Taker Of Skulls (Book 5)

by William King

  Graghur was bigger than the other goblins, almost as tall as a man, and with his enormous build he probably weighed more than Otto had. The wolf carrying him was the size of a plough horse and could not be a natural creature. Curls of flame emerged from her nostrils. When Graghur saw Kormak looking at those, he smiled, his mouth becoming wider and wider until it was larger than his head, and his teeth looked like daggers.

  No definitely not a goblin, Kormak thought. An Old One. He charged towards it. The Old One’s wolf wheeled and bounded to meet him at terrifying speed. Kormak prepared to step to one side and slash at its neck but, with a more-than-animal intelligence, the creature sprang to one side at the last second. His slash went wide. The wolf turned its head and spurted a jet of flame at him. It was his turn to leap as the ground seemed to catch fire around his boots.

  The Old One riding the wolf let out a peel of mocking laughter. “Well done, Fenang,” he said in the tongue of the Old Ones. Hearing him speak the goblins turned to look at him.

  “Graghur, Graghur,” they began to chant in their squeaky voices. The dire wolf opened its mouth and let out a long terrifying howl, so loud it threatened to deafen Kormak. There was something in its eyes that suggested that it understood what its rider was saying. Was it possible it was an Old One that had shifted shape?

  “Ho—mortal! I am Graghur, Taker of Skulls, Lord of Goblins, Ruler of Khazduroth and you are on my land.” His voice was loud and boastful but he was eyeing Kormak’s dwarf-forged blade warily. He seemed reluctant to press his attack.

  “This is the first I have heard of it,” said Kormak.

  “It will be your last chance if you do not leave soon,” said Graghur. “This is not your territory and I am bound by no Law. I am tired of these interlopers stealing my treasure and killing my people. I am tired of them plundering my domain. Tell them to go and I will spare their lives. Tell them if they stay they can expect only death.”

  The goblin raised the great horn that hung on his chest and blew out a long mellow note. He heeled the wolf and sprang away, his guards swiftly following, and shortly after that the rest of the goblins had scuttled away into the darkness, carrying their loot.

  Big Heidi came running up a bloody cleaver in her hand.

  “I don’t know what you said to him,” Heidi said. “But you certainly sent him packing.”

  “I didn’t say anything and he left of his own accord,” said Kormak. She slapped him on the back and did not seem inclined to believe what he had said.

  “For months now, the goblins have been sneak-attacking. This is the first time they’ve done anything like this. It’s the first time I have seen their king too,” she said. “He was kind of impressive.”

  “He was an Old One,” Kormak said. “They usually are.”

  “Looked like a goblin to me,” Heidi said. She seemed less happy now and more worried.

  “Goblins don’t ride on wolves that breathe fire,” said Kormak. He turned around and looked for his companions, praying to the Holy Sun that nothing had happened to them.

  Chapter Nine

  WOUNDED MEN AND women lay sprawled by the fires while their companions tried to staunch their wounds any way they could. Others looked at toppled tents and plundered supply packs and shook their head.

  “A month’s work gone on one night,” a man said. “Bastard goblins.”

  Karnea, Sasha and Boreas were standing in a cluster around their fire. They looked all right. Kormak strode over to Karnea. Her face was pale and her eyes were wide behind her glasses. Sasha stood nearby, her stonethrower clutched tightly in her hands. Kormak noticed that her knuckles were white.

  “That was not a goblin,” Karnea said, as Kormak strode up.

  Kormak nodded. “It was an Old One.”

  “Did it flee because you invoked the Law?”

  “No,” Kormak. “Its name is Graghur and it claimed this land was his, and that everyone here is a trespasser and must go.”

  “This land belongs to no one. It is not covered in any of the old treaties,” Karnea said.

  “I suspect he claims it by right of possession,” Kormak said.

  “What are you talking about?” Sasha asked. “And what did you say to that goblin?”

  “The goblin’s name is Graghur,” said Kormak, “and he is not a goblin but an Old One.”

  “Graghur is the goblin king,” Sasha said. “They chant his name some times when the moon is full. King or not, he turned tail soon enough when he saw you.”

  “I think he was just surprised to encounter me, and he departed to consider his options. He’ll most likely be back when he’s thought things through.”

  “Tonight?”

  “I don’t think so, not unless he is particularly tricky. He gave me a warning for the prospectors. If he was serious, he’ll wait and see what affect it has.”

  “A warning?”

  “Leave this place or die.”

  “That sounds serious,” Sasha said.

  “It might be a trick,” said Kormak, “or a bluff. Old Ones don’t think like men. He may even forget what he said by the morning. I’ve known it to happen.”

  Sasha frowned as if she did not quite believe him. Karnea said, “It’s true. Sometimes the Old Ones have perfect recollection of events that happened millennia ago but don’t remember what they did this morning. Their minds do not work likes our do. Do not make the mistake of thinking so.”

  “That does not seem to be a very useful way of remembering things.”

  “They have advantages that we do not,” said Kormak.

  “Were any of you hurt, during the attack?” Karnea asked. Kormak shook his head. The others did likewise. “Then I think there are those here I could help.”

