“We don’t seem to be going that fast,” observed Rags, looking over the side.

“Perhaps not, but in the old days we’d need to transit the Lands Betwixt by rail, and before that by wagon, and even on foot. What is the journey of a day now might be months on foot, if it were completed at all.”

“And when we get there, I’ll see my parents?” Rags said, looking back at his manservant.

“Your parents await you, young master,” Codswallop said with a bow. “It will be my pleasure to convey you there.”

On the street, Rags had slept rough, finding food where he would and shelter where it was available, living hand in hand with a crowd of his mates. It had not always been happy, and in fact had often been hungry, but it was the life he knew and that he was used to.

The idea of being conveyed to his parents, of whom he had only the vaguest memories, by a stuffy manservant…it made him grateful that his old friends Scraps and Diggins couldn’t see him.

  • Like what you see? Purchase a print or ebook version!