GLINT's Arc

Chapter 4 of 10

The monster surged out of the sludge after him. Glint ran. Tentacles smashed the walls where his head had been. He bolted into a narrow side tunnel and the great mass of flesh jammed in behind him, mouths snapping, eyes rolling. The letter still clung to one wet eye near the top. Glint could not reach it and could not stop. He just ran. The tunnels split and split again. Glint picked turns by instinct, his boots slapping through shallow goo. Behind him the horror tore pipes loose and dragged itself on. Its tentacles stretched long and whipped past his ears. One wrapped his ankle. Glint yanked free and lost a boot. He kept going, barefoot now, breath burning. Then his toe caught something tight across the floor. A wire. Old and taut. Glint pitched forward onto his face. Gears groaned above him. A rusted slab of iron, hung by chains in the ceiling, dropped. Glint rolled hard against the wall. The slab crashed down behind him. It caught the horror across its bulk and pinned it to the stone. The creature split open. Mouths screamed from every side. The eye holding the letter burst, and the paper peeled loose and fluttered down. Glint scrambled over and snatched it from the muck. The red wax seal was whole. He pressed it to his chest and laughed, high and ragged. "Got you. I got you." Dust settled. The screaming stopped. Glint stood in a wider chamber, the trap's chains swinging overhead. He wiped his goggles and grinned. The grin died. All around him, small eyes opened in the dark. Dozens of them, low to the ground. Metal scraped. Rusty spear tips caught the green light. Ramshackle crossbows creaked as they drew. Kobolds crept from every crack in the walls, scaled and hunched, closing the circle.