Chapter One

Chapter 13: Evacuation

Author's Commentary:

Hi everyone! Am really appreciative of the reviews that I've gotten so far. It inspires and motivates me to do better:) Please do continue to review so I know that you're still with me!

ELSA

"Wait!" Elsa cried as the Northuldra defenders raised their lances and bows as the two foreigners emerged from the Crossing Point.

"Who are they?" Yelena asked suspiciously.

"They're friends." Elsa reassured her. "Tell them to put down their weapons. My friends won't hurt anyone. They're on our side."

Yelena nodded apprehensively and gestured to the tribe defenders to lower their lances and bows.

Wide eyed, Elsa turned to the two girls. "Melody? Tracy? What-"

"Good to see you too, Elsa." Tracy grinned wolfishly and glanced at Elsa's mud stained white dress. "What are you wearing?"

"What's going on?" Elsa was bewildered, ignoring Tracy's quip about her choice of clothing. First an attack on the Northuldra by armed soldiers, and then her friends whom she had not seen in more than a year had suddenly shown up. Something strange was going on, and Elsa didn't like the uneasy feeling she was getting.

"Hey, Elsa." Melody hugged her. "It's been too long."

"Yes it has," Elsa returned the hug, still confused. "But what's going on here?"

"We could ask you the same thing." Tracy glanced round at the camp which had just been ambushed. "What, you guys partied too hard?"

"Wait," Melody walked over to one of the fallen soldiers. "These are Exonian soldiers."

"The Imperial Horde." Tracy added. "They're here too?"

"Hold on, you've seen these soldiers before?" Elsa asked.

"Yes, unfortunately." Melody said. "They've been a thorn in our side for some time, and it's only getting worse."

"We just lost Quodrun and Denmark." Tracy said bluntly.

"What?" Elsa was alarmed.

Melody nodded. "My home has probably fallen by now."

"I'm…I'm sorry." Elsa said morosely.

"And now they're coming for Arendelle and the rest of Norway."

"That…" Elsa glanced at the fallen invaders in dismay. "That can't be true."

"But it is. The Empire is coming, sooner or later." Melody said. "And by the looks of it, it's probably going to be sooner."

"Since when did Exon become an Empire?"

"No one knows. Their conquest was so sudden, and now they've spread across the continent like a plague." Melody answered grimly.

"You've fought them before?"

"We just did before we came here." Tracy said. "In battles past, we always sent the League teams out to face the Imperial Horde, and we lost every time. So the Warriors decided it was time to face them, and we failed too."

"And there's more." Melody glanced at Tracy.

"Yeah. Kane is back."

Elsa blinked. "Excuse me?"

"You heard right. Our old enemy Kane is alive and kicking, and he's leading the Imperial Horde." Tracy said.

"What?" Elsa could swear her head was spinning. This day just kept getting weirder and weirder, and it wasn't anywhere near midday yet. "How is that possible? We saw Kane die, didn't we?"

"That's just it." Melody nodded. "I should know."

"We think he was resurrected by the demon powers of the Eternal King." Tracy said.

"The Eternal King?" Now that was a name she hadn't heard in a while.

"Yeah." Tracy said. "Remember the Pilgrim and her long quest to find the Eternal King?"

"How could I ever forget?" Elsa answered dryly. Her hostile experience with Ingrid Grendstav had left a bad taste in her mouth. The witch had kidnapped her and forced her to bend to her will under the threat of killing her sister. Thankfully, she was no longer a problem, since she could no longer cheat death after failing her quest to obtain the secret of the Eternal King's longevity.

"We think that the person who got there before the Pilgrim whizzed the man possessed by the Eternal King away, and somehow harnessed his powers to bring Kane back to life." Melody said.

"That's…" Elsa trailed off.

"Look, I know it's hard to believe." Tracy piped up. "But can you really be surprised after everything we've gone through?"

"I guess not." Elsa shrugged. Tracy was right. She'd been on some strange adventures over the past two years, and the fact that the Warriors' very first enemy was back from the dead wasn't exactly that far fetched.

Elsa looked at her two friends. They could only be here for one reason. "So you came to ask for my help?"

"Yeah, how did you guess?" Tracy said.

"We can't do it alone." Melody said. "Like we said, we've been fighting them for a while now."

"But you've got the League of Sorcerers behind you." Elsa pointed out. "Surely they've been helping?"

