Adventures of John

Chapter 8: Drastic Measures

"Thank you for your help," I told the soldier, "but it is time for me to take my leave of this place."

He just laughed. "You aren't going anywhere, sorcerer."

I smiled thinly. "Oh, I think I am." My eyes began to glow brightly, golden light pouring out of my cage. The manacles on my wrist began to glow as well, growing hot and burning the flesh beneath. I grit my teeth against the pain, continuing to pour power into the manacles. Soon they were white-hot and I was screaming, my flesh ruined by third degree burns. If it weren't for my magic subconsciously protecting me from the worst of it, I would never have been able to go through with it.

Finally there was an explosion of energy and the manacles shattered, leaving my badly burnt wrists free. My eyes flashed and the burns vanished, replaced with new unharmed skin. The body I had in that world may have been creating using magic, but it was still just as real as my ordinary body, and just as susceptible to injury and pain. I looked back at the stunned guard, fire in my eyes. "Told you so." With a flash of light he was encased in crystal, unable to move or make a sound, his eyes darting frantically beneath the rocky covering. He would survive, but it wouldn't be comfortable.

"I think it's time I tore this place apart," I muttered, cracking my knuckles. "If this Mana Heart is real, then there is no way I'm letting the Rose get their hands on it."

"You don't have a choice," Magus Magda declared, appearing with a dozen other Rose magi. "I should have known the manacles wouldn't hold you. No matter. We simply have to kill you. It shouldn't be too much trouble. After all, you are one man against an army."

An arrow suddenly appeared in the throats of three separate Rose magi, one of which was Magus Magda. "Not one." Merida came out of the shadows, three more arrows knocked to her bow. "Anyone moves, they get an arrow in their ticklish spot."

Two of the Rose magi with arrows in their necks slid to the ground dead, but Magus Magda did not. She dragged herself to her feet and waved her hand over the arrow, the projectile vanishing a puff of blue smoke, an azure glimmer sealing the wound closed. "Killing me won't be so easy, little girl," she hissed. Three more arrows flew towards her in response, all of which shattered against a shimmering field of energy. "I think it is time I exterminated you vermin."

"Vermin?" I asked with a chuckle. "After what you've seen, are you really stupid enough to consider us nothing more than rodents? There is something seriously wrong with your cranium."

"Even if you are as powerful as you think," Magda hissed, "I have a small army of Rose magi at my back, and a much larger army of soldiers and manahunters trained specifically to take down your kind."

"News flash: You are included in 'my kind.'"

However, as I glanced around, I saw that she wasn't wrong. I could count nearly four dozen Rose magi within my range of vision, and while Merida kept her bow trained on several Rose magi, dozens more manahunters had their bows trained on the both of us. It was possible I could survive this battle. I could slow down time, or make myself nearly invulnerable, or put a force field around myself. But that wouldn't ensure victory. The weapons of the Rose were specifically created to deal with magic, and their magi undoubtedly had tricks of their own up their sleeves. Mere days after killing an entire realm full of ancient pagan gods, and I was brought to a standstill by a bunch of insane zealots.

"You hold the upper hand, I will admit," I told Magus Magda with a bow. "It would seem that you actually have a slight possibility of winning this fight. Or of killing Merida at least."

"Hey!"

"Either way, I salute your intelligence. Tell Hans that John the Adventurer send his regards." With that I was gone, several dozen arrows and energy blasts striking the spot where Merida and I had been standing.

. . . . .

Elsa stared out one of the windows in her and John's chambers, out into the distant expanse of the ocean. John was usually so quick. He shouldn't have been gone this long.

"He's fine," Anna assured her, hugging her sister from behind. "I've only met one person in the whole world who is stronger than him."

"Oh?" Elsa asked, turning around with a raised eyebrow. "And who would that be?"

"You of course!"

Elsa let out a short laugh and wrapped Anna in a hug, gripping her younger sister tight. "I know that he can handle himself. It's just that I can't stand staying here while he runs directly into danger! I doubt he would stay here if I was the one running off to fight who knows what."

"Arendelle needs you," Anna reminded her, "you're their queen!"

"I know that," Elsa sighed. "But can you really blame me for rather being out there on an adventure than in here, crowded with nobles and bureaucrats?"

Anna laughed at that. "I guess I can't blame you. It would certainly be much more exciting than staying around here. But I'm sure you will be the one on the next adventure. Then it will be your turn to tell him to stay home.

Suddenly there was a burst of energy in the room and the two sisters turned around to see John and Merida standing in the center of the room. They stood still for a moment, a moment that was broken when Merida crumpled to the ground, an arrow in her side.

. . . . .

