Chapter Four

Slowed Down

JANUS

The bars of the grate that held the well shut rattled as Janus shook it with all the strength he had. The grate didn't budge, no matter how hard he tugged at it while dangling with his legs flailing wildly. A hundred foot drop yawned beneath him. Looking up, the men in the brown cloaks laughed, their voices a deep and disturbing echo in his ears.

"Let me out!" Janus roared, struggling against the grate with all of his might while holding on for dear life. He wouldn't survive the hundred foot drop. One of the brown cloaks peeled back the hood, and light flooded upon his face. Janus stared back at his own reflection, a man who sneered back at him with his own face.

His doppelgänger cast aside the entire brown cloak to reveal himself in his own mercenary blacks, and laughed again. He slammed his boot down on Janus' fingers that were gripping the bars. Janus shouted, white pain lancing through his fingers, and he let go of the grate.

Then began the hundred foot drop as he screamed. Further and further he fell, as if he were going to fall forever. And down below, at the bottom, he knew what was waiting for him. Nothing but darkness and a reminder of his failure to ever escape his personal prison. His biggest failure.

Janus felt something deathly cold touch his leg and he jolted awake, gasping as he sat up jerkily. It was still dark, wherever he was, but he was no longer falling, that was for sure. Breathing fast, he looked around. A tent. Cold wind blew into the tent through the flaps, bringing with it particles of snow.

He exhaled cathartically. A nightmare. He hadn't had one of those in a while. Shaking his head, he turned to his side, where Elsa still slept soundly and peacefully. It'd been the sole of her ice-cold foot shifting against his leg that had woken him. He made a mental note to thank her for it, though he was genuinely annoyed by how ridiculously cold her hands and feet always were.

Watching her sleep was therapeutic. Her body heaved ever so gently, her breathing quiet and dainty. Looking at her just brought so much peace to his heart. How could someone so beautiful be so deadly and powerful at the same time, yet have such a fortitude of compassion and good will?

Janus couldn't help but push a lock of platinum blonde hair from her face and tuck it behind her ear. She'd been letting her hair flow loosely more often these days, and Janus liked it a lot more than her complex braid.

The camp outside was still quiet, the voices of soldiers and the sounds of packing were absent, which meant that it wasn't time to rise yet. Closing his eyes, he lay down again beside her again. Maybe he could still catch an hour of sleep before the day that lay ahead of them.

He didn't know how much time passed, whether it'd been a few moments or the full hour he'd hoped to get. But he did know that he once again felt cold feet brush his leg and he jerked awake again. This time, Elsa stirred when he shifted abruptly in the bedroll.

"What is it?" She mumbled in her sleep.

"Your feet," He complained. "Why are they always so cold?"

"I thought you'd be used to that by now." She half mumbled, half giggled in her less than lucid state. Curling up beside him, she gripped his arm with her cold hands.

He shuddered, but made no attempt to pull away. By now, there was no question of going back to sleep. The sounds of the soldiers' reveille could be heard from outside. Metal clanged upon metal as soldiers packed their kit, muskets that had been stacked toppled in a half-awake muddle, and tents were collapsed.

"It's time." He told her, sitting up and watched as she let out a soft groan and pushed herself up from the bedroll too. Pressing her palms to her eyes, she massaged them, beautiful blonde hair falling over her face. He pushed aside a lock of her hair and gave Elsa a quick kiss on the cheek and got up to fetch his clothes.

As he pulled on his blacks, he could unconsciously feel her eyes lingering on him but opted not to say anything. He was used to her seeing him in a state of undress. Slipping into his boots, he laced them up quickly and stood, snapping the quiver into place on his back and the scabbard by his side. Then it was his turn to watch Elsa change.

She stood up and flicked a wrist. The dress seemed to disintegrate into tiny bits of ice and snow flakes, and it was promptly replaced by a light blue blouse, pants that were tucked into blue boots, and a royal looking blue jacket that was functional enough to give her a good range of motion in battle. However, instead of doing up her hand in her traditional braid, she left it falling loose to her back, and simply combed a hand through it to straighten out any knots or entanglements.

