Chapter 8
"Norge, when can we go outside?"
"Not yet. You still aren't ready."
Matthias pouted. "Why not? You said I didn't need anymore help from you as long as I kept moving around and keeping up my strength!"
"It's not safe enough outside. You aren't ready for it."
"Why not?"
Norway paused. "You just aren't."
"Have you been outside?"
"Yes, it's my country."
"And mine, right? Some of my people are here! I should go see them!"
"They aren't yours, Matthias. You gave them to me."
"I didn't give them-"
"This conversation is over."
"But, Norge!"
"Leave me alone. I'm going to my room to read."
Matthias glared at him and stalked off. After sliding around a corner, he stopped and waited to hear Norway climb up the stairs to the second floor and close his bedroom door.
"If Norge doesn't let me go, then I'll go on my own," he muttered to himself and shuffled to the back door. When he was sure Norway wasn't listening for him, he cracked open the back door and slid outside. Matthias was expecting the cold to slam into him, but it didn't. Instead, a slight warmth spread over him, a similar warmth to the one inside. In fact, he didn't think there was much of a difference at all.
Either way, he shivered. This was not what he was supposed to feel when he walked outside in Norway. Oslo was cold, especially in the winter, and since the short days had only just begun to get longer, he knew it could be no later than April, and April was always still cool in Oslo.
Norway's backyard was small. Matthias didn't like it much, but he knew it was easier to get out of than a backyard that would take forever to walk across. He was still slow, even though he had regained most of his strength (about as much of it as his human body would allow), but he wouldn't let that pull him down. Matthias set out across the yard and hopped over the fallen fences.
It looks like a storm tore through here! He thought, but he couldn't remember a large storm ever passing through.
On the other side of the fence, broken sidewalks and dying grass met him. This was even stranger. The Dane slowed his pace a hare and looked around before he continued onto the path. To his left, he could see the outskirts of Oslo and decided to head that way. Maybe I could get some food and other supplies for Norway! He would love that and realize I am ready to be outside! Oh, I can't wait for him to see me when I get back this evening.
It didn't take long for Matthias to discover that he made the wrong choice. Bodies littered the streets of Oslo, both dead and alive. Young children sat at the street corners staring at him rather than playing. Older men and women watched from alleyways and shrank back as he passed.
"Hej! Who are you?" He asked.
Nobody responded.
"Hvem er du?" He tried.
"Jokum," a small voice spoke. Matthias turned around and saw one of the children step forward. He was a little boy with messy blond hair, dark eyebrows, and bright eyes. Only a few rags covered his emaciated body, and he clutched his hands together as if something were about to reach out and bite them.
"Jokum," Matthias repeated. Then he said in Danish, "Hello, Jokum. I'm Matthias. What are you doing out here?"
"I don't have a home. My parents are gone, and my sister disappeared," he replied, his eyes down.
Matthias squatted to match the boy's height. His legs strained with his weight, but he managed to hold himself up. "What about everyone else. Are their homes gone as well?"
"Yes. They came here with me on a great big boat. Our home was flooded, and daddy was stuck inside. Mommy got sister and me out and we came here. They dropped us off and never gave us a new home."
"Are you from Denmark?"
"Yes."
Matthias frowned. "And they left you here with nothing?"
"Yes. They let us off the boat and abandoned us. Then mommy got sick." Jokum was tearing up now.
"Cheer up, kid. Tell me what else happened. How many people came across?"
"We had a whole boat full, but there were more people left behind. The boat men said we could only take a certain amount. They said that everyone else had to stay behind and find another home somewhere else."
"Were there other boats?"
"No."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. Mommy said that was the only one."
Matthias swallowed. A huge lump was forming in his throat. "Tell me that's not true."
"It is true, sir."
"Who was your mommy?"
"I- she was… I don't know her name…"
"That's okay, kid. Tell me, this is Oslo, right?"
"We are outside Oslo, yes."
"Thank you." Matthias couldn't hold himself up anymore and fell to his knees.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am fine," Matthias whispered, but he was not fine. Norway lied. He didn't take in all his people. He only took one boat. One boat. There were so many people left behind.
"Everyone here is from Denmark. We all came here, but many people died. They got sick. Mommy said Copenhagen was poisonous and we were poisoned from it. She said I would die too," the kid added.
