Siege
With the armada of ships closer now, it was possible to see them without the aid of a spyglass. From what she could see, there were even more ships here than there were when the Duke invaded Arendelle and they were larger as well, and Elsa doubted that all of that extra size was for arms and the dragons under Drago's control.
"Are you sure that these friends of yours will respond to your call for aid?" Elsa asked Hiccup, doing the numbers in her head and not caring too much for the result she came up with.
"Not at all, really," Hiccup answered her as he looked around at the people who would be fighting alongside them today, "Our decision to befriend the dragons rather than killing them wasn't exactly popular among our allies. The best outcome we've gotten from them finding out was their declaration they wanted nothing to do with us and our 'strange ways'. "
"Well I sure hope someone comes, because we're seriously outnumbered here," Fishlegs said nervously as he viewed the approaching ships with his spyglass, and Elsa imagined he just did a headcount of his own.
"Eh, we'll be fine," Stoick assured him, "We've faced these kinds of odds before, when it was just us riders back at the nest with no plan and no warning. Now we have all of Berk and her dragons with us, not to mention Queen Elsa and her friends."
Elsa didn't want to correct Stoick, as the Vikings here were probably pretty nervous already, but the truth was that she too hoped that some aid would come. She had formulated this plan by basing it on classic defense strategy against forces laying siege to a castle. Looking around at the riderless dragons perched on the tiered perch, which currently formed the perimeter of Berk, with their human companions standing on the ground nearby, Elsa knew that this strategy was sound. Regardless, she still had a feeling that it wouldn't be enough, that the best they'd manage would be to slow them down. When this Drago brings out his Bewilderbeast they might not manage even that, as there really wasn't any place around her large or stable enough to summon her giant-sized Marshmallow (at least not without seriously harming the ocean life around here).
Ironically enough, the Bewilderbeast that may be instrumental in Berk's defeat was also, to Elsa's understanding, the key to their victory. Over the course of their preparations, Hiccup had told her how Toothless' driving off the Bewilderbeast in their first encounter had demoralized Drago's army before and sent them packing. Elsa sincerely hoped that would happen this time too once Hiccup and Toothless beat it. If they didn't flee this time as well, of if Drago didn't even bring his great dragon in until it's practically all over…
Elsa kept these concerns to herself, simply taking a moment to look Hiccup in the eye and nod determinedly. Then, once Drago's armada was within the area Elsa had marked in her head, she fired an ice blast at the water just ahead of them. Just as she'd planned, the waters around the vessels quickly froze before they could spread out enough to make containment a problem. As the ice connected to the rocky outcroppings some yards out from Berk's pier, Elsa heard the loud creak-cracking of the ships hulls as the unseen Bewilderbeast continued its attempts to pull the immobile ships forward. While Elsa concentrated on halting the ice floe's growth and began erecting the three inset ice walls between Drago and the open water that still separated the armada from Berk, she heard Drago bellow a command (likely for his dragon to stop pulling before it tore the ships to splinters) just before Hiccup cried out, "Fire!"
Elsa then felt the heat as the upper row of dragons, which Hiccup had helped choose their placement for their having the longest range of attacks, began their barrage by peppering the ships with fire blasts. Of course Elsa had expected this invading group of Vikings to be made of sterner stuff than the Duke's forces or the pirates who'd kidnapped her and invaded Neverland, so she wasn't entirely surprised when the men poured from the ships and began to offload some of their siege arsenal right there, returning fire with flaming boulders flung from catapults even as a number of armored dragons lifted up from the ships' holds.
As Elsa began to summon the group of 10 foot Marshmallows to defend the walls from Drago's men, she saw Hiccup climb on Toothless and called out to his group of riders, "Okay guys, let's go!" then as one they lit off to meet the group of opposing dragons along with a third of the dragons that were perched on the middle tier, leaving Stoick, Gobber, Valka and Eret on standby with their own dragons. Elsa tried to not let herself get distracted as she fired her ice blasts at the hail of stones, the ice extinguishing the flames and weighing down the boulders so they just splashed down harmlessly in the ocean below, but Elsa had to admit that the aerial battle was impressive to say the least, quite unlike anything she's ever seen before or that she'd ever likely see again.
The Vikings under Drago's command attempted to use their arsenal, like giant crossbows that fired weighted nets, to capture or cripple the dragons keeping them from their conquest. While they did manage some success with those who didn't have riders directly directing their actions, but those dragons were almost immediately freed and made airborne again by Hiccup and his riders. Of course how each dragon and rider acted as a single unit was rather impressive, but that was nothing compared to how Hiccup and Toothless commanded not only them but also all those dragons without riders. Watching those two in action, Elsa now understood why the other, much larger Vikings of Berk would consider him their leader.
As Elsa looked over at the other Vikings beside her, who looked tense even as they encouraged the remaining dragons to continue their assault, she heard a bone chilling screech above her. When she looked up to see, Elsa could have sworn that she went as pale as the beast that hovered just overhead even as some smaller, similar green dragons hovered nearby. Stoick, who was standing next to her, did look pale as he whispered, "Screaming Death."
This creature was huge: thin like a snake and long enough to wrap around the body of the Bewilderbeast at least once, which Elsa assumed if that happened the spiked that covered its entire body would do the great dragon some serious damage. As it glared down with its red eyes and its fanged mouth ajar, Elsa prepared an ice blast to drive it off. Before she could, however, a flaming boulder Elsa hat let get through because she was distracted crashed into the side of the Screaming Death's bulbous head. This only seemed to infuriate it, however, as it turned and shredded the offending catapult while its smaller fellows made swiss cheese of a nearby ship as they tunneled through it.
Watching in awe at the devastation wrought by the newcomer rogue dragons, Elsa heard a low voice full of menace say, "Well, well. What have we here?" Whirling around, she saw behind them a group of Vikings that she did not recognize. Even if she had failed to see them during her aiding Hiccup in the preparations for defense, Elsa would have still picked them out as being not from around here due to their differing armor style and their general unkempt appearance. Elsa was certain that she had accounted and contained Drago's entire force, but she reasoned they must have split up before they came into view.
As Stoick turned towards the larger of them, whom Elsa could have sworn was even larger than Stoick, he addressed the newcomer, "Alvin the Treacherous."
The large Viking narrowed his eyes as he said, "Stoick the Vast." He then strode towards them, and Stoick marched up to meet him with a determined expression. They stopped mere feet from one another, and Elsa could feel the tension thicken as they stood and stared into each other's eyes…
…then the tension broke as they both laughed and clasped their right hands between them, using their other hand to pat the other's shoulder. Once the laughter died down, Stoick wiped the tears of mirth from his eye as he said, "It's been too long, you old scoundrel! Where you been?"
"Oh you know, just hanging out on Outcast Island," Alvin answered, "Trying to learn how to tame the dragons there, though Mildew isn't nearly as good a trainer as your boy up there. In fact, we were in the middle of a session when we got your note on that Terrible Terror you sent our way. When we saw that Screaming Death we'd planted on your island all those years ago heading back this way, we figured that it was serious, so we decided to join in the fun."
"Well we're glad you're here," Stoick told him, "What about the others? They coming too?"
" 'Fraid not, old friend," Alvin replied, "I'm afraid the others aren't as progressive as us Outcasts and Berkians. It's just you and me, just like old times!"
"Stoick? You have a friend named 'Alvin the Treacherous'?" Elsa asked in confusion.
"It used to be Alvin the Poor-but-Honest-Farmer, but I disagreed with one of Stoick's orders on how to defend the village, and when people got hurt as a result I got banished with my new nickname," Alvin answered her, then he whispered to Stoick (though his large voice carried anyway), "Who's the slip?"
