His last words were empathized by the howling of a dozen hounds. He began to shiver but couldn’t figure out whether it was from the cold or from fear. He turned away from Cassie so she wouldn’t see the fear and the aching need for his mother in his eyes.
“Where’s Momma, Thomas?”
“Momma went the other way. Keep moving.”
“But why? Why did Momma leave us out here all alone?” Her voice held the threat of more tears. She forced them back, trying hard to be as brave as her older brother.
Thomas held out his hand, hoping to drag her along faster. He knew he could travel more quickly without her, but that wasn’t an option. He’d rather die than let the hounds get her. “To throw off the hounds,” he said at last. “No more questions, now. Just keep going.”
He gave her another shove and began to run. “Hurry up, go faster. They’re catching up to us.”
Cassie again faced her brother. “That sounded like Old Red. Didn’t it? Was that Old Red, Thomas?” He couldn’t see the fear in her eyes, but he heard it in her voice.
Old Red was mean. That was the only word that could describe the old, red hound. Not only that, but he hated Negroes, in particular. He had been trained that way. The dog had been tied to a stake, and beaten by slaves on the master’s orders. Taunted, teased, and beaten, day after day, the dog learned to hate people, and he hated people of color the most.
Thomas shuddered as he remembered the master turning Old Red loose on a captured runaway slave. He could still hear the man’s screams and see the red blood against the dark Maryland soil. He shuddered again, and pushed his sister ahead of him. His fear made him angry and rough with the sister he cared so much about.
“Faster, Cassie. We’ve gotta go faster.”
He stumbled and fell face first in the river. It wasn’t deep, it was more mud than water this time of year, but it was very cold. He dragged himself to his feet, shivering. From behind him, the sound of the hounds closed in.
“This ain’t working, Cassie. They know we are here. They must know we are headed for the bridge. We’ve got to throw them off somehow.”
“How, Thomas? How are we gonna do that?”
Thomas suppressed a frustrated, frightened sigh. His little sister was his responsibility now. Momma had said, “Take care of your little sister. I’ll go another way and throw off the hounds. I’ll meet you at the safe house in Camden, Delaware. Just get her to the bridge and there’ll be friendly folks to help you. Just keep going no matter what happens.”
It hadn’t worked. The hounds hadn’t followed Momma’s scent. Thomas knew the hounds were still on their trail. What he didn’t know was how he was going to shake them off.
“How, Thomas?” Cassie asked again.
His six-year-old sister’s constant questions were beginning to get to him. “I don’t know. Hush up and keep moving.”
A large tree root, hanging over the bank, snagged his shirt. A loud ripping sound accompanied the noise of their feet squelching through the mud. He jerked it free and looked up at the tree, thinking. “Maybe we should leave the river. They seem to know where we’re going. Maybe we should try the woods,” he said, thinking aloud.
“Momma said to follow the river.”
“I know, but Momma also said I should keep you safe, and we won’t be safe much longer if the hounds catch up to us.”
Speaking the words aloud seemed to make up his mind, and he grabbed the tree root and tried to pull himself up. His hands, covered with mud, slipped along the bumpy surface. Unable to get a firm grasp, he fell back into the mud with a squishy, sucking sound. He pulled himself to his feet and began searching the riverbank for an easier way up.
Overhead the full moon shone like a spotlight. He found a place where the riverbank didn’t seem quite so steep. He felt along the slope for something to hold on to and found an outcropping of boulders. Thomas curled his fingers around them, and hoisted himself up. Lying flat on his stomach, he reached a hand down for his sister. “Grab hold, Cassie, and I’ll pull you up.”
His sister’s hand was also muddy, and it slipped through his grasp. She fell hard on her bottom, landing in the mud with a loud plop. “Ow! Thomas you hurt me, and I’m covered in mud.”
“I didn’t mean to. Now, come on. We’ve gotta hurry.”
He wiped his hands off on his ripped shirt, and stretched out again for Cassie’s hand. She grabbed it firmly, and he pulled her up next to him. Together they stood on the rock and scrambled up the rest of the slope. He kept a tight grip on her hand as he said, “Now run. Cassie, run!”
