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Bellwethers © 2025 by Stéfano Castellanos is licensed under
CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. To view a copy of this license, visit
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BELLWETHERS EP 4
(Impenitent Scripts - The Koppang
Mysteries)

1. COLD OPEN – EXT. RENDELEN – LATE WINTER – 1705
A crowd gathers in a frozen clearing. Snow falls silently. It
does not melt where it lands.
At the center stands a stake, soaked in pitch. Bound to it:
, 39, wild-eyed but proud. Her linen shift
SIGNE ARNESDATTER
is torn, her hair damp with snow and spit.
From the crowd, a veiled woman emerges — older, hands
trembling but eyes defiant. She moves to the base of the
stake.
This is (49), her sister. She slips a coarse rope
ANGRBODA
around Signe’s neck, hanging from it an iron bellwether. The
bell jingles once — sharp, metallic.

ANGRBODA (WHISPERING)
Let them jeer.
It keeps you here.
2026 knots braided to your soul.
Sleep here, my sister, beneath the
ash. Return! and together we shall
find our fourth.
The bell is a bellwether — a shepherd’s bell, charmed and
cursed. Meant for mockery, forged for memory. Those who know,
hear it long after.
The PRIEST raises his Bible. Townsfolk murmur: "Witch."
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A torch is lit.

SIGNE (CALLING OUT)
I loved a woman once. That was my sin.
But you — you love blood.
The torch touches the pyre.
Flames rise.
Signe does not scream. Only the bell rings. Once. Then again.

2. INT. ESTEBAN’S LIVING ROOM – EARLY MORNING LIGHT – PRESENT

DAY
lies motionless on the
ESTEBAN ELIAS HARTFORD BELTRAN (57)
floor — pale, lips slightly parted. A faint streak of blood
seeps from the crotch of his pants.
His dogs stand guard:
MELCOCHA and TROCO flank Esteban protectively.
BRUNA stands at the top of the stairs, still as stone.
SKARA emerges silently from the foyer, circling behind LIV,
who stands just inside the threshold.
Liv doesn't speak. She doesn’t have to.
Her hands twitch. Her breath comes in short, shallow bursts.
She looks down — her skin ripples, like something beneath it
wants out.
Her eyes lock on the blood.
She takes one step forward.
snarls.
MELCOCHA
bares his teeth, watches her trembling frame, then
TROCO
turns to the desk and on one of its legs.
pees slowly

LIV (HISSING)
You beast!
moves closer.
SKARA
doesn’t move — just watches.
BRUNA
Liv panics. Her eyes dart toward the fireplace poker. Lights
flicker.
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leaps down the stairs.
BRUNA
Liv extends her arm, hand wide open. She raises it — the
poker flies across the room with a snap of invisible force.
prepares to jump her.
SKARA
The front door swings open.
The poker drops mid-air, slamming into the floor halfway
between Liv and Esteban.
rethinks her tactic.
SKARA
rushes in, arms full of books, bag, and papers. He drops
NICK
it all.

NICK
What the hell happened here?
He pushes past Liv, ignoring the dogs, the poker stuck to the
floor, the chaos. He checks Esteban's face.

LIV (INSTANTLY SWITCHING TONE)
Oh, Nick. Good you’re here. Esteban’s
in need of help. These dogs won’t let
me pass. Put them outside. I can help.
The dogs remain tense. TROCO growls low, standing his ground.
His eyes never leave Liv.
She tries to hide her discomfort. Looks at her hands — they
ripple again.
(FOCUSED)
NICK
There is a pulse! Hand me my bag. We
need to call for help.
Nick turns toward her —
Liv is gone.

3. EXT. PRIVATE PROPERTY – CONTINUOUS
runs full-speed across a tall-grass garden.
LIV
A MAN, tying his rose bushes, watches in silent confusion as
she vanishes into the woods beyond.

NEIGHBOR
Liv?
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4. INT. ESTEBAN’S HOUSE – MOMENTS LATER
(URGENT)
NICK
Esteban? Esteban, can you hear me?
Help is on its way.
Nick removes his jacket and folds it under Esteban’s head.
and quietly exit through the door, taking up
SKARA BRUNA
position outside like sentries.
Nick's phone rings. He answers.
(INTO PHONE)
NICK
I need an ambulance.
(He listens)

NICK
No — I’m Nick Nygård. I’m at Esteban
Hartford’s home. Keep driving. Red
door to your left. Same road. Hurry —
he’s bleeding from his crotch.
(He listens)

NICK
Thanks.
Nick drops the phone. Crouches closer at Esteban’s side.

