The stables would be unattended at this point. The general weather conditions and lack of resources available meant most animals were reserved strictly for farm work purposes. However resistance cells usually managed to procure a couple in case of emergency. It was a risk to take one but it was the only way to guarantee she would be able to do this in time. The horse would draw attention so when she got close to her destination she would have to send it back on its way, it would follow the path back on its own. She certainly had no problem with their usefulness but Freya hated travelling on horseback, having your own feet under you when moving was the way she liked it. Although Hans had taught her enough to get by, the inexperience she had had with the creatures always irked her. The only way to improve would have been to practice but the rarity of horses and the conspicuousness of riding one out in the open for all to see meant she rarely got the chance. Hans had always wanted to teach her more than he could, he would describe them as noble and majestic. Freya wondered what all the fuss about them was and just thought they were ugly and smelled awful. She opened up one of the gates and tentatively approached a horse; she saddled it up and climbed on board. The long white cloak she had picked up on her way out of Sigmund's draped over the creature. She was amazed that she did not get it tangled in her ungraceful climb onto the horse's back. She moved it out slowly. once she reached the village limits she could go full speed. If she was quiet, and lucky, everyone would think she had just wandered off aimlessly in a huff and would eventually come back, this would not be the first time she had done that after-all.
Of course what she was actually doing was nothing of the sort. Her decision was to head straight to Arendelle itself. Anna had said that they were going in blind, Freya could change that. Having spotted and memorised the tunnel entrances on the table maps she knew she could seek them out and scout them for Anna's team. Anything could have changed since the last time Jasper or Anna saw them. If Freya could provide some up-to-date information, maybe even map the tunnels out she would feel like she at least contributed to the resistance's big gambit. She would not be there for the final fight with him but she would do everything in her power to increase Hans' chance of success, his chance of survival.
Freya was sure she got out of the village unnoticed, she avoided Sigmund's window and the rest of the cell would be inside waiting for the word to move out. When she was clear she let the horse pick up speed until it was at a full gallop. Though she had pictured herself as the determined adventurer it now felt more like she was clinging on for dear life as the powerful animal took her at an alarming pace towards the Empire's epicentre. Even with the occasional sign, the path was difficult to follow under the layers of snow. It was also difficult to keep track of the landscape as Freya devoted almost all of her energy to staying on the horse, she would have to trust this thing to keep her vaguely on the right path.
The village they had been set up in was out of the way but she had to keep an eye out for when the path connected up to the main road network so she could dismount in time. If anyone official saw the horse this would be over before it began. There was a creeping anxiety whilst she travelled, there had been no doubt that she was doing the right thing but her certainty failed to quell the nerves as the vague shapes of groups, caravans and military escorts emerged from the horizon. At least she was done with the horse. She sent it on its way; hopefully people would just assume it got out by accident. It was too late for anyone to stop her now anyway, even if they had worked out what she was up to. Anyone but herself, this was the best point to turn back. She considered how Hans would certainly disapprove of this but shook it off. This was for him and she would not let guilt stop her. The relative safety of what she was doing compared to what the other cells would go through would have to be enough to keep him satisfied, all the others would have to face the worst this world would have to offer and she was essentially just having a look around before the real fight began.
She approached the main road quickly as being out in the open for a prolonged amount of time could give the game away. She slipped into one of the caravan groups, placing herself next to a cart being pulled by a few people. It was a blind spot from most angles and the fact she was quite slender and young would prevent any questions for the lack of help she was providing for the physical labour. The cloak was doing its job as she remained inconspicuous amongst the crowd and the city was rapidly approaching as they journeyed on. She had heard stories of how impressive the capital was but whilst the task at hand may have accentuated her feelings, seeing it for the first time showed that words failed to do it justice on just how ominous it came across as. What struck her first were the high stone walls around the city and the huge Arendelle flags draping down from them. These signs and the enormous area the walls covered was a show to anyone approaching of how things were, the structures demanded those who saw them to know their place. The only structures tall enough to be seen over the wall were large spires off in the distance. They rose up to meet the black clouds that loomed over as far as the eye could see.
The main road branched out into several small gates spaced intermittently along the walls. Each one was guarded by imperial officers and they greeted each person who entered. They were polite and upbeat which was one of the more bewildering elements Freya had to put up with considering how menacing the city looked from afar and how officers usually behaved. There were no ice-based monsters anywhere in sight either. She got through a gate to the city unchallenged and was met only by a smiling imperial guard welcoming her to "the jewel of the empire." She broke off from the group she had hidden with once through the gate.
