Small Village, 1600

Those two weeks went by too fast. The next thing Bill knew, his father had gone off to sea again. Except, this time, he didn't come back. Bill kept counting off the days, but it had already been almost a year since he left. Even his mother started to worry. Lewis turned six and Bill turned eight. "Don't worry, boys," their mother said. "You're father will return."

But after over a year, Bill started to doubt that very much. The ship didn't come back and everyone in the village was nervous. It hung over all of them like a cloud.

Eventually, Bill gave up hope for his father's return. He had told him that sailing was dangerous. Now he understood just how dangerous it was.

In the middle of the next summer, there came a plague. It killed off half the population, including Bill's mother, leaving him and Lewis as orphans.

Lewis clung to his brother constantly. "What do we do now?" He'd ask.

Bill would sigh. "I don't know."

~

About four years passed. Bill was twelve and Lewis had just turned ten. They moved from orphanage, to orphanage, never staying long enough to make any real friends. Lewis used to cry constantly, but that ended when he turned nine and Bill scolded him, saying "You're too old to cry, understand?"

Lewis simply nodded. He started to only cry silently in his bed at night or when Bill wasn't around. No one really took notice in him. With his brown hair and brown eyes, he didn't think himself anything special.

But Bill got a lot of comments on his unnaturally yellow hair. It seemed to glow in the sunlight, but he would just shrug it off. But as he grew, it seemed to glow even brighter. One day, he found an old, beat up top hat on the streets and put it on his head. It was a little big for him, but it covered most of his unnaturally blond hair.

Bill and Lewis sat on the bed they shared at probably their thirtieth or so orphanage. The woman in charge had given the two of them a stack of books, but Lewis was struggling to understand them, since it had been so long since he had read.

Bill simply smiled and taught Lewis again. This attracted the attention of the kids around them, and suddenly, Bill had an entire class of boys and girls that wanted to read and write. So, this is when Bill decided that he would a professor when he grew up. Teaching others things he knew gave him a strange thrill. He even taught some kids older than he was.

Although Bill was having the greatest time of his life, he hadn't even noticed Lewis, who was curled up into a ball on their bed with tears silently running down his cheeks. His brother was too busy for him and he was jealous, mostly, but also angry and hurt. Bill was the only family he had, after all.

After a few weeks, Lewis and Bill had left that orphanage too. They traveled to a new town, got into a new orphanage, and stayed for a couple weeks, then left again. This was how they lived for years, until Bill turned fourteen and the orphanages refused to register him in, because he was too old. After that, he and Lewis started to live in the streets. "Where do you suppose we'll eat tonight?" They would ask each other almost every day. Hunger was never completely satisfied, but at least they were fed.

Bill and Lewis were lost, hungry and forgotten to the world. By the time Bill was fourteen, he'd made a few people mad and he knew how to fight off those bullies and even how to pickpocket. He only stole from the people who hurt him, but Lewis still didn't like it. "It's against the law," he said.

Bill would just shrug it off. "Its money, isn't it?"

With every day, Lewis noticed that his big brother was becoming more and more like a criminal. He didn't like it, not one bit. "You know, I could get a job..."

Bill waved him off. "No need, brother. We'll be able to afford ourselves something in no time."

"Yeah, with the money you stole."

"Earned," Bill corrected Lewis.

Lewis rolled his eyes. "Sure."

"Hey, at least we're not starving on the streets anymore!"

"Don't get mad at me!" Lewis said defensively. "It's your fault if we get caught."

"We're not gonna get caught," Bill said with an eye roll. He ruffled Lewis's hair. "Stop worrying so much."

Lewis pushed his brother's hand off his head. He hated it when Bill treated him like a kid.

Bill pocketed the money. "And besides, it's not like I take all their money. Just enough to live off of."

"Really?" Lewis asked. He was pretty sure that Bill would take out huge was at a time, but maybe he didn't. Maybe he wasn't as bad a thief as Lewis had thought.

"Now," Bill said. "Let's get going. I want to reach our destination by sunset."

Bill and Lewis had been on the road for a day and a half. Bill wished the villages were closer together. Who knew what could happen on a road like this.

As they walked, Bill's worst fears were confirmed. An old wagon, pulled by two strong clydesdales, was pulling up beside them. Bill took his brother's hand and tried to pull him along faster down the road, but someone caught him by the back of the shirt. "What are two young lads like you doing all alone out here? You could run into some...unfriendly folk."

The man pulled him back as he struggled to get loose. "Let me go!"

Lewis had been grabbed by another man. He looked terrified. "B-Bill, w-what's going on?"

Bill didn't answer him. Then man holding him didn't either. "Search them!"

Bill felt men groping around in his pockets. The money!

Just then, a large man pulled out Bill's stolen money with a smirk. "Well, well, what do we have here?"

"That's mine," Bill said through gritted teeth.

"You must be quite a little thief," the man continued.

"I'm no thief!"

The man just smirked. "Tie these two up! They look promising."

"Promising for what?" Bill asked, trying to sound brave, but it came out shaky

"Oh, well, you see, boy. We're slave traders."