Chapter 4 - What They Buried Above the Church
Marta stared at the opening door.
A young church assistant stepped out, pale and trembling.
“I didn’t know anyone was here,” he said.
Silas lowered his knife.
Marta almost laughed from sheer nerves.
Not every opening door held a murderer.
Not yet.
“What were you doing?” Brother Matthias asked.
“Konrad sent me for the old bell ropes.”
Silas looked up the spiral staircase.
“He knows we’re looking.”
They had little time.
Jakob remained hidden inside the church vestry while Brother Matthias bandaged his head.
Marta and Silas climbed.
The stairs narrowed as they rose.
At the top, the massive bronze bell hung beneath wooden beams.
Silas examined the housing.
“Jakob said inside.”
Marta spotted scratches along one support.
“Here.”
They removed a wooden panel.
Behind it sat an oilcloth bundle.
Silas pulled it free.
The ledger.
Heavy.
Thick.
Bound in cracked leather.
Marta opened it.
Names covered the pages.
Payments.
Property.
Trust shares.
At the end was an entry dated twenty-four years earlier.
ANNA ELISABETH FALKEN.
Sole surviving senior claimant.
Child expected.
Upon legitimate birth, controlling interest passes jointly to mother and issue.
Marta stared at the words.
Below them was another entry.
VOID BY DEATH.
But the ink was different.
Silas noticed.
“Added later.”
“So if I survived—”
“Konrad’s family never legally gained control.”
Marta looked toward the square.
“That’s why he needs me gone.”
Silas continued searching.
Marta remembered Jakob’s other claim.
“Anna’s body.”
They inspected the bell platform.
Nothing.
Then Marta saw the bell rope.
It disappeared through a narrow opening in the floor.
Beside it was another loose board.
Silas lifted it.
A hidden compartment.
Inside sat a long wooden box.
Too long.
Marta stopped.
Silas looked at her.
“You don’t have to.”
“Yes.”
“Marta.”
“I’ve had other people decide what truth I could survive my entire life.”
She reached for the lid.
“Open it.”
Silas did.
Inside lay bones wrapped in the remains of a red shawl.
Marta recognized the cloth.
A matching shawl had been in the hidden room.
Her mother.
She didn’t cry immediately.
She simply stared.
Twenty years in the bell tower.
While the village buried an empty coffin.
While people told Marta her mother died peacefully.
Silas removed his hat.
“I’m sorry.”
Marta touched the edge of the shawl.
Then she saw something around the skeleton’s wrist.
An iron bracelet.
Stamped with letters.
S.V.
She looked at Silas.
His face changed.
“What is that?”
He picked it up.
“It was mine.”
Marta stared.
“You gave this to her.”
“Yes.”
“When?”
“When we were young.”
There was tenderness in his voice.
And pain.
Marta understood.
“You loved my mother.”
Silas looked at Anna’s remains.
“Yes.”
It explained something she had sensed from the moment he saw her scar.
Not fatherhood.
Something different.
A promise left unfinished.
“Did she love you?”
Silas smiled sadly.
“Not the way I wanted.”
He looked at Marta.
“She loved Lukas.”
“And you still came back for her.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because love doesn’t become worthless when it isn’t returned.”
Marta looked at her mother.
For the first time, she saw Silas not as a frightening hermit or mysterious protector.
He was a man who had spent two decades carrying a failure he could never repair.
“You didn’t fail her.”
“I arrived the morning after she died.”
His voice cracked slightly.
“I found blood near the bridge. Konrad’s father’s men were searching for you. Elise had already hidden you with the midwife.”
Marta listened.
“I thought you were safe. Then soldiers came for me. Konrad accused me of murdering Anna.”
“So you fled.”
“I had two choices. Hang beside my father or disappear.”
“Why didn’t you come back sooner?”
“I did. More than once.”
“What?”
“Every few years.”
“Why didn’t I know?”
“I watched from the mountains.”
Marta felt unexpectedly angry.
“You watched them treat me like dirt?”
Silas lowered his eyes.
“Yes.”
“And did nothing?”
“I believed appearing openly would put you in more danger.”
“Convenient.”
“I deserve that.”
Marta turned away.
He didn’t defend himself.
That somehow made her less angry.
Below, the crowd shouted.
Konrad’s voice rose.
“Bring her forward!”
Elise.
Marta grabbed the ledger.
“We’re ending this.”
They descended.
Brother Matthias tried to stop her.
“Konrad has armed men.”
“So do we.”
Silas looked around.
“We?”
