The story of the human race is the story of men and women selling themselves short.
– Abraham Maslow
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Kai, Gerda and 'Sergeant Jorgensen' stood on the portico of the castle, waiting for the Weselton troops marching toward them across the courtyard. They could see Princess Anna at the head of the line, flanked by two soldiers. She was just behind the Weselton Commander and his presumed second-in-command.
When a Weselton soldier had appeared at the castle gate with a message, it had taken them a few minutes to accept that the decree wasn't a clever forgery. At first they were skeptical; then Kai had compared the handwriting and signature on the parchment with many others and concluded that it was truly Elsa's hand that had written this inconceivable document.
Once that had been absorbed, their disbelief had curdled into a sickening realization that Elsa must be truly desperate to agree to this … this … abomination of a demand. Kai wanted to crumple the paper and fling it away but restrained himself and put his stoic butler persona in place. He could not, would not disgrace his Queen with unseemly behavior in front of Arendelle's enemies.
Sergeant Feles Jorgensen had received a message from Captain Gunnarsson a few minutes later. This one was delivered by a small sloop that had dropped a Marine off at the shore of the fjord. The two of them had gone to find Kai and make hasty plans to carry out the orders Elsa had sent them through Gunnarsson. They didn't have much time.
Everything had gotten done. The Queen's Own had hidden their rifles and ammunition in a deep cellar, guided by a footman dispatched by Kai. They had found 14 male servants whose physical appearance would pass as Guardsmen and put them in the appropriate uniforms. A very quick practice session of standing at attention and marching was completed a few minutes before the Weselton troops arrived, and the 'Queen's Own' stood at attention in front of the portico. One of the footmen who had served as a Marine when he was a young man wore the Sergeant's uniform; he would march out with the rest of the fake guardsmen, leaving Feles behind disguised as a groom. The Marine messenger would stay behind in disguise as well.
"Great. 14 of us against about … I'd say 100." Jorgensen mused as he leaned lazily against the wall of the stable watching the Weselton troops arrange themselves into a sloppy line four deep across the front of the castle. They had muskets with the bayonets fixed and the front rank knelt and held their muskets not quite aimed at the little group on the portico. The threat was clear, though. The rear rank did an about-face and positioned themselves in the same kneeling posture, guarding against any threat from the castle walls.
"These clowns are clearly mercenary scum; doubt they'd figure out the disguises if we put the maidservants in them." Jorgensen snorted in contempt and did his best to look lazy and uninterested. "Bullets don't care who pulls the trigger, though. We'll have our hands full when it comes time to teach these bastards not to frack with our Queen and her sister."
The Weselton Commander was making his demands to Kai and 'Sergeant Jorgensen'. "You, Guardsman! I want you and your troops out of this castle immediately."
The fake Jorgensen glared convincingly at the Weselton man, nodded to Kai and Gerda and stepped off the portico to stand in front of his 'guardsmen'. Once a Marine, always a Marine, and his Marine experience was more than enough for him to march the men out of the courtyard gates with credible precision. The other Castle guards, the ones who were not members of the Queen's own, had already left.
Satisfied with the departure of the 'Queen's Own', the Commander turned to Kai and said, "We'll be needing two rooms, one for me and one for my second in command. The troops will bivouac in the courtyard here. We'll be putting guards on the walls and in the watchtowers, so make sure no one pulls any funny stuff. We'll kill anyone who tries."
Kai looked at him with his usual dignified mien and replied, "We will need to get provisions delivered for your men, unless you brought your own food and drink. Your troops outnumber the usual castle staff by an order of three to one."
The Commander knew his men would expect better rations than those available on shipboard. He was a firm believer in the maxim, "If the food is good enough the troops will stop complaining about the incoming fire."
He wasn't expecting any incoming fire, but keeping the men well fed would keep them from terrorizing the castle staff and the town. Garrison discipline was not the strong suit of his rag-tag bunch of mercenaries. They were more of the pillaging and burning variety of thug. Sometimes he had to remind them that it was, "Pillage, THEN burn!" they were so stupid.
