Souls Aflame

by Patricia Hagan

  Sara told Julie that Lionel and Myles had everything ready. They were taking a wagon and two mules. All provisions were loaded, and she had packed a small trunk for Julie.

  “I even got some more silver out to ’em, and they’re buryin’ that now,” she said proudly. “I’m gonna get a few more pieces of yo’ mama’s jewels. We’re gonna be in the cemetery waitin’ on you, honey. And whenever you gets there, we’ll go.

  “Praise the Lord that mean man went to town,” she added.

  Julie murmured, “Yes, yes. I’ll be along, Sara. It’s just that I hate to leave her. I wish—” she swallowed, choked on a sob, reached out to touch her mother’s still face lovingly, “—I wish she would go on and die before I leave. The thought of leaving her here with Virgil is more than I can bear. She won’t understand why I left her.”

  “She ain’t gonna know you did.” Sara shook her head with sad finality. “Miz Julie, I seen lots of folks die, and I knows the signs. She gonna lay just like that till the angels come to carry her home. Ain’t nothin’ fo’ you to do but leave. And if she knew the truth, she’d tell you to go on. I knows she would.”

  Julie was silent for a long time before she whispered, “Yes, I know you’re right, Sara. But please. Let me stay just a little while longer.”

  With a sigh, Sara walked out of the room.

  The clock on the mantel ticked away their remaining moments together. There was so much Julie wished she could say, but when she really thought about the words, she wondered what they would be. How do you tell someone goodbye forever? How do you give your own mother up to death?

  The clock struck twelve, its sound echoing through the still room. Julie had been sitting in a chair pushed up very close to the bed. When she leaned over, she could barely see the rise and fall of her mother’s chest. A tear trailed down her cheek as she pressed her lips against the cold, clammy skin.

  She rose to stand on legs that trembled as a pine seedling quakes in the fierce winds of spring. Tucking the quilt about her mother’s chin, she whirled and hurried from the room, not looking back. It was done. There was nothing left. She must go forward, plunging into the future as Derek had plunged into those shark-infested waters. Whatever tomorrow held, she would face it. All she asked was the same thing that Derek had probably requested in that split second between life and possible death: a chance—just a chance—to face the unknown…and conquer it.

  Lanterns burned dimly in the hallway, but Julie kept her eyes straight ahead, not wanting to take one last look at the house where she had been born and raised.

  The late December wind was bone-chilling as she stepped out the back door. Christmas had come and gone with little fanfare. A few neighbors had stopped by with cakes and pies, to pay their respects to her mother, who did not remember any of them coming. Perhaps next year, Julie thought feverishly as she hurried through the night, things would be different. They would rejoice on the holy day, and there would be singing and laughter, with no thoughts of the miseries of days past.

  She moved past the barns and farrowing houses, down the dark path that led to the cemetery. It was a moonless night, and she had to feel her way along, trusting her memory. She had trod this way countless times, but now and then she would step off into brambles and brush and her dress would catch on something, wasting precious time as she paused to free herself.

  Then she heard it—the sound of a whippoorwill. Myles! It was the signal they had used as children, when he was hiding to keep from being punished for something he’d done. She would answer with the same trill to let him know it was safe to come out. So she answered him now, then saw his shadowy figure step out from behind a tree. He grabbed her hand and squeezed it, whispering, “It’s okay, Julie. We’re on our way. Everything is ready.”

  “Myles—” she said painfully, her heart twisting for him.

  He had moved ahead, still holding her hand as he led the way, but he paused to say in anguish, “Don’t say anything, please. I know you feel sorry for me because I didn’t get to see Mother, but that’s the way it has to be. It’s too dangerous for me to hang around any longer. It could lead to bad trouble.”

  They reached the cemetery, the crooked tombstones standing white against the darkness like curious sentries of the dead. “The wagon is over there.” He spoke so low she had to strain to hear. “I’ve had a time keeping Sara and Lionel from leaving without us. You know Negroes don’t like to be around cemeteries, especially at night. They’re very superstitious—” He stopped and looked about wildly, straining to see in the blackness of the night.

