The Storm Rages On

Chapter Twenty-Three

Labor

The first feeling Anna felt as she regained consciousness was disorientation. She opened her eyes, looking about, worry streaming across her face. She did a double take as she realized she was back home in the palace infirmary. She looked at Kristoff, his eyes filled with concern. "Where . . . Where are . . .? How did we . . .?!"

The second sensation Anna experienced was excruciating agony. Pain as she had never felt before tore through her entire body. Her abdomen felt as though it was on fire, her womb throbbing as though a fiery knife was ripping through her flesh. Unable to control herself, she screamed as her torment continued unabated.

A gentle hand placed a cool cloth against her forehead. "Anna! Anna, can you hear me? Anna!"

Through her tears of pain, Anna saw Valanda tending to her, her emerald eyes glowing with concern. She licked her parched lips, struggling to form words through her suffering. "It . . . It hurts! So bad! Is this . . . Is this . . .?!"

Valanda took her hand, squeezing it tightly. "Yes, Anna. It's all right. Everything you're feeling is perfectly normal."

Anna closed her eyes as another round of torture washed over her. Valanda looked at Kristoff, her gaze warning him not to reveal to Anna the lie she had just told.

"I . . . I don't know . . . what to do," Anna gasped, fighting to breathe. "Nothing feels right! Is it . . . Is it time?!"

"Yes, Anna," Valanda said. "It is time to bring your adameren into the world." She smiled, dabbing stray beads of perspiration forming on Anna's face with the cloth. "I cannot wait to meet them!"

Gently, Valanda lifted Anna's dress, studying her nether regions with an experienced eye. She nodded as what she saw confirmed what she had suspected.

"You are past the first phase already," Valanda said. "Your children will be coming quickly indeed." She took two pillows from the nearby bed, propping them behind Anna's head. "Now, I need you to listen to me very carefully, Anna. When I tell you to push, I need you to push with all your strength. Can you do that for me?"

"Yes!" Anna cried out as her muscles contracted, sending her entire body into convulsions.

Valanda moved to Kristoff, her eyes staring directly into his face. "Talk to her. Keep her calm. Whatever it takes for you to do so, keep her focused and calm."

"What . . . What are you going to do?" Kristoff whispered, his face as pale as the sheets on the bed.

Valanda smiled. "I will be making sure your adameren come into this world unscathed." She moved to the foot of the bed, positioning herself just below Anna's abdomen. As Anna cried out in pain once more, Valanda counted silently in her mind, taking note of how much time passed between the princess's labor pangs.

She frowned. I must have miscounted, she thought. It couldn't be . . . It is far too early still. Isn't it?!

Anna arched her back, her torso rising from the bed, her voice screaming in agony, pleading for the pain to end, no longer able to control herself. Immediately, Valanda counted once more, focusing intently, unwilling to risk the possibility of a mistake.

I don't believe it! she thought. They are happening too fast! The children are on their way now!

"Anna, listen to me," Valanda said.

Anna stared at Valanda, barely able to see her through her hazy vision.

"When you feel the next set of pangs, I need you to push as hard as you can. Can you do that for me?"

Anna nodded weakly, her eyes rolling into the back of her head as her suffering intensified.

"Now, Anna!" Valanda cried. "Push as hard as you can!"

Grunting, screaming, Anna exerted her will upon every muscle in her lower regions, forcing them to do her bidding, to move her children from her womb into her canal. She screamed and screamed and screamed until she thought she would pass out from the pain, her hand almost certainly crushing Kristoff's, she was squeezing so hard.

"Okay! Relax!" Valanda commanded.

Anna exhaled, perspiration dripping from her face, the world spinning around her. She strained to look toward Valanda, desperately trying to discover what was happening. As the pain consumed her once more, some part of her mind—the rational, curious part—noticed it was now raining intensely outside the window. Lightning flashed, filling the infirmary with brilliant light. Anna's screams of agony were quickly drowned out by the all-consuming roar of thunder claps, thunder claps that shook the palace itself to its very core.

The army of Arendelle pressed forward, struggling to repel Hans's band of mercenaries. The two forces collided outside the walls, each working in vain to push the other back.

Gábriel and Míchælin stood at the front of Arendelle's force, their golden glow consuming the oncoming enemy as their swords sliced through flesh, bone, tissue like hot metal through butter. Despite their best efforts, however, the Men of Arendelle were no match for the power-hungry mercenaries that opposed them. They were driven back, beyond the walls, no longer able to keep the invaders from moving into Arendelle.

Incredibly, Míchælin was not concerned, his countenance displaying none of the fear one might expect to see on the face of a general whose army was being pushed back toward certain defeat. Rather, the Maíreth's face was calm, peaceful, as he continued to mow down his foes alongside his brother.

Just a little bit further, he thought, his flaming sword severing a man's arm from his body, the man screaming in indescribable agony. Press your advantage, foolish ones! I dare you to do so!

"Míchælin!" Gábriel cried out as he removed an attacker's legs with his weapon. "Now! If we let them get any closer, we will never push them back! We have to do it now!"

