Chapter Seventy Two

Darkness of the Dawn

MELODY

As anticipated, the opening salvo of the cannons from the enemy camp went off minutes after the first hint of light peeked out from the horizon, heralding the resumption of the siege. It also magnified the tension of the Coalition soldiers who were waiting for the first two waves of Highlander ships to set sail so that the next wave of ships could dock along the coast for them to board. The urgency was so palpable that one could cut through it with a knife.

Melody grimaced, getting up quickly from one of the comfortable couches in the makeshift officers' mess where she and her friends had caught a few moments of sleep. It's time.

Looking down at her trembling hands, she exhaled quietly in dread as she quickly fished out a vial Holli had concocted and given her sometime after the siege had stopped last night. Breaking the vial, she tipped the murky contents into her mouth and swallowed hard.

Almost immediately, a calm descended upon her and she felt Holli's sorcery coursing through her veins, purging the fear and anxiety from her, replacing them with courage, confidence and resolve. Every cell soaked up Holli's healing magic, her heart rate calming in the process and her mind clearing the cobwebs that had mired her in so much guilt and uncertainty. Her shaky hands stopped trembling and she held them out in front of her. Steady.

"Damn it. The siege is starting again," Anna had jolted awake as the bass roar sounded from afar and scrambled to her feet along with the rest of the Warriors.

Tracy, on the other hand, rolled over in her sleep and continued snoring in the couch beside Melody's.

"Get up," Melody shook Tracy roughly. "We're under attack again!"

"Whuh-" This time Tracy started and her eyes flew open. She sat up jerkily and ran a hand through her dreadlocks. "Oh, bloody hell," she clambered out of the couch in a hurry.

"Everyone remember the plan," Anna called out loudly over a rumbling salvo from Steinfall's walls returning an answer to the Exonians' first volley. "For Maui."

"For Maui," Everyone echoed with conviction, taking a moment to let it sink it before they made for the exit.

Melody closed her eyes. "For Maui," she uttered under her breath. "I won't let this all be for nothing. Not after what you gave up for us."

"I know you won't." Maui clapped a meaty hand on her shoulder. "Now get out there and kick some ass for me."

"Hey, now's no time to snooze!"

Melody opened her eyes.

Tracy stood at the door, Elsa waiting beside her. The rest had already vanished.

"You alright?" Elsa asked.

Melody took a deep breath and strode towards the exit. "Yeah."

"Good. You're with us," Elsa said as they hurried down the corridor, soldiers rushing about in every direction, shouting and yelling instructions to one another. "Anna said the third wave is going to board, which means we'll have far fewer soldiers holding the line against the enemy than yesterday. If Hans is going to unleash the Soulless along with the Exonian infantry, the trench defences are going to need all the support they can get."

"Your hands," Tracy pointed. "They're not shaking."

"For now," Melody armed herself with her compound bow, the quiver remaining steady on her back.

"Guess it's a jolly Christmas morn' for you after all," Tracy grinned.

Melody couldn't help but return the grin, feeling the confidence keeping her level-headed and cool just like old times.

The trio debouched from the tower and out onto the wall, where the scene was one of controlled chaos. The sun was nowhere to be seen just yet, the only light coming from the lanterns and oil lamps. The sun was going to be at their backs, giving them the slight advantage against the enemy. That is, if it wasn't going to be another gloomy, grey day. Right now, snow was falling heavily from the dark skies, its intensity almost like that of another blizzard.

"It's not me this time," Elsa said dryly as Tracy looked at her.

"Whatever it is, we're going to have to push through it." Melody said determinedly. "Snow like that never stopped us before."

"Sure as hell didn't," Tracy quipped as they arrived onto the scene of battle.

The Danish and Einsfeltai artillery batteries had readied themselves quickly after the night's respite, already belching round shot into the enemy ranks at General Ivon's command as though they'd never stopped. All along the walls were the League's sorcerers, taking up the gaps between the cannons to mount defences against the enemy's artillery.

Eleanor had already disappeared, presumably to take up her position on one of the walls of the star fort. She'd been a team player thus far, and there was no reason to doubt her commitment right now, especially since she wanted revenge against Hans for what he'd done to her.

No musket fire had begun to ring out from down in the trenches below, but Melody imagined the Northuldra, Arendellians and Danish skirmishers were already primed and ready for another round of repelling the enemy on the ground. It wasn't a stretch to imagine that the Witch Hunters siblings and Oliver were down there with them again too.

"Hah. Looks like we're not too late to join the fun," Tracy remarked as she stared down into the trenches below, then side-eyed Melody. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Melody set her jaw and gripped her bow tightly with a firm hand. "Let's get this over with."

"Wait," Elsa held out a hand. "Janus is fetching Peggy."

"She's joining the fight too, eh?" Tracy smirked. "The more the merrier. We could use someone like her in the trenches."

