Taker Of Skulls (Book 5)

  She let out a long sigh. “It is. Have you ever seen its like before?”

  He thought for a moment. “No.”

  She smiled at that. The dim pupil was showing some sign of intelligence after all.

  “And you won’t have. It is one of the Lost Runes.”

  “What?”

  “Of the one hundred and forty four great runes, only sixty-three are currently recorded.”

  “Then how do you know this is one of the Lost?”

  She walked over to the fire, thrust her hand into it, picked up a red hot coal. She walked over to where he stood and opened her fingers. Kormak could feel the heat radiating from the coal. Her fingers were not burned though. She showed no sign of discomfort. She tossed the coal back into the fireplace and then touched his cheek with her hand. It felt cool. Her touch was curiously intimate.

  She stepped back. She opened her hands and spoke a word. A runic symbol the same as the one on her arm appeared between her fingers, written in lines of fire that slowly faded.

  “This is Mankh, the Rune of Firebinding. It absorbs heat and then unleashes it at the user’s command. It is a tool, a protection and a weapon. It is referred to in ancient tales but nowhere have we found a copy. Until now.”

  “How did you come by it?”

  “It showed up nine months ago, carried to my home by a trader who had heard of my interest in dwarven relics and felt he would get a good price.”

  “Did he?”

  “Not as much as he deserved. This is a treasure without price to students of the Khazduri.”

  “And that’s why we are here?”

  “I questioned the merchant to find out where the rune originated. The trail led here.”

  “You believe it came from Khazduroth?”

  “He bought it from a prospector here in Varigston who found it in the deeps below Khazduroth. He told me the rune had been found by looters amid the remains of a dwarvish forge.”

  “Where is this merchant now?”

  “On his way back to Northrock, having been told that he will get the same price if he brought me more.”

  “You told him what it was, of course?”

  She pursed her lips, perhaps resenting the fact that he was mocking her. “Of course not.”

  “You did not want him suspecting the true value of what he had.”

  “It would be impossible to tell him the true value. Such runes have powerful magical properties—as I have just demonstrated.”

  “And you feel there might be more like it.”

  “Where one Lost Rune is found, there might be more. Khazduroth was only rediscovered just over four summers ago. Who knows what’s down there?”

  “You want to find out.”

  “What Khazduri scholar would not? But that was not all. Do you recognise the metal the rune is inlaid with?”

  Kormak shook his head.

  “It is an alloy of netherium.” Kormak found he was holding his breath. Netherium was the metal the dwarves had taken in payment for the forging of blades like the one Kormak carried.

  “That cannot be.”

  “I assure you it is.”

  “The Order scoured the world for netherium over a thousand years ago. It found none. The dwarves refused to make any more blades because the Order could not pay them.”

  Karnea sighed and once more he felt like a slow student. “No. They made no more blades because they could not. Netherium and its alloys are an integral component of the creation of such weapons.”

  Kormak understood now why the Order of the Dawn had sent him. No such blades had been forged in a thousand years. The dwarves could not even repair some of the ones that were damaged. The merchant had indeed no idea of the treasure he had sold, but then how could he? Very few had encountered the metal in the last millennium.

  “You told the Grandmaster this?” Kormak said.

  “I visited Mount Aethelas before I came here. I spoke with Darius.”

  Kormak remembered gossip from when he had been an initiate, that Karnea and the Grandmaster had been lovers back then. Of course that was before Darius had risen to the heights of power he now occupied.

  “And he put me at your disposal,” Kormak said. He was unable to keep the sourness from his voice. He had been pulled from protecting human beings from the powers of Shadow to aid this woman in her quest. Despite his resentment excitement grew within him. If they could find what she was looking for…

  “It was not quite that way,” she said. “If I could have done this without telling anyone, I would have. If word gets out, there are those who would kill to prevent such knowledge being rediscovered.”

