The Brothers Svartberg

[Free Cities League]

EXODUS

"Hey man, the sun is rising..."

In a cold tundra highway, the sunrise was a beautiful sight for anyone waking up. The light slowly flooded the landscape, that turned from pitch black to a pleasant white and green. In the background massive black-earthed mountains, some of them volcanos, gave the scenery a creepy feel. Those black mountains were in the province of Goddhaus, one of the northernmost and most remote provinces of Boganhem - the province's name was adequate, for the Bogans believe it's there where the Gods and other magical entities roam.

"Frank, where are we?"

"Far enough from home Harman..."

Both of them lightly laughed. Frank and Harman Svartberg were two 21-year olds, hailing from one of the remote towns in Goddhaus, Durkefurd. Durkefurd was not very exciting for a 21-year old: lost among the mountains and smelly bogs, it was one of the most conservative and backwards places in the Kingdom. And so, that night, Frank and Harman decided to run away, run away to the place every young Bogan wants to - the Free Cities... Although the information is quite controlled by the King's propaganda machine, stories of extraordinary wealth, possibility to leave the country, prosperity and freedom made thousands of young Bogans try to pass the fence every year. Nearly all were arrested or killed.

Of course, neither Frank nor Harman knew that.

Frank was driving an old and green jeep that their parents had given to them. The direction was kranky, the breaks were a little wore, but all they needed was to get to the fence. As Harman woke up, Frank informed him of their wherabouts:

"In 10 km, you'll see the exit to Malachor. Of course, we go on..."

"Why can't we go to Malachor? It's been two years since the last time we were there..."

"Harman... it won't be long until dad and mom notice we are nowhere to be found. They will warn the Police - and do you know what happens when the Police deals with two missing young guys? They inform the KSP (King's protection police - Kongsshuts Politsei)

"You're probably right... It's a shame, I like Malachor..."

"So do I, bro. But we can't put our lives at stake..." - and KSP agents will be on the Trans-Kingdom Highway waiting for a green jeep with our licence plate. The sooner we get to Sudgrants the sooner we get rid of potential problems..."

The trip continued with an awkward silence. Although Frank was 10 months younger than Harman (some called their mother's succesive pregnancies a miracle), he was clearly the 'alpha male' - he commanded and he easily controlled his brother. Not because Harman was weak, but because he was so peaceful that he didn't mind to yield in small arguments - but he who yields in the small issues, can't take a stand on bigger ones...

After they swapped places before sunset, they had already reached the southern provinces of Boganhem - all they had to eat was beef jerkey and chips. But they couldn't afford to stop for long in any place, only small stops to pump gas and go to the bathroom. By that time, the KSP could already had been alerted. They were in Auttenveld, the southernmost province of Boganhem proper, right north to the FSB. The tundra scenery had disappeared, replaced by pine forests covered in snow, as the sun rose once again.

"Sudgrants, 13 km. We're here Frank."

Frank woke up and it seemed their dream had come true. Probably the passage from the tundra and ice desert landscape of Goddhaus to the snow-covered pineforests of Auttenveld represented their passage from dark and dull lives in the North to the prosperous lives they would have in Lübeck or Mecklenburg.

"Bro, our objective is not Sudgrants, that would be too obvious. Our cousin Yon talked about a nearby village called Grindur. There, in Grindur, we must go to Uncle Thomas' Tavern. There we'll find our man."

"And how do we know we can trust him?"

"Cousin Yon went to Lübeck and spent two years there, before returning. He knows how it's done."

And so, arriving at Grindur, they parked their jeep in the outskirts of the village, lost among the forests...

 

[Free Cities League]

CROSSING THE GATE

“You see that hill over there? That’s Grünebaden, our destination…”


“What will we find there, Frank?”


“I dunno. Freedom, I guess. Money, girls. Whatever you want…”


A truck arrived at Uncle Tom’s, loaded with beer bottles and the bartender started to bring them to the bar, as the trucker observed. The truck was beige and had “Erdinger” written – beer from the Free Cities was very popular in Boganhem proper, and beer trucks would usually travel between Bogan cities and Free Cities, having a crossing permit.



