Chapter 7

Ice for the Burn

Hans pov

Once I lifted my sword above Elsa's head the wind had picked up. Not picked up like a summer breeze, picked up like the roar from a hurricane. It was worse than when she created the storm around the castle I couldn't see anything. Not Nolan, not Elsa, not even the hand in front of my face. The whole world was white.

Just as quick as it came, the wind stopped. Once I opened my eyes all I could see was snow and ice. The streets, the buildings, even my clothes were iced over. It seems the wind put out the buildings that were on , how could she have conjured up such a wind? She was powerless. I looked towards her and she was…shivering? The cold was bothering her, from what I heard she was immune to the cold. Than that means that the arm band is working and restraining her power. Maybe that wind was a fluke.

Nolan asked "What do we do? That wind nearly killed us."

"As long as I kill Elsa we won't have to worry about a wind like that again." I said.

"Uh, you might have a bit of a problem doing that" Nolan said as he pointed to my sword. I looked at my sword; it was completely covered in ice. The ice was so thick that I would have to get a hammer and chisel just to get it off. I looked towards the men and their weapons were iced over too. Their swords, axes, spears, and arrows were completely covered in ice. The wind wasn't meant to hurt us, it was meant to disarm us (in a way).

Blast it! I shouldn't have let Seraphina go around town to set buildings on fire. We could have had her here to defrost us.

I couldn't keep her around anyway though. Even though she hasn't said anything about it, I could tell she felt a connection to Elsa. She might have tried to stop us if we killed her. Hence the reason we haven't told her about this part of the plan

Nolan said grasping his Warhammer. "I told you Hans Blunt weapons were the way to go, but no. The soldiers just had to pick up piercing weapons."

Then I heard a cracking sound. I looked around and the ice was moving. The ice was changing, forming into creatures! There before stood about a dozen creatures, ice elementals I think was the technical term. These creatures stood as tall as that snow monster that I fought on the North Mountain. I was being careless unfortunately because one of the creatures knocked me away Elsa and onto the pavement in front of my men.

Anna pov

We were so focused on the ice creatures getting Hans away from Elsa that neither me or Kristoff (or the soldiers holding us for that matter) noticed two them coming towards us. With a swing of their fists our captors went flying into the side of the wall.

Then with a mighty roar they all charged the other soldiers. As they were fighting Kristoff looked at the soldiers slumped against the walls and said "Anna there's knives in their boots." I nodded in understanding and we made our way to them. We drew the knives (lucky for us the boots prevented them from being ice over) and we cut our bonds. I made my way to Elsa and immediately cut her bonds. "Nice work on the ice creatures Elsa" I commented. Elsa shook her head "I didn't do this either Anna."

"Anna!" Kristoff called. I turned to see one of the soldiers had kicked Kristoff in the stomach and he was backing away from him. As he tried to get back up to attack Kristoff again I ran over and punched him in the face. He slumped back against the wall.

"Stay down"

I turned to see if Kristoff was ok only to see some of those ice creatures walk towards us. One of the ice creatures picked up the men Kristoff and I was near. It then threw them over to where the other soldiers were fighting. As I watched the other creatures threw over more of the men. I kind of felt sorry for them, but considering they tried to kill us I think I'll make an exception.

Hans pov

We fought these…monsters. Even with our numbers we were barely holding on. Our weapons were worse than useless we couldn't slice all we were doing was bashing them. These were not what the weapons were designed for. Even Nolan with his Warhammer was having trouble. I looked up for a moment to see the soldiers that were behind these creatures go flying over our heads. From in between the creatures I could see the creatures that protected those three on the other side come running over to join in on our fight. I cursed; fighting half a dozen of these creatures was bad enough. Now all of them are fighting us. The worst part was those three now had a clear shot back to the castle to get more men.

When that thought crossed my mind the creatures were engulfed in fire. Then they burst into pieces and many of my men were injured by the shards. I heard "I was gone for 5 minutes." I turned to the sound of her voice and saw Seraphina walk towards me.

