Taker Of Skulls (Book 5) (8 page)

“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 worth 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.”

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.

This was the best view he had of them so far. He could see the details on their squat armoured forms. Massive runes had been inscribed on their shields and hammers, beards stretched from their chins to their boots. Helmets covered their heads and obscured their eyes. The armour did not look as if it had been made by humans. It was more angular, with flat surfaces intended to carry numerous runic inscriptions.

They were about halfway down the valley when Sasha led them off up a path by the side of some rocks. The climb very swiftly got steep and Kormak found himself scrambling on hands and knees as he went up the slope.

Eventually, they emerged on top of a large flat rock and he got a good view of the valley below. The camp looked small and distant and rather pathetic compared to the mountains surrounding it and the Khazduri statues. A line of people and animals was already leaving the valley along the old road. Only a few tents and lean-tos remained.

Lonely plumes of smoke rose above the few remaining fires. The sky overhead was grey and dark and it seemed like they were climbing all the way into the underbelly of the clouds. The landscape became even more barren. Here and there were a few small trees clutching the mountainside with gnarled roots but aside from that the only signs of life were a few birds and the lichen that clung to the stones and the sides of the grey boulders.

“I’ve seen more pleasant places,” said Boreas.

“It reminds me of Aquilea,” said Kormak.

“That’s not any sort of recommendation in my book,” said Boreas. He was using the handle of his hammer as a staff to push himself up.

“I suspect that where we are going will make Aquilea look paradisiacal by comparison.”

Sasha was bounding ahead, agile as a goat on the tracks. Karnea mopped sweat from her brow. Her cheeks were even more rosy than usual. A few hours of sleep did not seem to have done an enormous amount to restore her energy but she looked cheerful enough. “I’ve been saying for a while that I needed more exercise. Be careful for what you wish for!”

“How much further?” Kormak asked Sasha.

She looked back down the slope as if trying to see if anyone was following them. “Not more than an hour if we keep up this pace. Surely you don’t need a rest already, Guardian? I thought this would be a mere tussock to an Aquilean.”

“I am just curious,” said Kormak, refusing to rise to the bait. “Will we have time to get any distance underground once we find this entrance of yours?”

“We’d better hope so,” Sasha said. “Those look like storm clouds coming in and I am not keen on spending the night getting soaked on a mountainside.”

None of them said anything about the possibility that there might be goblins waiting in ambush.

It was raining heavily as they reached the postern gate. It did not look like much, just a heavy stone doorway that blended into the rocks it stood among. Moss had grown on the runes in its surface. The rest of the door was overgrown so the pattern was only noticeable through being lighter than the moss around it.

There was a faint darkness around one edge of the door. “The door is broken,” said Sasha. “It was when we found it.”

Kormak studied the area around him. There were no signs of recent goblin passage, such as the marks of heavy packs being dragged over the rocks. That did not mean the goblins had not come this way of course.

“Let’s hope they are not waiting for us on the other side,” said Boreas.

“Never seen any goblins up here,” Sasha said.

“Where do they usually lurk?” Kormak asked.

“Nobody really knows but it used to be you never come across any signs of them near the gate or on the upper levels. Used to be you only found them deep in the Underlands and you had to be unlucky for that to happen.” She paused for a moment as if thinking about something sad, took a deep breath. “Of course they never used to raid either. Last night was something new.”

Boreas used the handle of his hammer to force the gate wider and they looked down into the gloom. A flight of stairs receded in front of them.

“We’re going to need light,” said Kormak.

Karnea nodded and pulled something out of her rucksack. “Fortunately the goblins never got their claws on my pack,” she said.

She held a glittering crystal on a stone ring. The ring was large enough to encompass a human fist, and Karnea gripped it as she would the handle of a stein. She rubbed the stone with her hand, and as she did so it glowed brighter. The light was no greater than that of the full moon.

“A moon-lantern,” Kormak said. “You raided the vaults of Aethelas before you came.”

Karnea made a noise of mock outrage. “Of course not. This is one I acquired for myself.”

Kormak inspected the lantern. It would produce light for an hour after being rubbed or even after being breathed upon. It seemed to feed on heat, rather like the rune Mankh. It would begin to glow even if only held close to the body. Master Malan has possessed one. The light would not affect the Old Ones in any way, which was hardly surprising for the lanterns had been made by their servants, the dwarves, to illuminate their way in the very darkest places of the world.

Sasha was looking at the lantern. A gleam of avarice had appeared in her eye. “A functioning moon-lantern,” she said. “Those are worth a lot of money.”