"A 25 year war between Finland and Russia is over" "The new border was to be marked by two separate commissions" "The first commission headed North" "Their mission was to meet up with the other commission far North- by the Kiertama River" "They never made it there" "1595 Kiertama River" "Border Agreement ...we can be forgiven..." "11 days earlier" "Seventy-three." "Seventy-threewhat?" "He had an axe stashed!" "That's what this peace fucking does!" "Handmaiden to the Russkies!" "I'll kill him again." "He would have taken you out next." "There are people coming, from the direction of Kaatamo." "I saw fires up on the hills." "Go tell the men on the shore we're in a hurry." "Knut!" "I locked the girl in the cellar." "I'll take care of her." "I'll let her out, goddamnit." "Now go to the shore!" "Once there was a king who wanted to build a new capital for his kingdom." "His architect asked him what he wanted for building material." "The king suggested gold." "But the architect said there wasn't enough gold in the world." "And told him that they should build the king's new city of - filth." "The King was stunned." "He asked, what is filth?" "The architect answered - that filth is the mark that is left - when two things touch on each other." "It's the very proof that the things have touched one and other." "And so in fact filth is the material - that all our memories are made of." "The king admitted that he had never heard of such - a unique and fine material." "And so he gave the architect permission - to build the city as he saw fit." " So the architect began his work." " What was the name of the city?" "What was your hometown?" "Bandits!" "An ambush!" "There are no Lithuanians this far north." "These are something much worse." " Shall we proceed?" " You gentlemen are early." "Didn't your new citizens give you a warm enough welcome?" "Shut up." "Are your peasants ready?" "Peasant Ondrei Suurinen?" "Do your swear on your poor soul..." "Do you swear... /Come back to pledge your soul to this boundary mark - so that the rulers of Sweden and Russia can trust your oath?" "Give it." "Let's move." "We have to stop at the edge of the big swamp anyway." " Something chasing you?" " Homesickness." "What about you?" "Semensky wants to find a plant or animal - that would be named after him." "I promised to take a look at his catch for the day." "Don't get too friendly with Semensky." "He's more dangerous than he looks." "Russian tea." "Taste it." "They're offering me a post at the University of Stockholm." " Are you angry?" " Are you?" "Because I brought you here?" "For nothing." "If you're still planning to return to Sweden." "If I want to get that geography professor's post " "I need something new to show." "The only uncharted place in this country is right here." "After this journey I can present a map to His Majesty - of the entire kingdom that God has placed him to rule." "It takes about two days to cross the big swamp." "Captain Musko says that he has never seen maps as beautiful - as the ones by the younger Spore." "We know that this swamp is unpopulated." "I suggest we mark the border to cross - through the middle of the swamp." "And we just go around it." "We have clear orders - to mark the border in the ground one mile apart as per the decree." "Does it really matter out here?" "If you're in such a hurry to get back to your estate to degenerate - shall we just agree that the swamp belongs to Sweden?" "And mark it together from the eastern side?" "Even Semensky understood that he has to - get his fancy boots a little dirty." "Suits us fine." "If the men from Kaatamo are after us - they will follow the horses around the swamp." "Take the horses and supplies to wait for us at Paivakivi." "We'll meet within two days' time." "Come back..." "God damn!" "I used to be perfectly at home everywhere." "Until you brought those fucking glasses from Stockholm." "You don't have to wear them." "Too late for hindsight." "My self-reliance is gone." "If I didn't hear your voice, I couldn't even tell it was you." "It's me." "The father lives alone /with his daughter?" "Wonder what happened to the wife?" " What used to be on the rack?" " Can't remember." "The people here must be excited?" "The village has been taken back from the Russkies." " All that war wasn't for nothing." " Yes." "Our host may not remember, but I figured out what this rack is for." "Religion is everyone's own business." "But the interest of the State isn't." "What else have you hidden besides the icons?" "We have nothing else left." "And their total lack of gratitude." "No!" "Ever since I was 16, I've been fighting this war - which has been called off as too gruesome." "So I swear, your girl wouldn't be the most innocent victim of mine." "Where are your winter supplies?" "Here?" "You're lying." "You'll get a receipt for the food the commission has impounded." "If you have such rights, they were