Shattered Crowns: The Sacrifice
Excerpt fromShattered Crowns: The SacrificeReproduced by permission.All rights reserved.Perhaps, Wilhelm thought, it was only the reflection of candle flames flickering on the tree that gave the impression of tears in his sister's eyes. Amid the seasonal foliage bedecked with coloured bows, the pallor of her cheeks above the blackness of her dress brought to mind a leafless snow-topped tree in the midst of a forest of evergreens. She stared into space with a glazed, almost icy, expression and Wilhelm had no doubt that the gentleHeilige Nachtwashed over her unheard. She did not see this cosy Christmas scene; rather, she gazed on the blood-drenched mud of a Belgian battlefield, screaming with bullets and shells, and reeking of the gangrenous limbs of rotting corpses.So intense and silent was her suffering that Wilhelm could hardly bear to look at her and the longer she stood isolated in grief the more she began to resemble their mother. It was not only the darkness of her mourning clothes and the sorrowful expression in her eyes that evoked in him such tortuous reminiscences, but also the atmosphere of wounded innocence that emanated from her, leaving him with the bitterest feeling that somehow he was to blame.