Chapter Twelve

The Snow Queen Strikes Again

ELSA

Elsa glanced round at the Warriors, who were present in full strength. "Everyone knows what to do?"

"Same as usual, ain't it?" Tracy said in trademark nonchalant fashion. "I'll take Jade, Jordan and Deirdre to find the hidden sorcerers, while you, Janus and Maui go find the rest."

Elsa nodded. "That's the plan." However, she knew that the plan could just as easily go off the rails as it did occasionally.

A day had passed since the Battle of Turnsheim was concluded. Elsa and the others had managed to catch a faraway glimpse of the battlefield while hidden deep within the shadows of the forest. The booms of the cannons were as loud as ever, but the cracks of the muskets weren't quite as loud due to the distance.

Elsa herself hadn't exactly seen how the battle was won, but from what she could see, the Molcorran brigades in blue at the front wall were in utter chaos. For some reason, all hell had broken loose on the front, and the only reason why the Coalition had won the battle was because the left flank of the city had been successfully penetrated by the Arendellians and Danish troops.

She felt a swell of pride for her own people. Good old Frederick. He must have been in command there. How else would the Imperial Horde have been beaten so quickly? Needless to say, once the left flank of the city was broken and the Coalition soldiers poured into the city, the battle was over on the other two sides of the wall.

The remaining Exonian soldiers, led by General Hydrech, had fallen back through the rear of the city and fled further southeast to regroup with the next detachment of the Imperial Horde occupying another city. Slowly, battle by battle, day by day, the Empire was ceding more ground to the Confederation.

However, with the victory of the Confederation came another evil. As soon as Turnsheim was "liberated", the CAST Force had been mobilised to sweep through the city of Turnsheim to arrest any sorcerers.

Unfortunately, with the occupation of the Imperial Horde, many of the sorcerers had grown complacent since there was no immediate threat of being rooted out. But under Confederation territory, they were now being hunted, and those that hadn't been able to find refuge in time were captured by the Blue Wolves.

The League's goal in Turnsheim was the same as when they had been in the rest of the newly liberated cities. To find any of the hiding sorcerers, and give them safe refuge in Swynvort with the rest of the sorcerers that were hiding out in the League's compound.

The previous night when things had finally settled down on the Coalition front, Janus had been the first to infiltrate the city, since he was obviously the best in cloak and dagger operations. He went about to case the city and to have a sensing as to where the sorcerers were hiding out. He hadn't met with Kristoff since the latter was busy handling all the administrative tasks that went into organising and running a full scale military campaign.

Janus came back with good intelligence. There were two places that he had learnt of. The first being a library that had been used to house refugees during the Empire's occupation, and the other being a small church loft on the other side of town.

Both were still cram full of refugees, since there was still a fair bit of confusion out in town as to who were in charge. Not everyone knew who had won the battle yet, and many of the locals felt safer hiding. If there were sorcerers to be found, they would almost surely be found there.

"Alright." Tracy said. "Then we'll get going. Meet back here in an hour tops?"

Elsa nodded and turned to Maui and Janus. "Let's go."

They moved out of the small abandoned house that they had been hiding out in. Tracy's team took the library, while Elsa's took the small church on the other side of town. The trip across the city was a rather risky one, since there were Blue Wolves literally prowling the streets in broad daylight.

To avoid attracting attention, Janus as usual wore dull coloured civilian clothes, leaving behind his more conspicuous weapons like his sword. His bow was a collapsible one which he described as a "take-down recurve bow". The quiver on his back was hidden by the cloak that was draped around his shoulders and fell to his waist. By now, Elsa had gotten used to seeing him in normal clothes. In the past, he had almost always been geared up in his mercenary outfit, with mask, hood, leather and weapons.

Maui's part was simple. He simply shape-shifted into a brown horse with an ordinary looking mane and grooming. No one would think twice about a middle class couple riding through Turnsheim on horseback, seeing as how that was the common mode of transportation in modern cities.

Elsa herself was dressed in middle class civilian clothes too. A blue sleeveless blouse and pants with ordinary flats in case she needed to run, with a cheap dark grey coat thrown over her shoulders. Again, she simply pulled her hair back into a ponytail and wore the round-rimmed glasses that she had grown accustomed to whenever she had to disguise herself.

Out into the streets they went, hoping that they wouldn't encounter resistance along the way. If they did, the mission would be over before it even began. Thankfully though, the trio didn't bump into any of the Blue Wolves, though there were a few across the street occasionally. Other than that, the journey across the city was relatively smooth. Elsa hoped that the same could be said of Tracy's team.

