Street Rat

Chapter 12

After the brief meeting about what I was supposed to do on my mission, I went to my room to grab a few things. All I needed were my soft soled shoes, and I would be good to go. Twenty minutes later I was out on the demon's battlefield in the brush watching the hunting dogs patrol the area. All of them were oblivious to my presence. There were two of them sniffing around the field and growling at one another every once in a while. This process continued on for another hour or two before they got on their horses and started to head north. I got up from my hiding spot and slowly began to follow them. Once they got in the woods I climbed up a tree and hopped from one tree to the other and followed them back to a large sewer pipe. They dismounted from their horses and led them inside. I cocked my head in confusion. Was that some kind of short cut back to their lair? I hopped down from the tree branch I had perched on and walked quietly inside. Once inside, it became clear to me that this was the hunting dog's lair. I looked around the place and noticed that the floor was covered in bones of various shapes and sizes. The torches made the pipe look like a sick blood red color. The odor from the pipe almost made me hurl. I couldn't even decipher what the smell was. I heard growls up ahead, coming in my direction. I quickly flattened myself against the pipe and two hunting dogs passed by me. I watched them and they stopped at the end of the pipe.

"Find anything today Dagger?" one of the hounds asked.

"Nothing Killer,"

The hunting dog Killer shook his head and looked at the floor. He kicked a few bones in anger.   Dagger shied and whined at this action.

"Go back out there! Don't come back until you find something useful!"

"What am I supposed to find sir?"

"Find the rat and his angel. Bring them back here both alive. Once you do that, hand them over to me and I will deliver them to Titan."

I felt my eyes grow at his statement. Titan is looking for Steal and Misty. This is bad. This is very bad. I looked down the pipe and saw that they were still talking. I put out my claws and dug them into the pipe behind me and started to climb. Once I was on the top of the pipe I started to make my way down the pipe to explore the rest of the place and find out some more information. I was halfway down the pipe in a different hall when I saw a red wolf  mix and a wolf that looked similar to Steal, in more ways than one. That must be Titan.

"Any luck in finding my son?"

"No, we've looked everywhere but with no luck,"

Titan nodded his head and then started to laugh. His hound looked at him oddly and watched him laugh. Why was Titan laughing? The hound didn't say anything funny.

"You know what's sad Crimson?"

"What?"

"My birds have already located my son twice now and my hounds haven't found him once,"

Crimson gulped and gave Titan a sheepish smile. Titan lunged at Crimson and pinned him to the wall. Crimson gasped and was trying to pry Titan's hand off his throat.

"If my birds find him one more time, I will make sure to kill you and the rest of the hounds. I spend a lot of money taking care of you idiots. The least you could all do is your job correctly,"

Titan released Crimson from his vice like grip. Crimson fell to the ground clutching his throat and coughing. Titan spat on him and walked further down the pipe, leaving his hound to suffer. It took all of my willpower to not jump down from the ceiling and ask if he was okay. I quietly crept forward and followed Titan further down the pipe. Titan continued walking down the pipe and went into a room. He shut the door behind him with a slam. I jumped down from the ceiling and pressed my ear to the door trying to hear what was going on in the room. The room was silent. It sounded like no one was in there. I backed away from the room and climbed on to the ceiling again and started to go back the way I came. I noticed that Crimson had finally gotten up and went somewhere else in the lair because he wasn't laying on the ground anymore. I continued  on my way and finally came back to the entrance. This made no sense the place had to be bigger than this. Two hounds came in the entrance leading their horses. Someone from the side came and took the horses and started to lead the horses through... a wall? I watched the groom and pair of horses and they walked right through. It was another hall hidden in the side. I approached the wall cautiously but made my way in. I could hear the hooves of the horses and the footsteps of the groom. How long was the tunnel?