[ WP ] Disney Princesses : Civil War

I found her waiting at the top of the wall. She was wearing armor as transparent and solid as the wall she was standing on. Her dress shone beneath. She watched the same ships that I had gawked at through the transparent structure on his way up. The larger ships were hanging back, barely visible over the horizon. A fleet of smaller ships, gunboats probably, was advancing. 
 
 “ No decorations this time? ” 
 
 She looked down at the crystalline structure as if seeing it for the first time. “ No, there ’ s no beauty on a day like today. ” 
 
 “ It doesn ’ t have to be like this. ” 
 
 She frowned. “ I wish it didn ’ t, but we tried every option. ” 
 
 “ We could seal them out. ” 
 
 “ They ’ d never leave and we can ’ t do without what few traders still do business with us. We don ’ t have nearly the food stores that we once did. ” 
 
 I simply nodded. She had driven the kingdom ’ s primary trading partner out in shame. They had underestimated his connections to the other Barons and Dukes. What had once been a busy harbor was now almost empty and walled off by ice. 
 
 “ Besides, ” she nodded at the ships, “ who would suffer a kingdom to be ruled by a sorceress? ” 
 
 I swallowed, accepting this as the fate of my country. “ So this is how it ends. ” 
 
 “ So much for our happily ever after. I was stupid for thinking they ’ d leave us alone. ” She met his eyes. “ You know they killed him, right? ” 
 
 “ The southerner? ” 
 
 “ Yeah, for the charges I levied against him. ” 
 
 “ But those were just to exile him, return him to his country for punishment. Why are they here now then? ” He deserved every bit of what he got, trying to kill the royal family and usurp the throne. 
 
 She bit her lower lip and turned her back on the fleet that was more than half southerner. “ Our ex-trade partner is more persuasive than I guessed, he convinced them the prince was innocent and I was at fault. It ’ s in the past now. ” 
 
 She summoned an ice golem who materialized in front of her. “ Go sound the alarm. It ’ s time to man your stations. Close the gates. ” 
 
 The golem saluted with a grunt and stomped off. I followed her, falling half a step behind her left shoulder. 
 
 As they descended, the masts of the battle ships were obscured by the horizon. The fleet of smaller gun ships was almost in position. The wall was taller than any building and met the mountains that surrounded the bay halfway to their peaks. 
 
 The men below were singing a low work chant. It had become as much an anthem as a way of coordinating their movements. The words were unintelligible from this high up, but the melody was clear as day. 
 
 “ Can you believe they wrote a song about me? ” she asked. 
 
 “ I don ’ t think it was written for you. I remember that chant from my childhood, they think it fits. ” 
 “ It does. ” 
 
 “ There ’ s no way it does. We would have fallen years ago if not for your love. ” 
 
 She barked a sharp laugh. “ Love? The only thing love brought me was pain. ” 
 
 I put my hand on her shoulder and ignored the painful cold of the armor. “ It ’ s not your fault, you know. ” 
 
 She shook off my hand. “ I was a fool to think that anyone would marry me. ” 
 
 I felt a familiar ache in my chest flair up. One of her suitors had been an assassin. I found him fleeing from my bedroom, my wife was inside. She had caught him in the hallway with a knife late one night. He got spooked. 
 
 I coughed to clear my head of the memory. “ We ’ ll drive off the fleet and start rebuilding our trade lanes. ” 
 
 “ We ’ ll defend the city that the princess loved so much. ” 
 
 We were at the bottom of the stairwell and passed a golem standing guard. “ I don ’ t think she would approve of this. ” 
 
 “ She wouldn ’ t approve of any of this. She was the best of us. ” She paused to wipe away a tear. She cleared her throat and pulled her shoulders back. 
 
 There were muffled pops in the distance. A voice shouted “ Incoming! ” 
 
 The city bells began to ring. The first few cannon shots landed in the bay in front of the wall. There were more cannon shots that followed the first. These hit the wall, causing cracks to run along the clear structure. The queen summoned some more golems from thin air. “ Start repairing the wall. It won ’ t hold long against a determined barrage. ” 
 
 There was another round of impacts. Blocks of ice began to fall off of the inside of the wall. One golem was crushed while pushing a soldier out of the way. 
 
