Red Sonja #5 (Marvel Comics, 1977)

Red Sonja and her traveling companion, Mikal, stealthfully make their way through the treacherous hills of Argos in search of the Singing Tower to save the old leader of the monsters beneath the lake in Red Sonja #4. The two follow a group of mysterious, dark riders through the woods.

While surveying the riders, another group has been surveying Sonja and Mikal, a band of forest dwellers roughly three apples high! Though they are not blue, these creatures are very Smurf-like and call themselves the Truands. The Truands rob travelers in the woods, but quickly discover that Red Sonja is more than they bargained for as she kicks them aside and swats them with her sword.

After the Truands retreat, Sonja and Mikal walk into an ambush as they approach a strange temple hidden in the valley. The group they were following earlier leads them to the tower, and they quickly apprehend Mikal and drag him away. Surrounded and outnumbered, Sonja surrenders to the group's savage leader named Kir-El, who takes her inside the massive structure, which is a massive temple filled with enormous bells.

Before she can be imprisoned, enslaved, or killed, Sonja leaps onto a statue and steals its sword. She goes berserk and starts to attack the group of soldiers until a strange priest named Orubu tells her to stop.  He waves his hands, and a two-headed monster appears from behind a curtain and attacks Sonja with sharp, pointy teeth and lashing tongues. She dives between its heads and stabs it in the back, killing it. Orubu is sad because it was his favorite pet.

It turns out that the original leader of the monsters of the lake, whom Cyphax told Red Sonja about, is none other than the weird priest, Orubu, who appears to have lost his mind and gone crazy over time. Mikal turns out to be no ordinary thief. He is actually their heir to the throne of Athos, and he was taken away by other forces to the Singing Tower.

Orubu gives Sonja a tour of the Singing Tower with its bells and then tells her that he plans to turn into a bird and fly to the singing tower, which can be seen in the distance.

Before he can do whatever he is going to do, Sonja swings one of the bells and knocks Orubo over the edge of the temple, where he falls hundreds of feet and splatters onto the ground. She flees and makes her way towards the Singing Tower in the distance, hoping to save Mikal.