  The Old Ones certainly would. And there were those who would wish to keep such lore as the Rune of Firebinding to themselves if they knew it existed. It would grant them a tremendous amount of power. Indeed the Order itself would probably take steps to secure such potent secrets. Perhaps that was why he was really here.

  “So why can’t you do this yourself?”

  “Because there are strange monsters lurking in the depths of Khazduroth.”

  “You are a sorcerer, and by all accounts a powerful one, could you not guard yourself?”

  “I am a scholar not a war wizard.”

  “So you need the aid of a man with a dwarf-forged blade.”

  “Darius thought it would be better to direct a single Guardian here in secret rather than send a force.”

  “He did not want anyone to realise the importance of your quest, you mean.”

  “Your grasp of the situation is sound.”

  “What have you done so far?”

  “We have been awaiting your presence before proceeding with inquiries,” she said.

  “You have gold?” Kormak said.

  She nodded. “Solari disks and letters of credit drawn on the Oldberg Bank in Vermstadt.”

  “I doubt anybody would be too interested in taking those here,” Kormak said.

  She gave him a sharp smile. “You might be surprised. A number of reputable merchants have representatives here. A surprisingly large amount of money passes through this place.”

  “The scavengers?” Kormak said.

  “I believe the preferred term is prospectors,” Karnea said.

  “They are picking the bones of a dwarf city,” Kormak said.

  “It is better than letting all the treasures never see the light of day,” she said. She shrugged. “If you want the truth I am pleased to join their ranks. I have long wanted to see a Khazduri city.”

  Kormak wondered if the woman was entirely sane. The ruins of Khazduroth were a famously dangerous place, full of ancient traps, crumbling stonework, hideous monsters, and prospectors who would cheerfully slit their own mother’s throats at the prospect of profit. Since the gates of the city had been rediscovered five years ago countless people had died there. She did not seem to find the idea of going there at all intimidating.

  “Would it not be better to send someone else to find what you seek?”

  She looked suddenly shifty. “It’s not that I don’t trust you or Boreas, Sir Kormak, far from it. But I will know what I am looking for when I see it. It would take me years to explain all the little details to you and still you might make mistakes. No, I think it best that I lead this expedition in person.”

  Kormak weighed her words, hearing the evasiveness in them. It might be as she said. It might be that, like many another sorcerer, she had no wish to share her secrets. Or it might just be that she was excited by the prospect of visiting Khazduroth and did not want to pass up the opportunity.

  “Anyway, now that you are here, we should be about our business,” Karnea said. “I must confess I am quite excited by what we might uncover. We’ll need to find tools and supplies, and maybe porters and a few guards as well. A guide from among the prospectors is necessary, someone who knows their way around the Underhalls.”

  “That’s a lot of loose lips.”

  “I doubt any of them will realise what we are
after,” Karnea said. “They will think we are just treasure hunters like themselves.”

  Kormak doubted that. Karnea seemed as unlikely a tomb robber as he could imagine. At best people might assume she was a rich dilettante looking for thrills. There seemed no reason to tell her this though.

  “Then let’s make a start,” Kormak said. “We’d best find the guides first. They can tell us what we’ll need by way of supplies.”

  Chapter Three

  THAT EVENING THEY spent long hours trawling through ever sleazier taverns, climbing ever higher on the ridges above the town and closer to the outskirts. They showed Karnea’s rune to people, making light of its worth yet letting them know they would be interested in finding more like it.

  Those who looked like they might have the knowledge and skills required did not want to go. They had found something profitable and sold it or they would have been in the Underhalls still seeking, not down here in Varigston guzzling ale. They did not want to leave till their money was gone. The prospectors were part of a class of scavengers who wandered from dwarvish ruin to dwarvish ruin picking the places clean after they were discovered. Khazduroth was the biggest motherlode of their lifetimes.

  There were others—shifty, desperate-looking men who could not answer the most basic questions Karnea put to them in a convincing manner. They wanted her money but they could not do what she wanted.

