"Can we make it to the bone yard ?" Asked Doffle.
Merrick looked and it seemed a very long way to Podd's yard and most of the distance was over completely open ground. Like most occupants of the rifts he didn't own a timepiece, but he knew that the sky would start to lighten very soon and then the family he was escorting into the City would be fair game for robbery and maybe far worse. The tower was still completely dark, but he knew that Silsk sometimes hunted at dawn and the family could easily become her breakfast.
"We can't stay here."
Doffle was being annoyingly persistent, but Merrick knew his rather dim henchman had a point. Doffle had come cheap and he wasn't the sort to talk about his business over a glass of ale at Muzzie's. But even for a medium level demon he was incredibly dim witted on occasions. Merrick calculated the speed he could get the children to run at and decided they couldn't make it to the relative safety of Podd's yard before being seen. He examined the sewer outfall in front of them, the intense odours coming from it assaulting his senses.
"We'll have to go in through the sewers." He said.
He saw Doffle look at the distance to the bone yard and he wondered if his rather dim and cowardly employee might desert him and make a run for it. He'd ordered Doffle to keep to the back of the family out on the rift, but he'd kept to the middle of the group, almost using them for cover.
"Run and I'll gut you !" Merrick said.
"But it's the sewers."
Merrick put his hand on his sword hilt and looked at Doffle, defying him to run. He knew he was quicker than the medium level demon and he'd decided he really would gut him if he ran.
"The clasps will be rusted up." Said Doffle.
Merrick was pleased to see his henchman start to pull at one of the four clasps holding the grill over the outfall in place. He looked at the family, all eight of them and hoped they'd all survive until he got them to the safe house. Ideally he'd have brought another two guards, but they were expensive, even the dim ones like Doffle.
"Your greed will get you killed." Nethra had often said to him.
For the benefit of Doffle and the family he said in a loud clear voice.
"The clasps were clean and well-greased when I came this way last month."
He saw them all look more relaxed. If Merrick had come this way recently, it must be ok, he hoped they were thinking. He didn't mention to them that he'd run most of the way with something chasing him, something that slivered and hissed.
"Is there no other way ?" Asked the mother.
She was the only one to say anything the whole trip, the father had just grunted occasionally. For part Dredger demons they didn't smell too bad, the kids were even quite cute in a pug ugly kind of way. The trouble was that there were six kids of varying ages, so they were slow and noisy and the two hour trip had taken until dawn.
"Not unless you want your kids to be someone's breakfast."
Ideally the family would have headed for Quron, lots of half breed Dredgers in Quron, but they'd decided to make for the City and had the questionable luck of being introduced to Merrick. The mother just nodded and crawled under the grill, closely followed by the rest of her family. Once the grill had been re-secured Merrick took them along the walkway that ran beside the fast flowing outfall water. When the light from the entrance was almost gone he stopped and removed his shoulder bag and started searching around in it.
