Free The Harp of Aleth by Kira Morgana

confirm what Sul told us.”
    Virrinel unclipped his sword from his belt and held it out in front of him so he could see the hilt and the gems. The soft pulse of the rainbow gems slowed and faded slightly as he went away from Julissa.
    “It’s not over this way.”
    “Just circle the room, Virrinel,” the bard snapped.
    Virrinel hid his smile. She really is interested in Joran as a mate. I couldn’t tell if it was just lust that was attracting her to him or if she wanted him as a Lifemate. He continued moving unhurriedly around the room. As he approached the wall with the Gremlins, the gems began to darken to red. A warning of evil perhaps?
    One gremlin stopped working to look at him, but when Virrinel turned away from the wall, the gremlin resumed his task, so Virrinel dismissed the creature from his mind.
    He turned toward Qin-Dar and the gems began to glow with a soft white light. Well she’s holy, so that must be an indication of the presence of good. He walked toward the western wall of the room and the gems began to pulse rainbow colours again. The closer he got to the wall the faster they flickered.
    “It’s definitely to the right.”
    “Go to the door; see if it’s out of the room,” Julissa instructed.
    Virrinel rolled his eyes. One minute I’m a brother, then a cub to be instructed, the next a servant. I wish she’d make her mind up.
    The gems pulsed faster the closer he got to the western wall. Experimentally Virrinel turned toward the southern wall and the flashing slowed and faded. He walked straight up to the door. The gems flickered fast enough to become a rainbow glimmer off the polished metal of the door furniture.
    “It’s definitely not in the Treasure Room.”
    “Hang on.” The rest of the party hurried to catch up with him.
    Joran held out one hand.
    “There are no spells laid on this door. However, I can feel a great power lying some way behind it.”
    “It’s pure evil,” Qin-Dar said, a little sadly.
    Julissa looked at her. “What’s the matter, Poikaerea ?”
    “I feel my end approaching, Julissa. I won’t be leaving here with you.”
    Tears started in Julissa’s eyes. “You can’t die!”
    “I’ve lived for over nine hundred years, Yearling. The best of those have been in your service and I am ready to go to the Summerlands.” Qin-Dar embraced her charge. “Let us get the harp and get you back to the Queen.” The cleric looked up at Joran. “It is my last request to you, Mage.”
    He nodded. “I will guard her with my life, as much as Virrinel does and you have.”
    She smiled. “Thank you.”
    Virrinel moved through the corridor behind the door cautiously.
    Qin-Dar had said there were no traps in the floor, but the wave of evil he had felt as the door opened set his senses jangling and he wasn’t about to chance anything, least of all Julissa’s well-being.
    The gems had stopped flickering the moment he’d opened the door and their rainbow glow illuminated the dimly lit passage. It also lessened the fear that Julissa was feeling.
    “Do you know how you will go?” Joran asked Qin-Dar softly.
    She shook her head.
    “No. It is not our way to ask that of the gods, just in case the knowledge stops us from completing something important to Quargard.”
    Julissa and Virrinel tried to ignore the conversation. Both of them were uneasy enough, without the morbidity of discussing the cleric’s impending death. Another door barred their way, it’s heavily blackened wood and cast iron bracing formed into figures which squirmed and writhed in agony or ecstasy.
    Julissa shuddered.
    “I wouldn’t like to meet the artist that came up with that design.”
    “I doubt you’d be able to. He was probably sacrificed after he finished,” Joran said as he pushed the door open.
    A wave of black-tinged mist boiled out of the room beyond, over their feet and Qin-Dar gasped. “’Tis a temple to the Dark Deities. Much bloodshed and evil has happened in this room.” She