"5 minutes! Are you incapable of surviving on you own without me?"

"In our defense they were snow monsters" I replied. Seraphina rolled her eyes at this.

Maybe this would be a good time to test her loyalty to us

"Anyway it's time to get on with the plan." I continued. "Kill Queen Elsa, Seraphina."

She looked shocked at the statement and looked towards her. She then turned towards me with a look of hate on her face. She asserted "I can't kill her, she's like me."

I threatened "Do you not want to get your father back Seraphina because that is what will happen if you do not obey me."

Her eyes widened at that. I had her. Her father was her weakness, as long as I used him she was mine. She then narrowed her eyes and turned towards Elsa. Above her head she created a large fireball and launched it at Elsa. I watched as the fireball got closer to Elsa and from the corner of my eye I watched something white moved towards Elsa.

Jack pov

After I had made sure that those soldiers I chased out weren't going to come back, I quickly came back to deal with that Than guy. What do I find when I reenter the town, someone trying to kill Elsa! Well that couldn't be allowed so I whipped up a little wind and a few elementals. It's not easy controlling that many of them at the same time. I was both sad and relieved when they were destroyed.

As soon as the fireball sailed towards Elsa I flew towards her. I knew taking a direct hit like that would hurt, bad. So I covered myself in as much ice as I could. I probably could have deflected the magic into a nearby building or made a large shield to protect her, but there was no way Elsa was not going to get hurt with that big of a fireball. I wasn't fast enough to move her out of the way either.

So I'll take it for her.

I made it to her just in time to shield her from it. Once it made contact with my back we were covered in what I assumed was fire and the steam that was made from my…ice armor I guess you could call it. I could feel the fire melting through the ice and then burn through my clothes. When there was nothing left to burn, I could feel it again my skin.

As the air cleared around us I could see Elsa staring wide eyed at me. No, see was looking through me. All she could probably see fire hanging in the air and the ice that remained on my limbs. Then I realized something. What was left of my cloak was on fire. I'M ON FIRE!

As I turned to face the fire user I loosened the fastenings on my cloak and threw it to the side. Judging by the soldiers gasping, my cloak is now visible to them. Well I do need to wear clothing in order for it to turn invisible. Although the irony of losing my cloak to a fireball when I got it from a To-be-Burned bin made me chuckle a little.

There was too many of them and a fire user to boot. I can't deal with them; I've already used a lot of my magic today. Not that the fireball I took helped me much. I needed a plan. Then it hit me. In my travel's I have learned many things. 1) Try to avoid campfires where the sole food for the evening is beans. Either the gas will kill you or the explosion will. 2) Any magical artifacts created by mortals have a limit. Too much and it will break. That is my plan.

I step back to stand beside Elsa and I grabbed the arm band. I'm probably freaking her out by being invisible and have 'floating' ice suddenly grab her arm, but I don't care this is for her own good. I can hear one of the people before me shouting orders. Whoever is shouting probably figured out what I am trying to do. I pour everything I have into the arm band, I can feel myself getting weaker and weaker from it. Just a little more…

There!

I can feel the arm band breaking under what it was being put under. The diamonds are cracking and the gold warping. Wait a minute. When you overcharge a relic, isn't something bad supposed to happen? It would seem so; I could feel the energy coming to a single breaking point.

This is going to hurt.

As soon as I said that the arm band burst. I could feel the energy rippling through my body as it lifted me off the ground and through one of the windows of a shop. By the feel of things I went through a wall as well. The last thing I said before I drifted into unconsciousness was "Elsa"

Elsa pov

Once I was able to feel the storm inside again all I felt was rage. I was angry with Hans, with the soldiers with this whole situation! They tried to hurt my family and that was very, very, stupid. I remembered in my readings that it was best to remove the major threats first; then deal with the minor ones later. With that in mind I quickly stood up and threw my magic at that fire user. She was so shocked at all that happened before that she couldn't react to my attack. It slammed her against one of the nearby stalls and when she hit the ground she didn't get back up. Once I was sure she was dealt with I turned my attention to the soldiers who were now charging me.

