Min Familie // Aph Nordics

- Norge -

He didn't know where he was.

When the boy known as Lukas awoke, he found himself not in his cosy cabin, but in a stranger's. He'd shot up immediately, only to hiss at the pain that surged through all of his body, burning everywhere. White knuckles clenched the equally-white bedsheets as he tried not to make a noise. A few minutes later, as the pain began to subside, Lukas jumped off the bed and looked around the room. It was nothing special; no decorations save for a wolf-skin rug on the floor and an old, dated shield hanging on the closed wooden door. As he went nearer to inspect said shield, a muffled voice right outside the door startled him. Instinctively, he ran back to the bed and dived under it, peeking out of it cautiously. The door swung open and Lukas saw two pairs of feet. One was clad in casual navy pants, but the other was in Viking armour. Where was he, and why? Did the men get him? But why didn't they kill him? They wanted him dead, right? His swarming thoughts came to a sharp halt when a low, intimidating voice rang through the room.

"Hey, where is he?"

Feeling his hands begin to tremble, Lukas crawled further under the bed. He felt around his clothes and internally cursed when he realised he'd left his trusty daggers at home. Home! Lukas had to figure out how to escape and get back to Emil.

"Dunno, Sve." A higher, friendlier voice answered. Directing his words towards the bed, he then added, "Hey, where are you? Maybe under the bed? Are you scared? We won't hurt you, promise. We're one of your kind!"

Lukas edged forward out of sheer curiosity.

"Seriously! I'm Kongeriget Danmark!"

Then came the deep voice, "And I'm Kongeriget Sverige."

Something was dropped near him and Lukas darted to the back of the bed again, whacking his back against the wooden bed. His heart pounded when he realised it was a dagger.

"Look," the deep voice sighed, "Here's a weapon, if you don't trust us then you at least have a weapon for defence."

Ruffling of fabric and a quiet clanging of armour indicated that the two men were sitting on the floor.

Slowly, Lukas reached forward and swiped the dagger before lunging out of the other side of the bed. He scrambled to his feet and held the dagger at arm's length, warning whoever his captors were to keep their distance. However he was shocked to discover that he recognised one of the men.

Blonde hair that stuck up strangely, gleaming armour and a blood red cape, there was no mistaking it; this was the man who saved him from the elkhounds.

"It's you!" Lukas exclaimed, perhaps softer than what he'd have liked, "You're the one who saved me!"

Red-cape smiled calmly, "Yep, that's me!" So that's who the higher voice belonged to. "But my buddy Sve," he added, extending a large finger towards his friend, "He drove the men away whilst I dealt with the dogs."

"Ah."

Blue-cape raised his hand in a half-waving, half-saluting motion.

"Y'welcome." Lukas didn't like this voice. It sounded like betrayal. He didn't know why.

"I was all alone, and then you two came, and you saved me. I...I thank you for that." He mumbled, barely audible, "I'd have been mauled to death if it weren't for you two. Why did you save me?"

The features of the other two men softened, the left one grinned widely and the one on the right even cracked a small smile.

A quick exchange of words between the two caped men ensued. Lukas could pick out bits and pieces of blue-cape's words, but red-cape had a strange accent, and he couldn't understand him as easily.

Turning back to Lukas, red-cape spoke.

"I go by Mathias, by the way." - an extended finger pointed at blue-cape - "And he's Berwald. What about you, buddy?"

"Oh, uhm, Lukas." He stuttered, cold hands balling into tight fists underneath the overly-large tunic he'd been clad in. That's not a complaint - it's much better than his few-sizes-too-small one.

Eventually, Lukas asked "Are you...really like me?"

His voice came out as a shaky whisper. He didn't like it. He sounded weak.

Nodding, the loud one replied, "Yes, indeed we are."

Lukas slowly, deliberately, prowled around the bed and sat down next to Mathias and Berwald. He kept the dagger secure in his hands. As he did, Berwald spoke in that far lower, strange voice,

"And we've been looking for you,  Kongeriket Norge."