Stoick told Alvin in a normal voice, "Alvin, this here is Queen Elsa of Arendelle. She's been instrumental in the defense of Berk, creating both this defensive scaffolding and the ice Drago's armada is stuck in."
Alvin's eyes widened in surprise as he asked in disbelief, "This girl did all that!?"
Elsa stretched her arm out to the side, blasting out of the sky without looking a boulder large enough to crush the three of then together as she said, "Yeah. And…?"
"Nothing! I didn't mean anything by it at all!" Alvin said quickly, raising his hands defensively as he added, "In fact, some of my best friends, aside from Stoick, just happen to be Jotun!"
"Just one minute, I am NOT…" Elsa started to defend herself, then she sighed, resigning herself to the likelihood she'll continue to get this reaction while she's in this time and place as she said in a low voice, "…never mind."
Valka stepped forward and crossed her arms as she narrowed her eyes and said, "Alvin, I truly hope that you're actually here to help, and that this isn't just another plan of yours to find a way to attack my husband again."
"Ah, Valka. Glad to see that Stormcutter didn't eat you after all," Alvin acknowledged with a smile, then he waved dismissively as he added, "Yeah, Stoick and I worked out our differences during that business with the Bezerkers a couple years ago. I don't blame you for not trusting me though, ma'am, as you weren't here during that time." Alvin then turned back towards Stoick as he said, "In fact, old friend, I ran into an old friend of yours on the way here who was just as suspicious as your wife here."
As Stoick raised his eyebrow in curiosity, Elsa heard a jaw-rattling report like thunder overhead. When she looked up, she saw a quartet of dragons flying overhead with a cloud of dust that apparently was a boulder that had just been blown to bits. Though they were similar in body style, with spindly legs, two sets of wings, and large and wide yet flat heads with toothy grins, one was significantly larger than the other three, and they all were different colors; ranging from light green to purple, with a couple shades of blue in between.
"Thornado!" Stoick exclaimed in surprised delight, and the crowd of Vikings as the larger, dark blue dragon landed amongst them, then the other, smaller dragons landed as well as the larger one strutted up to Stoick and nuzzled him affectionately as he said, "Yes, old friend. I've missed you as well. I think you've grown even more since we were last together."
" 'Thornado'," Elsa guessed, "because his mouth looks like a row of thorns?"
Stoick let out a hearty laugh before answering, "No, milady, because his voice has the power of Thor and he's as fierce as a tornado."
Elsa wasn't sure what that meant, so when she looked her way Valka explained, "Thunderdrums like Thornado and the young ones with him are tidal class dragons. While they are quite capable of flight, they move best whirling through the water like a tornado. Additionally, the Thunderdrum's primary attack is its voice, which it releases in a burst of pure sound force capable of killing a man at close range. That thunder-like sound likely came from Thornado himself. Of course it also has a powerful fire blast as well, but it takes a lot of the Thunderdrum's energy to produce it, so it rarely uses it if ever."
Elsa nodded as she understood this explanation better. Of course she'd never heard of anyone or anything using sound as a weapon before, but after all that she'd seen since her parent's return to Arendelle she supposed that little would surprise her anymore. She didn't have long to think about it, however, as the purple Thunderdrum inexplicably strode up to Anna. Caught off guard by this reaction, Anna backed up nervously though she couldn't go far with the crowd of Berkians behind her. When Anna put out her hand defensively, the purple Thunderdrum touched its snout to her palm and closed its eyes.
"Well I'll be! It seems that Boom has really taken a shine to you Anna," Stoick remarked in an impressed tone, "Or was his name Lloyd? I don't remember if he had gotten a proper name before he and the other fledglings left with Thornado."
"Hmm, he actually looks more like a 'Thunderhead' to me," Anna said thoughtfully. When the dragon spun around quickly in delight, Anna let out a small smile as she said, "What's that, boy? You like the name Thunderhead?"
"Anyway, I don't think I've ever seen a dragon take to someone quite this quickly before," Stoick remarked, "How about you, Valka love? You've spent more time studying dragons than any of us, you ever see anything like this before?"
"Can't say I have," Valka told him, "Even with dragons who've had experience being around humans would still take time building trust before forming a bond like this. The fastest I've ever heard of a bond forming was between Toothless and our Hiccup. This is quite fascinating. You said they used to live here, right? Did Hiccup or the others do some special training with them?"
"They did live here, but while Hiccup and the other tried training them they were still fledglings, too young to listen, so Thornado and I had to part ways while he raised them alone on Dragon Island. Still….Boom, or rather Thunderhead looks to be about the right size now…" Stoick said thoughtfully. Then, after a brief moment, Stoick turned to Gobber and ordered, "Go get Thornado's old saddle out of storage, would you?"
"You got it, Stoick," Gobber acknowledged as he quickly hobbled off.
Elsa watched him walk into a building in the distance, then after bringing down a boulder the dragons on the scaffolding weren't able to handle she asked Stoick, "What are you thinking?"
"Well, Thunderhead is about the same size Thornado was when I used to ride him, so I thought your sister might like to use it to ride Thunderhead," Stoick told her.
"Me!? Ride him!?" Anna exclaimed, sounding nervous again.
"What's wrong, dear? You said you wanted to be involved more," Valka asked in a concerned tone, "and you said you've flown before."
"Yes, but that was by myself under the power of pixie dust," Anna explained, "I've never ridden anything like a dragon before. Of course I've ridden Sven bareback with Kristoff before, back when he was rushing me back to the castle to try and save me from freezing to death by Elsa's power, but the one time I tried to ride a horse by myself, to go after her in the first place, it got spooked and I was thrown off after only a couple of miles."
"Well you won't have to worry about that happening with Thunderhead here," Valka assured her, "Most dragons would not allow harm to befall the human they've bonded with, and that's especially true of the Thunderdrums, who are extremely compassionate."
"In addition, you won't have to worry about the saddle here, lass" Gobber said as he returned, carrying the saddle aloft, "This here is one of the finest I've ever worked on, with only Toothless' surpassing it in workmanship." As Gobber set the saddle in place, he adjusted the straps and said, "And it looks like you were correct, Stoick. It fits this young one perfectly."
"Well, I suppose it wouldn't hurt to spend some time with this sweet little guy," Anna conceded, "and it sure would beat waiting around here for Drago's men to find their way past Elsa's walls and her troop of Marshmallows."
"That's the spirit!" Stoick said as he picked Anna up and set her in the saddle, looping the extra length of the rope on Anna's frying pan around the saddle's horn to make it into a makeshift harness, then he handed the reins to Anna as he said, "Just hold on tight and trust Thunderhead's instincts and you'll be just fine."
Elsa thought Anna looked as nervous as she sounded as she said, "You know, now that I'm actually up here, I think I changed my…" But Stoick was already in motion, smacking Thunderhead lightly yet soundly on his rump near the base of his tail, and the dragon lifted off into the air as Anna said, "miiiiiiinnnd!"
As he watched Anna and the dragon rise into the air, Kristoff absently cradled his new warhammer in both hands as asked no one in particular in a concerned voice, "Do you think she'll be fine up there?"
"Better than she would be down here," Valka answered him, "Thunderhead's strong bond with Anna will prompt him to protect her with his life, so it's unlikely that any of Drago's dragons will be able to even get close to touching her."
"She's right," Stoick said as he also stared after the dragon with a longing look in his eye, "If there's one thing I recall very well, it's just how loyal and dependable a Thunderdrum can be."
After a still moment, during which the only sounds were that of the battle continuing both below and overhead, Alvin finally said, "Oh, go on and give your boy a hand already, Stoick. I know you're just dying to. My men and I will make sure none of Drago's men get past us, should they even make it this far."
