Chapter 2

Beatrice wakes in the morning to the sound of Zeke's voice. "Rise and shine soldier," he says gently.

She slowly opens her eyes to find him standing before her smirking at her. She slowly sits up and he hands her a tin cup. "It's just water, I thought you'd need something to drink when you woke," he explains.

"Thank you," Beatrice says smiling at her friend.

"So Tris, are you going to tell me what exactly happened to you and what it had to do with my brother?"

She sighs and looks down at the cup in her hands, "I was letting Abraxas graze. After I'd overheard Uriah's soldiers talking about their plans to ambush our regiment, I immediately got out of there like I promised, but I was chased. It was easy enough for me to get away, their horses could never keep up with my Abraxas, but I still had to push him hard. We hid out in the caves in the hills until it was almost dusk. You always told me it was safer to travel by the dark. Just as dusk was falling I decided to allow Abraxas out into the meadow to graze. He needed to recharge for our return to camp. I waited until night had fallen and called him back to me. When we emerged from our hidden cave, I heard the click of a hammer on a pistol. I turned instinctively toward the noise and as I turned I heard the frightened whinny of a horse, a shot, and something hard falling to the ground. Against my better judgment, I went to check it out and found Uriah bleeding on the ground under a tree. He'd been thrown from his horse."

"You could have dispatched him right there," Zeke says with annoyance in his voice. "Why didn't you take the opportunity to eliminate the threat of Uriah Monroe from our lives, Tris?"

"I can't murder someone in cold blood, Zeke."

"Do you think he would have afforded you the same consideration? If that Phobos hadn't thrown him, then you would be dead right now."

Beatrice looks down ashamed. She knows that she could never kill someone who is defenseless, but she also knows that Zeke is right. If Uriah had the chance he would have shot her and he would have been happy to do it.

A soldier comes to the entrance of the tent and announces himself to Zeke. "ColonelMonroe, a parcel has arrived."

Zeke pushes the flap of his tent aside and slides out of the tent and into the warm spring morning. He retrieves the parcel from the courier and retires back into his tent. He unfolds the bundle, revealing the news inside.

"Beatrice, why don't you go find something to eat," he advises.

She nods, "Yes sir."

She relieves herself from the tent and goes off to find food and something a little stronger than water to drink.

Zeke reads over the letter. It's a command from his superior officers, the letter details the Rebel's movements through Virginia, heading north toward the Mason Dixon Line and toward Pennsylvania.

May 30, 1863

Colonel Ezekiel Monroe of the Army of the Potomac, Pennsylvania 15th Regiment Cavalry,

The Rebel Army is being to organize in the border of Tennessee and Virginia. According to sources, we believe that they will make their way through Virginia. It is believed that they General Robert E Lee has decided to bring the fight to the Union. They are headed for the Mason Dixon. General Meade wishes for as many battalions to be ready to proceed north as we can muster. We are going to stop them dead before they reach the Mason Dixon…

Zeke reads this news and knows that he needs to do something about Beatrice. It's not going to be long before they are engulfed in a battle, the likes of which he hasn't yet been a part. He's wanted to let someone else know about her and his arrangement with her for quite some time. Now might be that time. He needs to make sure that if something happens to him, that she's safe.

He pens a letter to his fellow colonel and friend who is currently stationed in northern Virginia near Maryland. He includes the letter that he received and he also attaches another note explaining about Beatrice.

"Prior," Zeke bellows from his tent. He sees her sitting around a fire with a group of soldiers talking. None of them knows that she's a woman, they all believe her to be a fearless young man. Zeke wonders what would happen if these men realized that their friend, their audacious courier who been a better scout in the past months, was actually a pretty young woman full of fire and spirit. But also a woman who has seen more violence than any of these men could muster. She watched as her father physically, sexually, and mentally abused the slaves, servants, and her mother, sisters, and herself. And that it is because of him that she has shut herself off from the idea of marrying and of being with a man. She has instead resolved to be the intrepid yet careless Union courier. Zeke can only hope his plan to have her work undercover with Eaton will work and he can for once during this war bring her from harm, just for a while.

Beatrice hears her name coming from Zeke and she rushes over to his tent. "Yes Colonel Monroe?" she asks.

