Elsa dispatched a sailor easily with the swipe of her curved cutlass, and stepped back calmly to watch over her own men fighting with the unfortunate fisherman. The battle wasn't going to last much longer at all. The fishermen who hadn't abandoned out of sheer terror were brave, but not skilled with a fighting. Her crew, on the other hand, were skilled in all aspects of piracy, killing included.
After what seemed only a few minutes the crew of the Ice Maiden had managed to dispatch or subdue the rest of the fishermen, and Elsa swung easily by a rope from the deck of the Ice Maiden to the fishing vessel. "Report?"
Tiana, usually in charge of cooking, stepped forward, following just a pace behind Elsa as she strode across the deck while she informed her of the stores and cargo held on the fishing ship. "Olaf searched every nook and cranny on her, but found almost nothin' worth lookin' at. About a week's worth of food though- if we ration. Ironically not a lick of fish either. Some fishin' boat this turned out to be."
Elsa frowned slightly and paused in her strides, "Nothing worth any value at all?"
"No, Captain." Tiana confirmed, obviously aware what that meant for the crew. This had been a futile attack. The information that the boat had been smuggling fine metals had been false. Elsa sighed and started walking again, but this time with a much less purposeful pace. She hated wasting lives, and the Ice Maiden needed a good catch soon, they were running dry of resources. Low funds and low of resources and low on reliable crew members. Everything seemed to be slowly draining away before her eyes.
"Go inform Kai of the details." Elsa dismissed. Tiana bowed her head in a respectful tilt and darted off to look for the quartermaster, Kai. Elsa tilted her wide-brimmed hat down to shadow her eyes as she considered her situation. Of course they would take the food, but could she spare enough men to sail the other ship to the trading cove? It wasn't an extravagant boat, but it would still be able to be sold for a price, and any flow of riches would be welcome at this point. Yet as she glanced over her crew she counted an eerily small amount of able-bodied sailors. Elsa worried she had chosen wrong when she agreed to take position of captain, just as she had done many times before. Kai was much more knowledgeable and wise, he should be the one leading the crew. She worried she was slowly leading her comrades, her friends, into doom.
Shaking off her negative thoughts, Elsa straightened her back and strode forward with a familiar false confidence. She had been vote captain and she would fulfill her duty to her crew to the best of her ability. She only stopped again when she was in front of the few survivors from the fishing vessel. Blood leaked out of one man's nose, draining down his face in a slow trickle, but with his hands roughly tied behind his back he was unable to wipe it away. "Who is the ranking officer alive?" Elsa asked clearly and loudly enough for her crew to hear.
"Me," A gruff voice growled from a man kneeling near the center of the men. "Gonna shoot me dead first, or last?"
"I'll give you a chance." Elsa motioned at her men and they quickly responded by lifting the man up by his elbow so he was standing. "Best me in a duel and I'll let you keep your ship and those of you alive will be free to leave."
"Hah, after you've plundered it for what little we have, and killed more than half the crew, you mean. Fair chance my ass, bitch."
Elsa held the man's stare coolly, "I said you get a chance, fair never came from my mouth. Do you wish to die fighting for your life or do you want to die like a coward? It makes no difference to me."
"I'll kill you!" the man screeched, lunging at Elsa with his bare hands, only to be held back by her sailors. "I'll kill you!"
"Die like a coward it is, then," Elsa said quietly as she pulled one of her intricately carved pistols from her belt, pulling back the hammer as she aimed. Just as she leveled the gun at the man's head the sailors holding him back stepped away, and she pulled the trigger. The man crumpled to the deck with a gurgle and a thud.
"Leave the others here, we're sinking it." Elsa waved her hand to motion her crew into action. Like a well-oiled machine they immediately started hauling crates of food from the fishing ship to the Ice Maiden and unhooking her from the small fishing ship they were about to put to rest. Elsa did her best to avoid looking at the faces of the fishermen she had just doomed, but she knew that they would forever stalk her in her nightmares, along with every other person before them that had met the same fate at her hands.