"Well, I suppose I could see how well Hiccup and the others are faring," Stoick said with a reluctance that even Elsa could tell was half-hearted, "but I leave my wife and Queen Elsa in charge down here. This plan is as much Elsa's as it is my son's anyways."
"Sure, that's fine," Alvin agreed, "Just get going already."
Stoick nodded, then he climbed on his green and red horned dragon as he turned towards Thornado and asked, "How about it, old friend? Once more unto the breach together?"
Thornado responded with a roar, then Stoick and his dragon took off with the three remaining Thunderdrums following after. As Elsa blasted yet another boulder out of the sky and Eret petted his dragon, who was looking a bit antsy, Valka looked askance at Alvin as she said, "I'll be keeping an eye on you."
Alvin chuckled as he said, "Milady, I wouldn't expect anything less."
For the first couple of moments, all Anna felt was the terror of being onboard a gigantic beast as it sped through the sky. Then, as her mind calmed and Thunderhead blasted the first of Drago's armored dragons of its path with its great voice, Anna's heart began racing instead with exhilaration as she was able to focus again on the familiar sensation of the wind rushing past her face, a sensation she hadn't really felt since Neverland and New York.
"Thunderhead!" Anna exclaimed with delight, "You're magnificent!"
Thunderhead roared in delight at the praise, which drew the attention of Hiccup and Toothless as they drew near. Anna saw Hiccup's eyes widen in surprise under his mask as he saw her clearly. "Princess Anna?" Hiccup asked in a shocked tone, "Just what are you doing up here? And is that Boom with you?"
"Hey, Hiccup!" Anna greeted him with a wave, keeping one hand tightly on the reins as she patted Thunderhead affectionately and said, "Apparently he goes by the name Thunderhead now, but since this guy seemed to like me so much your dad said I should ride him."
"Father," Hiccup said chuckling while shaking his head in disbelief, "Some things never change. I'm surprised that you two bonded so quickly, but to think that father still believes it's that easy for anyone to ride dragons, let alone into battle."
"Well Thunderhead's doing all of the flying and fighting," Anna said with a smile, "I'm just along for the ride."
Hiccup laughed and said, "I guess we all were like that in the beginning. Come to think of it, we were even crazier back then, considering most of us had just started to ride our dragons the day we took on the Red Death. Compared to that day, which cost me my leg, this should be a walk in the park."
Anna smiled at Hiccup's good humor, though she didn't think she could be as flippant about losing a body part like that. As she was reflecting on that, Astrid flew towards them on Stormfly asking, "Is that Anna riding on Boom?"
"It seems that his name is Thunderhead now, but yes," Hiccup confirmed, "Dad's idea."
Astrid sighed and smiled as she said, "Of course it was. Well, Anna, there's plenty of fight up here to share. I guess if you take it easy and just follow Thunderhead's lead it'll be fine."
Anna nodded in agreement, then she patted Thunderhead's side as she asked, "Well, boy? Are you ready to show me what you can really do?"
Thunderhead roared his agreement, then the three riders and their dragons rejoined their comrades in the heart of the fray.
Drago could not believe what he was seeing. He had counted on Hiccup being broken by his being defeated in combat by his hands. Even though that ice enchantress had managed to stop him from taking Hiccup out for good, Drago had figured the demonstration of the difference in power between the so-called "dragon master" and his own would have taken much of the fight out of Berk's new chief, making it a simple matter of him sailing in and taking claim of his dominionship of this land. That's why he hadn't summoned the Flightmare into battle nor called the Bewilderbeast to obliterate the place. He hadn't expected to have his armada stuck frozen in an iceberg before it was close enough to land by the witch, nor had he counted on one of the interlopers being a skilled rider in her own right. He certainly hadn't counted on his hand picked men being stymied by a mere handful of snow creatures.
Well, he can still show these people who should be their leader, and maybe it would be better with an audience anyway. Once this village sees their puny leader fall from the sky and end up broken on the rocks below, their spirits will likewise be broken. Then they'll either finally accept him as their leader or they'll join Hiccup in oblivion. With that thought bolstering him, he called his Flightmare to come bring the dragon riders back down to earth.
The first warning sign Hiccup saw was a brightening glow that was not the rising sun, then he had Toothless roll out of the way just as the Flightmare appeared in their faces, narrowly avoiding its paralyzing breath.
"The Flightmare's here," Hiccup warned the others, "evasive maneuvers!"
The others didn't need any additional prompting, as they were already on guard once the Flightmare zoomed into their midst. Luckily it seemed to be mostly focused in him and Toothless, leading Hiccup to believe that it may in fact be the same Flightmare he'd faced off against together with Astrid a couple of years ago (that or the Flightmares simply have a rivalry thing against Night Furies like Toothless), but that knowledge did nothing to help them. Even if it were the right time of year for the special glowing algae the Flightmare preferred to eat, the stuff they'd used to drive it off years ago, there was no way they could get to the stream it flowed from as long as the Flightmare kept them on the defensive, and if they tried then Drago's dragons would overrun the village.
There was no denying that they were in a tough spot. Elsa had said that she had a plan for dealing with the Flightmare. If there was anytime to put that plan into effect, it was now.
Elsa had seen when Drago finally summoned the Flightmare to the battle. She had been expecting it, practically counting on it, but she hadn't planned on her sister Anna being among the dragon riders being menaced by the glowing dragon and its breath which would render her helpless to prevent herself from falling like a stone. Of course the plan itself hadn't changed, but now the stakes were so much higher. Not that there was much room for it before, but now there was no room at all for failure.
Elsa fired an ice blast at the Flightmare. The nimble creature dodged it easily, but Elsa had never truly intended to hit it, only to get its attention. In that she'd succeeded, as it whirled around and roared angrily at her, and its roar seemed to have a disorienting effect on all the dragons that were close by. It then soared directly towards her.
"Here it comes!" Valka called out as she readied her staff, "Get ready everyone!"
"No, everyone stay back!" Elsa told them, "Leave this to me."
"Queen Elsa?" Valka asked her in confusion.
"I've got this," Elsa told her, "Trust me!"
As she prepared for the next phase of her plan, Elsa thought of how this dragon reacted to her when she first arrived in these lands. Then, when it was closer she used her gift to cool the air around her hands, leaving a trail of mist as she waved them around mesmerizingly. As before, the Flightmare stuttered and stopped in its advance mere feet away from Elsa, staring at her in confusion.
"I thought that she was going to freeze that dragon solid," Alvin said to Valka in bewilderment, "Just what is that girl doing?"
"I….don't know," Valka told him, just as bewildered.
Elsa paid them no heed, concentrating instead on her dance of mist and keeping eye contact with the Flightmare, even as she thought back to the things Hiccup had taught her about dragons while they were making their defensive preparations. One line of his came foremost to her mind: "Once a dragon sees you as one of its own," Hiccup had told her, "there's nothing it won't do for you."
As the Flightmare's body language became less and less aggressive, Elsa knew her idea was working. Of course it probably helped that the moonlight refracted through her mist, making her dress appear as if it was glowing like the Flightmare. Finally, when the dragon stopped hovering and landed on the cliff before her, Elsa stopped her mist dance and simply held her hand out before her. When the Flightmare touched its snout to her hand, the Vikings around her let out gasps of amazement even as Valka softly breathed, "Incredible! You sisters are something else. Are you sure you don't have dragons back where you come from?"
"Not that I've seen," Elsa told Valka as the Flightmare nuzzled her affectionately, "Plenty of rock trolls for future relatives, however." Elsa then turned to one of the Vikings and cried out, "You there! I need to borrow your cloak!"
