Chapter 13
"The Battle of Trafalgar (Part 1)"
With the Spanish and the French fleets coming in from opposite directions, there was very little we could do to make any sudden changes. It was apparent that the barricade would not hold and instead we had to return to the two by two format we had originally had planned. Aboard the HMS Victory, we focused our attention towards the incoming French fleet led by Admiral Villieneuve.
"The son of a bitch!" Eric cried, looking through a telescope. "He must have split with the French to attack us!"
"It will soon be his gravest mistake," remarked Nelson. "He has three frigates in front of him! They should be easy to defeat."
At that moment, Elsa and Anna came on deck having heard all the commotion from down below.
"What's happening?" Anna asked as Nelson commanded his navy to break off the barricade and form two single lines.
"They're splitting against us," Eric replied. "So, we might as well split against them. It might be best if we are on different ships."
Just then, we noticed the HMS Pigot was across the Victory and Elsa, ever the unpredictable storm in personification, agreed with him.
"Where would you like me to go?" Elsa asked. "I can use my ice powers if need be."
"Can you go on the Pigot?" asked Nelson.
"I can."
Just before Elsa would teleport, Anna grabbed her arm.
"Anna, I need to do this," Elsa protested. But Anna was steadfast, being a queen now. "You need to get down below for your safety."
"I'm going with you," Anna cried. "Wherever you go, I go."
Although it was against her better judgment, Elsa relented and using her powers, she teleported herself and Anna to the Pigot. With the royal sisters of Arendelle in position, our attention soon shifted towards the French fleet.
"Dolphin!" shouted Nelson, shouting through a megaphone. "Keep the Spanish on watch!"
"Aye, aye, sir!" shouted the naval officer on board.
"Now, hard to starboard!"
Turning to starboard, the Victory and the Pigot directed their attention towards the three smaller frigates. One of the frigates, the Armatise, had their guns pointed right at us, but we seem to have expected this.
"Ariel," Eric ordered. "You might as well get down below too. It's going to be dangerous up here!"
"Out of the question, Eric. I'm staying!" I protested.
Of course, this wasn't the words that Eric wanted to hear, but I am his wife and his queen and I was going to lead our kingdom. Clutching his hand, I felt that my mind was made up.
"I'm not taking no for an answer!"
Not wanting to get into an argument, Eric reluctantly allowed me to stay with him.
…
At that moment, the rain began to fall heavily. That sort of brought back memories of when Eric and I first met during that hurricane. It seemed that the sudden storm sort of gave a sense of motivation that if we could survive a hurricane and the wrath of Ursula, we could survive this.
Just then, the Victory and the Pigot turned towards the Armistice and the 38 gun frigate began to open fire, hitting the Victory on her port side. We knew that the main focus of our mission was to rescue the hostages aboard the Scipion and we wanted them alive.
"Port side hold!" cried the Captain of the Pigot, raising his sword and gave the word to start opening fire on the Artimise. Charging her ice powers, Elsa fired her powers at several crew members aboard the Artimise, knocking some of them back and off the frigate. The French sailors retorted by firing their muskets and rifles at Elsa, to which their bullets were frozen in transit.
"It's going to take more than bullets to bring us down!" Elsa hissed, much to the anger of the French sailors aboard the Artimise. At that moment, the Dolphin came forward to assist us in taking on the other two frigates, the Seruise and the Junon. With the Scipion in their view, the Pigot joined the Victory in firing blast after blast at the ship.
…
Down below in the Victory's hold, Melody and Vanessa were bracing themselves for the onslaught of cannonfire.
"What are we going to do?" Vanessa cried.
"All we can do is hold on, Vanessa!" cried Melody back as several more cannonfires struck the Victory, knocking them backwards. However, Melody realized that she and Vanessa could only be safe down below for very long. But Vanessa wasn't thinking about her safety, she was thinking about her lover imprisoned aboard the Scipion.
Aboard the Scipion, Admiral Villeneuve had given his sailors carte blanche to kill anyone that stood in their way. Down below, Eric and the other prisoners were preparing to make an escape from their prison confines.
"This is it, men," he cried. "Are you ready?"
Two of the prisoners held what appeared to be knives and pistols in their hands.
"Okay, when the door is forced open…we move!"
Because of the battle, there were no guards at the prison cell to guard them and the force of the cannonfire was indeed weakening the hold on the cell door, almost as if they had anticipated this.
…
Just then, the Armitise was at the mercy of the Dolphin and the Pigot. As we watched, the gunpowder in the Armitise's hold was touched and the Armitise was the first to be destroyed as her sailors were flung through the air and into the water below.
"The Armitse is down," cried a sailor, catching Nelson's attention. "She's down sir!"
"Good, lay all fire on the Scipion," commanded Nelson. "Port side fire at will!"
As Nelson and Eric readied their guns to be fired at the sailors, Eric and the prisoners from the destroyed Wedding ship were about to make their escape from French captivity.
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