The story inside the walls was totally different from what could be seen from afar. The outer ring of the city was dedicated to market places and vendors. It was open plan and spacious enough to move freely even with the large population. Cheerful shopkeepers had stalls with plentiful supplies of luxury items such as fur and jewellery, even the simplest of food stalls were packed with the likes of fresh fruit and perishable food supplies that Freya previously thought were such rarities. Well-dressed people darted back and forth between the stands buying up excessive amounts of these items without a second's thought. Freya continued through the city, wanting to get an idea of the general layout for when she had to leave. She came across what looked like a living quarter, these houses seemed to gleam as neighbours chatted and tended to their homes. Freya could see fireplaces and leather-seating through the windows. All these people lived in a bubble of luxurious living and as she explored the area she found these were the smaller houses the city had to offer. She pressed on through the city, the tunnel entrances were much closer to the central hub and Freya was still only in the outer sections. She found a series of paths and bridges connecting to the inner-hub of the city; it looked like they were built over what once was a lake. These paths interconnected between small circular islands with ice-sculptures of different varieties at the centre of each one. These paths were narrow so she had to move quite slowly as people shuffled around, some stopped to admire the sculptures but most were determined to be wherever it was they needed to be. The final little island she came across before the city's inner hub had a very particular sculpture. The plaque underneath it read "Our protector, our Empress," and the sculpture depicted her armour-clad and in a triumphant pose. A chill went down as she looked into the sculpture's eyes; despite its lifelessness it still had a fraction of the Empress' presence. Even this small fraction was enough to set Freya on edge. She looked across all the islands closest to the inner-hub to see each one had a sculpture of Elsa. The next island across had a sculpture of her crouching down with an open hand, the plaque was too far away to read. The reason they were here was either vanity or propaganda, Freya figured it was probably both.
She had made it through the slow winding paths of the lake to the inner-hub. This was where Arendelle showed off its full extravagance. It was a giant open space leading up to the palace, it was a puzzle of intricate tile-work depicting various landscapes of the more attractive parts of the empire with Arendelle's crest in the centre of it all. Even the ground here had been transformed into artwork. The idyllic and glorious atmosphere the city emanated only served to make Freya feel sick. Everyone else suffered, her entire country was destroyed and the few resources the regime allowed to be produced were all being pumped into the capital as the rest had to live off the scraps.
What stood at the end of the wide expanse of artwork floors was in stark contrast to the rest of the city, the imperial palace was the true representation of Arendelle's rule as it matched the menacing aesthetic of the walls surrounding the outer-limits. The entrance and front section of it looked quite standard, there were a few stained-glass windows but it looked like it matched that of the rest of the city. It was what was attached behind it that showed the true nature of the empire. There was a sprawling collection of interconnecting towers and spires which were a twisted intertwining of ice and stone that stretched far back into the mountains, some even seemed to sink into them. Each one lead back to the tallest central spire that overlooked the entire city, the small amount of light shining through the clouds danced and reflected from the towers and their buttresses. The chaotic nature of the upper-structures suggested that an architect had no hand in their design, or if one did they were not in their right mind. So enthralled by the intricacies of this freakish building, Freya realised she had failed to look out for any signs of tunnel entrances. The maps marked them out to the sides of the palace, rocky wall sections where the mountainous areas crept into the cities architecture, the city had expanded out so much that it enveloped the natural landscape. The way the palace itself was almost part of the mountain meant these tunnels could lead just about anywhere. She would have to keep careful track of her footsteps and hoped her general sense of direction would be up to the task of keeping her bearings in relation to the city. The population had already thinned out a bit when she got to the inner-hub but as she approached the areas marked out on the maps it became less and less crowded until the section she was in was totally devoid of people. There was nothing here to be around for, maybe she was lucky no-one was around to see her snooping or maybe the populace knew better than to hang around in these parts. There was no clear sign of any tunnel entrances, Freya then reminded herself these were secret tunnels and examined much closer, running her hands along the walls. She was working off crudely drawn maps from memory with a lack of any other information. Regrets that started to worm their way into her mind quickly dissipated when she felt a section of the wall that was suspiciously loose. She triumphantly pressed it in. Nothing happened. She concluded it was no coincidence that this section of the wall so close to a marked secret tunnel entrance was loose and tried pressing it again. She folded her arms in an annoyed manner when she got the same result as before.
"Why aren't you working?" She muttered under her breath. As her thoughts got carried away that maybe there was some special key or there was a combination of loose stones that needed to be pressed in order, she remembered something Hans would say to her.
"Eliminate the obvious solutions first, the one who tries too hard on the simple is the one who achieves nothing and looks stupid for it." She reached back to the loose section and pulled instead of pushed, still nothing. There was a brief interlude of wondering if temperature had anything to do with it before she snapped back to Hans' words of wisdom. She also realised the longer she loitered trying to think of solutions, the more she risked detection so any elaborate mechanisms were to be avoided anyway. She went and twisted the loose section clockwise. A wave of satisfaction washed over her as an entrance slid open in front of her. The satisfaction promptly vanished as a dark unknown expanded out before her. The air coming out of it was cold even by the permanent winter's standards, but she had come too far to turn back now. She took a deep breath and stepped into the freezing darkness of the tunnel.