As Elsa accepted the offered fur cloak from the Viking, Valka asked her, "Night getting a little cold for you, your Highness?"
"For me? Never," Elsa told Valka as she draped the cloak across the Flightmare's back, "I simply intend to give Drago a taste of his own medicine." Elsa then used her gift to form a saddle of ice on top of the cloak, securing it under the dragon's belly and completing it with reins and a bridle. Elsa then climbed onboard and turned towards the others as she said, "Kristoff, Valka, Alvin: I leave the cliff defense to you."
As the others nodded their acknowledgement, Elsa then gripped the reins tightly, saying to the dragon, "Okay, Aurora, let's go!" as the dragon took flight. Blasting a couple of boulders in passing, Elsa caught surprised looks from Anna and Hiccup as they flew by. Then they were swooping down over the armada. As Elsa froze the nets and flung blades that tried to bring them down, the Flightmare bathed Drago's men with its paralyzing breath. Even though they were alive after a fashion, Elsa's remaining Marshmallows were unaffected by the poison. With the enemy frozen like statues, Elsa's snow army met no resistance as they smashed the remaining catapults and trap launchers.
As their latest pass took them by his ship, Elsa felt Drago's enraged glare burning into her. Then when they began climbing again, she heard him bellow a roar, followed by a louder roar and cracking sound. Looking down, Elsa saw the Bewilderbeast burst through the ice. A good number of the ships in Drago's armada were also destroyed, but it seemed he no longer cared about that, determined to win at any cost. The walls Elsa had erected fell as the iceberg they were erected on fractured, the outer one now acting as a bridge that reached most of the way to Berk's pier. Even some of Drago's men were able to move again as the sloshing ocean water washed off the Flightmare's poison or it wore off, though many of them were struggling to say on their feet or to climb back on the ice as they fell into the ocean. As the men began to make their way across the ice to Berk's pier, Elsa saw Drago climb on the Bewilderbeast's head before it headed towards Berk's cliffs as well. The dragons remaining on the island attempted to defend it, with fire blasts, streams of flame and molten rock, but they scattered when the Bewilderbeast blasted the scaffolding with its frosty breath and shattered it.
As the great beast began to scale the cliffs, Elsa knew that there was little else she or the Flightmare could do. While she could perhaps try again to create a giant Marshmallow, it would take time to both form an area it could battle from as well as to form him, and she said before that she feared what that would do to the sea life around here, and thus to their livelihood. Additionally, Elsa figured that the Flightmare's breath wouldn't do much against a beast that size. No, from this point forward it was up to Hiccup and his dragons to end this thing.
As the Bewilderbeast started to climb the cliffs, Hiccup knew that the defenders there would need help. Besides, the resistance up here was thinning out, so the Bewilderbeast was now the larger threat. As they flew back towards Berk, Hiccup could feel the others following after. Down below he could see his mother and Gobber fighting alongside Eret and the others against Drago's men as the Bewilderbeast got ever closer, and if he wasn't mistaken Alvin and his Outcasts were down there fighting too.
As they got closer, he noticed Drago riding on the crest of the Bewilderbeast's head. Having borne witness to the kind of a Bewilderbeast can do, even one that was not under the control of a madman like Drago, Hiccup could not let them get any closer. Locking Toothless' tail fin into position, Hiccup leapt off and opened the glider fins of his suit.
Drago must have spotted his approach, or else he had been watching out for him, for he gestured with his hook-spear and the Bewilderbeast turned its head towards him. Hiccup briefly considered whether or not the shield would provide him adequate protection against the ice breath attack if he held it before him, though he wasn't sure how he'd be able to do so and remain gliding.
Before he could work it out or the great dragon could attack, Drago had to duck as a barrage of fireballs, sonic blasts, spikes, and powerful ice shots assaulted the Bewilderbeast from its other side. Before Drago could recover Hiccup released the gliding fins, holding the shield in front of him as he allowed gravity and his own momentum to send him slamming into Drago at full speed.
As he recovered from the rough landing, Hiccup saw Drago scrambling for his spear some distance away. Pushing himself up quickly into a kneeling position, Hiccup pulled the shield off his arm and threw it at him. The throw just missed him, but the shield rebounded between a couple corners of a house behind him then broke off the tip of his spear before Hiccup caught it on the way back to him.
Drago glared back and forth between his broken weapon and Hiccup, but before he could make any kind of retort a bellowing roar drew both of their attentions. Hiccup looked and saw that the Bewilderbeast had climbed up to the point where both of his front legs were resting on the edge of the cliff, but now he was held at bay as every single dragon in Berk, save for a few of Drago's dragons (who were still hovering in the air in confusion) and the Flightmare, were assaulting the great dragon with a barrage of fire and sonic blasts so thick it didn't have room to retaliate.
"No! Not again!" Drago yelled as he started to run towards his dragon, "Don't let them beat you again! Fight ba…!" He didn't get to finish, as a cascade of mist fell on him before he got within a couple of yards of the dragon, and he stood as stiff as a statue while Elsa and her Flightmare landed by Hiccup. As she dismounted, Elsa narrowed her eyes at the would-be conqueror and said, "That's quite enough out of you," and the Flightmare grunted her agreement.
The barrage only went on for a couple more minutes, during which Elsa joined in with a punishing hailstorm while the Flightmare stood guard over her to ensure none of Drago's men thought her vulnerable and attacked (not that any dared). Then, as the sun began to rise past the horizon, the former Alpha decided it had enough. The good people of Berk cheered when the giant Bewilderbeast slipped from its perch on the cliffs at the edge of town and retreated back beneath the waves of the ocean, hopefully to never be seen again. When Drago's forces saw the symbol of their strength quit the battlefield, they lowered their weapons in surrender.
Drago, on the other hand, refused to admit defeat. Despite having lost his dragons, his forces, and his weapon, Drago was still determined to conquer Berk. "Look out! " Elsa heard her sister cry out, but Elsa had already seen the enraged conqueror charging her with his broken spear and was preparing an ice blast even as hiccup prepared to defend her with his own sword and shield. Before he could get within 5 feet, however, a brilliant pillar of light slammed down on the ground between them with such force that even behind Hiccup's amazing shield Elsa was nearly knocked off her feet just as Drago himself was.
"Enough!" a powerful voice commanded from within the pillar of light before dimming. When Elsa was able to see again, he saw that the man within the light looked as powerfully built as his voice. Standing in a circle that was scorched in a peculiar pattern, he was donned in scaled armor studded with large disks like the heads of giant rivets, had a red cape draped from his broad shoulders, over which his long blond hair flowed, his arm was ripped with muscles as big around as Kristoff's head, and in one of his hands was a heavy looking war hammer that had a leather strap attached to its handle.
Once the Vikings caught sight of this man, they first gawked in amazement at him, then almost as one they all fell to their knees in a deep bow. Even Drago's men fell at the feet of this warrior. The only ones who did not bow in subjugation to this man was Anna, Kristoff, herself, and Drago. Though he looked as stunned at the appearance of this man as the others, he took one look at Hiccup in his vulnerable position and again attempted to charge him with his weapon. Before Elsa could summon up another ice blast, however, Drago was knocked back several feet by a flying hammer (which Elsa recognized as belonging to the newcomer) hitting his chest. Instead of continuing on its flight trajectory, however, the hammer reversed course and returned to the warrior's hand.
"I said enough!" the warrior bellowed. As this warrior's grip tightened on his hammer, he scowled down at Drago as he said, "You have been defeated three times now in honorable combat, yet you still refuse to acknowledge your better! Are you incapable of shame!?"
"But, Lord Thor…!" Drago started to protest.
