Chapter Eighteen: Storming the Castle

Arendellian capitol

May 4, 1813

Elsa sighed deeply as she stood behind the cover of trees at the edge of the cliffs just outside her castle. She could see from here the flags flying from the ramparts and main bridge of Arendelle waving in the breeze. It was strange that the Arendellian flags continued to fly alone without the French flag flying with them. She wondered if perhaps Marshall Baujeu intended to keep the Arendellian flags as a way to give the illusion that this is still an independent state. However, Elsa knew that once he was married to Anna, he could exert complete control of Arendelle and it didn't matter anymore what flags were seen in the air. This was why she and Hans must prevent such a marriage to take place.

From all appearances, it seemed like a perfectly sunshiny day. It was half-past nine in the morning and normally, she should be able to hear the hustle and bustle of the merchants at this hour. However, everything seemed quiet. It was too quiet for Elsa's taste, one that was unusual considering today should have been (at least to the French) a festive occasion.

She heard a whistle in the air and Captain Otto, who was right next to her, stood up on alert.

"That's the signal. It's all clear. Let's move."

Elsa sided next to him and Otto looked at her apprehensively.

"Your majesty, General Jorgenbjorgen did say you need not come," he said uncomfortably. "You would be safer—"

"It's my kingdom Otto," Elsa cut him off. "General Jorgenbjorgen has no authority to tell me to fall back. That's my sister we are rescuing and I am coming with you."

"I wouldn't dare to tell you otherwise your Majesty," Otto said with a smile. "Besides, we Arendellians feel much safer with you along."

"I appreciate the vote of confidence Otto," Elsa replied at her faithful captain.

They moved stealthily past the trees until they reached the edge of the castle wall that ran down a steep slope towards the village below. From here, she could see guards patrolling the streets. From their green uniforms, she can tell they were Arendellians and they seemed to be on high alert. She couldn't see any of the blue-uniformed French officers milling around from this distance, but she figured they must be in strategic points hidden from view. Elsa had no doubt Marshall Baujeu was smart enough to have added security detail on this day. The sentiment of the people during the honor ceremony was enough to clue him in that his marriage to Anna would not bode well among the Arendellians. He would most likely station guards at the village and in the square to quell any dissent.

Hans had planned their attack on three fronts: one group would climb up the cliff-side wall that bordered the castle's eastern defenses and take it over. Once in their possession, it would allow the second group led by Lord Ragnar, to sneak in from the other side of the wall without detection and break through the eastern postern directly into the castle. A third group led mostly by the Arendellian veterans they rescued from the French would enter the village by stealth and try to subdue any guards there and convince other villagers to join their cause so they would not encounter any resistance.

The first group would have the most dangerous task as they would have to climb up the wall and may even directly confront armed soldiers in the process. Hans led this group himself. Elsa saw that he and his men had already been stationed by the foot of the wall. He looked ready to give the signal to climb up. However, he stopped his hand when he saw her and his face darkened.

"What are you doing here?" he mouthed angrily at her.

"Taking back my kingdom!" she mouthed back while making a big gesture with her hands grabbing at the air.

"That's my job!" he replied inaudibly while pointing furiously at himself.

"It's mine as well!" she pointed back at herself.

He shook his head and rolled his eyes at her before raising his hands in surrender while mouthing one final word: "FINE!"

He motioned for his men to shoot an arrow to scale the wall, but Elsa made a gesture for them to hold. Hans scowled at her with obvious annoyance and mouthed the word "WHAT?" The soldiers all hesitated and looked between her and the General. Elsa realized just how ridiculously childish she and Hans looked to their men who were intently watching their exchange of angry charades.

She ran stealthily ran to his side, aiming to speak to him directly.

"What do you think you're doing?" he whispered angrily once she was in whisper range from him. "You can tag along if you want, but don't get in my way!"

"I'm making this easier and safer for everyone. I'm surprised you didn't even bother to ask me to do this." She put her palm onto the adobe wall and formed a solid vertical ladder made of ice complete with safety handholds without even looking away from Hans' death stare.

He sighed with defeat. "Thank you, I appreciate the help." He motioned for his men to start climbing which they promptly did. He moved to follow them but stared back at Elsa. "Now just stay there. I'll take care of the rest. I'll send for you once it's safe."

"I'm not wearing a dress General. I'm coming with you," she demanded.

Hans bristled irritably at her. "We've been through this. It's not safe for you. We could encounter armed guards up there. What would you do then?"

"Shoot them with my ice, freeze them or blow them away with a wind? Take your pick."

"You're not a trained fighter. I am not taking a civilian to fight up an unsecured wall."

"General?" One of his men called up from the wall. "Wall is secured. There aren't any guards."

"Well that takes care of the problem, doesn't it?" she chided.

"Alright, but you are staying behind me at all times. Is that clear?"