Matthias looked at all the bodies around him. "All of them…"
"I can take you to the shop down the street. There are some people there that can help you."
"No, I'm fine. I promise. I have a home, but I wanted to see what it was like out here." Matthias realized he made another huge mistake. Several other children stepped forward, watching him.
"A home?" Jokum asked.
"It's not much," Matthias corrected himself. "I was stuck in it for so long. It's really not that great."
"But it's more than this, right?" Jokum said. "This is nothing. People die here."
"Is it the home outside of town?" A girl asked. She pointed to where Matthias came from. "The big house that way?"
"Honestly, it's not that great, and it's not mine."
"You live with someone? Another Dane?"
"No, not another Dane." Matthias struggled to get to his feet, but found that he was stuck. Now some of the adults were stepping out of the shadows.
"A Norwegian?" Jokum gasped.
"Is it the Norwegian?" Another kid butted in.
"They say the Norwegian lives there."
"He's the reason we are like this."
"He didn't give us a home."
"The Norwegian is killing us."
"The Norwegian doesn't care."
Matthias shrank. "How do you know about the Norwegian?"
"The government told us," Jokum said. "They said every nation has a person, a Dane, a Norwegian, someone like that. They said these people were in charge of the war. I know they were. I saw- forget about that. The Dane died in our war, and the Norwegian was supposed to help him, but he didn't. He let our country die, and he let us die with it."
Matthias' eyes widened. "It's not like that! Honestly! And they aren't called the Dane and the Norwegian. It's just Norway."
"And no Denmark. Denmark is gone."
"Denmark is gone…" Matthias stared at the ground. "He's dead." It's just Matthias now.
"Did you know him too?" Jokum asked. All the kids stared at him.
"Yes," Matthias said, but he refused to say anything beyond that.
Jokum turned to the other children. "Help him up. We must bring him to headquarters. We have saved a man from the- from Norway. He was a slave, and now he is free with us."
They gathered around the Dane and helped him to his feet. Chattering, they led him across the town. He passed by many broken down shops and stepped over broken glass and ground up asphalt, but he was lucky to have good shoes. The children all wore socks or less, and the few that did have shoes couldn't exactly call them shoes: the soles were filled with holes and they flopped around, not completely connected to the shoes anymore. The sun shone at an angle, promising an early night. Matthias didn't dare look behind him.
"A few of the men and women from our group created their own small government," Jokum explained. "They stay in one of the shops up here and take care us of as well as they can. It's not very well, but they try. Norway does not."
Matthias nodded as Jokum continued to tell him about the people and what they did for the children until they came upon the shop. Matthias could tell it was an old Danish style bakery. Of course they would choose a place like this to work in.
"Torben is inside. He is on duty right now and will talk to you." Jokum stopped just outside the door and pointed to it. "You can walk in. You don't need to knock."
"Thank you," Matthias tried his best smile and stepped inside. At first, he thought the cafe was empty, so he called out, "Hej?"
"Hello," a man stepped out from the shadows. "Who are you?"
"I am Matthias. I came here and a young boy sent me to you."
"Ah, Jokum. He is a nice little kid, just like the Danes, even if he isn't really one of us."
"What do you mean?"
"He's an Englishman, adopted by a woman during the war. Nobody knows where he came from, and he was very sick when we took him in, but he was the only one to recover. Everyone else who fell sick died."
"Oh… Matthias glanced back outside and saw the kid staring at him. A flash of recognition passed through him before he shook his head. It's not him, Matthias told himself. Peter wouldn't live through that.
"What did you come here for?" The man, Torben, broke his thoughts.
"I left the place I was staying in to look around. I was sick and only just recovered," he admitted, hoping this man would be more reasonable.
"Were you from that house?"
"Yes."
"The Norwegian lives there, I've heard."
"It's Norway, and why do you say that?" Matthias refrained from saying his friend lived there. These people were sickly, but he knew how powerful they could be. These were his men afterall.
"We know he lives over Oslo in a nice house, and that is the only place no one goes. It is untouched, yet it remains beautiful. We have reason to believe he is magic and hiding himself there. Nations of the North have winter magic, I have heard."
"S- I have heard that as well."
"Then why don't you stay with us and help us out? We have been planning to come knocking on his door and getting what we deserve. Jokum has a few tricks up his sleeve to help us."
"He does?"
"Yes. Nothing I can tell you, of course, but it is quite something, he has said. An uncle of his taught him."
