Lines of Courage

The narrative now shifts to focus on Dimitri, a 14-year-old Russian soldier fighting in the trenches at Verdun under the command of Captain Garinov, with the Russian and French armies. His friend Igor has been keeping him safe through the fighting. Igor and many other Russian soldiers are Bolsheviks, but Dimitri is loyal to the Tsar. When Captain Garinov notices that some of the soldiers, including Dimitri and Igor, do not have weapons, he orders them to leave the trench to go find some on the battlefield.

German soldiers ambush Dimitri and the Russian soldiers while they are out looking for discarded weapons. Dimitri is knocked unconscious, and later wakes up alone in the no-man’s-land. Disoriented by his head injury, he keeps walking to avoid falling asleep. When he finally stops, he hears a girl’s voice calling to him. He tries to walk toward her, but collapses.

Dimitri comes to in a cave, with Juliette at his side, taking care of him. She offers him water before he falls back asleep.