"Once more, my friend." "Once more." "Yah!" "Yah!" "Yah!" "Let him go." "I have to take you home." "Let me go." "I don't want to go back." "You can rest in peace there, with your father and his father." "Look at him." "He is far by now." "I want to go home." "I know." "Now he's free." "Why do you smile?" "He's at peace now." "Let him go then." "I'll not leave you alone." "I gave you my pledge." "And I will honour that pledge." "I'll bring you back to your mother and your sisters." "I'm not alone." "No." "No." "Return to your path, stranger." "Why do you do this?" "He must pay for that which he has done." "What is his crime?" "He is a thief." "It's not true, sire." "Help me, please." "I beg of you!" "Silence!" "What was stolen?" "Our rabbits." "Lies!" "Nothing but lies!" "You would kill him for stealing rabbits?" "This is not your business, stranger." "This is my path." "Our lives are now one." "You're brave, soldier, brave but stupid." "You can hardly stand." "And yet you think you can give me orders?" "Go." "I won't tell you again." "Kill him." "No, please." "I'll not harm you." "Who are you?" "I've not seen you around here before." "I've not been around here before." "Then it was fate that brought you here." "They would have killed me." "I thank you." "You saved my life." "By taking more life." "They left you no choice." "Perhaps, but I've not always made the right choice." "Nor have I." "But now, I am just an old man, and it is life that chooses." "You are wrong." "Are you sure, stranger?" "Who is he?" "An old friend." "What happened to him?" "We are soldiers." "I understand." "Are you hungry?" "Yes." "I have nothing." "That's what you think." "Where are you from?" "The battlefields in the south." ""The battlefields"?" "And who won, if I may ask?" "Nobody, I believe." ""Nobody"?" "What do you mean, "Nobody"?" "Somebody must have won." "Somebody always wins." "Not this time." "I understand." "Strange thing, war." "I fought once." "Many years ago." "But in those times, somebody always won." "Times have changed." "Times have changed." "I don't like it." "What?" "The war." "Why?" "Because you die in war." "Ask your friend here." "War means death." "So, you told me where you're from." "But you haven't told me where you're going." "You ask a lot of questions, old man." "Well, where are you going?" "East." ""East"." "And is there anyone waiting for you?" "No." ""No"?" "So, why do you travel?" "For him." ""For him"?" "Don't tell me he's got somebody waiting for him." "Watch what you say, old man." "Forgive my tongue, soldier." "Sometimes, I can't control it." "His blood still stains my hands." "I will bury him, in the land of our fathers." "He must sleep... in peace." "Sleep well, soldier." "Sleep well." "Stop!" "Stop, I say." "And for what reason, stranger?" "That body you carry with you does not belong to you." "I don't understand what you mean." "The body, it's mine." "Yours?" "I don't think so, stranger." "It's mine, always has been." "You are mistaken, old woman." ""Mistaken"?" "Are you telling me I wouldn't recognize the body of my own son?" "He's not your son." "Mind what you say." "I know what I say." "And it's you who should beware." "I know his mother." "You have nothing to do with him." "I know him." "And I know you." "What?" "I know you, soldier." "I have known you for a long, long time." "Your star will not shine forever." "And your path is long." "You are a witch." "You accuse me?" "I accuse you, witch." "Return what you have stolen." "And I will spare you." "You would deprive a mother of her only son?" "Oh." "You're angry, soldier." "I am tired." "You should rest then." "I will rest when I have returned him home." "Stubborn." "You have no idea." "So, it was you." "In the woods." "You followed me." "Yeah." "Enough." "Return to your path if you wish to live." "And if I were to tell you that our paths were the same?" "There is no place for you on my path." "There's no place for anybody." "You win, soldier." "My son will go with you." "But beware." "There is nothing worse than the rage of a mother." "You are not his mother!" "Yes, I am!" "Yes, I am mother of all those like you." "You are all mine." "I will not forget you." "I will not forget." "Nor will I." "For days, I wanted to ask you where are we headed?" "You always ask such stupid questions." "I am tired." "And what a joke today." "This time, you are mistaken, my friend." "I was not asking a stupid question." "Why don't you remember why we left in the first place?" "I am so hungry." "I will hunt tomorrow." "You remember?" "When we were young?" "You always got the bigger deer." "Yes." "This I remember." "Much time has passed." "Two wars..." "That last battle was a massacre." ""Massacre" you said?" "Well, we fight till we die." "That's all we know." "Now I think the victory would be to return home, grow old in peace." ""Peace"?" "I don't think that men like us will ever be able to understand the meaning of peace." "What I remember