Chapter 13

Nearly 18 hours after they had left the port of Arendelle the alliance fleet was well into the North Sea, sailing towards the last known location of the Berserker armada. It was a very heartening sight, with the polished brass fittings and cannons of 256 sail ships gleaming in the afternoon sun. To lower the risk of being caught by surprise, the Riders took turns patrolling the skies around the fleet, looking for Dagur. They knew he was around here. Just not exactly where. But what if they were wrong? Had Dagur changed course? If so, he could be at Arendelle now. These were thoughts that Elsa could not afford to have. She was now in command of the alliance fleet on a vital search and destroy mission. She had to, as Stoick had advised her, keep her head in this fight.

Elsa and Anna stood at the front rail of the alliance fleet flagship, their armor breastplates gleaming in the sun, watching as the twins guided their Zippleback through the skies on their patrol route. So far there had been no sign of the Berserkers, and they were worried. The day was slipping away quickly, and they didn't want to face their foe in the dark of night.

"You don't think," Anna asked, "that we somehow missed them, do you?"

"No," Elsa replied. "I think they're out there. Probably not far. What I worry about is are we ready for him."

Anna beamed. "Oh I know we are. We have the advantage. How can we lose?"

Elsa gave her a confused look. "What advantage is that?"

Anna took her hand. "We have each other."

Elsa smiled at that.

Their attention was then caught by a fireball high in the sky above the horizon. The flagships captain came running forward.

"Princess Anna. Was that your doing?" he asked pointing to the fireball.

Anna replied, "Nope. Not me this time!" Elsa looked through a spyglass towards the fireball, then down to the horizon. As she thought. The horizon was filled with masts and sails.

"I believe we've found the Berserker armada." She stated. "Captain, pass the word to all ships. Best speed ahead. Prepare for battle!"

The red battle flag was raised on the mast, followed by one on each ship in the fleet, and all sails were tightened to increase speed towards their target. As they sailed towards the enemy, Ruff and Tuff returned to the flagship to report what they found. Elsa and Anna met them on the main deck.

"What'd you find?" Elsa asked.

Tuff replied. "It's definitely Dagur. Looks like he's added more ships too."

"And he's coming right at us! Maybe an hour out!" Ruff added.

A lump formed in Elsas throat. The time had arrived. The alliance fleet would be looking to her to guide them in this fight. Her decisions would set the course for the battle, be it to victory or defeat. Holding her head high, she turned to Hiccup.

"Are the Riders ready?"

"Ready to fight, your majesty." Hiccup replied confidently.

She turned to the captain. "Are all crews ready, Captain?"

"All cannons loaded and ready. All archers at their posts, swordsmen on standby. Awaiting your command, your majesty." He replied.

"Then have all ships take an extended line formation on the flagship. 500 foot spacing between. When the princess gives the signal, bring port side cannons to bear on the target. If it floats and is not one of ours, sink it." She ordered.

"Aye your majesty." He said smartly.

Anna asked her, "Um..What signal am I supposed to send?"

Elsa replied, "When the battle commences, I need you to send up a plasma ball. This will alert the fleet to open fire."

"Oh." Anna said. "Ok. I can do that."

Elsa and Anna turned forward to look at the incoming armada. The horizon seemed filled with black ships, their sails marked with a dragon emblem. Through the spyglass Elsa could see the men on deck. Huge brutes adorned in fur with animal horns on their helmets. But she also noticed there weren't many men on each ship. Handing the spyglass to Anna she asked,

"What do you make of this, Anna?"

Anna peered through the spyglass. "They don't seem to have full crews on their ships. Maybe Dagur added ships to his fleet faster than he could get men to fill them."

"Good theory, sis." Elsa replied. "And probably correct. It's also an advantage for us. They won't be able to maneuver or fire as quickly as our fully crewed ships."

"ELSA!" Anna screamed, pointing at the enemy fleet.

Elsa looked out, seeing a familiar form coming towards them. It was Dagur and his Skrill.

"Stand by!" Elsa ordered aloud. "Fire only on my order!"

Elsa and Anna stood back, holding an attack posture, as the Skrill touched down on the deck. Dagur smiled sinisterly at the sisters.

"Well well well!" he glowered. "The Sisters of Arendelle. And here I thought you were just the ravings of lunatics."

"Oh I assure you, Dagur the Deranged," Elsa growled back, "that the stories of us are very much true."

"As are the stories of our accomplishments!" Anna added.

"Oh, I believe you." Dagur smirked. "Which is why I'm here to offer you a chance to join the mighty Berserker tribe."

Elsa shot back, "And why would we want to do a foolish thing like that?"

Dagurs smile vanished. "Don't think me a fool, ladies. I know very well that you could have killed me and all of the Berserkers at our last encounter. But you didn't. Because you're too good. You probably took some kind of silly oath or vow to never do harm with your powers. This is a weakness I intend to exploit."

"So you aren't as dumb as you look!" Anna snapped.

"Oh you'll join me Sisters," he snarled, "Because if you don't, my armada will lay waste not only to your puny fleet, but to all of your so called Allied Kingdoms. Starting with Arendelle!"

"Our powers," Elsa replied, "like us, cannot be coerced. If you want us, you'll have to take us the hard way. In battle!"

Dagur hung his head. "Such a waste. But if that's how you feel…."

He tapped his dragons neck, and the Skrill stood upright, a ball of light growing quickly in its mouth. But Elsa and Anna were ready. Both fired streams of energy that met just in front of the Skrills chest. The 2 energies combined to create an extremely powerful jet of super-heated steam, the force of which flung Dagur and his Skrill off the deck and almost half way back to his fleet.

Anna pointed her hands into the air and released a burning plasma ball. The ball flew straight up high in the air, then exploded. This signaled the fleet to begin the attack. The alliance ships turned, pointing their cannons at Dagurs fleet. But they held their fire as the enemy was still just out of cannon range.

Dagur shook off the surprise hit. "So be it, Sisters." Then he screamed to his armada. "Catapults, FIRE!"

At that point the whole alliance realized that, even though Dagur was a feared leader, he wasn't much of a strategist. Catapults could fling thousand pound boulders with ease, but they had a notoriously short firing range. And Dagur had placed all his slower moving catapult ships at the back of the fleet.

Elsa, Anna, the Riders and all of the alliance personnel broke out in uncontrolled laughter as Dagurs catapult shots landed on his own fleet, sending 149 of his ships to the bottom of the north sea and severely damaging 34 others. Dagur was clearly not pleased, as he put his hands to his head and screamed. Thanks to Dagur, the alliance claimed first kills of the fight.

Elsa composed herself. "Hiccup, lets get our dragon force in the air. Anna, it's time to fight."

With that, Elsa and Anna joined Hiccup and Astrid on their dragons. From her seat on Toothless, she gave the captain his fleet battle orders, then tapped Hiccups shoulder. Hiccup gave the command.

"RIDERS! ATTACK!"