Inkway to Albreton

Chapter Twenty

The Creature's Court was the definition of sensory overload. With everyone on Enkaiein's back and Enkaiein being one of the larger creatures there (though certainly not the largest), there wasn't much danger of being trampled, but Jasmine and everyone else could tell that if they had been on foot they would have been ducking and dodging for their lives so none of the monsters would flatten them undertow.

There were too many sounds to keep track of coherently and the whole place was lit up by a squirming knot of Veins that hung overhead as the canopy of the giant trees arced over the edges of the clearing. Each Vein was a different color and their light, confused and overlapping, cast everything below into a disorganized, blending hue. Monsters of all shapes and sizes bustled about in a blur of ridiculous colors, into and out of variously sized huts that poked up in every corner of the Court. Some huts were large and in good condition, imposing tall and proud near the center, while others seemed so frail they might disintegrate if anyone looked at them hard enough. One particular hut even caught fire spontaneously as Enkaiein breezed past it, but Jasmine convinced herself that it was just her imagination.

"What is this place?" Jasmine asked in awe, watching as a herd of tiny pink elephants weaved between Enkaiein's hooves and then conglomerated into a perfect square formation as they continued on into the rest of the crowd. Before, when they all had descended straight out of the sky upon seeing Salina as she was auctioned off, Jasmine had been too full off adrenaline to ask.

"I know you said before this was the 'Creature's Court' but I have to agree with Jasmine," said Prince Albert, still clinging on Salina. "I doubt any of us know what you really meant by that, Enkaiein."

"Ah, yes," Enkaiein said as if he had only just remembered he had people riding on his back who didn't know the slightest thing about where they were. "Forgive me. In my haste to reach Salina I forgot to elaborate." He paused after saying that for a long while, stepping over the creatures smaller than him and under the ones larger than him. Salina craned her head to see above her, holding her breath as they passed under the red-hot belly of a monster larger than any mythical beast she had ever seen or heard of before. Its bulk blocked the light of the Veins above and nobody could make out quite how large it really was, whatever it was. It smelled of ashes and fire and the skin on the forefront of its legs was armored, shining like shards of volcanic glass under the Vein-light when Enkaiein got out from underneath the thing.

"Well, elaborate!" Jasmine said impatiently once everyone recovered from the idea that something so large even existed in the first place, let alone alongside so many other unique and mysterious creatures.

"As you can see, the Creature's Court is a place in Olden where creatures gather, for one reason or another." Enkaiein hopped with the grace of a deer over a three-legged monster with no skin whose musculature clenched as it crouched in front of them. The red knight twisted to see the monster get up and continue walking on its way behind them. He made a scrunched face at it then turned back around to face the front.

"But for what reasons could so many different creatures want to meet," asked Prince Albert. "I have never seen anything like this place, not even in the lands surrounding Kingdom Albreton. Not even in Kingdom Myriad!"

"It is remarkable," said Salina.

"Think about it, genius," Jasmine said. "There's only one reason monsters would ever get together in such a large clump, and that's to eat or make deals. At least that's what I think."

Salina swallowed, shuddering. And we're the food, she thought.

But that was not entirely the case, because every once in a while she would glance down and see something that resembled a human. Perhaps they weren't really humans, but they looked just the same from the angle she had, and none of them were being traded away like commodities. They weren't even captured or here against their will, as far as she could tell.