Gypsy Prince

Chapter 1

      The music's beat reminded the listeners of a racing heart, even the players fell under the spell of the rushing blood sound. The string instruments represented the breadth of the dancer, heavy and fast coming, the dancer herself was the body of this, allowing the sound to fill her as she twisted and weaved gracefully to the music. The crowd was silent fearing any noises would break the spell and all would have to return to the real world.

     Numair was no exception to this, with as little movement as possible from his body, only his fingers moved expertly across the tight metal strings of the guitar. He'd seen his sister dance many times before, he had played the song with Ben many more than that, still even her got caught up in the magic of it all. He was barely breathing and his mind drifted to the image painted in his head, the deep forest and dry roads, the smell of the wind, the feeling of the dust. It was home for him, his roof being the sky, his bed the soft grass, and his place being everywhere or anywhere the wind blew.

      The crescendo came and quickly fell, Ocarina slowed her steps into a bow, the crowd applauded and some tossed dollars into a hat placed on the ground. Panting slightly, his sister moved to the small ice chest and gained a bottle of water. The two were a year or so apart, but looked the same age. Both had faded rust colored hair, tanned skin from hours of sun every day, and gypsy blood running through their veins. Unalike Numair was taller, cat yellow eyes, and male, his sister was small, built like a twig, with hazel eyes. Funny thing was that she was 21 and Numair was 17, almost 18, yet she was often mistaken as the younger sister.

     "Numair! Ocarina! Lets go!" Their man, Benval, had the drum's strap slung over one shoulder, he had blue black hair with pale grey eyes, he was built like a wrestler, all mussel. He smiled at the children and waved, Numair shouldered his guitar case and Ocarina the hat. "You coming Baṛ" bhā'ī?" She called him big brother as their long running joke, and it was the only phrase in Hindu she could remember. In return he ruffled her hair and walked over to where the pickup was parked. The old rusty thing was barely running and it was impossible to tell what color it once was. They couldn't even tell what model or brand it was.

     The inside was scared pleather seats, the dashboard was cracked plastic, and it all smelled of stale smoke. Even with the vehicle was much loved and needed, Numair swung into the bed after handing the instrument to Ocarina who climbed into the cab with their father who was driving. "Where to next?" Numair stretched out and closed his eyes. "We could try Finland, or maybe Norway!" Ocarina chirped through the back window, their father grimaced, "Not really thinking I could stand the cold right now Sweet, how about somewhere warmer, like southern China?" She frowned, "We were there last week, thats nothing new. What about you Baṛ" bhā'ī? Where would you like to go?" The brother thought about it for a moment, a feeling in his gut tugged him west, "I was thinking Egypt, that alright with you Ben?" The man smiled, "Why not, I did say I wasn't feeling up for the cold?"

     The truck sputtered to life and and slowly rolled down the hill fast enough for Benval to get the gas working. Ocarina fiddled with the radio and played local music, looking up words in her dictionary, then repeating them to herself. Going from Turkey to Egypt would take some time, but Numair didn't mind, even if it rained he could just pull the cover up. He rarely did unless it was storming and he had to. 

     "Prince, were pulling over." 

Numair looked up at Benval and smiled, "You go ahead, I'll catch up in a minute." Ben's figure disappeared and Numair stretched with a groan then sat up, glancing at the dash-clock he figured he slept about five hours, with that he would be good to drive tonight. Even a prince has to pull his own weight in a group. Ben and Ocarina were his family, he hadn't spent a single moment of his life living the "Royal life" as some refer to it, Ocarina claimed to have some memories of a fancy house and their parents, but Numair only thought she had made them up to keep up the hope that maybe their parents had not left them alone with one of their cousins right after birth. He loved Ben like an Uncle, but that was all he could ever be to the Prince of the Gypsies. 

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