15- A shattered Heart
Anna felt a shockwave of cold, the images soon became colorful and sharp, everyone behind her gasped in surprise and then the magical ice transformed into a perfect window that showed them a candlelit room somewhere very far from the Front.
Queen Elsa looked into Anna's eyes all the way from the Arendelle Palace, Anna looked back at her and neither of them could speak for a few seconds of happiness and incredible relief…
"Anna, I have been worried sick about you!" Elsa screamed, shaking her own mirror- "Where have you been? What the hell happened to you?!"
Anna realized that she had found her sister at the middle of a War Council, she could see at least three Generals standing behind Elsa and she realized just how somber and sickly the Queen looked…
There were shadows under her eyes, her face was pale and her hair looked like she had not taken a shower for many days-
"I was injured in battle" Anna replied, trying to keep herself from crying- "Elsa, I hit my head and forgot about the mirror, I am sorry! Listen to me, we do not have much time- We have caused them loads of damage at Tannya, the Southern Isles have lost at least three thousand horses and five thousand men…"
"Excellent!" Elsa said with surprise, the Generals cheering behind her- "Anna, what happened to you?"
Anna did not want to tell her sister that she had commanded a cavalry charge at the Battle of Tannya, killing several men and riding through a shelling attack to rescue the captured troops before the White Castle was destroyed...
The Princess knew that the situation was barely tolerable for Elsa already, and she feared what the Queen would do if she discovered what exactly her little sister had been doing all this time.
"A shot to my arm, hit my head against a rock, not important" Anna explained, trying to sound casual- "Elsa, we are at the Sammel Line and Hans is building up a huge amount of forces at the other side- We are outnumbered… the Crackers are ready to fire, and…"
"Wait!" Elsa said, reacting so sharply that Anna was shocked- "We have been discussing this point tonight… Anna, keep the Crackers a secret for now- We have to repel their Infantry by conventional means… do not, and I repeat do not use the Crackers yet!"
"Watch out!" Alice screamed all of a sudden, for the characteristic sound of shooting had surprised them all and they could hear the bullets as they flew above the trench- "We are under attack!"
Anna took cover behind a wooden shield at the bottom of the trench, and she closed her eyes as she tried very hard not to recall all those images of death and destruction that she had witnessed at Tannya.
The sounds of battle were starting to affect her, and immediately her heart was beating like a hammer once again…
"We have enemy scouts approaching!" General Matthew screamed, his voice coming from another trench nearby- "With camouflage!"
"Return the fire!" Anna cried out to the world above, and her shaky hands were barely able to keep a hold on the ice mirror anymore.
Alistair, Alice and Kristoff grabbed their muskets and quickly climbed the wooden stairs, they aimed at anything that would move in the relative darkness out there and the sounds of gunfire became much louder when Arendelle replied to the attack.
"That's enough, you are coming back here as soon as you can, Anna!" Elsa said, losing control of herself- "How could I have sent you there? What was I thinking!?"
"No! The troops need me here!"
"Anna, please…"
"Just tell me how to use the freaking Crackers!"
Elsa seemed to be having an hyperventilation attack, the idea that Anna was in the trenches with bullets flying above her head was unthinkable and in the end she destroyed a chair with her Magic just to calm herself down.
Anna could get killed any moment, and even worse was the fact that she was now too involved in the army and coming back home was unacceptable for her…
"Anna" Elsa said, and then Anna opened her eyes- "We both know how crazy Hans really is… if we manage to repel his Infantry attacks, it's likely that he will eventually send a massive cavalry charge…"
"Then, we fire the Crackers, whatever that they are…"
"Anna, I love you…"
"Elsa… Elsa!"
Anna shook the ice mirror and screamed the name of her sister over and over again, but it was useless, the window had been closed… she came to the conclusion that Elsa just could not take it anymore, and probably she was crashing down in tears at those very moments.
Alistair, Kristoff and Alice were shooting, there were screams of pain coming from the valley and from the trenches as well and Anna, fighting hard to stop shaking, did the only thing that she could do to keep herself from breaking down at the bottom of that trench:
Anna grabbed her own musket, she climbed the wooden stairs and began to shoot at anything that moved, not ready at all to face the long and terrible night that awaited them all…