All Frozen in the Arendelle Front

Give Them Hell

The wintry storm continued to get worse as the hours passed that night, thousands of soldiers and horses alike were taking refuge inside of their tents and the sky was completely dark, since the Moon and the stars could not be seen through all of those icy clouds that covered a great part of Southern Arendelle.

The Arendellan soldiers had started to play checkers and card games in order to clear their minds a little, and the arrival of a new shipment of bread, carrots, potatoes and cheese had made wonders to lift the morale of the entrenched troops all the way from East to West.

Anna's army already knew that Queen Elsa was responsible for the unnatural weather, but their opponents at the other side of the valley were very alarmed... they just could not believe it, and something really important was taking place at the main campsite of the Southerner Army that cold and sinister night:

The cold and underground room was illuminated by a few torches attached to the walls, there were several wooden tables with maps on top of them and a good number of Captains and Generals had gathered there since several hours ago.

All of them feared the moment when they would have to inform their leader about the disastrous defeat that they had suffered three days ago, since the King had been busy receiving weaponry and supplies at the coast when it had happened...

King Hans of the Southern Isles had returned to the Front just to discover that his armies were in shock, his field hospitals were full to the brim of dead and injured men, the Generals were ashamed to their bones, a mysterious snowstorm was wreaking havoc everywhere and entire campsites laid abandoned.

What had caused this severe drawback to his forces? Was it really possible that the Arendellan defenses were so strong?

The situation was a true disaster, Hans had ordered a War Council to be celebrated immediately and now the King, calm and yet furious, was sitting by a great round table together with twelve of his must trusted commanders...

"Tell me" Hans said, his hands clasped together as he slowly looked around at all of them- "How many casualties have we suffered in our latest offensive?"

The young King looked all dark and fearsome wearing the golden crown of the Southern Isles, a gray military uniform and an elegant red cloak. The famous royal sword was just resting on that hard and wooden table right beside a map of Arendelle, a weapon that, unlike Anna's, had not seen action in the war up to that point.

There was nothing but cold fury in those eerie green eyes, and the Generals and Captains knew that they had to be very careful about the words that they would choose to say that night...

"We have sent seventeen thousand men, your Majesty" a rather old General said, his voice quite shy and weak- "Ten... Ten thousand were killed, five thousand are gravely injured and two thousand managed to escape unscathed."

They all remained in silence for awhile, just trying to understand the true meaning of those words. The losses were devastating, nobody had expected that the offensive would end like that and it started to seem that the war would be lost...

"I see" Hans replied- "Not to mention that we lost the seven hundred riders that commanded the offensive... Now, tell me: How much damage have we caused to the Arendellan forces?"

"We are not sure, your Majesty" a shaky Captain explained, speaking from the other side of that heavy round table- "We calculate that they have suffered around three thousand dead, including Cavalry, and a similar number has been injured."

They all knew what was going to happen next, and there was a cold, awkward silence as they awaited the inevitable explosion...

"How could you let it happen!?" Hans growled, standing up and slamming his right fist against the table with great strength- "I trusted you! I believed in you! This is a major blow to our cause, they must be celebrating... and all of this happened because you are worthless!"

"Their artillery defends the Sammel Line very well" another General said, trying to act as normal as possible while Hans kicked his own chair away- "Our forces had already suffered heavy damage before the clash, and... your Majesty..."

"Please tell me that she's dead" Hans replied, looking down at all the Generals with those eerie green eyes- "Please tell me that Anna is dead!"

"Anna herself commanded their charge, and the survivors have confirmed to us that she was there, fighting with a sword in her hand..."

The highest leaders of the Southerner Army really wanted to ask their eerie King why he had been away from the lines during a critical and most important offensive, and also why he had not personally commanded his forces to battle like Anna had done...

All of them already started to think that Hans was a coward, but for now, they kept their dark thoughts to themselves.

"And now this storm" a different Captain continued- "This must be the work of the Snow Queen, her evil Magic is all around us! Your Majesty, we are not prepared for a winter war, this was not the plan... We believe that the war is lost, and it would be wise to return to the Southern Isles as soon as possible."

"How many men did we lose at Tannya?" Hans replied, walking slowly from one side to the other- "How many were killed at our failed attempt on Anna's life? And now, this disastrous offensive! How many men are dead so far, you tell me!"

"Seventeen thousand of our men killed so far! Ten thousand more are injured! Your Majesty, this is futile!"

"Seventeen thousand!" Hans growled like a beast, coming to a halt and landing both of his hands on the table- "We cannot accept defeat just like that, our comrades have not died in vain! Now, all follow me, gentlemen..."

Hans grabbed a torch from the wall, he quickly climbed out of that underground room and all of the Generals and Captains followed him in silence. They shivered in the freezing wind as they reached the open field and hills, and after that the King smiled proudly at something that his commanders had not been expecting to see:

Hundreds of red cloaked soldiers were carrying around some of the largest artillery shells that the Generals had ever seen, they were about as large as the ones that Arendelle had used at Tannya, these weapons were everywhere and even more continued to arrive...

"These arrived yesterday, the heaviest shells that we could bring aboard our fleet" Hans explained to the commanders, turning around to look at all of them- "We have enough firepower to reduce the Sammel Line to ashes... and now, my friends... Let's give them Hell!"