“The young physician told me. He saw the man who abducted my Clara going up the stairs in your establishment and into one of the conference rooms.” Jakob Schreevogl looked the burgomaster calmly in the eye. “He met someone there. Might that have been you?”
“I’ll shut that Fronwieser up, and you at the same time!” shouted Semer, slamming his fist on the table. “I won’t have my inn reviled in such cock-and-bull stories.”
“Pull yourself together, Karl, and sit down again.” Blind Augustin’s voice was low and yet quite cutting. Stunned, Semer resumed his seat.
“And now tell us,” Matthias Augustin continued. “Is there any truth in these…insinuations?”
Burgomaster Semer rolled his eyes and took a deep swig from his wineglass. He was obviously struggling for words.
“Well, is it true?” the second burgomaster Johann Puchner insisted. And Wilhelm Hardenberg, the superintendent of the almshouse, now turned to the respected landlord of the Stern Inn. “Karl, tell us the truth! Were there meetings of soldiers under your roof?”
There was a general murmuring at the council table. Some members of the outer council on the back benches began talking.
“This is a perfidious lie,” burgomaster Semer finally snapped. Sweat was streaming down his face and into his lace collar. “It’s possible that a few former soldiers were at the Stern. I have no way of checking that. But none of them went upstairs, and they certainly didn’t meet anyone there.”
“Well, that settles it,” Matthias Augustin said. “Let’s therefore turn to more important things again.” His blind eyes turned toward the clerk. “What are you going to do now, Lechner?”
Johann Lechner looked at the undecided faces of the aldermen to his right and his left.
“To tell you the truth, I don’t know. Count Sandizell will arrive here tomorrow morning. If the midwife hasn’t talked by then, may God have mercy on us all. I fear…we should pray tonight.”
He rose, packing away his quill and ink. The others rose, too, hesitantly.
“I’ll go now and prepare everything for the count’s arrival. Each of you will have to contribute. And as for the trial of the witch…we can only hope.”
Lechner hurried out without a goodbye. The aldermen, talking animatedly, followed in groups of two and three. Only two patricians remained in the council chamber. They still had some urgent matters to clear up.
Slowly, the devil ran his bony hand over Magdalena’s dress, brushing over her breasts and following the line of her neck up to her slender chin. As he reached her lips, she turned away, rolling her eyes. The devil smiled and pulled her head toward him again. The hangman’s daughter was lying in front of him on the ground, tied up and gagged with a dirty rag. Her eyes flashed angrily at the man above her. The devil blew her a kiss.
“Very well. Very well. Just carry on being fresh, and we’ll both have more fun later on.”
A man appeared in the clearing behind them. He stood there for a moment, cautiously, then cleared his throat. It was the soldier Hans Hohenleitner.
“Braunschweiger, we should get out of here. Christoph was over in the town. People say the count’s going to show up in person tomorrow on account of the witch. Then the place’s going to be crawling with troops. Let’s have some fun with the girl, and then off we go. It’s enough that Andre is dead.”
“And the treasure? What about the treasure?”
The devil whom they called Braunschweiger turned around. The corners of his mouth were twitching, as if he hadn’t got full control of his face.
“You seem to have forgotten the treasure! Besides, Moneybags still owes us a whole lot of money!”
“To hell with the money. He gave us another twenty-five guilders yesterday for the destroyed building site and the Stadel fire. That’s more than enough. There’s nothing more to be gotten here.”
Christoph Holzapfel, the third soldier, approached them. Long, shaggy black hair hung in his face. Furtively, he glanced at Magdalena, who was lying on the ground, struggling with her shackles. “Hans is right, Braunschweiger. Let’s go. There is no treasure. We’ve searched the entire damned building site, we’ve turned over every single rock, and by tomorrow the count’s men may be combing the forest here.”
“Let’s move on,” Hans Hohenleitner said again. “My head’s more important to me than a handful of guilders. They got Andre, and that’s not a good sign, may his damned soul rest in peace. But beforehand, let’s have a little fun…” He stooped down to Magdalena. When his pockmarked face appeared right above her mouth, she could smell brandy and beer on his breath. His lips were distorted into a sardonic grin.
“Well, sweetheart, do you feel a little twitching in the loins too?”
Magdalena’s head shot forward. Her forehead hit Hans right on the nose, which exploded like a ripe fruit. Blood spurted forth.
“You damned filthy slut!” Whimpering, the soldier held his nose, then he kicked the girl in the stomach. Magdalena doubled up, trying to choke back the pain. They mustn’t hear her scream. Not yet.
As Hans was about to kick her a second time, the devil restrained him.
“Cut it out. You’re ruining her pretty face. And then we’ll have only half as much fun with her later on, eh? I promise I’ll show you things that are too dirty even for the Prince of Darkness.”
“Braunschweiger, you’re a sick man.” Christoph Holzapfel shook his head in disgust. “All we want is some fun with the girl. I’ve had enough with the bloody mess you left behind in Landsberg.” He turned away. “Just have your fun with her, and then let’s clear out of here.”
Magdalena doubled up, ready for the next blow.
“Not yet,” the devil mumbled. “First let’s get the treasure.”
“Damn it, Braunschweiger!” Hans Hohenleitner said, holding his bleeding nose. “There is no treasure. Can’t you get that inside your sick head?”
The corners of the devil’s mouth started to twitch again, and his head moved in a wide circle, as if he was trying to release some internal tension.
“Don’t you ever call me…sick again, Hohenleitner. Never again…” His eyes darted from one soldier to the next. “And now I’ll tell you something. We’ll stay here one more night, just one more. You take the girl to a safe place, and I’ll get you the treasure by tomorrow morning. You’ll have ducats coming out of your arse. And then we’ll see to the girl, all of us.”
“One more night?” Hans Hohenleitner asked. The devil nodded.
“And how are you going to find that treasure?”
“Leave that to me. You just take care of the girl.”
Christoph Holzapfel stepped closer again.
“And where are we supposed to hide, huh? The place will be crawling with troops tomorrow.”
The devil smiled.
“I know an absolutely safe place. They won’t find you there. And you’ll have a great view.”
He told them the place. Then he set out for the town. Magdalena bit her lips. Tears were streaming over her cheeks. She struggled to turn her face away from the soldiers. They mustn’t see her cry.
The two men were standing near the building site watching the workmen. Some of the bricklayers and carpenters waved to them. Perhaps they were wondering what business the two men had here, but they didn’t harbor the slightest suspicion. The two men there were respected burghers. Presumably they just wanted to see for themselves how the construction was proceeding.
There wasn’t much left to see of the last day’s damage. The walls of the leper house were being raised again, and there was a new roof truss on the walls of the chapel. Two bailiffs were sitting at the edge of the well in the middle of the clearing, killing time by playing dice. The court clerk had ordered the entire area to be guarded day and night, and his orders had been quite precise, as usual. They had nailed together a wooden shelter for the bailiffs, where they could get cover from the rain. There were lanterns hanging on the outer wall of the shelter, and two halberds were leaning next to them.
“And you have really searched the entire place?” the older man was now asking.
The younger man nodded. “Everything. And several times. I really don’t know where else we could look. But it
The other man shrugged. “Maybe the old miser was lying. Maybe he was delirious on his deathbed. An old man’s feverish ravings, and we fell for them…”
He groaned loudly and held his side. He had to bend over briefly for the pain to subside. Then he turned to walk away.
