Authors: Romina Nicolaides
“Terra au-tem erat i-nanis et va…cua, et tene-bra-e erant super fa-ciem abyss…i: et Spiritus D-dei ferebatur super aquas?" Tentatively reading all the syllables and words, Kati looked at Oriana with questioning eyes to see how well she had done with the longer text.
“Very good, you’re learning fast! The only remark I have is with the diphthongs, which is when a certain letter comes after another and the sound changes slightly, like when ‘a’ and ‘e’ create an
é
sound. Try it again."
Kati read it again and this time it was flawless.
“This is the second line from the book of Genesis, it says, ‘But the earth was empty and unoccupied, and darknesses were over the face of the abyss; and so the Spirit of God was brought over the waters.’”
Kati was overjoyed; not only was she learning to read but the stories were interesting too.
“I like this, it’s fun. Will you also teach me the meaning of these words?”
Oriana giggled a little. “Not so fast, we’ll keep practicing our reading and then I will teach you as many words as you want. I could lend you my dictionary but you can’t read Hungarian, so it won’t be much use. Maybe I should teach you Hungarian too! And Slovak!” She said excited about her new teaching role.
“No Hungarian, or Slovak. Only Latin for now, I must learn Latin first!”
“Very well, we’ll stay with Latin then, and I’ll make sure to teach you as many words as I can. Tomorrow we’ll start with some tenses too.”
“Tenses?”
“Yes, but I’ll explain later, I think we should go to bed now.” She stood up and yawned. It was very late for both of them.
“Thank you so much, Oriana,” said Kati, giving the younger girl a spontaneous hug which she returned eagerly.
“You’re welcome, Katalina,” she replied.
“Don’t forget your bible, and remember if anyone asks, you were in the chapel praying.”
“Don’t worry I won’t forget, good night,” she said leaving the room.
Katalina, who had earlier felt exhausted, was now jubilant. She danced around her tiny room, thinking
I can read, I can read!
Picking up the paper with the phrases she read them again, not believing that her eyes could now decipher the letters. She had no idea what they meant yet, but at least she could read them and make the sounds.
Eventually she fell asleep in her bed fully dressed with the paper clutched in her hands.
Six
The six o’clock bell shook her from her stupor. Sitting up in her disheveled clothes and hair, her smarting cheeks and heavy head reminded her of the previous night’s events. Looking into her mirror, her eye was now completely bruised, as was the side of her nose. Her cheek still looked inflamed. Noticing some black marks on her other cheek she turned a little more and saw that it was covered in writing.
My words!
She thought to herself, noticing that last night’s lesson had transferred itself onto her face overnight, leaving just smears and smudges on the coarse paper. Looking down at the note, she could barely make out the first word and felt her eyes fill up with tears.
How will I practice?
Closing her eyes she concentrated really hard and slowly the lesson came back to her.
In principio creavit Deus caelum, et terram. In the beginning, God created the sky and earth.
She even remembered the meaning of the individual words. Happy and relieved she folded the piece of paper and hid it under the mattress. She wiped her face of the evidence, straightened her hair a little and went outside to use the privy chamber.
When she opened the door she was struck by the cool dawn breeze which made her nose run. She covered her shoulders with her shawl and ran towards the staff privy which was at the back of the castle near the far wall adjacent to the barn the girls slept in. The smell in there always made her gag but it was her only option.
I’m sure the Countess’s toilet is made of stone and doesn’t smell like a barn.
She wondered who else used this toilet as the only other member of staff she had met was Milošš and she doubted he could produce such odors. Then she thought of the coachman and giggled at the thought of him straining on the seat and making farting noises.
On her way back to her room she crossed the yard and just as she was about to enter the building her eye fell on a circular shaped stain on the ground. Crouching down she saw that the stain had been made by the base of a wooden bucket, very much like the ones she used for mopping or laundry, but the liquid on the ground was not water. It was darker and thicker and on closer examination she established it was blood. She noticed that the blood was not only restricted to the rim but it also led away from it in tiny ruby drops. The drops continued at irregular intervals and led her deep into the courtyard where she hadn’t dared venture before. She was so distracted by this new discovery of hers that she didn’t notice she was approaching the kitchens. The blood drops ceased suddenly, to be replaced by mud puddles, chicken droppings and vegetable peelings. Kati stopped and looking up she realized she was just outside the kitchens which were buzzing with activity even at this early hour. Pushing her body against the wall she looked in to see two corpulent women in stained dresses shuffling to and fro while holding pans filled with liquids or vegetables, stirring pots and shouting over each other through a mist of steam which emanated from the bubbling pots. In a corner on a stool sat Miloš peeling a mound of fresh potatoes taller than himself and depositing them in a large wooden tub filled with bobbing water.
Pulling herself away from the doorway she noticed the pig pen adjacent to the kitchen and was taken aback by the butcher’s block which was hosting the freshly severed head of a large hog. Its eyes were rolled up in its head and blood was dripping down the length of the block. Hearing a voice approach from the kitchen door she pushed herself tightly against the wall again and observed one of the two women exit the kitchen and go towards a small opening at the foot of the wall where she emptied a large bucket of dirty water and peelings. Kati felt her blood freeze. When the woman turned to go back inside she would surely see her and she couldn’t take that chance. Running out of options she climbed over the short fence, entered the pig pen and hid in a large mound of straw until the woman went back inside. When she was certain that no one else was there, she climbed out and ran towards her bedroom as fast as she could. Closing the door behind her she hoped and prayed that they hadn’t seen her for it would no doubt mean being disciplined again.
