queen dismissed all in the room, and when they were gone, she collapsed into her large chair at one end of the table. "Give me Leif, will you, Anna."

When Anna placed their son in Elsa's arms the small boy fell asleep immediately. She sat in a nearby chair and regarded the two, looking for Leif's small sigh. Elsa's eyes drooped at the small intake of the boy's breath.

The new mood in the Privy Chamber and was infectious. Anna felt the need to nap, as well. "Elsa?"

The Queen shifted with the boy in her arms. "What, Snowflake?"

"Let's go upstairs, please. I feel a nap coming on."

Even though it was late afternoon, the Librarian, Beatrice, was still hard at work looking for the misplaced journal from the late Queen, Her niece was asleep in one corner of the large room, but, her nephew, Aleck, was still up and helping his aunt catalogue a shelf of journals that had yet to be reviewed.

Aleck took out a rather dusty journal and sneezed. He wiped his nose with a shirtsleeve. "Yuk."

"Its just dust, Aleck. I can't hurt you." Beatrice took the journal from the boy and glanced through it. There wasn't anything helpful in it, so she dusted it and put it back.

Just as his aunt was re-shelving the journal something caught Aleck's eyes. "Hey, wait, Aunt Bea. There is something in back of that shelf."

Beatrice looked down on the boy. "What shelf?"

"The one we're dusting!"

Beatrice took out a few dusty journals from the shelf and peered inside. It was dark at the very back of the shelf, but she could clearly see a black journal stuffed into the shelf. She tried to pull it out but it was stuck. Another hard tug, however, proved fruitful, and she staggered back a few steps with the power of the pull. She put the journal on the map table and opened its beginning pages.

After reading a few pages she knew the late Queen had authored the pages, plus the easy flow of the script made it hard to miss. After reading about five minutes she came to a section that was clearly different from the first part. For one thing, it had a heading, and no other works of the late Queen has such a thing. And lastly, it had been gilt in gold leaf. When she turned the page, and read the first few sentences she knew what she had discovered was literary gold. These were the final pages of the Queen's diary.

Beatrice sat at the map table and wiped the pages as she read. But, instead of feeling at ease as she read, she now experienced a growing sense of dread.

…And now I come to the terrible matter at hand. No one can tell me I don't love my girls, I do. But the way she looks at me sometimes makes me think she knows, or, at least, suspects…

"What on earth…" The Librarian wiped at her now sticky hands on her blouse. Then there was a break in the text, as if there were many months between the entries.

…I do not blame my husband, either. He did what he had to do when the doctors

told us the truth. Both girls are growing now, Elsa is practically a young lady now, and will soon need a suitor. But I don't want to think about that now, it makes me nervous because of what must said, and soon, before it is too late...

Another break in the text caused Beatrice to frown. The late Queen's words seemed to be erratic, jumping from one subject to the other, and not making any rational sense.

…We must tell her now, before our trip across the sea. Anna is not…

There was a slam, and Beatrice jumped to her feet. But she grabbed the journal, needing to read more.

"You! You there!"

Beatrice looked up to see a castle guard standing in the library doorway. "What do you want?"

"Master Kai has locked down the city, my lady. You'll have to come with me." The guard looked about the room. "And the children, as well."

"What? I can't leave now!" Beatrice glanced down at the journal and read some more. What she read caused her brow to rise. "Wait, what? This can't be…Anna…"

The Guard advanced into the room. "You must come with me now—and drop that book!" He strode forward and grabbed the journal from Beatrice's hands. "Now, come on!"

Beatrice resisted somewhat. "Please, I have to talk with Princess Anna. I've been doing a project for her, and now—"

"It will have to wait. Children, come over to me now." The Guard dropped the journal onto the table and grabbed both the Librarian's arms. "Come on."

A look of pure horror crossed Beatrice's face. "I must talk with her. I've discovered something concerning her past that she would want to know—need to know!"

"You can't; the Castle is now under lock-down, and no one is allowed to see either the Queen or the Princess."

"But—"

The Guard threw Beatrice out the Library door and grabbed the children and made them follow their aunt down the hall towards the servant's stairwell. Beatrice took the children's arms and glanced over her shoulder at the grand spiral staircase that led to the Royal rooms upstairs.

If only she had the chance to talk to the Princess. She processed all that she learned from her short time reading the journal. If only she had time—the war might be over tomorrow.

Elsa lay on her side and watched Anna as she slept. It was a thing of beauty—watching the Princess sleep peacefully. She turned her head slightly when a small noise arose from Leif's crib. She smiled, knowing the boy was safe and all right. A sigh arose in her, and she let it out slowly, feeling much love for the young woman next to her. "Anna…?"

Anna murmured something that Elsa could not understand, so she scooted closer to her. She tentatively touched Anna's shoulder and listened to the slight hitch in the Princess' breathing. She reached out with her senses, and not only touched Anna, but came upon many conversations and thoughts, too distant to be really heard, even in the relative quiet of their bedroom. "Anna…"

The Princess smiled and slowly rolled over onto her back, her eyes beckoning in a silent invitation.

The Queen groaned and rolled on top the Princess, spreading her legs as she did so. "Do you want me inside you, my love?" she whispered.

"Yes, please fill me, Elsa. I need you with me, now."

Elsa rose up on her hands and plunged deeply inside, rolling her hips as she did so. "Do you love me?"

"Of course, my dear." Anna pulled her lover down on top of her and wrapped her securely in her arms. Their lips touched with eager abandon, and then Elsa began to genuinely pump her hips.

Once more, after many ages, the Æsir went with warlike abandon to the dwelling place of the Vanir and did battle with them—and Loki laughed.

It sates itself on the life-blood

of fated men,

paints red the powers' homes

with crimson gore.

Black become the sun's beams

in the summers that follow,

weathers all treacherous.

Do you still seek to know? And what?