"Prior, I have a parcel that needs to be delivered to Colonel Tobias Eaton, Army of the Potomac, Pennsylvania First Regiment Light Artillery. Their encampment is about Seventy miles north of here, just this side of the Mason Dixon. I need you to deliver this to Colonel Eaton." Then he hands her another parcel, "I need you to take this to Shauna also."

She looks at him and nods, "Yes sir. Right away sir."

"Prior," he says stopping her. "No detours. You go straight to Colonel Eaton. Then immediately to Shauna. I'll expect you back in four days time. I want you to spend some time with Shauna and make sure that she is well and let Abraxas rest a day before returning. Understand?"

Beatrice nods, "Yes, I understand." She runs off to find Abraxas. She mounts her steed and gallops off into the Virginia forest.


"Our orders are to push north to intercept the Union at the Mason Dixon," Uriah explains to his warriors.

His unit is different from the Confederate regulars. His unit is the elite of the Confederate army. These are not your typical farmers and land owners, they are different. These guys enjoy the fight, they enjoy the battles, and they especially enjoy taking the lives of those that oppose them. He calls them the elite because they are who General Lee sends out when he wants a specific job done. Until lately, Monroe has never entered a battle that he didn't win and he never planned an attack that didn't go as planned. He is a brilliant strategist. That is until the ghost horse and rider entered the picture.

"We will assemble and march north moving our gang of sharpshooters into position just outside of Pennsylvania. We have three days to travel the one hundred mile expanse. Let's break camp," Uriah commands his troops.

The group of thirty soldiers disburses and they all begin to follow his direction.

Sergeant Hunter comes to Uriah's side, "Sir, a Union courier was spotted just outside our encampment headed north."

"Yes, and?" Uriah asks.

"Sir, he was riding a ghostly white steed."

Uriah looks at him, that damned Yankee may have again outsmarted him and his band of warriors. If he heard the commands he just gave and reports back to his superiors, they will again be cut off by the Union Army before they reach their destination.

"Bring Phobos to me, now!" Uriah bellows.

He mounts his steed and roars off into the morning in search of his elusive foe. He decides that either this scout has a death wish or is just plain stupid. It is reckless and foolish to travel so close to an opposing encampment just to receive a little information. But now this imprudent soldier knows their orders and will be able to set the Union Army against them.

Uriah searches the forest and deer paths for the ghostly white horse, but comes up empty. He returns to camp and the moment he enters his men look at him for orders.

"Saddle up," Uriah bellows.

The men scatter, gathering their scarce belongings and mounting their horses. In a matter of minutes the band of unruly soldiers are on their horses and thundering into the forest in pursuit of their enemy and their ultimate destination. General Lee has ordered an attack on the north. He will no longer wait for the war to be won in the south, he is taking the war to them. He will break the Yankee forces in their territory.

As the group travels through the forest, Monroe sends scouts forward to gage enemy activity and to search for the ghost horse.

They travel in pursuit well into the evening before they stop to make camp. They managed to travel a huge expanse without coming into contact with Yankees or the ghost horse and rider.

Captain Uriah Monroe leads his exhausted steed to a nearby stream to get a cold drink and to graze a bit before bed. As he slowly nudges the horse forward down the small embankment, he spots what appears to be a young boy sitting motionless near the stream. He scans the surroundings but sees nothing more than the boy. But he feels like there's more than meets the eye here.

He gingerly approaches the stream on his horse, pistol drawn and ready to fire. In the light of the waning moon, he sees that this is no ordinary boy. This boy has on the clothes of a Union soldier.


Beatrice crouches next to the stream, filling her canteen and trying to choke down some hardtack before remounting Abraxas and continuing a little farther on her trek to the north and to Colonel Eaton. She made quite a discovery today when she inadvertently passed Captain Uriah Monroe's camp after she left on her journey north.

She heard them talking about riding north and that Lee would be leading his Rebel regulars north as well. She knows this is information that will be invaluable to Zeke and to Colonel Eaton.

She breathes in deeply as she rests her weary body by the stream, Abraxas grazing nearby, but out of sight. Beatrice closes her eyes for what seems like minutes when she suddenly gets the sense that something is amiss. She opens her groggy eyes, surveying her surroundings. She stands and clicks for Abraxas. When he gets near her she checks his girth and begins to gather herself onto his mount to move out. As she's mounting her horse, she hears a loud crack, like the shattering of a large tree branch.

She scans the now heavily dark evening only to come up empty. She gestures for her horse to move when she hears the sound of hooves on the hard dirt ground. Beatrice spurs Abraxas and he sets off in a sprint.