"Perfectly. You never know when I need to plant an ice shield in front of you."

She heard him hiss once more but did not say anything further. She climbed up the ladder after him. She was the last to do so. By the time she was up the wall, their men had already held a position at equal lengths from the guard tower in front to the one behind them.

They moved steadily, crouched low so they would not be visible from any of the main towers of the castle itself. When they reached the first guard tower, they paused and saw a round reflection of light bounce off the wall.

"It's the signal from Mathilde," Otto said. "That's strange. It means everything is secure from the village."

Hans suddenly looked alarmed.

"General?" one of Hans' men called out as he peered down the northern side of the wall. "Lord Ragnar's men are on stand-by and waiting below. We've secured this area, shall I signal them to proceed?"

Hans held up a hand as a gesture to hold.

"Signal to our men in the village again, wait for them to respond," he ordered.

Otto used the mirror and sent out a reflection signal while intermittently moving his hand to block it after a one-second interval. The response was three flashing lights of a similar nature.

"The village is secure Sir, shall I signal to Lord Ragnar?" Hans' lieutenant repeated.

Hans merely stared around them and Elsa was wondering why he was hesitating to move forward when everything seems to be going well.

Another three flashing lights appeared on the tower wall from the village.

"General?" Elsa began.

"Signal Lord Ragnar's men to wait," he said.

"Why?" Elsa asked.

"Because," Hans replied gravely. "There are no guards on these walls and our men have just told us they have secured the village so quickly it can only mean they never even encountered a fight. I think the French are luring us in and we are about to walk into an ambush."

Elsa's heart hammered at his words. Does this mean the French know we are here? Have they figured it out somehow? Maybe Anna was married days ago and it was now too late to save her!

From the corner of her eye, she spied something approaching the fjord in the distance. She realized she was staring at a ship, no… two ships… a second later she realized there were three ships. Three ships were moving fast towards Arendelle.

The French sent reinforcements! Elsa thought wildly. She knew Hans had enough men to take out the French regiment stationed in Arendelle. However, in a matter of hours, if those French forces were reinforced with those three ships they would be outnumbered. They had to take the castle and they had to take it now and secure it before those ships reached land.

Hans and the rest of the men also saw the approaching ships. Hans held out a spyglass to take a look and she saw confusion mar his face.

"What is it?" she asked.

"They're not French," he declared.

"What do you mean?" she asked.

He held the spyglass out to her. She focused the device and peered through it to have a closer look at the ships. She recognized French colors immediately.

"They're flying the French flags," she told him.

"Yes, but those are not their ships. I know their make. They're from the Southern Isles. I think they are masquerading as French ships so they can come closer without being fired on."

"Why?" Elsa asked. "Have you sent additional reinforcements for us?"

"I'm not aware of any reinforcements," Hans replied.

Elsa backed away from him as a growing suspicion hit her in the gut. Those were Southern Isles ships! What if they were here to rendezvous with Hans? What if they were the invading force of the Sixth Coalition to come to take over Arendelle from the French while Hans took over the castle for them? Have I just led the invading force right into my castle?

"What is it?" Hans asked as he noticed her sudden change in demeanor.

Elsa didn't reply. She backed away then ran out of the guard tower and out into the open wall. She then raised her arms to the heavens to summon her powers as she intended to freeze the fjord before the ships reach land. However, she saw Hans running towards her. She stopped him with a spike of ice that rose from the stone floor and stopped short of impaling the young general.

"Queen Elsa, what are you doing?" Hans gasped. "It's not safe out there! You could be seen."

"Don't come any closer General," she threatened. "Why did you want me away from this fight? Are those your reinforcements coming in? You tell me right now what you really planned to do or you and your men will not leave this wall alive."

"I already told you the plan. I'm here to liberate your kingdom from the French," he pleaded.

"Then take over it? Is that why you have three Southern Isles ships in my fjord?"

"I don't know why there are three Southern Isles ships in the fjord!" he exclaimed. "And if I knew, why would I even tell you they're Southern Isles ships? Please, just calm down. I didn't lie to you."

"Your majesty," Otto called out. "I can see our people from the village. They are charging towards the castle. They're—"

Whatever Otto was about to say was cut off as the bells from the church within Arendelle's castle rang loud and ominous. The cadence of the clang of bells was familiar to Elsa. It meant danger! It was a signal to prepare.

Elsa's heart hammered as she imagined the French were now preparing to fight and they were about to attack their men in the village.

"Elsa, if our men are heading towards an ambush they will be massacred!" Hans cried out to be overheard over the clashing bells. "Please, we can talk about this later. Right now we need to get into the castle or your men and mine might all end up dead!"

Despite her fear, she dissipated her spike of ice and followed Hans back into the guard tower. However, she kept her distance and Otto came close by her. They moved steadily until they were outside the huge closed doors of the main castle north tower. Beyond those solid oak gates, Elsa knew they had clear access to the castle courtyard.