  Julie was frightened. “Myles, what’s wrong?” she cried.

  “I don’t understand. I left them here, by this wrought-iron fence that surrounds Grandfather Marshal’s grave. I told them not to move. We were going to walk the mules down the cemetery path and then get in the wagon and leave as fast as the mules could go. I was teasing about them leaving without us, but now I’m starting to worry.”

  They stumbled about in the darkness, with Myles calling first to Lionel, then to Sara. “Dammit,” he swore, “I’ve been back there behind that tree for over an hour waiting for you. I never heard a thing, but it was a good ways off. Where the hell are they?” He stamped around in little circles, waving his arms in despair and fury.

  Julie swallowed hard. The knot of fear was getting tighter in her throat. She began to tremble. Surely they wouldn’t have gone off and left them. Sara and Lionel were too loyal. Something had happened…something terrible. She could feel it.

  Reaching out to touch Myles’s arm, she said hesitantly, “Maybe you should go back into hiding. I’ll go stay with Mother. I’ve been thinking perhaps I shouldn’t go off and leave her this way. It won’t be long before she dies, and I can meet you somewhere later.”

  “No!” he responded in a fierce tone. “I don’t want you in that house with Virgil Oates another night. Something’s going on that I don’t know about. I can feel it, and I don’t like it.”

  His tone softened as he said, “Julie, I know it seems cruel, running off and leaving Mother to die alone, but Sara said she’d never know you were gone, that she probably wouldn’t last the night.”

  Julie sucked in her breath, swallowed the knot of pain, and murmured, “All right, but we can’t just keep standing here. Please go somewhere and hide till I can find out what happened to Sara and Lionel. Maybe they did get scared, and they’re hiding.”

  He didn’t move, and she threw her arms around him to give him a reassuring hug. “Myles, this is the only way. Now don’t worry about me. Virgil has gone to town and won’t be back tonight. We can try tomorrow.”

  He sighed, disgusted and disappointed, knowing there was nothing else to be done. “All right. Can you make it back all right?”

  She assured him she could. “I’ll send word to you tomorrow. Sara will probably come creeping in sometime tonight, and then I’ll find out what happened to frighten her away.”

  Myles bent forward to kiss her cheek. Just then they heard it…the sound of a twig breaking in the stillness. Instantly Myles grabbed Julie and shoved her behind him, then faced the direction of the sound. “Don’t move,” he whispered, so low she could hardly hear him over her thundering heart.

  And then men were coming at them from all directions, stepping out of the woods. Lanterns were being ignited. The cemetery took on an eerie glow, and the faces of the approaching men leered out at them like the ghouls in the stories Lionel had frightened Julie with as a child.

  Julie screamed and pressed her face into Myles’s back. She wanted to run, but there was no way out of the tightening circle. She turned her head slightly and saw Sheriff Franklin, his fleshy belly bouncing with glee as he walked toward her brother, a handgun pointed straight at him.

  She could feel Myles tremble, knew that it was with great effort that he made his voice steady as he said, “All right, Sheriff. You have me. I won’t put up a fight…”

  “Damned right you won’t,” someone yelled,
and Julie heard the sound of wood splintering against flesh. She clung to Myles as his knees buckled, and they sprawled on the dirt upon their father’s grave.

  A beefy hand clamped down on Julie’s arm and she was jerked to her feet, pulled away as she shrieked and fought to return to Myles’s side.

  “Now, you just calm down, little lady,” Sheriff Franklin was saying. “I told you we’d get him sooner or later. It might have took me awhile, but he’s a murderer, and he’s got to face the law.”

  “You call this the law?” She kicked out at his shin, but he jumped back, still struggling to hold her. He twisted her arms painfully behind her back and forced her down to her knees.

  And then she saw Virgil coming out of the shadows. “Oh, Julie, dear,” he said solicitously, a concerned look pasted on his face. “I was hoping it wasn’t true, that my suspicions would not be confirmed.”

