Joss was sitting with William between his legs, letting the youngling lean on his warm torso. William thought that this moment was nice and he was happy to have a big brother in this life. They were dependable and if needed, you could lean on them from time to time. Not at all like his two sisters who would always nag at him, experiment on him and tell him all sorts of unnecessary knowledge!..

Yet sometimes he couldn’t help but think of them…

Compare them and his former family with this new one. They both had their own good and bad attributes. Maybe the ones he lived with now, would have turned out different, if they also had the chance to grow up in the 21th century?..

Joss was getting bored weaving leaf-crowns and shifted his attention to his little sister. When he noticed her absent presence he teased “Mirabelle! Don’t fall asleep. I know I’m comfortable to lie on, but you must learn to restrain yourself. Okay?”. William woke up from his daze and quickly refocused his attention on folding the golden leafs.

Both siblings had been given the job of weaving leaf-crowns. It was a big event, the Harvest Feast. And so everyone needed to wear leaf-crowns to celebrate and be merry. It was part of the old tradition.

William was about to finish his last crown, when a knock could be heard on the door. His mother was busy in the master bedroom, looking for old flour sacks. So Joss made William move aside as he headed over to answer the door…

As soon as a crack was made, a shrill voice broke into the house “Sir Castonale, we have come in the name of lord Blaise, to collect the annual tax…”. Two men barged in. The first one was sleek with a scholarly look, the other was broad and emitted the air of a bandit. The scholar was disappointed to be greeted by mere children. He coughed and asked with a stern voice “Little boy… Where is your father?”.

Joss felt intimidated by this couple of trespassers and ran to fetch his mother. William being left alone in the room with these tax-collectors, was feeling rather anxious. The scholar shouted after Joss “Hey! Where do you think you’re going!? I was talking to y-”. The shrill voice shifted tone and sneered at the newcomer “Ah… You were fetching your mother… Miss Castonale, where is your husband?”.

Vanessa looked like she had just been blown over by the wind. Her hair was a mess and she had old flour, including pieces of straws decorating her clothes and skin. Seeing who the visitor was, she quickly brushed her hair straight with her fingers, while slapping away the powder.

Then she bowed with haste and said “I’m very sorry Sir fogde. My husband is away searching for a dinosaur to bond to his nephew… They haven’t returned yet… But! I have set aside the 10% that you require! Come… Let me guide you to where the grain and stock is kept…”. Vanessa led the two men outside to do business.

When the trio of adults had left, Joss exhaled and complained “Gosh! Usually the one they send to fetch the tax is much nicer. You remember right? Jolly Jonas?.. I wonder what happened to him?”. William was confused.

During the last Harvest Feast, he was still disoriented from coping with this new lifestyle. He barely had any recollection of the festival or any events leading up to it, like the fogde. The memory that stuck, was that people were being exceptionally merry and nobody went hungry to sleep those days...

Before Joss sat down and enabled Wiliam to continue to use him as a pillow, he said “By the way. I’ve heard whispers that a travelling group of minstrels will perform at the Harvest Feast! Apparently they are quite good. So look forward to that!”. William tried to imagine how these minstrels would appear.

It was a new term for him, only mentioned in “The First King”. As a teen who liked to roam free, instead of studying, he hadn’t really invested any interest in the medieval times before…

****

As the sky darkened, the villagers gathered in front of the castle’s drawbridge. The festivities would be held in the inner ward. Fresh smells of baked wheat and bobbling berry ale, such as blackberry and hawthorn, filled the crisp air. On grates near the big bonfire, chestnuts, acorn, walnuts and lamb chops were getting roasted. This made all the happy villagers salviate and anticipate the big feast, that was only an hour away.

Vanessa was making the final touches on William’s dress, before they left their house. As they walked out the entrance, both mother and son looked with longing into the distance. They were both worried for their father…

Seeing that nothing appeared, the pair turned noses and started to increase their speed. For it was an unforgivable sin to arrive late at the gate.

William however kept looking into the mainland.

The red sun was about to rest, when something obscure seemed to appear from the forest top. It flapped its way along the land string. Seeing how it got bigger and more eerie, William decided to speak up “Mommy, a bwig bird ish flyin ouw way!”.

When Vanessa heard this distressed tone in her baby’s voice, she quickly snapped her head back to see what the danger was. The so called bird was still a fair distance away. She had to squint her eyes to observe it better…

William tried to read his mother’s face. At first it was squished together in a frown, but then all of a sudden it brightened. She even began to yell and trot away from the castle, towards the airborne menace. Strange. William turned his gaze upon the bird again and could now faintly discern two figures sitting on its back.

William gasped and ran together with his mother and Joss towards the creature. As William used his small legs to run, his head spun with shouts: They have come back! And with a dinosaur to boot. A huge one! And! And! It can fly! How cool is that!? He must see it right away!

As Harvick jumped off from the creature, they noticed something was amiss.

The boy was profusely sweating and seemed to be in a great amount of pain...