The Unconquered Sun: Tales of Yule, Christmas and the Winter Solstice by Chris Thorndycroft

Author:Chris Thorndycroft [Thorndycroft, Chris]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781705306413
Google: bH7GywEACAAJ
Amazon: B07ZD8NYFQ
Publisher: Independently Published
Published: 2019-11-07T07:00:00+00:00

Krampus Unchained

Austria, 1741

“Now, not another peep from any of you,” said Charlotte the governess, silhouetted in the light from the landing, “or I shall be forced to fetch your fathers. Good night!”

She closed the door. Maria stuck her tongue out at Theresia and her cousin returned the gesture. Charlotte had forgotten to draw the curtains and the moonlight reflecting off the snowy rooftops of Vienna bathed the nursery in a dazzling silver. In the two beds opposite, the shapes of Karl and Franz turned restlessly.

None of the cousins were sleepy and the tantalising smells of glühwein and baked spekulatius biscuits drifted up from the drawing room along with the pleasant murmuring of their parents in jovial conversation.

They had all been sent to bed early. It had been Theresia’s fault. Well, sort of. Why did she have to be such a wet blanket all the time? Maria thought. She was only two years younger than Maria but she acted as if she was five, not seven.

Maria didn’t see why they had to celebrate Nikolaustag – the feast day of Saint Nikolaus – with their cousins from Graz at all. It had been much better when it was just her and Franz and Mama and Papa. But Mama said that Theresia and Karl’s father had lost a lot of money because of the war for the succession and inviting them to Vienna was the charitable thing to do.

Maria wouldn’t have minded if only Karl came. Karl was ten and the eldest of the four cousins. Maria liked playing with him and thought that Theresia would be much better off playing with Franz who was six. But the younger cousins always wanted to play with the older ones and they always spoiled things. Maria sometimes got so angry that she wanted to be mean to Theresia. She wasn’t a mean girl really, but her cousin made her blood boil so that she could not help herself.

Theresia believed wholeheartedly in Saint Nikolaus and that just set Maria off. Anybody with any sense knew that it was your parents who filled your shoe with nuts, dried fruit and small toys. That was what the quarrel had been about. Theresia had written a letter to Saint Nikolaus and decorated it with drawings of horses and little houses covered in snow. She wanted to leave it in her shoe as a present for the visiting saint. This made Maria roar with laughter.

“Saint Nikolaus isn’t real, you nitwit!” she had told Theresia. “He doesn’t sneak around the house at night filling our shoes with gifts. That’s Mama and Papa!”

“Not true!” Theresia had cried.

Maria had snatched the letter from her cousin and held it up high so that Theresia couldn’t reach it no matter how high she jumped.

“Give it back, Maria!” Fritz said, joining in with Theresia’s protests.

“Fritz believes in it all too!” said Maria triumphantly. “What a pair of babies!”

“Maria, perhaps it would be best if you gave the letter back to my sister,” said Karl in a serious voice.

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