They ran through the woods as the sound of the hounds drew closer and closer. Branches caught at their clothes and tree roots snagged their feet. They stumbled and fought each step of the way, but kept running. Fear hurried their footsteps, and they ran until their sides hurt and their breathing came in deep harsh pants.
“I can’t run no more, Thomas, my sides hurt and I can’t breathe right,” Cassie said, jerking her hand out of her brother’s. Her harsh panting filled the silence of the forest, and still the baying of the hounds got closer and closer.
“We’ve got to, Cassie. We’ve got to keep running. You know what they do to runaway slaves. You know what Old Red will do if he catches us.”
Cassie shivered and her voice quaked with fear. “I want Momma.”
“Momma’s not here. It’s just us. Now come on, get up. We’ve got to keep running.”
He pulled her to her feet but she stumbled, and her footsteps were heavy and slow. Thomas could tell that she really couldn’t run much longer. His own energy was about gone also. Tears of fear and frustration filled his eyes. He was supposed to protect her. Supposed to get her to the safe house and back with their momma. It was too much. He couldn’t even shake off the dogs, and neither one of them would be safe until he did.
With the back of his hand, he wiped away the tears and glanced up through the tree branches, searching the sky for the North Star. “If you get lost, follow that star,” Momma had said, pointing to a bright star in the northern sky. “It’ll take you straight north. Keep it in front of you all the time. You do that and it’ll take you right to Canada, where we’ll be free and where we can have a real home just like the master’s.”
He couldn’t find it. Turning around, he searched the sky in the other direction, and groaned. He found the North Star in the sky behind him, in the south. They’d been running the wrong way, going south instead of north. One tear trickled down his muddy face, and he brushed it away, angry with himself and their situation.
He jerked hard on Cassie’s hand. “Come on, faster. We’ve gotta run harder. Come on!”
He called up the last reserves of his strength to run faster. Thomas knew they were running in the wrong direction, but he also knew they had no choice. The dogs were behind them and there was no turning back. He would not let Old Red get hold of Cassie; he’d die before he let that happen to her.
The woods grew thicker, blocking the moonlight and they began stumbling over roots and rocks. Branches reached out bony arms and scratched their faces and snagged their clothes. They ran on with the sound of the hounds accompanying their footsteps.
Cassie fell again, lying face down on the leaf-covered forest floor. “What’s that smell? It’s making me sick.”
“Smells like skunk to me,” Thomas answered, jerking his sister’s hand harder and pulling her to her feet. “Keep running.” But even as he said the words, he stumbled and fell, landing hard in something smelly and soft.
Even though it was too dark to see, the overwhelming smell told Thomas he had landed on the body of a dead skunk.
Thomas jerked himself to his feet and pulled Cassie away from the carcass.
“You stink, bad. You smell just like that skunk.”
“That’s it!” Thomas shouted, and he grabbed his little sister and hugged her tight.
“Get away from me. You stink. Makes me want to throw up.”
“Come here,” he said, grabbing up the skunk carcass.
“Put it down, Thomas. Get away from me.”
“No! Now come here. This’ll work. It’s just what we need. Stand still, will you?”
Cassie kept backing away from her brother until, at last, he grabbed her by the arm. With one hand locked firmly on her forearm, he used the other to rub the skunk all over her. She tried to squirm away but his hold on her was too tight.
“Lift up your foot, Cassie. Now!”
She did as he told her, using her free hand to pinch her nose closed. “Thomas, it stinks. Now you made me smell like that smelly old skunk.”
“That’s right. Now we both smell like skunks, and not like people. This should throw the dogs off for good.”
“I think I’m going to be sick.”
“Not now, we don’t have time for that. Come on, let’s go.”
The hope of throwing the dogs off for good, gave them both new strength, and they ran harder and faster. The moon dropped below the horizon and the woods became a dark cave full of things that reached out to trip them up, or brushed silently across their faces and chests. But still they ran.
As the sun began to lighten the darkness, and each breath sounded louder and louder in their ears, they realized that the woods had become quiet, and they slowed to a walk.
