Authors: Romina Nicolaides
“I’m sure the Countess has her reasons for placing you here,” she said trying to reassure the girl. Turning to the rest of them she spoke loudly, "Ladies, as I am sure you are exhausted after your long journeys, I suggest that you make yourselves comfortable and get some rest. The Countess has requested that you stay in the dormitory for the evening. I will have the kitchen staff bring you some warm soup and some boiled meats as well as more wood for the fire. In the morning I will take you to see the Countess.”
“But it is only four o’clock in the afternoon, it’s not even properly dark yet,” protested one of the girls. “We were told that we would attend Balls with eligible members of the nobility when we agreed to come. I did not come here to be told to go to bed! Least of all by a maid!”
“I’m sure that this is only for today because you have had a long day. No doubt the Countess will give you an early start in the morning so you need to get plenty of rest.” She turned to leave but hesitated. “I must warn you that the Countess regards obedience more highly that anything, so please try not to anger her,” she said in an uncertain attempt to warn them but knew that other staff would be listening. With that she curtsied her way out of there as well as she could and told Miloš to bring them some food. After dinner was delivered she discreetly locked them in the dormitory. Looking through the slit of the feeble barn door she watched them being happy and playful and felt a pang of envy at their carefreeness, though she knew it wasn’t going to last. She also wanted to speak with Oriana but had not had the chance. Unlike the previous time, the girls now had to be locked into the barn and she would probably not be able to come visit her after lessons. Finding the Countess in her chambers she handed over the key.
“Keep it. I want you to have them dressed, washed and fed and in the Library, ready to take lessons by 4:30 am. Don’t be late.”
Half past four in the morning?
How on earth would I get all those brats to cooperate and be in the Library by that time?
“I have a lot of reading to do this evening but I want to attend to them before the sun comes up. Due to my sun intolerance they will have to readjust their bodies in order to be up at night and sleep during the day. I can’t have them running around uncontrolled or fraternizing with the staff so this is what we’re going to do,” she answered what hadn’t been asked.
“Yes mistress,” Kati agreed. She wanted to ask if they’d be killed but the words wouldn’t form in her head nor could they leave her lips.
Reluctantly at around three she went to their dorm and began to wake them.
“What time is it?” Asked Margaréta, the girl with the black hair.
“It’s quite early but the Countess wants to get started right away.”
“No,” she said simply and hid in her covers.
“Please get up, the Countess doesn’t like tardiness. Please you must listen!” She said in anxiety for their wellbeing.
“No, it’s too early.”
Changing tack she said, “Suit yourself, but I have to warn you that the gardeners come for their toilet just behind your barn at this time, and you won’t like the sounds they make." She was bluffing and hoped none of the old girls would betray her.
“What sort of place is this?” Margaréta sat up in an instant. “We’re made to go to bed in a shoddy cold barn in the afternoon and then woken up in the middle of the night for lessons and told to move before the men come to shit? I’m getting up because I need to speak to the Countess, this is unacceptable!”
“Whatever you think is best, young ma’am.”
After breakfast she took them all to the Library where they sat in neat little rows waiting for the Countess. “Good morning ladies, how was your evening?” Asked the Countess rushing into the room in one of her finer daytime gowns. The admiration from the girls was obvious and they chattered amongst themselves about her. It was clear she carried a lot of authority amongst the nobility and they were in awe of her. Except for the girl with the black hair.
“Good morning Your Grace, if you can call it morning, that is,” she said sarcastically.
“Is there a problem Margaréta? I detect some discontent from you.”
“If I may be so bold as to express some concern, Your Grace…” She stood up and held her hands in front of her. “I would like to say that the conditions in which we're staying are unacceptable, the timetable is harsh, the food is dreadful and this morning we were told that men defecate near our dormitory. From what I was led to believe we’re paying a lot of money to attend this Gynaeceum and we should be better treated. For one we should really sleep within the castle!"
“In order to become a functioning member of the nobility like myself, my dear, you must experience all aspects of life. You might have been born with a silver spoon in your mouths but that doesn’t mean you cannot learn how to be well rounded, and that includes sleeping in a barn, waking up at the crack of dawn and doing work, a lot of hard manual work!” She shot a glare at the girl, and Kati could see a fine slither of green show around her pupil which gave her goose bumps. She inhaled deeply. “Let me remind you that your families have entrusted you in my absolute care for however long I see fit. Didn’t Oriana and the other girls that were here before Easter tell you about the wonderful lessons they received and how satisfied their parents were with their progress?”
So that’s why she let them live?
Kati had been wondering about this for some time. She looked at Oriana sitting obediently at the table listening to the Countess and she couldn’t bear to think of her friend hanging from her limbs, flayed for her organs and deprived of her blood.
“Your education has been left entirely in my hands so you will do as you’re told if you want to benefit from the long history and pedigree that comes with the Báthory name. Otherwise you’ll be sent back to your homes disgraced and it will be the talk of the nobility that the fur merchant’s daughter was too stupid to be educated in the ways of a Lady! You might have money, my dears, but class and breeding is a whole other kettle of fish. If you cannot cope with the schedule then please feel free to leave before you waste any more of my precious time."
“No, that’s not what I meant...” Margaréta was flustered, “I didn't mean to cause offense, Your Grace, please forgive me.” The girl was embarrassed and taken aback, but she was also clearly annoyed.
