He is My Master

7: A Question of Ownership

                *******EXCLAIMER*******
I DO NOT OWN THIS NOVEL IM MERELY TRANSFERRING IT TO WATTPAD CHECK OUT THE ORIGINAL AND GIVE KUDOS TO AUTHOR Chiisai Kitsune ON FF.NET HERE

     https://m.fanfiction.net/s/4256772/7/

Shadow stared at the map Lazar was showing him, bored. So far, the lessons had yielded some interesting information about the location of the castle and the general geography of the place, but right now the lizard was talking incessantly about troop movements, as if they were in a war, or something.

"Ssso, yesterday, Aleena's army attacked here, my Prince-"

Well, yeah. Technically, they were in a war, but Shadow still didn't find it very interesting.

"But of courssse, ssso far we have eassily outmatched their feeble numbersss. The only threat to your rule would be if the echidnasss and King Max' troopss attacked together, but that will not happen, ass we know." The purple reptile let out a slithering chuckle that sounded like someone had lost a wet cloth in a vacuum cleaner, but did not elaborate further.

"That is all very interesting, Lazar, but I am actually interested in something I read about — do you know anything about Chaos Emeralds?"

The lizard gave him a surprised stare. "That, my Prince, isss not the topic of the lessson. If we could return to the new tactic to sssquash thesse troublemakerss once and for all-"

Shadow groaned quietly, wondering whether killing your teacher would be within his privileges as Prince.

I wish Sonic were here...
...and that is an indication of just how desperate I am.

xxx

Sonic (or rather, his nose) had found the kitchens by now. A few servants with full trays had already run past him, paying no attention to anything but getting to their destination (although he had received a few odd looks) and it had taken all the self-discipline of the blue hedgehog not to jump them and simply snatch the food away.

He. Was. Hungry.

Sonic pushed the double doors open and was treated with the sight of cookery hell. There were hundreds of kettles boiling and the air was thick enough to cut with a knife, a thousand scents of meat, freshly baked bread and sweat mingling with smoke and steam. At the same time, there were workers everywhere, standing at pots and in front of ovens or simply squatting somewhere and peeling potatoes, cleaning, putting food away, taking out trash or performing myriads of other tasks. It was like a culinarily-inclined beehive.

Sonic stepped inside slowly, his eyes wide and trying to take everything in. Almost unconsciously he registered that most of the workers concerned with dirty or lower jobs were slaves like him, wearing uniform green collars that in some cases seemed to be bound tightly enough to be highly uncomfortable. Sonic again tugged at his own one uselessly, wishing it would come off.

Then another strange thing struck him: Most of the kitchen slaves seemed malnourished, and now that he thought of it, even the cleaning mongoose had been too thin to be healthy...

Why don't they just eat from the food in front of them when nobody's looking? Sonic wondered, for that was pretty much exactly what he intended to do. He wandered off into the part where the supplies were stored, occasionally trying to catch the eye of some of the collared sapients, but none of them ever looked up from their work. The blue hedgehog shivered.

"Hey, you! Get your superior some food, willya!"

Sonic froze. The last time he'd heard that voice he had been chained to a bed and been all but groped with eyes.