When Merida fell I knelt down and examined the wound, feeling the flesh around the wound. The veins around the wound were black, the sickly color spreading quickly. Of course the arrow that actually hit her was poisoned. The universe didn't want this to be too easy. Usually pulling the arrow out would be a really bad decision, but usually you don't have magic on your side I was low on time.

I tore the barbed arrow out of her side, eliciting an agonized shriek from the archer. I focused my energies on the poison running through her system and began to draw it out, her veins returning to their usual color as the inky substance left her body, collecting into a ball of liquid which I quickly evaporated. With the poison gone it was a simple matter to close the wound, leaving Merida gasping and covered in her own blood, but otherwise fine.

I turned around to see Elsa and Anna still staring at me, their eyes wide. "Hey there Princess," I said with a chuckle, "how is your day going so far?"

. . . . .

Fifteen minutes later Merida was lying unconscious on one of the many couches in the palace and I had told Elsa and Anna our tale. "They want to kill magic?" Anna asked, still not completely comprehending the situation. "But why?"

"Magic isn't always fun times," I replied. "We know this better than anyone else. Elsa did freeze your entire kingdom, remember? The world that the Rose comes from has things like that and worse every few months. They have undead army invasions, dragon attacks, elemental wars, and everything else that you can imagine. Basically, magic hasn't exactly been very friendly to them. And they don't just want to kill magic. Now they have a way to do it."

"Then we need to stop it," Elsa stated. "We can't let them destroy magic."

"Precisely what I was going to say," I replied, smiling at her. "Magic is a natural part of this world. Taking it away suddenly could tear the planet apart. But we can't do this on our own. We are going to need an army."

"Arendelle has soldiers," Elsa reminded me, "but if what you describe is accurate, we don't have nearly enough. They would be slaughtered."

"I know. That is why we need a very different kind of army." I gave her a pointed look. "You know what I mean."

"You want me to create an army."

"Yes."

She hesitated, knowing exactly what I was asking of her. I understood her hesitation, of course. When she created a living being out of snow and ice, such as Marshmallow or Olaf, she gave them a part of herself. For Olaf it as her happy childhood memories, and the childhood innocence that came with them. For Marshmallow it was her fear and distrust, her desire to be left alone. They needed that spark from her to have a life of their own. If either of them were to die, it would almost feel like a part of her was dying with them. Obviously that part of her wouldn't actually die, but it would still hurt her on a deep level. To create an army she would be imparting a portion of herself into every soldier, and every time one of them was destroyed the pain would be worse than a physical blow.

"If there was any better way I would take it," I assured her. "But at this point, there isn't. The Rose are close to reaching their goal. If we don't stop them now then we will lose. I am sorry that I have to ask this of you." I wrapped her in a hug, burying my face in her hair. "I truly am."

"I understand." She pulled away, wiping a frozen tear drop from her eye. "We do what needs to be done. Just like always."

"So how are we getting there if we are all in so much of a hurry?"

We all turned at the sound of the distinctly Scottish voice, seeing Merida standing up, wide awake.

"Don't look at me like that, you gobbers," she admonished. "Magic man over here fixed me up, I am good to go, and ready for some revenge. So, how are we getting there? I doubt ol' Angus can get us there fast enough if this is as urgent as John says it is."

Elsa recognized the glint in my eye and turned to Anna. "I need you to look after my children and the kingdom for a bit," she told her. "I won't be gone long."

"I'm going with you!" Anna exclaimed, adamant.

Elsa just smiled. "No, you're not." I snapped my fingers and Elsa, Merida and I vanished, leaving Anna alone in the room with a kingdom and two extra children to take care of.

. . . . .

We reappeared on a tall hill overlooking the poor town the Rose was essentially holding hostage, the three of us against an army of Rose in the caverns below. That would soon change.

"They need to be obedient," I told my wife quietly as she prepared herself. "You know what part of your life you need to draw from. I'm sorry for being the reason you have to relive bad memories."

"You aren't the reason," she replied stiffly, though I had a feeling I was still going to pay for it in the nights to come. "They are the reason. And they are going to find out why you don't mess with the Queen of Ice and Snow."

She raised her arms and the wind swirled around us, the temperature dropping drastically. Snow began to fall, and it was only the beginning. Within moments the wind was a tempest and snow was everywhere, filling the air and covering the ground. Then they came. Formed from my wife's icy magic and shaped to my design, they rose eight feet tall, covered in jagged icy armor. They wielded spears and swords of razor-sharp ice in their left hands, with thick icy shields in their right, mirroring my wife's left handed tendencies.

Hundreds and then thousands of them rose out of the snow and marched forward towards the town and the fortress beyond it. The Rose had come prepared for a war, and we were going to give it to them.