Chapter Four
Astrid gathered up the reins and tightened her hold, but Stormly had already gone into the dive. Her dragon spit fire at the woman in red. Another shield of ice appeared. Where did it come from? The other partygoers screamed, the sound rising in waves. Astrid yanked Stormfly to the side and her dragon listened. They soared over the people and raked up the castle's buttresses.
She tried to rein Stormfly in further, but her dragon had gone into a rage. Astrid had never seen her so angry, but she could understand. The woman in the green dress, the one so happy before, had injured the miniature dragon. And the woman in red had knelt down and seemed to injure it more. Or at least Astrid hadn't gotten a clear view of the white dragon after that. What else would a person do if she had never seen a dragon before?
Attack it, of course.
That was how Berk once chose to deal with the dragons.
Stormfly had responded accordingly.
But where had all the ice come from? Curious, Astrid maneuvered Stormfly to face the woman in red. The younger woman hiding behind her. The crowd cowering on the side of the garden.
Astrid narrowed her eyes. She couldn't see the miniature dragon anywhere. And then, peeking around the woman's red dress, the white dragon appeared.
She glared at the dragon flapping its wings above her. At the barbaric woman riding on its back. Her heart beat frantically against her chest. Surely everyone could hear it.
They had attacked Arendelle. They had attacked her. Her thoughts spiraled. Maybe the bigger dragon wanted to eat Anna's? Heavens, did dragons even do that?
She felt a pinprick by her foot, the snow dragon's claws had punctured her thin shoes and hit skin. The little dragon eyed the newcomers. The screams from her people distracted her too much. The pressure of Anna's hands curling around her arm, and her breath hot on Elsa's neck did, too. And now her little snow dragon wanted to take a look. But the snow dragon would get pummeled by its bigger kin. If they even were kin to begin with. It couldn't be a coincidence as soon as the snow dragon showed up again, a bigger one followed.
She shoved it back with her foot. A little too hard perhaps, the dragon squeaked as it fell backwards in between her and Anna.
A growl drew her gaze upward to her attacker. The blue dragon flew a bit higher. Its claws extended. Its mouth opened in a silent scream, then filled with fire. Elsa summoned her powers, calling the cold to her fingertips.
A burst of fire screamed through the sky. Elsa hesitated, shifting her decision between attack or defend. Her people yelled again, pointing at the flames barreling toward her. Defense. For now. She threw up her ice shield once more. The fire burned the edges of her shield, but couldn't penetrate. Once the fire ended, Elsa dropped her shield. Smoke poured over her, thick, dark, filling her lungs. A cinder singed her lip. She yelped and wiped the cinder away. Coughing, she blew the smoke away with a gust of snow.
The dragon swooped away once more. Elsa turned to the guards rushing out of the castle. "Take my people inside. Guard them!"
One of the closest guards tilted his visor back, a lock of curly brown hair poking from the side. "But your Highness, what about –"
"Go. Now!" She couldn't let him finish. Not with the dragon swooping back down again. Not with her people out in the open. The guard nodded and called out orders to the others. They began herding her people inside her castle.
The dragon came closer, but the woman yanked something and the dragon turned. Reins? Did this woman control the dragon? Elsa didn't know. And right at this moment, she shouldn't care. She turned to Anna. "You go, too, Anna."
Anna tightened her already death-grip hold. "Elsa, no!"
Elsa pushed her away. "Yes, please you have to go and help protect the others. Keep them calm and safe. I'll deal with this."
"But, Elsa –"
Elsa scanned the gardens. Kristoff stood by the castle doors, ushering people inside. "Kristoff!"
He rushed over and took Anna's hand. "Yes, Elsa?"
Elsa nodded to her little sister. "Get Anna inside." She felt, rather than saw, the snow dragon tuck itself closer to her. Her ankles grew colder, the backside of her dress pushed slightly between her legs. If it wanted to stay, fine, but her sister had to leave.
"Elsa, no." Ann's voice grew louder. "I want to help you!"
Kristoff looked between the two sisters. Elsa locked her jaw. He wouldn't say no to her. After a few too many heartbeats, he inclined his head. "Yes, your Highness."
He pulled Anna away. Anna struggled, but couldn't break free of his grasp. Thank the heavens for Kristoff's mountain hands.
"And close the doors!" Elsa called after the pair. Kristoff did. The doors slammed shut. "You there." She pointed at the guard near the gates. "Close them, too, and keep to the perimeter. Guard the doors to my home."
And to Anna.
The guard sheathed his sword then, with the help of three others, closed the gates. They hugged the walls, like Elsa ordered, and stood in front of the castle doors. For the first time she was happy that all of Arendelle had stopped by for Anna's party. At least she could protect everyone now. Of course, more dragons could just fly over the gates and attack, but Elsa wanted to hinder a ground attack anyway. Just in case.