Arriving at a shadowy alley between two buildings opposite the church courtyard, Elsa and her two teammates saw that the place was being surrounded by a detail of Blue Wolves who were casing the exterior to make sure that there was no secret weak wall anywhere. They were obviously waiting for reinforcements, since sorcerers had a bad rep for being "monsters and evil witches".

"We're too late." Maui whispered as he discreetly shape-shifted back into human form. "They're already here."

"Damn it." Elsa stared at the oblivious Blue Wolves across the street, who were still waiting for backup to arrive.

"It's alright." Janus said. "I found a way into the church last night."

"Where?"

He pointed at the roof of the church, which was shaped in a pyramid. "There's a weak spot on the other side of the roof. If we can get across, we can enter the church through the roof without the Blue Wolves spotting us."

"And how do you presume to get the sorcerers out of there? That is, if we do find any of them hiding inside." Elsa asked.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Maui said. "But if we wanna do this, we have to hurry."

Elsa sighed. This was certainly not the most well prepared they had ever been on a mission. Still, desperate times called for desperate measures. And riskier ones too. "Let's go then."

Janus nodded. Somehow, within the span of the minute they had been talking, he had already assembled his recurve bow, and was now drawing a special grappling arrow from his quiver. He nocked it, sighted down the shaft and shot it at the roof of the building directly above them.

"Come on." He held out his arm to Elsa, who wrapped her hand around his neck. Normally, she would have been perfectly fine with scaling the heights by using her powers, but stealth was the priority here, and no one knew better about stealth than Janus did. Besides, leaving a trail of her ice sorcery would be like inviting the Blue Wolves to arrest her.

The two of them ascended the side of the building as the grappling arrow recoiled the cable that was attached to the bow. Maui simply shape-shifted into a giant spider and scaled the wall all the way to the top.

Once up on the roof, the three of them faced the church opposite them. The building they were up on was taller than the small church, which meant that a zip line could be used. Janus drew another special arrow, and nocked it, aiming at the sturdiest looking part of the bricks. He shot the arrow at the pyramid roof of the church, which wedged itself securely into the brick. With one side anchored to the church roof, he tied his side of the cable securely to a solid iron pole and tested the weight. It held for now.

Janus said. "I don't know how stable the roof's bricks will hold our weight."

"It's fine, you get across by yourself. We don't want to risk falling onto the middle of the street." Elsa said. "Maui, I'm going to need you to fly me across to the other side."

"I thought you hated my flying." Maui grinned.

Elsa let out a small sigh. She did. Ever since the first time she had sat on his back after he had transformed into a giant bird, she had been borderline traumatised by his aviation skills. But then again, now was no time to be picky.

She scowled. "Let's just get this over with."

"Alright." Fish hook in hand, Maui shape-shifted into a falcon, though not as large as he would usually make himself. Being discreet was the main concern here, and he, like everyone else, understood that. He was just large enough for Elsa to climb comfortably onto his back without falling off.

Then, flapping his brown wings, he lifted off the ground and soared across the street and way above the heads of the Blue Wolves. He touched down quietly on the roof of the church, and Elsa dismounted cautiously, grateful that they had gotten across intact.

It was Janus' turn. With the experience of performing a move like this many times before, Janus expertly hooked his recurve bow onto the cable, and stepped off the edge of the opposite building's rooftop with ease. As he zipped across the yawning gap over the street, Elsa held her breath and glanced at the brick that the arrow's cable had anchored itself into. She had no doubt he could pull it off, but it always made her heart flop whenever he did something dangerous like this.

Thankfully, he zipped across to the roof of the church effortlessly, and unhooked his bow from the sturdy cable. He left the cable intact, since they would most likely need to use it later for their escape.

"Where's the weak spot in the roof?" Maui asked.

"Follow me." Janus led the way. The three of them made it across the narrow ledge that divided the pyramid rooftop from the precarious drop that lay at their side. Elsa tried not to look down. If any of us miss our footing…

They didn't though, and made it safely to the other side of the church's roof. Janus, as cautious and surefooted as a trained mercenary could be, worked his way over to a spot where the bricks in the wall looked like any other, and stopped in front of them.

"Here." He tapped the bricks. "If what I learnt was right, the church loft is right beyond this wall. They'll be hiding out there."

