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All the way from the capital.

Colonel Joll?

It's an honor to have you here.

Well, you... you must be exhausted. Please.

Tell me, i-if you don't mind me asking,

what... what are they for?

They protect one's eyes

against the glare of the sun.

They save one from squinting.

- Ah. - Do you see?

No wrinkles.

Fewer headaches.

Yes, at home, everyone is wearing them.

You would find them useful

out here in the desert.

Hmm.

Are you familiar with these parts of the frontier?

No.

Not with this part, no.

With the south, but not with this part, not yet.

Well, it's not a good time of the year to visit.

You must feel the heat.

I'm quite used to it, the heat.

I have leave due to me,

but I-I find myself reluctant to take it.

One grows to be a part of a place.

I'd feel like a foreigner if I went back to the capital.

And the capital, too, has changed,

I'm sure, since my time.

I need to make an early start of my inspection.

Breakfast early, please, first thing.

Yes, sir.

So if you will excuse me,

I need to get some rest.

I'll come by in the morning and fetch you.

Magistrate.

But a soldier?

They... They don't usually send soldiers

on inspections, do they?

Mm, who's the inspector now?

You're far too inquisitive, my friend.

No, he's not a soldier.

He wears a uniform, but he's not a soldier.

He's a policeman, a colonel of the police,

very important person from the Bureau of State Security.

Once in every generation,

without fail, along the frontier,

there is an episode of hysteria about the barbarians.

It's the consequence of too much ease.

Why don't they leave us alone?

They have their own territories, don't they?

We have to protect ourselves.

Protect ourselves, my dear?

Against what? Against whom?

Against them.

We protect ourselves against wild animals,

against snakes.

If an angry bear approaches you,

you'd kill it, Magistrate, wouldn't you?

No, my friends.

I-I will be quite content

to pass quietly away and merit no more

than three lines in the imperial gazette

that with nudge here and a touch there,

I kept the world on its course.

We ready to go?

I must tell you that we don't have

proper facilities for prisoners.

There's no need.

There's not much... There's not much crime here,

and the penalty's usually a fine or compulsory labor,

so we simply use the old barracks.

Where we also store provisions.

Just a minute.

Let me speak with them.

I know a little of the language.

I think it must be your glasses.

He's probably never seen anything like them before.

He may think that you're blind.

Hmm?

Do you understand?

Show the Excellency.

Hmm.

It's his sister's boy.

They've come to get medicine.

...Excellency.

All right.

Thank you.

Whatever you call it,

banditry, sheep stealing,

it really... it doesn't amount to much.

These nomads, barbarians, if you will,

will be gone in a month back up into the mountains.

They migrate. They're always on the move.

He says he came for medicine.

He may be telling the truth. Who knows?

Who would have brought an old man and a sick boy

along on a raiding party?

Nevertheless, I will question them.

You can learn surprising things.

I'll bring one of my men along,

and I will need someone to assist with the language.

Well, let me. I-I'd be glad to help.

No, no.

You would find it tedious.

We have set procedures.

Uh, tell me, wh-what are your procedures?

Patience...

and pressure.

That is the only way to get to the truth.

But how do you know

you are hearing the truth?

There is a certain tone.

A certain tone enters the voice.

You come to recognize it with training and experience.

Can you tell whether I am telling the truth?

You misunderstand.

I am speaking of particular situations,

situations where I am probing for the truth.

First you get lies.

First lies,

then pressure,

then more lies,

then more pressure...

then more lies, more pressure...

and then comes the break.

After the break, more pressure...

and then at last the truth.

That is how you get it.

Pain is truth.

All else is subject to doubt.

No, that one says that the very same pig

keeps breaking in to his garden and damaging the produce,

and now he's not going to give it back

until he's paid compensation.

Excellency, the pig is worth a lot of money.

His garden is worth nothing, nothing.

It's a nothing that has no proper fence.

Be quiet. Be quiet.

Everybody knows that he doesn't have a proper title.

He can't put up a fence,

because he doesn't have a proper title.

- Come on. Show him your title. - Just be quiet, please.

Sir...

if I can speak to the Excellency?

I have warned him many times about his pig,

and he pays no attention.

Why must I suffer for his pig?

"His pig." You have his pig.

I have his pig,

and I am keeping it until he pays for the damages.

Why should I pay? Who says I should pay?

