The Lord paced, Lord Abel Cavan, worrying about his estate problems. His estate wasn’t going to survive this winter unless he married, due to his father ‘s will if he didn’t marry by his 25th birthday he would lose all that he owned to his nephew. His nephew, Aaron Cavan was seeking fortune and many wrong things. He took a mistress every night and beat his servants when they made a mistake or some stupid little reason. His mother and father spoiled him and when they died they left him all the estates and stables, not a good choice on their behalf. Aaron Cavan was a disgrace to his noble name, their family was respected and he was trashing the name without a care.

Lord Abel Cavan looked out the window to the small town, Chadwick, and smiled. Surely the ton would have fainted if they knew he was looking for a wife. He was 23 and he knew that he wasn’t going to find love; that was something girls dreamed of. He left himself plenty of time but he wasn’t feeling all that great about it.

“Darcy, would you fetch my horse and cloak. I think I’ll go to town for a bit.”

“Very well my lord, it’s about time you went out for a bit.”

“Thank you Darcy.” Lord Abel Cavan smiled at his Abigail and picked up his riding gloves, and retrieved his sword from its place on the wall. The reflection in the mirror shocked him, His white hair was pulled back in a loose ponytail and his face was pale and his eyes looked demonic, with their violet color.

“Your horse is ready milord, and your riding cloak sir.” Darcy announced and held up a huge coat for Lord Cavan to put on.

“Thank you Darcy.”

“My pleasure milord, have a safe ride.”

“Thank you Darcy.” He said to his loyal servant. Darcy came to his castle seeking work while he was healing from a horrible riding accident. He asked for something with light work but a lot of it. Lord Abel gave him the task of being his personal, which wasn’t all that demanding but it kept the young man occupied. Later on when they got to know each other as good friends he had Darcy move his family unto the estate in a house near the castle. Darcy’s mother had been sick and his little sister was blind and his older brother died in the horse race that caused the accident that Darcy was involved in. Darcy had cried in front of his employer, Lord Abel had given him the week off to help his family move and loaned him carriages and horse teams to do so. Lord Abel Cavan was thinking of his staff while he rode to the small town below.

In the town of Chadwick

A group of gypsies were setting up their tents in a meadow not to far from the square they were to perform in. a white haired gypsy shouted orders and the others obeyed. Two girls danced to a foreign tune. One had red hair and was wearing something from the Middle East, also red and orange. She danced with a sword and veils flowing from her hands and weapon. The other had a red skirt and white top, hair black with a white band to hold it out of her face. They danced together, drawing a crowd for the better dancers. Two young men played, one who was dressed in all black played the percussion. Drums beat the rhythm and the wooden instrument played a happy tune. He wore a white shirt and blue britches with a crossing belt for show and had on a brown bandana to keep his messy blond hair out of his face.

“Look at the one playing the drums! He has a tattoo.” A young boy proclaimed to his friend.

“His hair is like a porcupine! In color too! What do you think the reason is for him to wear gloves?”

“I don’t know Christopher. But we better get home before Mother finds out we’re here.”

“Carmela and Lita! You should go join the dancing!” the white haired one said to a pair of identical twins. They wore different colored corsets that matched their eye color and Lita had dyed her hair purple for show.

“Okay Echo!” they chimed as they parted the crowd to dance. Two more people were left besides the famous Echo of the gypsy dancers. Faith a young maiden wore always wore cat ears and tail, that had ran away from her Egyptian home because she wanted to dance and get away from the pressures that were being forced on her. Adah was a young Jewish girl who was raped and then shunned so Echo had taken her away from her home but the girl was glad for that.

“We’re all done Echo!” Adah called, bounding up to her friend.

“Okay, you guys can go to the square now.”

“Aren’t you gonna come with us?” Faith asked her.

“I can’t, not just yet. I have to set up my tent and the booth.”

“We’ll help you. It’s not fair for all you to do all the work.”

Echo thanked them and they got to work on the booth while Echo pitched her tent.