NICK
Hang in there, pal. They're almost
here.

5. EXT. WOODS
naked body lies face-down in the leaves — one arm
LIV’S
twisted beneath her, caught mid-spasm. Her skin is pale —
unnaturally intact.
The forest holds its breath.
Then, from between her legs — a wet, gurgling eruption.
A thick blast of ash-laced smoke bursts outward.
Birds scatter.
A deer bolts.
Even a fox vanishes into shadow.
The dark smoke coils — it does not dissipate, but forms.
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The leaves between her legs rustle, then scatter — blown wide
by a sudden eruption.
second
A shape rises from dust, leaves, twigs, stones. Humanoid.
Faceless. Shrouded in rags.
It stands between Liv’s legs, flickering.
The shape walks silently into the forest.
Where it passes:
Flowers wilt.
Leaves blacken.
As if scorched by something .
cold
It gets lost in the woods.
Silence returns.
-
6. INT. ELVERUM HOSPITAL TWO DAYS LATER
sits on the edge of his bed, dressed and waiting.
ESTEBAN
, 50s, brisk but polite. He informs of the results.
DOCTOR TUV

DOCTOR TUV
We’ve run every test twice. Nothing
abnormal — no infection, no trauma, no
internal bleeding.
(beat)
I don’t see why we should keep you
here.
He offers a faint smile. Esteban says nothing.

DOCTOR TUV (CONT’D)
You're good to go.
The doctor hands him a release form. nods, slow,
ESTEBAN
unsure.

ESTEBAN
That’s… good. Thank you.

DOCTOR TUV
Take care.
The doctor leaves.
Esteban exhales — something between relief and dread. His
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phone peeps he looks at the message.

7. EXT. ELVERUM HOSPITAL – DAY
steps out through the automatic doors,
ESTEBAN HARTFORD
carrying a small bag.
waits outside, hands in pockets. Nick steps
NICK NYGÅRD
forward.

NICK NYGÅRD
I'm sorry. I didn't want to go in.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD (DOUBTFUL)
I'm sorry?

NICK NYGÅRD
You got my message.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
Right, right. Sorry. I got your
message in time, yes, yes.

NICK NYGÅRD (GRINNING)
You’re walking upright. That’s
progress.

ESTEBAN
There is life and death in these large
buildings.
They walk to Nick's jeep.
Esteban follows Nick's gaze — .
a blue Jeep Gladiator

NICK NYGÅRD
The blue jeep.
Nick unlocks the car with a remote. It beeps. Esteban climbs
in.

NICK (CONT’D)
Hey. I got a phone call from the
Police. They found Liv.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
Who?

NICK NYGÅRD
Hey, man. Are you ok? You seemed like
you didn't recognize me back there.
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ESTEBAN HARTFORD
I'm a bit overwhelmed.

NICK NYGÅRD
I bet. She was at your house when I
got there. Some neighbor saw her run
through his yard.
Esteban stares straight ahead.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
Why did you come by the house?

NICK NYGÅRD
The desk. 1759. Your tattoo. You’re
related to the family.
Fuglesand

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
What tattoo?
Nick finds a spot to park on the highway. He reaches out and
pulls open the top of Esteban's shirt.

NICK NYGÅRD
The...
The tattoo is gone. Nick notices the peculiar scar. He's
overwhelmed.
Esteban touches his chest instinctively. His fingers linger,
uncertain. Something is missing — but he doesn't know what.

NICK (CONT’D)
Six generations back —
Lars Eliassen
. Your full name is
Fuglesand Esteban
, right?
Elias Hartford Beltrán

ESTEBAN HARTFORD (DOUBTFUL)
Eh. Right.

NICK NYGÅRD
Did you know?

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
Know what?
Nick is bewildered.

8. EXT. TORALV FOREST NEAR COWBELL RIDGE – LATE AFTERNOON
A peaceful hush settles over the pine-heavy ridge. The
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muffled thrum of a chainsaw slices through the silence.
solidly built with silver hair beneath a
TORVALD BRUN (68),
knit cap, kneels beside a freshly felled birch. He notices a
strange double arrow-shaped marking running through the
grain. Not natural. Not carved. Just... there.
Torvald brushes off bark and sawdust.
Another piece — the same mark. And another. Each one bears
the same angular double arrow.

TORVALD
(quietly)
Well now... what the hell?
He turns back to the stump.
There, across the flat surface — etched deep into the rings —
is a larger symbol: two parallel arrows.
Torvald studies it, intrigued. He starts his chainsaw.

