Taker Of Skulls(45)

“Run!” Kormak said.





They raced through what might have been a long tunnel. Blank windows and doorways gaped on every side. Huge pillars, spaced every fifty strides obscured the view. On each, massive runes had been worked and Kormak felt the pulse of magical energy rushing through them.

The howling of the wolves was louder now. Mingled with it he could hear the high-pitched squeaking yelps of goblins.

“Run faster,” said Verlek. “We are almost at the Hold. If we can reach it, there is chance we might escape.”

Kormak did not ask any questions. The dwarf had lengthened his stride and was moving faster now. Under normal circumstances Kormak would not have had much difficulty keeping up but he was tired. A glance behind him told him that the others were no better off. In fact, Karnea looked as if she was on the verge of collapse. Her face was completely red. Her hair was lank and sweat ran down her brow. Even Boreas looked weary.

Ahead of them now, he could see another bridge; a long structure of fused stone, lined by enormous statues of what might have been dwarf heroes or might have been Old Ones. It was too dark too tell.

Kormak dropped back. Karnea stood there, blowing air from her lips, clutching her side. “A stitch,” she said. “I can’t go on. Run! Save yourselves.”

“We’re not leaving without you,” Kormak said. He grinned encouragingly.

She gulped and swallowed and leaned forward, bracing her hands on her knees. Behind them, Kormak thought he saw dark shapes moving through the tunnel. The howls were amplified by the tunnel mouth.

Boreas handed Kormak his hammer and swept Karnea up. “I will carry her,” he said. He was as good as his word. He held the scholar like she was nothing more than a child. Verlek turned and reached out for the hammer himself. Kormak let him have it. The dwarf carried the weapon as easily one handed as Boreas had with two but he was slowed down because he could no longer run on all fours.

“I owe you my life,” he said. “Debts must be paid. Get to the bridge.”

“Don’t be foolish,” said Kormak. “Your own people might kill us, if you are not there to speak for us.”

A spark of what might have been anger appeared in the dwarf’s eye. He raised the hammer as if testing its weight for a swing. “You are right,” he said. “We have other hammers. I will gift your companion with one in return for losing this.”

He dropped the hammer and loped off in the direction of the bridge. Kormak risked a look around. He could see that the others had almost reached it. White wolves were starting to be visible in the greenish glow. He turned and sprinted after the dwarf. Every breath burned in his chest.





They raced across the bridge. Each of the shadowy figures had an everglow lantern mounted on it. The light was dim compared even to moonlight but, after the long darkness they had wandered through, now seemed like daylight to Kormak’s eyes. All of the huge figures appeared to be dwarves, he noticed, but how could he be certain. Perhaps they were shape-shifted Old Ones like Graghur.

Once they were on the far side Verlek took the horn from around his neck and sounded it. Its blast, uncannily loud, echoed away into the gloom, for a moment even drowning out the howling of the wolves.

A glance over his shoulder showed Kormak that, just for a moment, the pursuing beasts had halted. Perhaps they feared the onset of some enemy. They waited for heartbeats only though before taking up the chase once more.

Kormak could see the great goblins. They looked like their smaller kin, but tall as a man and skinnier, as if someone had taken an extraordinarily large goblin and stretched it on a rack. One of them carried a banner showing a goblin head with four stylised arms radiating out from it. The others brandished huge curved blades and oval shields with grinning skull faces inscribed on them.

Ahead lay a huge lit courtyard, surrounded on three sides by massive fortified walls. In the centre of the wall directly ahead was a massive stone doorway, inscribed with powerful warding runes.

Verlek sounded his horn desperately. Shadowy shapes moved on the balconies of the fortification above them.

A howl came from very close behind Kormak. He turned. A dire wolf snapped at him. Its goblin rider thrust with its spear. Kormak parried it, beheaded the wolf, and then stabbed the rider through the chest even as he tumbled to the ground.

The other dire wolves were almost upon him, and behind them came a company of tall, thin great goblins with wicked looking blades.

The first of the mangy dire wolves sprang. Kormak stepped to one side, letting the wolf pass through the empty air where he had been. It landed, twisted immediately, snapped at him with jaws that could tear off an arm. He leapt back as another wolf attacked him.