“The convoy is arriving at Uncle Tom’s. You know the plan, Frank”


“Of course I do Harman, I heard Yon too…”


“Let’s go?”


“For sure”


Carrying their backpacks, the two Svartbergs quietly got into the truck, avoiding detection by the truck driver. And it worked! The truck started to move and, in the dark and in the middle of thousands of beer bottles, Frank and Harman’s heartbeats were faster than they could ever recall… A strange mix of anxiety and fear.


After a 10 minutes trip, the truck stopped. As it stopped, Frank and Harman held their breaths – and fear began taking over. They were in a closed box, there was no way out. They heard a conversation in German – the trucker, with two men who seemed to have a slight strange accent in German, a Bogan accent – that meant that they were still in Boganhem. But they could understand little of the conversation…
And then, the doors of the back of the truck opened, and two men, dressed in long black coats and clean suits, started to inspect it. Sanitary inspectors? Of course not… It was the KSP. The brothers were struck with fear…


Harman, which was trembling with fear, did the unthinkable. He jumped and tackled one of the agents, as they were ready to find them. Frank immediately rose and grabbed that agent’s gun. As they did so, the standing agent pointed his gun to Frank and Harman. Frank would nervously point his gun either to the agent that was standing or the other one.


“Two young men trying to flee their families… What a shame. I am Colonel Dunker, of the Kongsshuts Politsei, pleasure to meet you both. Now, put your gun down and release my colleague.”


“Or…?” said Harman with a defying tone


“Or the end of your life will be quite painful…”


As Harman blinked to Frank, he walked towards Dunker.


“I’m sorry Colonel. I didn’t mean it. Take me back to my parents…”
Dunker smiled


“But of course. You see Frank, your brother is much more responsible than you – now, while I handcuff Harman, release my colleague.”


As Dunker said that, Harman gave him a huge kick in his genitals, leaving him in extreme pain and catching his gun.


“Well Col. Dunker. The roles reversed. Both you and your friend will get out of the truck and no one will be hurt.”


Dunker told his colleague: “Do what they say and don’t do something stupid. Follow me lead afterwards.”


Harman, while doing this, was feeling powerful for the first time in his life, while his brother Frank watched with surprise but thrill. Harman, intoxicated with this situation, shouted at the truck driver:


“Drive us to Grünebaden!”


“Can’t do that, I’ll lose my permit!”


Harman pointed his gun to the driver, but Frank intervened.


“Bro, don’t do that! If you do it, we’ll be criminals down there too.”


Meanwhile, the agents advanced slowly towards them, but Harman immediately shot to the ground.


“Stand still fuckers!”


His voice was violent, as was his attitude


“You now see I have no problem shooting you. So, stand back!”


“Your wishes are orders, Harman.” Said Dunker with sarcasm.


“Frank! The driver won’t take us there. Give me your gun and drive, I’ll be in the back of the truck to be sure, just to be sure.”


Frank did what Harman told. At the time, he also thought the best situation was to run away. And so, as he started the truck and Harman hopped in the back of the truck, pointing both guns at the agents and the truck driver, Dunker, once again sarcastically, shouted.


“This isn’t over. We’ll all meet down there”, he said, laughing.


As Frank quickly drove, they reached Grünebaden in 15 minutes, as they had already left behind border control. They abandoned the truck in the nearby woods and walked towards Grünebaden. As they walked, an awkward silence created a strange environment, since Harman was shaking with fear, smoking his last cigarette, trembling. He was simultaneously proud and afraid, and had a lot of unanswered questions - would Dunker find them in the FSB? Had the KSP jurisdiction over the League? Where would they sleep? Where would they go? But, at the same time, he was relieved – they were there…

 

[Free Cities League]

A NEW WORLD

“Wilkommen in meinem Kafé”


“Yeah.. wilkommen to you too” said Frank in a sleazy german-bogan mix.

