Prompt: Christmas Truce (WWI)
By: Lucilla
My very first entry for HLotD's Advent Calendar Challenge. I hope you enjoy!
...
When it happened, myself, along with several other soldiers, both who had served in Afghanistan, and young men no older than boys were talking and laughing. Suddenly, a watchman came in and told us that he heard…
"Singing? Pah! You must be drunk! How else would that happen?" snorted Major Severn. He was a tall man, not quite as tall as my esteemed friend Sherlock Holmes but his height was certainly unusual enough. He had greying hair, and had brown eyes which glinted with strictness and tough discipline.
"I swear t's true sir," insisted the watchman. "They were singing Christmas carols from their trench!"
"And how do I know you're not just lying then huh? Listen men, we came to France to win this war against Germany, not experience this 'traditional' nonsense! We were sent by Britain to defeat those Germans and not allow a single thing such as Christmas to stop us from killing and capturing those Germans. Is that clear?"
At this, I was positively fuming with rage. I shook with pure anger. We all hated Major Severn with a passion, as he treated us like we were capable of slaughtering fellow human beings, for the sake of politics. It was at times like this that I wondered if the government was brave enough to just deal with the politics, instead of getting the people of Britain involved. When I had come home from Afghanistan, wounded on both my shoulder and my leg, I had vowed to never go to another war again. Looks like I was asking for two much.
"IS THAT CLEAR, SOLDIER!" Severn roared, his voice rushing through my ears and pounding out all of my thoughts like a hammer smashing it way through antique vases.
I should have just said yes, and left it at that. But by now, I was too livid to care.
"NO IT ISN'T!" I bellow. "We have to march out of these filthy, rotting trenches, march straight over No-Man's Land and kill fellow human beings! Since when has any of THIS been right?"
The major sucked in his cheeks, making a strange hissing sound- and then he seized my war-injured shoulder and gradually, I felt his fist curl like a vice of iron around the shoulder bone, and pressing my wound in deep. I had to bite my tongue hard in order to stop myself from crying out.
Now he hissed at me, spitefully, "You know exactly why we are here. WE were sent here by the government to fight for Great Britain and her people. You will do as you are ordered, Watson, and I that at the moment will be to heal our men so that we can defeat Germany! Understood?"
I nodded, grimacing. And with that satisfaction, he let me drop like a rag doll. Other soldiers came forward to assist me on rising, but a hand stopped them. Severn continued to watch me struggle, with a cold, fishy smile on his face.
By now, I was very het up, but I have now learned the consequences of crossing with him.
However, he was not yet done with me.
"Now, I need you to rescue Barke. He has an injury in his side and needs to be retrieved so that he can be mended here."
Very slowly I got out of the bunker and made my way towards No-Man's Land.
As I did so however, my foot slipped on the frozen mud and I collapsed, wincing. My injured leg which had been aching dully before was now aflame with the piercing cold. Curses poured from my tongue as I tried to get myself back up again, but my leg stubbornly refused to take my weight, so in the end I gave up.
"Haben Sie Hilfe benotigen? "
For a moment I panicked and tried to find my gun.
"Einfach! Einfach! Ich mochte nicht ihnen zu schaden." he said. He then offered a hand to me, as if wishing to help.
I was uncerain at first, due to what they had done to us so far, but then I decide to just go with it. So I extend my hand to him and with that, he deftly pulled me up.
I was about to thank him when he asked me" Bist du in Ordnung?"
Confused, I was about to attempt a reply, when Barke mouthed some words at me. I figured out that he was mouthing 'Are you alright?' He then pointed at the German soldier and nodded. It was then that I understood. He was translating what the German soldier had asked me.
Without thinking, I shook his hand as a sign of gratitude and thanked him heartily for his assistance. He didn't respond for a moment, as he was staring at me intently. Or rather, round my neck.
Finally he asked me something else.
The only words I caught were my name and my friend's name- I felt confused otherwise. But he pulled out a copy of a manuscript and then showed me what it was.
I laughed when I saw the title. It was none other than A Study in Scarlet!
"Oh so you read my accounts?" I asked him. I never thought it would go abroad, let alone be read by people who never even heard of Holmes before.
He clapped my shoulder in a warm but hard manner and put the book away. He withdrew cigarettes and some matches.
"Care for smoke? "He asked, in a gruffer voice than previously. I could see that he was unused to English, and had not learnt a lot of it at school.
I agreed and soon, Barke, Ludwig and I were smoking cigars. General Severn had found us like this sometime later.
He was not happy. All morning he shouted abuse at us and said that if we wanted to die at the hands of the Germans, that our problem. He then marched back to the trenches and began barking orders at the others (he had an EXTREMLY loud voice)
Soon, all our soldiers swarmed out of the trenches and joined the Germans, who were also flooding in No-Man's Land from their trench.
Soon we were exchanging small presents, such as tobacco, buttons and other such items. I soon found myself telling stories about my cases with Holmes and about the man himself.
Later, at about three o' clock, we cast aside our weapons and had decided on a game of...
"FOOTBALL!"
There was cheering as we passed the ball to each other, scored goals and won many points. This pleasant game went on for a good two hours. In the end although we were very close, the Germans had won the game, as a young private had scored a goal just before the end of the second half, so after words of congratulation and on the effort well put in were exchanged, we all agreed on a more solemn matter; the burial of our dead. We sang a few hymns; both in English and German, and a priest conducted the services. He was German, but was fluent in English as well. However, after the service, he bumped into me, and that was when it clicked- Holmes and I had helped him solve a murder and two robberies connected with the Church!
"Doktor Vatsun?" he asked, in a strong German accent. "Is that you?"
"Yes, Father Stefan." I replied. I felt an honest surprise seeing him again. I knew that there was a German priest, -or least I heard- but I had no idea that I would even see him again in this Heaven forsaken place.
"Vell, it is a pleasure to meet you again, my son. How is Herr Holmes?"
"He's… fine." I replied, though I felt quite inadequate saying so. The poor chap was probably missing me.
The Reverend Stefan seemed to believe me, however, and so we ended up in a conversation for nearly ten minutes. So our topic had drifted to Edgar Allan Poe and to my delight, I found that Father Stefan enjoyed reading his works.
"I particularly enjoy C. Auguste Dupin." admitted the Reverend.
"Why?" I queried.
"Ah, I have a fondness for detective stories, you see."
I nodded. I knew that Holmes had thought little of Dupin, but I didn't mind in the slightest.
"And you first introduced you to Edgar Allan Poe?"
"It was my maternal grandfather. He was English and he enjoyed reading immensely. Poe was a firm favourite."
"I am very sorry, but I have to go." I said, with a hint of regret in my tone. "I had enjoyed talking with you, Father Ludwig."
He nods. We share a handshake and after the services were over, we continued our festivities well into the evening.
Severn had it in for me when the lads and I returned home that evening, but I didn't care.
Living with my dear and close friend, Sherlock Holmes as well as today have both reminded how sacred all human life is. Too bad Severn does not that opinion about my own life.
Well there you have it! I hope you enjoyed that, as there will be more stories coming out for the rest of this month.
Disclaimer: I only own Father Stefan, Ludwig, Edward Barke, and Severn. Sherlock Holmes and Watson belong to ACD.