“Now then, let us proceed. This morning we shall test your knowledge of Latin and history and then we shall contact your families. You all have paper and ink in front of you so after the first lesson you’ll write and tell them how well you're doing here at the castle. Leave your letters on the desk and Katalina will see that they are sent off. Now open your books to the first page. I need you to memorize the first chapter and we shall analyze it tomorrow after each and every one of you has recited it back to me flawlessly. I cannot stress enough how important self-composure and discipline is to a Lady. You need to be obedient as well as intelligent and you must know everything a castle needs to function properly before the need arises. You must also be able to keep up with intelligent conversation at Balls and royal gatherings and most importantly you must know everybody else’s business, particularly when they’re your guests. You must be aware of their likes and dislikes, any important events in their past, their weaknesses and their strengths. Are you all following me so far?” The girls nodded. Kati recoiled.
At around 3:00 pm they were given a well-deserved break and served lunch in the Dining room. After they were done, Kati returned them to their dormitory.
“Ladies, the Countess has instructed that you have your rest, as we’ll be meeting for more lessons later this evening. Please dedicate time only to doing your lessons and resting.” Kati’s instructions were greeted with some disgruntlement but eventually the girls complied. She locked them in as she’d been told and headed to her room to get some badly needed rest. She hadn’t eaten or slept properly in days and desperately needed some blood. She hoped to sneak away later and find something to feed on. At about 10:00 in the evening her hunger overcame her need to sleep so she went into the forest. She’d been looking around for a deer but saw a form she recognized as female downwind from where she stood. She rarely saw people out in these woods, especially women out by themselves, so she thought this was an excellent opportunity for a human meal. The woman, who was dressed in a large woolen cloak, was walking fast and didn’t hear Kati close in. A second later, Kati, who had approached from the back, bit into her neck and the woman instantly lost her senses. The image stream revealed a fine home, riches, horses, a striking young man and finally the Countess! Kati stopped drinking and fully pulled back the woman’s hood to reveal it was in fact Margaréta.
“No! No, no, no, no, no! You stupid, stupid girl! Just one day of hardship and you escape?” Kati was beside herself. The spoiled little brat had somehow gotten out of the barn and was making her way home. Kati touched her neck to see if she was dead and she could still detect a faint pulse. A cold shiver passed over her when she realized she might have drunk enough to Afflict her, uncertain if she’d stopped in time. She didn’t have much experience with that so she thought it over and over in her mind trying to remember how much was too much. She was pacing up and down next to the unconscious girl, not quite certain what to do next. She didn’t know what the Countess intended to do with them. Maybe she would torture and kill them, in which case she’d be in trouble but not terribly so, or maybe she had run out of money and this was an easy way to supplement her income meaning that the girls had to remain alive and well. She kept shaking her head in disbelief. She sat on the ground trying to delay the inevitable but eventually she picked her up, put her over her shoulder and headed back to the castle. Uncertain of where to leave Margaréta, she took her up to her room and gagged and tied her to the chair. With a racing heart she went to get the Countess.
“
You-did-WHAT
?!” She enunciated every syllable in her rage.
“It was an accident, mistress, I didn’t know it was her,” a contrite Kati was kneeling in front of the Countess in supplication but that didn't stop her from slapping the child across the face, “What have I told you about feeding on my own? Only I am allowed to kill people around here, do you hear me? You only eat what you’re given! She was going to be the last of my experiments, and now you’ve ruined her! Ruined her!” There was a slight tremor in her voice. “Take her out of your room and give her a guest room in the castle immediately. You better hope she doesn’t die! She needs to recover and you will see to it! Make sure that she becomes healthier than before or you’re next and it won’t be pretty!" Her threats were real, but her heart wasn’t in it today. Her mind seemed to be somewhere else, so Kati was relieved that the abuse was only verbal. When she returned to her room Margaréta was still unconscious. Kati checked for a pulse and gratefully found it. She moved her to a new room and lit a strong fire. She ordered some soup and sat by the bed and waited. The hours crawled and the patient slept unsoundly. In the morning the sun broke in through the window stinging Kati’s eyes and waking her. She jumped up to pull the curtains and the noise woke Margaréta. Kati breathed an immense sigh of relief at seeing her alive and approached the bed.
“How do you feel?”
“Where am I?” She asked looking around the room.
“You’re in the castle, you were taken ill and we brought you in here.”
“No I wasn’t, I was making my way back home, what have you done to me?”
“Nothing, I found you passed out in the woods. I think something must have…bitten you, see?” Kati pointed to the marks on her neck. "I was out collecting firewood and found you unconscious. You’re very lucky, any longer and you might have died from the cold.” She was trying desperately to convince her considering it was late summer and not that cold yet.
“Lies! You’ve done something to me, this place is very strange! I want to go home! You can keep the money, my family won’t mind, I just want to get back, please let me go!" She was sobbing now.
“Don’t be such a cry baby. The Countess will personally see to it that you are escorted to your home when you’re better," she lied. “Right now there’s an epidemic of cholera going around and it wouldn’t be safe for you to travel in your compromised condition. Here, eat some soup, it’s beef and beet, you’ll like it.”
“I don’t want it, I want to go home. Now!”
“Suit yourself. I have work to do right now, but I’ll leave it here and come check on you later.” She left the room and locked Margaréta inside. She felt awful for lying to her and for what the future held for her. All the same, she had to get the other girls to class and she was already behind schedule. When she got to the barn the girls had already left for the day’s lessons. Kati cursed herself for not getting them to class before the sun rose. She knew that the Countess would have been even angrier with her failure despite the fact that she had the added task of keeping Margaréta alive. Multiple responsibilities meant nothing to her mistress. Braving the strong sun she went back inside and waited till the end of class to return the girls to their dormitory. By early afternoon they were commanded to go to sleep and Kati picked them up from Bianca and escorted them back.