Two weeks after the discovery of Starfire
"It looks like they have been getting smarter and they know our tactics." Astrid observed as the four raider ships below us were spread out away from each other.
"Well, dropping rocks from the sky isn't all that subtle. They were bound to figure out a way to make it harder for us." I stated.
"Fishlegs what time is it?" Hiccup asked and Fishlegs looked at a portable sundial on his saddle.
"Three hours and forty minutes past midday." Fishlegs responded.
I was silent for a few seconds while I crunched the numbers in my head. I was pulling some knotted twine out of my saddle bags when I asked "That's ... thirty ... seven knots at this height, right?".
Fishlegs was struggling to keep a log book open at the speed we were flying but he eventually corrected "Thirty-nine to be exact.". I counted out thirty-nine knots on the twine and through the end of the rope over to Fishlegs.
"Make sure you lead them allot. They are at full sail." I cautioned.
"Fishlegs, aim for the right most ship. Freya, you and Starfire got that one. Everyone else, space yourself out on Freya's left to get the other ships." Hiccup commanded.
As we positioned ourselves, keeping the string tight between me and Fishlegs, Snotlout complained "Why is it that Fishlegs and Meatlug are the ones who aren't carrying tons of rocks. His dragon doesn't light on fire when she is stressed.".
"Because Meatlug has the shortest body length which means we can't attach as many rocks to her." Hiccup explained.
"If you and Hookfang aren't strong enough to carry all those rocks we can lighten the load next time." Astrid said trying to appeal to his bravado.
"No, we could carry more rocks if we needed too." Snotlout said while Hookfang lit on fire for a second at the prospect of having to carry more rocks. Meatlugs shadow was now on the rightmost ship and Hiccup prepared to give the order. He led his shadow into the waters in front of the ship.
Hiccup commanded with his hand in the air "Wait for it ... Wait for it ... NOW!". We all pulled our rope but the twins fought over who got to pull on it for a while before they released their rocks. Fishlegs was able to fly back over to the rest of us and hand me back the twine before the rocks hit. The sea all around three of the ships turned white and we heard the tell tale clap that was created when the rocks hit the deck of a ship. The leftmost ship wasn't even scathed as we could see the volley of rocks that the twins had dropped had fell harmlessly into the sea hundreds of feet ahead of the fourth ship.
Hiccup sighed but then said "Well three out of four is not bad.". I looked over at Astrid, Snotlout, and the Twins and saw them all looking back at me as they were thinking the same thing. I nodded at Snotlout for him to be ready for the signal.
"So ... Hiccup when we get back can you give me some tips on how to stay streamlined during a ... a ... um ... I forgot the name for it. You know when you fall downwards trying to gain as much speed as possible. " I asked hoping he wouldn't catch on to what I was trying to do.
"You mean a dive, of course I ..." Hiccup started but was interrupted by Snotlouts war-cry.
"You heard him everyone, dive" Snotlout exclaimed acting like that was the only word he heard and dived Hookfang toward the remaining ship.
The twins complied and joined him while Astrid said innocently "Looks like we are going to have to make sure he doesn't get himself killed.". When Hiccup looked back at me with a frown I just shrugged and took Starfire into a, perfectly streamlined, dive to lead the attack. We had all practiced this without Hiccup as we were all getting tired of his over-dependance on the dropping rocks strategy and we wanted some action. When we got into range we all unleashed a volley of fireballs into the ship and then swarmed around it in our predetermined paths. The raiders tried shooting back at us but our non-symmetrical interweaving paths around the ship made it next to impossible for them to aim. Soon enough the ship started to sink from the constant barrage of fireballs. I turned my attention to all the survivors in the water from all four ships. I activated the modifications I had made to the net that was hanging off of Starfire and flew low over the water, scooping up the survivors. It didn't take long until I had a large ball of terrified men caught in my net. I flew to a sea stack and opened the net dropping them all on top of it. I made sure my necklace with my seal on it was showing before I had Starfire land on the stack.
The men were all screaming in fear and begging for their lives so I asked Starfire "Could you get their attention?". She roared at all the men and they all fell dead silent.
"Now, do any of you recognize us?" I said in a commanding voice. They were all frozen in fear and were unable to respond. "I said DO YOU RECOGNIZE ANY OF US." I shouted trying to show my necklace as much as possible. My heart fluttered when one of the men held up his hand.
I nodded for him to answer and he said "You are the dragon riders of Berk.". I sighed and mentally kicked myself for getting my hopes up.
"That's right we are the riders of Berk and we just destroyed all of your ships" Snotlout said, enthusiastically, from behind me. I turned to see that all the other riders had landed and were watching me.