"Silence!" the man addressed as Thor yelled as he extended his hammer, and Elsa watched in amazement as lightning struck the hammer's head, even though it the clouds in the sky were not optimal for lightning. As Drago cringed away, Thor continued, "I had watched as long as I could, watching as you tried again and again to conquer these noble people to no avail. Watched as they and their allies defeated you again and again despite what lowly tactics you tried. I waited to see if you would ever learn your lesson and seek another path. No more!"
"But…!" Drago tried again, but when Thor's gaze tightened again Drago clammed up.
"Here is my decision," Thor declared in a commanding voice, "As you have proven to be a dishonorable man incapable of civilized behavior, you are hereby banished from society. You will set sail by yourself and find some distant island to live out the rest of thine days alone. You will not try and seek out your dragon again, whom thou had treated so shabbily, nor will you go anywhere near any other human dwelling. Should you try and defy this command, know that there isn't one corner of Midgard where I cannot smite thee down. Understand?"
Elsa saw Drago go as white as a sheet, and after a moment of stammering and a couple of swallows he managed to get out, "Y-y-yes, milord!"
"Then go, and trouble these people no more," Thor commanded him as he pointed out towards the docks with his hammer. As Drago slunk off, he met Elsa's gaze one more time, but she did not see any of the hate or superiority that was there before. Instead, what she saw was the look of a broken man, and he did not even try to pick up his broken weapon again as he passed, but rather simply descended the steps to the dock and out of sight.
After a moment of calm, Anna hopped off of Thunderhead's back and ran over to Elsa as she hugged her and exclaimed, "We did it, Elsa! We won!"
"Yes, we did, and you did great up there," Elsa complimented her in an amazed tone, feeling quite stunned that it was really over as she looked over at Kristoff and said as Anna embraced him as well, "You did pretty good too."
"Yeah, thanks for leaving a couple for me, you guys," Kristoff said lightly with a chuckle, scratching Sven between the ears with his free hand as he hefted the warhammer in his other and added, "Glad to see this wasn't unused completely."
Elsa chuckled, then she turned towards Thor and said, "I suppose that we should thank you as well, Thor, sir. If you hadn't stepped in when you did, then Drago might have dragged this out even longer and someone might have gotten hurt."
"Uh….Elsa?" Hiccup whispered to her in trepidation, apparently concerned that she was breaking some code of etiquette.
"That's quite all right, Chief Hiccup, you may stand," Thor assured him, then he raised his voice and told the others, "You all may stand. You have earned yourselves a great victory, and this day is not one to be spent on one's knees."
"You have my eternal gratitude, Lord Thor, for personally coming to my village's aid," Stoick said with a deep bow.
"Think nothing of it, noble Stoick, for your son and his allies had this battle won before I'd intervened," Thor replied with a small bow of his own, "I merely put a stop to Drago's tantrums."
"All the same, I cannot thank you enough," Stoick told him as he placed one gist over his heart in a salute, then he walked over towards Alvin to thank him.
"Excuse me, mister Thor," Anna asked in a voice that was low enough to not be overheard by anyone save for Elsa and Kristoff, though Hiccup and Astrid were close enough to hear it anyway, "but you're not really a god, are you?"
Astrid gasped in shock, but Elsa ignored her as she clarified, "What my sister means is that back when we were back home in Arendelle, a friend we'd just met had, as he showed us some events from his life, talked about having met long-lived beings who were once revered and feared as gods, and in those memories we'd seen someone who looked an awful lot like you."
"I see. So I was correct in my belief that you three are not from around here," Thor said with a thoughtful nod, "Who was this friend of yours?"
"Julian Hynes," Elsa told him, though she worked hard to suppress the twinge uttering that name gave her heart.
"Ah yes, Julian. I'm glad to hear my old comrade is still alive and well," Thor said with a smile, then with a meaningful look at Hiccup and Astrid he told Elsa, "Please don't tell the others, as I have no wish to disrupt their beliefs, but your sister is correct. Even though I and the rest of my people in the realm of Asgard are certainly longer lived than you are here in Midgard, and we possess abilities many of you do not, the fact is that we are not gods."
"Oh," Anna said, sounding somewhat disappointed that she was right, "It's just that the four of us, including Sven, have gotten kinda lost, and I was hoping that you had some way you could return us home to our own time."
"I'm afraid that is beyond my power, and even if I had access to the proper Infinity Stone I'm afraid you would not be strong enough to make the journey," Thor told her regretfully. When Anna looked even more despondent, Thor said with a significant look at Elsa's pendant, "Do not lose heart though, child, for you already know someone who can bring you home, and if I'm not mistaken you also have a means by which to contact him."
Elsa also looked down at her pendant and she knew who he was talking about. However, even though her hand reached up towards it, it stopped short of actually grabbing hold. "What's wrong, Elsa?" Anna asked her, sensing her hesitation.
"I guess I'm a bit afraid," Elsa admitted, "What if I call him and he doesn't come?"
"You need not worry, milady," Thor assured her, "He would not have given you that if he did not mean for you to use it in a time like this, and the Julian I knew would not back out on a promise like this. If he does not show, however, you can bet I'll find him and have some choice words with him myself."
Elsa let his words sink in, then she nodded and took a deep breath as she gathered her courage. Elsa then strode towards the ruined ice scaffolding, not meeting the curious gazes of the other Vikings but idly noting one of the smaller fishing boats was gone (likely taken by Drago), then she grips the pendant tightly. For a moment nothing happens, and as she feels the strange pendant warm her hand she began to fear that maybe he wouldn't show again, like the time he'd sent the pirate (or former pirate) to help her in Neverland rather than coming himself.
Then there's a sound like an explosion as the waters of an area of the ocean in the distance blow upward and settle back down in a shower. As it clears, Elsa was able to make out a ship she had only seen once before, back in Arendelle before she was kidnapped. Frozen in disbelief for a moment, then she was hurrying down the steps, barely keeping from running as she went to the pier where the ship was docking. The remodeled fishing boat looked as though it had been through some action since she'd given it to him to replace the wreck he'd arrived in Arendelle in, but her eyes were not for the vessel but rather the handsome yet still strangely dressed man who stepped from it.
Before she could reach him, however, her steps stuttered and slowed when he turned towards to her and she caught sight of his eyes. In many ways the look he had was much the same as what he had upon that first meeting. However, the pain and sadness wasn't so buried this time, showing much more close to the surface along with something else as well: guilt. As the pieces came together, Elsa came to a shocking conclusion: he knew. The realization that Julian was aware of what she and Anna had went through in Neverland, New York, and the Earth Kingdom brought back those horrible memories, and Elsa felt herself reliving the emotions she'd felt then: fear, hopelessness, and especially anger.
The air resonated with a sound crack, and the onlooking Vikings groaned in sympathy as Elsa cradled the throbbing hand she'd just slapped Julian with. As he turned his gaze back towards her, Julian didn't looked shocked or angry: he simply had that same apologetic look in his eyes, and that made Elsa even angrier. Balling her fists Elsa began to beat on his chest, and he still didn't react or do anything to defend himself. Julian simply stood there and took it, blast him. Of course she probably wasn't doing him any real damage with her bare fists, but she was too angry to concentrate on using her powers or to care enough to try and stop the flow of angry tears coming from her eyes.
As the beating continued, Elsa started to scream at him, "You know what Anna and I have been through since you left? I was kidnapped by pirates and we had to defend an island of fairies against them! Then we were sent to a strange land, where we beaten and tortured by a bunch of hateful men in hoods! Then I had to fight against a crazy lady who wound up killing Anna in front of me! Do you understand!? That Princess Azula had killed Anna, and you could have stopped her, but you weren't there! Why, why weren't you there, Julian!? Why!?"