  She hoped the hatred she felt showed in her eyes as she looked up at him in the glow of a lantern. “You filthy animal! You set us up, didn’t you? You found out Myles had returned and that I was going to leave with him. So you went and got the sheriff.”

  His eyes danced with malicious fires, but he kept that pitiful, hurt look on his face. “Julie, I always knew this boy had a hold on you, that you worshipped him because he was your brother, but I had hoped he could not persuade you to desert your dear, dying mother…”

  “Don’t start your lies in front of these people,” she screeched, knowing she sounded like a madwoman but not caring.

  Desperately she lifted her face to the sheriff. “Please, you have to believe me. He has raped me repeatedly. That is why I was running away with Myles. Myles never knew about it. He would have killed him if he had. You’ve got to let us go. Myles will never hurt anyone again. All we want is to go in peace—”

  “Why, Julie, I’m surprised at you,” the sheriff drawled. “Sayin’ such terrible things about your stepdaddy, and him such a fine man. And you know I can’t let your brother go. He’s got to stand trial for what he did. That’s the law. Now you calm down and let your stepdaddy take you back to the house. If your mama is as bad off as I hear tell she is, then you ought to be ashamed of yourself for tryin’ to run off. You go back there and do what you can to make her last moments peaceful.”

  He started to help her to her feet, but she twisted away, crying out for Myles.

  “Sheriff, let her go to him,” Virgil said with mock compassion. “That boy isn’t going anywhere. He’s out cold. She’ll calm down in a moment.”

  The sheriff released her, and she crawled through the dirt to clutch at Myles and sob and plead with him to wake up…let her know he was not really hurt.

  “Now, Sheriff,” Virgil went on, quite calmly. “These are unfortunate circumstances. I mean, we’re at war, and the boy’s mother is dying, and he only came home to try and see her one more time. True, he committed a crime, but you and I both know if you take him into Savannah, a mob will form and storm the jail, and he’ll be hung by morning. To them he’s not only a Union sympathizer who shot and killed men they considered friends and neighbors, but also one who ran away to join the North—”

  “That’s a lie!” Julie lifted her head to scream. “He ran away to keep from being lynched, but he never joined the Yankee Army. He told me he didn’t, and Myles would never lie to me!”

  “Be quiet, Julie.” Virgil shook his finger at her. “I’m trying to help your brother.” Turning back to the sheriff, he said, “Now I should think the people around here would respect my position in the community, including you. Therefore, out of respect for my dear wife, who will soon depart this life, God rest her soul, I must ask that you not take Myles into Savannah.”

  The sheriff raised his eyebrows. “What in hell you talkin’ about? You’re the one who come to my office and told me where I could find him!”

  “This is quite true; however, I have an alternate plan for his disposal, and I think you will agree with me that it will satisfy everyone. Take Myles to the Confederate Army and turn him in for what he is—a man who was disloyal to his countrymen and went north and joined the enemy. He is, in fact, an enemy of our great Confederacy, and deserves to be treated as such. He will be sent, no doubt, to Richmond, Virginia, and placed in Libby Prison.”

  Someone snickered, “Hell, from what I hear about the Black Hole, he’d thank you for hangin’ him instead of sendin’ him there.”

  “Well…” the sheriff pulled thoughtfully at his chin, “…I don’t know. I should take him in, but like you say, he’d be punished, and he’d be out of the way. There’s prisoner swaps goin’ on, I hear, but the North wouldn’t have him if he’s a deserter. They’d rather swap for a decent soldier who got caught fighting for their side, rather than the likes of this traitor. And Libby Prison is a fate worse’n death for some, I’m told.”

  Virgil smiled. “I’m glad you are an intelligent man. You are wise to keep up good relations with Rose Hill.”

  The sheriff snapped his fingers and two men stepped forward. “Take the prisoner to the Rebs and turn him over.”

  “No!” Julie clutched Myles more tightly as the men approached. “No, you won’t take him. I won’t let you—”

  Sobbing and shrieking, she was pulled from him and thrust into Virgil’s arms. He jerked her roughly toward the house. “Shut up, you little spitfire,” he hissed in her ear. “Shut up, I say, or I’ll make you suffer the agonies of the damned.”