And keep the dragon's attention on her and her alone.
She eyed the dragon. It flew directly above her – close enough that Elsa noticed the straps buckled around the creature's off-white belly – and circled the garden. Once it aimed its blue and white snout at Elsa, she raised her hands. She didn't want to fight, but if necessary, she would attack this creature. If necessary, she would protect her people. She called up her powers, the familiar tingling in her hands, the recognizable chill surrounding her.
But really it was up to her attackers. What would their next move be?
The blue dragon lingered, flapping its wings, glaring at her. The woman atop her dragon stared, too. As if she waited for something, just like Elsa.
Elsa felt another pinprick by her foot, then a searing pain. The dress of her skirt rustled. A flash of white passed by her shoulder. The miniature dragon rose into the air. It started for the attacker. No! Elsa grabbed the dragon by its tail and pulled. The dragon's tail snapped in half. It cried out and fell to the ground. Anna's snow dragon looked up at her with watery eyes. The end in Elsa's fingers shattered.
Astrid didn't know how it was possible, but somehow that woman just broke off a piece of the white dragon's tail. Her throat tightened, ending her horrified yell. Stormfly roared. No way Astrid would let this woman torture the white dragon. It clearly wanted to leave. And Astrid was going to help it.
The woman in red crouched over the miniature dragon, hiding it from view.
Perfect time to attack.
Astrid put Stormfly into a dive. "Now!"
Stormfly answered her cry by shooting more flames. The fire sped toward the ground. The woman turned, and started to bring another sheet of snow. This time Astrid really watched. This time she would see where the all the damn snow came from.
As the woman moved her hands, snow followed. The crystals solidified into one solid shield. The woman produced the snow. Produced the snow? That wasn't possible. Stormfly's fire wouldn't melt the woman's shield, so Astrid made Stormfly dive again. Her dragon clawed the shield. It shattered.
The woman in red remained still. She waved her hands and the ice returned. The ice hung in the air, then darted towards them like daggers. Like freaking ice daggers. What was this woman? Astrid commanded Stormfly better than ever before, darting in between the ice shards. They kept low to the ground, that way if Stormfly needed to she could land and run. Sometimes her dragon was faster on foot.
A snowflake caught her in the eye and she blinked the pain away. One of the shards caught her on the cheek, slicing her skin. She yelped at the sudden frost more so the pain, then gritted her teeth. The air seemed colder down at this woman's level. A burst of cold air pushed her back, making her shiver. Even in the direct sunlight it seemed cold. And Astrid didn't like it.
Astrid pulled Stormfly up again. A few feet up and the air grew warmer again. "This is where we stay, Stormfly. Up here."
Stormfly tossed her head and eyed the woman down below. She shot some of her tail spines. They sped towards the woman in red. The woman's eyes widened and she jumped out of the way.
"Betcha didn't expect that," Astrid muttered.
The woman tumbled to the side, caught her balance on her fountain. She waved her hand over the fountain and a sheet of ice burst from it, spearing into the air, crisscrossing around Stormfly and Astrid. Like a cage.
Stormfly roared and shot flames at one side of the cage. It melted. Astrid kicked Stormfly's sides, and her dragon crashed through the cage. Slivers of ice caught on Astrid's armor, the ice breaking off and falling to the dirt.
Astrid had Stormfly dive again, shooting flames at the woman. The woman deflected a few of the flames. They hit the garden and reduced her flowers to ash. One of the flames headed to the castle door. The guards there leapt out of the way but the flames only blackened the wood.
"No!" the woman yelled, her voice high and clear.
The woman traversed her garden and stood in front of the castle doors. She shoved one of her hands forward and a burst of ice flew through the air toward Astrid. Stormfly dodged it. The woman threw another, then a third, then a forth at them. They dodged those, too.
Astrid narrowed her eyes. That couldn't be it. The woman smiled.A cracking sound came from behind Astrid. She spun Stormfly around and faced a wall of ice. Astrid gasped. A wall. Of ice.
She threw an arm over her face. As if that would help anything. Stormfly reacted better. She landed on the ground and darted away, her speed carrying them far enough away from the falling structure. The cold air pierced through Astrid's lungs. Like back on Berk. Only stranger. Stronger. Stormfly took to the air again and the warm wind whisked the cold away.
Astrid patted her dragon. "Good girl."
The woman twisted her hands and the structure disappeared before it hit the ground, splintering then shattering into snowflakes.
But Astrid had had enough.
She maneuvered Stormfly around and spiraled into a dive, her speed faster than ever before. Enough of the ice. Enough of the snow. She'd burn her way to this woman. The woman put up an ice shield again, but Stormfly's spikes shattered it. They barreled closer. The woman spiraled her hands. Ice swirled around her.
"Now!" Astrid yelled.
Stormfly let go a huge burst of continuous flame. The woman counteracted with an ice burst of her own.
