"Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake." - Napoleon Bonaparte
"Too late." The women all turned as Kristoff walked into the room. He motioned for them to follow and they walked to one of the higher towers of the castle. It gave them an excellent view of the harbor and they could see the destruction from the night before. Broken hulls and crooked masts littered the harbor. Across the water, more ships had arrived until they covered the sea from end to end as far as one could see. "The attack last night must've been them testing our defenses."
"What is this?" Anna whispered.
"I don't know." Elsa said, watching in disbelief as more ships arrived. "This is impossible. There is no way the Southern Isles could've gathered such an army on their own. Not of their own people. Why are they attacking us?"
"We should see if we can find a leader to ask." Anna suggested.
"In the meantime, you should be prepared in case there's another attack." Regina said.
Ingrid nodded. "Finish evacuating the city and I'll raise an ice wall in case they fire." She exchanged a look with Regina, who nodded in acceptance to her plan. "We'll meet up at the docks." They sprung into action and Regina spent her time helping the people evacuate the city. Most of the guards were sent to escort them to the enchanted forest up north. When she returned to the city, she found that Ingrid had covered the city in a protective layer of snow and raised an ice wall across the harbor. She raised two more in the span it took Regina to reach the docks.
"Ingrid!" Regina called. The ice witch turned around and teleported down to her. "You okay?"
"I'm fine."
"Any word from the armada?"
"None." Ingrid sighed. "Elsa has sent messengers but they won't respond. They won't talk to us."
"The city is mostly evacuated." Regina added. "There are some stragglers and the guards are escorting them. I used magic to get them moving faster. If there's a fight, the people will be safe. I set up a barrier in case they try to flank us."
"That's good, but I still don't understand why they're doing this."
"They want Arendelle, Ingrid, and they're willing to kill to get it. That's all you need to know to defend your home."
Ingrid nodded and rubbed her arms. "I've never fought in a war before."
"I know." Regina said, touching her chin and drawing her lover's eyes to her. "Just think about everything behind this wall. Your people, your family, your home. They need you to protect them. Focus on that and you should be fine."
Ingrid nodded vigorously but Regina could tell she was still nervous. Arendelle had had conflicts with other nations before, but they were mostly small skirmishes and she was sure Ingrid was never near any fighting. Her magic allowed her to stop and avoid fights easily enough so there was never any need. Her love wasn't a killer either.
"You're the commander, Regina, what do we do if we can't talk to the king?"
"We destroy them, my dear." Regina replied matter of factly. She teleported back up to the wall and looked out over the sea of ships. The decks were busy with people moving about but she couldn't see what they were doing. If they were preparing for another attack, Arendelle was ready. She stepped away from Ingrid and cast a spell on her eyes that would allow her to see over great distances. She scanned the decks of the ships. The men were scurrying about like cockroaches. It was almost impossible to discern where one person ended and another began in the gathering gloom, but she had a feeling that they were indeed preparing for battle. Perhaps they were loading cannons or the large catapults that some of the ships possessed. She worried over this king as well. King Eogan. Surely he knew that Elsa had ice powers. Even if he hadn't planned on Ingrid being in Arendelle then he should have accounted for the queen. She needed information. She was contemplating going back and ripping out the hearts of their prisoners to get some more answers, when she saw something odd. A single ship, painted a menacing black, was gliding through the rest of the armada. On the deck she saw a man dressed in the black and gold garments of a king. Eogan was a tall and thick man. He bore the bright red hair of the royal family of the Southern Isles, but unlike his brother, Hans, he was scarred and well muscled.
"Is that him?" Elsa asked, appearing next to her with Ingrid.
"I think so. Looks like he wants to talk."
"Isn't that good?" Ingrid turned to her and she shrugged.
"Depends on whether he wants to talk peace or he has demands. I would assume the latter. You don't bring an armada to talk peace."
"You also don't attack before talking." Ingrid added. "If we weren't here we could have had casualties. A lot of them."
Regina watched Eogan make his way to the harbor, wondering what his game was. Did he really think they would let him into the city now?
"Killing him would send a terrible message, wouldn't it?" Elsa asked, glaring at the approaching ship.
"He attacked you first." Regina shrugged. "I don't believe Arendelle's reputation would suffer much for it. Although... killing a king would still have consequences. You are in the right to defend your city, but there is no telling how the other kingdoms will react to the news, especially those who might be allied with the Southern Isles or Weselton."
"It looks like all of their allies are right here!" Elsa hissed.
"This is true." Ingrid conceded. She turned to Regina. "What do you think his plan is?"
Regina shrugged. "I don't know, Love."
"Your best guess then. As a commander. Our own war advisors aren't sure about this. They just want to set up a defense and wait this out since we don't have enough men for a counter attack. Perhaps someone with fresh eyes and more experience might help us."
Regina looked back down at Eogan, cutting through the waves on his black ship. The other vessels parted to let him pass. "Perhaps a war of attrition. I don't believe he had any knowledge of our presence before launching his attack. He can't have, not without spies and magical intervention that I've seen no signs of."
"You also weren't looking for them," Ingrid reminded her. "You think there is a spy here?"
"I don't know, dear. These are just my thoughts. But he had to know about Elsa and her powers. He may not have expected us but he had to have a plan to subdue her if he plans to take the city by force. Unless…"
"Unless?" Both blondes turned to face her.
"Unless he plans to fight a war of attrition, overwhelm and wear you down with the sheer number of men in his army."
"Which might have worked if we weren't here." Ingrid said with a scowl. "He would just throw away his people's lives like that?"
Regina nodded. As a magic practitioner Elsa was much stronger than she was when she came to Storybrooke, but she was not trained in combat. Any fighting ability she had with her ice powers was geared towards defense and protection. Her skill set lay in politics and diplomacy rather than war. However, Regina had yet to see her angry and she knew anger could make even the most level headed person do crazy things as well as give them a new strength.
Snow started gathering on her shoulder and she looked around at the snow falling. Whether the sudden weather change was caused by Ingrid or Elsa, she wasn't sure.
"Would you like for me to talk to him?" She offered.
"No, it must be me. Just stay alert." Elsa stepped off the wall. A column of ice rose from the water to catch her and carried across the water. She summoned a small wall to stop Eogan's ship and stepped onto the deck.
Ingrid started to pace, watching her niece carefully as she did so and Regina could offer nothing to soothe her worries. This king was certainly bold. He acted like he'd already won and taken the city. Perhaps this wasn't necessarily about Arendelle at all. Maybe he wanted to invade other nations and Arendelle was just the first one on the list. For a few minutes Regina waited for their queen to return. Elsa didn't speak much. By how much Eogan was talking she guessed he must've been monologuing or something. Then Elsa stepped back off the ship and returned to them.
"What'd he say?" Ingrid asked, looking at her niece in concern. Regina shared the same look at the grave expression on the younger blonde's face. "Elsa?"
"He wants a war. We'll have to give him one."
"What'd he say?" Regina asked.
"He wants the city. You were right." Elsa shrugged, though Regina felt she was leaving something out. "He wants power and he's willing to kill to get it. He came here first because he says we humiliated his family and his allies. Once he's killed us, he's going to destroy Arendelle and then move on to the next city."
Regina looked down at the king. He was smiling at them. She smiled as well and noticed the falter in his. "War it is then."
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