Chapter 1

The little boy sat high up in the Oak tree watching the tinkers wagon down below, the tinker always had the most interesting things in his wagon but what had caught the boys attention was the child that was with the tinker, last time he had been here he had been all alone now he had a very dirty, ratty looking child. The child was rushing to do the tinker's bidding bringing things for him out of his wagon, the old sway backed horse was standing with its head hanging, the boy couldn't tell if the old horse was just tired or maybe it was sleeping on its feet.

Climbing down from the tree the little boy stood behind Margaret who was looking over the tinkers wares, holding onto Margaret's skirts the boy peeked around her very ample thigh at the dirty child. The child peeked through the spokes of the wagon wheel at the little boy, then deciding he didn't really look all that interesting went to stand by the old horse patting his neck crooning to him saying what a good horse he was.

Seeing that Margaret wasn't paying him any attention the little boy went over to stand on the other side of the horse, looking under the horses neck at the dirty child he reached up touching the horses mane "he is old and tired, shwould be in a meadow eating gwass." The dirty child looked under the horse neck "you talk funny" the little boy frowned "do not" the dirty child nodded "do too." The little boy laughed "your all dirty and smellwy" The dirty child punched the little boy in the nose "so what" the little boy yelped and hit the dirty child in the eye.

"Here now" yelled the tinker seeing the two children rolling around on the ground, the old horse snorting and stamping around trying to get away from the two under his feet. Reaching down he grabbed the two by the backs of their shirts, each child dangling from his hands, the dirty child still swinging kicks in the little boys direction, with a shake the tinker snapped "stop that now" the dirty child stopped but glared at the little boy, who glared right back.

Putting the children down the Tinker glowered at the dirty child "get in the wagon and don't be showin your face again this day" turning to the little boy he brushed the dirt off his clothes "I be real sorry about that bought the child off the Gypsies what thought the child be's possessed, they said they found the child wandering alone through the forest about a year back, good helper though ain't had no troubles before" he said hurriedly to Margaret who was fussing over the little boy, holding a cloth to his nose. Instead of rushing inside the little boy stood holding Margaret's hand listening to the tinker tell her all about the dirty child and the Gypsies until Margaret realized he was still standing there, told him to go find Jessie the housekeeper and tell her to help him clean up for his supper. The little boy peeked out of the window at the back of the wagon, the dirty child peeked out of the back of the wagon at the little boy in the window.

Revanche walked into the dining room with Hubert his tutor, that's what mawmaw called him, she said you couldn't call a man a governess. Hubert was an older man who always had a look on his face as if he was in severe pain, he had bright gray eyes that never missed a thing and a droll sense of humor, not to mention he rarely found it difficult dealing with a little boy who was also a dragon.

Rav raised an eyebrow "fall out of the tree again?" Revanche shook his head looking down at his plate, Hubert simply looked at Revanche, Revanche looked up from his plate "he hit me fwirst" Natalie with a worried look on her face started to get up but stopped at a look from Rav. "Who is he and why did he hit you?" Revanche's father asked calmly. With a stubborn light appearing in his eye's Revanche replied "I cwalled him dirty bwut he said I talk fwunny fwirst" Rav sighed inwardly "and did you hit him back?" Revanche nodded vigorously "he was bwought fwom the gyip ... umm gipsies by the tinker" Hubert interjected "Gypsies" spelling the word for Revanche.

Revanche started to eat his supper, glancing up again he frowned "what's powssesed, the Gypsies said the dwirty boy was powssesed" Hubert spelled the word for Revanche "possessed, it means to own or control something or have something, in this case I would surmise it means they thought the child was possessed by something or someone such as demons or spirits." Revanche his eyes wide thought about that for a few minutes while he ate, Rav and Natalie glancing at each other waiting to see what Revanche would say next. "He wasn't powssessed by demons cuz I don't think demons could powssess a dragon person who's special." Rav leaned forward slightly "the boy is a dragon? Are you sure of what you saw?" Revanche started to nod then stopped thinking carefully, with a emphatic nod yes "a special dragon pawpaw don't know why but is." Revanche spent the rest of the meal thinking about the dirty boy.

Jacob chuckled as he handed Laurel her supper "you're going to have a shiner, lass, shouldn't go hittin lordlings most don't take kindly to it, coulda got both of us in real trouble." Laurel frowned touching her sore swollen eye and shrugged "he hits like a baby, called me dirty and he does talk funny" Jacob laughed "you are dirty lassie, wouldn't hurt to use a little soap and water yea know, these be good kindly folks here abouts, they don't turn their dogs on us, they don't try and cheat us using high lordly words thinkin I don't understand, so don't be goin fightin with the little lordling, I don't want to lose the good trade I get from them, yea understand lassie." Laurel nodded sullenly silently eating her supper.

Jacob watched the child wash the supper dishes after she was done instead of tossing out the water she frowned at it as if it was going to bite her then splashed the water on her face rubbing with her hands. Chuckling Jacob got up fetching a bar of soap and a towel "here now yea can't get clean in dirty water" tossing out the wash water he scooped more out of the small stream adding hot water to it from the pot over the fire. He handed the bar of soap to the child who glowered at it but lathered up her hands then bent over the basin scrubbing her face and neck, splashing water everywhere she rinsed off quickly grabbing for the towel.

Going into the back of the wagon Jacob came back out a few minutes later with a traveling pack, he put it next to Laurel "this be yours yea can keep the soap and towel and your private things in it, I added a comb and a few other items to get yea started with, I will teach yea how to sew then yea can be makin your own clothes but for now I added a clean pair of britches, a shirt and undergarments for yea, them clothes yea got on need to be washed somethin fierce."

Jacob smiled kindly at the child as she snatched the pack up and held it against her chest, she had been with him almost a month now. The first two weeks she had jumped at every sound, hidden in the wagon snarling at him each time he got too close. It had broken his heart the day he came across the Gypsy camp, seeing the child with a rope around her ankle tied to a wagon wheel being tossed scrapes of food, the other children teasing and hitting her with sticks.

He hadn't always been a traveling tinker, at one time he had a family, a small cottage and a cobblers shop then sickness had swept through the small village taking his wife and five children along with most of the population. Still grieving for his lost loved one's he had taken to the road with his wagon, it was a lonely life but it suited his need at the time for a solitary existence. It had taken him days of hard bargaining to buy the child using their talk of demons possessing the child to lower the price. He laughed to himself demons indeed, the only thing that possessed this child was anger, anger at being treated like an animal, anger at the human race for all it's misdeeds perceived by a child's eyes.

Sitting down by the fire Jacob stirred up the embers tossing in a few more sticks, Laurel still clutching the pack she had been given lay down by the fire curled in a blanket that Jacob had also given her. "Will yea sing me a song tonight lassie" Jacob asked as he poured himself a hot cup of tea, just last week he had woken to the sound of a voice singing, it was a voice to make angels weep and grown men fall to their knees, barely opening his eye's he had seen Laurel sitting in the light of the moon her arms stretched out wide at her sides, moving as if she were flying through the skies like a bird, she had sung to the night. The look on her face both yearning and filled with rapture she had sung of days of long past, of magical places and things.