"This Peggy, she's a fighter too?" Melody asked.

Tracy gave an amused whistle and glanced at Elsa knowingly.

"She's…really good." Elsa said.

Melody nodded tightly. "Whatever reason you're keeping her identity a secret for, I hope it's a good one."

Elsa pointed, not very subtly avoiding the subject. "Here they are."

Turning, Melody saw Janus approaching with Peggy.

JANUS

"Queen Anna wants me to help?" Peggy asked.

"She does. And I do too," Janus explained as the two of them turned the corner of the long corridor to rendezvous with the others. He still found it strange as hell to think that this girl was his descendant. How did she get here? Why was she here? Why had she kept herself hidden as a humble household servant the entire time, in the capital no less? He had a thousand questions that needed answering, but he supposed he could always find a more opportune time after they were safely in the middle of the ocean.

"You do?"

"I'm not going to pretend to understand how the hell my own descendant is standing right next to me. Not now anyway. But I saw the way you fought the Mage Slayers. And from what Elsa told me, the way you held your own against me when I was under their influence was…impressive," Janus grimaced, rubbing his tender nose which he guessed had been her doing.

"Impressive," Peggy echoed, looking rather pleased. "Huh."

Janus sighed as they emerged from the tower's corridors and out onto the already busy wall where the other Warriors were waiting. "Look, it's all hands on deck. We need everyone who can buy the Coalition more time to evacuate. That means you too."

"Alright," Peggy said as they came to a stop before Melody, Tracy and Elsa. "Just point me in the right direction."

"We're going to be fighting in the trenches." Melody told her. "I hope you don't mind getting down and dirty."

Peggy picked up a rifle from a nearby crate and checked her pockets for blackpowder. "Suits me just fine."

"Just…give us a second," Elsa pulled both Janus and Peggy out of earshot.

"What's wrong?" Janus looked at her worriedly.

"You come from the future. All this…" Elsa shook her head then looked at Peggy. "Do you know what's going to happen next?"

"The plan extended as far as helping to get you all out of Exon alive. We've changed history by getting you out of the capital so beyond that, I have no idea how any of this is going to go down."

"Terrific." Janus said. He had no idea what any of it meant.

Exhaling sharply, Elsa leaned in close to Janus. "I don't like this at all."

"Like what?"

"Taking her out there to fight with us. She may be a good fighter but she's no soldier."

"Neither are we," Janus pointed out. But just like Elsa, he found himself worrying for the girl, especially now since he knew she was family. "But you said so yourself. She can handle herself, just like us."

"Hey, you guys kissing?" Tracy called out impatiently over the din of soldiers bustling about, relaying orders about the ongoing artillery assault. "I kinda need to cast a spell."

"Spell?" Janus echoed as they returned to Tracy and Melody. He didn't like the sound of that.

"Yeah," Tracy turned to him, Peggy and Melody. "I've been working on a little something I happened to discover when I was looking for a way to break the Mage Slayer's spell over me."

"What?" Melody said.

Elsa stared at the former sea witch. "This wasn't part of the plan."

"I know, I know. I just thought of it and figured it'd come in useful right about now," Tracy closed her eyes and raised her palms towards the sky. "Just hold hands for me. It'll make channeling my sorcery into all three of you easier."

Janus raised an eyebrow as he exchanged a confused look with Melody. She shrugged and held out a hand. He took it, and joined hands with Peggy as well.

"Relax. It won't take a minute," Tracy began chanting quietly beneath her breath, a calm look written across her features in spite of their chaotic surroundings.

Casting his eyes to the sky as she continued chanting, he watched as an eighteen pound ball was halted in mid-flight and hurled back towards the enemy by one of the many sorcerers defending the walls. A resounding blast shook the ground and reverberated through the nearby surroundings as the Danish artillery unleashed another deadly salvo at the behest of the battery's captain.

His eyes met Elsa's. Urgency was writ plainly on her face as she alternated between glancing at him and looking over the parapets. Already, Janus could hear the muskets and rifles going off for the first time that morning, signalling the start of the battle on the ground.

"Holy…" Peggy said breathlessly.

Turning his attention back to Tracy, he saw that she was glowing with a purple aura tracing her body, and she was levitating a few inches off the ground though it didn't seem like she was putting any effort into it.

"Zimaleth kihonyereth, dalak maren psimontofh," Tracy chanted, her eyes still shut with her palms turned toward the sky. Some of the soldiers around had stopped to stare at the phenomenon, but quickly turned back to the battle at the shouts of their sergeants and lieutenants.

"Whatever you're going to do, do it quick," Elsa hissed.

Melody, though, had her eyes shut imperturbably, evidently used to Tracy and her spells.

"Yendev malen tovmonkayith, ziquemavtoh je masoth!" Tracy finished, turning over her hands as she levitated forward in a heartbeat and slammed both palms into Janus, who was standing in the middle.