"Alright, I'll have my men guarding the gates and checking the supply wagons through. Send word that I want a delivery as soon as possible, tonight if you can manage it. Include deliveries to my ships; we'll be here three more days, and I want the men left on the ships to eat as well as we do here. Plus stock them for our return voyage to Weselton. Then more deliveries with fresh food for the next three days. Think you can manage that, Butler?""
Kai simply looked at him with his most imperious expression and sniffed, "Of course I can." The Commander noticed the lack of any honorific, but let it pass. He had enough on his hands without starting a fight with the castle staff.
"Your Princess here is undoubtedly eager to get her pampered self to her own room. She'll be guarded around the clock by one of my men, but other than that, she can resume her normal activities, whatever the hell a Princess does during the day besides swoon and pine for her one true love."
Anna ignored this, vowing to make him eat those words. After she escaped and brought back a regiment of Marines, her sister and Kristoff, of course. She put a vapid smile on her face and said, "Gerda takes care of me, don't you Gerda? Can we go to my room? I find myself in need of a long bubble bath."
The Commander waved one of his men to go with the two women and they went into the castle. He turned back to Kai. "Okay, Butler. Show me Her Majesty's liquor cabinet. It's been a long day."
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Anna babbled aimlessly with Gerda all the way to her bedroom. The Weselton soldier checked to make sure there was only one door to the room, then let the women close the door behind them while he stood guard in the hallway.
With the door closed, Anna threw off her cloak, sat on her bed and said, "Gerda! Have you heard anything from Elsa? I've been so worried about her! That Weaseltown jerk said she was going to surrender to him tomorrow. That can't be true, can it? They'll kill her! She wouldn't put herself in danger like that, would she?" Anna looked at Gerda with anguish, hoping she'd reassure her that Elsa would be safe.
Gerda's face told Anna all she needed to know. "Your Highness, I'm afraid he was telling you the truth. The message sent to us by the Queen told us what she had planned. But it also said that she hoped that you would find some way to escape once you were back in the castle."
Anna was too worried by the first part of this to pay much attention to the last sentence. It finally penetrated her thoughts of Elsa's danger and she said, "Huh?"
"Your sister said she hoped you could find some way to escape. There were no details. I assume because she was afraid the note could fall into the wrong hands. We'll help in any way we can, of course."
"Escape? How does she expect me to escape? I mean, I've been wracking my brains trying to think of something, but those weasels will have every gate and tower guarded, looking for just that very thing. Not to mention the goon that will be following me around every minute!" Anna looked at Gerda with dismay.
"Your Highness, I don't know. But she obviously felt that you would."
Anna mulled this over for a moment, then hopped off the bed. "I need to think about it some more. I'll think better after a bubble bath. The bathing facilities on a ship aren't much to speak of and I itch in places I couldn't scratch. Let's do that, then have dinner." Anna was undressing while she was saying this, throwing her clothes on the bed and pulling on a dressing gown from her wardrobe.
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Dinner was uncomfortable.
The Weselton Commander and his second joined Anna in the dining room. They hadn't bothered cleaning their boots and Anna could tell the wine with dinner was only the most recent of the pleasures of the castle spirits cellar that they had enjoyed.
Conversation was sparse; even to lull the Commander into a sense that she was another empty-headed, spoiled Princess, Anna wasn't feeling cheerful enough to be chatty and exuberant. She finished her meal as quickly as she could and ignored them when she left the dining room. Her 'guard' followed her.
Anna wandered rather aimlessly through the castle just to annoy her keeper. The soldier trailing her seemed content to stay five paces or so behind her and stay unobtrusive. Anna hoped that all the soldiers assigned to her would show the same discretion. They made her skin crawl.
As they walked through the portrait room, Anna scanned all of her favorite paintings. There was one missing, though. For ten years she had often come here and commiserated with Joan of Arc when she felt particularly lonely or frustrated. Their 'conversations' always made Anna feel better and she always ended them by reminding Joan to 'hang in there'.
Then one day not quite three years ago, Joan disappeared. Anna had skipped into the room as she usually did and stopped abruptly when she saw another painting hanging where Joan used to be. It was common for the staff to rearrange the furniture in the castle, but this was the first time she had noticed anything changing in the portrait room. Anna knew who to ask, though, and she went off to find Kai.