given to you by the Devil himself." "See if there's anything else." "Why must the girl stay here?" "You served us food a man wouldn't even touch with his ass." " I apologize to you gentlemen." " We're not gentlemen." "Luckily we know how to take what is ours." "The assignment that brought us to your home has been a long one." "All the men are tired and hungry." "Everybody is waiting for this to be over." "All far away from home." "No one as far away as I am." "Right." "My brother is in an unpredictable mood." "You'd better stay here." "No!" "Don't!" "Don't leave me here!" "Come back!" "You don't like water?" "You always carry the sword when nearing water." "I doubt anyone likes water." "You and your brother were born in Finland?" "Ever seen a flower like this?" "Sauna flower, very common." "Come back..." "Fire." "Doesn't it also purge?" "Almost anything." "What if Hell isn't a raging bonfire under the earth?" "What if it's just an unclean place where God is absent." "A place and time behind God's back." "Stomach trouble?" " I'm going." " No, wait." "Let's go already!" "Is that a human standing there?" "I can't see that far." "I saw that farmer's daughter..." "I think." " She's following us." " That's not possible." " What did she say when she got out?" " Nothing at all." "Forget about them." "No need to feel sorry for those turncoats." "We have been wandering for two days now." "Are we lost?" "The compass doesn't lie." "Maybe you people should've waged war a little longer." " If you object to this border..." " Master Spore..." "We would hardly mind." "You could've given all of Russia to Sweden." "Then you'd finally have church services - that don't resemble a cheap carnival." " Captain Musko!" " Oh, so he understands?" "It did have eyes." "Scar tissue." "Look at its paws." "Why would any dog claw its own eyes out?" "The Captain is pissed - since he never got to prove his manliness in the war." "Oh, fear not." "Even during peace you get to gay around - as long as you find the right company." "But let me remind you that my brother is not of that kind." "Captain Musko!" "Calm down!" "Cavalry Master Spore - those glasses almost make you seem like a civilized man." "In truth you are an invalid who has lived way too long." "You are afraid of the peace because it will take away - your entitlement to all of your murderous acts." "If we continue eastward, we'll arrive at Paivakivi..." "When I get home to my woman, I'll keep the door locked for a week - and won't open even if God himself comes knocking." "Are you all right?" " What did you say to Musko?" " I saw that girl." "She stood this close!" " What did she say when she got out?" " You're seeing things." "It's not the same girl." "I never went back there." "I never let that girl out." "We have to turn back." "We need to let her out." "We're almost at our destination." "The Russkies would hardly agree to turning back." "As soon as we get the horses from Paivakivi, I'll turn back." "Before making that mistake, pull yourself together." "Who built it?" "It just stands there alone." "Glasses." " Who's in charge here?" " Father." "Go get him." "So the war still continues in the south?" "The war was long, but now it's over." "We belong to the Royal Border Commission of the Russian Emperor   ...and the King of Sweden." " What's the name of this place?" "There's no record of a village on the northern edge of the swamp." "We are not on the northern edge." "We're in the middle." "In the dead center of the swamp." "What's that?" "A map." "It shows how God sees the Earth." " And that?" " A border roll." "Information on the villages by the border, on taxes and such." "Why?" "So we know if we are Swedes or Russians." " Is the world big?" " Big enough." "I haven't been there." "Only here." " Goddamnit, boy!" " These need to be washed." " On whose orders?" " They're dirty." "Erik!" " Strange boy." " Not for this village." "Have you ever seen peasants this clean?" "We can get food here for the journey back." "I'm not leaving the Russkies now." "This village is a crucial point for the border." " There will be new wars." " This dirty war was mine." "All those lives were lost for nothing - if we give away territories to Russia at this point." "Marking the border is not about redeeming lost lives." "You are thinking about the lands we were promised as a reward." "Damn... fuck..." "Semensky was right." "I am half blind." "Way too old to practice the one profession that I know." "I want to be a better father than ours was." "I will get some land for my family." "This is my last chance." "Seventy-three." "I have done much worse things than leaving some girl in a cellar." " Not all of us have." " You can turn back." "Right now." "Will you sign the border agreement for me?" "Knut..." "The first thing you learn when working for the King is to forget." "To forget?" "You killed the girl's father." "I was defending my