"Men, follow me!" someone shouts behind her. And the thunder of what seems like a million hooves begin their hunt.

She knows Uriah and his men know these woods and trails, but so does she. She spent many years being schooled in Virginia and she spent her spare time riding through the Virginian hills and valleys.

Abraxas dodges in and out of trees and from one deer path to the next to escape their pursuers. It's almost as if woman and beast were as one body and one brain. She doesn't even have to steer the beast or urge him to go faster, Abraxas just knows and obliges without hesitation or complaint.

After some time, the sound of the group following falls behind. Beatrice urges her horse to slow his pace slightly. She's ridden him hard all day today and she doesn't want to injure her beautiful friend. She takes in her surroundings to try to figure out if there is a safe place that she can rest for the night.

She should only be about five miles from Colonel Eaton and his reinforcements at this point. But to try to come upon a Union camp at night is not advisable.

In the side of a large hill, just outside of the forest, she finds a small den where she and Abraxas will be able to put themselves out of sight of intruders and will provide them with shelter for the night.


Horse and rider take off before Uriah even realizes what happened. He's never seen a horse that can ride that fast before. He's even faster than Phobos, which is quite a feat.

He calls for his troops to follow and they gallop as one unit into the woods to capture horse and rider. But as soon as the boy and ghost horse enter the forest, they disappear in what seems like a cloud of smoke. They are just gone. There's no trace of either of them, no sound, nothing.

Uriah can't believe his eyes. He knows they aren't ghosts, he knows that they are flesh and blood. He had the boy in his hand before blacking out just a few days ago. They continue to gallop through the forest, trying to find any trace of man or beast, but there is none to be found. He soon calls off the chase and they return to their camp for the night.

At day break they will continue their journey north, following the orders sent to them.


Beatrice sleeps until just before the sun begins to rise. She wants to set out while it is still dark so that she can put more distance between herself and Monroe. She's had two close calls with him in the past two days, she knows that her luck cannot possibly hold out much longer.

She and Abraxas move through the darkness without making a sound. The dark silent just before the rise of the morning sun. She covers the five miles to the encampment in a matter of what seems minutes. When she comes out of the forest and into the clearing where the camp is found she is immediately halted by two guards.

"What is your business here?" one soldier bellows.

"James Prior, courier for Colonel Ezekiel Monroe. I have correspondence for Colonel Tobias Eaton."

"I am Colonel Eaton, what is the correspondence?"

He gazes at horse and rider. The steed is a barrel chest beast with legs the size of tree trunks. The well muscled creature appeared to have the power of a train within its muscles. He was a formidable creature who continued to move his legs as if he desires to launch himself from the earth and fly through the wind.

His eyes move up to the rider of small stature who looks at home and completely comfortable with the mountainous beast.

"My letter of introduction sir," Beatrice says handing over the document.

Eaton scans the document then looks upon the rider with surprise. "You are Prior?" he asks. He scans the figure sitting upon the beast. Small and lean, resembling a farm boy, the oversized Union uniform hiding what signs of femininity that the letter claim lie beneath.

"Yes sir," she says almost defiantly. "I have correspondence from Colonel Monroe and I also bear news. As I was traveling I came across a Rebel camp, the camp of Captain Monroe. They were talking about the Confederate forces moving north to break the back of the Union."

"You think it was Monroe's band?"

"Yes sir, I do. He found me resting near a stream and they pursued me until I lost time in the Virginia woods just south of here."

Eaton looks upon the figure sitting before him. He's not sure has she's been able to hide herself amongst men for as long as Zeke says she has. Beneath the baggy uniform and oversized hat is the face of a beautiful girl with bright blue eyes. He can see her, even behind the dirt and the mask that she puts forward.

He reads over the orders provided to him, "Prior, could I impose upon you to deliver a correspondence for me. I need to get word to General Hays. He's in Springfield, that's just south of here."

Beatrice nods. She's captivated by the Colonel seated before her. He's tall and lean with eyes the color of the Atlantic Ocean. He has dark brown almost black hair and he's very handsome. Sitting upon his steed, he looks like a titan ready to ride into battle.

He hands her the correspondence and their hands graze just for a moment. She looks toward him in shock as she pulls the document into her possession and secures it in her saddle. "Sir I need a pass,"

"Oh right, Prior was it? Here you go," he says handing her the slip of paper introducing her as a courier for him. "Perhaps we will meet again in better circumstances, Prior."

