Tunnel Ten
A somewhat rough experiment in horror poetry. Hopefully it's enjoyable and horrible (in the right aspect).
Cheers to mercrantos for checking it over and giving his thoughts.
Tunnel Ten
Allow me to spin you a tale,
It crops up now and then,
This is why kobolds regale,
The tale of tunnel ten.
Our scouting teams were hunting,
Searching for veins of ore,
But what we wound up confronting,
Would shake them to their core.
Just us four kobolds, it was,
Me and the scout, Calu,
The miners Eraz and Luqoz,
Had a list of jobs to do.
The air was thin, not an unknown,
But plain cave gave way to craft,
And the atmosphere chilled to the bone,
As we braved the choking shaft.
We're each clad in a complex mask,
To breathe where others falter,
We marked the path, as was our task,
Then stumbled upon an altar.
No All-Drake worship took place here,
A relief of beasts unknown,
We all looked on in budding fear,
But pressed on, with doubts grown.
We delved into the darkest deep,
Beyond a tight crevasse,
But once within, our scales did creep,
To sounds of breaking glass.
We had brought no lamp,
No open flame,
Not in this blackdamp.
Where from it came?
A shudder,
A shiver,
A glint of eyes,
A judder,
A quiver,
And Eraz's cries.
Just Eraz's reverb all around,
Besides Calu's harsh mutters,
Demanding calm, ears to ground,
When we noticed the gutters.
Troughs of blood, darkened and dried,
Butchering tools, rusted and snapped,
Threaded, rotting flesh bound, tied,
We went to leave, then found us trapped.
The way out then crumbled in,
Rocks and brick piled deep,
And came with it such a din,
Followed by a chirp and creep.
We all froze,
Then a screech
Three mouths came gnashing,
Teeth in rows,
Limbs at reach,
Many, clawed and a-thrashing.
Pursuit,
Walls gashed,
We all panicked and fled,
Astute,
Calu dashed,
We followed as he led.
This place, a vast maze,
Twisted, turning, winding,
In pursuit, the beast stays,
Until the fear was blinding.
Luqoz tripped,
Landed, shaken
Scales ripped,
As he was taken.
Us three scattered, scampered,
Luqoz's fall giving time,
As we ran off, unhampered,
Seeking a way out to climb.
Foul corruption lined these crazed halls,
Tortured forms and carved cadavers,
Traps and viscera filled pitfalls,
Until I stumbled on where It gathers.
A nest of meat, pus-filled and seeping,
And bones of a thousand kin,
When I heard the far-off sound of weeping,
Then a scream of pain, torn skin.
My courage sundered fast,
As I fought to not be unnerved,
I hoped I wasn't now the last,
But t'was not what I observed.
Calu stumbled in the vile room,
He stared blank at Eraz's cleft head,
He held it, as bloody as this tomb,
Then he, himself, fell dead.
A shriek,
I fled,
It chased me away,
And, weak,
With dread,
For an escape, I did pray.
Running blind,
A slow death,
Yet it was my only chance,
Just to find,
On hard breath,
Some other route to advance.
Endless halls of decay,
All dead ends, all 'round,
So without further delay,
Turned to the entrance we found
Collapsed, no exit in this geometry,
But air poured through the gaps,
A lucky miracle of stoichiometry
And the kobold standard; traps.
A wire,
Flint and steeled,
Time to throw myself on the sword,
I'd expire,
Exit sealed,
By explosive or just be gored.
The click, the blast,
I would breathe my last...
Yet I breathe again,
I stand, through strain.
A ringing,
Vision swims,
But I see a way through,
Flesh flinging,
Bits of limbs,
I stood and I flew.
High on life, death postponed,
But pain soon sets in deep,
I laugh, dry, intoned,
And collapsed in fell sleep.
I awake in my clan,
As a lone survivor, then,
And explain the whole span,
The grim tale,
Of Tunnel Ten.