Taker Of Skulls (Book 5) by William King Page A

out and stored food that came in.”
    “Duncan reckoned they grew their own food, mushrooms and such.”
    “They did,” said Karnea, “but they needed some variety in their diet and they needed grains to brew their beers and distil their whisky.”
    She did not seem disturbed by the gloom or the silence. She seemed excited. It came to Kormak that she really wanted to be here, was fulfilling a lifelong dream.
    “I could use some of their whisky now,” said Boreas.
    “Might be best to keep our wits about us,” said Kormak.
    They passed a junction. In the middle stood a towering statue of a muscular bull-headed man with a staff held in one hand. The other hand held a severed human head.
    “Tauran,” said Karnea. “The kingdom of Taurea takes its name from him.”
    Sasha looked at her sidelong. “A Sunlander kingdom named after an Old One. That smacks of blasphemy.”
    Karnea showed her dazzling smile. “Many of the tribes the Sunlanders conquered when they came over the World Ocean worshipped Tauran. He was their God-King. They called their land after him. The name stuck even after he was slain. It’s often the way. You might be surprised how many of our kingdoms and provinces take their names from our ancient enemies.”
    Kormak paused to consider the statue for a moment. It was astonishingly life-like. It seemed as if it was just about to step down off its plinth and confront them. It had obviously been made by a sculptor of genius and it looked as if it had been modelled from life.
    “Dwarf work,” he said. Karnea nodded.
    “I thought they hated the Old Ones,” Boreas said.
    “They served them first. And you can see the statue has been marked as if someone took a hammer to it. There are fingers missing on the left hand, the snout has been chipped and the tip of one horn is missing.”
    Kormak could see that everything she said was true. The statue was so astonishingly perfect he had simply assumed that the blemishes were intentional parts of it.
    “Maybe someone tried to destroy it and others stopped him,” said Karnea. Kormak could picture that; a fierce struggle between an angry rebellious former slave keen to destroy all reminders of his servitude, and maybe a builder wanting to preserve something of beauty.
    “Maybe it was a prospector,” said Sasha. “I’ve seen enough of them take a hammer to such things. Anything to turn a profit.”
    For the first time ever, Kormak saw Karnea look a little annoyed. “That would be pure wanton vandalism,” she said.
    “People have to eat,” said Sasha. She spread her hands apologetically. Kormak wondered if she had been one of those who had swung a hammer.
    “Why is his statue here?” Boreas asked.
    “I don’t know,” said Sasha. “But there are similar statues scattered through the Underlands.”
    “Of him?”
    “Of all sorts of different beings like him, half-man, half beast or monster.”
    “Those are most likely Old Ones,” said Karnea. “I look forward to inspecting a few.”
    “You’ll get plenty of chances,” said Sasha. “There are dozens between here and our goal.”
    “Let’s be on our way then,” said Kormak.
    They emerged onto an open square. In the distance there was a faint glow. The dim illumination was powerful enough to show the outlines of great buildings and pillars and a vaulted ceiling high overhead. Looking up, Kormak thought he saw a faint twinkling, almost like stars overhead except these were reddish yellow. They did suggest the pattern of constellations though. Something massive swept across them, obscuring them temporarily before vanishing. Kormak caught the distant echo of high-pitched shrieking.
    “Devilbat,” said Sasha. “Sometimes they are ridden by goblins. They use them as mounts.”
    “I saw that last night. That means they could be spying on us right now.”
    “Yes and be careful of the bastards. Their bites are poisonous, or at least diseased. I’ve seen men die very quickly, blood pouring from