  She continued to fight him, and he threw her to the ground in disgust and whipped around to call out to the sheriff and his men, “Wait up there. I’ve changed my mind. I think we’ll just let you take him on into town and let the mob have him.”

  Julie crawled over to clutch Virgil’s leg. “You can’t…” she pleaded desperately. “Oh, Virgil, don’t, please—they’ll kill him…”

  “Are you going to get up and go to that house and not give me any more trouble?” He leaned over, his breath hot and ragged on her tear-streaked face. “I can have him killed with the snap of a finger, you bitch. You’re going to learn, one way or the other, that I am your master, and you will bend to my will forever!

  “Well? What’s it going to be?” He kicked at her, sending her sprawling, face down, in the dirt. “Hurry up. The men want to leave.”

  She reached out, her fingers clawing at the red clay, squeezing and mashing it. How she wished it were Virgil’s soul, and she was tearing it from his evil body. To return with him meant submitting to him endlessly. Death would be sweeter. But at least she could try to escape later. For now, there was nothing to be done but save Myles’s life at any cost.

  “All right,” she said finally, with cold resignation. Slowly she stood, lifting her chin in defiance as she faced the man she had come to hate with every drop of blood that flowed in her veins. “All right, Virgil. Tell them to take him to the prison in Richmond, and I will go with you and do as you wish.”

  “Good!” He grinned, his face grotesquely yellow in the glow of the lanterns behind them. He turned and gave his orders, then grasped her about her waist and led her toward the house. He squeezed her breasts painfully, but she did not cry out.

  Damn him, she thought, gritting her teeth, damn him to hell. He can kill me, but I’ll never cry out to him again.

  When they were out of sight of the others, he bent and ran his hands up under her dress, probing between her thighs with his grubby fingers. She stood rigid, like the marble statues in the foyer of Rose Hill.

  “Ah, I’ll make you grovel and groan and beg for it,” he said hotly, and she could feel him trembling with eagerness. “As soon as we get inside, we’ll go to my room, and I’ll take you in a new way I’ve thought of. Oh, it might hurt you a bit, but you’ll like it. I know you will…”

  They continued walking. When they reached the slaves’ quarters, Julie could see the dim glow of candles from within the shacks. “Sara…” she said in a dull voice. “What did you do with her? And Lionel?”

  “Don’t worry. They’re
all right. When they realized they had been discovered, they were only too glad to get out of there. I sent Lionel to his cabin and told Sara to get to the house when she saw you leave, to stay with your mother.” He made a clucking sound of disapproval. “What would people think? Leaving her alone when she’s dying?”

  “That’s all you care about—what other people think. As long as they don’t find out the truth about what a devil you are, you’ll stoop to any depths to get what you want.”

  “Exactly,” he laughed. “And you, my love, are going to discover just how cruel I can really be. When I’m through with you this night, you will creep to your bed and rue the day you ever dared to cross me. And I suggest you give very serious thought to the proposal of marriage I’ve made to you, because I’ve no intention of seeing you leave here. If you try, I’ll use my influence to have your brother killed.”

  They reached the porch, and just then the wide doors were flung open. From within, the glowing lights illuminated Sara’s large frame. She stood there, chest heaving and eyes wide, holding the doors open with arms outstretched above her head.

  “What is wrong with you, Sara?” Virgil snapped. “Get back inside and calm yourself down, or I’ll punish you severely for taking part in this little escapade tonight…”

  Sara was gasping for breath, her eyes brimming with tears as she met Julie’s questioning gaze. “She’s gone. Your mama is gone—” she cried.

  Julie did not weep. Lifting her head high, she moved forward as Sara stepped back to let her enter. With quick, sure steps, she hurried to the curving stairs. Behind her, Virgil was snapping at Sara to stop her sniveling and make the necessary funeral preparations.

  Julie reached the second level and continued straight to her mother’s room. The door was partially open, and she gave it a quick shove, then stepped inside.