The Maíreth leader nodded. He turned, raising his weapon above his head. The sword pulsed with light such as had never been seen before by the eyes of Men. The light was indescribably beautiful, its rays undiluted by color, by imperfection.

"Now, Flamdráneren! Now, Icénderen!" Míchælin cried out. "Uphold the oath you sword millennia ago to aid Men in their time of need! Drive away the invaders! Defend this land! ATTACK!"

The invading soldiers' eyes grew wide, their jaws slack as before them, as if emerging from the earth itself, rose the red and blue forms of the Flamdráneren and the Icénderen. The ancient beings wasted no time. Ignoring the howling winds, the earthquakes, the rising waters, they plunged forward into the army, fire and ice exploding from their bodies.

Hans's army quickly went from cheering their certain victory to screaming in abject terror. All their training, all their weapons were no match for the ancient power these beings wielded. All discipline, all sense of order evaporated as their ranks were mowed down effortlessly, some erupting in flame, others turning to solid ice.

One thought soon fell upon the minds of the mercenaries, even the most battle-tested ones: RETREAT! RETREAT! Screaming, they turned back, no longer attempting to fight, realizing their powerlessness against these beings of fire and ice. They ran, not caring where they went, as long as it was away from these nightmarish creatures.

Except they had nowhere to go. The floodwaters had risen rapidly, cutting off their escape. The wind whipped the waves higher and higher, swells of water rising thirty feet in the air before crashing down upon the terrified men. Those who avoided the waves were quickly consumed by the ever-shifting earth. No matter where they stepped, fractures appeared in the earth's surface. Without warning, large holes formed in the ground, swallowing any man unlucky enough to be standing upon it.

Gábriel and Míchælin watched in amazement as the Flamdráneren and the Icénderen drove the last remaining invaders into the depths of the sea, into the bottomless pits that now peppered the landscape. The men of Arendelle cheered in exaltation as they realized they had won this battle. Their victory was short-lived, however, as a tremendous lightning bolt tore across the sky, striking the tallest tower of the palace. The tower disintegrated immediately, brick and stone collapsing, falling upon the soldiers. Panicking, they scattered, barely avoiding being crushed by the deadly stone.

"What do we do now?" Gábriel asked his brother, staring at the sky, his face grim as he studied the darkening clouds.

Míchælin shook his head. "We have done our part, Brother," he replied. "We have fought off the invaders. Now, it is up to Elsa to do hers. She must find Hans and stop the Tritastónende soon." He looked at Gábriel, his eyes full of sorrow. "If she does not hurry, I fear all of our efforts today will have been for naught." Another lightning bolt tore across the sky as the rain cascaded upon them, the floodwaters continuing their relentless march toward the palace, the earth shifting more and more rapidly as the ancient walls of Arendelle began to crack and crumble.

Please, Elsa! Míchælin thought. Please! Hurry!

"STOP!" Valanda looked at Anna, desperately trying to remain calm in the midst of the panic threatening to overwhelm her.

"What?!" Kristoff cried, his expression one of abject horror, of helplessness at his inability to ease his wife's suffering. "What is it now?!"

"Your adameren!" Valanda said. "The first one . . . Its head is stuck! It is not coming through!"

Anna screamed in terror as her muscles reacted of their own accord, forcing her to push despite her efforts to stop. She could feel something had gone horribly wrong. Pressure was mounting inside of her. Her body was beyond her control at this point as it tried to forcibly expel her child.

"Do something!" Kristoff roared. "Please!"

Valanda stood, uncertain, not knowing what to do. She could see the baby's head trying to emerge, but Anna's flesh would not allow it to do so. She saw the child's crown begin to turn a sickening color of blue as the oxygen-deprived infant slowly suffocated.

"NO!" she cried. Reacting, not thinking, she placed her hands around Anna's flesh. Acting entirely by instinct, not certain where the idea had come from, she closed her eyes, letting the warmth from her fingertips flow into Anna's body.

Please work! Please work! Please work! she thought, concentrating intently as desperation began to overwhelm her.

Somehow, someway, the heat from Valanda's hand caused the muscles of Anna's opening to relax. The child's head burst forth, into Valanda's waiting hands. Valanda laughed as color began to return to the child's face. She is almost finished! "Now, Anna! Push with all your strength! You can do it! PUSH!"

A guttural, animal-like cry erupted from Anna's throat as she pushed and pushed and pushed, every fiber of her being screaming at her to stop, to give up, to end her suffering. Finally, as she could take no more, she felt something move beneath her, something exiting her body. Another wave washed over her, the most intense yet. Fighting through it, ignoring the agony radiating from every part of her body, she pushed, and pushed, and pushed, until she felt the same, peculiar sensation as before. Her body spent, her mind exhausted, she collapsed upon the bed. As the darkness began to take her, she was certain she heard Kristoff and Valanda shouting in excitement, two unfamiliar sounds ringing in her ears: two high-pitched voices crying and wailing. She smiled faintly as two warm bundles were placed upon her chest, her eyes closing, finally finding blessed relief.

AN: And thus, two new lives enter the world. Now, it is up to Elsa, Alúvelin, and Arberish to confront Hans. What will happen next? More to come!