"So if you ever make it off of this rock and somehow reconnect with friends or family in the raiding or pirating business, what are you going to tell them." I scolded. Nobody answered so I answered for them "For one you should advise them to get a real job but the one thing you will beg them to do is stay far, far away from Berk.". They all nodded and I took off with Starfire. The rest of the group, including Hiccup and Fishleg's, joined me.
Hiccup moved Toothless up next to me and asked "What was that back there Freya?".
"What, you gave the order to dive and we did." I said smugly.
"No I didn't and we will talk about you undermining my authority later. I was talking about questioning those men." Hiccup said with concern in his voice.
"I wasn't questioning them, I was just making sure that we have less pirates or raiders to ..." I said but I was cut off by Hiccup.
"I know what you were trying to do. I know that you want to find your family but do you really want to find out that ..." Hiccup reasoned but I answered before he could finish his sentence.
"Yes! I would rather know that they are dead, or enslaved, or pirates, or living peacefully somewhere than wondering about the millions of possibilities over and over." I snapped back. Hiccup retreated and I said "Look, I'm sorry I snapped at you but I don't feel like talking about this with anyone.". We soon got back to Berk and we let our dragons rest for the day. We had a few meals in the Great Hall and everyone left to go back home. With nothing to do I decided to go to Hiccup's house to visit Starfire. When I got to the house I saw Astrid leaning against the door and listening to a conversation inside. I decided not to blow her cover and I stood listening at the door as well.
"... I don't know what to do dad, they all disobeyed me but it was the right call. How can I maintain a chain of command when I've got people that are becoming just as knowledgeable and capable as me." we heard Hiccup.
"Well in a normal case of disobedience among soldiers, you would simply discipline them when they disobey. But in your case I think there is something different going on." Stoick replied.
"Oh come on, I know that tone of voice. It's not my fault they disobeyed ... right?" Hiccup retorted.
"It is and it isn't." Stock said.
"Dad you were never good with cryptic wordplay so just stick with your normal tough, strait to the point, disappointed, scowl. Your messing with my head." Hiccup said frankly.
We could tell Stoick took a second to give his son a look for that comment by the pause in conversation. Stoick then asked his son "Do you remember how you got the Dragon academy?".
"You gave it to us after ..." Hiccup started warily and then paused long enough to make Stoick take over.
"After you disobeyed me and used your dragons to help the town instead of locking them away like I ordered. You did what was best even though it was against your orders and I rewarded you for it. A good leader can recognize if someone is becoming disobedient because they are capable of taking on more responsibility. If they are, it is usually the right idea to trust them and give them a promotion." Stoick explained. Me and Astrid both smiled at the idea of a promotion.
"Ok ... but promotion to what? We don't exactly have ranks." Hiccup asked.
"The ranks aren't important, what is important is that that person is capable enough of making their own decisions so that they only need leadership every once in a while, like you." Stoick said prideful of his son.
"Oh man this is going to be tough and possibly painful. I need to know that Astrid knows the full reason behind the promotion before it gets out." Hiccup said. Astrid almost exploded with joy and I gave a silent clap as she bowed. She then shooed me off so that she could enter and receive her promotion. I hid behind the corner of the house and Astrid knocked on the door. After she entered I went back to the door to listen.
"... good your here, I want to talk to you about something." Hiccup said and I could hear them both sit down.
"What about?" Astrid asked, perfectly masking her earlier excitement.
"Well ... the thing is ... I've decided to give someone a promotion and you were the first one to come to mind. You have been extremely loyal and showed that you can handle yourself with tasks on your own. Because of this ..." Hiccup explained but was cut of by Astrid.
"Yes. Of course I will take the promotion and you better think up an awesome rank." Astrid accepted with her previous excitement.
"Oh gods. Why dose everyone interrupt in this village. Astrid because your loyal and your sole motivation is to protect Berk is why I want to give the promotion to Freya." Hiccup stated. Hiccup then continued his explanation "Freya is trustworthy but she is not loyal. I know you guys planned that attack together but the part when she scooped up all the survivors and questioned them had nothing to do with the protection of Berk. I need her to take on a different set of responsibilities that are in line with her own motivations. It's not that your not ...". Hiccup was stopped by Astrid. I knew she assumed that I was listening to this entire conversation. I was embarrassed and hurt but I stood my ground at the door. It opened and I saw Astrid holding the door. Hiccup's cheeks paled at the realization that I was listening this whole time.
"Freya, I ..." Hiccup started but I put my hand up and shook my head.
"When I decided to stay here" I said in an eerily calm voice that made everyone in the room shiver "I did so thinking that it would be a lot safer and more productive to search for my tribe with people I could trust, rather than alone. If that is no longer true and you are actively trying to stop me from getting answers then I think it would be best if I left Berk."