She looks at the colonel in surprise. She quickly turns and gallops out of the camp and away from the handsome colonel that is now occupying her mind.


Not far from the camp in which Beatrice has left sits Captain Monroe on his steed. His men woke starved for both food and some action. Instead of moving in too close to the Union camp, he sits on a hill overlooking what appears to be a small band of Union soldiers held up waiting for either commands or the rest of their battalion. Never the less, they are an easy target for he and his men to let off some steam and to collect some provisions.

They move stealthily down the hill toward the small encampment. Uriah is surprised when he sees the ghostly white horse and its rider moving slowly into camp. This could not have worked out better, Uriah thinks to himself. He shouts, "Charge!" and his men move quickly into the camp.

He withdraws his pistol from his saddle and aims it at the figure sitting upon the majestic steed in front him. He aims and fires, but misses the figure by inches. The rider turns and looks horrified at the gang of Rebels entering their camp. He spurs his horse and the white steed jets off through the camp and out the other side.

Uriah pursues with his soldiers following closely. Just as the bulk of them enter the area, a bugle blares and Union troops surround them on three sides. The Union Army surrounds the Rebels on three sides forcing them to move south to avoid being taken prisoner or killed.

Uriah leads his band out of Fairfax and heads south toward the Potomac River near the Chesapeake. He's furious that the damned scout managed to thwart his plans again.

They move south and make camp in a small town near the Potomac River.

"Sir, we need to rid ourselves of that scout," Peter says as he walks over to where Uriah is seated with his canteen and the latest correspondence from General Lee.

"I'm aware of that Sergeant. Would you like to devise a plan because it's not a lack of effort that we haven't rid ourselves of that menace as of yet."

Peter looks at him with fear and annoyance. Maybe he did state the obvious, but they are not going to get anywhere if they can't find a way around that boy or if they can't dispose of his constant threat.


The information from Beatrice and the letter to General Hays allowed Colonel Eaton to devise this trap to flush out Uriah and his band of misfit soldiers. She also helped by using herself as a decoy, luring Uriah into the trap and forcing him to move south and away from his destination in the north.

Eaton rides up to Beatrice. She sits on her mount, graceful and strong. "Thank you for allowing me to use you as a decoy," he smiles at her.

She looks at him stunned. She feels like it should be she who is thanking him for making sure she didn't get shot. She dismounts Abraxas and leads him to the stream nearby so that he can get a drink. She's surprised when she hears the hammering of hooves on the ground behind her.

She turns to find Colonel Eaton standing behind her, leading his horse to the stream as well.

When he stands next to her she can see the full extent of his stature. He's a very tall man, even taller than Zeke. Even through his navy blue officer's uniform, she can see that he is a very muscular and fit man. The word titan comes to mind again, because even without the size of his enormous horse, he's still very large and daunting.

"You look too worn for words. Why don't you join us at camp, it's not far from here."

"I can't sir. I have to be on my way."

"Absolutely not, Monroe's men are still in the area and if the fact that he, himself took a shot at you, I'd say you aren't safe with him around."

"I've been thwarting his plans for some time now. I believe I've made an enemy. Can I ask you a question sir?"

"Yes," he replies reluctantly.

"You referred to him by his given name earlier, why?"

"I've known Zeke since he and Shauna moved north years ago. He used to talk of his brother with such reverence and love. When the war broke out he was horrified to find that his family disowned him and his own brother said that if they met at battle that he wouldn't hesitate to kill him. Now you tell me, how did such a young woman come to be mixed up in this war?"

She looks at him in surprise. She didn't read the introduction that Zeke gave to him for her. He must have described her and what the situation was. "I was a daughter of a plantation owner. I didn't like that he had slaves. When the war broke out I started helping runaway slaves reach the Underground Railroad. Soon after I freed my friend and her family I took Abraxas and ran away myself to my cousin Shauna's home."

He nods in understanding. "Now I'm quite sure that your name is not James, what is your real name?"

She looks down shyly. This is the first time she's ever going to tell someone her real name since she arrived in the Union ranks over a year ago. "My name is Beatrice Prior, sir."

"The name is Tobias, please don't call me sir." He takes her hand and kisses the soft skin on her knuckles. "It's a pleasure, Beatrice."