Instead of trying to deal with them one by one I decided to do to them what she tried to do to me. I created a large snow ball above my head large enough to take up the most street and I threw it at them. From here I could see them starting to run back, too late. The snow ball rolled down the street picked them up by having them stuck on to the surface of it. Once it reached the end of the street it hit a building and broke into one big pile of snow and men.

I was so focused on the snow ball that I was barely able to duck below the sword that was aimed at my head. I turned to my-would-be executioner. HANS! He must have ducked into one of the nearby streets to get away from the snow ball. There was also someone brandishing a Warhammer with him. I remember him from my books! He was the third son of Gaius, Nolan Westerguard. Nolan, Than and Hans, how far does this accursed thing go?

This wasn't going to be easy, Nolan could over power me. When Hans was going to attack me again I braced myself for the hit, but then a large piece of ice hit him in the face. I turned slightly to see Anna was the one that hit him. Both she and Kristoff had picked up a large piece of ice and came to stand beside me. I tried not to think about those pieces of ice coming from the bodies of those ice creatures.

"If you had just been cooperative Elsa we wouldn't need Anna and Kristoff to die" Hans said.

"Liar, you would have killed them anyway." I countered as I attacked him with the icicles I conjured up. While I fought Hans, Anna and Kristoff focused on Nolan. I lost my focus on him for a second when I heard a cry from Anna. Nolan broke their ice clubs with his hammer and knocked Anna to the ground.

"No, leave her alone!" I yelled.

"You should be worried about yourself!"

I turned to Hans just to see him hit me across the face with the flat of his sword knocking me to the ground. I looked up to see him moving attack me again. I don't know what I did; I just reacted on instinct. I aimed my hand at his head and shot my magic at him. When it made contact, it knocked him off his feet. He didn't get back up. I did to him what I did to Anna!

"Brother!"

Nolan forgot about Kristoff and ran to Hans picking him off the ground and threw him over his shoulder. He turned to me, not with eyes filled hate but regret. "I didn't want this, this… conflict."

"Then you shouldn't have caused it" I asserted as I stood up.

"You make it seem as if we had a choice. Our father…it does not matter, you will find out soon enough from them"

"Them?"

"Your guards are likely coming by now, we will leave you be." He finished.

I watched as Nolan sprinted away from me. The soldiers that I had taken care up had gotten back up and grabbed the fire user. With Prince Nolan they all made their escape. If it were any other time I would gladly trapped them in my ice but they are leaving of their own accord. How on earth am I going to explain this to the nobles?

Anna whooped "Yeah, we beat them!"

I turned to Anna "I'm not sure we can consider this a win."

"Well I am"

Kristoff states "Win or not we better do something about all of this ice. I know its winter and all but this is ridiculous"

With a wave of my hands the ice and snow I had created melted but the street was still covered ice (and pieces of the elementals). Kristoff asked "Elsa, what's the hold up?" I tried again but the ice just wouldn't leave. I stated "I can't melt the rest. For some reason only my ice is melting."

"Aww, this is the merchant's district. How can they open up their shops tomorrow if they can't even get to them?" Anna pouted. I heard Kristoff mumble sarcastically "Oh, what shame."

Before I could say anything else I heard the ice that covered the door to the shop with the broken window melt. The door opened only no one was there to open it. We looked down at the snow in front of the door and saw…foot prints? The foot prints came to me and stopped half way. We didn't say anything, we couldn't. We didn't know what could be doing this. Suddenly the ice and snow around us melted. Once the ice was all melted a single snowflake appeared in front of me and floated in the air. I don't know why but I reached out and grabbed it.

Anna questioned "Elsa what are you doing?"

"I don't know." I said as I conjured up a snowflake in my other hand "All I know is that this feels….right." I then brought the two snowflakes together.