"We sent teams out to face them on multiple occasions. But they lost every single time. The problem is, we've never been able to anticipate their arrival. It's always so sudden and they strike too quickly for the defending army to respond. And by the time we know about it and send our teams, it's always too late."

Elsa frowned. "You sent out teams, but what about yourselves?"

"We've been training and mentoring the newer sorcerers. The Warriors oversee the missions but we haven't gone out into the field for some time, to let the trained sorcerers gain experience." Melody hesitated. "After you left, more sorcerers began to join us and we needed to create some sort of structure. I didn't think you'd mind."

"No, don't get me wrong." Elsa raised both hands. "I think it's a great idea. But since the original Warriors were the most experienced, didn't you go out to face the army for yourselves? Surely you guys would have been able to hold them off or something."

"Ah, here's where it gets interesting." Tracy answered. "Somehow Will Daltrey got word of their arrival and he asked for our help. For the first time, we had time to prepare for their attack, and we decided that it was time for the Warriors to go out into the field again to save Quodrun from being invaded."

"And it didn't work." Elsa guessed. "Otherwise you wouldn't be here."

Melody nodded. "We need your help, Elsa."

"I think what you need," Elsa glanced at her. "Is the army of Arendelle. You need real soldiers who can go toe to toe with the Imperial Horde. You should talk to Anna about it."

"We left Maui and Deirdre behind to wait for Anna." Melody said. "The rest went to follow Colonel Frederick back to his base to fill him in on the Imperial Horde."

"Anna wasn't there when you arrived?"

"Frederick said she left for the Northern Isles this morning." Tracy said.

"You mean the Southern Isles?" Elsa's heart skipped a beat. The home of the wicked. "Why would Anna go there?"

"I don't know." Melody said. "But look, even if we have the military might of Arendelle behind us, we can't stop the Imperial Horde. They've probably dug in around Denmark and Quodrun by now, and we can't risk it becoming a war in the streets. Too many civilians are going to die." Here she stopped and shivered at the thought of her own people becoming casualties of war.

"Elsa, we need you back." Tracy said. "Yeah, we know you said no more adventures or missions. But this ain't any ordinary mission. We need you, Elsa. One last time."

Elsa sighed. "You're right. This concerns Arendelle too. If we don't stop the Empire where they are right now, they're going to invade Arendelle too. We can't allow that to happen."

"Whaddya know?" Tracy grinned. "It's the old team back together again."

Elsa shook her head and walked over to one of the unconscious soldiers. She crouched down and gestured the other two over.

"Look." She said. "These soldiers were skirmishers. Scouts. An advance party."

"How can you tell?" Tracy asked.

"Their weapons." Melody caught Elsa's drift.

Elsa nodded. "The typical infantry battalions receive standard army issue smoothbore muskets. But this-" she gestured at the weapon which had fallen out of the soldier's hand when he had hit the ground face first.

"Smooth barrel carbine." Melody finished.

"Which means that they were only the first." Elsa looked up grimly. The soldier she had interrogated wasn't lying.

"If this is the advance party, then they're only here to soften us up before they make their grand entrance." Tracy said.

"These skirmishers came through the forest." Elsa glanced around at the camp site which was in ruins. "The Northuldra isn't safe here." She hurried to find Yelena who was directing the clean up in the aftermath of the failed invasion.

"Yelena!" Elsa called out as she approached, the two Warriors following behind.

"What is it?" The older woman turned around, looking half anxious as if they were about to be attacked again.

"It's not safe in the forest. We have to evacuate everyone." Elsa said.

Yelena looked astonished. "What are you talking about?"

"The soldiers." Melody explained. "These were only the first."

"Is this true?" Yelena looked at Elsa sharply. "How do you know this?"

"Trust us." Elsa said.

"I barely know these girls." Yelena glanced distrustingly at Melody and Tracy. "I don't take well to strangers."

"I was a stranger too, when I first arrived." Elsa reminded her. "Do you trust me?"

"Of course I do, child." Yelena said. "But-"

"Then please, trust me when I tell you we need to evacuate." Elsa pleaded. "Please. Before we lose anyone."

Yelena appeared deep in contemplation, glancing between the three girls, and then looking at the Northuldra. She finally caved reluctantly. "What do you propose?"

"We can evacuate to Arendelle. There's enough space to hold everyone there for the time being." Elsa turned to Tracy. "Can you teleport us there?"

"Wait, how many people are we talking about?" Tracy held up her hands.

Elsa looked to Yelena.