Frank and Harman entered a small nice internet-café in Grünebaden, packed with computers. The two brothers, ignoring their objective – to get something to eat – approached the computers, much more modern and advanced than the ones they found back in Boganhem proper.

“Möchtest Du mit dem Internet gehen?” a young woman asked

“Ah… we don’t speak German” said Frank who then tried to say it in a very bad German

“Deutsch…wir neine..sprachen”

“Oh, Boganische”

“Ja, das stimmt.” Said Harman

Frank was surprised. Since when did Harman speak German? And he seemed to be good at it. After a minute talk with the girl, Harman told Frank:

“It’s not that hard – and it’s not that different from Bogan. I learned from a small book I had hidden in the house. Well, try to present yourself. In Bogan it’s ‘Hey, Ik bi Frank, ve goest du?’, and in German: ‘Hallo, Ich bin Frank, wie gehts?’

Frank presented himself in German

“You see – Maria here seems to approve. She asks if we’d like to go to the Internet.”

“You mean the Intranet.”

“They call it the Internet over here.”

Harman asked Maria if that ‘Internet’ was different.

“Du sprichst über das ‘Internet’. Hast du nicht Intranet bedeuten?”

“No need for bad German boys, I speak Bogan.”

The two brothers were surprised. Maria went on.

“It’s different. I see you’re new here. Go ahead and sit down, I’ll pay you two cups of coffee.”

Frank and Harman looked awkwardly into each other, but decided to just go with it. They waited for the coffees and then Maria, silently and elegantly, started to speak:

“I’m Maria Weiss, and I’m 21 years old. I’m from here, Grünebaden, but I study in the University in Lübeck. Since I was a little girl that hundreds of people like you – escapees – arrive in Grünebaden and seem lost, strange. And so, I’m finishing my major in Bogan Studies – yes that exists – and next year I hope I’ll work helping escapees integrate in the Free Cities. Of course I speak fluent Bogan and I know everything about Boganhem proper – except I’ve never been there. And about that thing, ‘Das Internet’, that is something that Boganhem proper doesn’t know. Here, what you know back home as ‘Intranet’ enables you to connect with anyone anywhere in the World.”

Frank and Harman gazed in surprise

“The Intranet is a Bogan government-backed system with severe restrictions, with no free speech or expression. But I understand this is all new to you. I’ll do you two favours – I’ll get you a nice motel and I’ll tell you an excellent place for new escapees.”

“We’re so thankful Maria, really.”

“You’re welcome Frank”

Maria smiled at Frank and Frank smiled back at here, while Harman awkwardly noticed.

“Well Maria, won’t you tell us where those places are?” said Harman nervously

“Yeah, of course. You see that hotel right across the street – it’s cheap and pleasant.
As to the other place, it’s the Fri Boganish Bokstab a library where you can find a lot of Bogan books forbidden in Boganhem proper. I’ll give you a list of books.”

Frank and Harman bid farewell to Maria and checked in in the hotel, a sleazy but pleasant little place, with enough room for both of them. Then, they went to the library, and they felt themselves at home – a lot of books in Bogan. A sign in the wall read: ‘forbidden books’, and had those books who were never published in Boganhem, forbidden by Royal Decree.

Frank read the list given by Maria – we have here some interesting titles: Da Kommunist Manifesto by some guy named Marx, De Kvelle dez Familien, Propritä and de Stat by this Engels. We also have Boganhem: di Arvodalish Revolution (Boganhem – the necessary Revolution) by this Bogan guy, Alvan Kunthal, and finally Boern and Arpëter - de Shley ts’em Kapitalism Oberspringen in de Feudalism-Sotsialistishen Obergoen (Peasants and Workers – the key to skip capitalism in the Feudalism-Socialist Transition) by this Till Fikte.

Frank immediately put those on the table, starting to read, while Harman, looked for some others forbidden books. He two that interested him: Da Open Gesellshep and yre Fienden by Karl Popper and De Vey Ts’er Undershep by this F.A. Hayek.