Give him back his pig.

And?

And that is all.

Sir.

- Your bed's ready, sir. - Mm-hmm.

- Anything more? - No, thank you.

What is that?

This is... It's a child's shoe from long ago.

- Shoe? - Mm-hmm.

You're gonna keep it?

Mm-hmm.

What does it say?

I have no idea.

It's old writing...

from the old days.

No one writes like this anymore.

There's a letter from the Colonel.

D-Did you see what happened?

Close it.

Close it. Close it.

Tie it shut.

Wait. Wait. Wait. Wait a minute.

What have they done to him?

A knife.

Just a little knife like this.

Ah. He wants water. Give it to him.

And...

have that removed, taken out of here immediately.

And what does this mean?

It means...

that we have our first confession,

means that I am doing what I was sent here to do.

It means that we are beginning to understand

what is going on on the border.

Today we have the beginnings of information

and now are in the position to go out and gather more.

- I... - First thing tomorrow morning,

I shall be taking out a party with that boy...

yes, that same boy... as my guide.

I think he will be a good guide.

He knows by now what I want.

As for you, it would be helpful

if you would put together some pack animals

and some provisions for a week or so

and a dozen of your men,

good men familiar with the country.

What kind of information, sheep stealing? Smuggling?

Are you killing old men for sheep now?

Record of the interrogation.

Come away. Come away.

Did you really tell the officer that your clan is arming itself?

Did you really say that there will be

a great war against the Empire?

It's stupid.

Why do you tell such lies?

I think he's very sick, sir,

very sick and very sore.

W-With no disrespect, Colonel,

you've never campaigned on this inhospitable frontier before

You have no guide except a child who's terrified of you.

As for them, you cannot rely on them.

They're conscripts. Most of them have never been

more than five miles from this settlement.

The barbarians whom you are chasing will...

will vanish into the desert before you catch sight of them.

They live here. This is their land.

They know every inch of it. You do not.

I have orders to obey.

May I remind you, Colonel, that if you get lost,

it will be up to me to find you

and bring you back to civilization.

Of course.

Don't stake your life on my maps, sir.

I'm not a surveyor.

I patched them together

from tales told to me by travelers.

I've never been where you're going.

I earnestly advise you not to go.

82.

82.

Why must you...

send people...

with no... no experience

of the frontier t...

to investigate...

unrest on the frontier?

Why...

Why can't you just...

Why can't you just leave, um...

well enough...

alone?

Keep moving.

Star?

Come in.

I thought you were one of them.

They give me the shivers.

Isn't he your friend?

The one...

Can I fetch you something to drink?

No?

Is there nothing I can do for you?

Something on your mind?

Hmm.

They will soon be gone.

Things will return to normal.

I wish I could believe you.

Give them a shovel.

Let them dig a latrine, at least.

Sir, Colonel Joll is... is here.

We will be leaving today.

Sir.

So soon?

Yes, we have completed our investigations.

Now I must hurry back and make my report.

Anything I can do to facilita...

No, no. I believe we have everything we came for.

Cup of tea.

And your inquiries, Colonel,

among the nomad peoples...

have they been successful?

Yes.

I think I can say we've had some success,

particularly when you consider

that this is only part of a great enterprise.

Similar investigations are being carried out

elsewhere in the frontier in a very coordinated fashion

with the cooperation

of the various frontier administrators.

Well, that is good.

And is it too early to reveal

whether we have anything to fear from these barbarians this year?

May we still sleep securely in our beds?

Since all is not well here...

and by no stretch of the imagination

can we say that all is well here

in your little sliver of the frontier...

I expect further measures will be taken.

- I want everything cleaned up! - Yes, sir.

I want everything as it was before at once!

What are you doing?

What are you doing?! Let that woman go!

Right. Sir.

Let all these people go. Let them go.

Give them their things. Let 'em go.

You all go on.

Go!

Out! Come on!

- You heard what he said. - What are you doing?

I want... I want these people out of here!

- Go on. - Out of here right away!

Go on! Go!

I want them gone.

It's late to be out-of-doors.

Naim.

Sir?

I can see.

Please, sit down.

Can you look at me?

This is how I look.

Where do you live?

I live.

We do not permit vagrants in the town.

You must have somewhere to live.

Otherwise, you must go back to your own people.

Do you understand?

Well...

I offer that you should...

come and work here.

