Dragon's Mother

Chapter 3

"Move your ass!" a large demon with a fat gut barked, snapping his whip just a mere inches from Ansel's foot causing the brunette to jump a little but he quickly moved with his large crate full of large purple colored fruit with yellow spots. They smelled funny, like rotten bananas, but the demons seemed to love them like some kind of fancy delicacy. "Those need to go to the south side of the encampment or Larthon is going to have my head," the demon said, scratching around the large horn protruding out of his forehead, and he started barking orders at the other slaves that were moving food and supplies around. It was to make sure they weren't in an easy place to steal for very long, placed at random in places around the encampment that was in clear view of everyone. "Did I say you could touch that!"

Ansel carried his crate following the other slaves toward the designated area, keeping his head bowed just like the others. Ansel had been living on the streets for many years so he knew a little about laying undercover not to raise suspicions, because he was hiding from someone he just stole from them or from a crazy person trying to hurt him or something. Ansel didn't have to do much to slip into the crowd undetected. In fact, no one seemed to notice anything different. All he needed to do was put on the leather collar and follow orders while cowering under the demons scorn. It must have been because a band of demons brought back even more human slaves so no one thought anything was amiss letting Ansel move around the camp rather easily. What he didn't expect was being able to move close to the castle. In fact... Ansel was inside the castle wall! It hadn't even been twenty minutes since he'd made his way into the camp, moving around carefully trying not to draw too much attention to himself, when a demon had suddenly called out to him ordering him to move some clothes which had somehow led to Ansel working under this specific demon who was having a couple of slaves move some supplies from outside the wall to the inside and then they were to take some weapons inside the castle.

"Isn't this going a little too smoothly!?" Ansel thought, looking around at the woods as he moved back outside to grab another load of supplies trying to get a glimpse of any of the four knights but they were all staying out of sight. "Should I try to go back to our camp or continue as I am? I might be able to learn some stuff, like the floor plan of the castle, but what if I go in and don't come back out? Can they really save me from in here?" Ansel asked as he made his way back through the walls only doorway, the large doors pulled open with several guards around keeping an eye on everything which must make it nearly impossible to infiltrate the castle. So how...? "How can I walk in here so easily?" Ansel asked himself, wanting to weep as two demons started bickering that had animalistic growling thrown in which he swore was making the ground vibrate under his feet. "Is it this easy to sneak inside? Just put on a collar and wander around? Seems too easy," Ansel thought but he tried not to panic, keeping his calm so as not to raise suspicion though he was staring to wonder if they knew about him already or not.

Ansel worked for almost the entire day moving things around, serving the demons food and drinks whenever they asked, and, unfortunately, rubbing one of the higher demons feet for them which had been revolting and moist. Just remembering the feel of the demons foot was enough to make Ansel gag as he was making his way through the forest back to the knights camp where Sir Chester was waiting for him with a damp cloth and a sympathetic look on his face. "I was watching you the whole time making sure nothing happened and I am so sorry," Sir Chester said the moment he spotted the young brunette who was looking a little green.

"It was wet, Chester. So sweaty and wet," Ansel told him, a shudder running down his spine, and he gratefully took the moist cloth wiping his hands thoroughly. It didn't take long for the others to report back now that the sun was starting to go down, none of them hurt to Ansel's glee, and he immediately told them everything he'd seen while he was working under the demons. "No one has noticed the two who got away so I don't think they pay any special attention to their captives which is why I was able to join them so easily. That or they're aware and planning how to eat me," Ansel said with a humorless laugh, the three knights chuckling other than Sir Rodwell who was keeping watch around them. "The castle grounds aren't that much different from the castle ground back home so I think it'll be easy to navigate if you guys can get inside. I don't know about the interior of castle but there were a lot more demons inside than out so I'd be careful. Other than that, nothing to report. There's a lot of people forced into slavery of all different kinds of races, talked to a few who said they were nobility or even royalty, but other than that the demons seem very lax," Ansel said, trying to seem very serious and manly since this was very serious and he was in front of four strong knights but Ansel wasn't sure how to talk all serious so he started to ramble near the end feeling slightly embarrassed by it. "T-that's it."