was... smell, blood, mud, muck." "You will have peace soon." "Morning Star will guide us." "We're heading east." "Look at me." "Take off the hood." "We need to make sure she's alive for the trial." "Well?" "What are you waiting for?" "I'm not going to do it." "Just make sure you don't look her in the eyes." "Secure the area." "Release the woman, and there'll be no further bloodshed." "That creature you call a "woman" is already dead." "You're wasting your time, and losing your dignity." "And now you will lose something more precious to you:" "your life." "A soldier who is willing to kill defending a witch deserves nothing less." "Unless of course, there is something human left within you." "I do not practice witchcraft." "And if she does, I know the course of action." "That woman saved my life." "And I would speak with her." "Men of arms like yourself should understand." "You have just killed one of my best men." "And you try to convince me to release a demon worshipper?" "What race of man are you?" "You speak like a leader." "But you are nothing, nothing but a worthless puppet in the hands of a witch." "Your man attacked me." "We fought fairly and he died a soldier's death." "You should honour his defeat instead of bleating like a lost sheep." "Now release her and no one else need die." "I've met men like you, veterans of duels fought without honour." "Men willing to judge without being judged themselves, stained with the most heinous of crimes, yet on the battlefield you hide in the mud to save your own lives." "I have killed many worms like you, and today I shall kill another." "Answer me this:" "where did you meet this... woman?" "On the battlefield?" "I see I'm right." "You fool." "Have you never seen women like this, scavenging amongst the corpses like... like wolves attracted to the kill?" "You are defending a witch because your mind is already hers." "But I pity you." "Put down your sword and I will be willing to save your life." "Where I am headed, there are priests who will be able to judge your situation better than I can." "I'm not offering you a truce," "I'm offering you the chance to save your soul." "Agh!" "Agh!" "You stay right there." "You risk your life to save me and now you want to kill me." "I don't want to kill you." "I want to know who you are." "What you are." "The first time we met, you were dying." "I saved your life just as you have saved mine." "I believe at this point, the best thing to do is to trust each other." "I will lower my sword when you answer me." "I mean it." "You showed me one corpse amongst many men." "How did you know I was looking for him?" "You too think I am a witch." "I think..." "I think I have taken some trouble for you here, and there is a blade at your throat, so I should answer." "I will give you all the answers you are looking for but right now you will listen to me." "No." "You will heal soon." "The wound is not deep." "You were lucky, soldier." "Where are we?" "In a safe place." "No one can find you here." "How did I get here?" "I saw a man with you." "Shh." "You're here and you are safe." "That's all that matters now." "I have a body with me." "I have to get it." "I have to take him home." "You must lie down." "I haven't finished yet." "Won't take long." "What are you doing to me?" "You men of arms place your trust in no one." "This makes you blind." "You are unable to distinguish between who wants to help you and who wants to harm you." "Maybe, but I understand enough to know that a woman who lives in the woods cannot have studied healing." "You're right." "But there are many sources of knowledge." "Living in the woods teaches you many things." "There is no greater school than that which is born from the pure instinct of survival." "You live here alone?" "I fled my lands when the witch-hunting began." "I've never returned." "Why is that?" "I was afraid." "I saw my sisters burn in front of me." "They tortured my mother and left her to drown." "There was no other choice." "If I had stayed..." "I would have suffered the same fate." "They have never stopped looking for me." "I took a risk by venturing onto that battlefield and they found me." "But I found you." "How did you know that man was important to me?" "My mother taught us many things." "We would sit in the woods for days by the fire." "My sisters and I had to learn to sit and listen." "My mother called it The Voice of the Night." "Once you had learned to hear its presence, it would never leave you." "Why do you still not answer me?" "You're wrong." "I've already given you all the answers you're looking for." "Now tell me of you." "After all, you owe me that at least." "This is already the second favour" "I have granted you, soldier." "I too left my home." "Many years ago." "The last 10 years of my life," "I have been fighting other men's wars." "I have few happy tales to tell." "You see?" "We have something in common." "We both know what it's like to leave our homes." "I have never felt homesick." "I lost