Fire and ice met in the middle. Astrid pulled Stormfly up and they hovered, Stormfly still spewing heat. The ice kept coming, though. And Stormfly dipped a little.
Astrid patted Stormfly on the neck, urging her dragon on. But Stormly tired. Of course she did. Flying all the way here and then to engage in battle.
Maybe not the best idea.
But it wasn't like Astrid could just stop.
Suddenly Stormfly did. She ran out of flames. She had to take a breath.
Ice broke through and surrounded Astrid. Cold. So cold. Everywhere was so cold. Astrid hunched forward, yelling. Stormfly's hide and Astrid's armor protected them from the worst of the blast, but still. Stormfly dropped to the ground in a heap, landing crookedly. Astrid tipped from the seat and toppled to the dirt. She pushed herself up, unhooking her axe. Stormfly flopped in front of her, fainting injury and hiding her from view.
Astrid pumped herself up for a few heartbeats. She'd attack on foot, then. Have Stormfly launch from behind. But she needed a secondary attack if her first plan failed. If the woman somehow iced her axe. The spines!
She eyed the ground by the fountain in one quick sweep. The spines from Stormfly's earlier attack had hit the dirt, completely surrounding the little white dragon. It wiggled its butt and lowered its front half in a clear sign of play, but it couldn't squeeze free from its spined cage. The little white dragon's tail glinted, its entire tail.
How did its tail heal? No matter, she'd ask Hiccup and the others later on.
The woman in red approached the little dragon and put out her hand. Astrid crouched, heart thudding against her chest. Her anger and fear overrode her other thoughts. The woman hurt the little dragon. And the woman attacked Astrid. She couldn't imagine what this woman might do now, with the miniature dragon trapped like it was. Breaking off more of its limbs, maybe.
Astrid tightened her hold on her axe. She'd defend that dragon as much as she possibly could. To the end, even, if it came to that. No dragon should go through that kind of abuse. Signing to Stormfly, she took a breath, then lunched herself, screaming from behind her dragon's protection.
Elsa stood and narrowed her eyes as the barbaric woman came toward her, yelling. Elsa readied her powers. The blue dragon seemed knocked unconscious but she kept one eye on it just in case. Her little white dragon was fine after that… incident… with its tail. It cooed at her once she had fixed it and apologized. It even nuzzled against her thigh. She stepped in front of it. Caged, it couldn't fly away or protect itself.
So she would protect it.
The barbaric woman raised her axe. Elsa flicked snow at her, intending on stopping the woman, but not harming her.
The blue dragon leapt to its feet and sped in between them, flicking the snow away with its tail. Spikes flew at her. Elsa drew up a shield, stopped the spikes, then threw the shield away.
Elsa crashed a flurry of snow into the dragon, shoving it to the side and pinning it there. It didn't have any more fire. Well, it stopped breathing fire at least, so perhaps she could just hold it there. She kept one hand raised for that task and trained the other on the barbaric woman still rushing at her.
Elsa knocked her off her feet with a small wave of snow. Her hair, braided down her back, loosened a few strands over her face. The woman got up again. Stubborn. Elsa swirled her powers around and encased the woman, neck down, in clear ice. Her axe clattered to the ground. The blue dragon roared, but she transformed the snow on top of it into clear ice, too. Unbreakable.
The castle door creaked open and Anna rushed out. "Elsa, that was amazing!" Anna hugged her. Apparently her little sister waited for her to be done. The rest of the kingdom spilled outside, too.
Elsa stepped in front of her, blocking her from their attacker. "Anna, you shouldn't be out here." She raised her voice. "None of you should."
The woman struggled, drawing her attention.
"Don't move," Elsa muttered.
The woman squirmed anyway. Then, panting, she stopped. "Just who do you think you are? Let me go. Now!"
Anna stepped beside Elsa and folded her arms. "Excuse me, you're talking to the Elsa, Queen of Arendelle. And my older sister. Show some respect."
"Anna," Elsa said, a warning edge in her voice. "There could be more."
"There aren't," the woman replied. "Just me."
Elsa arched her eyebrow. "And who are you, then?"
The woman gave her a level stare, her blue eyes narrowing. "My name is Astrid Hofferson."
"It was interesting to meet you, Astrid Hofferson." Elsa nodded to the guards lingering beside the crowd. "Take her to the dungeon."
SQ: Sorry for the late update with this story. I'm moving and trying to get everything organized has become more of a hassle then I realized. I hope to be more consistent in posting a new chapter every week!
Thanks so much for the new comments, favorites, and follows thus far! I've been happily surprised that a pairing like this has followers, I worried it was a bit too out of cannon. Eh, I'll blow it up anyway. *grins* What do you think will happen next? Will they 1) Argue, 2) Name the snow dragon, or 3) Find even MORE dragons?