"Kai, what happened to the painting of Joan of Arc?" she asked when she had tracked him down.
"Your Highness, your sister asked me to remove it and sell it," he answered.
"What? Why?" Anna was astonished. She saw Elsa so rarely she couldn't imagine her sister even coming into the portrait room. As far as Anna knew, Elsa had no interest in the portraits of the previous Kings and Queens of Arendelle, or even the more valuable and celebrated works of fine art that had been acquired over the years.
Kai tried not to fidget. Elsa had not told him why, but he had his own suspicions based on an episode Gerda had shared with him nine years ago. He would not speculate, so he simply said, "I don't know, Your Highness. She did not share her reasons with me." Which was the absolute truth.
"Hmph!" Anna pouted. She was a little angry with Elsa for taking away someone so important to her. She got more angry as she realized that Elsa had no way of even knowing how Anna talked with Joan because she had ignored Anna for ten years. "Typical. She doesn't care about me and it never even entered her mind that I might have an opinion." Anna thought. She didn't know what was worse; indifference or actual hostility. At least if Elsa was hostile, she acknowledged Anna's existence.
Anna had left Kai and gone to her room to mope. It wasn't the first time she had felt abandoned by her reclusive sister and it wouldn't be the last for another three years.
Today as Anna wandered through the room and went on to the library, she wondered one more time where Joan had gone and why Elsa had felt the need to get rid of her in the first place. She wished Joan was still there; maybe talking to her again could inspire Anna to figure out how to escape.
There was a thought trying to wiggle its way to her attention, but she couldn't quite get it to tell her what it wanted to say. It was playing peek-a-boo with her. She ignored it; experience had taught her that 'inner Anna' wouldn't stay coy for long. Eventually she stopped playing peek-a-boo and hit Anna over the head with a frying pan while screaming "Pay attention!".
Anna plopped down on the couch in front of the library fireplace and sprawled out comfortably. Her watchdog had carefully checked the room for exits, then left her alone while he stood guard in the hallway.
She turned to lay on her side facing the fireplace. It was always soothing to watch the dancing flames. Her eyelids drooped; she began to doze off. "Hang in there, Joan!" she mumbled. Flames. Joan. ELSA! Anna sat bolt upright, wide-eyed with understanding. Her 'inner Anna' had put the puzzle pieces together. She remembered what the Commander had said about 'executing your sister as a witch'. Joan had been burned as a witch; that's what the Duke intended to do to Elsa!
Anna jumped off the couch and began to pace, her thoughts rattling in her brain like dice in a cup. She couldn't believe that Elsa knew what the Duke would do to her and still be willing to surrender herself. A clean death was one thing, burning was another. Anna had read about Joan's death and then read more about the fate of heretics than was probably wise for a girl just entering her teens. It was an uncomfortable fascination with the cruelty humans could visit upon each other. It had transfixed her and sickened her at the same time.
"Damn it, Elsa. Courage is one thing; this is so totally insane I can't believe you'd do it."
It was more important than ever that Anna figure out how to escape. The only reason the Weaseltown goons were even still breathing was because they had Anna as a hostage. She shuddered at the thought of failure; of she and Elsa being dragged off to Weaseltown, where Elsa would burn. NO! Anna would never let her sister suffer a fate like that. She'd die again if that's what it took.
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Anna was laying on the couch and dozing again. She had paced and paced until she finally calmed down enough to nap. She was watching the fire through heavy-lidded eyes when she heard a soft knock at the library door. She doubted the Weaseltown goon would be that polite, so she raised her voice and said, "Come in."
It was Gerda with a tray. "Your Highness, you didn't eat much at supper so I brought you a snack."
Anna sat up, stretched and yawned. "Thank you, Gerda. Just put it down on the table. I'll be ready for bed in about a half hour."
"I'll meet you in your room to help you get ready to sleep." Gerda placed the tray on the table and left.
Anna was nibbling at the cookies and sipping tea when she became aware of 'little Anna' trying to get her attention again. But she was too tired to listen. It would probably come to her in the morning. That thought distracted her; Elsa would be surrendering herself in the morning. Anna felt herself tearing up. "Elsa! You're willing to sacrifice yourself for me? I need to figure this out before those thugs kill you."
