Forks of Stones River

[Ellesar]

Ben just followed along, still muttering under his breath about Abby and Maddie. "How far do you think they've gotten?" he finally asked out loud.

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Jasper sighed. Did the boy never keep his mouth closed? Turning slightly to glance over at the younger boy, he studied him silently for a moment before turning back and walking ahead. When he spoke his voice was gruff.

"A few miles at least. They've had twelve hours to travel, while we're only just starting. It will be a while yet." He shifted the sack to a more comfortable position over his shoulder and continued on silently.

 

[Ellesar]

"Great..." Ben muttered as he lapsed into silence. He just trudged along silently, keeping an eye out for anything that would give indication that the girls had passed this way.

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Jasper enjoyed the silence immensely. However the silence was shattered when there was a loud shriek and a tiny dark body fell out of a tree nearby. Jasper stopped and sighed, wondering what was going to go wrong now.

He frowned slightly when the figure picked itself and displayed the form of a small, black girl who was glaring at them in irritation.

"Youa watch were you go!" she cried, shaking a dark finger at them. "You woke Cassie and she not happy!" Folding her arms definatly, the girl stamped her foot in annoyance.

Jasper wondered how a black girl as small as her had gotten this far from her plantation. He wondered idly if there was a reward for taking her back to her master.

 

[Ellesar]

Ben smiled at the girl and said, "Hello. What were you doing up in the tree?"

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Jasper sighed and started walking again, not willing to let a slave girl slow him down. She would probably get caught sooner or later. She was not big enough to go very fast for very long.

The girl, whose name was apparently Cassie, walked up to Ben and reached up to poke him in the chest.

"Cassie were sleeping!" she told him. "You woke up Cassie. Bad boy." She pouted piteously.

 

[Ellesar]

"In a tree?" Ben asked with a raised eyebrow. "Anyway, how did we wake you up? We were quiet when we walked under the tree."

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Cassie looked at a loss for a moment, before she whirled and pointed to Thomas on his horse.

"Horsey make loud horsey noises," she said by way of explantion. Her small round face puckered up in satisfaction at this excuse.

Jasper kept walking silently, glad Ben was distracted by the newcomer. Cassie turned and pointed at the Southerner's retreating back.

"He stomp loud too," she said loudly with indignation and Jasper rolled his eyes as he caught her last statement.

 

[Ellesar]

Thomas only rolled his eyes as his horse snorted. "Sorry, kid, but my horse does not make loud noises." Ben laughed slightly and then asked, "I take it your name is Cassie?" He looked up at Jasper and said, "Wait for us!"

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Jasper stopped in his tracks, sighing inwardly at Ben's command but obeying it anyway since he felt somewhat responsible for the others in the group since he was suddenly the unspoken leader.

"This is Cassie," said Cassie, pointing to her chest. "Who is you?" She pointed her dark finger at Ben's face once more.

She glanced at Thomas on his horse and stuck her small pink tongue out at the horse who she knew had made enough noise to wake her up, no matter what the white man said.

 

[Ellesar]

"I'm Ben." Ben said with a smile. "How old are you, Cassie?" he asked, looking over the girl who looked like she couldn't be over 10 years of age. Thomas' horse seemingly noticed Cassie sticking her tongue out at him and he snorted again at the girl.

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Jasper leaned against a tree and waited semi-patiently. Each minute that passed was another minute that Madelyn and her friend got farther away.

Cassie frowned suddenly in thought and brought her hands up to her face, counting them twice, starting over, counting them again, and then grinning suddenly.

"Cassie's Momma say Cassie is born sixteen years ago." The small girl nodded firmly and poked Thomas's horse in the nose gently, giggling slightly.

 

[Ellesar]

"Really?" Ben asked in veiled shock, finding it hard to believe that Cassie was only a year younger than he was. He glanced up at Jasper and noticed that the Reb looked impatient, but at the moment, he didn't care that much and had completely forgotten about Maddie and Abby. Thomas' horse nickered softly and walked over to Cassie, and nuzzled her neck in a friendly way.

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Cassie giggled as the horse nuzzled her and nodded to Ben's question.

"Really, really," she said. "Momma said Cassie is special, cuz Cassie be like children for a long, long time and gets to have fun!" She grinned, displaying small pearly white teeth.

Jasper wondered if finding out about the slave girl was really more important than them finding Madelyn and Abby before the girls got into any trouble.

 

[Ellesar]

Ben suddenly remembered the reason he was out there and asked, "Cassie, have you seen two girls come this way earlier this morning?" Thomas' horse nickered again and nuzzled Cassie's neck.

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Cassie wrinkled her nose in thought and then nodded very slowly.

"They wenta that way," she said, pointing in the direction Jasper had been heading. The young man rolled his dark green eyes. Of course they had gone that way. He was following their tracks, was he not?

"Are they in trouble?" she asked solemnly, clasping her hands behind her and staring seriously at Ben and Thomas. She tried not to giggle again as the horse nudged her.

 

[Ellesar]

"They might be..." Ben said with a sigh. "It's my sister and her friend. They ran away from home in the middle of the night..."

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

"Naughty girls," Cassie said. "You need Cassie's help?" she inquired, glancing around at the three boys, hands on her small hips.

Jasper scowled and shook his head, he did not need help finding the girls and he knew another member of the search party would only slow them down more, especially when that member was a tiny girl.

 

[Ellesar]

"I don't see the harm of you coming along." Ben said with a slight smile. "You seem to be a very observant girl."

 

[BeautyLikeNight]

Cassie giggled and Jasper rolled his eyes.

"Can we please move forward?" he asked rather abruptly, speaking for the first time since Cassie fell down on them. "Every minute we waste is another minute they're travelling farther away." He frowned.

Cassie frowned back. "You grumpy," she observed.

He simply snorted and turned away, walking once more through the trees.