As sappy as it sounded, Janus knew he could just stare at her forever. He winced. It sounded terribly sappy and sentimental. Focus. Reaching for the compound bow that he had laid at the corner of the tent, he picked it up and slung it over his back together with his quiver. He checked his pouches to make sure his weapons were where he could access them easily. His daggers were in their sheaths too. The final touch. Lifting his mask from the ground where he'd laid it, he stared at it, the fading memory of the doppelgänger in his nightmare becoming vivid once again.

"Ready?" Elsa called out to him as she walked up to him by the tent flap.

He could smell the fresh and strong fragrance on her, even though neither of them had taken an early morning bath yet. With so many soldiers about and the brooks and streams all frozen over, there weren't going to be many chances to bathe or shower. And somehow, Elsa smelled like she had just taken the most expensive perfume bath and her hair was already perfect without a single strand out of place. Janus felt dishevelled standing next to her.

He snapped the mask into place on his face, and pulled the hood over his head. "Ready." He said, voice gravelly and menacing once more. Taking her hand, they walked out of the tent into the chaos of the military camp.

MELODY

The Coalition set out again at dawn, just as Anna had said the night before. In truth, that had felt like just a few short hours ago. It probably was. She hadn't gotten too good a sleep, as lingering thoughts of the danger that lay ahead kept her awake. Maui had just lost his powers, a literal godhood. And yet he was insistent on staying in the fight by their sides. It didn't sit well with Melody at all, but she knew that she couldn't stop him even if she wanted to.

She remembered how she'd met him for the first time. Maui had quite literally flown into her life and crashed into the sea on the day she'd returned from school during the semester break. The demigod had told her that she was a part of a prophecy, one of few predestined heroes who would join forces to stop Kane, a simple eco-terrorist and mercenary warlord at the time.

Maui had made quite an impression, and she'd agreed to embark on that wild adventure with him. They had stuck together with the rest of their allies since then, forming the Warriors which would then go on to merge with the League of Sorcerers, and even now up till the Coalition War.

Only not all of them had stuck together. Will Daltrey was dead. Jordan was dead. Jade had been manipulated into joining the Crimson Order. And now Maui himself had lost almost everything. Could he really afford to put himself in danger now that he was quite literally just a regular mortal?

Thankfully, the day's march kept her mind busy and off her thoughts. The Danish and Arendellians marched at the head of the column today, forming the Coalition's vanguard. Along the way, they ran into some resistance around midday, and Anna had commented from horseback that the Exonians were attempting something similar to the day before.

While Elsa, Janus, Deirdre and Maui rode with the League of Sorcerers who were sandwiched between the Arendellians' rear battalion and the Molcorrans' first, Tracy rode with her as she accompanied the Danish division on the march.

Melody knew that just like Anna, she had to make sure her people knew she was present with them to help raise morale, since they were only here on behalf of her kingdom's alliance with the Confederation. Melody found herself wondering if she'd made the right move. Getting involved in this blasted war after our part in it was already over?

Of course we did the right thing, she told herself firmly as the Coalition rode across a wide frozen lake. Anna and Elsa, together with the rest of the League all risked so much in helping her to free her home from the Empire's occupation. It was only right that they joined forces with Arendelle and the rest of the Confederation to end the threat of the Empire once and for all. And now, here they were, a few short days away from actually reaching the Southern border of Exon's capital. How far they'd all come.

"Enemy skirmishers!" A cavalry scout screamed somewhere far in front of her as he rode back to the column in search of the Field Marshal. "Enemy skirmishers incoming!"

"Again?" Tracy blurted out incredulously.

"It's only been an hour since lunch. Correction. Since we tried to take our lunch and had to fend off a detachment of skirmishers." Melody noted with a heavy sigh.

"They're trying to wear us down." Anna said tightly, applying her heels to her mount and surging forward in search of Field Marshal Frederick and Kristoff who were somewhere in front alongside the First Arendellian Brigade.

"Come on." Melody told Tracy, urging her horse from the flanks of the column towards the centre, where a space had been vacated for her and Tracy. "We know the drill by now."

"Yeah, sure we do." Tracy followed Melody towards the centre as the column prepared for a defence. "It's not like this is the first time we're being attacked by skirmishers in the middle of the day. Or the second. Or the third."

The Northuldra and Danish skirmishers had been positioned strategically by the Field Marshal. An order had been disseminated from Frederick by now, which trickled down the chain of command down to the lieutenants and sergeants, who shouted for the skirmishers to get into position and get ready for yet another round of skirmishing.

