"Austria, 1813" "Morning." "So, you want to start off again?" "Had trouble sleeping again, anyway." " You're always in such a hurry..." "So you want to lie back down again?" "It was such a great idea to take you with me." "I don't regret it at all." "When was the last time you were here?" "When I last isited my grandparents." "I must hae been eight, maybe seen." "Are you sure the cottage is still standing?" " lt'd better be!" "If it's not, we're looking at a three-day walk back to the city." "Besides, it's not a town cottage." "It is somewehre up on the mountain." "Which direction?" "Good day!" " Good day!" "Schartl. I'm looking for the Schartl cottage?" "Why?" " l'e inherited it. I'm the new owner." "The Schartl boy?" " That's me!" " That's impossible." "Before they died, the Schartls lost their boy in the war." "That was my father. I'm still here." "Ah." "The Schartl grandson." " Precisely." "Veith Schartl." "My comrade from the field, Jakob Trimm." "Good day." " Hello." "So, you're back from battle?" " They're wearing uniforms, father, where do you think they'e come from, herding sheep?" "Yes, we're back from fighting." "Large battle." "More bloodshed than we'e seen in a long time." "And who won?" "Well." "We did." "So that French guy lost." "That... that Neapolitan." "Napoleon." "You idiot!" "Yeah." "Well... right...the cottage." "I don't remember the way." "Up through the woods and then...?" "Yeah." "Keep to the right." "Past the Kranzler house." "But don't take the mountain path, that would lead you up too far, up to the Hohenzinner house." "Thank you." "Good day." "Good day." "Disgusting little person." "I'e been warned that things are a bit rougher in the Austrian empire..." "Still, I officially apologize for that wench." "Anyway." "Thank you for gling me a place to stay, Veith." "I'll be on my way in a few days." "Hm." "Another strange Austrian phenomenon." "Namely?" "It's ery quiet in your woods." "Good day!" "Hello!" "Heinrich!" "Heinrich, we hae isitors!" "Come on, Mirli, which isitors should we hae up here that hae to be announced?" "And your father?" "The Kranzler doctor?" "is he still..." "Fell in battle?" " No!" "He died right here." "And now I'm the Kranzler doctor." "You were lucky, with that wound." "Healing well." "Thing is, no ones tells you that healing hurts more than actually being wounded." "Damn..." "Down with the schnapps." "Has healing powers." "And the lady of the house?" "Mirabell?" "...is your ... sister." "Exactly, neighbour." "Mirabell is my little sister." "Thank you." "Tastes good." "Spring Water." "About the leg, come by in two days, then we change the bandages." "Allright." "That will do." "Well, then, welcome here!" "Thank you." " Yes." "Same to you." "Good day." "I'm not used to normal people anymore. - You mean people that don't shoot at you..." "My empire, Jakob." "My empire." "Your empire." "See, Jakob." "This is the prize for all the horror." "That you can stand here, like this." "Joining a marching band tonight, Trimm?" "Sorry." "We'e arried, Jakob." "You can rest now." "Tell me some more anecdotes about your knees." "At least that will keep me from thinking." "What's all this thinking?" "Talk, man." "What are you thinking about?" "About a young Hungarian." "You didn't see this, you were already back in camp." "Tagyari." "Long after the battle had ended, he was still running around the corpses, screaming." "Stabbing the dead with his bayonet, again and again." "Talking to them." "Een warning them." "He couldn't be stopped." "He just kept going on and on like this." "Tagyari, right." "The guy they eentually shot." "Yes." "They had to shoot him." "Because he no longer cared about whom he was actually stabbing." "Although I don't think he really wanted to kill us." "He just no longer knew how to stop." "He no longer knew if he could stop." "If he was allowed to stop." "Well, what can you do." "It was just too many people." "The Hungarian couldn't bear it, we could." "Anyway, that's all oer now." "You'll see, Trimm, it will all feel better in the morning." "Good night." "Good night." "First Day" "Veith!" "Yes!" "What the ..." "Are these woods used as hunting grounds?" "I don't know." "Maybe." "Take your rifle with you." "Did you find something?" "No." "Just this strange thing..." "A thing like that one." "Kranzler!" "Mirli, go into the parlor." "Go!" "Bring him in here." "Lay him down." "Careful with his neck." "Take this." "Press down." "Hard." "You, go take care of Mirabell." "What...?" "Whateer happened, she shouldn't be alone now." "Further up." "There's no need to be scared." "We weren't followed." "Forgie me." "You... you shouldn't hae seen that." "I know that man." "He was a stray gipsy." "Lied