MGGT's gone for the evening, and she still hasn't written any decisive action by the Snow Queen. So I'll undertake to move things forward with Emmett and Jake.
''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''''
The sun was high up when the brothers caught sight of what they thought of as a posse. Heart Kingdom soldiers were spread in a single rank, trying for maximum interdiction. There were more of them than Emmett and Jake had thought the King of Hearts even had, extending left and right as far as the terrain allowed viewing. When the brothers tried riding farther east, they soon saw that there were enough hostiles to close in on them before they could get around the flank of the line. They exchanged a glance; their horses were too tired to demand a long, hard run of them right now. So the two men stood their ground.
"I see you boys got tired of hidin' behind the dishwashers and hedgetrimmers," Emmett shouted scornfully. "That was downright yellow of you varmints, and you ain't got the cover now. Some of you must have families, if any woman'd marry cowardly coyotes like you; if you want to see them families again, you just move out of our way--ALL the way out of our way! I won't say it twice."
Some of the card soldiers looked scared; some did in fact break and run. But four of them raised crossbows--the first missile weapons the brothers had seen on any of the card soldiers. That action removed Emmett's last qualms.
The Winchester barked four times, and all four crossbowmen fell dead before even one could shoot a bolt. Another fifteen or so troopers fled at this; but that left scores to charge. Emmett concentrated on those ahead and to his right, since Jake was on his left.
Holding his brother's Colt, and one of his own pair, Jake mowed down twelve enemies fast as thinking, including two more with crossbows; then he holstered his empty pistol, drew his second one, replaced the cylinder in Emmett's, and killed another dozen attackers before even one could get in striking distance. Emmett, meanwhile, killed more than eight foes with his rifle's remaining eight bullets, because in the charge some card soldiers were now directly in front of others. The card people were NOT actually just sheets of rigid paper, since they needed to have internal organs to live; but they were somewhat thinner front-to-back than most people, and a rifle bullet would go right through them to hit anyone behind.
Both needing to reload, the brothers backed up their horses. There were still more than thirty soldiers actively threatening; and Emmett allowed them to think they had him and Jake helpless. Just when it would have the most shock effect, Emmett whipped up the shotgun and fired each barrel into a different group of enemies. The card guards were indeed taken aback by this--allowing Emmett to break the shotgun barrel, reload and fire again, while Jake managed four more shells in one of his Colts and promptly found homes for them between the eyes of four more attackers. The surviving nearby soldiers broke and ran in a panic. The brothers eased their horses into an energy-conserving trot, roughly following their scattered enemies as being the direction of least resistance. After thumbing seven fresh bullets into his rifle, Emmett managed to stow his weapons well enough that he could pause to pick up a still-ready crossbow besides.
And there was use for it. Farther-out soldiers, not yet having seen action, were double-timing in from both sides. Emmett killed the nearest one on his side with the crossbow and then discarded it...shot past his brother twice to ease the pressure on that side so Jake could finish reloading all three pistols...then slew eight more foes on the right with the last five rounds in the Winchester, while Jake was bringing his own guns into play again.
The horses helped them keep a distance gap now, and both brothers were able to reload again; but this brought them close to the end of their ammunition supply, except that the shotgun still had a good quantity of shells available. Killing another seventeen or so enemies discouraged the pursuers, and the brothers reloaded everything once more, which was the last reloading for all guns except the shotgun. They saved these rounds, for now the badly depleted Heart Kingdom infantry was falling behind...
And just when even Emmett was tempted to say they WERE safe, a flurry of snow swirled ahead of them with a distinctly magical appearance--and at least nine of the shaggy snow beasts were standing ahead of them, both straight ahead and flanking. From somewhere, a woman's voice was shouting, "Take them--alive is better, but take them!"
Not one snow beast lived to carry out the order; but they were tough creatures, and it took the last of the bullets plus the current load of the shotgun to finish seven and badly injure the last two. Jake impaled his last snow beast with the spear, while Emmett--who had blinded his last one and maimed one of its mighty arms with the shotgun--jumped out of the saddle and rushed in with his Bowie knife, laying the monster wide open.
With no more assaults for the moment, Emmett reloaded the shotgun, as he and Jake both tried to spot the woman who presumably was the Snow Queen. Her still-disembodied voice reached them:
"You are brave and strong, young men; but surely you must be weary. How many foes you have defeated! You have earned a rest...you are SO tired...no one is left to harm you...surely you can afford to catch your breath...and ressssssst..."
The spell might not have worked if the brothers had not in fact BEEN tired; but as it was, their weapons presently sagged to the ground and so did they.