 The captain of the guard ran up. “ M ’ Lady, the evacuation is complete. Only soldiers remain in the city. ” 
 
 “ Good, make ready for a retreat. I ’ ll cover the city. ” 
 
 “ But M ’ Lady! We are sworn to protect you. ” 
 
 She looked around at the golems. “ I ’ ll be fine. Go. That ’ s an order. ” 
 
 A crack ran from the bottom to the top of the wall. She turned towards it and held up her hands, willing the crack to seal. It twitched a few times but remained. She was tired, it had taken all she had to build the wall over night. It would topple before breakfast. 
 
 I looked at the volume of the ice and ran a quick mental estimate. Then it dawned on me. There would be enough ice to fill the bay when it fell. 
 
 She gestured at the golems. “ You, round up everyone and start fixing the wall. It has to hold for a little while longer. ” 
 
 “ Those sailors will die when they topple the wall. ” 
 
 Her tone went flat. “ They were dead when they sailed against me. ” 
 
 The wall was opaque now, so riddled with cracks and repairs. The golems repaired the wall by throwing their frozen bodies at it, filling the cracks with their icy flesh. It made the ice more resistant to shattering, but ruined the perfect clarity of the wall. 
 
 A high wistle from the top of the wall rang out. The boats were close enough. She held her hand at the wall and relaxed, releasing her control of the ice and the golems on top. 
 
 When the final salvo of the gun ships hit, the wall began to crumble with a deep roar. It fell, as intended, towards the attacking fleet, hitting the ships that had made it to the base of the wall and swamping the rest with an avalanche of ice and seawater. The mouth of the bay was filled with ice and debris. The wall only remained where it was supported by the mountains. 
 
 The sorceress held her hand towards the bay and closed her eyes. She lowered her chin and the bay began to freeze over, trapping the floundering vessels and sailors in a cocoon of ice. One by one, their cries were silenced. 
 
 Her armor deformed itself, jagged spikes stuck out at odd angles. Her arm was bleeding where a spike pointed inward. 
 
 Snow began to fall. She turned towards the castle. “ They were expecting that, it ’ s why their capital ships held back. Now it ’ s time to defend an assault from across the ice. ” 
 
 By the time we were at the castle gates, the transports began unloading troops directly onto the ice. The battleships and frigates began preparing to barrage the city. Their guns were designed for naval combat, but would still do damage to a poorly reinforced port city ’ s wooden structures. 
 
 She turned to look over the bay, as if for the last time. “ They won ’ t ever forget their fellows that they have to walk over to get here. ” 
 
 “ It ’ s why we have to go, to protect the people. ” 
 
 “ I ’ m protecting them by holding the attack here. ” A drop of blood fell from her pale fingertip. It shattered when it hit the stone. “ You should go. ” 
 
 “ My place is by your side, defending my home. ” 
 
 “ Fine. ” 
 
 As we passed into the castle ’ s courtyard, more golems closed the gates and barred it shut. 
 The queen pulled up a barrier of ice just before the crossbow bolts hit. I have no idea how she does that, but the ice always protects her. 
 
 Five men in palace uniforms surrounded us. Three of them paused to reload their crossbows while the other two lifted sledge hammers, ready to break into our temporary sanctuary. 
 
 All of the golems in the courtyard collapse except one which grows to tower over the men. It slammed its icy fist on top of one and throws another one over the wall. The remaining men retreat into the castle. 
 
 The queen summoned smaller golems. “ Go, track them down and secure the castle. ” 
 
 They salute and run inside. Almost immediately, screams rang out across the courtyard as they found one man waiting in ambush just inside the entry. The first salvo from the capital ships hit the city. Thankfully, the only loss of life came from inside the castle. 
 
 I tried not to look at the bloody mess as we passed by. He had been vaguely familiar. “ Anybody you know? ” 
 “ Probably new staff hired after the coronation. ” 
 
 “ No telling how many spies were changing our bedsheets. ” 
 
 “ Stay close, there ’ s probably more still inside. They know an attack like that would fail. ” 
 
 A grappling hook flew over the wall and was pulled back until it found purchase. 
 
 She pushed me towards behind her and directed the golems to secure the walls. “ They were stalling. Keeping me from defending the castle. ”
