Confederate Lieutenant Anderson Blanks has grown weary of the War Between the States. He is all too aware of the tenuous thread that ties him to this earth -- as he writes a letter home to his sister, he realizes he may be among the dead by the time she receives the missive. His melancholy mood is shared by other soldiers in the campsite; in the cool Virginia night, the pickets claim to hear ghosts in the woods, and their own talk spooks them. Andy knows the "ghost" is nothing more than a wounded soldier left on the battlefield, dying in the darkness. With compassion, Andy takes the picket's lantern and canteen in the hopes of easing the soldier's pain. After a tense confrontation with the soldier, Andy is shocked to discover none other than Samuel Talley, a young man Andy's father had chased from their plantation when the romantic relationship between the two boys came to light. The last time the two had seen each other, Sam had been heading west to seek his fortune, and had promised to send for Andy when he could. Then the war broke out, and Andy had enlisted in the Confederate Army to help ease the financial burden at home. Apparently Sam had similar ideas -- he now wears the blue coat of a Union solider. Sam is severely wounded and infection has begun to set in. Andy can't sneak him into his own camp for treatment because all Union soldiers are taken prisoner. But Andy's Confederate uniform prevents him from seeking help from the nearby Union camp, as well. It's up to Andy to tend his lover's wound and get Sam the help he needs before it's too late ... and before Andy's compatriots discover Sam's presence.

A Heart Divided

Looking around the cabin, he spotted a thick tree limb, fallen some time during the past winter and rotting into dry wood on the cabin floor. Stripping the small branches from its length, Andy dragged the limb over to where Sam lay and positioned it beneath his lover’s knee so his foot rested at one end. The limb raised his leg a little, and Andy hoped it might be enough to alleviate the swelling. 


“The medicine,” Sam sighed. His hands twisted in his shirt as he looked at Andy with half-lidded eyes, shiny with pain. 


Andy wrapped the wound again, not as tightly as before, and retrieved the bottle of morphine from his haversack. “Here,” he said, helping Sam sit up enough to sip from the bottle. As soon as his lips touched the cool glass, though, Andy pulled it away. “Not too much,” he cautioned. 


“I didn’t get any,” Sam replied, but the dark syrup spotted his lips and when his tongue licked out, it was coated with the drug. With pleading eyes he looked up at Andy. “Please?” 


Chapter 14