Her anger and energy finally exhausted, Elsa rested her balled fists against his chest, her head falling forward against her fists as she collapsed into racking sobs. "Elsa," she heard Anna say sympathetically, but it was Julian's comforting grip she felt supporting her across her shoulders and stroking her hair. "I'm so, so sorry you had to go through that Elsa. If I had thought you would not have been able to get home from Neverland, that those things would have befallen you, then I would have come to escort you myself. But As I've told you before I'm only human, and I've come to believe there's a reason the future's next to impossible for me to see."
"Why didn't you come?" Elsa asked him, not moving from her position, "Why did you send that pirate instead?"
"Captain Turner isn't a pirate. He hadn't been one for many years, ever since his death and even before then he hadn't been one for all that long, instead spending most of his life making an honest life as a blacksmith," Julian clarified, though his tone of voice made it sound as though he was still sorry about what happened, "In that, he's much like Chief Hiccup over there. As for why I didn't come when you called back then, I felt an urgent situation somewhere and I was afraid I wouldn't have the time to take care of both myself. Besides, I felt the Flying Dutchman would make a much bigger impression of those superstitious pirates than I could have, and considering how quickly I'd heard they'd made themselves scarce it seems I was right."
"But what was so urgent that it kept you away?" Elsa asked him again, her head still swirling in turmoil.
"To put it simply, the life of a young man was at stake," Julian told her, "You see, the cuckoo clock that had served as a replacement for his heart since he was a baby was broken, and without a replacement he was going to die."
"His….what!?" Elsa pulled back to look him in the face, unsure of whether or not he was making fun of her with such a ridiculous statement.
"I know, it seems strange. If I hadn't seen it for myself I would not have believed it myself, and with all the unusual things I've seen in my journeys that's saying something," Julian told her, "But I swear it's true. I had sacrificed my best pocket watch for the surgery, and for a while I wasn't sure that it was going to work. However, it seems his late adoptive mother was as brilliant a nursemaid and surgeon as she was in raising that boy, and his body ended up accepting the new timepiece just fine. After that I went to help some young heroes save their city, their world from an invasion from another universe. Their leader had just put the kibosh to the invaders' plans when I got your recent call."
"But on your way here you had seen what happened to us between Neverland and here, right? I recall you had mentioned you had an ability like that back in Arendelle," Elsa heard Anna ask him, and Elsa say she looked as puzzled as she sounded, "So why didn't you go instead to New York before we'd left instead of here, or even catch us before we even left Neverland?"
"Believe me, Princess Anna, I was tempted, and I did come close to changing my course to try and prevent what'd happened to you," Julian answered her, "But every time I've tried to change what I've seen having happened, no matter how noble my intentions were, it's always ended disastrously and everyone wound up worse that if I've left things as they were. The best I could hope to do was to study the past and learn how things went wrong, so as that I can do my best to reverse the ill effects in the present and give those wronged a better future. I'm truly sorry for what had happened to you both, and I know it's a poor apology compared to what you went though, but I'm here now to bring you back home to your families and your people."
"The way you're talking it sounds you won't be staying this time either," Elsa said to him.
"I'm afraid not," Julian told her, "I still have to find my own way home and answer for my actions there before I can let myself settle elsewhere. I'm sorry."
"Do I have your permission to hit him, my Queen?" Kristoff asked as he walked up towards them, his eyes narrowed and his arms crossed.
Elsa sighed and said, "No. I suppose I understand where he's coming from, and we do need to get back home before someone like Hans decides to take advantage of our absence."
"So that means you're leaving us already?" Hiccup asked as he and the other Vikings made their way up the pier.
"Yes, I'm afraid so," Elsa told him remorsefully, "The four of us have been away from my people long enough. It's long past time for me to return to them."
"I'm sorry to hear that. I was kinda hoping that you would stay for the wedding," Hiccup told her, then Astrid gasped as Hiccup kneeled before her and produced the ring from where it was stored on his suit as he added, "that is, if Astrid would have me."
"Are you serious?" Astrid breathed, her hand over her mouth.
"Well I was hoping to do this somewhere in a more private and romantic location," Hiccup waffled, "but then Drago made a mess of all that, and now our new friends are getting ready to leave and we don't know when or if we'll see them again…"
"Yes!" Astrid interrupted him as she pulled him up into a bone crushing hug, "Of course I'll marry you!" Then they kissed as the village around them cheered their support. Elsa smiled at them both, then she looked past them to the cliffside, where Aurora and Thunderhead were looking down at them with what appeared to be sad expressions. Elsa made her way through the crowd, with Anna and Kristoff following closely behind, and made it to the stairs before the two dragons hopped down to meet them and nuzzled them affectionately. Elsa stroked the top of her head in return as she said sadly, "I'm gonna miss you, Aurora."
"Yeah, me too Thunderhead," Anna agreed as she wiped away a tear of her own.
Hiccup and Astrid held hands as they approached and Hiccup asked them, "Why not just take them with you where you're going?"
"Oh no, I couldn't….I mean we couldn't possibly…" Anna hurriedly declined, "…I mean none of us know the first thing about taking care of dragons!"
"Well many Dragons, especially ones of the Tidal Class like your Thunderhead, pretty much live off of fish they get for themselves in the ocean," Valka informed them.
"As for your Aurora," Hiccup told Elsa, "the Flightmare's primary food source is a special algae that grows in flowing streams and glows when Arvindal's Fire is in the sky."
"Well I'm pretty sure that we don't have anything like that back home," Elsa argued, trying to make them see why it'd be better for the dragons if they left them here.
"Sure you do," Thor argued back, "There's a stream that would meet Aurora's needs just a short walking distance from the area you call the Valley of Living Stones."
"But how would we get them home?" Anna asked, "They couldn't possibly fly there, and I doubt that Julian's ship is large enough to hold them."
"Just take one of our ships then," Stoick offered, "It's the least we could do after you helped save our village, and it'll serve you better than that dinky little rowboat there."
"Did you guys miss the part where I said there aren't any dragons back where I live?" Elsa tried to reason with them, "If they come with us, then what will they do for companionship?"
"Truth is I haven't seen another Flightmare since I started working with the dragons at the nest to try and stymie Drago's 'recruitment' into his dragon army," Valka told her, "In fact, Aurora may be as rare as Toothless, and if you leave her here alone she'll just be that much lonelier."
"And while he may miss his family if he goes, I'm certain that Thunderhead would miss you even worse if he's forced to stay," Hiccup added.
"His name's Lloyd," Tuffnut argued, which prompts a growl out of Thunderhead before Anna strokes his head comfortingly while she tells the twins, "I don't think that he cares for that name."
Stoick chuckles once before telling Elsa and her friends, "I'm afraid there's no arguing with them. Both my wife and son are even more hardheaded than me in these things, and they're both usually right."
Elsa sighed as her last argument was shot down, then she turned towards Aurora and asked, "Well, girl, what do you say? Do you want to go home with me?"
Aurora's response was as enthusiastic as it was humorous, as the dragon began licking her vigorously, practically knocking her down amidst the village's laughter, and Elsa couldn't help laughing herself as she protested, "Okay! No, stop that!"
Hiccup laughed as well as he told her, "You better get used to that."
The preparations for departure didn't take long, though the Vikings seemed to be just as dumbstruck by Julian's electromagnetic moving of his belongings and the steel plating from his old ship to the new one as they had been by her own arrival. Less inclined to violence though, but Elsa chalked that one up to her arriving together with a wounded Hiccup. As she and Anna looked down over the ship's railing at Hiccup and his family, Elsa asked them, "So have you guys thought about what your child's name will be will be?"
