The monk had the secret doors open, and he stood back and watched the Swamplings flood through the great opening, squirming in a very inhuman way, to vanish onto the steps which ran up and up into the ridge. He watched for a moment, and then something slammed into his head.
He started to fall. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see some sort of spike. In a moment of vertigo, he realized it had to be through his head. He tried to move, and couldn't. Something hurt more than his back.
Slowly, like a tree falling, he went to the ground. He tried to pray, but he could not because they pressed all around him and he screamed, trying—trying to die before they began to eat him.
✶ ✶ ✶
Guan had risen with the dawn and managed to get himself to the main hall to pray. He remained on his knees for a long time in the morning light, unaware of anything except the pain in his side and the crushing sense of his own failure.
