5,258 words (22–28 minutes)
Genres: Fantasy, Historical Fiction, Sword & Sorcery
First Published: Weird Tales, January 1927

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While traveling alone through the treacherous forests of Britain, the warrior Cororuc encounters a strange battle between a panther and a wolf—an encounter that sets him on a path toward an ancient and forgotten people. Pursued by ruthless bandits, he finds himself captured by an underground race claiming to be the remnants of the Picts, an age-old civilization displaced by the Celts. In the vast, shadowy caverns of their hidden kingdom, Cororuc must face a vengeful ruler whose hatred for his kind spans centuries. Will he escape the doom of the lost race, or will he become another sacrifice in their bitter war for survival?