***
In the basement, a wooden bucket stood by the door. The heart, lungs and intestines it contained were still warm, unlike the girl they had been inside not too long ago. She lay partially dismembered on the ground, finally at peace from the previous night’s torture session.
Blood stained the floor and the witch Ilona was frantically trying to clean it all before the day’s activities commenced in earnest. Though the staff was considerably reduced now compared to when the Count had been alive, people did still mill about from time to time and a bucket full of organs and limbs never failed to catch someone's eye. The hogs had happily consumed the first lot of fresh juvenile organs, but now the kitchen was in operation, she couldn’t go back that way again. She would have to find an alternative route for disposing of the body. She put a layer of fresh straw in the cart she used to bring in wood and bundled the disarticulated girl on the top. She couldn’t have been more than thirteen so she was small and light. Another layer of straw covered her up. Lifting the handles she wheeled the cart out the main entrance and headed down the ramp and towards the forest where hopefully scavengers would finish the job for her. The blood stained floors and bucket of remaining organs she would come for later.
***
Katalina crawled into her bed and retrieved Oriana’s spare bible from under her pillow where she’d briefly hidden it and began to read. The printed word was much harder to read than the handwritten notes but she wasn't going to be intimidated. As with anything, she knew dedicated practice would help her get better. Right now she wanted to be able to recognize the words so that she could ask Oriana what they meant later. She tried to learn as many new words each day as she could, so she would memorize them and recite them to herself when she did chores. If she happened to forget she would sneak a peek at a sheet of paper she had in her pocket with all her new words and phrases written out in alphabetical order and repeat the tricky ones several more times.
One evening as they sat on the ground with Oriana conjugating verbs Katalina looked up.
“What’s the matter? Am I going too fast?” Asked Oriana.
“No, it’s fine, I already know this verb.”
“Don’t lie, this is brand new!” Insisted the little teacher.
“No I do, promise! It’s an easy one to figure out from reading the text. Listen:
Habeo: I have
Habes: You have
Habet: He has
Habemus: We have
Habetis: You have
Habent: They have.”
“I’m impressed Katalina! You are picking this up so fast!”
“I like learning; I never had a chance to learn anything before. I feel so fortunate to have you as my teacher. You have my thanks.”
“You should reserve your thanks for the Lord, I am merely his instrument.”
“If you say so! Whatever the case, I’m ever so happy to have this opportunity. I know my mother always regretted that I never had any training in anything, so she’ll be thrilled to know I’m learning letters.”
“When I’m lady of my manor, I will insist that all my staff are taught letters.”
“Can I come work for you then?” Asked Kati half in jest.
“Of course you can, you can be my personal maid!” Said Oriana enthusiastically and they both giggled.
“What’s it like where you’re from, Oriana?”
“In Moravia?”
Katalina nodded, serious now.
“It’s not much different from here. Perhaps a little greener. There’s more people in the village near my manor than there are here, that's for sure. And they’re happier too. There’s a beautiful lake near my home and whenever we can get away my sister and I swim in it in the warm weather. Our nurse gets very upset and tells us off. 'Oriana and Roberta get out of the water immediately, that’s most unbecoming of young ladies. Someone might see your modesty,’ she shouts.” She had puffed her cheeks and was wagging her finger in imitation of the older woman. “I think that’s probably why they sent me here; they keep telling me how I need to be more ladylike.”
“Then you shouldn’t be sitting on the floor reading with a maid should you?” Said Katalina, bulging her eyes also imitating the fearsome nurse she'd never met.
“No I guess not, but they’re not here to see me, are they?” Said Oriana with a smile and they started giggling again.
By Easter Kati had made her way through most of the bible and as the months passed her vocabulary grew enormously. Oriana would continue to visit in the evening after lessons for a few hours each day and between her cleaning and binding duties Kati would read religiously. She slept as little as she could get away with.
On this evening like all the others, Katalina helped the girls get up and escorted them to class. The sun had already set and she was doing her usual tidying around the Library waiting for the Countess to arrive. When eventually she did, the girls all sat in a neat row and Katalina prepared to leave when Szuzanna, one of the girls, invited her to stay.
“Your Grace, I think Katalina should stay and observe our lesson with us.” Katalina froze on the spot on hearing the ominous invitation.
The Countess shot her a stern look and then did the same to Katalina.
“Why do you say that, Szuzanna?”
“She’s always so interested in all the books while she’s cleaning up that I’m sure she’d like to stay with us and follow the lesson.”
“Katalina, would you like to stay and attend the lesson?” Asked the Countess with a raised eyebrow which was far from welcoming.
With her heart nearly beating out of her chest she said, “I’m only admiring the books for their binding, mistress. A servant girl like myself has no place in a class full of ladies of noble birth. Besides, I am too stupid to understand letters and the subjects you discuss, I only know washing and cleaning.” She said trying to back herself out of what seemed to be a very cruel trap.
“In that case you’d better leave immediately and get to your other duties, these girls still have a lot of work to do before they go home for Easter.”
They’re going home for Easter?
Kati’s heart sank. She had known this day would come, but she hoped they would spend the holiday at the castle in order to continue their studies. She exited the room, catching Oriana’s eye, who hadn’t missed the little exchange but was looking into her book pretending to be reading.