"A bit," Hiccup told them, "If it's a boy, we were thinking about maybe either Finn after Astrid's uncle or Stoick, after my dad."
"How about Hakon?" Kristoff suggested, "That's a good strong name."
"Ugh, no thanks," Astrid grunted in disgust, "I actually have an uncle on my mom's side named Hakon, or I would if he hadn't practically disowned our whole family. Thinks we're all traitors to our ancestors for settling down in a village rather than carrying on the 'tradition' of looting and pillaging, so he wound up starting his own tribe. Last I heard he was looking to sack some castle in Scotland. Barbarian."
"Oh, sorry about that," Kristoff apologized, and Elsa considered what Astrid just revealed. A Viking group attacking a castle in Scotland? Elsa thought to herself, It can't be…
"As for if it's a girl, I was thinking about something for someone who'd be both strong and beautiful," Astrid said, cutting into her thoughts, "so I hope you don't mind if we name her after you, Elsa."
Elsa teared up a bit as she said in a thick voice, "I would be honored."
As Thor walked up to see Elsa and her friends up, Hiccup removed his shield and held it up to him as he said, "You probably are wanting this back now, Lord Thor. Here you go."
Thor smiled and shook his head and said, "No, that isn't mine, and although it was repaired in Asgard it didn't come from there. It actually belongs to a friend and comrade in arms of mine."
"Oh," Hiccup replied, then he held it up again and said, "Did you want to take it back to him?"
"That's fine, it'll be a good many years before he'll need it back again, and I'm sure he'd be honored someone like you is putting it to such good use," Thor answered, "Just keep it safe and I'll make sure it gets back to him when he needs it again. Not that you have to worry too much about damaging it or anything. I know, I tried."
Hiccup smiled with an awestruck expression, then he nodded and hung the shield on his back.
"Our village, and our family especially owes you folks so much," Valka tells Elsa and her friends gratefully, "We cannot thank you enough."
Stoick nodded as he added, "Yes, should you need our help, for anything, just let us know and we'll be there."
Elsa smiled and nodded, although she didn't know just how many years separated them or how she'd manage to contact them again in that event.
"Take care, Queen Elsa," Hiccup said with a formal salute.
"And you, Chief Hiccup," Elsa replied with a small curtsey.
Then Julian unfurled the sails and the ship sailed out into the ocean. Elsa looked down into the ship's hold to check on the dragons there, who seemed to be taking the voyage easily enough. Then, once they were far enough out, Elsa created an ice dome over them all while Julian used his power to create a portal on the water's surface on their portside, then Elsa felt some disorientation as Julian rolled the ship into it.
Back in Arrendale…
It had taken longer than he'd anticipated to be ready, due largely to the huge number of volunteers who'd wanted to help sail out to search for their Queen and Princess, as well as the necessity to sort out who was fit for sailing and who wasn't, but by the time the sky was darkening again they were ready. As the Aurora Borealis danced in the sky overhead, Elsa's father hugged his wife Katara as she told him, "Now you keep safe, find our children and bring them home."
"I will, I promise," he told her, "Those pirates won't keep our family apart just as we had gotten back together."
"Milord, look," a soldier told him, pointing out towards the fjord, "Something is approaching."
Elsa's father turned to look in the direction the soldier was indicating. In the fading light he spotted something in the sky over the fjord. It was too large to be a bird, yet too small to be either one of his daughters. When it got closer, he was able to better able to able to make out its unusual shape and its pale coloring. "Olaf?" he guessed.
"Hi Elsa and Anna's dad, Elsa and Emma's mom! I'm back!" Olaf called out as he came in for a landing, and Elsa's dad noticed a couple of small flying creatures that were similar to those that Anna had flown off with in the first place, "Sorry I was gone so long, but time flies when you're having fun." Straining his eyes, he was able to determine that these creatures were a pair of tiny ladies with delicate looking gossamer wings, one with a dress of leaves that were the same shade of blue as the dress he'd last seen Elsa wearing and whose short, spiky hair was the same color as hers as well. The other had short, blond hair and was wearing a green winter outfit that also appeared to be made of leaves and was lined with bits of cotton. Also, curiously enough, the green fairy's wings appeared to be coated with a thin layer of frost, while the blue fairy had a small snow cloud hovering over her head similar to the one Olaf had hanging over his. The green fairy said something to Olaf, though to Elsa's father's ears it sounded only like tinkling, and Olaf added, "Oh, and Tinker Bell said that time passes differently in Neverland than it does here too."
Elsa's father felt his wife relaxing next to him, but he felt it was too early for him to do so just yet. Sure he'd also heard the reports that Anna had met up with Olaf and Kristoff before flying off beyond Arendelle's borders, and Olaf's relaxed demeanor indicated that he did not have bad news, but the fact Olaf had returned alone still troubled his heart. "Where is Anna and Kristoff? And did you guys find Elsa? Was she okay?"
Olaf smiled and waved dismissively as he said, "Oh, they're all fine. Tink and the other fairies had rescued Elsa before we'd even got there, then we helped her and the fairies drive the pirates off for good. After that, Anna, Elsa, Kristoff and Sven had flown back while I remained behind to help Marshmallow get settled in. Sorry if I worried them, but as I said I lost track of time."
This new information caused Elsa's father to become concerned, and he saw that his wife and the others around them were just as worried. When the fairy Olaf had called Tinker Bell flew up to him, Elsa's father saw she looked concerned as well, but since he couldn't understand anything she was saying it was hard to tell for sure.
Apparently Olaf could understand, however, as he asked her, "Tink? What's wrong?" Tinker Bell then turned to Olaf and said something to him, after which Olaf turned towards Elsa's parents and asked, "Anna and Elsa hadn't come back yet? Tink says they should have returned by now."
"No, you were the first one back, and it's been so long now that we were starting to get really worried," Katara answered him.
"Milord, what does this mean?" one of the volunteers, a deep sea fisherman, asked him in concern.
"It means that we now have less information to go on now than we had before," he answered, "but the need to find our Queen and Princess is still very present. We'll still keep an eye out for the pirates who'd kidnapped the Queen, in the event they'd managed to recapture her and the others, but our primary concern is locating Elsa and Anna and bringing them back sa…"
Elsa's father was interrupted by the sound of a tremendous splash in the fjord. Whirling around, he and the others saw as the displaced water rained back down over a vessel he'd only ever seen illustrations of in books and old parchments. "Is that….a Viking boat?" He'd heard one of the soldiers ask in confusion, "How'd it get here?"
"I've heard that the fjord was formed the way it was by an iceberg," one of the villagers suggested, "and you see that ice that's on it? Maybe it was trapped in an iceberg ages ago, and enough of the iceberg that it was still stuck in had melted so that it was freed and floated back to the surface."
Elsa's father did indeed see the ice on the ship, but oddly enough the ice only covered the top of the ship and much of the mast, the bottom being completely free of it. He wasn't sure what circumstances would result in a ship being frozen in an iceberg upside down, but before he could deliberate on it much further the ice on the ship began to quickly melt. No, it's not melting, he corrected himself, it's breaking up and rising into the air before dissolving. I've only seen ice behave that way once before. That means…!
The ice on the ship had finally dissolved enough to reveal figures on the deck, and when he saw who it was his heart sped even as one of the villagers cried out, "It's Queen Elsa and Princess Anna! They've returned!" Cheers and cries of exuberation broke out all around them even as Elsa's father felt his wife wrap her arms around him from behind and rest her chin on his shoulder. When he heard her sniff, he looked out of the corner of his eye to see a tear trace down her cheek and he reached a hand up to pat her comfortingly, knowing just how she felt.