“Where are the dogs?” Cassie whispered.
His chest heaving, his sides aching, Thomas paused to listen. The only sounds that broke the deep silence of the dark forest were the sounds of his and Cassie’s panting.
“We lost them. We lost them.” He grabbed her up and squeezed her in a giant bear hug. “We lost the dogs, Cassie.”
He couldn’t see her smile but he felt her body relax in his arms as all the fear and tension of the long, frightening night released its hold on her.
“Are we safe now?”
“For now. But, we still have a long way to go. Momma said Canada was a long, long way from Maryland, and…” he sighed, “…we’ve been running in the wrong direction. We’ve got to get back to the river somehow, back to the Choptank River Bridge.”
Even as he said it, Thomas knew there was no sense in going back. The people who were supposed to take them to the safe house in Camden, Delaware, would no longer be there. He had only one clue to help him, but it wouldn’t help them find their way out of the forest.
“Come on,” he said, grabbing hold of Cassie’s hand, once again. “Let’s keep going.”
“Where are we going, Thomas, and how come we have to do this anyway? How come we had to run away?”
Thomas took a long deep breath before answering. He was tired, tired and hungry, but he knew they had to keep going and had to find a house with a light on the hitching post. That was the sign of a safe house, Momma had said, a safe place with people who would help them.
“We have to find help. People to help us get to the safe house in Camden where Momma will be waiting for us.”
“But why do we have to do this? Why did we have to run away?”
“The master was planning on selling Momma. They got a new young house slave, and the master didn’t want Momma no more. They were planning on selling Momma to Cyrus Blackman.”
Thomas felt Cassie shiver, and he knew she wasn’t shivering from the cold.
“He’s a bad master, ain’t he? All the old folks say he beats his slaves and starves them too.”
“Yes, he’s a bad one. And they weren’t going to let us go with Momma. That’s why she decided to run away. She didn’t want to be separated from us when they sold her.”
Cassie stopped and turned toward Thomas. “You mean they were going to sell Momma and keep us?”
“Yes, that’s what Master was planning to do. She heard it from Cookie, who overheard it when she was serving his supper.”
Thomas heard Cassie’s stomach rumble at the word
supper
. His own stomach felt like it was as empty as a dry well.
“I’m hungry,” Cassie said.
“Me too. But, we’ve got to keep going. Maybe when it’s daylight, and we get back to the river we can find some watercress or berries or something.”
Thomas knew he was giving her false hope. There would be no going back to the river. For the dogs and Master were back there, and in the daylight he’d no longer have the North Star to guide him. Without its guiding light, they were lost.
Momma never intended them to go this way; she never intended that they be without help or food. Help and food had been at the bridge, tonight, but wouldn’t be there tomorrow. There was no going back. They could only go farther, deeper into the south. Thomas knew he could never tell Cassie the truth. The awful truth was that they were lost and alone.
About the Author
Nancy Segovia has been a professional writer for over 25 years. She has achieved publishing success in the fields of adult fiction, children’s literature, newspaper journalism, feature magazine articles and poetry. She is happily married, and has five daughters, five granddaughters and one, adorable grandson, and one grandbaby-to-be on the way. She loves all of God’s creatures and is active in animal rescue and rehabilitation. She is also a prize-winning cook.
Her other published works include
Shine: How To Walk the Talk
which was published by Faith and Reason Publishing in 2013, and
The Journey Home
which is scheduled for release in 2015. Her other award winning novels:
When You Wish Upon A Star
and
Benjamin’s Bride
are scheduled to be re-released from Faith and Reason Publishing in the near future. She also has several other completed works which will also be published by Faith and Reason Publishing over the course of the next few years.
Nancy Segovia has a Master of Arts Degree in Religion from Northwest Nazarene University, and a Masters of Liberal Studies in Creative Writing from the University of Denver. She currently writes and teaches college English for several national universities.
You can contact her at:
www.nancysegovia.com
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On The Back Cover
Can a boy without magic, and a dragon that can't fly save their world from destruction?