Chapter 4

Berwald ducked down a nearby bush as another Viking walked past, dragging his sword on the soft snow. He was grumbling to himself and Ber could catch a few phrases like, "Always me on duty….", "…stupid, silly kid…", "when I get my hands on…", "why can't Denmark look for him, himself?"

Berwald froze. He didn't know who this "Denmark" was but he was pretty sure that when the guard said, "stupid silly kid" he referring to him. The spikey haired blonde boy must've alerted the borders to be on watch for him. But why? Why did this guy care so much about him? Berwald was still wary of him and any mention of him.

He was still kneeling behind the bush just metres away from the gate that separates this country he was in and the other one he had to get into. There were around a dozen men, each unshaved, great big bears of men that too with an axe or a sword each. The question was how to sneak past them. There was really no way Ber could take all of them on with no weapons that too. But the plus point was that they had the attention span of a goldfish. Unless they were told to kill an intruder, they wouldn't budge. Looking for a runaway kid? They probably only remembered it because Lukas had sent a violent and dangerous warning of what would happen to all of them if Berwald was found to have gone past them. But other than that, there really was no good reason to be on a lookout for him. Now if Berwald was carrying gold, he'd already be home. Of course, completely stripped of the money first. But since he had no such thing, it shouldn't be that hard to get past them.

If he could run up and climb the gate and get across without being noticed, then even when they find out he went across and was right in front of his eyes, there was nothing they could do to him! Not when he was on foreign ground, would they come after him…right? Berwald pushed that doubt away. That wasn't important now. What was important was finding the purple- eyed boy. He quickly got up and after making sure that the guards were busy with an arm-wrestling match, sprinted silently to the gate. He quickly began to climb up.

When he was mid-way up, one of the guards lifted his head to see if it was going to snow again and saw the small swede that was half way up on the gate they were supposed to guard. He took a full half- minute to process what was happening and when he did, he let out a blood-curdling war cry and launched a small dagger he had at Berwald, who was completely frozen still with fear at the war cry. The dagger however only grazed his shoulder and the pain startled him awake from his daze and Berwald began to climb hurriedly again.

The cry had also alerted the others, who started to grab various small weapons, anything that they could throw at him such as daggers, knives, arrow heads, and shoes. They were all thrown at him like he was some sort of apple on a tree which they were trying to hit. They perfect shot and it'll come down. The guards then seemed to have forgotten that the boy was wanted unharmed and some began climbing up the gate after him, with swords in one hand or daggers in their mouths.

The gate wasn't too high and Berwald reached the top within minutes. But as he looked down on the other side, he realised it was a long fall. A shiver went down his spine and Berwald then remembered the guards behind him. "STOP RIGHT THERE!" a shout came from one of the guards who was just at Ber's feet now. As he pulled himself up to his side, an arrow went shooting straight into his guts. The extremely confused guard fell from the gate on the ground, stunned and hurt. He pulled out the arrow, which thanks to the think fur coat wasn't too deep in, however it still hurt enough to keep him down, dazed.

Ber turned around, astonished and confused at who helped him. He looked up just in time to see a shadowy figure jump from across a tree to the other. Berwald looked around in the trees, distressed that the helper was gone. "I have to find him…" He muttered and squeezing his eyes shut, jumped from the gate. Anytime now he would hit the soft snow below…

Anytime now…

…

What was taking so long?

He hesitantly opened one eye to see he was still in the same place, hanging a little off the edge, with a guard's arms around his waist. Berwald cried out and grabbed on to the gate and the guard tried dragging him down along with him. Another arrow came flying from above again and hit the guard's upper arm. He let go in pain and surprise and Ber quickly jumped off… and fell face-flat in the cold snow below. But he recovered quickly from the fall and ran into the forest quickly, not even bothering to look back and see if they were coming after him or not. Berwald slowed down when he thought he was at a good distance and sat down to catch his breath. The crossing of the border turned out to be harder than he thought…

Suddenly a rustling in the bushes distracted him from his thoughts. Ber stood up immediately and got ready to run again. Had the guards come back for him? However before he could register what was actually happening or what he should do next, Berwald was on the floor with someone on top of him.

When he got out of his dazed state, Ber began to panic and tried getting up only to be pushed down again. He could feel something sharp being gently pressed to the back of his neck and instincts told him to stay down. His eyes began filling with tears though. It wasn't fair! He was so close to finding the purple-eyed boy and now he had got himself captured!

"Who are you? Why were you trying to come here?" a strangely soft voice asked. It couldn't have belonged to those animals that called themselves guards. So Berwald decided to answer it. The voice. For some reason, he was drawn to it and trusted whoever it was speaking. "I-I'm Sweden. Also called Berwald. I- I came here… looking for someone. Um… c-could you please g-get off me maybe? Also... was it you who shot the arrows?" Berwald asked with caution, still unsure of the person's temperament.

The stranger was silent for a few minutes as if wondering if he could trust this helpless boy who he was on top of. But with a sigh, he got off. Berwald, pleased that he could move again, sat up and looked at him. By size, Ber could tell he was a young boy really. He had a mask on so the face couldn't be seen properly. The boy was dressed in what looked like reindeer skin and had a sword in his hand as well as a dozen or so arrows sitting out in a holder around his waist. His bow was on the floor beside him. "Yes, I shot those arrows. It didn't seem right, so many men against a little guy. Although if you are who you claim to be then you are not too older than me. It doesn't matter anyway. You have to go back. Foreigners are not welcome here." Having said that, the strange boy began walking away.

Berwald sat there, blinking his eyes and trying to understand what he meant by "not too older than me." How was that possible? Humans would be dead if they were his age by now. Unless…

"Wait!" Ber cried, running after him. "What do you mean by that? Are you a country too?" He asked as he caught up with the boy. Since the mask was there, Berwald couldn't tell if he was angry at being asked this or not. "Yes I am. Name's Finland. Nice to meet you. Now leave." He muttered and began walking away again. Or at least he would have if Ber hadn't grabbed his arm. The boy whipped his head back at Ber. "Let. Go. Of. My. Hand." Finland quietly said. Berwald shook his head, too scared to speak and hesitantly reached out for his mask. He had a sudden urge to see his face. But before he could, Finland grabbed his hand, lifted him high in the air and pulled him down hard. Thankfully the snow broke Ber's fall so it wasn't so harsh and he was simply dazed. But he quickly recovered and grabbed the legs of Finland, bringing him down too.

They wrestled in the snow for a bit but just when Finland was about to throw another punch, his mask came loose and fell off. Berwald gasped as his face was Finland's face was revealed to him for the first time. He had little cuts and small bruises in some areas but it was his eyes that grabbed his attention. It was the same eyes that had been haunting him from the moment he had woke up. The eyes that were the reason for him risking his neck at the border.

So as Finland stared at him with his large purple eyes, Berwald smiled and said "Found you."

These two... they are precious cinnamon buns...