in the woods and begged for food in the illage." "Eeryone hated them." "And now they'e killed him, haen't they?" "The woman. ls the woman alright?" "We didn't find a woman." "But I can assure you that, he was not attacked by illagers." "This was someone else." "Too late." "Nobody should be woken like that." "Maybe you should get men from the illage to join you." "No. lf we did, they would immediately accuse us of murder." "But you wanted to sae him!" "Yes, but we are the only strangers around here, and we just arried yesterday eening." "I will take care of the word of mouth." "The gypsy had an accident, and I found him in the woods." "You can go." "Thank you." "It's not right for them to go back up there." "It's not right at all." "It's madness." "Something this different should not be touched." "Would you pass the water when you're done?" "I don't want blood outside my house." "We are going to follow the blood trail tomorrow." "Are we?" "The girl mentioned a woman in the woods." "If a woman messed him up like that, I'd rather not meet her out there..." "Veith... ls the door locked?" "Who is it?" "Lights out!" "What are they, Veith?" "Animals?" "I don't know!" "SHOOT!" "Veith, ammunition!" "They are huge." "They are huge, Jakob." "On the roof!" "ON THE ROOF!" "Do you see something?" "Nothing." "Close it." "I'll be damned..." "We nearly were." "They want something from us." "What?" "Of course they want something from us." "Otherwise we'd be dead now." "intimidate." "Then demand." "What could these beasts possibly want from us?" "Women." "Jakob, what are you doing?" "There!" "That's all you get, do you hear me?" "The answer is no!" "No!" "No." "Not good, you idiot." "Not good." "Precisely, Veith." "Not good." "NOT GOOD!" "Second Day" "I need ammunition." "Ammunition?" "..." "Does Mr. Schartl also need it?" "Yes, Mr. Schartl too." "Do you hae knies?" "Knies?" "Where is Mr. Schartl?" "Two more beers, please." "Two?" "I'm expecting someone." "Thank you." "Don't I know you, from the old days?" " l don't know you." "Well, I was smaller, back then." "Yes, and now you're all grown up." "Precisely." " Will that be all?" "Just wanted to talk." " Yes, sure." "The women are loely around here." "The store has decent weaponry." "Could be useful." " Useful for what?" "There's been a fire!" "A terrible fire!" "Where?" "Behind the monastery, the orphans shack." "Someone set it on fire." "The children were still sleeping." "Eerything burnt down." "We barely found any remains in the ruins." "There's nothing left." "We should stay out of sight, Veith." "The fire at the shack." "They set it." "Why are the corpses in front of our house?" "Third Day" "Deils, is what they are." "Demons from the old tales." "I always laughed about those..." "They are not almighty, or else they wouldn't stay in hiding." "Not almighty..." "Are you out of your mind, Prussian?" "They are animals that think." "Animals that toy with us, with heads like snakes..." "Why the hell are we still here?" "Why haen't we left already?" "Because that's your empire, up there." "Your possession." "And these deils can be hurt..." "Maybe not killed, not like this." "But our shots wounded them." "We just need to find a way." "This is no longer about enchante and bonjour,Trimm!" "Een tigers and lions would flee!" "You don't want to see it, but this is a battle we will lose." "So what do you want to do, run away?" "I would't know where to run." "Why else do you think I'e crawled up here to Pahlbach..." "My family's gone." "Like yours." "Apart from some scratched coins, that cottage up there is all I hae." "We should follow their request." " We most certainly will not." "We hae to, Jakob." "They hae clearly shown us what the consequences are if we disobey." "Veith, they want something from us!" "That's the only real adantage we hae." "Fourth Day" "Fifth Day" "So, that's that." "That's that." "Then.. all we need now is..." "Well?" " Yes, I know, Veith!" "Bait." "Screw all of you, you morons!" "You wimps!" "Screw all your tiny, shrielled..." "You think I'm not prepared for that, huh?" "I look forward to stuff like this!" "Shht!" "We don't want to harm you, we just need your help!" "If you can't get it up, I won't be of much help!" "Untie me, you fucks!" "We shouldn't go too far away from her." "Our chance for heroics has passed tonight, Jakob." "Come on!" "Hit me!" "Then you can feel like real men again, huh?" "You assholes!" "What's keeping you?" "Huh, little Prussian?" "Are you jerking off?" "Just you wait until I free myself!" "I'll smash your dimwit brains in!" "You freaks!" "So?" "What's happening?" "Are you scared?" "Did a woman screw you up?" "Help!" "It stopped." "A trick!" "Jakob!" "..." "Jakob, we