  Now they were in the last and roughest looking tavern of them all. The prospectors stared at Karnea sullenly. They were a hard looking bunch, and they had been drinking, and they seemed intent on treating what Karnea was saying as a joke. There were a dozen of them, and they did not look too impressed by Boreas and Kormak. They were big men themselves, roughly dressed, wearing their hair in what they all thought was a dwarvish fashion, beards braided down to their waists and in some cases forked.

  “You ever seen a rune torque like this?” Karnea was saying to their spokesman. He was half a head shorter than the largest of the prospectors but he was far broader both about the shoulder and the belly. An old rune-headed dwarf hammer lay on the table in front of him. Brown stuff and a tuft of something was stuck to one side of it. Kormak guessed the prospector was not too fussy about cleaning it.

  “Nice work,” he said. “And worth a pretty penny, no doubt. I’ve seen weapons and armour and shields. I’ve seen runestones and everglow lanterns and statues of the Gods. That’s what the merchants pay for. I’ll keep my eyes open for ones of these.”

  “Have you ever seen anything that looked like a forge in Khazduroth?”

  The prospector laughed. “There are streets of forges. It was a dwarf city after all.”

  “Did they have anything in them?”

  The man spread his massive hands. “If there were tools they were took long ago. Many a blacksmith would give his children’s heads for dwarf-made tools.”

  “Could you take us there?” Karnea could not keep the excitement from her voice.

  The prospector looked at her sharply. “You willing to pay?”

  Karnea nodded. She was going too quickly, trusting the wrong men but it was too late to stop her now.

  “How much?”

  “A solar each,” Karnea said. It was a lot of money. Probably far too much. The man showed a grin like a skull. His crew exchanged smiles and nudges.

  “For that much, we’ll carry you there on our backs.”

  “We might take you up on that” Kormak said. The men looked at him menacingly and did not laugh. A pretty dark-haired woman was looking in their direction. She was garbed like a prospector too. She had been paying attention ever since Karnea had revealed the rune. A flicker of what looked like recognition passed over her face when she saw it.

  “When can you start?” Karnea asked.

  “Soon as you’re ready to go. Of course, we’ll need an advance for supplies and such.” Karnea nodded.

  “A silver each should be sufficient for that,” said Kormak, before she could dig them into further trouble. The prospector nodded all too quickly. Kormak did not trust him in the slightest. Karnea nodded to Boreas. He produced a pouch and counted out silver to each of the men.

  They went out into the darkness. Kormak saw the door open behind them and the dark-haired young woman emerged. She ran down the track towards them. Kormak kept his hand on the hilt of his sword. Boreas had his dagger out. Beneath them, the lights of the town glittered.

  “Wait,” the young woman said. Karnea turned, her kindly smile visible in the moonlight.

  “Yes, lass,” she said.

  “My name is Sasha, not lass,” the girl said. Karnea’s smile widened. She took no offence at the girl’s tone although Boreas was bristling.

  “What do you want, Sasha?” Karnea asked.

  “Did I just hear you offer Otto and his merry band a solar each to guide you to Khazduroth Forge District?”

  “You have sharp ears, girl,” said Boreas. He did not make it sound like a compliment.

  “You’re paying him a solar to slit your throats and take the rest of your money,” Sasha said. “He’ll take you up the Dwarf Road half a mile, out of sight of any witnesses and then he and his boys will show you their steel.”

  Kormak concurred with that assessment. He had not liked the look of the prospectors at all.

  “Oh dear,” said Karnea. “They are the only ones who have even come close to finding what we are looking for.”

  “I doubt it. Otto hasn’t been underground in years. He and his boys wait on the Dwarf Road and waylay real prospectors when they come out. And that street of forges he was talking about has been in goblin territory for at least a year.”

  “How do you know this?” Kormak asked.

  “Because I have been into Underlands and I do know my way about.”

