The young soldier dragged his weary body out of the range of cannon fire. He crawled agonisingly through the razor sharp undergrowth adding to the blood and gore already saturating his uniform, he rolled onto the cool wet grass under a grove of tall softly swaying trees. Close to the shelter of this woodland glade ran a fresh water stream, a lifesaving brook where he could ease his parched and blistered lips. Taking great care not to further damage the deep and ragged laceration on his left thigh, he rolled onto his stomach and drank deeply of the fresh water satisfying his thirst without reducing his fever. Still drenched in sweat, his face glowing in the now lowering sun and within the never ending sound of gunfire the soldier fell into a light restless sleep.
The sound of soft footsteps roused the soldier from his slumber. The soldier, believing the enemy had found him tried to raise his body from the ground, but the pain of his injury and the depth of his weariness made this impossible. All he could do was lift his aching head as far as he could to look this stranger bravely in the eye. It was no enemy; it was no earthly being he had ever seen before that entered his sacred grove. It was a beautiful raven haired woman, with deep brown eyes and caramel coloured skin. Tall and willowy she seemed to float towards the soldier and knelt beside his broken body, placing her hand upon his brow. The touch of her hand cooled his fever and relieved the many pains of body and soul. She reached out as if towards the trees and withdrew a cloth from the empty air; she moistened the cloth in the cool waters of the stream and used this to bathe his throbbing brow. She softly ran her fingers across his thigh, bloody and torn as it was, the contact felt like silken spiders caressing his skin, her eyes gazing deeply into his seemed to calm his nightmares and silence the sound of men dying less than a mile from where he lay.
Slowly and with great tenderness the raven haired beauty removed the soldiers’ clothing, shedding hers as a tree sheds its leaves in autumn. She lowered her face slowly to his, her hair tickling against his now cool skin. Her breasts lightly caressing his chest and her lips, warm and moist pressing themselves against his eager and willing mouth
The couple moved in harmony, slowly, without haste they made love within meters of the barrage of cannons and gunfire. Their love making flattened the sweetened grass around them, they rolled into the babbling stream, and under the dappled shade of the swaying trees they peaked, their needs sated. Without moving from the refreshing coolness of the stream the couple fell asleep, arms and legs entwined, hair woven together and their hearts beating as one they breathed the same air.
The soldier woke in the morning, his fever reduced; the bleeding gash in his leg had had been staunched, his uniform cleaned of the blood and gore and his lips yearning for his raven haired beauty. She was nowhere to be seen. He lamented, not knowing if she were a creation of his fevered dreams, or a flesh and blood woman who came to his rescue when he was in dire need. Without shame he wept, and was still weeping when his comrades found him and with great care moved him to safety and eventually returned him into the loving arms of his family. For a long time after the war was ended he searched for his true love, his raven haired beauty. Until, believing she was a fevered dream he met and loved another woman, married her and had children. He never forgot his raven haired beauty, his first and with great honesty his only true love.
Many years later the soldier, now in his 90’s lay on his deathbed, he slept fitfully. His children by his side, his wife now long gone, the medical staff watched quietly from the dim recesses of the room. The old soldier opened his weary eyes and for the first time in decades they were clear and bright, the weariness of the years lifted from them. Without surprise he saw slowly walking towards him was his raven haired beauty, he tried to speak but her loveliness left him speechless. She reached out her hand to his and gently took it, he rose without pain from his death bed, he turned and gave his now weeping family a final smile and without regret he walked hand in hand away with his raven haired one true love.