Um, either that or go back to your people.

You cannot beg in the street.

I cannot permit that.

You must have a place to live.

If you work here...

you can sleep here, too.

I can go?

Yes, go if you want to.

Come. Come inside.

Let me see.

They broke it.

My, um...

Your ankle.

My ankle.

Other one, too.

Welcome, sir.

The Magistrate's waiting.

- Thank you. - Company, halt.

Cheers.

So no trouble on the way here, then?

Nothing.

Nothing worth mentioning.

I think we were followed for a while by barbarians,

but that was all.

Are you sure they were barbarians?

What else could they have been?

At brigade headquarters, they're saying

there is to be a general offensive

against the barbarians in the spring.

The plan is to move them back all along the frontier,

back into the mountains.

They can't be serious.

The people who... whom you call barbarians are nomads.

They will never permit themselves

to be bottled up in the mountains.

Well, sorry to be frank.

Isn't that what war is about?

Compelling a choice on someone who would not otherwise make it?

Ah.

Mm-hmm.

Tell me, sir, as someone who knows the region...

why are these barbarians so dissatisfied?

What is all the trouble about?

Well, what is the trouble about?

Ahem. Well, there was no trouble that... that I know of...

until outsiders started interfering.

We had peace.

We kept to ourselves. They kept to themselves.

But it's... it's all changed now.

It will take years to patch up the damage

that Colonel Joll did in the space of a week.

You smile,

but, uh, I'll tell you something.

We, you and I,

think of this country as ours, as part of the Empire.

We say to ourselves we reclaimed the land from the desert,

we planted it, we built our homes here,

but that's not how they see it.

They still see us as visitors, transients.

They say to one another, "Be patient.

One day, these foreigners will pack up and leave."

"They will never last in the desert."

But we're not going to leave.

No?

Are you sure?

The frontier towns are the first line of defense of the Empire,

so th-there's no question of abandoning them.

What do you think they're doing up there?

What do you think? The usual.

Doesn't usually bring girls up there.

He's strict about that.

Well, he's getting old.

Ah, he's still a very good-looking man.

Have you got your eye on him?

Have you got your eye on him, Grandma?

That's enough now.

Come on. Bed.

Oh!

That's it. Bedtime.

- Towel. - Huh? Towl.

- Towel. - Tow... Towel.

- Towel. - Towel.

Tow-el.

Towel?

- Towel. - Towel.

Can you come up, please?

Now?

Yes. Yes, now, in a minute.

Wh-What is that?

It's where they touch me.

Where they touched you?

D-Does it hurt?

What did they do to you?

Tell me.

In his report, Colonel Joll wrote

that one of the prisoners died afterwards.

Do you remember that prisoner?

Do you know what they did to him, who he was?

We heard he went crazy

and attacked them.

And?

He attacked them.

We had to take him out afterwards.

He was breathing strangely,

very deep and very fast.

Then he died the next day.

He was the one they questioned the longest, sir.

He had someone with him?

His daughter.

His daughter.

What happened to her?

She was questioned, too.

I heard her crying.

She was in pain.

They broke her feet, I think.

Did they do that in... in front of him,

in front of her father?

Yes, sir.

They did something to her eyes, didn't they?

Sir, there were a lot of prisoners to take care of.

I-I know she had a bad time with her feet,

but the eyes...

we didn't know about that 'til later.

You should have told me.

You should tell me everything.

And this...

It was a fork.

Kind of fork.

They put it in a fire until it was hot.

Then they touch me with it.

They held my eyes open.

They said they'd burn my eyes out.

After that, I could not see anymore.

I can see around the edges, yes...

but not in middle.

There is blur.

What do you feel

towards the men who did this to you?

I'm tired of talking.

You aren't happy with me here, are you?

You only have to say the word, and I will take you back.

Is that what you want?

I can't promise to take you back to your family.

I don't know where they are.

Do you want me to take you back?

Ready?

Yes, sir.

What are we waiting for, then?

The girl is coming along.

Was that your question?

Yes, sir.

We'll be gone no more than a week,

10 days at most.

Thank you.

Yeah.

Bring in the horses! Quickly!

That's a horse there!

Here.

How much longer before we...

Before we find what we're looking for?

Tomorrow?

The next day perhaps.

Don't you know these parts, sir?

No, I've not been here before...

not this far.

Sir.