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Kai and the rest of the castle staff watched helplessly as the Weselton troops set up a camp in the courtyard and positioned guards at every castle gate and along the walls in the watchtowers.
He had dispatched men to the merchants that provided supplies for the castle, requesting a special delivery this very night. They had a long list of food and drink to be brought in for the troops that had taken over the castle. At Sergeant Jorgensen's suggestion, the list included a large ration of cheap liquor. Feles had an idea of how to reduce the alertness and effectiveness of the occupiers.
The wagons started arriving within a couple of hours. They had several men on each wagon, because there was so much to unload. A steady stream of wagons came and went, and even though the Weselton men searched for contraband weapons, they weren't paying any attention to the 'laborers' unloading the wagons and carrying the supplies into the storerooms. Five disguised Marines were able to infiltrate the castle and blend in with the rest of the servants. Jorgensen checked in with each one of them to see if there were any further messages from Nordholm or Gunnarsson. There was nothing new, just the admonition to keep an eye out for opportunities to distract the Weselton troops.
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It was near midnight before all the wagons had unloaded their supplies and left. The Weselton commander had inspected the guard posts and made sure his men knew their assignments. Then he left to take over one of the more luxurious guest suites Elsa had for visiting dignitaries.
Jorgensen and three of his fellow Queen's own were behind the stable, engaged in their own plan. Superficially, it was a card game. A drunken card game. In reality, it was a lure to get the Weselton troops to find a liquor stash carefully 'hidden' by Feles and the others.
"Hey, you're cheating! I saw you pull that card out of your sleeve!" slurred one of the gamblers. It escalated into a drunken brawl that attracted one of the patrolling guards and his partner. The Weselton Commander knew that his patrols needed to have two or more men or he'd lose them to knives in the dark corners of the castle grounds.
"What the hell do you think you're doing?" roared the Weselton soldier. The two men used boots and rifle butts to break up the brawl.
Feles and his buddies stood shakily against the wall with their hands up, putting on a good act at being drunken, frightened stable hands intimidated by the two Weselton men. "Just havin' a little fun. Not a lot for a stable hand to do once we got the stalls mucked and the horses fed!"
There were tins cups scattered around the cards strewn on the ground and a knocked-over jug. The smell of spilled alcohol was strong. It was not missed by the guards.
"Yeah? How about a beating? Think that would be any fun?" threatened the soldier.
"No, please, sir. We's just the help around here. Not here for fighting; them boys left when you came in," whined Feles in a surly tone.
"You want to keep that pretty face from getting kicked in, you'll tell us where you got that booze you're swilling," threatened the bigger guard.
Feles mumbled something and the guard prodded him with his bayonet, "Speak up, boy. I can't hear you!"
"I said, one a' the grooms got hisself a nice little still and has a nice little business selling it to us. They don't share the good stuff from the castle with the likes of us."
"Yeah, well our boss don't share the good stuff with us, either. So why don't you show me where the still is, and we'll let you boys go back to your horse shit without any more bruises?" laughed the thug.
With a show of reluctance, Feles nodded and said, "Come on, then," and led the two guards into the stable.
Later, Jorgensen and his three buddies met with a few others of the disguised Queen's own in a dark nook of the garden behind the castle.
"Did it work?" asked one.
"Yeah, in spades. Those boys are going to be everyone's best friends when they start sharing those barrels of akvavit we showed 'em." Feles chuckled. "Pretty sure their bosses weren't planning on a spirits ration for 'em. So they'll keep it a secret from the brass, and with any luck most of them will be drinking themselves to sleep and standing guard hung over in the mornings."
"Still doesn't change the fact we're outnumbered," pointed out one of his fellows.
"No, but a drunk and hung over merc isn't near the match of one of us. Not by half. Every little bit helps."
On that note, the men broke up to go their separate ways and wait for the morning. They knew the Queen would be taken prisoner then. It would be hard to watch and hold back from a rescue attempt, but discipline would hold. They would wait for their chance to make the Weselton men pay.
