The baron's brigde

"Do you know who locked her in here?" Corvina's eyes were a dark green, as if the shade changed with her mood.

She took a good look at Mavka and, after that, her eyes scanned the whole place. Her gaze roamed over the furniture, which was very clean, making her feel proud inside.

Mavka denied it, shaking her head. She couldn't understand it, but it was as if Corvina was different from the others. She looked at the girl again and noticed that she was wearing thin-toed shoes, which impressed her. According to rumour, only witches wore such shoes, so that they could be recognized wherever they went. But her thoughts were interrupted by another twinge in her lower back, probably from the fall. She moved her hand to the spot of the pain, trying to lean against a nearby piece of furniture.

"I just heard the door slam and when I realized it was locked here. It was probably one of the other girls, because ever since I got here, I've felt unwelcome," Makva said in a melancholy voice, feeling really lonely inside that huge mansion.

She thought that, with time, she would be more welcome or at least not noticed, but she knew that things would probably only get worse.

"Let's see, they set you up, so how about we do something about them?" Corvina said, as she realized that she had sympathized with Mavka. She didn't look like the other girls and might be good company, apart from Caellun, who had been more stressed lately.

So he combined the useful with the pleasant: as well as teaching the other girls a good lesson, who were feeling very important around there, he would seal the bonds with a new friend.

"I don't know, I'm afraid they'll be even more angry with me. Besides, what could I do? There are only two of us and I don't even know how many there are."

"Five."

"Hello?" Mavka asked.

"There are five girls, apart from you. Seline, Calliope, Helena, Victoria and Alba, those are their names. Each one is responsible for an area of the mansion. But please don't take this the wrong way, they're not usually bad, but it's only been a few weeks since they lost one of the group, Padua, and it's left their feelings in disarray. She was the kindest of them all, but she couldn't resist!" the woman said, her tone becoming sad with every word.

"Couldn't resist what?" Mavka was curious about the story, and understood that they had all suffered a great loss, but thought to herself that it wasn't her fault, as she would never have imagined that there had been a recent death in the palace.

"That's beside the point. Now, let's go," Corvina then put her sad thoughts behind her and her eyes sparkled like emeralds again, imagining how much fun it would be to finally play a trick on someone. She'd spent so long inside the mansion that she'd forgotten how much fun she'd had when she was younger. She walked over to one of the large shelves in search of something. "I swore I was here, but... miss, did you change the order of the books?"

"Yes, Mrs. Rowena asked me to arrange everything in alphabetical order," the girl replied, with a slight tone of pride, after all, there were a lot of books and she still managed to finish the job quickly.

"Good," Corvina then looked at the book in front of her. "If this is C, then it must be..." she walked around the room with grace and beauty, her dress seemed to be part of her body and the long sleeves made her look even more graceful. "Here! I found the book," then she pulled the green-covered book out of the bookcase and opened it, smelling the ink again.

"I'm sorry, but what are we doing?" Mavka was attentive to Corvina's steps, but still didn't understand what she wanted.

"Why is the incessant search for a book going to help us with the girls?"

"I've found it!" Corvina then, as if sliding across the floor, began to look in other places, until she quickly returned to where Mavka was and invited her to sit in the armchair in front of the table, sitting down in the chair opposite and carefully opening the book, placing four glass jars around it. "We must respect the spirits and elements, so I'll just ask you to concentrate with me, okay?"

"Of course! I won't get in the way."

The woman smiled and started going through the leaves until she seemed to find what she was looking for. Then, with a short sigh, she began to speak in a strange language, at least to Mavka. Her eyes closed and her hand raised in surrender.

The air seemed to get colder and the pages of the book began to move, as if a strong wind was controlling the place. One by one, she placed the jars on the four corners of the table, upside down, as if in a ritual. Then thunder rumbled and, within moments, heavy rain began to fall and a storm seemed to form over the mansion.

Mavka, who had been suspicious before, now knew for sure that Corvina was a witch, and a good one. Astonished by what had happened, she stared at the woman in front of her, who seemed even more powerful. But as she watched, she noticed that the windows, which had previously been open so that the sun could shine in, were now giving way to the merciless wind, so she hurried to close each one.

"Are you surprised, dear? Don't worry, the best hasn't even begun yet," Corvina smiled and began flipping through the pages of the book again, her eyes now so light green that they looked almost like water. She looked very happy as she searched for another spell.

"What are you going to do now? I thought the rain was supposed to wet down the locals so they'd have more work to do," Mavka looked suspiciously at the girl, wondering what Corvina's next trick would be.

The witch didn't answer, but smiled even more when she found what she was looking for. Then, again, she recited words that Mavka still couldn't understand and brought her index finger to her throat.

"Look, my flower. Would you kindly meet me outside the mansion, in front of the central fountain? I'll be waiting for you there in a moment."

Then Corvina took her finger off her neck, laughed and looked at Mavka excitedly.

"I'll show you something, come with me," and the two of them left the hall and headed for the stairs.

...

After a few minutes, all five girls found themselves at the fountain, not understanding why they were there. As far as they were concerned, they had each received the warning on their own and were hoping to find Caellun in full view of everyone else, as he usually didn't even leave his ward.

"What are you doing here?" Seline, who was the most arrogant among them, asked with disdain, imagining that the baron hadn't had enough of her before and would finish the job.

"I think we're here doing the same as you, from what I understand. Did you all hear Caellun's voice, asking you to meet him out here?" Victoria asked, finding this coincidence strange.

"Don't worry, you'll find out soon enough," Corvina shouted from the doorway in an imposing voice, causing all the girls, including Mavka, to startle. She smiled with a sarcastic look, as if she expected something to happen. "I want to know who among you locked the new girl in the library."

All five of them looked at each other, as if they were making a pact not to turn Seline in. Then, one by one, they began to shake their heads.

"It wasn't me, I wasn't even there," Helena said, shaking off the guilt.

"Least of all me," Seline laughed, knowing what she had done.

"Neither were the three of us, because our cleaning area is completely opposite the library," Victoria defended her colleagues.

"Well, no problem. Since you can't be mature enough to confess a mistake, I hope this teaches you all a lesson." Corvina then moved a little away from the door and, with just a wave of her hands, all the entrances to the house were locked and the front door slammed, leaving the five girls outside.

Without much delay, a huge clap of thunder filled the ears of everyone in the house and, at the same moment, the storm, which seemed to be being held back, came crashing down with immense force on the mansion. Lightning cut through the sky, illuminating every room in the house.

The drenched girls ran and banged on the door, begging to be let in. Their wet dresses, the tips of which had once been covered in snow, were now covered in mud from the fountain to the door.

Inside the mansion, Corvina laughed at the screams of the girls outside.

"Don't you think they might get angrier?" Mavka asked, afraid, but still feeling the taste of revenge.

"Don't worry, Mavka. They should learn a lesson now, I hope. Excuse me, I have some business to attend to, but I wanted to say that it was nice to meet you, you're a kind girl. I hope we'll have better conversations from now on! I'd ask you to go back to your duties and then return to your room, all right?" Corvina's eyes returned to their usual emerald green and she headed for the ward where her friend was.