my parents when I was a child." "The battlefield became my home." "So why do you suffer so much?" "Your eyes do not lie." "Even a warrior must have someone waiting for them." "Friends... a woman." "The body I carry with me, he was the best friend I ever had." "I know." "And who is she?" "He took her away from me." "You see?" "I told you you would heal soon." "Impossible." "What have you done to me?" "That soldier was right!" "You should rest." "You're not afraid of me, are you, soldier?" "I must go." "No!" "Wait!" "Wait!" "You have no respect, stranger." "You enter my home with your weapon drawn." "Forgive me, my liege." "Somebody was watching me." "I came into your castle." "Somebody?" "There is no "somebody" here." "Only you and I... and my guards." "You perhaps... are lost." "I have a long way to travel." "Then rest here." "We have not had visitors for many years." "They used to travel from afar... to enjoy my hospitality." "Times, my friend, have changed." "Who would dare stay here?" "Be careful what you say." "You may not see, but this place seems the Devil's own." "Leave the Devil in peace." "He has no part" "In this story, man chooses his own destiny." "His choices makes his future." "The Lord... or the Devil... do not have the power to change man's will." "That is blasphemy." "No." "It is free will." "Do not hide behind the Lord for the choices you make." "Do not take the Lord's name in vain." "I have never asked forgiveness for the choices I have made." "The Lord... or the Devil... should not concern themselves over the path I have chosen." "I am a king." "And if I remember well, that should mean something." "If the paths you have taken have brought you to this, perhaps you should ask for forgiveness before it is too late." "Late for what, stranger?" "I have had my whole life... to ask for forgiveness." "And I didn't." "I chose all this." "Why?" "Why?" "Why I prefer power to servitude?" "Why I chose riches to poverty?" "These are the questions of a fool!" "I have heard enough." "It is time for me to leave." "You will never leave this place!" "You will stay... or you will die." "It is your choice." "I am leaving." "Well..." "Then you must choose." "Roll the dice." "You see how easy it is to choose?" "We have stopped again." "I had to rest." "I know." "I'm sorry." "It is my fault." "No." "It's my bones." "They feel the winters more these days." "We still have a long way to go." "We are lost." "Is that not the case?" "I took a wrong turn." "So tell me, what now?" "Don't worry, my friend." "It's not the first time we've been lost." "I still hope." "Strange." "Hope is the last thing I remember." "That was the moment on the battlefield where I thought, I would make it." "I hoped that the sword that struck me had not penetrated so deeply." "I hoped to get back up and fight by your side again." "I hoped I would not die." "Then I saw the blood, and I understood that I will never fight again." "But I still had hope, hope that you were alive." "I hoped to see you one more time." "Our last journey together." "And now I almost hope that we never reach our destination." "The proof is incontestable, my son." "They have seen her more than once in the woods." "We can no longer hide the truth." "There are too many witnesses." "And very soon, the Inquisition will come to learn of these things." "I will not do it." "You ask too much of me, Father." "I will go away with her." "Somewhere they won't find us." "These are the words of a fool." "Would you risk your life for a witch?" "Do not call her that." "She is innocent, I'm sure." "Well, if you believe she is so innocent, then let the Church carry out its investigation." "I know the methods of the tribunal." "I would never live with myself." "My son, I have known you since you were a child." "Listen to me." "Think of the consequences should you disappear with this woman." "Times have changed." "If you do not fear for your own life, then think of the untold grief that will befall your family." "Help me, father." "Be wise, my son." "It is really very simple." "Let the Inquisition carry out the interrogation." "In the meantime, you should return to the front." "And you will see, on your return, all will have been resolved." "Mark my words." "And may God go with you." "You've travelled long." "I am lost." "This is the right direction." "Why am I here?" "This is not the way home." "And where is your home?" "East." "What is this place?" "Somebody else's home, I believe." "I don't understand." "It's difficult to comprehend time as it passes." "You have travelled far." "more than you can imagine." "For days I haven't seen the Morning Star." "The nights are darker." "Why are you here?" "I know you!" "Are you sure?" "No." "Another place, another time." "I want to go home." "I want peace." "Peace?" "Is peace what you deserve?" "I didn't do anything!" "Why are you doing this to me?" "I only did what had to be done." "Why?" "Do you still not remember?" "Remember what?" "Me."