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Elsa signed the decree with a flourish, then slid it across the table for Naismith and Nordholm to put their signatures as witnesses below hers. When they finished, she dripped some candle wax next to her name and stamped it with her signet ring.
"There. It doesn't make any material difference, but it will satisfy any nitpicking parliamentarians who might want to make a fuss," she explained. "Anna is the heir; this just spells it out in a fashion no one can gainsay."
Nordholm cleared his throat and said, "Your Majesty, I'm sure you'll be fine ..." before she cut him off with a sharp gesture.
"No, Colonel, you're not sure. None of us can be sure. My parents were sure they'd be back in two weeks. This document is one more thing to insure the succession, to forestall any legalistic arguments that could arise."
She was staring at the document, breathing heavily. Kristoff stood in the shadows; affairs of state were not his strong suit and he was uncomfortable witnessing what could be Elsa's last official act as Queen.
The Admiral did not want to ask the next question, but his duty required him to. She was already upset; this would add to her distress. "Your Majesty, what if … something happens to both of you?"
Elsa squeezed her eyes tightly shut and sighed. "In that event, the succession passes to our second cousin. Her parents are still alive and ruling their kingdom; she is happily married and said to be with child. I can hope that Arendelle would be in good hands," she whispered.
She gathered up the document and placed it in a leather case. "Admiral, you will pass these documents to Anna should it become necessary. The others are in a sealed envelope for her eyes alone, they include a personal message from me. I know you will carry out this trust." and she handed him the dispatch case. He bowed and left the tent with Nordholm.
"Captain, if I may have a few moments with Master Bjorgman?" she gestured at the tent flap. Eric saluted and went to stand guard outside the tent.
Kristoff hesitated before he sat down at the small camp table with Elsa. "Elsa, I … " His throat was tight with fear for her; in the morning she would allow herself to be taken prisoner as part of a lunatic plan to rescue Anna and the kingdom from the treachery of Weselton. That it was HER plan didn't make it any less lunatic.
She looked at him with sympathy and reached out to cover his hand with her own. "I know, Kristoff. Anna will escape, I know she will. And when she does, those thugs will face the wrath of the Snow Queen of Arendelle. I just want to ask you for one thing: take care of my sister. If something happens to me, she'll … well, you know how hard it will be for her. I need to you be there for her, and tell her that I said that no sacrifice is too much for me if she's safe. And that I loved her with all my heart."
"You'll tell her that yourself when this is finished!" Kristoff insisted.
"I hope so. This is a 'just in case', trust me. Your place will be at the end of that tunnel, waiting for her. Then make sure she stays safe while the Marines take back my kingdom for me!" She tried to put on a confident smile; it looked shaky to Kristoff. He nodded.
"Now, for a few hours sleep. It's a least a two-hour ride and we'll be leaving at sunrise. Thank you, Kristoff. For … for everything." She hugged him before he left the tent.
There was something she hadn't told him. In the packet of documents she had entrusted to the Admiral was a patent of nobility knighting one Kristoff Bjorgman and granting him a barony. Anna would be Queen, and if she wanted to marry Kristoff, commoner or no, Elsa knew she'd do it and tell anyone who objected to go jump in the fjord. This would make it a little easier for Anna to shut off the whining from the more fussy of the nobility. Who could argue with a noble title bestowed by the Snow Queen herself just before she sacrificed herself for Arendelle? He would be Kristoff Bjorgman, Baron of Living Rock.
Elsa knew that Grandpabbie would appreciate the homage.
Author's Note:
Go check my tumblr page for screen caps demonstrating the missing Joan of Arc painting in the movie. The link is in my profile.
Also, the maxims "If the food is good enough the troops will stop complaining about the incoming fire." -and- "Pillage, THEN Burn", along with the Admiral's maxim that "There is no overkill in battle. There is only 'open fire' and 'reload' " are borrowed from "The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries" and can be found in more detail at ovalkwiki dot com If you aren't reading the web comic "Schlock Mercenary", you should be.
Folks, fair warning, if you haven't buckled your seat-belts, please do so now. Chapter 6 will be intense. In Chapter 7, I'll tear your hearts out and stomp them suckers flat. Enjoy the ride.