Thanks for being patient for the next chapter. Let's see what Anders is up to this time... Will he reveal any more of his grand plans? And, as per our usual, triggers warnings.
The women's atrocities against them lasted all through the night and all through the next day. And Anders had not yet revealed his grand plan, just made Elsa show him all of the limits to her powers while threatening and oftentimes hurting Anna to keep her in line. So far his plan was working perfectly. He figured if no one had found them by now, no one would. He'd spent over a year getting this place ready, making sure it would hold the women but still be discreet enough to not be found. Granted, it was a long way from where he'd had to kidnap them, but unconscious women are easily hidden under piles of leaves in the fall. He was nervous that the metal chains wouldn't hold Elsa, but so far they were doing excellent. He couldn't believe Hans had given up that secret so easily. Then again, Hans thought all of his brothers were idiots.
He'd taken a break to make himself some dinner. He left the girls gagged and made sure to cook meat over the fire he'd built in the fireplace right in the room with them to ensure they would really start feeling their hunger. This place was too hidden to have the smoke be seen for miles; he had tested that already. Anders had no plans to feed them for days. He didn't think Elsa needed food anyway which just made things easier.
After eating, he meticulously cleaned everything, put out the fire, and went back to the next phase in his plan. He took the bag that had been over Anna's head and placed it over Elsa's, tying another rope around her eyes and the back of her head to make certain she couldn't see. Elsa had stopped fighting him hours ago, which made things easier.
"For this next one, I'm taking you away from here. No one will find Anna here, even if they're looking for her. With the fire out, I suspect she won't last a night alone. I'll be leaving the door open to ensure tonight's cold air can get in. It's supposed to frost overnight. That is, if a bear or something doesn't get in here first now that the house smells of cooked meat. So it's up to you how fast we get back. Got it?"
Elsa merely nodded, her energy drained. Her only focus now was doing what he said so he might let Anna live. She didn't have the energy for anything else.
Anders drug Elsa out into the gently falling snow, her hands still chained but her feet now released. She couldn't see where they were going, and Anders purposely dragged her in circles for a while and in zig-zags to make sure she was disoriented in case she wanted to find her way back to Anna.
They came upon a deep cave that Anders had found while scouting the location. Elsa could feel the temperature change immediately.
"There's enough snow that's fallen that our footsteps are covered. You won't be able to find your way back to Anna before she freezes or is eaten by predators. I'm taking one of your cuffs off. You will not try anything. My knife is going to be at the base of your neck the entire time. You try anything, and you die. You die, Anna dies. Understand?"
Elsa nodded again. Anders held the knife to her neck with one hand and then undid the latch on the metal cuff with his other hand, quickly pulling that hand up to her head to keep her from trying anything.
The knife digging into the back of her neck now, he commanded, "Put out as much ice as you can. Don't stop until I tell you."
She hesitated, confused for a moment. "That will cost Anna. Do it. Straight out in front of you. Now."
Elsa immediately did as she was asked. Ice burst from her hand towards the back of the deep cave, past where the light could illuminate. Anders grinned. Now he just had to wait.
Over half an hour passed before Elsa started to waver.
"Keep going. Every time I have to tell you that is another punishment for Anna."
Between all of the torture, the emotional draining, the head injury, and the lack of food or sleep, Elsa was exhausted. It took two more reminders from Anders that she knew she'd chastise herself for before the ice simply wouldn't come out of her hand anymore. She started to panic. That's not me, I'm trying - I'm trying! Please don't hurt Anna.
"More!" Anders yelled at her. "Everything you have!"
Elsa tried, beginning to cry again, but nothing more than a few snowflakes came out from her hand.
Anders grinned. Phase one had worked. He put the cuff back on Elsa's hand and dragged her back to the house.
Upon arriving, he shot the two raccoons that had made their way in for his next meal, and threw Elsa to the ground. She had passed out on their way back, and he'd had to drag her the last half mile. He checked Anna's pulse, found she was still alive, and made a fire again. He secured Elsa back to her holding place, cooked one of the raccoons, and went to sleep.
Waking up the next morning, he found Elsa was still in and out of it. He took the bag off of her head and slapped her. "Wake up, bitch."
Elsa's eyes shot open, immediately looking for Anna. Upon finding her, they filled with tears again. I'm sorry, she tried to say with her eyes. He hadn't let her speak except to answer his questions since those first few moments without hurting Anna. She'd been trying to say sorry for days now. She knew this was all her fault. She was always putting her sister in danger. And she knew Anna's punishments for her wrongdoing last night were going to begin.
Anders quickly undid all of the ropes binding Anna and threw her forward onto the floor. She screamed in pain as he knew the circulation would begin returning to her extremities - a very painful process. While she was still screaming, he took a leather strap that he'd hung up on the wall with beads at the end of it and began beating her. He looked up and saw Elsa sobbing again. It was exactly the reaction he wanted.
"How many times did I have to remind you last night? Three? So thirty lashes then. Start counting. Miscount and I add ten more."
Elsa had miscounted twice due to her exhaustion. She didn't know how much more her heart could take. She'd had to stop watching after the first ten lashes, and now looking at her sister covered in her own blood, Elsa knew she'd never recover from the sight.
"Now, on to the good part." Anders got up, leaving the bloody Anna there, hung up the leather strap now dripping in blood, and tied Anna's hands back to the post from where she was on the floor, her blood now seeping into the dirt.
"Now you actually get to know what I want from you. Any protest or word out of your mouth and I hurt Anna. You refuse my offer and I'll kill you both in the most painful way I know how. And I did prisoner information extraction for our military for years. Do you understand?"
Elsa nodded, still looking at Anna, trying to make sure she was still breathing. She'd lost so much blood.
"Look at me," he said, grabbing her chin and forcing her to look at him. "I need you focused. Are you focused?"
She nodded again.
"Good. Now to test just how much you love your sister. Each day I will tell you a town that I want you to deliver a message to. If they refuse the message, you will bury the town in snow and ice. No survivors."
Elsa's eyes went wide. He slapped her for the reaction before continuing. "That'll cost you. Now, you deliver that message and you come back here by the time I state each day. If you make it back in time, I will feed Anna and make sure she's taken care of. If you do not make it back on time, I will torture her when you do get back. If you are more than an hour late, I will kill her. The time I give you will be just enough to travel, deliver a message, bury them if necessary, and make it back here. Know that if anyone finds us, whether you told them to or not, I will kill her at the first sign of anyone except you. I am willing to die for this if I need to. If I find out a town had refused and you did not kill everyone, I will torture Anna in ways you can't imagine. Do you understand everything I told you?"
Elsa knew what he had told her, but she couldn't accept what he was asking her to do. Murder entire towns to save my sister? She knew what Anna would tell her to do. She knew Anna would understand. As she was about to stand up to him, he shoved the gag back into her mouth and told her, "Just in case you doubt my ability to cause pain by now."
And with that, he strode back over to Anna, leaving Elsa struggling against her chains for the first time since they'd first been taken there, turned her bloody body over her, and looked at Elsa with an evil smile.
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