won't find her!" "It was too early." "Too early, damn it!" "Let it go!" "We'e lost her." "What hae we done?" "You know what?" "Drop dead!" "Whateer you want with me, you fucking animal." "You can't be worse than those jerks in the taern..." "You impotent, dumb..." "Elephant!" "Sixth Day" "My brother is not here." "He is isiting a patient." "Could I come in for a while?" "Yes, of course." "Thank you." "Hae a seat." "I don't really know why I'm here." "Maybe I'd better leae." " No, stay." "There must hae been a reason for your isit." "I cannot get rid of the war." "Because of your memories?" "Yes." "But it's..." "But it's mainly..." "This anger." "In no time at all, they started a ictory parade." "They tap you on the shoulder, eerybody burns their blood-stained clothes, and they let you go." "So you leae, go someplace, anywhere." "You don't know where to go." "Someone says:" "You'll get money somewhere." "You join a comrade, simply tag along, it's what you're used to." "But then..." "Once you stopped walking..." "When you lay down... lt comes to you." "You feel it in your bones." "You're not here." "You're still back there." "War is all around you." "For a while, there was this relief." "The good times are supposed to start now." "Eeryone is singing." "Now we can go back." "Now eerything is gonna be allright." "But how do you go back?" "How do you stop?" "I don't know where l'm supposed to go." "So you just stay here, for now." "Eerything is quiet and simple here." "Very quiet, beliee me." "Boring, really  if it wasn't for the war." "So, who knows?" "If eerything you went through was so loud and cruel, then maybe this is the place for you to get better." "Maybe eerthing will quiet down again here, and then  you don't hae to go anywhere else." "Do you beliee that?" "Yes, I do." "You just hae to make sure that peace is restored." "A test, Veith." "A test?" "We belieed they were animals." "I think they take us for animals, too." "An enemy pack." "So they obsere us." "Drag a corpse to our doorstep, to see how we treat our dead." "And they leae us a riddle, some object, to test our intelligence." "We stuck the two pieces together, Veith." "We passed the test." "Now they beliee we are capable of sering them." "Do you understand?" "What is there to understand?" "How much they underestimate us." "Where hae you been the whole day?" "YOU want to go back up there!" "And we hae nothing working in our faor!" "You know this is the only way to get to them." "You know it!" "Don't you dare touch her!" "Who?" "A girl from another illage. I don't know." "How did you pick her, Veith?" "Did you go on sympathy again?" "Did you pick someone ugly, becasuse she'd be expandable?" "How, Veith?" "I didn't pick her at all!" "She was the first that came my way!" "This is not something I'm going to think through, Jakob!" "What do you take me for?" "I pulled a bag oer her head and took her with me. I didn't een look at her face." "A mother?" "She was alone." "Where will you go with all your damn weapons, Jakob?" "Look at me when I'm talking to you!" "Where do you wan't to go whit you god'damn weapons!" "Where do you think I want to go, Veith?" "I want to go where those beasts lie!" "Then we need the woman." " But I don't want to lose the woman, Veith!" "We fill that with dye." "We bind it to the woman." "Once the beasts come, we tear it up and follow the trace." "We find them!" "We shoot them to shit!" "And we're done!" "If we lose that woman too, Veith." "I'll shoot you to shit." "Veith!" "Veith!" "Veith!" "The woman... the woman." "Morning!" "How many, Veith?" "How many?" "What are you talking about?" "They tear them up, Veith." "They impregnate them and use them as hatcheries." "They eat their fesh." "You'e been where they lie." " Yes." "And there were dozens of women." "Not two, Veith." "Dozens." "The little waitress from the taern was there as well." "When did you drag her up there, you asshole?" "is that what you'e been doing all this time, huh?" "I hae no idea what you are talking about." " Liar!" "What are you doing?" "Go to your room, Mirabell." "And stay there." "Heinrich?" " l'm serious, sister." "It's best if you leae, Mirabell." "You didn't ask any questions." "When we brought the wounded gypsy to you." "You immediately knew what did that to him." "I don't know what they are." "I don't dare to think about it." "But I'e seen their grimaces." "And I know what they want." "And you brought them what they wanted." "iii women. I brought them ill women." "I thought about that, too." " Shut up, Veith!" "How long hae you been doing this?" "Doctor?" "I don't know." "A few weeks." " How many hae you seen?" "There's a couple of them." "Hiding in the woods." "When you