"Assuming of course this isn't already a trap set by the Blue Wolves." Elsa said slowly and paused. "But it's a risk we're going to have to take."

"Right," Maui stepped forward. "Excuse me." He applied his shoulder to the weak wall, and gave it a gentle nudge. The bricks of the wall shifted inwards, and light began to stream into the dark loft. That alone would have been enough warning for anyone near the wall to clear away from it. After waiting for a couple of seconds, Maui gave it a rougher push with his shoulder, and the bricks caved, crumbling into the inside of the church.

Elsa and Janus stepped into the loft of the church, joined behind by Maui, and they were greeted by the frightened eyes of the locals. The Turnsheim refugees were huddled together in the corner for fear of whoever the intruders were. It was evident that they had been living under occupation for so long that fear had become their default, and Elsa felt a pang of anger and deep sympathy for them.

"We're not…here to hurt…anyone." Elsa said slowly in English. She didn't know if the Turnsheim locals could even understand her, but it wasn't like she knew how to speak their native language. "Empire…is…gone. Chased away."

The softening of expressions told Elsa that her words had gotten through to them. She glanced around. Everyone in the loft looked bedraggled, and the air smelled bad like bodies that had been unwashed for days on end. Resisting the urge to wrinkle her nose, she opened her mouth to speak again.

"The Exonians…are gone. Your city is free…but…Blue Wolves are here. Is there any…anyone with…magic? Hiding here?"

Some of the locals began whispering, eyes growing slightly wider in recognition of the woman standing before them. Elsa began to realise that they probably knew who she was, since a drawing of her and her allies had been passed throughout the continent, labelled as public enemies of the Confederation.

"You…you are Pilgrim?" A middle aged woman with a brown bandana wrapped around her forehead asked cautiously.

"Yes." Elsa said gently. "We're not your enemies."

"You are Snow Queen?"

"Yes." Elsa repeated patiently. "Are there any people with magic…here?"

The eyes of the locals all turned to one of the corners of the church loft, where a young boy and a girl were huddled close to one another in fear.

"Only two of them?" Elsa asked.

The woman nodded.

Elsa took a slow and cautious step in their direction. As she drew closer, she could make out their features in the shadows.

The two of them, probably siblings, by the looks of it since both of them had similar facial features and both had dark red hair. They were also probably not even in their teens yet. The boy looked eleven or twelve at most, with the girl probably being eight. As Elsa approached, they looked apprehensive and huddled closer to each other with the boy putting a protective arm around his little sister.

Elsa glanced back at Janus and Maui, with the former giving her an urgent glance that told her they didn't have much time left. And he was right. The Blue Wolves were at the entrance. For all they knew, their reinforcements had already arrived and they were now breaching the church building in search of sorcerers. She had to hurry.

Kneeling down a short distance away from the two children, Elsa smiled and tried her best to appear friendly and not intimidating. It was hard though, with the broken wall and two menacing looking men behind her.

"Hello," Elsa began. "My name is Elsa."

The boy was the first to speak. His English was accented and broken, and his voice was still relatively high pitched. "You're Snow Queen. League Pilgrim."

"Yes." Elsa said amicably. "Yes I am. What are your names?"

"Ramsey." The boy said, and glanced at his younger sister, who still looked scared. "This is sister, Silva."

"Hello, Silva." Elsa inched slightly closer, but the girl recoiled.

"Don't touch. Please." The girl squeaked, her voice betraying her fear.

"Don't mind Silva." Ramsey explained. "She fear of her powers."

Elsa hesitated, and decided to keep her distance for the young girl's sake. She remembered a time when she had been that age, and she had been equally if not more afraid of people touching her. Fear that she would hurt someone accidentally.

"It's okay." Elsa whispered in a gentle tone, looking kindly at Silva. "I'm not here to hurt you, and you don't have to worry about hurting me. I have powers like you too, see?" She lifted a hand out for the two kids to see and ice materialised, nesting in a small pile in the centre of her palm.

"Woah." Ramsey was wide eyed, though Silva still remained silent, but both were evidently more relaxed now.

"I'm a friend, and I want to help you." Elsa went on. "Downstairs, there are some very bad people who want to catch people like us. People with powers. We can't let them get us, can we?"

"No way." Ramsey said, and Silva shook her head.

"That's right. So let me help you. I can give you a safe place to hide with people just like you. People who have powers. You will be safe, because no one will know where you are."

"Are you…kidnap us?" Silva finally spoke up.

