Ebby Flint and the Sword of Sorrows (Book 1 in the Artis Trilogy)

Say yes to the Prince?

Chapter Six - Say yes to the Prince?

    Bartholomew and I walk through the village. Everyone we walk by gives us peculiar looks. I mean, I would too if I saw some girl in pyjamas casually walking with a cat, but I have a feeling they weren't looking at me because of the cat. Maybe they could sense my witch-y powers or something? If that's even a thing in this world. Maybe I'm just really self-absorbed, but I can't help but feel like every villager knows who I am.

    I try my best to focus my attention on the palace in front of us, but it's hard when there are creatures straight out of a fairytale looking at you. I can tell the Fairies apart from the rest of the villagers, but I wouldn't be able to tell what Fairy species they are. Argentum, Aurum and... I can't even remember the last name. I really need to get a Fairy handbook or something.

    The other creatures in the forming crowd are more animal-like than the Fairies. I move my attention to one creature in particular. He looks like some kind of mutation between a horse and a man. The horse is his body, yet he has the head of a man. I know I've seen something like this before in a movie, but I just can't remember the name of the creature.

    "Centaur," Bartholomew whispers to me. He must've caught me staring at the horse-man-thingy.

    I decide to turn my attention away from the villagers. If I stare too long, I'm afraid I'll offend someone. Who knows what kind of things upset people in this world. I'd rather not make enemies on my first day in the Kingdom.

    The village is exactly what you would picture something from the 16th century to look like. Dirt covers every inch of the village; engraving itself  in the most curious of places. Little huts are set up all through the village; each one selling something more grotesque than the next.

Trolls eyes, I read on a sign above the hut closest to me. I cringe when I see a grey slimy ball in a glass jar and turn away.    

    "Quick, Eboni, the King has been waiting a long time to meet you," Bartholomew says, and he quickens his pace.

    "He wouldn't have this problem if he hadn't sent me and my mother away," I reply, trying my best to ignore the creatures around me.

    "My mother and me," the cat corrects me; I ignore him. "And don't blame King Tyri for following the rules of Artis. He had to do it, so don't go around blaming him."

    I roll my eyes. "I guess I can tone down my saltiness."

    "And don't say things like that!"

    "Saltiness?" I ask.

    "Yes, the creatures of Artis don't understand, nor do they appreciate human slang."

    "Fine. Fine. Let's get out of here. I'm starting to get the creeps."

    We continue walking toward the kingdom. Bartholomew gives me a lecture on how I shouldn't get the 'creeps' from the creatures that live in Artis. He says I need to learn that they are normal creatures, and they think and feel the same way we do. He says that I'm more dangerous than they are. The whole lecture reminds me of one I had with Terri and Derek where I had been freaking out about spider. But trolls were not spiders.

    We make it out of the village for which I am grateful. We are standing at the palace gates. Just beyond is a castle that I'm pretty sure is pulled straight from the movie Cinderella. The gates are made up of a sparkling gold, and they have intricate designs swirling around like vines. The gates open up in front of us, and my first thought is that they probably have a motion detector somewhere, but then I realize it was probably magic. We walk past the gate. Bartholomew trots beside me like he owns the place (for all I know, he probably does).