18- I am Proud

Anna opened her bag, everyone around her payed attention with great interest and she drew out the ice mirror with both hands, happy and excited to see her sister Elsa once again at the other side of the magical window.

This time Elsa was standing at the balcony of her castle up in the Northern Mountain, she was surrounded by a powerful blizzard and Anna, not surprised at all, could see beautiful streams of ice magic emanating from both of her hands…

"Elsa, I knew it was you!"

The Queen looked far more peaceful than she had been the last time, she was even smiling and the shadows under her eyes had vanished without a trace.

"Anna, first of all I want to say that I am proud of you" Elsa said, her hair and blue dress rippling in the wind- "I can accept that this is your quest, our army really needs you and I am sure that our parents would be proud, even prouder than they ever were of me…"

"Thank you" Anna said, relieved to see that her sister had recovered a good spirit- "Elsa, how are you doing this to the South all the way from Northern Arendelle?"

Elsa smiled even more brightly at those words, rather amused at the look of surprise that she discovered in Anna's excited blue eyes...

"I was just about to ask you about the weather, but now I see my plan is working" Elsa explained- "Anna, I am not sure how well my Magic is going to work because I am so far from the Front, but please… prepare our army to endure severe cold, just in case!"

"What do you have in mind?"

"We believe that the Southern Isles Army has calculated everything for a Summer war, since they are not expecting my Magic to hit them from such a long distance… Anna, if I can send Winter to you that would change the entire plan for them!"

"What about us?"

"We have supplies for a Winter in July and even more, since this is our land and they are the invaders…"

Alice, Kristoff and Alistair were listening to every word with great attention, Anna loved the Winter strategy and at that precise moment something happened at the Sammel Line:

The alarm bells began to ring starting from the artillery positions up in the hills, the sentinels descended riding their horses and very soon the screams began to spread the terrible news between the trenches and from one campsite to another:

"They have crossed the bridges! They are coming! They are coming!"

Anna looked up at the highest hill as the sentinels rode down as fast as they could, she called for them and they came to a halt in front of her a few minutes later…

"Are they advancing already?" Anna asked, lowering the ice mirror.

"Yes, your Highness! We have counted thirty Infantry divisions so far, led by cavalry units and backed by their artillery… They could open fire any moment!"

"How many men?"

"Seventeen thousand, perhaps more…"

Anna felt like she had fallen into icy water, suddenly she could not breath normally anymore and her heart began to race like it had happened so many times before… the soldiers all around her looked at each other with utter disbelief, and everyone waited for official orders to obey.

"Load the shells, and point our artillery at the middle of the valley!" Anna cried out, the courage coming back to her with full intensity- "Call all of our Infantry to action! To your arms, everyone! I want twelve cavalry divisions ready to depart!"

"Immediately, your Highness!" Alistair exclaimed, and he dashed to find the other generals and coordinate everything that Anna had just ordered.

"Anna!" Elsa called through the ice mirror, and an instant later both sisters looked into each other's eyes once again.

"Elsa, I shall command our forces in battle" Anna whispered, trying not to shed tears before her sister- "I just want you to know that I love you, just in case that we never see each other again…"

"Fight well, Anna! I am proud of you!"

Anna looked up at the sky, she lowered the ice mirror and the window was closed as she dashed on her way to the trenches… Elsa found herself completely alone at the balcony of her castle, and for the first time her angst became entangled with an unbelievable pride.

Elsa concentrated on her powers, she swirled on the spot and then she sent even more bolts of Ice Magic flying to the Southern skies, hoping to unleash against the enemy forces the coldest and cruelest blizzard that they could ever imagine…