The Brave New World - 152 Full Moon

“I have bad news.”

All the post-meal chatter and banter ceased instantly. Everyone was silent: all eyes were fixed on Sven.

“This settlement, this place is within another governor’s district,” said Sven. “His name is Matti Andersson. He’s the mayor of Vuollerim back home, and he’s already lodged a complaint with Sonberg. As you can guess, the founders of this settlement have identified us. They’ve told Andersson we’re the culprits. That’s why he complained to Sonberg: he knew we came from Sonberg’s district.”

“I know Matti Anderson,” someone said.

Everyone turned to look at the speaker. It was none other than Johan, the weakling who had found it difficult to kill other people. Sven raised his eyebrows.

“Go on,” he said.

“I – I know him well. I’m from Vuollerim. I moved to Jokkmokk only a few months ago, to live with my girlfriend.”

“We’re not interested in your girlfriend,” Sven said. “We’re interested in Matti Andersson.”

“I’m sorry. Well, to begin with, he wasn’t elected. Our mayor, I mean the mayor of Vuollerim, died of a heart attack during that storm after New Year’s Day. He’d appointed Andersson as his deputy, so Andersson took over the post. It’s supposed to be temporary, they’re supposed to elect a new mayor in the spring.”

“There won’t be an election this spring, or the next spring, or the next,” said Sven. “What else can you tell us about Andersson?”

“He’s a businessman. I think he owns a logging company and a lumber mill. And a couple of other businesses beside that, but I don’t know what they are. I’m sorry.”

“There’s nothing for you to be sorry about,” said Sven. “At least, not yet. Anything else?”

“Well, he’s a bit of a showoff. He rides around in a red cabriolet, one of those big American cars. Or on a horse. He’s into horses, he has a stud farm and he breeds racehorses.”

“That’s very interesting,” Sven said slowly. “What else?”

“Not much, really. I heard he likes to party. And that he has a collection of old firearms. Muskets, flintlock pistols, stuff like that.”

“That’s very interesting,” repeated Sven. “Does he also collect old glass? Antique decanters, bottles, glass figurines, anything along those lines?”

“Not that I know of,” Johan said. “But it’s funny you should mention that. His wife is an artisan glass maker. She makes stained glass. Lamp shades, windows, decorations. I saw some of her stuff. She’s good.”

He frowned, and added:

“That’s all I really know.”

“It’s more than enough,” said Sven. A change had come over him; he sounded very stern when he added:

They waited until the others had exited the dining hall, with Sven congratulating himself that he didn’t terminate Johan like he’d wanted to. And he’d been angry not to have located him back on the farm, furious he couldn’t fire his ass!

Well, life was like that. You wanted to do something, you were angry it couldn’t be done, then you were happy you hadn’t done it after all. One long chain of surprises! And thank God for that; otherwise, everyone would kill themselves before they turned forty out of sheer boredom.

The moment Sven was alone with Henrik, he said:

“Henrik, did you listen to what Johan told us?”

“Yes.”

“Your conclusions?”

Henrik shrugged.

“I don’t know enough to draw any conclusions,” he said. “So the guy is a wealthy businessman and owns… Okay, I have a conclusion. Maybe it’s far-fetched, but it sounds like he’s in love with himself. The red cabriolet, riding around town on a horse…” He shrugged again, and looked questioningly at Sven.

Sven said:

“That’s not bad. I think you may be right. He’s one of those jerks who think they’re gods because they’re rich, and they can fire and hire people. But there was also something else. Didn’t you catch that?”

“I’m sorry, Sven. I’m tired. We’ve been walking and carrying all that shit from dawn till dusk.”

“Why do I have to do all the fucking thinking,” said Sven. “I’m as tired after today’s hike as you are, and I’m tired of all this fucking thinking.”

“Maybe don’t think so much,” suggested Henrik. “You know, delegate tasks and stuff.”

“To whom?” asked Sven. Henrik was diplomatically silent.

“All right, I’ll throw a couple of hints,” resumed Sven. “Ancient firearms. Glass.”

Henrik continued to be silent. Sven said:

“A third hint. Horses.”

Henrik’s eyes widened, and he said:

“No. Oh fuck. Seriously. The settlement those horsemen came from belongs to this Andersson guy?”

“I think so. And you’ll confirm it. Don’t sulk, it has to be you, you’re the best scout I have. You’ll get a full day’s rest. Two days. How’s that?”

Henrik sulked a bit more to make his point. Then he nodded, and said:

“You want me to locate that place, and check it out?”

