20- Nightmare
All that Anna could hear were screams of battle, blades clashing, muskets firing and cries of agony all around her, the battle had started with unprecedented ferocity, men were falling left and right and she knew that only luck and destiny would save her life in the middle of that carnage.
The proud riders engaged and fought each other just like it happened at Tannya, and meanwhile the soldiers from both sides collided in a terrible crash as they wielded their bayonets, tossed grenades as far as they could and opened fire at point blank range...
Anna knew that it was going to be worse than the first battle she had witnessed, but she was not ready anyway to experience those terrible visions of suffering and death:
Hundreds of men had fallen already with their throats slashed by a bayonet, their chests pierced from one side to the other or their heads torn apart by a shot straight to the face...
The smells of blood and gunpowder quickly combined in a stench that filled the cold and wintry air.
"Kristoff!" Anna screamed, trying without success to spot any signs of her boyfriend somewhere in the fray- "Kristoff!"
Anna soon found herself evading sharp blades, looking all around for her friends and slashing her way through enemy lines, delivering a sword blow after another at every red cloaked soldier that she could catch as she advanced.
The warm blood splattered her cloak and face as she sliced off hands, arms and even heads, once again it felt like she was transforming into some kind of monster and Anna feared that she was not herself anymore…
It was like she had fallen into a nightmare, and suddenly her body was under the control of a separate and sinister force.
Just fight, keep fighting, just keep attacking…
Anna did not stop to think that the soldiers she was murdering had families back home, she had become a savage creature trapped in the middle of a calamity and, just like a wild animal, she was forced to defend herself from the dangers that surrounded her.
All she knew was that the red cloaks were the danger, and if Elsa herself would show up at the battlefield wearing the enemy uniform Anna would slash her throat all the same…
Alistair proved to be a fearsome fighter as he took down an enemy rider after another, Alice killed a General with a shot of her musket and then Anna, turning around, caught a glimpse of Kristoff fighting one of the enemy commanders a good distance to her right.
It looked like Kristoff was not injured, and Anna tried her best to reach him but the snowy wind concealed them from her view almost immediately… then she heard the sounds of bullets passing as they missed her head by inches, a grenade came flying out of nowhere and Anna knew that she had no time to escape.
The fiery explosion was the last thing she could hear of the battle sounds around her, everything now replaced by a wild and constant ringing in her ears…
Anna crashed on the bloodied snow as her horse collapsed from the shrapnel impacts it had taken, but this time she just grabbed her sword and scrambled back on her feet to keep fighting.
Where the hell was Hans?
Anna knew that her old friend was a coward, but she could not believe that the King of the Southern Isles would not even dare to lead his men to battle… To imagine Hans safe and sound behind the lines just enraged Anna even more, and after that point she lost all sense of time and of herself.
It was impossible for Anna to tell for how long the battle had been ravaging already, since time itself became twisted and weird when you were in the middle of a war with a sword in your hand…
The greater numbers and psychological superiority gave the edge to Arendelle's forces after all, the red cloaks began to run for their lives after suffering huge losses and suddenly the last of Anna's slashing attacks was stopped by a powerful hand holding her right wrist.
"Anna!" Kristoff screamed above the cheers and screams of celebration, shaking Anna as he tried to bring her back to the real world- "Anna! Anna!"