Time Is The Key To Everything

Chapter 17: We Meet Again

"Look who it is!"

Cassidy looked up at the sound of the familiar loud voice. She and her military men were crowded before the heavy guarded door of the English military fort. She saw a gloved hand waving at her from the top of the impenetrable walls.

"If it isn't Little Miss Cassidy, finally coming to see her old friend!" James' voice fell from the top and rained down on Cassidy. She swallowed down her pride and antagonism towards James and forced on a cheery smile.

"Forget the melodrama and open the doors, James!" Cassidy bellowed. James chuckled before pulling the doors open, allowing Cassidy access to his military fort.

The inside almost seemed larger than the outside world, bustling with order and warfare. Cassidy was swallowed into the giant English beast of combat.

James ran down the stairs of the fortification towers, his face lit with excitement. He nearly tripped over the steps and Cassidy couldn't help but smile in spite of herself.

Why was he always boasting about being a fearless, ruthless man when he was such a child?

"Cassidy! Cassidy! Cassidy!" James laughed when he finally approached her. A wide grin made his thin face almost seem innocent. He stumbled just as he reached her, nearly falling onto all fours. It did not faze him one bit. "What took you so long?"

"I didn't come from anywhere close to this place, you know that!" Cassidy said indignantly.

"That wasn't what I meant." James said, shaking his head. "I meant, what took you so long to finally write to me, much less come and see me?"

"Do you really think I have all the time in the world?" Cassidy said, forcing her voice to be less accusatory and more amicable.

Just looking into his dark eyes made her want to slice his heart. These were the same pair of eyes that laughed when they tore down Paul.

"True. You're always stuck serving Paul." James lamented. But then his grin grew wider. "But not anymore. You're free, aren't you? You will be."

"Free?" Cassidy repeated confusedly.

"Oh wait! You are probably tired, aren't you?" James suddenly exclaimed to Cassidy's men. "Here—I can take care of your horses. We've got extra barracks and I'm sure there's still food somewhere—"

Cassidy watched in slight surprise as James rushed around the military fort, arranging for her men to be taken care of.

She had always imagined James to have changed into a cold, snarling dictator, but here he was, acting as if he never actually grew up.

"Do you have enough room and supplies for that?" Cassidy asked James. "You already have so many men here."

"I'm fine. We're fine." James said quickly. He nodded genuinely at Cassidy. "I'm serious! A couple companies have been transferred to a different fort, so it's a lot emptier than it was before."

"Emptier…?" Cassidy echoed, glancing around her. This place was far from deserted.

"Yes." James said, tying the horses in the stall. "What about you, though? I don't have any specific place for girls, in all honesty. Maybe with the nurses."

"I'm fine." Cassidy said quickly. Her eyes darted around outside the stalls. Where on earth could Paul be in this enormous military fort? It could take days just to look through everything.

"When was the last time we saw each other?" James asked as they left the stall. He led her into his headquarters that spoke of many stories of being used for all nighters.