"A lot."

Tracy sighed. "I'll be able to hold Crossing Points open for some time, but you all have to hurry."

Yelena grunted. "Give us an hour to gather our things." She said gruffly and turned to talk to some of the tribe elders.

###

After slightly more than an hour, the Northuldra were ready to break camp, and had packed all their laavus and had gathered their herds of reindeer in various waves to avoid mixing them up. They stood in four separate waves in the clearing, each headed by a senior tribe member.

Yelena gave Elsa the go ahead, and she relayed the message to Tracy. The former sea witch took a deep breath and sat on an old stump of a tree trunk, crossing her legs beneath her. She drew both hands apart and closed her eyes. Beads of sweat began to form on her brow as she created a portal of purple mist which swirled in front of the four waves of Northuldra.

The portal solidified and pulled itself open, but instead of stopping at its usual size, the Crossing Point grew wider, till it could accommodate a row of five people entering it at the same time. On the other side of the Crossing Zone, another portal opened up, similarly wide, leading out into the courtyard of Arendelle's castle.

Elsa nodded at Yelena who looked as uncertain as the rest of the tribe. Nevertheless, Yelena gave the order for the first wave of people to enter through the portal.

Subsequently, the next two waves entered one by one, until only one remained. Elsa spotted Honeymaren and Ryder amongst the people of the final wave, standing at the rear with their herd of reindeer. As they neared, Elsa joined them at the back.

"Are you two alright?" Elsa asked. She hadn't had the opportunity to check in with her or Ryder since she had instructed them to remain at the pasture where it was safer.

"Am I alright?" Ryder echoed. "I wasn't the one who fought off an entire army of soldiers. Are you?"

It wasn't exactly an army, but Elsa decided that she was too tired to explain. "I'm fine. Thanks."

"You weren't hurt, were you?" Honeymaren asked anxiously.

Elsa shook her head.

"What's going on, really?" Ryder asked. "Yelena just told us we had to move and we had an hour to pack our stuff."

"It's because of the soldiers, isn't it?" Honeymaren looked at Elsa.

She nodded grimly. "These were only the first. It's not safe here."

"And it's safe over on the other side?"

Elsa couldn't blame Honeymaren's apprehension. She had spent her entire life living in the Enchanted Forest, and this was the first time she was uprooting her entire life and moving to a city without so much as a moment's notice.

"It'll be fine." Elsa reassured her. "My sister will take good care of everyone. You trust Anna, right?"

"Well," Ryder said. "At least if Anna's in charge of things, I feel a little better about this whole thing."

Internally, Elsa deflated. She hoped that Anna wouldn't mind coming home to an entire tribe camped out in the courtyard. Still, she was confident that Anna would handle the entire situation well.

"Come on guys, we ain't got all day!" Tracy shouted, evidently straining at keeping the Crossing Points open for so long. Her face was pouring with sweat and her complexion looked drained of colour.

"Let's go." Elsa ushered the last of the Northuldra through the Crossing Point and then gestured to Melody and Tracy.

The three girls entered the Crossing Point and exited on the other side. Tracy immediately closed the portals in relief and dropped in exhaustion, perspiring profusely and pale with fatigue. Melody caught her before her body could hit the ground, and gently lowered her to the ground.

Elsa looked around. The Northuldra had arrived alright, but they were now being surrounded by Arendellian soldiers, members of the Queen's Guard. Yelena, leading the tribe's defenders, was belting out instructions for the defenders to position themselves between the soldiers' muskets and the defenceless people. The Northuldra wielded spears, aimed cautiously at the soldiers who had not budged yet.

"Halt!" Elsa shouted, running forward as she caught sight of the Queen's Guard's ranking officer. "Lieutenant Evans! Tell your men to stand down!"

"Your Highness?" Lieutenant Evans looked astonished to see the princess running towards him. "What's going on?"

"These people are with me." Elsa said firmly. "They pose no threat to Arendelle."

Lieutenant Evans bowed belatedly, and whirled round to bark out orders for the men of the Queen's Guard to lower their weapons and disperse. He turned back to Elsa.

"I trust Her Majesty authorised this?" Evans was a rather different officer from Frederick. For one, he didn't have the same cool, composed attitude and quiet intelligence that Frederick possessed. He was also rather by-the-book and regimental, which Elsa couldn't blame him for, since that was what officers were supposed to uphold and enforce.

