Chapter One the beginning of a new life

James peaked his head out of a bush and looked around for just a moment before pulling his head back in, hoping his best-friend Chip didn't spot him. They were playing a game of hide and seek. James was always good at hide and seek. He could stay hidden for hours as he knew how not to make a sound and could always camouflage himself very well. He knew that Chip had already found the others, but he was watching from his spot, waiting to see if Chip could find him or if he would give up again. After what seemed like forever in that cramped bush, Chip finally called out, "James, I give up. You win again." Chip was standing right in front of the bush James was hiding in. James slipped out silently and belted out, "I knew you would give up eventually." Chip about jumped out of his skin, turning in anger and shouting, "Why, do you have to scare me" James smiled and responded with a quick "Because it's funny" The boys went on laughing and playing till Chip's and the other mother called them home for dinner. Chips' mother asked James, with eyes of sadness, about his situation, "If James was going to eat with them tonight. James looked at his home in the distance with dread and softly said, "No, My father asked me to eat at home with him, and he told me he would be home early. So I better get going so I can make the beans we have for dinner." James usually ate at Chip's house due to the fact James's father was always busy or too drunk to cook for them. James's father, Fern, was the village drunkard, and he had a heavy hand. James's mother left just a couple of years ago after she got mad at his father for something; a wagon came out front one night; there was yelling, but James didn't know what happened except he woke up the following day to an empty house and when his father got home he told James your mother is never coming back home after that James spent as much time at chips as possible after all his chores were done. James still believed in his heart; she would come back eventually. His father was cruel to him, always saying clean this or Do that. He never got a break from work unless his father was gone to the mines or the tavern. James always seemed to have a new bruise or scar the next day as he was woken up in the middle of the night to his father's belt or the yern that went empty. If he were lucky, the beatings would only last a minute or two as his father fell into a drunken slumber. If his father were home, he would hide and hope to blend into the walls eventually, his father could not find him searching and yelling for James, but James would not move from where he was until his father had either left or fallen asleep. James came home and waited on his father to come home from the tavern. He had prepared beans and tac for dinner, set them on the table, and sat to eat. Just as the door slammed open, his father was in the worst drunken state. Then Fern came over to James, grabbed a fist full of hair, and drug him outside. As James was being pulled, he saw a wagon and then a dark figure that seemed to melt in the dark of night, and then the figure was gone. James looked all around for the dark figure he thought he had seen. Then Fern yelled at him, "You are only worth what yer" Fern belched bruggg "Mother waes, the price I will be getin from selling you" James stopped screaming, looked to his father, and cried out with tears down his face" You told me mother ran away that she didn't love us anymore" fern laughed "I sold her she was worth less than you are. you, foolish boy" A man dressed in all black with a hood just covering his eyes, giving him a demonic look, opened the wagon door, looked at Fern, and said in a deep voice that could rattle bones, "Here are the thirty coopers for the boy." Then James was set into the back of the wagon by the mysterious dark figure more carefully than James had expected. The dark man's following words were almost soft confusing James, but they still rattled his core. "Stay quiet, son. I will explain more later." Then the dark figure turned to his father and closed the wagon door on James. Then James heard the gasps as Fern begged this man to leave, almost as if he feared him more than anything else. James had never heard fear come from his father. The bone-shaking voice said, "Never try to find the boy. Your head will be your price if you come for him," His father, with a burst of drunken courage, busted out, "Don't threaten me, you fuckin slaver" Then a scream of terror came, and Fern said something incoherent. Still, James thought he heard the word Blue, followed by sounds of shattering wood came from outside. The bone-shacking voice became colder as if it was possible, "I'm not a slaver" The wagon began moving. James cried out loud because he had never been alone. He did not know how to feel. He hated his father now more than ever, knowing he had stolen his mother from him. James was still crying as the wagon slowed to a stop. The wagon didn't move. No sound came from outside the wagon. The silence was defining, but James knew there was something outside. James hoped to blend into the background. He stopped crying and held his breath. The wagon door opened slowly, revealing the dark man with his hood down and holding a torch. Then James looked again. The man was not carrying a torch. Instead, he was holding the flame. James looked in awe magic was rare in the land. Of course, there were magical creatures, but people did not normally have magic. It was so rare James thought it was just stories that no one had magic, and it was all made up. James then looked at the man's face, a man in his late thirties with short black hair pulled back away from his forehead, giving him a clean look. The most prominent part, his eyes glowed like a blue fire that was ever trying to escape his eyes. James shuttered, wanting to blend into the background, even more terrified. James knew this was the most dangerous being he had ever met. A voice breaking the petrifying silence came for the man, "I'm not going to hurt you, I promise" The man adjusted his gaze through the wagon. "There is no need to hide from me. You will be okay" James stayed still, not wanting to be seen, still scared he could not take his eyes off the man's glowing eyes. The man took his hand and waved his hand over a torch, and it came a flame. The man put his hand down, and his eyes stopped glowing, revealing green eyes that calmed James down, giving the man an approachable deminer. The man looked in the wagon and told James, "I do not know if you know you have magic like me, boy, and right now you are using it. I can not see you right now. I need you to release your hold and allow me to see you," James was shocked and, in his surprise and excitement, asked, "I have magic?" the man laughed heartily. "Yes, very powerful magic" The man looked in and asked again, "Can you allow me to see you?" James asked, now less afraid of the man, "How do I let you see me" The man chuckled. "Just like that," James appeared before the man as he thought to show himself. James held his knees to his chest, curled in a ball, wiping the remaining tears from his eyes. The man looked at him. "My name is George. I am a knight, as you hear about in your stories. I am a part of the Blue Knights. We have a long journey to where we are going." James started crying again, asking, "Where are we going? Am I now your slave, or are you taking me to a slave encampment? You said you are not a slave trader, yet people lie." George frowned. "No, James, you are not my slave, nor will you be going into slavery. I will not lie to you. I plan to take you to your mother." James looked at the man smiling with joy.

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