Lord Cavan reached the square and stopped to see what was drawing the huge crowd that was in his way to the inn. He sat upon his horse and watched as many beautiful girls danced to a wonderful tune. It started slow and picked up tempo until all that you could see of them was the colors they wore and of their hair. A trio of girls trilled and jumped in and the tune changed to a questioning one…blending the entrance of them and the previous dance together.

‘Well they have their act together.’ Lord Cavan thought. He watched as they performed their dances and fought with different dances and techniques, the crowd thinned out some and his eyes were caught on a young woman with white hair, sea-green eyes and a nicely-tanned body. She wore a band across her breasts that was white with color, a matching veil that she had around her elbows, a skirt that was blue with a green waist band decorated with gold tassels and a ruby underneath her naval, the split was up to her hips and she wore gold jewelry that sounded like chimes when she moved. The necklace she wore caught his attention. It looked to be Egyptian and had a ruby at the base of her neck and fanned out so that a sapphire settled close to her cleavage. The others did not match her skills or they couldn’t. Soon he was the only person left.

“Alright! We’re done, let’s go get some sleep.” She said to the others.

“Demos! Dow! Make sure that you don’t leave the money this time.” She said laughing to lighten the mood.

“You do it once and you never hear the end of it.” The blond one said sarcastically.

“Well it was your fault. Dow.”

“Shut up Demos! At lest I don’t look like a drowned rat.”

“I could fix that for you!” the brown haired one said.

“Excuse me, but what brings you to England?” Lord Cavan asked the white haired female.

“A place to perform and earn what we have. We don’t steal if that’s what you’re gonna say next.” She said with a hint of hatred.

“No, I wouldn’t accuse you of stealing. You dance beautifully.” He said in a monotone. She turned her back on him and walked towards a set of twins and yelled in another language, they responded and the one in purple left in a hurry.

“What is your name? If I may inquire.”

“In English? It would be Echo.” She smiled at the shocked look on his face. He dismounted and bowed to her.

“I am Lord Abel Cavan.” He introduced himself, and took her hand and kissed her hand. A sharp blow to his ribs and he stumbled to look into the drummer’s eyes.

“How dare you!” he yelled. Echo made a motion and he went to her side.

“That is their custom when meeting a lady.” She told him, “Thing are different in every land. Their expectations from each gender change, Now show him to the booth.” She said before walking away. The drummer gestured for the Lord to follow her.

“You are Demos, am I correct?”

“Yeah. This is the booth of fortune telling. It is our way of apologizing. Please forgive my actions.”

“It’s not a big deal, I’m not exactly social myself.”

“I though you were a patrolman.” Demos held the curtain up for him to enter and he went to gather the horse that had held the stranger. It was a huge beast, midnight black and the full moon glistened off its coat. A beautiful horse, one like this would be feared where he came from.

Echo sat in front of him, watching him with the sea-green eyes.

“Cavan…the name fits you well…handsome one.” She said.

“Maybe.” Hs shrugged.

“Abel…breathe, evanescence. Your name is truly unique.”

“It has no meaning to me. I have no life anyway.” He replied.

“One so dark in such a wonderfully happy town?” she brushed some hair out of her face.

“I don’t live in this town, I live above it.”

“The dark castle on the hill? Surrounded by the haunted-looking woods.” She scoffed and got up, he glanced a scar on her thigh and one peaking out from her necklace.

“How did you get those scars?”

“Dancing in a public place.”

“Patrolmen?”

“Yes, however they were punished by the crowd.”

“How often do you guys move?”

“We’ll be here for a month or so. Then we must leave.” She said absently rummaging through a trunk near his seat. He looked at a candle, inspecting the design that held it in place. A White dragon with a Red dragon and another Black dragon circling the candle in a battle like game.

“Interesting candle holder, do you know who made it.”

“Yes, she’s right here in the room. I also made many things that we needed and couldn’t get.” Echo seemed to be hiding some amusement from her voice.

“I made that the day I left my family, of gypsies of course. I made the white and black ones for balance surrounding the red one, which has blue eyes, to give balance to the life that it leads.”