There's people ahead.

Come.

There's no sign of them!

They've gone, sir!

No tracks?!

Nothing.

Come on.

Whoa, whoa.

Come... Come forward slowly.

Then take my horse.

Wait. Wait. Wait. No. No, no, no, no.

All right.

Fetch the crutches.

Come down off here.

Right.

Help her. Help her.

They're here in front of us.

Wait here. Wait here.

You must speak with them.

Tell them why we're here.

Tell them your story.

I want you to tell them the truth.

You really want me to tell them?

Well...

tell them what you like.

I have now done what I said I would do.

Let me say what I...

what I want.

What I want from my heart...

is for you to come to return to the town with me.

Of your own choice.

I want you to come back with me.

You understand?

This... This is what I want.

Why?

No.

Do not want go back to that place.

I have...

I have... I have brought some...

gifts that I would like you to have.

Ask them if we may buy one of their horses.

Say I will pay in silver.

Silver is the... for horse he does not take away from you.

He does not take away my horse.

He take silver instead.

Where are you taking me?

Go!

Why have I been kept waiting?

What have you done with my men?

Is there anything I can help you with?

May I speak with Colonel Joll?

Where have you been?

I've been on a journey.

It pains me that I was not here when you arrived

to offer you hospitality.

You've been treasonously consorting with the enemy.

Do you deny it?

We have no enemy that I know of,

unless we ourselves are the enemy.

Who gave you permission to leave your post?

That is a private matter.

You will have to take my word for it.

I do not intend to discuss it.

I would like to speak with Colonel Joll.

Colonel Joll's not here.

Colonel Joll is out conducting operations

to correct the situation that you've allowed to develop.

Fine.

Magistrate!

I'd like to read to you

from some of the depositions I have gathered

since I arrived in this town...

so you have some idea

of the gravity of the charges against you.

I quote.

"His conduct in office left much to be desired,

his decisions characterized by arbitrariness,

and he maintained no regular system

of accounting for monies." Unquote.

Inspection of your accounts

revealed many irregularities.

"Despite being principal administrator,

he started a liaison with a street woman

patronized by the common soldiers."

Unquote.

A figure in obscene jokes.

Let me read to you from one more.

"On the first of March,

I was given orders to prepare for a journey

into barbarian territory.

Not until we set off was I told

that a young barbarian woman would be accompanying us.

And at no point was I warned

that we would be making contact with the barbarians...

and negotiating with them."

Have you any idea how bad it looks

when we have to come

and clean up the local administrations?

It isn't even our job.

I will defend myself in a proper court of law.

Will you?

No one would dare say those things to my face.

Who is responsible for the claim

a-about the so-called street woman?

Let me see...

Is that all? I would like...

I would like to wash.

I hope that you will allow me to wash!

Kneel.

Get on your knees.

- Beat them! - Come on! Beat the animals!

Beat the animals!

Beat him!

That's the way.

No.

No!

No! No! No! No!

You! You are depraving these people!

You...

No!

No! No!

Wait! Wait!

You broke...

Wait! Wait. Wait.

You've broken my arm.

Just wait.

No, not with that, not with that hammer.

You would not use a hammer on a beast.

Look. These are men!

Men!

Among the items found in your apartment

was this wooden chest.

Its contents are unusual.

It contains approximately 300 slips of white poplar wood.

The surfaces are written on

in an unfamiliar script.

Now, a reasonable inference

is that these slips contain messages

passed between yourself and other parties.

It remains for you to explain

from whom are the messages,

to whom are the messages.

Permit me.

I am sorry I have to send bad news.

The soldiers came and took your brother away.

I have been to the fort every day

to plead for his return.

Yesterday, they sent out a man to speak with me.

He says your brother is no longer here.

He says he has been ta...

he has been taken away.

Do not tell your mother,

but join me in praying for him.

Now, let... let's see...

what this one says.

Um, I went to fetch your...

Ah. I went to fetch your brother.

They showed me into a room where he lay

sewn up in a sheet.

He...

Th-There were bruises all over his body,

and his feet were broken and swollen.

"What's happened to him?" I asked the soldier.

"I don't know," he said.

As you see, it contains a single character.

It is the... It is the character...

barbarian character for "war."

Although it can also stand for "vengeance,"

and if... if you turn it upside down like this,

it can mean...

"justice."

