laying restlessly on her cot
moaning, twisting and turning,
responding to an unseen threat
bathed in sweat, her body burning.

touching her shoulder
to wake her seemed prudent.
while crooning reassurance
from master to student.

while I bandaged her wounds I pondered
placing a cool cloth on her head,
it was the purest of luck, finding her
she had been injured and left for dead.

she wasn't just a soldier but a warrior
with many confirmed kills under her belt,
she never bragged or talked of her dead
holding it inside never telling what she felt.

she was the best of all I had trained
never complaining, helpful to those
younger and less trained in her group
wearing the mark of a novices clothes.

under my tender administrations
consciousness was reclaimed, seeing
gratitude on her face and questioning eyes
asking after the wounded and their well being.

quickly taking up her attack weapon, thanking me
before going out the door to find her group
her mind set on the battle out upon the field
anxious to matter and rejoin her fighting troop.

a machine gun had taken most of her fellows
they lay all about, dead or dying on the ground,
she laid waste to several nests going down fighting
when it was over, the smoke had cleared without a sound.

her name was Ekaterina and she couldn't be found
posthumously she was decorated with awards for her fall.
her demise couldn't be proven, as she'd jumped for the trees,
some say she made it out, what she stood for was freedom for all!