“I like it. Do you make them for customers?”

“I’ve tried, but many people forbid the purchase of Gypsy things.” Her bracelets tinkled as she brought out a knife.

“This is from my old family, if you’d like to see it.” She placed it on the small round table. She got up and opened a jar and the smell of cinnamon swirled around them, then she rang pull bell. A young woman appeared in clothing similar to Echo’s except the breast band was red and orange and hooked behind her neck and her skirt hand no slits, bit tassels covered the bands. She had earrings of bells and well tanned with a fiery look to her face.

“Yes?”

“Farah, would you see of you could find my head jewels? I can’t find them anywhere. That’s why I was so late to get there.”

“Faith found them in her trunk. She said you put them there for safe travel.”

“Thank you. Tell her that we need to practice at the usual time.”

“Echo, how long are we dancing tomorrow?”

“All day, we need the money for supplies before we move again. And new instruments. The ones we have are fading fast.”

“As you wish.”

“So how many people do you have?”

“Lita, Carmela, Faith, Demos, Dow, Adah, Farah, Zada and me.”

“That’s small for a gypsy group.”

“Yeah, but we get more people every town we visit. We accept the people that society wants nothing to do with. We don’t judge others by what they look like or their past. Many of us were thrown out of our homes or we left to escape their wills.”

“I must go, but I’ll come tomorrow and watch. Perhaps I’ll bring a close friend of mine.”

“It would be appreciated that you enjoyed out dancing that much, Milord.”

“You worked hard and it shows. Do you have a stable for your horses yet?”

“No, we have them tied to a couple of trees.”

“I have a large stable and I wouldn’t mind putting them in a warm stall. I’ll treat them as my own.”

“I would like to see this stable before I can make them move.” she said absent-mindedly

“Very well, you’ll stay at my estate, everyone. I have many houses that are comfy but they are empty, perhaps you could make use of them.”

“I will talk to them about this tonight. But they will question you later, when you come to watch.”

“I am a young man seeking to fill my estate. It has been empty for a long time and I have been looking for someone to have talks with. You guys are intelligent and you seem to have stories.”

“Milord, you’re conclusions are quite accurate. Perhaps it would be wise to see how this estate stays empty with a smart young man.” Echo laughed an opened the curtain for him. He hopped on his horse and thanked them for their hospitality and cantered off.

Darcy saw his master coming up the lane and met him at the door.

“Do you have any news, Milord?”

“Yes, we might have guests for nearly a month. About 10, Gypsies.

“Milord?” Darcy asked confused.

“They are wonderful dancers and they are quite intelligent.”

“You enjoyed yourself sir?”

“Yes Darcy, and you shall come with me yesterday. And your sister too, she’ll enjoy the music.”

“Yes, Milord.” Darcy smiled and escorted Lord Cavan to the stables and up to his room, where he changed and put Lord Cavan to bed. He had never seen his master smile when he announced that they would be having guests. He wasn’t social, so this was totally out of character for him.

At the small camp of gypsies, they gathered and talked about a possible home for their stay. Echo introduced the idea and every discussed the possible reason for it and the dangers. After an hour of presenting the facts and weighing everything they decided that they would try it for a couple nights and go from there.

“We will keep our family rules, no matter what. Those rules are what keeps us alive and out of the path of the guillotine.” She told them before they dispersed.

The next morning Abel felt someone sit down on his bed.

“Good morning Miss Sara.”

“Good morning Milord Cavan.”

“Are you excited for our trip into town?”

“Yes, Lord Abel.”

“Carol, call me Abel. Okay?”

“Okay. Shall we get going? My horse is ready to go.”

“I’ll be down in a couple minutes, I must get dressed. I know that you know this is most improper.”

“Yes, but I cannot see you, so why should it matter.” Sara smiled, and Abel laughed.

“You do have a point…Lord of the Gypsies. In that case I shall go wait in the entrance hall for you.” She got up and left. He walked down to the door and gathered her arm and escorted her to her horse, helping her on.