  She bent down and rummaged around in her pack, producing herbs and bandages for poultices, then she walked over to the nearest wounded man and began to bandage him. Soon his groans eased and he fell into a deep sleep. Others began bringing their wounded companions to her, carrying them when they could, begging her to come take a look when they could not.

  The healer worked until dawn, staunching bleeding, cleaning wounds, comforting the dying. Kormak walked the edges of the camp, keeping his eyes peeled for any signs of the goblins’ return.

  In the grey morning light the camp looked, if anything, bleaker. A number of the tents had been trampled down and flapped around in the morning breeze, like grey ghosts come to haunt the living. Lean-tos had been kicked over and smashed. Bodies, human and goblin, lay everywhere. The mountains, huge and forbidding, loomed over everything.

  The inhabitants of the camp had gathered around their tent. The wounded and the dying lay in improvised cover nearby. The rest of the folk stood in a circle, listening intently as Kormak relayed Graghur’s message. After he had spoken, there was silence for a moment and then people all started to speak at once. Kormak raised his hand to still the babble, and quiet returned.

  “We’re not leaving just because you say so,” said one of the prospectors. He was tall and broad, with narrow eyes and a mean slit of a mouth. He had the look of one of Otto’s friends.

  “I am not telling you to,” said Kormak. “I am just giving you the Goblin King’s message.”

  “Why did this Graghur give you the message?”

  “Because I speak his language,” said Kormak.

  The prospector raised his fist. “This one speaks a language goblins understand. And he wants us to leave.”

  “I speak two languages they understand,” Kormak said. He tapped the hilt of his sword meaningfully.

  “Aye, we killed more of them, than they did us,” said another man. Some of the prospectors nodded their agreement. Others looked worried.

  “That won’t make much difference if there are more of them than there are of you.”

  “What gives this Graghur the right to tell us what to do?” asked a thin, pock-faced man. Kormak did not recall seeing him doing any fighting last night.

  “The fact that he has
an army,” said Sasha. “He has no right except that.”

  “We can fortify the camp,” said a tough looking old man. “We’ve talked enough about it. This gives us reason to. If the little bastards are going to be this aggressive we need to.”

  “I don’t know,” said Heidi. “It’s near the end of the season anyway. I was going to be heading back down to Varigston for the winter. I know a lot of the rest of you were talking about that. It won’t do any harm to pull out a few days early.”

  “You mean run?” Pock-face asked.

  “I saw you do enough of that last night, Jonas Tegel,” said Heidi. “There’s no need to come on all brave when the sun’s up and the danger’s passed.”

  Jonas looked as if he was considering a smart reply, but Heidi still had her meat cleaver in her hand. He glanced at his feet instead.

  “Look,” Heidi said. “We all know the runts have been getting more numerous and more aggressive these past couple years. We all know there’s something going on down there in the Underlands. We’ve all seen the goblins and the ghosts. We all know it’s getting harder and harder to make good finds close to the gates and the goblins are getting more numerous. I’m going to take what I got and be glad of it. I’m going to head back into town and sell my stuff and spend the winter thinking about whether I want to come back next spring. I’m going to head off today and I’d welcome company on the road.”

  She fell silent. Kormak saw heads nodding in agreement.

  Jonas Tegel suddenly found his tongue. “If half of us are going there won’t be enough left to hold the camp when the goblins come back. They’ll have won.”

  “No law says you can’t come back next year,” said one of the merchants. “I am thinking of doing that myself although next spring I’ll come back with a company of mercenaries.”

  That got some hisses and boos. Kormak guessed the prospectors did not like the idea of people arriving with their own private armies. That might prove as much of a menace to them as the goblins.

  “What about you?” The older man asked. He was looking directly at Kormak.

  The Guardian looked at his companions. “I don’t know. That’s something I am going to have to talk about with my friends here.”

  Jonas Tegel said, “Kind of strange that you show up at the same time as this Goblin King appears and starts making threats that only you understand.” There were some mutters of agreement to that. This could easily turn nasty, Kormak realised.

  “What did you think Graghur was saying?” Sasha asked. “You think he was inviting us all to his wedding?”

  “I am just saying.”

  “You saying Kormak and the others are in league with the goblins? He killed a lot more of them last night than you did, and Karnea here saved a lot of lives.” The crowd’s mood seemed to be turning again as this was pointed out to them.

  “I’m just passing through here,” said Kormak. “You want to stay, stay. You want to go, go. It makes no difference to me.”

  “Like I said, I am going,” said Heidi. “And I thank you all for the company and good times, but it’s time to head back, make some sales and spend some money.”

  She suited actions to words and made her way back to her pitch and began stowing gear. The others did the same. Among them were the survivors of Otto’s little group. They all avoided looking at Kormak now, although whether out of shame or fear he could not tell.

  “What’s the damage?” Kormak asked Boreas, once the meeting had broken up and the prospectors gone their separate ways. Their campsite was a mess and it looked like their cache of supplies had been attacked.