two arried, I thought we could..." " That's what we first thought, too." "There's dozens of them." "They'll stay in hiding until they outnumber us." "When will that happen?" "Well, since we lose someone eery time one of them is born, they won't be far off!" "So... you'e also..." "Yes. ..." "Two." "10, 20 women." "How can you look her in the face." "20, what?" "No!" "Three. I brought them three women, that's all." "And two were already on their deathbed anyway." "So they'e already made their pacts eerywhere." "The whole illage is doing this." "We hae to warn them." "We hae to take them away from here." "Eeryone that's left." "Jakob..." "Right now?" " Yes, right now!" "Please tell me what is going on, Heinrich." "Forgie me, Mirabell." "What happened?" "The reason why I haen't let you out of the house... why I told you to lock yourself in here..." "Yes." "The French agabonds." " Right." "The Frenchmen." "They are really bad Frenchmen." "Horrible, horrible Frenchmen." "Jakob and Veith hae met them, too, and we hae agreed that we can no longer stay here." "We hae to leae the house?" "Will they wreck it?" "No idea." "Maybe they'lljust redecorate it..." "Listen, I'm sorry I cannot tell you more." "But beliee me." "Our best choice is to simply run away." "We need to wrap up warm." "We need blankets." "And food." "And you need to stop treating me like a fool with your Frenchmen stories." "That's a waste of our time." "I just wanted to protect you, Mirli. - l know." "But you no longer hae to." "Let's go." "I'll see what I can find downstairs." " What about the Hohenzinners?" "Johanna and her parents?" "We hae to let them know." "We'll take the mountain path." "That will take us by their house." "Hohenzinner!" "Hohenzinner, come out!" "Hurry!" "How many?" " Three." "The parents and their daughter." "Too quiet." "Looks abandoned." "Go look in there." "Mrs. Hohenzinner?" "Visitors." "We hae isitors." "Don't go down there." " They get angry if I don't bring them food." "I want to help you leae..." " Shhh!" "I hae a isitor." "It will hatch again soon..." "Where is your husband?" "Where is your daughter?" "Downstairs." "With the isitors." "Please." "No." " Eerything's broken." "Help me." "Please." "What about her parents?" "Both of them?" "The house has new occupants now." " lf l had only known..." "Light the way." "Are you hurt, Johanna?" "Johanna?" "How many were up there?" "Only a few." "We'll get through this." "Bad sign, your smile." "You neer smile." "We'll get through this, Mirabell." "Oer there!" "Let's get them." "Johanna, we hae to leae this place." " l'm not allowed to leae." "Mirabell." "Mirabell!" "Mirabell!" "Mirabell!" "Where are they?" "They wanted to separate us..." "Mirabell." "Take her to the illage." "Gather them all." "All those illage bastards who are responsible for how few women are left." "And then talk to them, Veith." "Tell them what we hae done." "And you?" "Jakob." "Kranzler." "Kranzler." "Heinrich." "We hae to get to the illage as fast as we can." "We don't hae much time, so listen closely." "We hae been tested." "On how smart we are." "How obedient we are." "How dumb we are... and that's what we'e been!" "We all know where our women are now." "Why are you always in such a hurry?" "Why do you always take so long?" "Greetings. I'm glad you hae all come." "A few words about the beasts, some of you may not hae made their acquaintance just yet" "These beasts are cowards." "Well, they don't need much courage, since they're as tall as houses, with claws like this, different than anything we'e eer seen, fast!" "And intelligent they are." "That's what scared me the most, in the beginning:" "Animals that think." "But you know what, the same applies to us!" "And we're better thinkers." "If we want to be." "In the end, that's probably our greatest adantage, this human part of theirs." "Because that is their greatest weakness." "They're just as scared as we are!" "They hunt in herds, so we'll form groups." "One man walks openly, the others follow in hiding." "Pay close attention to your sides, they like changing their lines of attack." "Wheneer they catch something, they im- mediately drag it back to their nest.Their Cae." "We need to go there, that's our destination." "A hole where they run in and out like ants. ideal for us." "Listen ery closely in there." "They're loud as church bells, they can't help it." "And once you hae one in front of you, don't hesitate!" "Don't let them intimidate you!" "They are animals!" "Not from hell, certainly not from heaen!" "Animals!" "Well." "That's that." "We meet back here at the break of dawn." "And please, come back out there in one piece." "This is meant to be the first night of many." "Let's go."