This was the worst road on the route. Uphill, uneven, and wide enough that there wasn't much shade.

Valentine was just thinking about stopping for a short break as he pulled his cart around a bend in the road, only to be surprised by the sight of a goblin, half his height, who had seemingly had the same idea.

He'd taken a seat on a stump along the road, right in the best shade. Like the sheep, he looked exhausted, but unlike the sheep he looked very excited to see another traveler on the road.

"Greetings!" he said, hopping to his feet on the stump and lifting his scepter as the sheep approached. "I am the Great Inalao!"

"Oh, hello," Lenti greeted half-heartedly as he finally came to a stop and set his cart down with a sigh. "Do you mind if we share the stump?"

The goblin looked perturbed, like he'd just been disrespected in a way that was unforeseeable and deeply offensive. His ears folded back, he pointed the scepter threateningly at the sheep's face.

"Such disrespect! To ask the Great Inalao to share anything with a mere pawn in his empire! To ask anything of the generous and giving-"

"Alright, sheesh, sorry," Lenti cut him off with a hand wave, sitting down in the crunchy dry grass just beside the stump instead and propping his chin up with his palm.

Not much further, then he'd be able to get a proper rest. Who knew mail could be so heavy? He had thought his courier job would basically be free money, just going where he was headed anyway with some extra mail. Turns out some alchemist type three towns over had just ordered a new set of glassware, hand blown and carefully packed into a crate alongside a mail bag practically bursting at the seams.

Ugh. He was a sheep, not a mule. This was definitely too much for what he was getting paid.

"Listen to me when I speak to you, knave!!!" the goblin demanded, stirring him from his thoughts.

"Huh?" Lenti said, finally looking away from his overloaded cart.

The goblin lifted the scepter straight up. With a wink of purple magic and a quiet "zzot!" the sheep felt some kind of spell strike him right between the eyes.

His mouth dropped open, hands falling to his sides as everything inside his head disappeared. He felt himself falling away, his sense of self forgotten as his mind cleared and emptied completely.

"I obey Master Inalao," the words came automatically, unquestioned as the sheep droned them.

"Aha! Much better! Now does the slave sheep know his place?"

He did. The only response permitted became the only thought in his mind as he obediently replied.

"Yes, Master Inalao."

"Much, much better! No more walking for Inalao - his chariot will take him wherever he demands!"

The goblin hopped off his stump, gleefully skipping over to the mail cart to clear it of useless junk. The crunching sound of a crate full of glass delighted him especially as he kicked it with both feet into the dirt.

"Sheep slut, come here!"

The sheep stood, marching with his arms at his sides, his mind remaining empty as he was controlled like a puppet. It was a very pure feeling, a compulsive obedience so deep and so all-encompassing that it might have been pleasurable if the sheep could process anything other than the commands he was given.

"Suck Inalao's cock while he finishes his rest!"

He fell into a kneel, mouth opening to accept his Master's shaft, tongue moving to pleasure it as best he knew how in his reduced state. The goblin sighed contently, leaning back as the once-disrespectful sheep slave mindlessly bobbed his head, silent other than his quiet breathing the gentle slurping sounds of an obedient cocksucker.

"That's enough!" Inalao ordered, pushing the sheep off his dick with a foot before he could be made to finish in his whore's willing mouth. "Yes, you're a fine addition to Inalao's sluts! But the Great Inalao has more important things to do than reward his slave so easily!"

He clapped his hands together.

"Pull my chariot, sheep slave!"

"Yes, Master Inalao."

The sheep stood up from his kneeling position and marched rigidly around the cart to re-hitch himself, fatigue erased like everything else. His Master had made it clear that this was his place now, and so it was. No thoughts passed through his mind, not even of submissive acceptance. He was the embodiment of true, deep, mindless obedience.

Inalao cackled with delight at his ingenious solution, seated on a soft, recently emptied mail bag as an acceptable makeshift cushion, kicking his feet as his slave did all the work in getting him to his destination, as was proper for an Emperor.

---

They were nearly halfway to their destination. The sheep was proving to be less than ideal as a slave, at it turned out. Inalao quickly grew frustrated at his inability to both keep his Master entertained and pull his chariot at the same time. The result: numerous breaks for Master's amusement, followed by more stretches of boring walking.

With each break, more of the sheep's clothing was discarded or destroyed, until he marched nude, which was a welcome improvement. Inalao could at least watch the sheep's plush, soft butt as he marched, but all that did was inspire more breaks.

It was just after one such break that Inalao, while fondling his sheep slut's pillowy butt, noticed a small gathering in the road ahead. A pair of kobolds, brandishing knives, and joined by a mean looking imp hovering just above the path's center line.

"Halt," the imp ordered.

Naturally, the sheep continued forward, until Inalao finally realized that the command was obviously meant for the the sheep, not for him, and he relayed it.

He peeked out around his nude, panting steed as the kobolds looked at each other quizzically. The imp, to his credit, maintained his serious and intimidating exterior.

"This is a toll road. Hand over everything you've got," the imp stated in no uncertain terms.

Inalao didn't like this. This was hardly a fitting thing to happen to an emperor, let alone the Great Inalao himself. He needed to think of a plan to escape - a plan only a true genius like he could ever devise.

"Can he hear us?" one of the kobolds asked, and in a flash, Inalao had a brilliant idea.

"Yes he can!" he shouted. "Sheep slave! Distract these fools by obeying their commands!"

The kobolds looked even more confused. That was to be expected - this was a very complicated plan, from the mind of Inalao himself.

"Uhhh... Okay, sheep, come over here and lay down. On your belly."

The sheep let go of the cart, sending his rider tumbling forward and into the dirt as the cart tipped. He ignored it, obeying the command as he had been told.

"Kiss my foot," one of the other kobolds tried, offering the sheep a scaly foot to kiss, and laughing with surprise as he was immediately obliged.

This was Inalao's chance. His opportunity. His victory stitched from the fabric of defeat.

He clutched his staff and ran past the road block, panting with exertion as he left the hopelessly confused bandits behind him.

They looked at him, and then each other, and then down to the prone sheep with blank, purple eyes.

"Alright. Whatever. I get first go at his mouth," the imp declared, landing in front of him and patting his thigh. "Up here, slut."

---

Hours later, the sheep was finally permitted to sleep after riding every kobold in the camp to completion. His mouth was still reserved as imp only, the boss taking a liking to perching himself on the sheep's shoulders and using his horns as leverage for a quick and easy face fuck, but the kobolds knew he'd lose interest eventually and they would get their turn.

It was only after Inalao finally made it to town on foot that he realized - er, came up with a backup plan, that is, of simply using the staff to get his way and not have to walk.

But that wouldn't have worked as well, he concluded, or he certainly would have thought of it first. Besides, the sheep was displeasing him anyway.

No sense in lifting the spell, though, just in case he happened to find him again.