"Queen Elsa, I'm putting my trust in you to help me," Hans told her. "If this is an ambush then we are likely to be charged on once we enter those doors."

"Then we don't enter through those doors," she said. With a flick of her hand, she created another bridge, one that led directly to the roof deck of the small tower on the eastern side of the castle. The roof of one of the minor buildings surrounding the main castle effectively hid it from view from anyone watching from the top balcony or any of the castle towers. "We are going directly down to the courtyard. I will create the ice slides for us from there."

"Thank you, Your Majesty," Hans said before he ordered his men to move quickly through her bridge. The clanging of the bells continued and afforded them an additional advantage for they could go forward without needing to be quiet anymore.

Once they reached the other side, Elsa could see down into the courtyard. There were tables and chairs set up all over the place. It looked like a wild party had been thrown there the night before for it was an absolute mess with bottles of wine and spilled food strewn all over the place. But what surprised her was that the gates were fully open and there were Arendellian guards moving villagers to come inside the castle.

The ringing of the bells abruptly stopped and suddenly, Elsa could hear a cacophony of voices shouting all over the castle courtyard.

"The French are coming!"

"Three ships have been sighted!"

"They already knew what we did!"

"Reinforcements are here!"

"What in the world…?" Hans began but he stopped and Elsa heard him intake a breath. She followed his line of sight and heard the voice before she even saw what caught his attention.

"Everyone inside the castle quickly!"

It was Anna. She was dressed in her gold and black riding outfit covered over by her purple Arendellian traditional cape. She stood in the middle of the chaos, sending orders to secure everyone into the castle.

Suddenly Hans' and Elsa's men who were assigned to attack through the village burst into the square from the wide-open gates. Elsa recognized Mathilde as the first one to come forward into the courtyard.

"Papa! Papa!" the girl cried before she was swept into the arms of an elderly soldier she knew immediately as General Mattias. For a moment, Elsa couldn't understand what was going on. Where were the French soldiers? Where was the ambush that awaited them?

She turned to her right to ask Hans but he was no longer beside her. With agility, she didn't expect, Hans had jumped from the roof and climbed down a balustrade then moved to the roof of the stables where he made the last ten foot jump into the courtyard then headed straight towards Anna.

For a moment, Elsa panicked, thinking Hans was about to attack her sister. She held her hands out to strike him, but he stopped a good three meters away from her.

"Anna?" he called out hesitantly.

Anna turned around and immediately saw him. Elsa couldn't hear her but she saw Anna mouth his name: "Hans?"

Elsa watched, fascinated as Hans' face showed a vulnerability she had never seen before as he met her sister's gaze. "I'm sorry," were the words she could make out from his lips before Anna rushed towards him and sent him sinking to his knees. She crushed him into a hug and sobbed openly on his shoulder.

Elsa saw a single tear fall down his cheek, and whatever doubts she had of Hans trying to harm them dissipated completely.

He's in love with her.

She had known it days ago but to see it displayed once more in front of Anna reaffirmed it even more. And she didn't know why that disturbed her more than she expected.

"Queen Elsa?" Otto called from her side and broke into her thoughts. "I don't think there is going to be an ambush. Should we go down now?"

"Yes, of course," she replied as she raised her hands and created an ice slide. People in the courtyard all looked up as Elsa slid down first on her creation. Once her feet touched the ground she ran immediately towards her tear-stained sister who threw herself into Elsa's arms.

"You're alive! I can't believe this! You're alive! Hans just told me! He rescued you! Now you're home!" Anna rambled.

"I'm home now Anna and I'm not leaving." She pulled away to look at her sister and assess her. "But are you alright? Did Marshall Baujeu hurt you? Where is he?"

Anna pulled away and laughed through her tears before snorting out: "In the basement cells… (sniff) with the rest of the French regiment."

A/N: It's been months since I updated as this was just so difficult to write. I decided on releasing two chapters in one go since both are so short.

I based much of Hans' attack strategy on pictures of Arendelle's Castle. If you would notice, the Castle is located at the edge of a cliff that ends on the fjord. One side of the castle faces the port that has been used multiple times in the first Frozen movie. The opposite end of the castle is a long wall that stretches for miles up the hill and serves as a shield of the village from the further northern territories that lead to Northuldra. (We know this because we've seen Elsa stop a flood in Frozen 2 before it hits the castle and the floodwaters were coming from the direction of Northuldra). It is this wall that Hans' and Elsa's group climb. The walls also allowed them to view both fjord and the village in certain areas, making it a strategic point of entry for attacking the castle. The eastern postern where Lord Ragnar will be coming from is the same door that faces the fjord opposite the village that Elsa uses when she runs away in the first Frozen film and her "Into the Unknown" sequence in the second film.