| “ | 'The Minstrel's Flight' was written by your former master, Gerardus Lewlin. It follows an unnamed minstrel on a journey across a mysterious land, with each chapter describing the creatures and situations he encounters along the way and the lessons learned from them. Though it is best known as a spiritual and practical guide for those in your profession, for Master Lewlin the subject was metaphorical, the themes universal. This copy has been damaged, and many pages missing. | „ |
| ~ In-game description |
"The Minstrel's Flight" is a book in Ghost of a Tale. It was written by Gerardus, Tilo's former master. It is best known as a spiritual and practical guide for minstrels, although for Gerardus himself, the subject was metaphorical.
Transcript[]
The minstrel's journey took him north through a deep valley, where not long before a battle had been fought between two great armies. The dead of both sides lay strewn about; the creatures' kind is not important.
At the furthest end of the valley, on high ground, stood the victors' camp. The minstrel reached it not long before dusk and was welcomed. He learned that nine soldiers there had been arrested for desertion and cowardice, and were sentenced to be put to death at first light.
That night the commander bid the minstrel play 'the Fire of the Immortals', both to remind his loyal soldiers of the glory of death in service of one's kind, and the deserters of the shame that awaited them in the afterlife. The minstrel agreed, as was his duty.
First though, in secret, he slipped inside his lute a small pebble he'd picked up from the battlefield, still hot and stained with blood. And then he played, just as he had been bidden, changing not one note nor lyric of the song. But the lute's tone, usually bright and full of life, was made thin and cold by the stone, and the soldiers' thoughts turned not to the glory of battle, but to those they had lost, their comrades and friends, and of the mother who would never again call her son in from the fields for lunch, nor scold him for cutting firewood while wearing his best tunic.
Still, as the fire's light waned, the commander ordered the executioner to prepare nine ropes for the coming day. Yet by morning the deserters were gone, their shackles mysteriously sprung open, though the only key to their lock still hung on a string around the commander's neck.
The wise minstrel knows the song is not as important as the way in which it is sung.