Chapter 11

Back in Arendelle, Kristoff was pulling his hair out. Elsa had placed him in charge before she bolted off to who knows where, and he wasn't happy about it. Now that he had been running Arendelle for the last 5 days, he was even less happy. As Commodities Director, Kristoff had a busy job, but now he wasn't just managing commodities. Every problem the kingdom had fell squarely on his shoulders. Oh how he longed to return to the simple life he had when he just sold ice. How did Elsa and Anna do this day in and day out? Thankfully he had some help. Olaf was always ready with advice and encouragement. And Fishlegs, who had returned early due to his dragons' limited speed, had plenty of logic for Kristoff to draw on.

What made this day even more challenging was that he had a harbor full of ships to organize. His message to the allied kingdoms had reached the right ears far faster than he imagined, and each kingdom had sent a supply convoy escorted by as many warships as each could spare. An encouraging gesture, given that no-one yet knew even who the enemy was, let alone the size of his force. But sadly, this wasn't what it appeared to be. The warships had been sent to protect the convoys ONLY. From every dignitary Kristoff heard the same thing. This was Arendelles fight, and they felt there was no need to commit resources to a conflict that the Sisters of Arendelle could settle in minutes on their own.

In the courtyard, Kristoff tried to bring order to the chaos in Arendelle, and in his head.

"What a bunch of cowards!" he exclaimed, "After everything Arendelle has done for the alliance, how could they just turn their backs like this?"

Fishlegs replied, "Well, they do have a point. Elsa and Anna could easily wipe out the Berserker tribe completely without anyone's help."

"But this force threatens all the kingdoms of the alliance." Olaf stated, "It's not Arendelles job to protect everyone that sails the North Sea."

"That's EXACTLY my point, Olaf!" Kristoff gripped. "If Elsa and Anna take care of this themselves, then the alliance will expect them to come running whenever they're in trouble rather than protecting themselves. The past few days I've learned exactly what the queen has to do here. She can't be running off to help others and still rule Arendelle."

"Also a good point." Fishlegs admitted. "But these people seem very determined to stay out of a fight. How can we change their minds?"

Kristoff held his pounding head. Looking towards the evening sun, he relished the warmth on his face. But something caught his eye, just to the left of the sun. Something was flying. As he watched, the small object became bigger, then became 2, then 4. And they were getting bigger.

"Um..do you guys see that?" he asked.

Olaf and Fishlegs looked. Then Fishlegs lit up. "I'd know those shapes anywhere. It's the Riders!"

Within a few minutes the 4 dragons set down in the courtyard. Seeing Kristoff, Anna jumped down off Stormfly and ran to him, throwing her arms as much around him and as tightly she could. She smiled when he responded in kind. Nothing needed to be said between them.

Although Elsa was pleased to see that there were no hard feelings between her sister and Kristoff, she had much bigger issues to deal with. She hopped off Toothless and walked to them, clearing her throat.

"I'm really sorry to interrupt," she said, "but Kristoff, why are there so many ships in port?"

Kristoff looked up at her. "They're from the allied kingdoms. Supply ships with warship escorts. They came in response to the message I sent 5 days ago."

Elsa lit up. "That's perfect! We don't have much time to set up our defenses. Kristoff, have the delegates meet in the courtroom in 1 hour. Anna, I'm afraid I'll need you. "She turned to Hiccup. "And all of you as well." The Riders nodded their acknowledgment.

Anna pulled away from Kristoff. "I'm sorry my love. But we are all in very big trouble!"

"Wait. What do you mean?" he asked as she left. Anna yelled back.

"He's coming!"

The courtroom was buzzing with conversation. The delegates of the allied kingdoms all wondered the same things. Why were they here at this hour? Who were these vikings standing beside the podium? What was the queen up to? But all fell silent as Queen Elsa and Princess Anna were announced. Now dressed in full formal gowns and presenting perfect royal deportment, Elsa stepped up to the podium with Anna at her side.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of the Alliance," she began, "We have a crisis situation. 5 days ago Princess Anna and I embarked with the Dragon Riders of Berk on a search mission to find who or what was hijacking trade ships in the North Sea. It is my unfortunate duty to report to you that we have found the answer. To fully explain our enemy, I give you our viking expert Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Third of the Hooligan tribe of Berk."

Elsa stepped aside as Hiccup stepped up.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. For many years Berk has had unfortunate dealings with a vicious band of vikings known as The Berserkers. Their leader is named Dagur the Deranged, a name that I'm sorry to say is well and truly earned. From our observations, it appears that he has been capturing trade ships for some time, adding them to his armada. Our best guess is that he now has almost a thousand ships in his fleet. It is my belief that he plans to use this fleet to assume control of all shipping within the North Sea. And his fleet is on its way to Arendelle as we speak. Maybe a day or two at most."

Muffled comments rose from the crowd.

Hiccup stepped down as Elsa returned to the podium.

"Thank you Hiccup. Ladies and Gentlemen, I have asked you all here, in accordance with the alliance charter, to ask for your help in eliminating this threat to the safety and economic stability of all our lands. Together, we can send a message. That the allied kingdoms will not stand by and allow tyranny to endanger the peaceful way of life that we have worked so hard to build in the region. Arendelle will commit 25 warships to this cause. What say you all?"

The room fell silent. The delegates looked around to each other, but nobody spoke. Elsa and Anna scanned the room, their hearts sinking fast.

Hiccup spoke up. "Your majesty! Berk may not be a member of the alliance, but Dagur has been as much a thorn in our sides as he is yours now. We will commit 5 dragons and their riders to the defeat of Dagur the Deranged!" the Riders cheered out in agreement. This made Elsa and Anna smile.

"Arendelle graciously welcomes Berks assistance." Elsa stated. She turned to the crowd. "Will no-one from the alliance answer Arendelles call?"

One delegate stood. "Forgive me your majesty. But the simple truth is that we see no need to commit what meager resources we have against such a powerful foe, when the Sisters of Arendelle could eliminate this threat themselves with no risk or difficulty whatsoever."

His words hit them like a hammer. Elsa was stunned. Anna however was enraged.

"You can't be serious!" she bellowed. "Is this alliance actually saying that it wants to put all the defense needs of the region on US simply because we have magic? I can't believe what I'm hearing!"

"Easy Anna." Elsa called. Anna crossed her arms, an angry look on her face.

Elsa turned back to the crowd. "Is what my sister says true? Do you believe it is our duty to protect you all ourselves? Is this alliance going to ignore Arendelles call for help because of our gifts?"

Again, nobody responded.

Elsa hung her head. "Then I have no choice. In accordance with article 18 of the alliance charter, which reads ' If a call for help is ignored by any other member of the alliance with the capability to assist, the kingdom requesting assistance may choose to remove itself from said alliance, in order to use whatever means necessary to defend itself.', I Queen Elsa withdraw Arendelles membership from the allied kingdoms."

Suddenly everyone was talking at once.