Inhaling sharply, he took a step back to plant his feet as black magic surged through his entire being in that instant. A foreign entity took hold, binding a new energy to his cells and forming something new within him. He could feel his body growing tougher, muscles and bones turning tough like iron, his skin becoming taut and firm as it hardened too. A well of energy sprung up from within, a fresh reserve of strength making itself known.

His heart pulsed in his head, his already sharp senses being dialled up to eleven in a way he'd never experienced before. He could hear everything so clearly, down to the heartbeat of the soldiers manning their cannons and the sorcerers grunting as they repelled round shot after round shot. Even the smell of his surroundings didn't escape him. The dripping sweat of a faraway Einsfeltai corporal handing his comrade another steel ball to load into the twelve pounder, the stash of blackpowder in the crates positioned at intervals along the walls, the scent of fresh blood being spilt on the snow below…

Eyes darting about, Janus saw the vivid details of all his sight could take in at once. Vision sharpened to perfection, he watched the imperceptible twitch of a lieutenant's moustache as he got ready to scream a new command, a steel ball lethargically exploding out of the gun with a deafening rumble as though time had slowed to a crawl, a sorcerer slinging another enemy cannonball through the sky in an unnaturally slow but graceful arc.

All that in a mere fraction of a second, Janus found his senses overloaded and he gasped to catch his breath, overwhelmed by the sudden rush of unexplainable power.

"Not bad, ain't it?" Tracy looked to Elsa as though waiting for her approval.

The sensations faded and he turned to his two companions. Melody and Peggy were evidently experiencing the same effects too, for their hands which were still connecting them together tightened their grips on his. They too looked disoriented as they recovered from the initial shock.

"What did you do to them?" Elsa asked.

"As if they weren't dangerous enough without powers, they're now…well…" Tracy paused. "Bloody deadly?"

"I feel…strange," Peggy said as she let go of Janus' hand and staggered backwards. "I can see everything like it's moving so slowly and I can hear them talking from across the field."

"And smell everything too," Melody added, releasing Janus' hand as well. "This power feels almost animalistic."

"Well, I was right. Y'all ought to be unstoppable now," Tracy looked satisfied. "Oh, but there's a limit to this thing."

"What limit?" Janus clenched his fist, feeling foreign strength surge down his arm and into his wrist.

"Sooner or later, the spell will fade. And the farther away from me you are, your new powers will grow weaker." Tracy said. "So you best stay nearby to keep me alive, eh?"

"You can handle yourself just fine," Melody clapped her a little too hard on the shoulder, eliciting a wince from the girl. "Sorry."

"We better get down there," Elsa leaned over the parapet again and froze it upon contact, a thick sheet of ice extending and winding down towards the ground in a beautiful spiral. Looking over her shoulder, she gestured to the others. "Come on!"

Janus watched as she nimbly leapt onto her ice slide and slid down it with the grace he found so attractive. Within a matter of seconds, she descended the five-storey high drop and touched down lightly on the snow below, immediately diving into a nearby trench to seek cover with Arendellian soldiers.

Snapping his mask into place and pulling the hood over his head, he gave Melody and Peggy a nod and vaulted over the fort's wall. Plummeting head first, he felt the bitter winds beating against him as he dropped at breakneck speed, arms by his side to quicken his descent. His heart rate accelerating, he felt the thrill of the fall, knowing he was damn near invincible now. Inches away from the snow, he extended his hands and hit the ground rolling, ducking into the trench with Elsa.

"That…" Elsa said breathlessly from her spot. "Was disturbing to watch."

He pulled his bow from his back and waited. A couple of seconds later, Melody and Peggy joined them in the packed trench.

"That wasn't too bad," Peggy remarked loudly as muskets went off all around them in erratic intervals.

"Right? That was pretty bloody smooth!" Tracy jumped down into the trench with both hands shielding her head. "I'm jealous!"

Janus raised his head quickly, looking out of the trench. In that brief moment, his vision sharpened and he saw through the smoke and darkness of the dawn. Light infantry littered the battlefield, some impaled on stakes, others lying in blood stained snow, while many more knelt and fired at the defenders, fresh infantry constantly fed into the battle to assist the besiegers.

He ducked back down. "Battle's fierce, but I don't see these undead soldiers yet."

"Me neither," Peggy said loudly, her words being backed by another salvo of musket shots. "But we can't wait for them to show their faces. We should split up!"

"I agree!" Melody shouted back. "As far as I can tell, the centre of the field is holding up well. Peggy, Janus and Tracy, you cover the western flank. Elsa and I will cover the east."

"Sounds like a plan," Janus levered himself out of the trench, Peggy and Tracy following suit.

"Be safe!" Elsa called out, her eyes anxiously meeting his from behind the mask. They shared a tender look in the midst of the chaos.

He nodded. "You too."