The column halted, and all around the various divisions, the light cavalry took their positions at the flanks, protecting the infantry and the artillery from enfilade fire. Meanwhile, the Northuldra and Danish skirmishers mobilised with shocking speed, fixing bayonets and moving forward swiftly in loose order to intercept the enemy skirmishers who were out by a hundred and fifty yards by now.

A couple of the League's sorcerers, no doubt dispatched by Elsa, moved quickly to join the skirmishers to end the attack as fast as possible. It was a light firefight, with the Danish, Northuldra and sorcerers fending off the Exonian skirmishers, while the enemies were doing their best to prolong the battle on orders from Kane. The enemy Field Marshal always liked to fight battles of attrition, wearing down opponents before delivering a final fatal stroke.

Skirmishing was always a messy affair. With their loose formations, it was nearly impossible to hit a skirmisher with a musket ball since the smoothbore muskets they wielded were generally quite inaccurate at long range. The skirmishers also regularly moved about from cover to cover, firing at each other at will, which made the odds of hitting one another quite infuriatingly hard.

However, Field Marshal Frederick had devised a rather effective way of ending skirmishes as quickly as possible. The first was sending the sorcerers into the field. The second, was to send the renowned Xerflorian cavalry cuirassiers to charge the Exonian skirmishers. The sight of big and tall armoured men on large horses was more often that not enough to drive the enemy into retreat.

These cavalry cuirassiers that were dispatched by Frederick would ride around the friendly skirmishers and sorcerers towards the flanks of the enemy skirmishers. Often, they would reach the enemy skirmishers before they had the time to do a collective retreat, and the Xerflorian cuirassiers would have their fun hacking and slashing at the enemy with their cavalry sabres and pumping lead from their carbines.

Frederick's plan worked, as it almost always did, Some of the Exonian skirmishers were either cut down, shot or trampled by the heavy cavalry before the rest decided that it was time to withdraw from the fight completely. The heavy cavalry chased them across hundreds of yards of snow, hacking down the rest until almost all were dealt with. And then, the column set off again.

To Melody's chagrin, they were attacked another two times before the Coalition finally stopped for the night at around nine o'clock. According to what Anna told her and Tracy, they hadn't even managed to come close to the planned campsite. They had only covered six miles throughout the day, due to countless delays, attacks and the general difficulty of slogging through thick snow. At this rate, they would likely starve very soon.

Nonetheless, foraging parties had been sent out ahead of the column, and by the time the bulk of the column reached their new spot for the night, the foraging parties had returned with some animals, mushrooms, herbs and exotic fruit only found in Exonian territory. Barely enough to sustain the entire Coalition, on top of whatever meagre rations they had left.

The Warriors gathered again, this time in Anna's tent to discuss what they were going to do next. Everyone looked tired, having endured the day's gruelling march. Even though they'd ridden on horseback, it still felt relentlessly tiring, and Melody could only imagine how much worse it was for the infantry, artillerists, supply teams and medical staff who had to haul wagon loads of incapacitated patients through the snow.

"A complete disaster." Kristoff remarked, when they'd all gathered. Melody noted that she hadn't really seen him around much lately, as he'd been very occupied with making sure everything ran well together with Field Marshal Frederick.

"Yeah, you can say that again." Tracy said, dusting off flakes of snow from her dreadlocks. "My body hurts from sitting in the saddle the whole day."

"Tell that to the infantry." Deirdre hitched a thumb over her shoulder. "I'm sure they'll be glad to trade places."

"No thanks." Tracy snorted, rubbing her thighs.

Melody watched as Anna collapsed into a foldable chair at the side of her tent. She looked utterly spent, and her eyes were shut. Perhaps she deserved a break after such a long day where tensions ran high. After all, she had the Confederation members to worry about besides the Exonians.

Anna sighed. "Whatever Kane is trying to do, it's working. If this keeps up, I don't know how we're going to be able to fight the Imperial Horde when the time comes."

"How's the League handling it?" Melody turned to Elsa.

"About two thirds of the League is still with us." Elsa said. "Vonco told me that a while back, the sorcerers who were too young or too old to join the conflict were allowed to find their way back to Korynes or Korynes, along with those who wanted nothing to do with this war."

"So that's like…five hundred still with us?" Melody asked.