TORVALD (CONT’D)
Maybe I can lift the surface. Take it
to Jan. He’ll know what this is.
He bends down. Suddenly, his body jerks — a full-body spasm.
One arm locks. His knees buckle. He gasps — but can’t call
out.
The earth beneath the stump rumbles.
A sinkhole opens — the soil collapses beneath him. A dark
hollow yawns up like a mouth.
Torvald falls forward, chainsaw still buzzing.

WHRRR-CRACK!
The blade slices clean through his jaw and skull as he drops
into the pit.
Blood sprays, coating the sigil-carved stump.
The wood pulses, then soaks the blood inward.

WIDE SHOT – SILENCE RETURNS.
Torvald is gone.
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9. INT. ESTEBAN’S HOUSE – NIGHT
Warm, low light. The like an old
desk looms in the corner
witness.
snores softly nearby, curled against the wall.
Melcocha
, freshly showered, in sweatpants and a hoodie sets
ESTEBAN
the tea pot on the table, then pours himself a proper cognac.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
I know you like my Xmas tea.

NICK NYGÅRD
Thanks.
On the table: , tracing back to
Esteban’s family tree Elias
, born 1700 in Evenstad. Several are stacked
Pålsson folders
beside it.

NICK NYGÅRD
So you’re Beltrán… but your mother was
Acosta?
sips his cognac — slow, deliberate, letting it soak
ESTEBAN
his palate.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
It opened doors for her. Beltrán was
only on records. Legal papers.
steps in, in , her hair down. No
INGRID civilian clothes
badge, no armor — just focus.

OFFICER INGRID
Hope I’m not too late. We let myself
in.
, her wife, follows right behind — calm, observant.
VIRNA KEYS

VIRNA KEYS
Hey, Esteban. How you feeling?

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
The cognac is helping. Want one?

VIRNA KEYS
I'd love one.
pulls a from her bag and sets it up on the
VIRNA portable PC
table.
10.
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Esteban hands Virna a cognac.

VIRNA KEYS
Thanks.

10. EXT. PRISON COURTYARD – MIDNIGHT
It's June 1. A prison van idles just outside the main gate. A
GUARD escorts (70) — lean, sharp-eyed,
SEBASTIAN G. TREMBLAY
dressed in a simple shirt and jeans. His shackled ankles
clink softly with each step.
He pauses at the open door. He looks inside the van.
A sits, her linen shift torn. Mud streaks
middle-aged woman
her face, brown hair, her brown eyes cut clear through the
grime, locked on Sebastian.
She does not move.
She only watches.
Sebastian walks in with curiosity.

11. INT. ESTEBAN'S HOUSE (CONTINUATION)
explains the files in her computer. and
INGRID Nick Esteban
lean in over her shoulder - onscreen — , scanned
aged text
pages, clinical notes.

INGRID
There’s a case — 1758, Innlandet,
Koppang region.
A man accused of sodomy.
Never gave up the name of his lover.
They suspect it was the farmer's
daughter. They burned his nipples with
rods. Blinded him with lye.
Died from internal injuries.

NICK NYGÅRD
Rod up the ass?

VIRNA KEYS
Right, a red-hot rod up his rectum.
All of this took place in a farm near
Cowbell Ridge.
Esteban doesn’t flinch.

INGRID
Esteban? You OK?
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Nick observes Esteban.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
I'm okay. Go on.

INGRID (SOFTLY)
We compared the injuries to
Oleg’s

autopsy.

VIRNA KEYS
They match. As if someone is re-
writing history.

NICK NYGÅRD
Or reliving it.

VIRNA KEYS
I think… something is echoing. There’s
another case —Man found on a farm.
Accused of adultery. Beaten to death
and dumped in a pit. Covered with
manure.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
The same pit?

VIRNA KEYS
Not exactly. But the same land.
Pete’s
His family’s owned that land
property.
since 1760.

NICK NYGÅRD
How does it link in an investigation?
What made you look into century old
files?

INGRID
Pete. We found these clues at Pete's.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
Was his death staged?
(beat)
What about ?
Liv

VIRNA KEYS
A third witness saw her rolling naked
on pile of ants. 12 year old. This is
the video. (video on screen). What
bakes your noodle is the autopsy. It
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shows she died ago.
four days
(beat)
(CONT’D)
VIRNA
We found vaginal tearing.
From the .
inside out
As if something… crawled out of her.
With force.
The room goes still.
rises, slow and alert.
TROCO
He walks to the old desk, sniffs, circles once —
— and lifts his leg, pisses on the same front left leg.
No one speaks.

