Jodi Thomas - Northern Star

1990

Hunter Kirkland collapsed in the damp, dusty hay of the abandoned loft. The wind blew over him, unhampered by rotting boards that marked the aging barn walls. The roof stood firm above, like a stubborn old man refusing to bow to the wrath of the storm. Slowly, with pain showing in his tired gray eyes, Hunter removed his uniform jacket. He laid it in the hay tenderly, not seeing the blood and dust of the present, only the pride of three years past when he'd been commissioned in the Union Army. The coat, like its wearer, had aged and suffered since that first day and bore little resemblance to its earlier self. Hunter covered the uniform with straw, hiding it along with his identity. His life would be worthless if the jacket were found.

Resting his head on the musty hay, Hunter tried to ignore the throbbing in his shoulder long enough to sleep. Rest was vital if he was ever going to make it back through the lines to camp. However, sleep eluded him as the pain washed over his body in long, icy waves.

Damn the Rebels. What if they've captured the Star? His foggy mind filled with visions of his beloved Northern Star, riddled with bullets, falling from the sky. I shouldn't have listened to Wade. Storms and balloons never mix. Was he hallucinating or had the Star truly fallen? The answer lay just out of reach in the reality he could no longer touch.

In the dampness of the loft Hunter felt suddenly warm, and his thoughts grew cloudy. His last ounce of consciousness faded as he heard the barn door creak slowly open. He lay silent, beyond action, beyond caring, and drifting beyond life.

A ragged figure emerged from between sheets of rain through the cracked barn door. A bolt of lightning briefly illuminated a youth resembling countless others washed aside in the wake of war. The thin-faced, wide-eyed child seemed old enough to survive yet too young to serve either army.

The youth tugged at the oversize clothes that hung wet on his exhausted body. With the next roll of thunder a larger figure, neatly dressed in black, slipped through the ancient door. Her chocolate-colored face filled with fear as her eyes darted around the barn.

The slave whispered to her ragged companion, "I think we best stay here, Miz Perry. We can't make it much farther in this rain." She shook her shawl. "Smells like rotten death in here."

"Anything's better than being out there," Perry Mc-Lain replied as she pulled off her soggy hat, allowing her hair to fall free. Tangled ebony curls surrounded her small oval face. The boy's clothing she wore had adequately concealed a small-framed woman of twenty.

"If this storm slowed us down, it surely stopped Captain Williams. We'll rest here. In an hour it'll be morning." Perry wished her soft tone would calm her own nerves as well as it reassured Noma.

As Perry's eyes grew accustomed to the darkness, Noma headed toward an overturned bucket. The middle-aged slave sat her considerable bulk upon it and complained, "Wish we could build a fire." Unexpectedly, a bubble of laughter erupted from the black woman. "Guess we had enough fire for a spell, though."

Perry smiled. "I'm amazed you can laugh," she said. Moving beside Noma, Perry placed her arm protectively around her shoulders. Noma was the closest friend Perry had, more family than slave.

"Ain't no use crying about it. What's done is done," Noma answered. "But I do wish that devil Captain Williams would stop nipping at our heels. Ain't nothing worse than a Johnny Reb turn Yankee, and he took what you done so personal."

Visions of flames as high as hundred-year-old elms flashed through Perry's mind. She'd never dreamed the fire would spread from the fields to the barns and finally to Ravenwood. "I had to burn the fields," she whispered to some invisible judge before her. "No matter what the danger. I couldn't just give up." Even before the fires were under control, Captain Williams had issued a warrant for her arrest.

Noma wasn't listening. She'd begun exploring their dilapidated shelter like an old miner who'd found a new tunnel. "I wish your brother was here. All that boy's life he's thought he was your protector. I miss that bossy, redheaded man."

Perry nodded. Her brother was a surgeon with General Lee's army near Raleigh. They'd heard a few weeks earlier that he was moving toward them and hoped he might get to come home for a few days. But the fighting had grown worse for the South, with the number of wounded climbing daily. Andrew McLain's letters were only short notes written in an exhausted hand. He could've been within a few hours' ride of Ravenwood and not been able to cross lines to get home. If Lee moved south, he'd be trapped between Sherman and Grant.

Perry straightened her tired muscles slightly. "Andrew would have done the same thing. We couldn't let Yankees have our harvest. I'll hang first." Her choice had been simple-stay and fight or burn the fields and run.

Noma kicked something in the shadows. "And hang you will, Miz Perry, if that devil Captain Williams catches you. He'll have that rope around you faster than I wring a chicken's neck on Sunday."

Noma's remark sent a sudden chill through Perry's body. She knew the law, as did everyone in the South. Destroying crops was an act of treason. A tear rolled unchecked down her dirty face. She forced herself to swallow her doubts. "We'll make it to Granddad's old place and hide out there. I'll find some way to get word to Andrew. Then all we have to do is wait until he comes."

"Wish we could go farther south. That farm ain't far enough away from them Yankees. And it's so old, there's probably more varmints living in that house than are staying in here." Both women glanced around nervously.

"Well, look there," Noma squealed.

Perry's glance followed the point of Noma's finger. A loft stood half hidden in the dark corner. Only the extending ladder gave away its presence. They both scrambled up, hoping for a dry bed.

Perry stepped from the ladder, testing the loft. It was not only dry, but also sturdy enough for both women. The aging wood cried under the weight of Noma's awkward bulk as she followed a few steps behind.

"This might not be a bad night's sleep, after all," Perry said, unbuttoning her damp coat. The garment was too big, but it had felt wonderful when the rain began. Now the damp material felt like lead molded to her shoulders. "I never thought curling up in a blanket on the hay would be so inviting."

Perry's sleepy gaze fell on a dark bundle in the far corner. Hoping someone had left bedding in the loft, she hurried forward.

Kneeling, she reached for the bundle. The mass rolled an inch forward and she gasped as the object came alive. Thunder rattled the barn and lightning turned night into an instant of day. Perry screamed as a hand fell with a lifeless thud across her boot.

She fought down another scream and stepped back, her eyes fixed on the pale open palm lying atop the hay. Noma moved closer, whirling the bundle she carried like a weapon. But there was no one to battle. The form on the loft floor remained still. Cautiously Noma knelt as Perry slipped a small knife from her pocket.

"Is he dead?" Perry whispered as the smell of blood assaulted her senses.

The storm cooperated, lending Noma a flash of lightning by which she could examine the man. "He's pretty near gone, from what I can tell," Noma whispered. "He's a soldier; blue or gray, I can't say. There's blood and mud everywhere." She rose slowly to her feet. "He'll be dead before morning."