A breeze gently lifted the loosened strands of hair from Elsa's neck and face, bringing them to dance freely in the wind as she stood at the front of the boat, eyes and thoughts fixed on the horizon. Tomorrow brought the promise of battle, the blood rains, the death toll of a thousand men, and more. The start of a war.
"Excuse me, your majesty…" A voice came, tearing her concentration from the future and forcing her to re-establish it in the present.
" Yes?" Elsa answered simply. It was Kristoff; he stood tall, illuminated by the light of the full moon.
" I was just wondering if you were alright, standing out here all alone... it's kind of chilly and.." The man trailed off, running a hand through his hair nervously.
Her intuition took hold. " You are worried about tomorrow." She spoke, a brow rising with her words.
"No that's not it, I just, yeah. Kinda." Kristoff admitted. "Mostly, I'm worried about Anna..."
Elsa felt her stomach turn at the thought of what might be happening to her friend, it took all of her will to fight any change in expression. "As am I."
She turned back to glance at the horizon, hands balling into fists. Frost slowly spread from her feet over the polished wood of the deck.
"Come tomorrow, I will stop at nothing to get her back. Fear not, Kristoff, Anna will be brought home safe and sound."
He said nothing, only nodded, his faith in his queen as strong as ever. Kristoff could see Elsa was strong, and determined; for the first time since he joined Arendelle's army he felt at ease. Kristoff felt as if they might actually be able to win.
The air was crisp and cool, as the fleet of Arendellian ships halted a thousand feet or so from the already poised and armed Southern Isles ships. All decks were lined with soldiers, armed and ready for battle. Elsa stood at the bow of the forward most ship, directly across from the ginger haired leader of the opposing fleet.
Below the surface, creatures anticipated battle to come, awaiting the plethora of food to fall from the future wreckage.
Hans stepped away, only to reappear moments later upon a personal boat rowed by several men. It was heading right for them. The group was too small for an attack, and she knew Hans was not stupid enough to risk himself at any point in battle, let alone right at the start.
"Prepare a small boat for me." Elsa commanded, keeping her eye on the approaching man.
Hans stopped midway, awaiting the small vessel that carried Arendelle's queen. Both stilled in the neutral waters and Hans offered a mocking bow.
"Good morning your majesty, you are looking quite ravishing in this early light."
Elsa rolled her eyes, patience with this man long since gone. "If you don't mind, I think we are well past formalities, even fake ones."
"As you wish." He grinned devilishly.
"Surrender Hans."
He gave a coy smile as he spoke. "And why would I want to do that? I've got you right where I want you."
"Because your arrogance clouds your judgment, and in doing so you will find yourself at the bottom of the ocean before you find yourself a victor."
Her words caught him just right and he found himself stirred in anger, still he was careful to keep his poise, and instead he gave a soft chuckle. "Is that so? Perhaps while I am down there your little friend can keep me company. What was her name again?"
"Her name is Anna."
"Oh right. Must have slipped my mind." he mused. "Do you want to see her?"
"Where is she Hans? "
"Where? Oh," He pointed to a pillar at the bow of his ship "what an odd ornament for a ship…" Elsa thought, until she realized why exactly he was drawing her attention there. Anna was bound tightly at the base, she quickly came the conclusion that Han's actually had a part of his ship specially made just to show off his captive. The gall of that man and the sight of her friend caused the Ice Queen's blood to boil and her fists to clench at her sides
"Release her and I will allow your men to keep their lives."
"Oh Elsa, how kind. But you know as well as I that I have no intention of letting her go anywhere except into the depths of the dark waters below."
"So be it. If you will not surrender then I will rip you apart all the same and take her from you."
There was a searing heat to his words as they slipped past his lips. "Let the games begin."
Both vessels retreated back to their respective sides, leaders climbing from their contents and returning to their point of command.
"My queen?" Nicolas' voice came from her right.
"He refuse to surrender, as of right now, we are officially at war. We are officially in battle."
"And Anna?"
"I will pry Anna from his grasp by any means necessary. "
" Shall we begin?"
The winter woman was quiet for a moment before she spoke; the only sound that filled the salted ocean air was the lapping of the waters at the sides of her ship.
" Release the sails! Forward unto battle!"
With a nod, Nicolas' hand rose, signaling to of the other ship's commanders to drop sail. The ships lurched forward on command as the wind caught the massive wall of fabric. Arendellian soldiers readied their swords, chests heaving with the anticipation of the fight so close at hand.
The Southern Isles ships advanced as well, the roar of their men ringing loudly over the water.
Anna, who was bound and helpless, cringed as the ships moved. Fear rose within her and she had found herself desperate with the hope that this day would not bring her end. Not when Elsa was so close, not when the war was just beginning.
As the queen's ship quickly approached ground zero, she flicked her wrist, and a sword born of powerful ice appeared in hand.
Let the storm of fire and Ice begin.
Like razors, the ships cut through the water with ease, until they met in a clash of splintered wood and battle cries. Men flooded from one boat to the next, swords clashing in sparks . Blood was gifted to the gods of war left and right as men triumphed and fell.
The ice queen's eyes searched the area for Anna. " Elsa!" her name was called and she spotted its source. She didn't say a word, only advanced with as much speed as she could, cutting down who ever was foolish enough to get in her way.