There was a bright flash of light and I wasn't in the streets anymore. I think I was in the mountains. I'm hugging someone. I look to see who it is and it's….

"Dad?"

I'm looking at my father! Wait a minute. He's holding me in his arms. I looked at him and looked at myself. I'm a kid! Why am I a kid?! I looked at my dad's face again and smiled. It didn't matter if I was a kid or not, dad was right here. He looked away from me and yelled "Wait!" I looked away from him and followed his line of sight. There was a man; he was walking away from us. Dad started to run after him with me in his arms. He pleaded "Wait. You brought my daughter back to me!" Brought me back? Where did I go?

"I don't even know your name." Dad reached out to grab the man's shoulder…. only to have his hand go through him. No one moved and I was wide eyed at the man. He removed his hood and revealed….white hair. "Jack" He turned to face us completely. "My name is Jack Frost"

Elsa pov

Just as fast I was in the mountains I was back in the frozen street with Anna and Kristoff. Was that a vision….or a memory? I wondered. In my out stretched hands wasn't the snowflake that I made or the snow flake from…Jack? Floating above my hands was a new snowflake and then it melted away.

Kristoff said "Whoa"

I replied "What?"

Anna answered "When you did the snowflake thing you kind of had a mini snow storm around you. Like when I tried to get you to reverse the eternal winter back in your ice castle. Elsa, what was that all abo...OH MY GOD! THERE'S A PERSON THERE!" I looked down and there was someone lying in the streets. It was… the man from my vision! His back had large pieces glass and wood piercing him, he's bleeding!

Anna was breathing hard "What do we do?"

"Your majesties!"

We turned to see the some of the royal guards running towards us. When they got to us they asked "Your majesty, we saw the ice from the castle. Are you all alright?"

"Yes we are fine, but we have to help this man"

"Who is this person?"

I said "His name is Jack, he saved our lives. We need to get him to the castle for treatment."

One of the guards replied "Your majesty bringing someone this injured to the castle will raise questions"

"Questions that we will answer. Now quickly take him the castle and have some of the servants treat him. If anyone asks what happened simply inform them to direct their questions to me."

"Yes, your majesty."

The guards picked him up and a staff nearby then made their way to the castle. Anna chimed in "There were also guards that first came with us"

"They have already been tended to your majesty. They'll be alright."

With that we began our walk back to the castle. The guards would likely not let us out of their sight for the remainder of the evening. Kristoff asked "What are we going to tell the nobles?"

Anna said angrily "We'll tell them the truth. Those soldiers from the Southern Isles attacked Arendelle, and that the guy saved our lives."

Kristoff said "Yeah but do we have any proof to back that up?"

"Actually we do" I stated. I lifted up Hans's sword for them to see. "Though Prince Nolan left with Hans he didn't take his sword. Unfortunately for them he carried a sword that was specially crafted for the their Royal house"

"Great now that we have proof they have accept that the Southern Isles is responsible for this attack" Anna stated. Anna looked over to me concerned "What's wrong Elsa?"

I sighed "Nolan said that he didn't want this conflict and that fire user seemed to hesitate when I heard Hans order her to… something just doesn't feel right about all this."

"And?"

"I just feel like there are so many questions left unanswered. Where did Hans get the arm band or the fire user? Why is the Southern Isles starting a war?"

Kristoff interjected "I think I have some more relevant questions than any of those. Who is that guy? Why does he have magic? Why couldn't we see him before? Why did he protect you?"

"I don't know, but we'll find out soon enough." I said.

To answer Crimson Gamma's question I used the roman testudo because it seemed the logical solution for soldiers getting pelted by snowballs. I mainly put it in because I wanted to show that they actually had some level of organization.

But if we are going to debate the realism of the timeline then I'll give you this to chew on. Where are the firearms? Wealthy royalty from different kingdoms and not one firearm, not one, not even a stinking pistol.