As Elsa spotted them she raised her hand in greeting while Anna ran up to the railing beside her and waved even more energetically. Elsa's father also saw Kristoff standing by the mast with Sven, and he even recognized Julian at the ship's helm. So that explained why the ship appeared out of the water, even if it didn't explain why his daughters were on that ship, or how Julian had ended up with a different ship than the one his daughter had given him.
Before long the ship was docking, and even though he and his wife had seen Julian's gifts before, Elsa's father still found himself awestruck by how he could do things like securing the ship to the dock with the mooring lines without even touching them. Despite his fascination with that young man's abilities, Elsa's father soon found his attention diverted as the boarding ramp was lowered and his daughters hurried down it. As happy as he was to see them, he also found himself shocked and dismayed by what he saw on Anna's chest as she ran forward yelling, "Mom! Dad!"
"Anna!" Katara exclaimed as Anna hugged both of her parents, "You've been hurt!"
"What, this?" Anna asked simply as she released her parents to look down through the hole in her dress at the ugly scar that showed on her chest, "This is nothing. A friend already treated it and I'm fine now."
"Did the pirates do that to you?" her father asked in a dangerous tone.
"No. It was….well, someone you wouldn't likely know," Anna told him, "It's a long story."
"But what's important is that our journey's now over," Elsa told them as she took her turn to hug them both, "and I couldn't be any happier to be back home with you."
"Same here," her father agreed, then he turned towards Julian, who was disembarking right behind Kristoff, and said to him, "It seems that we owe you once again for bringing our family back together."
"It was nothing," Julian assured them modestly, "I merely gave them a ride back home is all."
"But where did you find them?" Katara asked Julian, "And how did you end up with a Viking vessel instead of the ship Elsa gave to you?"
"That all is also a bit of a long story," Julian told her, "But as for the ship, the short answer to that is that I needed the extra cargo space for this trip, so I traded it."
"You needed the space?" Katara asked him in confusion, "For what?"
"Monster!" one of the citizens yelled in fright. When Elsa's father looked in the direction the lady was pointing, his eyes widened and his jaw dropped. Climbing out of the ship's hold was a couple of beasts straight out of legend. Huge and reptilian in appearance, one was purple and scaly while the other appeared to glow blue from within. He didn't know why Julian would need such creatures aboard his ship, or even if he knew they were there when he traded for the boat, but he wasn't about to let them endanger his countrymen much less his own daughters.
As he reached for his sheathed sword, Anna grabbed his arm while Elsa stood between the soldiers and the ship as Elsa said, "Everyone please calm down. Dad, it's all right. They're just Anna's and my dragons."
Elsa's father looked at Elsa as if she were speaking in tongues as he said in confusion, "Those are your…what!?"
Elsa stroked the muzzle of the blue dragon as she told her father, "Our dragons. This beautiful girl of mine is Aurora, while the other is Anna's and he goes by the name Thunderhead. Neither of them is a fire breathing type, and Anna's eats fish while mine eats algae, so you don't have to worry about them. I know it's all a bit strange and confusing, but it's…"
" '…a long story'?" Katara guessed with a slight smile.
"Actually, it's all part of the same long story," Elsa confirmed with her own smile, "I'd love to fill you in later, but after what all we've went through I'd like to just take a bit of quiet time to just relax if that's all right."
"Of course. Take as long as you need, dear. I can keep things going in the meantime," Elsa's father told her.
"Thanks, Dad," Elsa told him gratefully, then she heard scrabbling behind her on the ships deck. Looking he saw Aurora prancing as she quickly back and forth between her and the mountains in the distance. Elsa guessed that Aurora must have caught the scent of the stream Thor had mentioned. "Go on ahead, girl," Elsa told Aurora, "I'll catch up with you later."
Aurora licked Elsa, then flew off towards the mountains. Elsa watched her fly for a while, then she went and hugged her parents again as she said, "It just feels so good to finally be back home."
Meanwhile, in a clearing near the Valley of Living Stones…
The snowy field is quiet and calm, the commotion of the celebration held in the town far below unable to be heard. Then the calm. Then the calm is disrupted with the appearance of a swirling vortex opening in mid air. After a moment, a number of objects are expelled violently from it, including a bunch of broken furniture parts, a pair of shattered brooms, and a couple who appeared to be in their late teens. As the boy pushed himself to his hands and knees, he asked, "Are you all right?"
"I think so, but what happened? Where are we?" the girl replied as she brushed the snow out of her ginger-colored hair, correcting herself as she corrected herself by saying, "When are we?"
The boy placed a hand on his head, which shifted his hair and revealed a bolt-shaped scar on his forehead as he answered, "I don't know, Ginny. I don't know."
Not the end…
Foreword
Thanks to those of you who've followed along with me this far and have been patient while I tried to split my free time I wasn't at work between my various stories. Of course I'm sure that some of you who had started with this story may be confused with some of the names used herein more so than those who had read all of the Elsa stories I've written up until now. I'll do my best to help clarify down below, and if anyone has any questions I'll add those here later.
Katara (Elsa and Anna's mother): I'm aware that on the recent season of Once Upon a Time the writers of the show had given her a different name (Ingrid or something), but at the time I started writing these stories she was as of yet unnamed. For reasons of my own, I chose to give her this name back in the conclusion of "Cold War". Just to be clear here, she should not be confused with the character from Avatar: The Last Airbender.
Aurora (Elsa's Flightmare): I'm sure many of you guessed that Elsa named her after the Aurora Borealis (a.k.a. Arvindal's Fire). Of course I don't think many people would confuse her with the princess from Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent. No, I imagine the confusion would stem from whether or not this dragon was in fact the same one that was referred to as the Hofferson's Bane in the Defenders of Berk episode Fright of Passage. I've become aware that the Dragon Wiki has it listed as being a male, but I don't know if that information was in fact confirmed as being correct, and I don't recall the characters ever referring to its sex during the episode (and even if they had, how would they have been able to tell for sure in the middle of a fight like that). Therefore, I'll leave it to the readers to decide whether or not it was for themselves.
Next, this is in response to the guest review left by Atlas (due to the fact I can't respond directly to guest reviews). First of all, it was a Thunderdrum that Anna had got, not a Skrill. I had briefly considered giving Anna a Skrill, just for the sheer firepower and all, but I couldn't think of how Drago would be able to have captured it and brought it to Berk or even how it would arrive at Berk in a friendly manner, much less how Anna would be able to forge a bond with it. On the other hand, the Thunderdrum triplets and their surrogate father Thornado are already friendly towards Berk (largely due to Thornado being Stoic's old Thunderdrum companion). Additionally, the Thunderdrum named Thunderhead (formerly known as Lloyd) is a more naturally perfect companion for Anna to his energetic and loving nature (not to mention that, like her, he can be rather stubborn and loud).
As for Julian's actions, I understand why some might be irked by the fact that he didn't use what he saw on his way there to Berk to change his course and instead retrieve her and her friends from what they had went through. However, while his talent of using his gift to see the past and present through windows he creates or during his travels through the time-stream certainly is handy, his ability to see the future is clouded at best, and most of the time it's non-existent. Furthermore, if you think of any movie involving alteration of events based on knowledge of the future (The Butterfly Effect, the Final Destination series, the Back to the Future series) how many times has those alterations ended for the better? Maybe not every alternate outcome has resulted in tragedy, but Julian's experiences has taught him that the future is a subject that's best left alone, as any attempt he's made of altering what future event he's seen has only ended badly, so that's why he did what he did here.
If there's any other questions you may have, then let me know and I'll do my best to answer them. Once again, thank you for reading and I hope to have more for you soon.