"Yeah, we hear stories of witches try to catch children and never seen again." Ramsey added.

Elsa sighed. Honestly, she didn't know how to respond to that, since she never really had much experience with children. "No, I'm not trying to kidnap you. Look, I…you both know who I am. The Snow Queen. I'm one of the good guys. Would a good guy try to kidnap anyone?"

"No." Ramsey said.

"Then trust me. Please." Elsa said, her voice slightly urgent. "The bad guys will be up here any moment now. You have to come with me if you don't want to get caught."

The two children paused for a moment and then Ramsey got to his feet. He wasn't very tall yet, and had a slight frame, but that didn't stop him from puffing out his chest. "Alright."

Elsa stretched out a hand to the still hesitant girl, and gave her a warm smile. "I promise I won't let anything bad happen to you."

Silva still looked hesitant, so Ramsey turned to her, speaking in his own native tongue. "Silva, Talfone yetkov eqnon."

Finally, the girl gave her a small, uncertain smile, and took her hand. Elsa pulled her to her feet. She wasn't very tall either, and had a slight frame like her brother.

"Great." Elsa smiled at the two of them, and gestured at Maui and Janus. "These are my friends. They may look scary and big, but they're very nice and friendly."

"How d'you do, kids?" Maui said cheerfully.

Janus dipped his head awkwardly in acknowledgement.

"Alright," Elsa turned to her two allies. "Let's get them out of here."

Their timing couldn't have been more precise. The floor hatch leading to the lower levels of the church burst open, and out from the hole climbed Blue Wolves.

"Targets spotted! The Snow Queen and her allies are here!"

Janus removed two pellets from his belt and hurled them straight at the feet of the emerging Blue Wolves. The pellets burst open and thick black smoke covered the room, and sounds of indignant shouts and coughing could be heard.

"We have to move!" Elsa grabbed Silva and with Maui's help, hoisted her out through the gap in the wall.

"Sorry." Janus bowed his head in apology at the local refugees and grabbed Ramsey's hand, pulling him out of the church.

Out in the daylight, the three Warriors and the two young children stood precariously on the narrow ledge. Maui stood behind them, using his massive frame as a shield in case any of the trigger happy Blue Wolves came after them in a hurry.

"Whatever you do," Elsa said kindly but firmly to Silva. "Don't let go of my hand."

"Come on, kid." Janus took Ramsey by the arm with none of the gentleness, and dragged him towards the other side.

Somehow, they made it to the other side without the Blue Wolves giving them much trouble. However, it was clear that they weren't very far behind given the Molcorran accents that were quickly growing louder.

Janus glanced at the brick that was still holding the cable and tested its strength. The brick began to crack, and he winced. "There goes our escape route."

Elsa cursed in her mind, and forced herself to think. "Maui." She whirled round to the demigod. "How big a bird can you shape-shift into?"

He gave a wide grin. "Say no more."

In a flash of light, Maui shape-shifted into a gigantic brown falcon, the likes of Elsa had never been seen before. He was truly massive.

"Don't be afraid." Elsa whispered to Silva. "He has powers like us. He can become friendly animals, and right now, he's going to fly us all to safety. Don't worry, it'll be safe." The last part she wasn't sure if she was convincing the girl or herself. "I'll hold on to you, alright?"

Shakily, Silva nodded and carefully climbed onto Maui's back with Elsa's help. Elsa got on and sat close behind the young girl, wrapping her arms around her waist to make her feel safer.

The next to get on was Ramsey, who seemed rather thrilled at the opportunity to sit on a huge falcon. Lastly, Janus sat at the very back.

"Over there!" The Blue Wolves turned the corner and saw the falcon on the roof, with their targets nested on its back.

"Cover your ears, kids." Janus drew an arrow from his quiver.

"Why?" Ramsey asked.

"Just do it!"

The boy grudgingly obliged, and Elsa squeezed her palms against Silva's ears.

A controlled explosion not far from them caused the entire roof of the church to vibrate, and Blue Wolves screamed as they were thrown apart from the impact, some tumbling off the roof while others clutched desperately at bricks or each other to maintain their balance.

"Maui! Let's go!" Elsa shouted.

The falcon flapped his wings and lifted off from the church rooftop. He rose into the air and went above the clouds, where no Blue Wolf could see them.

"Where are we going?" Silva asked quietly, clutching Elsa's arms around her tightly.

"We're going to get you and Ramsey somewhere safe." Elsa said. "But first, we're going to meet up with a few friends of ours."