"She doesn't know about this yet. But I do." Elsa said. "Shouldn't that be enough, Lieutenant?"

"Of course, Your Highness." Evans said hastily. "I'm not questioning your authority, don't get me wrong."

Elsa smiled thinly. A little bit of a cold disposition helped every now and then when in a sticky situation. "Don't worry about it. Has my sister returned yet?"

"Not yet, Your Highness."

Elsa bit her lip. She was getting increasingly nervous about her sister. What was Anna thinking? Going to the Southern Isles? It must have been really important if she did that. Anna hated that place.

"Did she say why she was going?" Elsa asked. Hopefully he had a clue.

"All I know is that a messenger came by ship early this morning. His ship bore the flag of the Southern Isles."

Curiouser and curiouser. "Alright." Elsa excused the officer who bowed again and scurried away, eyeing the Northuldra with wide eyes.

"Are you sure it's safe here?" Yelena approached, the hint of doubt and wariness evident in her voice. The Northuldra had lowered their weapons when they saw the Arendellian soldiers do the same, though they still looked on edge with spears and bows at the ready.

"Yes, yes, of course." Elsa reassured her. "It's just that my guards are a little jumpy."

"I would say more than a little jumpy." Yelena grunted in displeasure.

"It won't happen again. My sister and I will make sure of it." Elsa said. "You can set up camp here for the time being until Anna can sort out a proper place for you guys to stay."

Yelena grunted again and Elsa took that as a yes. She had other problems to deal with. Turning, she walked back to join Melody and Tracy, who were at the courtyard steps leading up to the castle. Tracy had one arm around Melody's shoulders and was still limply leaning against Melody.

"The energy taken to hold open portals that big must have drained her." Melody said, filled with concern. She looked over her shoulder at Elsa. "Give me a hand?"

"Yeah." Elsa took Tracy's other arm and slung it over her shoulder, taking half the weight off Melody. She glanced at Tracy. The girl was breathing, but it was slow and shallow. "Is she going to be alright?" she asked anxiously.

"Dandy." Tracy croaked weakly, her eyelids still shut. "Just need a moment."

Elsa heaved a sigh of relief and helped Melody to carry Tracy up the remaining stairs to the castle. Once inside, she waved away the palace servants who rushed forward to help. It would raise too many questions for one, and for another, she and Melody only had to take her to the drawing room which wasn't far.

"You're back!" Maui exclaimed as the three girls made their way into the drawing room.

Elsa and Melody lowered Tracy onto a comfy sofa and the girl curled up in a ball, groaning.

"What happened to her?" Deirdre asked, emerging from her corner of the room.

"Long story short, she evacuated the forest's entire population of tribesmen." Melody explained shortly. She too was tired, though it was barely even midday.

"Welcome back, Elsa." Maui grinned at the Snow Queen.

"It's good to see you again."

He promptly enveloped her in a tight bear hug, forcing the air out of her lungs and Elsa squeaked unceremoniously. Thankfully, Maui released her before he broke any of her bones. She smiled warmly, half relieved that she could breathe again and half filled with joy to see her old friend again.

"I like what you've done with your hair." Maui pointed at her loose hair.

Right, none of her old friends had seen her with her new hairstyle. They were accustomed to the old french braid. "Thanks." Elsa said. "I like yours too."

"Hah." Maui rubbed his bald head. "Thought it was time for a change."

Elsa couldn't help but grin. The bald look suited him well, far better than the unkempt long hair he used to keep anyway. She turned to Deirdre.

"It's been a while, Deirdre." She said, giving her a light hug. "I'm sorry that we have to deal with this whole debacle with Exon."

"Yeah, I'm sorry too." Deirdre muttered, returning the embrace.

"I know this must be tough for you."

Deirdre shrugged. "It's not every day that you see your mad sister turn your home kingdom turn into an empire and wage war on the rest of the continent."

Elsa bit her lip. She was thankful that her sister wasn't deranged, and was actually a competent and benevolent queen. She shuddered to think what would have happened if Anna had been a tyrant like Deirdre's sister Eleanor.

"Speaking of sisters," Elsa tried to change the topic. "Do any of you know why Anna went to the Southern Isles?"

"Nope." Maui said. "But from what I heard she left this morning."

"Yes, yes." Elsa was slightly impatient, since everyone had told her that. "But we don't know why she went and when she's coming back?"

"I wasn't waiting for an entrance line or anything, but well, I'm back."

Elsa spun round to see her sister standing at the door.