life." "And yours." "You saw that axe." "No, I didn't." "You have always studied in peace far away from all this." "But meanwhile here in your homeland - we woke up to war every morning." "Now that you're finally here " "Bear this task honorably with me to the end." "I promise I will not let anything bad happen to you." "Mother?" "Ivan!" "Semensky sent me to find you." "We have food." " You've been paying taxes to Kajaani?" " Or Solovetsky?" "No one ever came asking." "But you people are Christians?" "Are you followers of Luther - or do you belong to the Russian Church?" "Well, since we don't have a church - we don't have a priest to decide that." "Who does the sauna belong to?" " Who built it?" " Fuck the sauna." " Swedes or Russians?" "!" "Maybe it is easier if you gentlemen decide." "You gave orders to mark down how many villagers live here." "Seventy-three people." "Including children, women, the old ones and all." "An awful lot of people." " Where are all the other children?" " I'm the only one." "Sit down." "Sit down!" "If you can tell us how long you've had this village - and where you originally came from " "I'll make you an official border man of our commission." "We'll draft an appointment letter." "As official as it gets." "I don't know." " But if you promise to take me along when you leave..." " Hell, yes." "I know where there are some papers like that." "In there?" "Go home before someone finds out." "It's in Russian." "It would be important to know what's written here." "More importantly, Semensky mustn't find out." "Get the Village Elder." " I couldn't find the Village Elder." " Well, Roukkula, whose are these?" "Never seen them before." "Are you out there?" "Let me out and I'll tell you." "It's getting dark." "You'll be stuck there all night, old man." " We didn't do anything to them." " Did Russian monks build this village?" "We found these houses empty." "Didn't come across any people." "All that was left were the monks' robes, scattered all around." "Some thought that they had just abandoned their faith." "Others said that someone had taken them away." "Who did the people think had taken the monks away?" "Tell me." "Whisper it and you'll get out." "It's me." "Don't come too close." "Too late for hindsight." "This will end badly for us - just because you left that girl in the cellar." "Why did you lock her up?" "To protect her." "From you." "Oh, it was me who lusted after that titless scrag?" "You were the one imagining - how it would feel to rape a young, innocent thing like that." "That's the ugly truth the young professor wanted to lock away." "Is it really wise to go back and let a thought like that out?" " Have you seen our girl around?" " That boy is a girl?" "She doesn't have anyone to play with - so she sometimes pretends to be a boy." "Semensky?" "Captain?" "It is perfect." "Save your souls." "I found this book in our cabin." "I don't know if it's important." "It's in Russian." "I understand." "I will let you know." "Because no other solution can be found - we have decided that the border will run straight through the village." "The sauna will be the official boundary mark." "We shall carve our coats of arms on its walls." "Come with me." "Only the leaders." "In our old village the soldiers came from both sides." "Did their plundering, and even worse." "So you found your peace in the heart of the swamp?" "No." "We found something else." "Ever since the day we got here - not one of us has really dared to live." "Or to die." "Our girl was born on the journey over." "She is the last child born to our village." " I still don't quite understand." " Superstition." "Finns like to bathe their newborns in the sauna." "And their dead." "There you can wash away the past - and the sins you have committed." " Roukkula dug his eyes out." " Why?" "Before that he had chewed his tongue into shreds." "Knut has found Rogosin." "Dead." "Musko says that Rogosin used his own blood as ink." "What do these say?" "Rogosin seems to think he's locked in a cellar." "Like a small child." "There's food in the cellar, even something to drink." "But Rogosin drinks his own blood, because he's afraid..." "What is he afraid of?" "There is someone with him in the cellar." "Rogosin is afraid that this someone will turn to face him." "That's that." "On this site there used to be a monastery of the Russian Church." "More surprisingly, the sauna was possibly here even before that." "The monks found it and built their monastery next to it." "Something made them believe that in this very sauna - a man could wash all his sins away." "Without asking for forgiveness." "Without prayers." "One of the monks writes:" ""Maybe it is not a sauna - but only appears to be one because we can't comprehend what it is."" "Why are people afraid of it?" "The sauna?" "Those pieces of glass on your nose, what is their purpose?" "They help me see better." "The light reflects." "Like