Chapter 3

The palace itself was a new experience for Hiccup and his team of riders. They had seen large buildings before, but nothing like this. This place made their Dragon Academy look like a one room shack. Fishlegs was awestruck by the ornate designs. Snotlout couldn't help but stop to admire himself in EVERY mirror he passed. The twins were enthralled with how shiny everything was. And Hiccup and Astrid held their composure well as they followed Elsa, Anna and Kristoff to the dining hall.

"Your majesty," Hiccup said to Elsa, "This is truly an impressive home you have."

"Yah! You could put all of Berk AND the dragons in here." Ruff stated. "But how do you keep it so...clean?"

Elsa grinned. "We have staff that maintain the palace constantly."

Tuff responded, "You mean you have people that do EVERYTHING for you?" Hiccup glared at him.

Anna took that one. "It's kinda part of being royalty. Our job is to take care of Arendelles big problems. Others take care of the smaller jobs so that we can focus our attention on the needs of our people."

"Well said, Anna." Elsa stated.

Tuff grumbled. "Wish I could be royal."

"I'm sure it's a lot harder that they make it appear, Tuff." Hiccup said, looking to Elsa.

Elsa followed his lead. "It can be rather troublesome at times, like now. These tradeship attacks are playing havoc with our winter supply levels and all Arendelle is looking to us for a solution."

"Never mind! That's too much responsibility for me." Tuff admitted.

At that moment, the serving staff began bringing in lunch. The Riders watched in amazement as well dressed waiters brought plates of food out and placed them before each person. Another went around filling wine and water. Then just as quickly as they appeared, the waiters were gone. Elsa, Anna and Kristoff looked at their guests puzzled expressions. Elsa leaned over to Hiccup and whispered, "Is something wrong?"

"I'm afraid we're at a loss," Hiccup replied, "as to how we're supposed to eat. No disrespect intended, but what are all these spoons and forks for?"

Elsa quietly asked Hiccup how they served meals on Berk. After a short discussion, she summoned a waiter and relayed a new plan to him. Immediately the wait staff replaced their plates with empty ones, their wine glasses with beer steins and removed all but one knife, fork and spoon each. They then brought out a platter heaping with fresh cooked meat. The riders faces lit up as the platter was placed on the table before them. Elsa motioned to them. "Please. Enjoy."

And the feeding frenzy began.

Anna and Kristoff were stunned. Kristoff leaned over to Anna and whispered, "Remember when I told you about the pack of wolves I once saw eating a deer?"

Anna nodded.

"It looked just like this!"

Elsa simply ate quietly and allowed her guests to be themselves. No matter how appalling it was to watch.

With lunch well and truly eaten, and the dishes removed, Hiccup asked,

"So, what can you tell us about these attacks that has you convinced vikings are involved?"

"Actually Kristoff could probably answer that better than I," she replied, "As Commodities Director, he was the first to receive such reports."

Kristoff told the riders everything he knew. At first they seemed rather indifferent to his report. But once he mentioned the massive fleet of viking ships, they suddenly appeared frightened.

"There's only one viking clan with that kind of fleet." Astrid said. "And if that's who's behind these attacks, then we're ALL in big trouble."

"Who do you think it is?" Anna asked.

Fishlegs replied fearfully. "BERSERKERS!"

"Um..Forgive me," Elsa stuttered. "What is a Berserker?"

Hiccup explained. "They're a vicious clan of vikings, led by Dagur the Deranged. A title that, I'm sorry to say, is not just a clever name."

Hiccup continued his story as Elsa, Anna and Kristoff listened in stunned silence for what seemed like forever.

"So, to sum it all up," Hiccup concluded, "there isn't a force in existence that can stand up to the Berserkers."

Kristoff commented, "These Berserkers haven't met the Sisters of Arendelle yet."

Elsa and Anna smiled slyly.

Astrid barked, "What? You mean the queen and princess?" she looked at Anna, "No offence, but neither of you look like you could even lift an axe, let alone take on Dagur. What could you poss..."

PAFF! A snowball hit Astrid squarely in the face.

"WHO DID THAT?!" Astrid screamed. Noticing the others with their mouths hanging open, she looked to Elsa and Anna and her own mouth fell open. The riders were awestruck as Elsa sat with a small snowstorm in her hand, while Anna was making a small flaming cyclone in her own.

"You've been kind enough to tell us your story," Anna said

Elsa finished," Perhaps it's time we told you ours."