6- White Castle
Anna and the Arendelle Cavalry arrived at the Southern lands a few days after departing from the Palace, discovering a rugged territory full of rocks, forest and soft hills where the rest of the Army had already prepared a variety of campsites.
The hills and forests surrounded Tannya in every direction except for the Southwest, forming a lonely and beautiful valley beside the sea. The few villages that existed there were inhabited by fishermen, merchants and woodcutters, all of them known for producing and shipping many of Arendelle's exports.
The famous White Castle stood in the middle of the lands beside a lake, a beloved treasure of the Arendellian architecture that now served as a prison for a thousand of the captured troops…
"At least, now we know why they have not advanced yet" Anna said, looking at the coast through a military telescope- "Wait! It's difficult to tell from this distance, but I would say that the man of the red coat is Hans."
Anna and her Generals could see the entire valley from a secret position near the summit of a great hill, a perfect place where the trees all around them concealed the impressive pieces of artillery that now pointed at the enemy forces down there.
The three guns were the largest that Anna had ever seen, and even though they were old they still looked rather eerie and alarming…
"Let's see…" Captain Matthew said, and after taking a look with his own telescope he understood what Princess Anna had said:
The Tannya coast was full of troops, horses and cannons brought by the enemy fleet all the way from the Southern Isles, three more ships could be seen very far as they approached to land and there was a man that bossed everyone around wearing an impressive golden crown.
"That's him indeed, your Highness" Matthew confirmed- "I would say that their plan is to build up enough forces before advancing to the North…"
"Can we hit them from here?"
"Your Highness, I am sorry to inform you that the coast is beyond the reach of these guns."
The man that had spoken those words was tall, muscular and young, he featured green eyes and fiery red hair, there was something eerie about him and his green cloak rippled in the wind as he lowered his telescope to look at the Princess.
"Thank you, General Alistair" Anna said- "Tell me, is everything ready?"
"Indeed" Alistair replied- "We shall be the first to open fire, aiming at the campsites around the White Castle. The East Hill artillery shall follow us, and after that the Seventh Cavalry division will charge down right at them!"
Anna tried not to think about what she was doing, for she knew that her orders that day would result in the first Arendelle offensive of the war and the deaths of an unknown number of troops from both sides…
She thought that all of this was to defend Arendelle, and so she closed her fists hard and gave the order at last:
"This is for Arendelle! We shall defend our homeland, no matter the cost… Now, bring the shells and load!"
It took the strength of six men to lift the first shell by means of pincers, other teams lifted two more of those terrible projectiles and Anna's heart began to pound like a hammer as she retreated to a safer position beside her two Generals, terrified of the moment when the monstrous cannons would attack.
The first gun was carefully aimed at the main campsite, everything was ready and the enemy forces in the valley had no idea what was just about to happen to them.
"Fire!" Anna screamed, and she covered her ears with both hands...