All Frozen in the Arendelle Front

White Castle

Anna and the Arendellan Cavalry arrived at the Southern lands a few days after departing from their distant castle and the capital town, discovering a rugged territory full of rocks, forest and soft hills where the rest of the Army had already prepared a variety of campsites.

The high hills and ancient forests surrounded Tannya in every direction except for the Southwest, creating a lonely and beautiful valley beside the sea. The few villages that existed there were inhabited by fishermen, merchants, farmers and woodcutters, all of them known for producing and shipping many of Arendelle's exports.

The famous White Castle stood in the middle of those lands beside a lake, a beloved treasure of the Arendellan architecture that now served as a prison for a thousand of the captured troops...

"At least, now we know why they have not advanced yet" Anna said, looking with curiosity at the coast through a very advanced military telescope- "Wait! It's difficult to tell from this distance, but I would say that the man of the red coat is Hans."

Anna and her Generals could see almost the entire valley from a secret position near the summit of a great hill, a perfect place where the trees all around them concealed the impressive pieces of artillery that now pointed straight at the enemy forces down there.

The three guns in question were the largest that Anna had ever seen, and even though they were old they still looked rather eerie and alarming...

"Let's see..." Captain Matthew whispered, and after taking a look with his own telescope the old man came to understand and confirm what Princess Anna had just said:

The distant Tannya coast was full of troops, horses and cannons brought by the enemy fleet all the way from the Southern Isles, three more ships could be seen very far as they approached to land and there was a man that bossed everyone around wearing an impressive golden crown.

"That's him indeed, your Highness" Matthew confirmed- "I would say that their plan is to build up enough forces before advancing to the North..."

"Can we hit them from here?"

"Your Highness, I am sorry to inform you that the coast is beyond the reach of these guns."

The man that had just spoken those words was tall, muscular and young, with dazzling green eyes and rather fiery red hair... there was something eerie about him, and his green cloak rippled in the wind as he lowered his telescope to have a look at the Princess.

"Thank you, General Alistair" Anna replied- "Tell me, is everything ready?"

"Indeed" Alistair continued, speaking as casually as if all of this situation was nothing but some kind of expensive military drill- "We shall be the first to open fire, aiming at those campsites around White Castle. The East Hill artillery shall follow us, and after that the Seventh Cavalry division will charge down right at them!"

Anna tried not to think about what she was doing at the summit of that hill, for she knew that her orders that day would result in the first Arendellan offensive of the war and the deaths of an unknown number of troops from both sides...

She thought that all of this was to defend Arendelle and everyone that she loved, and so the proud princess closed her fists hard and gave the order at last:

"This is for Arendelle! We shall defend our homeland, no matter the cost... Now, bring the shells and load!"

It took the strength of six men to lift the first shell by means of pincers, other teams lifted two more of those terrible projectiles and Anna's heart began to pound like a hammer as she retreated to a safer position beside her two Generals, terrified of the moment when the monstrous cannons would attack.

The first gun was carefully aimed at the main campsite, everything was ready and the enemy forces down in the valley had no idea of what was just about to happen to them.

"Fire!" Anna screamed, and she covered her ears with both hands...