OOOO
It had been about two months at sea and Anna was exhausted. No, she thought, she was beyond exhausted. She had only been awake one hour and already felt fatigued. She had felt like this from day one, and the toll her body took only seemed to get worse. She had known it would be hard, it wasn't a surprise to her that she wasn't exactly in incredible physical shape, but she thought this was just ridiculous. Shouldn't she have gotten use to it a little bit by now? Her arms were as useful as wet noodles. Her hands weren't cooperating either, getting so many blisters that she wasn't sure where one ended and the others began. She could even count her ribs, for goodness sake!
She needed to prove herself, and so far she didn't think she was looking so hot. The Captain had been surprisingly nice and understanding, considering the situation. He had said she could be on the crew as a test run, if she didn't pull her weight the next time the Northern Belle docked she would be dumped, left alone in a foreign land. At the time she had been overconfident and agreed readily to the arrangement, but now doubt swam through her head. She didn't expect or want Captain Hans to go back on his agreement with her, she just wished she had thought about it more before accepting.
Anna huffed, annoyed with herself for dwelling so much on the subject. She had to stay positive or she had no chance at all. What was it her mother always said? If you never try you'll never succeed? Well, something along those lines, anyway. It had been a long time.
She just needed to keep moving forward, Captain Hans would see her perseverance. Hopefully.
Anna was jerked back to her work by a rough shove to her shoulder, "Get out of the way," A large man grumbled as he shouldered his way past her. Anna seethed, but held herself back. Another thing about sailing was the absolute disrespect she received from the crew members. The Captain was a gentleman, and the man she had convinced to let her on the ship, Kristoff, was a little rough around the edges but still fine enough. No one else would show her the slightest bit of recognition though. They stole her rations of food at dinner and breakfast, and made it as hard as possible to do her assigned jobs correctly. It was like she was a curse, or a thorn in their side. She had done nothing to them! She was working her absolute hardest and they seemed to get some sick satisfaction by harassing her. She'd work her hardest just to spite them if nothing else. She had to prove that she was better than them. She would not be the victim of petty bullying like some child.
Relaxing her clenched hands, Anna took a calming breath. She just had to move on. But just as she was about to climb the stairs leading to the deck another man barreled down them, once again knocking her back.
"Ah, watch yourself, Anna." Kristoff warned without bite. He looked strangely ruffled, his hat askew and shirt untucked.
"Something wrong?" She wondered.
"No- it's nothing. Please just stay below deck for a little will you? Don't come up until I come get you. Take inventory or something."
"Inventory? Can't that wait? I have to-"
"Anna listen to me for once, will you?" Kristoff snapped, shaky hand pushing his triangular hat straight.
"What's going on? Don't lie to me." Anna demanded. She felt herself starting get worried. What had Kristoff riled up so much? Why was he so nervous? Were the other boys planning a particularly nasty prank on her? Well she could take it. She had to- she wasn't in need of his protection.
Anna swiftly ducked under Kristoff's arm and stomped up the stairs, ignoring his warning calls. She wouldn't hide from them. But when she clambered onto deck what she saw was the last thing she expected. None of the crew on deck were paying her any attention as they scrambled around adjusting sails frantically. She heard Captain yelling in a commanding voice but the meaning of the words were lost on her. A proud ship with snow white sails was only a few miles away and gaining quickly. But what stopped Anna's heart was the black flag whipping in the wind, showing off a gruesome skull, the banner of bloody and prowling pirates.
Just a warning, a little late, I don't really know all that much about ships or sailing or the ocean, but I am trying to research a little bit so I'm not completely inaccurate but if anyone notices anything super obvious feel free to let me know. And thanks for the love! People are really liking this story apparently, and Anna and Elsa haven't even met yet! I hope I meet everyone's expectations! The reviews have been really sweet, and I hope I have remembered to respond to everyone who was signed in. To the anons:
Blues: Thank you so much! I'm glad you have such high hopes even though you only read two chapters! I do plan on having other disney and other cartoons involved in this story. It's as fun for me as it is for you readers. Haha you flatter me, I could definitely improve, but I really do my best to make it the best I can.
aniluv: Wooh, a fan of two of my stories from two different fandoms! cool! Thanks for the support.
Thanks again everyone!
~Goldflame