There's no way of knowing in what sense it is intended.

That is a part of barbarian c-cunning.

It's the same with the rest of these.

Slips, they can be read in many ways.

They can be read as a plan of war,

or they can read as a history of the last years of the Empire.

There's no knowing.

Thank you.

I'm finished.

You have no idea how tiresome your behavior is.

You are the only official on the frontier

from whom we have not had the fullest cooperation.

When I arrived back,

I had decided that as soon as I had the answers from you

to a simple few questions...

you would be free to go back to your old life

and your concubines.

However, you seem to have a new ambition.

You want to make a name for yourself

as the one just man.

You are simply a clown.

You are dirty.

You stink.

They can smell you a mile away.

You want to get your name into the history books,

history.

This is the border.

This is nowhere.

There is no history here.

People are not interested

in the history of the back of beyond.

We will end these troubles,

we will put down the enemy,

and that will be the end of it.

The enemy?

These pitiable creatures of yours,

are they the enemy that I must fear, Colonel?

No, you... you are the enemy, Colonel.

Nonsense.

You are an obscene torturer.

You... You deserve to be hanged.

Now to business.

I would like a statement from you

on everything that passed between you and the barbarians

on your recent and unauthorized visit.

We are waiting.

I refuse.

You refuse?

Very well.

Then our interview is over.

He is yours.

Climb.

Pull him up.

Climb.

Climb.

And what do you want to say to me?

That... That nothing passed

between the barbarians and myself

of a military nature.

It was a private affair.

I returned the girl to her people...

nothing more.

No chance of going in to my apartments

just for a minute,

get a few of my things?

Sir, I can't.

I really can't.

It's fine.

Colonel Joll and his expeditionary force

have been out in the desert for a long time, haven't they?

Since when?

Since August, sir.

August?

You must be worried.

Well, one mustn't take the barbarians lightly.

Your... Your daughter's gone,

leaving you with the boy?

Ah, he's no trouble.

So many people have left,

all my girls...

your clerk, Naim.

They took the east road.

Just 'til it settles down, they say.

My rooms are empty.

But they won't let me in.

I'll find room for you.

You're an angel.

You're always somewhere else.

She would say the same thing...

your barbarian girl.

She said you were always somewhere else.

She couldn't understand you.

She didn't know what you wanted from her.

I didn't know the two of you were intimate.

Oh, we talked.

Sometimes she used to cry and cry and cry.

What bird has the heart to sing...

in a thicket of thorns?

Oh, no, it wasn't what they did to her.

It was you.

You made her very unhappy.

Grandma.

I-I did?

Yeah, didn't you know that?

Grandma.

- Ah. - Yeah.

- Why not? - That's what I said to him.

Your move.

- Drawing. - Ah.

So...

Magistrate.

You're growing fat again.

What happened to your work?

I am a prisoner awaiting trial.

Prisoners awaiting trial

are not required to work for their feed.

That is the law.

We have no record of you.

H-How could you be a prisoner?

Do we have a record of this man?

No, sir, we don't.

Then you must be a free man.

The gates are open.

Go on. Leave if you wish.

Just... Just a minute.

There's something that I would like to know before I leave.

Forgive me if the question seems impudent.

But I would like to ask...

how do you eat afterwards?

After you've been...

working with people?

I'm sincere.

Do you...

Do you find it easy to take food afterwards?

I would imagine one wants to wash one's hands,

to... to clean off the blood,

but to sit with one's family and friends,

eat...

Get out of here.

Get out of here, you fucking old lunatic.

Get out!

Go and die somewhere, you fucking traitor.

"This withdrawal will be only a temporary measure.

Caretaker force will remain

which will be adequate for all routine duties.

Relevant orders are given on imperial authority

and are part of a general scaling down of operations

along the frontier for the duration of the winter."

Thank you all...

for your unforgettable hospitality.

Okay, let's go!

That's the last of the grain!

Bring her! Come on!

This way!

- Get back! - Get in here.

Get back, or I'll shoot!

Hah! Hah!

Get off!

Officer Mandel!

Where is Officer Mandel?

We must have fresh horses.

Who needs horses?

The Colonel. We... We need fresh horses.

Is he here?

We need fresh horses.

There are no horses.

There's nothing.

Oh.

- Ch-Check that way. - Okay.

We need to hurry, sir!

Hah! Hah!

Hah!

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