  “Could be worse,” said Boreas although his expression told a different story. “The pony and mules have been driven off and there was no sign of them. Tracks are hard to follow over this terrain. Best guess is that they’re in the belly of some goblin runts right now. A couple of our supply sacks have been grabbed. I beat the little bastards away but there was so many of them they got round me. I couldn’t be everywhere at once.”

  The words hung in the air. Kormak wondered whether Boreas was trying to justify the loss of the supplies to himself or shift the blame to Kormak for running off into the battle. Maybe it was a little of both. It was hard to tell from the man’s tone.

  “I’ve used up most of my healing herbs and a lot of the medical supplies on the wounded,” said Karnea, “but I don’t see how in good conscience I could have done anything else. I was not going to just let those people die.”

  “You used more than healing herbs,” said Kormak. “I felt my Elder Sign glow.”

  She shrugged. “I was subtle about it and like I said, I was not about to see folks die when I could save them.”

  “You must be exhausted then,” said Kormak. He knew that working magic drained people more than running leagues in full armour.

  Karnea looked pale and there were black rings under her eyes. Her movements were slow and she staggered a little. “I can move if we need to,” she said. “You said we needed to talk about something back there at the meeting and I can guess what.”

  “You saw Graghur. You saw the number of goblins he had with him. You still want to go below?” Kormak kept his voice level.

  “You scared, Guardian?” Boreas sounded more curious than mocking.

  “There’s four of us. Down in the depths there’s a whole tribe of goblins, packs of dire wolves, an Old One and the Holy Sun alone knows what else. What do you think?”

  “That you’re more sensible than I thought. I’ve never seen a man charge an Old One and his pack of bodyguards before.”

  “Let’s hope you don’t see it happen again.”

  Karnea looked thoughtful. “I expected danger,” she said. “But nothing on this scale.”

  “You want to turn back?” Kormak asked. “We don’t need to go below.”

  Karnea slumped to the ground beside the remains of the fire. Her hand moved to the rune she wore beneath her sleeve. Her fingers stroked it, seemingly unconsciously. “If we turn back now, we may never get another chance to find what we’re looking for,” she said. “The goblins will multiply in the depths. The Old One may take any runes for himself. For all we know, that’s why he’s here.”

  Kormak shrugged.

  “Graghur was afraid of you,” Karnea said.

  “He’s afraid of my blade but he might not stay that way for long.”

  “I am reluctant to come all this way and then simply leave,” said Karnea. Fear and something else warred on her face. She frowned.

  “We can avoid the goblins,” said Sasha. Kormak looked at her. The prospector woman seemed just as surprised as he was by her own words.

  “What?” Karnea said.

  “We can avoid the goblins. I know we can.”

  “There was an awful lot of them,” Boreas said.

  Sasha laughed. “There were maybe a hundred.”

  “There could be a lot more down below.”

  “Even if there were, it would not matter. You have no idea how big Khazduroth is. It makes Taurys look like Varigston, not the capital of a kingdom. There are dozens of levels, thousands of streets. They must run for hundreds and hundreds of leagues. A hundred goblins could hardly cover one plaza, let alone the entire city.”

  “They don’t need to. They can just watch the entrances.”

  “They can’t watch all the entrances,” Sasha said. “There are too many of them.”

  “Why are you so keen to go below?” Kormak asked.

  “Because a quarter share of nothing is nothing,” she said. “And I need money for Sal’s medicine. And I need to get my kid out of these mountains.”

  Karnea looked calm once more and she smiled tentatively as if her natural cheerfulness was reasserting itself. “Do you really think we can get down into the Forge Quarter without meeting any goblins?”

  “If we can find an unguarded entrance, and I think we can.”

  Karnea said, “If we can find another of the Lost Runes, the risk would be wo
rth it. If we could find netherium, the dwarves below Aethelas would trade many secrets.” She sounded like a starving woman considering a banquet.

  Kormak was not sure of this. Both women sounded desperate now although for different reasons. “I do not think this is wise,” Kormak said.

  “If you wish to remain here, you may, Guardian,” Karnea said. “I would not blame you for doing so.”

  “You are not seriously thinking of going down there alone,” said Boreas. He was looking at Karnea in rather a different way from a bodyguard contemplating a client.

  “I was rather hoping you would go with us.”

  The big scarred man let out a long sigh. “Of course I will.”

  Kormak considered his options. Despite the dangers it seemed like the others wanted to go below. He did not like the risks but he had his orders and he had made a promise to Tam. “Very well, then. Sasha, if you can show us an unguarded entrance we will take it. If you can’t, we go back.”

  Boreas looked relieved at being given an out. “I don’t think the Guardian can say fairer than that.”

  “There’s an old path up the side of Grim Peak. It leads to a small postern gate. I found it when I was prospecting with Duncan,” Sasha said. She paused for a moment when she said the name. “From there we can take a spiral staircase down past the gates.”

  “Let’s get going then,” Kormak said. “We don’t have time to waste.”

  Chapter Ten

  THEY PACKED THEIR gear and headed down the valley. Ahead of them Kormak could see the great stone gates in the mountainside, and the two massive statues flanking them.