Ah, it's good to be writing again after a 2 year gap. I'm so pleased to have reviews already; I only started putting this up yesterday! Yes, I had the 'wonder of the East' woman in mind when I described Elina, and it should be really obvious who Vrack is, and what's going to happen to him. I reformatted Chapter 2 - thanks for pointing that out. Anyway, next installment, a bit shorter, but hey.

No one knew his name, as he never spoke a word. He was just known as 'Vrack's boy'. At first Vrack let him have the run of the camp, like some of the other…well I don't want to say 'freaks' although I've used the word before. It's different talking about him. Anyway, he tried to escape so many times that Vrack just kept him locked in a cage. Vrack grew to loathe him in a way that was frightening. He wanted a creature that would terrify the watching public, but the boy would never do anything. After a while, Vrack took to beating him, just to get a response. I saw it once, as I passed his tent on the way to my own. Vrack let himself into the cage, which was surrounded by gawking spectators, and forced the masked boy down onto the ground. Then he beat him with a short staff until he screamed out in pain. Finally, he would pull off the mask, and hold up the boy's head just as he had done when he brought him to the camp.

"Behold the Devil's Child!' he would shout, and the crowd would go mad and hurl coins through the bars. It made me sick. It made me hate Vrack with a burning passion. I was thirteen years old, nearly a woman in form, and Vrack would look at me like he looked at Elina. My skin would creep as if it were trying to get away from his gaze, this evil man who had my guardian utterly under his spell. My pity for the boy went hand in hand with my disgust for Vrack; that coupled with my feeling that there was some indefinable something about the boy. So, I concocted a plan. Vrack would spend every night from midnight on with Elina. That would leave both the boy and I unwatched. I had no thought of what I would say or do when I got there; I suppose I just wanted to let him know that he was not alone. So, that very night, I performed for my public, promising riches and love in abundance. When the customers had gone home, Vrack came for Elina and they disappeared to his caravan. For the look of the thing, I went back to Elina's caravan and sat down. I wanted to take something, give him something, make some solid gesture, but I didn't know what. I looked around the caravan for inspiration. High on a shelf in a dark and dusty corner, I saw it. A toy I had made, long ago, when I was learning, that was not good enough to be sold, but not bad enough to be torn down into pieces and made over. I stood on a stool and took it down. I turned it over in my hands, and wondered if it was enough. It was in the form of a monkey, with cymbals that could be strapped to its hands. At the time I had been so proud of it; yes, I decided it was enough. He was too old for toys and so was I, but I needed something. If I'd thought about it harder I would have tried to get him food, but this late at night it would have looked very strange. I didn't know what would happen if I was caught.

The camp was silent at such a late hour, but I still crept as silently as I could away from the caravans towards the row of tents. It was so dark I was afraid I would walk into the wrong one, but I chose rightly after careful consideration. One candle burned in the corner of the tent, casting strange shadows.

"Hello?" I said, softly. "Are you sleeping?"

He was curled up tightly in the far corner of his cage. He made no movement.
"I've brought you a gift. I don't know if you'll like it, but I want to be your friend, and I thought..." I trailed off.

He was silent still, but began to uncurl himself. He sat up and looked at me, and the light from the solitary candle flickered over the face that would become as familiar to me as my own.

I held out the monkey, and pushed it through the bars towards him. He reached out and took it, and then retreated. I smiled at this small success.

"My name is Arielle. I would like to ask you what your name is, but they say you can't speak."

He looked up from the monkey, straight into my eyes. Those eyes…they seemed to see straight into my soul. I was hypnotised. I still am.

"Erik", he said. "My name is Erik."