Elsa nodded. "I approved. We can't drag the former refugees into this war. Now that they're no longer being hunted under the CAST, they're free to go, while those who wanted to stay and fight could do so of their own accord. Which is just as well. Less mouths to feed. From what I understand, we're running very low on food and supplies."

"That's a severe understatement." Kristoff grumbled. "We're probably going to have to cut rations by half again if we're going to last all the way to the capital. And that's not even taking into account how long the battle there could be. If Kane drags things out like he usually does, we're goners for sure. If we don't die on the battlefield, we very well might die of starvation."

"Horrible way to go." Deirdre muttered. She'd been increasingly jumpy as of late, and Melody guessed that it was something to do with the fact that she wanted another chance at dethroning her evil sister and ending the Empress' reign of terror once and for all.

Melody turned to Maui. "How are you coping?"

"It's cold." Maui said. "So that's new."

"Welcome to the club." Tracy shuddered as a bitter chill blew into the tent. "Elsa, can't you do something about this damn weather? Anything?"

"I wish." Elsa stared in the direction of the exit, where snow was blowing into the tent. "But I can't thaw this winter. Not unless it's of my own making."

"Terrific." Tracy said dryly.

"But it's alright." Maui said, pulling at his extremely tight fitting winter jacket. He looked like some sort of winter viking in his new clothes which quite literally clung to his muscle-bound body. "Some of the larger soldiers from the Einsfeltai had some spare clothes big enough to fit me and were kind enough to donate them."

"At this rate, are you really sure you're ready to fight the Order again?" Melody asked very cautiously. "You know, going up against the Mage Slayers and all their demon powers…"

"I can handle it." Maui insisted. "End of discussion."

"Alright." Melody decided not to push the subject any further. Maui was still stronger than perhaps anyone among the Coalition's divisions, so his natural strength would definitely come in useful even if he was no longer immortal.

"I could be like one of those big soldiers on horses." Maui suggested. "You know, like the ones with armour and swords."

"The cuirassiers?" Elsa asked.

"Yeah, those." Maui seemed excited at the prospect of that. "They're all big men. I think I could probably fit in somewhere."

Kristoff tapped his nose, looking thoughtful. "I think that could be arranged. Our Second Brigade needs more cuirassiers. But you should know it's really risky and-"

"I haven't lived my thousand years without taking a couple of risks here and there. I'll be fine."

Melody glanced at him, still feeling incredibly apprehensive. But then again, this was Maui they were talking about.

"And what about the rest of us?" Deirdre asked. "What's the plan moving forward?"

"We know we can't just run straight into them and attack head on." Janus said. "We already tried once and almost died if it weren't for Anna's intervention."

"We're on a collision path with the Order." Melody replied. "One way or another, we're going to have to fight the Mage Slayers again. I'd rather we do it on our own rather than get a lot of people hurt in the crossfire."

"What do you mean?" Elsa asked.

"If we keep advancing, Magnus is going to unleash the Mage Slayers on the entire column. He's not going to risk letting the Coalition take the capital and jeopardise his entire cult." Melody said. "It's not just about the Empire anymore. It's about the Order's survival."

"She's right." Kristoff said from his corner, arms folded. "We've already been taking enough fire from the Exonians skirmishers everyday. That we can still handle. But if these….these assassins start attacking the column with whatever demonic powers they have, we won't stand a chance. Maybe the League might, but the common soldiers won't."

"It'll be a massacre." Melody continued. "We know it's inevitable that Magnus will send the Mage Slayers to deal with the sorcerers, but we got to keep them far away from the soldiers. Our only chance to ensure that is to turn the entire column around and retreat."

"Helmsley and Horatio won't stand for that." Anna said tiredly. "I've already tried."

"They only know half the story." Melody pointed out. "I think it's time to bring out the big guns. They need to know what we're really up against, as far fetched as it might seem."

Anna massaged her temples. "I can try, but I can assure you they won't believe me."

"We have to try." Maui insisted.

"I'll come with you." Elsa told her sister.

"No, they won't listen to any of you." Anna said bluntly. "They're too high and mighty to listen to anyone beneath them, especially the sorcerers who they've spent the past months condemning."

"Then I'll come with you." Melody offered, standing up. "Two against two are better odds."

"Alright." Anna levered herself to her feet lethargically, and stretched. Her back popped and she sluggishly tugged on her winter coat. "Let's go talk to the wall then."