  “And yet Otto has not cut your throat,” Boreas said.

  “That’s because I know the trails to take to avoid him.”

  “And naturally you are going to offer to show us them too.”

  “It’ll cost you a lot less to pay me that solar than to pay all of them. And I am not going to stab you in the back either. There’s three of you and one of me.”

  “You could always hire some friends,” said Kormak.

  “My, you’ve got a nasty suspicious mind, haven’t you? Pity it was not you doing the negotiating with Otto back there.”

  Karnea’s hand toyed with her shawl. Any minute now she was going to take off her glasses and polish them, Kormak thought. She looked lost in thought. Perhaps she was starting to think that she might have made a mistake.

  “If she did lead us into a trap, she would be the first to die,” Karnea said. It did not sound like a threat, but it was all the more menacing for being spoken in her unworldly tones.

  The girl swallowed audibly but her voice was firm when she said, “Yes, that’s right. And if I steer you wrong I will deserve it.” She paused and took a deep breath. “And I can show you where that rune comes from?”

  “Can you now?” Karnea asked. Her voice was almost shrill with excitement.

  “How can you do that?” Kormak asked, keeping his voice flat and bored.

  “Because I am the one who found it.”

  “Now there’s a coincidence,” Kormak said.

  “Believe me or not, as you will, it makes no difference to the truth. I sold it to Joaquim of Northrock and I thought at the time the bastard cheated me. Now I am certain of it.”

  “The merchant who sold me this was called Joaquim and he came from Northrock,” said Karnea. She glanced sidelong at Kormak.

  “Why did you sell him it if you thought he was cheating you?” Kormak asked.

  “I needed the money,” Sasha said. Her fists were clenched and there was a note of defiance in her voice. She clearly did not like exposing any weakness in her negotiating position. She took a deep breath, stared hard at Kormak. “Whatever we find down there I want part of it, prospector’s rules, equal shares.”

  “I don’t think we can do tha
t,” said Karnea. Her voice was hesitant and almost apologetic. Sasha looked as if she was about to storm away. “But I will pay you a quarter of the appraised value of whatever we find in gold. If you steer us true and we find anything.”

  Sasha considered this for a while and then nodded slowly.

  “Perhaps we should go back and explain to Otto that his services will no longer be required,” Karnea said.

  “No need,” said Kormak. “We just don’t meet them in the morning. They are already a lunar each better off.”

  “Meet us at the Axe and Hammer in the morning girl, and we’ll talk more,” said Karnea. Sasha nodded and disappeared into the night. Kormak kept careful watch as they walked back downhill. He felt many eyes in the night.

  Sasha showed up at the Axe and Hammer at first light. Kormak and the others were already in the common room eating breakfast. Karnea studied her over the top of her glasses.

  In the light, he could see that Sasha was a tall, slender, good-looking woman, with pale skin and raven black hair. Her eyes were large and her nose was hooked, her lips were full and sensual. She had an intense, haunted gaze that she focused on them one at a time. She was clad all in leather, with a pick slung from a hook on her belt and a knife strapped to her thigh. A missile weapon of strange design hung over her back. Looking at it closely, he realised it was an alchemical stonethrower of dwarven make. It was a potent weapon if she knew how to use it and had the right ammunition.

  “You’re keen,” Kormak said.

  “I want the money,” she said.

  “You won’t get it until we get back from the mountains, safely,” said Kormak.

  “You were willing to pay an advance to Otto and his lads.”

  “On consideration we might reluctantly have decided not to do so,” said Karnea.

  “That is disappointing news,” said a booming voice from the door. Otto stood there flanked by two members of his gang. “Me and the boys expect to be paid what we were promised.”

  “I don’t think we’ll be requiring your services,” said Karnea. She smiled beatifically at him, seemingly unaware of the menace in his voice. Otto slapped the palm of his meaty hand with the head of his hammer.