The bard sat down and fiddled with one of the minstrel’s shawms. It seemed to have something stuck in its trunk.

A soft voice clinked against the wild turmoil, coming from the party-animals surrounding them. William asked “Ecwuse me! My nwame is Miwabell… I hav a qwstion!”. Habsi Hibben looked up and saw a cute little girl, barely two years old, followed along by another kid.

He sized them up and grinned, before he teased “You know young lass, a minstrel’s job isn’t easy! We might look jolly and spirited, but the journey to this isolated island was less than pleasant! Haha. I almost lost my golden hand, just to come tell you some tales. So you better be thankful and merry... If I see a single frown on that chubby little face, I won’t come next year!”. Habsi winked and laughed with his head back. He sure was a lively character...

William stomped his foot and wanted to frown. This was for not being taken seriously but he had to hold back. He didn’t want this playful adult to tease him more than necessary!

Joss who had followed his sister, out of curiosity, frowned on William’s behalf. Although the reason for this expression was different. Joss crossed his arms and complained “Mirabelle! You can’t become a minstrel. I won’t allow it! You have to stay with us... Only parentless people go around wandering the lands. Everybody knows that!”.

The bard nodded with a mocking sad expression, as he lamented “Ah! Yes! Poor us. We have so much freedom on our hands, that we can only fill our silly existence with fiction and songs. Be careful! Like the beautiful mermaids, we minstrels have the habit of luring youngsters like you with us… You’ll dance and sing for the rest of your life. Isn’t that horrifying!?”. Both kids became dumbstruck by this contradicting sentence.

William was the first to shake his head clear and ask “The shong yu juss sang. Ish it weal!?”.

The bard got wide eyed like an owl and cued “Indeed! It’s as real as you and I. Why do you ask, young lass? Maybe you’re scared that the disaster will befall this island as well?”. William denied this suggestion and asked “Wen did thish habben?”. The bard fiddled with his fine beard as he digested this question.

While they were held in suspense, Joss couldn’t help but ruin William’s belief and interject “Mirabelle, you can’t trust everything a minstrel tells you! They’ll tell stories of giants and myths... Indulging in such things is very, very unhealthy. That’s what father always says!”. William looked back at Joss and hushed at him. This made Joss grumpy and he waved his hands in the air, before saying “What do I care!? This is boring!.. When you’re done getting lied to, come over to the candied apples. I’ll be waiting for you there!”. Then Joss trotted away.

The bard could only snicker in secret and clap William on his shoulder.

He then said “Don’t worry lass. I would never lie to you!”. Then he laid the swarms down and took a quick drink of ale. The gulp barely got past his uvula, before his face turned green and he spluttered out the drink in William’s face. Behind Habsi Hibben, snickers and out blurted snorts could be heard.

Habsi got distracted from William’s question and directed his attention to his fellow minstrels. He raised his voice as he snapped with a coughing laughter “Who was it!? Who gave me this damned ale!?.. If you can even call it that”. William saw this lighthearted scene and sighed while thinking: This group of minstrels really likes to fool and play around, don’t they…

Before William lost his patience, the bard got his act together and pleaded “Sorry, sorry little lass. My fellow minstrels are a pack of goats sometimes… As for your question. I believe the events from the song have taken place these past 5-6 years. I have collected stories about these events, till the culprit was thrown out. Afterwards I finished my masterpiece, which is the version you heard today... I hope you liked it young lass, hehe”. William kneaded his chin like an old professor and narrowed his eyes. He was thinking deeply on this matter.

However in the eyes of others, it looked like William was a lie detector, detecting the most foul of lies!

The bard smacked his thigh and said “It’s true, it’s true! Although I will not name any specifics out of safety's sake, I can assure you that’s it’s real! Just look at this!”. Habsi hurried off his seat and scampered over to a leather bag. With his bum swaying in the air, he dug through the contents like a happy dog. Then he found the thing he was looking for. He hurried over once more and held it like a precious gem before William’s eyes.

William however was not impressed…

The little girl pursed her lips and said with a snarl “Bwut… Thash juss a wock!”. The bard only smiled at this dissatisfied creature and explained, while he twirled the ‘rock’ in his hand “Tis not simply a rock! It is a piece of said wall in the song… The one that got destroyed… Look! How black it is… Scorched! Do you think a normal fire can lick a castle this black? Hmmm?”. William looked closer and saw that it indeed was a brick from a castle…

And there was soot on its surface…

An eerie wind blew through the inner ward. It managed to crawl all its way up William’s dress. A shiver ran down his spine and he gulped. It was indeed like in the book. The castle was viciously attacked…

You would think that it was lord Blaise that sent out his troops with fire spitting dinosaurs, who did this… But no.

They could not at all measure up to the power of the real culprit. The giant dinosaur called Magmous was the one that fell the castle. It was rumored to be at least 9 meters tall and it had the ability to hurl magma from its mouth. Truly not a scientific creature…

The bard saw how scared William looked and could only chuckle. He wiped away a few tears and said “Don’t worry little one. The one who did this is long gone… No need to worry your pretty little head! Haha… Now it’s only material for a good tale”. The bard made a short bow and said his last words, before heading out to play with the others again.

William didn’t know if he should believe that Magmous was truly gone…

But nonetheless, that dinosaur must be in a far away place. Usually in the book, it would linger around rocky terrain and sleeping volcanoes… Or the protagonist of the book. That was after all, the reason why it came to that castle…

William decided to stop that thought track and think about something more positive. Right! The protagonist must be alive at the same time as himself. He was probably around 6 years old right now… Just a child, like William himself. It was a cool fact, but in the end, no matter how much William twisted or turned the idea around he couldn’t figure out what to do with the protagonist.

First of all. He didn’t know where he was compared to the protagonist. Besides, said ‘protag’ would always shift location. Pinpointing where the protagonist could be, out from a vague description in the story, coupled with an average memory…

Such a task would be impossible and stupid!

Besides what would William gain from it!? All the protagonist did in the book was fight his way up in society. Becoming the strongest and most powerful individual in the land. But sir protagonist barely got to taste that sweet fruit. As it was given away… To someone else… A traitor…

Following such a person would likely result in the same despicable fate…

Remembering the shitty ending from the book, William growled. He regretted ever reading that cursed book in the first place!