Dragon's Mother

Chapter 5

Ansel carried the tray of food down to the cells, which was just two loafs of hard stale bread and a single cup of water in an old rusted cup, and made sure to bow his head to the demon guard who waved him along without a second thought. He was so drunk, he was teetering off the stool he was sitting on waving around a cup of ale muttering about the "good ol' days" which Ansel deduced was probably about a war or something. It had taken him a while to find it though he'd only been able to do that because he stumbled into the kitchen after wandering for a few hours where he had been ordered to serve the prisoners their food.

"It can't be this easy!" Ansel insisted to himself, internally screaming as he imagined getting jumped any minute caught red handed skulking around where he shouldn't though no matter where he went no one really paid him any mind. Even the king himself barely noticed him, or so it seemed, so Ansel found himself walking into the dungeon without any hinderance from anyone which was really stressing the boy out.

The dungeon was what one would expect it to be; cold, dark, dank, and above all gross with moss, fungus, and even mushrooms growing almost everywhere. There were also other stenches and gross piles of... well, Ansel tried not to think about it too much as he carefully tiptoed his way over to the large wall of iron bars where his friends were locked behind. Ansel counted five people inside and hoped beyond hope it was some other party that had come snooping around the castle but he recognized Sir Rodwell's irritated stoic look immediately. The cell inside had stone slabs for them to sit on and all four Knights were sitting on one slab while another figure was squatting in a corner in the shadows doing... Ansel averted his eyes as the figure added to the gross piles on the ground and he used the rusted metal cup to knock against the iron bars to grab his friends attention.

"Kid!" Sir Hendrick called in delight when he saw the brunette, jumping up along with Sir Stephen and Sir Chester. "Are you alright? We got caught and I worried you would have been killed since no one could check-up on you but I'm glad to see you're not hurt," Sir Hendrick said, Sir Chester a blubbering mess as he pulled Ansel close for a hug but the iron bars made it more uncomfortable then comforting.

"So far I've been acting as a servant to any of the demons I find myself nearby. But forget about that! How'd you guys get caught? What happened?" Ansel asked quietly, glancing around them half expecting some demon assassins or something to pop out of nowhere to punish him.

"I don't know. What did happen, Sir Stephen?" Sir Rodwell asked, glaring at the back of the knight's head who looked away from everyone as they glared at him or in Ansel's case look over curiously.

"I thought it might have been the king's treasure trove. It was a mistake! Everyone's allowed to make a mistake every now and then, right? It's not that big of a deal," Sir Stephen said exasperated, throwing his hands in the air but that caused his friends to scoff at him.

"Why is it whenever someone makes a mistake, you're constantly making fun of them acting all high and mighty, but when you make a mistake, it's 'not that big of a deal'?" Sir Hendrick asked, glowering at his friend who marched back over to the stone slab and plopped down looking like he was sulking.

"You guys are looking for the king's treasure?" Ansel asked, handing Sir Chester the food through the bars who whimpered when he hit the loaf of bread against the bars and it made a dent in the metal.

"It's almost impossible to get there. Hundreds of people have died trying to get what's in there either attempting to storm the castle or sneak in. We're lucky they just threw us in here when they caught Stephen and I. Rodwell and Chester got caught trying to save us and that's how we ended up in here," Sir Hendrick explained with a sigh, ruffling his own hair, when he watched Ansel's hand move in the air pointing at himself.