in the water." "So my brother says." "My little brother." "He has always been the only glimpse of light in our family." "Then you must take care of him." "Because darkness doesn't reflect." "It absorbs." "Our family is a small one." "My brother would have made a better leader for it." "More suited for what still needs to be done in this country." "Or so I hoped." "Now all I ask is that I get him back to Sweden alive." "Anything you could do to this?" "The best place to mend a wound is where you got it from." "All you needed to do was to turn back." "Is it too late now?" "Ivan's mother was from Karelia, like mine." "Hindrance to the career." "Little Ivan was no older than ten when he denounced his mother." "She became the first witch - to be burned alive at the Vyborg market square." "All Ivan ever cared for was the interest of the State." "Bring it on then." "Erik Spore is here." "I know how many you are." "I've counted each and every one." "I'm not that stupid!" "On the last day I will be pulled to the depths." "But not yet!" "I can save somebody, too!" "Bring it on!" "Bring it all on!" "I am not like my brother." "I know what's illusion and what's real." "Where have you been?" "I'll go back with you tomorrow." "We'll go and let that girl out." "I'll sort things out with Semensky in the morning." "But Knut - maybe it's all too late." "The exact number of all those lives on my conscience..." " We might have to count that girl in." " Seventy-four." "That's right." "Is that Semensky's plant collection you're sitting on?" "The new specimens were still wet." "I promised to press them." "They'd damned better be ready by tomorrow." "Border Agreement" "I hope that the agreements arrive at Paivakivi - without you having changed anything on them." "Cavalry Master Spore." "We both represent powers that do not budge from their seats." "Sometimes they just let us change their blood-drawn outlines - when they get tired of their old shape." "Then it's poor Rogosin's turn." " You talk about God and..." " No." "I speak about Sweden and Russia." "I guess it would be fair if both parties - took their half of this hideous swamp." "But?" "You have kept a book with facts about the village hidden from us." "And for that reason we have marked in the border agreement - that the area belongs to you." "I believe that the Russian Empire is a bigger place without these lands." "My brother keeps his signet ring in his luggage." "I'll bring it, if I don't find him in person." "Knut..." "Seventy-five." "If that Swede doesn't get here soon, we leave." "There's one part here that bothers me." "I didn't read it to the Swedes." "Rogosin says he regrets that he hadn't the courage to kill us all." "He says that tomorrow it is too late." "Tomorrow we are supposed - to see something that even God can't bear to watch." "Tomorrow?" "Rogosin wrote his will yesterday." "So tomorrow is today." "Don't look." "Be at ease, Vasily Yermolayevitch." "You are like a father to me." "And I'm grateful for all that you have done." "But it's Knut Spore that I love - and it is he whom I wish to spend the eternity with." "And last night he asked me to give him a present." "Something that I can regret for the rest of my life." "He could not ask me for a gift more valuable." "No!" "Can you speak?" " Have you seen my brother?" " He's not your brother anymore..." " He's taking everyone with him." " To the sauna?" "Block all the windows." "I'll assign the whole swamp to the Russians." "Like they assigned it to us in their version." "I don't want anyone /to come here ever again." "The future always has its back to us." "Only what we have done, we can turn to face." "Only there we can be forgiven." "That's good." "Collect all the food you can find and put it in that sack." " There's food there." " Good." " Now find something warm to wear." " But are you coming too, sir?" "I'm no sir." "Keep heading north all the time." "Sooner or later you will have to get out of the swamp." "On the north side of the swamp you'll find a river." "Follow it east and you will see a high peak." "That's Paivakivi." "There are people waiting there." "Just give them this whole bundle of shit." "They will take you far away from here." "Erik..." "The plan is to get you away from here." "That's why I can't come." "No, no..." "I'll distract him." "My life can buy you time." "That's one hell of a deal." "When you're in the south, go to St. Olav's Castle - and ask for the Cavalry Master's wife." "Tell my wife that - you were promised a seat from the table." "And the name of Spore." "For a good reason." "Say that in your eyes - you bring home the last look from her husband." "All the time, head north." "It's me." "Sit down." "No glasses, even?" " I can see perfectly clearly here." " As you should." "I want to show you something." "No." "I apologize, but " " I don't want to see." " Erik." "There's nothing to fear." "It's me."