The ginger haired woman struggled against her restraints as she saw the fierce blonde approaching.
"And where do you think you're going?" A deep voice rang out. It was Titus, Han's favorite commander.
Elsa glanced back at Anna, but when her gaze returned to the man that had addressed her, he was already in mid-swing. Reacting on pure adrenalin and instinct, Elsa brought her sword up to block, just barely managing to deflect the blow. He was strong, much stronger than her. She'd have to evade the blows, blocking them would only tire her faster.
He swung again and she ducked, counter swing already in place. She managed to nick his leg, and in response he swung overhead. She used a two handed block, to counter his strength, but that left her sides vulnerable to his free brought his fist to connect with her ribs. Almost instantly the blow weakened her block and she had to slide his blade off of hers lest she lose her hold completely and with it, her life.
"I'm impressed you can still stand after that hit."
Not by much.
Elsa ignored the sharp pain in her side and held her sword up once again.
"He said you had guts, but the king never mentioned how much." Titus grinned, his own blade rising once more.
He swung, and he swung, and each time she managed to evade. Titus was growing angry and bored with her game of leap frog. "Hold still and let me spill that pretty blood of yours."
This time she waited, this time Elsa didn't move till the very last minute, almost too late. Her slender frame leapt from in front of his blow, and in the split second that she was in the air the monarch created a second, smaller blade of ice. Nimble fingers loosed the blade into the air, sending it to connect with the man's face. It sliced just above his eye, a stream of blood racing down to blind him. Without a second thought, Elsa silenced the man's cry of anger and pain with her sword, his heavy body crashing lifeless to the deck below.
"No!" Came the angry outburst of a spoiled king, fist slamming into the banister that fenced in his safe viewing box from atop the ship.
Quick as she could, Elsa set to cutting the ropes away and releasing the woman she had come here for.
"Elsa!" Anna cried, wrapping her arms around the taller woman in a tight embrace.
The queen's sword dropped to the floor as she eagerly returned the show of affection and gratitude. "I'm so glad you're safe!" Anna spoke into her neck.
"Yes, I'm glad you are alright, but neither of us are safe so long as we are here, we need to get back."
"King Hans! If we keep fighting all the men aboard these ships will fall!"
"So be it, it's only a few ships I have thousands."
"Your majesty! We need to regroup!"
He snarled at the man addressing him. "Fine, this ship is leaving, anyone not on it can rot at the bottom of the ocean with the rest of the failures."
"Elsa we need to go, this ship is taking off, its going to flood with men and we'll be trapped."
She nodded at Anna and the two headed towards the plank that connected this ship to the next, Soldiers were already spilling over their only exit. "Shit!" Anna hissed. Frantically she looked around for a second escape route. "Elsa, don't panic!"
"What? Why would I panic?"
Her question was answered the moment Anna slipped her hand around Elsa's waist and held her tightly.
The smaller woman leaned over to grab a discarded sword and cut a rope clean in half with one strike.
"Anna what are you-"
"Here we go!"
Without another word she had taken the rope, picked Elsa up and ran forward, thrusting both of them off the side of the ship.
The queen all but shrieked as she clung to Anna's side. Out of slack, the rope snapped taught and the two swung over the gap safely to the other ship, just as Han's boat began its retreat. The two hit the deck of the unstable ship and rolled before coming to a stop just before the shattered edge.
"Anna we need to go!" Elsa called, she winced as she got to her feet, and helped Anna do the same.
"Your Majesty!" Called Nicolas' strong voice. "Over here!"
The two made their way over to the intact and barely scratched Arendelleian ship, which once boarded, returned to the rest of its fleet. Now back in safe waters, the surviving soldiers recuperated, tending to their injuries and repairing armor and weaponry.
"Anna!"
At the sound of her name, the red headed woman turned to see Kristoff bounding over .
"You're safe, are you hurt?"
"No, nothing more than a few scrapes and bruises. I'll make it. What about you? That's a pretty good gash there." She spoke with a smile as she gestured to the man's arm.
"Oh this? Nah, just a flesh wound." he shrugged.
"Kristoff, fetch the Queen some water." Nicolas cut in.
"Yes sir."
Anna sighed heavily and rubbed her shoulder, half for its ache and half from the guilt of her choices. She had turned to address her father, but he was already disappearing behind a closed door with her Queen.
"Report?" Elsa inquired as she placed her hand over her side, a soft blue glow emitted from her hand as she iced her ribs.
"We sent ten ships in, six remain, four of which are still battle worthy, and two require extensive repairs."
"And the men?"
"We lost a few, not as many as they did. Sadly that was only a small portion of their navy, your grace."
"And it was only a small portion of ours. Today's goal was not to destroy them, but to send a warning, and to retrieve Anna. I will worry about annihilating them in due time. For now the men are to recuperate and regain their strength."
"As you wish. You fought well out there today my Queen." He spoke proudly. "Thank you, for bringing my daughter back."
"She's saved my life many a time, it was long over due for me to return the favor."
He gave a soft smile and bowed. "If you have no further need of my your grace, I'd like to tend to the men."
"Very well, you are dismissed." She smiled back. "Thank you for all that you did today."
Sadly, there was still much to come, and Elsa feared that many of the men would end up giving too much before this war was over.