46 Infiltrated

Jake and I were carelessly dragged out of the carriage by our chains, they gave us no time to recover as were jerked onto the hardened dirt road. Jake tried to stand, his legs shook for a moment as they tried to readjust from the hours of riding, he failed and stumbled back onto the dirt.

The demon looks down at him in annoyance, yanking his chain once more in a rough attempt to bring him to his feet. This only served to drag him across the dirt further, I jumped out of the carriage and helped Jake to his feet. The demons snickered at Jake, the front of his shirt and pants were covered in dust as I lifted him from the ground. He snarled at the demons, I could feel the muscles in his back tense in preparation to lunge at the aggressors. I gripped his shirt tightly and shoved him towards the camp, saying one word quietly so only he could hear.

"wait."

His only response was the shuffling of his chains as he started walking towards the entrance of the giant encampment of demons.

As we entered the camp, the diversity and size of the demon army became starkly apparent. As our guards dragged us through the camp, I saw races that I have only read of. I saw orks and ogres hauling around materials to different parts of the camp, while gaggles of goblins surrounded them, yelling and laughing as they spoke to each other. Imps flew around overhead and lizardmen sat around campfires as the last rays of sun were disappearing on the horizon, beastmen of many different species roamed the camps attending to whatever their tasks were.

I mindlessly followed the guards as I watched the different races interact with each other, we stopped suddenly causing me to run into the back of one of our captors. He snarled at me, I shrugged sheepishly and looked at the ground, uninterested, he returned his attention to the person before us.

She was a beastman that belong to the catkin race, her emerald slit eyes searched us both up and down as if she was looking into our very souls, the demon guardsman that lead us to this point told her in the demon tongue.

"These are the high-priority prisoners you were informed of." He pointed at me while saying. "That is the leader, or so I'm told. He's far too young to be anything close to the danger they make him out to be." He chuckled while leaning in slightly and said with a lowered tone. "I heard he's the one who took out the commander with his bare hands. I honestly doubt it, but if he is, I bet the commander is livid he can't get his hands on him. Oh, that reminds me, keep him safe. He's a bargaining chip that the higher-ups are using for whatever reason."

I let out a sigh of relief before I could stop myself, I quickly looked forward, my expression remaining as neutral as I could make it. The catkin looked me over with a calculated gaze, scanning my face for any sign of understanding, I looked back at her with a small smile. She held my gaze for a few seconds until she was convinced.

She looked back at the demon and said in a tone heavily laced with sarcasm. "I'm so glad to have more work! You guys are always great about giving me more to do, thank you. I especially love having high valued targets forced in my area of the camp."

The demon laughed while shoving me forward, then left with our escort. The catkin motioned with her head and started walking, Jake and I quickly followed behind. She surprised me by quietly saying in the demon tongue.

"You can understand me, can't you?" I resisted the urge to hiss in surprise, I maintained my gaze forward while replying in the demon tongue.

"No, how could a human understand anything but the common tongue?" I say with some playful sarcasm.

She laughed quietly to herself and said.

"I guess I walked into that, although I was skeptical at first."

As we walked, several eyes followed us with curiosity. I quickly and quietly asked.

"I'm glad we can have such a nice conversation, but can we save it until we get where we're going?"

She only bobbed her head in response, we endured the remainder of our walk in silence until we reached a part of the camp that was composed almost entirely of beastmen. We were escorted inside the largest of the tents, the two beastmen chained our shackles to the ground before exiting the tent, then all who remained were Jake, me, and the catkin woman. She sat across from us on a couple of cushions, wearing a mischievous smile broadly across her face. Her glossy black tail shifted around lightly as she stared at us, in her eyes shone an intelligent glimmer that only hinted at something greater, something I could not begin to decern. She rested her chin on her palm as she said somewhat wistfully.

"So you're the famous...wait, what's your name again?" I looked at her, completely unamused. She continued staring at me, "wait she isn't kidding, is she?" She smiled at me, waiting for my response. No, I guess she isn't.

"Ah...my name is Christain, I'm a Paladin Knight....." She nodded, saying.

"Ah, yes Paladin Knight Christian." I wait for several more seconds, but that the only thing she said.....maybe she's just an idiot. Before there could be another awkward pause, I asked.

"So what's your name?" She looked at me with a confused look for a moment, before saying.

"Oh, yeah. I'm Polt, nice to meet you." I nod and "say you too." Another awkward pause arises and we continue to stare at each other, this is not how I thought this conversation would go at all. She looks past us at the doorway, a rustle sounds behind us as one of the outside guards signals to her discreetly. With that, her whole expression completely changes, her eyes narrow as she said quietly.

"Ok, let's get serious, Christian. You can speak beast tongue, right?" I nodded, she switched to the beast tongue, saying.

"You are the leader of the Moon Claws and you were endorsed by the ruler of the King's Union to lead the efforts in combating the demon army, correct?"

Her abrupt change in attitude took me aback for a moment, but then my expression became serious, I leaned in closer and said.

"That's right, why does that matter to you?"

She grins slightly as she said. "It matters, trust me. Look, you made quite the upset when the demon army's greatest battalion suddenly all abandoned their posts." She leaned closer and looked into my eyes as she said with a slight smile. "Not everyone supports the demons, not everyone wants to be apart of this war. When the Moon Claws left, they started something and I want to know if you're willing to finish it."

I thought for a moment, I'm in the enemy's camp, completely alone aside from Jake. I need all the allies I can get. I look to her solemnly and ask.

"What do you need?" Her grin widened into a smile as she replied.

"You, we need you, Sir Christian. Are you willing to defeat the demons for our sakes?"

I rose as much as my chains would allow, I put my fist to my heart and stared into Polt's eyes as I replied with steel ringing in my voice.

"I swore to protect those from evil, I promise that I will see to that goal until my breath leaves my lungs and my soul from my body."

Polt nodded, seemingly moved by my rousing declaration.

"Well met Christian, welcome to the resistance." She said as she extended a hand for me to shake.

Jake continued to remain quiet as he had the entire conversation, he stared at us with utter confusion as he tried to understand even a bit of what our words meant. He of course only understands the common tongue and understood none of what Polt and I had just conversed on.