“Exactly.”

“Prisoners?”

“Absolutely not. You can’t be seen.”

“Then we’ll have to hang around there for a few days to get the full picture. Do I get to choose my men?”

“Sure. Take as many as you like.”

“It doesn’t make any sense to take more than three. We’ll need to take a shitload of food anyway.”

“How much?”

“Three weeks minimum. Four would be better.”

“It’s September, Henrik,” said Sven. “As you repeatedly pointed out to me, it’s harvest time in the forest. Three weeks.”

“All right. Are you going to be around? I mean, personally?”

“Every few days, yes.”

“Sven.”

“What?”

“If that settlement turns out to be Andersson’s district capital, what will we do?”

“We’ll wipe it out,” Sven said. “We won’t capture it, we’ll destroy it. We’ll burn it to the ground. We’ll kill everything that has two legs, excluding chicken.”

“Fuck,” said Henrik, deeply awed.

“You best keep it to yourself for now,” Sven said. “I’ll make it public when I get back from the tour.”

“How long will you be away?”

“I’ll try to wrap everything up in two weeks. But it might take me up to three.”

“That’s half a year over there.”

“I know. We’ll go after those guys in the early spring. It will give us time to get a good picture. And it will give us the time we need to assemble a proper army.”

“How many?”

“That depends on what you find out. But it won’t be less than forty.”

“Wow.”

“Yes,” Sven said. “Olaf will throw a fit. Now let me take a look at those two stray puppies Lennart has taken in.”

The two stray puppies were resting in the cabin nearest the pier. That way, the pier sentry could keep an eye on the cabin’s door. They were rudely woken up by Sven, who conducted a quick interrogation. Satisfied with its outcome, he emerged from the cabin and stopped and looked at the moon which had just ascended into the sky.

It was another clear night, and the moon looked gigantic above the black spires of the treetops. Its reflection on the lake’s waters glittered with a thousand moving lights. The wind, gentle that night, sighed among the trees of the forest. Sven and Henrik stood side by side silently, and drank in the atmosphere as if it were the finest wine.

Henrik was the one who broke the mood. He said:

“So you really want to go after a fucking governor? It’s really wild.”

“Keep your voice down,” said Sven, glancing at the sentry’s silhouette on the pier. Then he looked at Henrik and added:

“And keep your mouth shut. I had to tell you everything because you need to know why you’re scouting that place out.”

Henrik nodded.

“I understand. I’ll make sure to find out everything that matters. Including if the sentries are allowed to go for a shit when they’re on duty. But are you sure we have to burn everything down?”

“We have to,” said Sven.

A few moments later, he had to repeat those same exact words to Olaf Berg, at his farm.

“Are you fucking crazy?” Olaf demanded. “We can’t do that!”

“We have to.”

“But why? Why can’t we leave them be?”

“Andersson’s settlement is sure to be located on the river. It commands the waterway to the sea, the waterway that has to be under our total control. We have to do it, Olaf.”

“But he’ll do everything to destroy us in revenge! And he’s a governor. He’ll be able to call on other governors for help.”

“He won’t be a governor after he’d lost his capital,” Sven said. “He’ll be fired right away. Sonberg told me how the system works when he was begging me for help. If a governor’s district isn’t productive, he’s gone. And Andersson’s district will become extremely unproductive. In fact, it will cease to exist.”

“But they’ll nominate another governor.”

“Good luck to him, starting from scratch with a handicap.”

“He won’t be starting from scratch. He’ll just launch from the same spot as Andersson. He’ll have a ready-made settlement waiting for him.”

“He won’t. We’re going to raze it to the ground. And we’ll send our own people to the site. Make it look as if they’d just arrived, and are building a village.”

“He’ll chase them off.”

“With a bunch of naked, hungry guys? Use your brain, Olaf.”

“He’s bound to do something.”

“Of course. He’ll come begging us to help him, and we will. We’ll even pick the site for his new district capital. More, we’ll give him tools and clothes and food to get going.”

Olaf laughed. He gave Sven an admiring glance, then laughed again.

“It might work,” he said. “It’s totally crazy, but it might work.”

“It will work. He’ll become our pet, just like Sonberg.”

Olaf shook his head, and said:

“It’s long way to the seacoast, Sven. There are going to be many more district capitals along the river. It’s a major waterway, an important one. We’re bound to run into this problem again.”

“When we do, we’ll solve it,” said Sven. “Now listen. I’m going to be away for a couple of weeks…”

He began to tell Olaf what he wanted to get done during his absence.

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