“I’m tying her to the tree while I go get the others, I only saw two horses and there were more people than that so, I’m bringing mounts for them. Will you be okay for a couple minutes?”

“Of course milord. Star here won’t spook easily, she doesn’t need to be tied up. In fact she’ll follow you.”

“Really? Did Darcy train her?”

“Yes. He trains all kinds of horses when he has a day off, this is the third one he’s trained for me, and my favorite.”

“Well then, come on star.” The horse nickered and followed him to the stable, Sara rode perfectly, giggling.

“Darcy, you did a very good job in your training, did you get the horses?”

“Yes, sir.”

“Thank you. Lynn!” Abel whistled and his huge black stallion came to him, saddle and waiting for his to mount and go. Darcy was mounted on his chestnut thoroughbred and waiting for Abel.

“Well it appears that I’m the one you guys are waiting on.” He said the leather of his saddle creaking as he mounted his horse. They galloped to the town, Sara laughing with the pace.

Echo was up since dawn, packing up their stuff. Her two mares came up to her, Snow nipping at her hair and Panda nuzzled her hand.

“Okay you two.” She turned around petting them, “Are you happy now?” she asked them. They nickered and the others came up to her, these were the working horses. They handled the wagon while her two mares carried packs and participated in their shows. They were both brown and white, often called Indian horses but they didn’t care they were part of the family and they took care of each other.

“Echo, do you know how long until we start?”

“We should have started an hour ago.” She told Adah.

“The twins and the boys have gone to set up. They thought that we could do a couple tricks in today’s show. We already packed our stuff and we want you to do your kind of show as we take care of things for you.”

“Adah, thank you.” She hugged her friend and hopped on Panda, bareback was how she rode. “All you have to do is put the stuff on the wagon, that’s all that’s left beside hooking up Tallulah and Payne.”

“Don’t worry. Go, hurry up…they’re waiting for you.” She lightly slapped the horse’s rump and they took off, Snow following her owner and her play mate. Echo arrived at the square and found a crowd already gathered. Little kids and their mothers, waiting to see what we were doing here. Demos came up to me and held up for his hand for Snow, she put her muzzle in his hand and he got on her, Lita rode with him and Carmela rode with Echo. They rode out how much room they would need. People made room for them with gasps. Faith and Dow played their instruments, Zada and Farrah danced around and between the horses and when Adah came she sang to the tune in our traditional language that Echo had taught them. They begun, the show involved the horses being guided with their feet as hey did pyramids, balance tricks and riding both horses as one at the same time. Adah collected coins from our amazed crowd, we finished and Echo led the horses over to the well, using her own bowl that they had brought, watered he horses by filling it and holding it for them to drink from. A small child hid behind a young lady, clutching her skirt.

“Would you like to pet them?” I asked her. The child nodded and stepped forward

Timidly, Snow turned to him and bowed her head and whinnied softly, he reached out a hand and she grabbed the carrot from my hand and gave it to the little kid.

“My name Sarah? What yours?” she asked the mare.

“Her name is Snow. If you would like to ride her, she’s very gentle.”

“Sarah, mom would be upset if she finds out, so hurry up okay?” the young lady told her younger sister.”

“Thank you Tania!” the little girl went up to Echo and she was lifted by her hips unto the beautiful mare. Panda kneeled down for Echo to mount, the two horses rode side by side in a circle around the well. Sara laughing as she got down from the kneeling Snow.

“How did you get her to kneel?” Tania asked Echo.

“Kindness, from both of us. We come to an understanding with each other, I had both horses when I was injured, I couldn’t walk so they kneeled for my to get on.” She patted her mares.

“How were you injured?” Tania asked.

“I was dancing and the patrolmen tried to kill me. I ran from them after they cut my thigh in the middle of my dance. But I was too hurt to walk and I whistled for my horses. They came and the rest is history.” Panda stole a carrot and put it in the hand of Tania, who was startled at the unexpected contact.

“We have to go now, come along Sara.” She said after Panda finished off the carrot.

“May your journey home be in peace.” Echo said as they left.