Marta pointed toward Jakob.
The injured guard was standing.
Barely.
But standing.
Jakob held his old service pistol.
“I’ll testify.”
Brother Matthias stared.
“You’re sure?”
“No.”
Jakob looked at Marta.
“But I should have done it twenty years ago.”
They entered the square through the church doors.
The crowd reacted immediately.
Marta heard insults.
“Thief!”
“Fraud!”
“Traitor!”
Konrad smiled.
“There she is.”
Marta walked forward.
She carried the ledger against her chest.
Silas remained half a step behind.
Not in front.
Marta noticed.
He was letting her lead.
Konrad pointed.
“This woman claims your homes belong to her.”
Marta raised her voice.
“No.”
The crowd quieted slightly.
“I claim your homes belong to you.”
Konrad’s smile faltered.
Marta held up the ledger.
“For decades, the valley trust was supposed to protect families who worked this land. The Weiss family stole that trust.”
“Lies!”
Silas shouted, “Read the ledger.”
Marta handed it to a respected baker named Otto.
Konrad lunged forward.
“Do not touch that.”
Otto paused.
Then deliberately took the book.
A change passed through the crowd.
Tiny.
But real.
Konrad saw it.
He grabbed Elise and pressed a knife near her throat.
“Enough.”
Gasps.
Marta froze.
Silas’s hand moved toward his rifle.
Konrad shouted, “Don’t.”
Silas stopped.
Elise looked at Marta.
“Don’t give him anything.”
Konrad tightened his grip.
“The ledger.”
Marta looked at Otto.
He held it firmly.
“No.”
Konrad stared.
Marta repeated it.
“No.”
“You’ll let her die?”
“You’ll kill her whether I give it to you or not.”
Konrad smiled coldly.
“Perhaps.”
Jakob stepped from the church doorway.
“No.”
Konrad went still.
The crowd murmured.
Jakob walked forward, bloodied bandage around his head.
“I saw Anna die.”
Konrad’s eyes became murderous.
Jakob continued.
“I was nine years old.”
Several villagers stared.
“Konrad pushed her from the bridge.”
Chaos erupted.
Konrad shouted, “He’s lying!”
Jakob pointed to his injured head.
“He tried to kill me inside the church today.”
“Liar!”
Brother Matthias stepped forward.
“I found Jakob after the attack.”
Konrad’s men looked uncertain.
Marta saw it.
Authority was slipping.
Then a horse thundered into the square.
Elias Hartmann arrived.
Behind him rode two regional magistrates.
Konrad’s face collapsed.
Elias dismounted.
“Konrad Weiss.”
One magistrate held up a sealed order.
“By authority of the provincial court, we are opening an investigation into fraud, unlawful imprisonment, attempted murder, and the death of Anna Falken.”
The crowd backed away from Konrad.
His grip on Elise tightened.
“No.”
Marta watched him.
“You’re finished.”
“No.”
Konrad suddenly shoved Elise aside.
Then ran.
Silas chased him.
Marta followed despite her injured knee.
Konrad sprinted toward the bridge.
The same bridge where Anna died.
Silas nearly caught him.
Konrad turned and drew a hidden pistol.
“Stop!”
Silas froze.
Konrad aimed at Marta.
Silas stepped between them.
Marta shouted, “Silas!”
A shot exploded.
Silas fell.
Marta screamed.
Konrad ran.
She dropped beside Silas.
Blood spread across his coat.
“No.”
His eyes opened.
“Shoulder.”
“You idiot.”
“I’ve been called worse.”
Behind them, Elias and the magistrates chased Konrad toward the forest.
Marta pressed cloth to Silas’s wound.
Then she noticed something on the bridge.
A small leather pouch had fallen from Konrad’s coat.
She picked it up.
Inside was a stack of letters.
Every one addressed to Anna Falken.
Most signed by Lukas.
Her father.
One envelope was different.
It was addressed to Marta.
The date was seven years earlier.
The year Lukas died.
Her fingers shook as she opened it.
My daughter,
If this letter reaches you, then everything I was told was a lie.
I have learned you may still be alive.
I am coming to Falkenwald.
Marta stopped.
Seven years ago.
Her father had known.
He had been coming.
She turned the page.
There was one final line.
If I do not reach you, trust the man carrying the falcon ring.
Marta looked up.
Silas had no ring.
Neither did Elias.
Then someone behind her spoke.
“I believe he meant me.”
Marta turned.
May you like
An unfamiliar man stood at the edge of the bridge.
And on his hand was a silver ring carved with a falcon.
