The Milady of Čachtice (Čachtická pani)

The story starts when the priest Jan Ponicea has a visit from a secret guest, Ján Kalina. He had left the village of his birth to study in Wittemberg four years ago, and now he has returned even though a reward for his head has been announced. He finds out, that his sister has disappeared, vanished into thin air, three days ago.

He is suspicious of authority, but the priest advises him to be quiet, because an uprising in Doža has recently been crushed and every suspicious character will be regarded as a rebel.

Meanwhile, the priest is talking to Jan Kalina about what has happened during his years of absence, when suddenly a naked, cripple woman burst in. She has got a piece of her cheeks pulled out of her face scratched breast and within five minutes she is dead. The catchpoles try to burst in with Ficko in the lead, the most dutiful servant of MILADY. Jan uses the moment of panic to run away to visit his mother. There he meets a beutiful girl called Maria Šútovská.

They are not happy for a long time, because Ficko is everywhere and he finds him. Rebel cohorts save Kalina. Their huge and well-built captain, in who Kalina discovers his long time friend Adam Drozda, is their leader. He joins this group.

Pavel Ledener, a friend of Jan Kalian’s, returns home to New city and his girlfriend Barborka Repasova. But destiny isn’t on his side; in his absence she has married an alcoholic and sadist. Pavel is sad to death he doesn’t know what to do and what will happen.

At the same time Alzbeta punishes the catchpoles for the unsuccessful capture of Jan Kalina. She is mad, she is raging, and she is fighting like a Kilkenny cat. She takes comfort only when she sees the drubbed Ficko and she bursts out with a mad laugh, but the smile on her face is rapidly frozen when she sees Andrej Drozd, the instigator of Ficko's suffering coming through the gate. He gives her a letter from Jan Kalina where he goads her into open combat. Andrej Drozd capitulates. Catchpoles capture him. But right away he pulls the ropes and runs away on the Milady’s beloved horse, which is worth more than one hundred self-rebellions to milady. When Andrej gallops through the wood, he meets Eržika Príborská the young villain. He falls in love with her, so he gives her the beautiful horse. Milady is sad and cries herself nearly to death. She thinks of Senescence her biggest enemy, whom she can only fight with the help of virgin blood in the same way as bestial Lukrezia Borgia did.

Suddenly the sorrow of her soul is interrupted by the tickling cackle of Eržika, her niece. She tells her, she has brought back her horse VIRHAR. Alzbeta from gratefulness tells her the secret of her life – her love story with a mysterious man and because of this she conceived a child. At the end of her narrative they find out that the child is Erika. Recovering from the betrayal of his love, Pavel Leder gets an offer from a strange man to be a locksmith, and because he is the best in this kind of work he takes the offer. He arrives at the sinister basement and he finds out that the strange man is FICKO.
Ficko gives him a job to repair the iron virgin that was responsible for killing young girls. Pavel repairs it, but only because he wants to obtain Ficko's trust so that he can send secret messages to the rebels.
The rebels in the meantime take action. There are secretly buried bodies of young girls in the grave under the Čachtice church. The rebels took the coffins out and uncovered them so that the skeletons could be seen. The next day Jan Poniceus finds a letter from his predecessor's murderer in one of the coffins where he blamed Alžbeta Báthory for the young girl’s murder and many other bestial crimes. The anger of the people turns against Milady, but she orders the capture of all the rebels. Pavel Lederer betrayed his friend Jan Kalina for appearance's sake and for stronger truth between him and his Milady. Before they had had enough time to execute him, the catchpoles are lured out for the fight with the rebels and the bloody battle begins. Eržika saves life to brave Andrej, shortly after he over shot Ficko hand that he used to shoot Andrej. Eržika ran away from the house with her brothers’ help and this way she helped to rebels win the fight.

In the meantime there is the conference in Čachtice before executing of Jan Kalina, where the Alzbeta was as well. When it is time to bring Kalina they find out the jail is empty. Vavro the rebel who jumps out of the queue hurts Milady with hot pliers and he runs away. Milady's strength is at its end and she vents her anger on 12 dressmakers with the help of her three maidservants –Ilona, Dora and Anna. None of these young girls survived their bestial torture. But that wasn’t it, Milady wanted to try the iron virgin. Marisa was the right victim Marisa, Jan Kalian’s love. At the last moment the stranger saved her and he locks the milady with her three maidservants in the basement. However, after few hours the omnipresent Ficko sets them free. Immediately after that The Milady goes to Prešpork to ask for help against to rebels. She takes Eržika with her to banish the rebel, Andrej Drozd, from her heart.

In the castle, life goes on. Ficko wants to avenge the Imrich captain of the catchpoles for ignominy, because Imrich degraded him in front of Alžbeta and she fell in love with the same girl as he did, with Jan Kalian's sister – Magdula Kalina. She was hiding and Pavel Lederer brought her to the rebel's group.
Ficko puts Imrich in jail, but Lederer sets him free and he joins the rebels.  There is supposed to be a party in Esterhazys´in Prešpork, where Eržika should meet her expectant husband Earl Nyár. The Earl is known as an old philanderer and he is forced to accept marriage with an inferior woman, because Alžbeta has documents about the girls’ sold to Turkish king, which can damage his reputation. Alzbeta goes to her mysterious man whom she had met by the river Váh years ago, but he is not interested.

Báthory comes back to Čachtice with an assurance of army support and with the promise of Earl Nyár to marry Eržika. But there waits an unpleasant surprise. Ficko has poisoned VIRHAR (the horse), but at the last minute he makes it look as if the prisoner is ANNA Drabul, Alžbeta´s maidservant. She kills her immediately.

On 10th May 1610 soldiers comes to Čachtice. The poor accommodate them.
During that time the events take a fast course. Eržika is supposed to marry the Earl, but at the last moment Andrej, Eržika´s love, kidnaps her from the altar. Earl Nyár takes the exhibit documents and destroys them. Alžbeta tries to shoot Nyár, but his suit of armour saves him. He sets the girls from the jail free and he humiliates Alžbeta by putting her on the rack.

The marriage between Eržika and Andrej was held at Nyár's castle. The Milady was at the end of her power. She felt sadness in her soul, she was humiliated in front of the plebs, and the bloody baths weren’t helping any more. In Čachtice a rebellion breaks out. The rebels were saved and Ficko and Milady’s maidservants were captured. There was a court of law in Bytča. The executioner cut Dora’s and Iona’s fingers with hot pliers and Ficko was only beheaded because of his young age. The Milady of Čachtice was imprisoned in her own jail, where she tortured her victims and she died presently without light or solace, lonely and spurned by the whole world.