"That's interesting, but I do think I should go. I was only passing through, and I was heading back to Denmark. I wanted to help out."
"Denmark was completely submerged a few days ago. There was a monster storm that raged across mainland Europe. It barely missed us, but I got news that it caused the water levels to rise. It's headed for North America now."
"Oh, then I'll head for Sweden. I have an old friend I have been meaning to find."
"You won't get out of this easily. We need you here. Why don't you stay and help us out? Jokum said he needed someone to help him, and if you came where I think you came from, then you are the very person we are looking for. What say you?"
Matthias had no way out of this now. "Then you should send me back to Jokum, and I can talk to him about his plans. I'll do what I can, and then I will be on my way."
"Very well. We cannot force you to do anything, but I hope you choose to help in any way you can, as a fellow Dane." Torben excused Matthias, and he didn't take any time to get outside again.
Jokum was still standing outside the shop waiting for him. "How did it go?"
Matthias glared at the kid. "Who is your uncle?"
"I don't know. Do you know my uncle?"
"Don't play innocent, kid. I know you know your uncle, and you are trying to use his tricks against him. What is it Torben said you needed me to do?"
"I just need you to sneak inside the house you came from and let me inside. I can't get in there. Something is keeping me outside."
"Very well. I can do that."
"But you are lying. You will go inside and leave me out here since I cannot get in and will be unable to hurt you."
"You don't know if I am lying."
"Yes, I do. I'm like you." Jokum scrunched his face up and took off running down the street.
It took a moment for Matthias to process what the kid said, but when he did, he followed in hot pursuit. "Come back here, you lousy lort!"
The kid- Peter, he was sure- did not look back. He kept running and sped around the corner. Matthias did not stop either, but Peter was getting far ahead of him. His legs were not good still, but the child had plenty of life left in him to run far and fast.
Matthias slowed to a stop. "Fine then, kid. I'll just go back home and forget I ever saw you again!" He turned and headed back the way he came, a small smirk twisting the corner of his mouth upward. It only took a few minutes for Matthias to hear the kid come jogging back.
"Hey!" Peter, Jokum, or whatever his name was shouted. "What are you doing leaving me here? I need you and that's an order!"
"I don't take orders from little kids who aren't nations," Matthias snickered.
"And I don't take orders from jerks!"
"I thought I told you I didn't like the word jerk."
"I thought I said I didn't care, jerk!"
"I thought you get grounded every time you say that word."
"I thought you don't get grounded in a war."
"The war is over, Peter."
"No, it isn't, Den-"
Matthias whirled around and clamped his hand over the kid's mouth. "Don't you dare call me that here or anywhere else. It's Matthias, you hear?"
"Jerk," Peter mumbled.
Matthias pulled away his hand and stared at the micronation of whatever he was now. "Why'd you change your name, Peter?"
"I wanted to be Danish."
"And why didn't you say something about this at first?"
"Because you should be dead."
The words stung. Matthias knew his nation was gone and had long since accepted it, but he had never been told that he was supposed to be dead.
"A nation can live as a man after his country is gone, Peter. Wouldn't you know that? Isn't your ship gone?"
Peter averted his gaze.
"Peter, talk to me."
"No."
"No what?"
"I won't talk."
"Why not?"
"Because it hurts. It hurts, Matthias."
"Peter…"
"You must be in so much more pain. You actually had land. I didn't."
"Peter, don't say that. You're a nation just as much as we were," Matthias was whispering now.
"Really?" His eyes were dull now, not bright like they were earlier when they first saw each other. Matthias grimaced.
"Really."
Peter smiled a small smile and looked up at the sky. His face fell. "It's getting dark. The animals come out now. We need to get inside."
"Do you want to come back with me?" Matthias asked.
"Is it just you?"
"No."
"Norway?"
"Yes, but he's okay. He never comes outside. I don't think he knows what's going on. Please, don't hate him. We all have it hard."
"I can't just disappear with you. Stay here tonight, and we can go tomorrow. That way we can tell them we are doing this as a part of their plan," Peter said. He wouldn't look at Matthias.
"Okay, kid. Let's get going. Norway won't notice I'm gone. He doesn't pay much attention to me anyways. Too wrapped up in his own fairy tales." He ruffled Peter's hair. "Besides, we need to get caught up on some stuff."