12. INT. POLICE VAN
Sebastian looks at the guard. The guard does not notice the
woman.

SEBASTIAN G. TREMBLAY
(to the woman)
What do you want with me?

MALE GUARD

(without turning)
I want you quiet.
Sebastian’s eyes looks at the woman.
She — a flicker of something both and .
smiles coy calculated
Her gaze brushes the guard, then returns to Sebastian.

SIGNE, THE WITCH.
I want you to let me in.
(a beat)
The road is bumpy. The van groans faintly as it settles on
its shocks. Sebastian looks down. Then up again at the woman.

SEBASTIAN G. TREMBLAY

(whispers, without fear)
Welcome.
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13. FLASHBACK INSIDE SEBASTIAN'S SKULL — A THREAD IS PULLED.
flash behind his eyes:
Memories not his own
— a , flame devouring but never silencing.
woman at the stake
— the hands of a woman holds a , flames and
bellwether
screams. Sebastian is there, in 1700.
The witch coils closer.
No contact — but Sebastian feels her breath at his ear.

THE WITCH (V.O.)
Y
ou will want what I want.

And you will burn for it. In this

life.

14. EXT. TORVALD FOREST NEAR COWBELL RIDGE – DUSK
Stillness.
lies twisted in a hollow of dirt and shattered
TORVALD
branches. His jaw hangs broken. His face — split in half by a
chainsaw — stares blankly at the sky.
Beneath his body, a faint , forming a
trail of ash glows
deliberate under him.
circle
From somewhere above: the .
distant clang of a bell
A lone wanders to the edge of the pit, a small
sheep
strapped to its neck. It stops. Ears twitching.
bellwether
Peers down.
The .
ash stirs
A pulse.

15. PRISON VISITATION AREA
Esteban walks through the scanning area. A policewoman
directs him to a small visitation room. He sits down. After a
moment, a door opens, and Sebastian walks in.

SEBASTIAN G. TREMBLAY
I didn't expect to see you so soon.
Esteban glances around; they’re alone.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
Pace yourself, you flatulent bitch.
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SEBASTIAN G. TREMBLAY
How much wood would a woodchuck chuck
if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
Esteban opens his shirt to reveal the second emblem marked on
his chest — the parallel arrow under the letter. The binding
mark.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
They're on to us.

SEBASTIAN G. TREMBLAY
Has he seen it?

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
No.

SEBASTIAN G. TREMBLAY
Get rid of those mutts before they
smell you.

ESTEBAN HARTFORD
Wouldn't you like that? You wombless
old bitch. Hear me good. No more
blood. Nor mine, nor others.
Angrboda (Sebastian) cold and untouched by Ole's (Esteban's)
insults responds with a question.

SEBASTIAN G. TREMBLAY
Did you bring me my mirror?

ESTEBAN HARTFORD (DETERMINED)
Do as you're told.
Sebastian eyes carry hate. Esteban leaves.

16. EXT. KOPPANG – 1705 – NIGHT
Flickering torchlight.
dump charred wood, ash, and the into
TOWNSMEN iron bellwether
a freshly dug hole. The as it hits the bottom
bell rings once
— sharp, final.

17. EXT. FOREST NEAR COWBELL RIDGE – DUSK
The circle of ash — serpent-like, curling upward.
rises
The ash slithers into Torvald’s nose — a hissing, hungry
invasion.
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A beat.
His eyes snap open.
The sheep bleats.
Too late.
Torvald’s arm lashes upward — inhumanly fast — and drags the
sheep into the pit. A muffled snap. A low, bestial growl.
Silence.
All that remains is blood, gore, and the bell.
Then — movement.
TORVALD — or what wears him — emerges.
He lifts the bellwether from the mangled sheep and hangs it
around his neck. It jingles softly.
As he walks, his form shifts.
With each step:
His mass softens.
Bones shift, sinew tightens.
Flesh smooths, melts, reforms.
He unbuttons his shirt. Tosses it aside.
By the time she reaches the treeline, Torvald is gone.
In his place: a striking woman, barefoot, radiant — and
wrong.
The bellwether swings gently against her naked chest,
catching the last light of dusk.
It’s her. The woman from the stake.
Signe Arnesdatter.
From somewhere — not spoken, but remembered — a whisper:

ANGRBODA (V.O., BARELY AUDIBLE)

Let them jeer...
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It keeps you here...

Return... and together we shall find

our fourth.
The woman smiles faintly — as if she hears it, too.
Then walks on.
Into night.

ANGRBODA (V.O., WHISPERING)

Let them jeer...

It keeps you here...

Return... and together we shall find

our fourth.

(END OF PART ONE)
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