Read Online The Harp of Aleth by Kira Morgana - Free Book Online Page A

back at the mine camp that it wasn’t a good route, remember?”
    “Hush! I cannot hear them,” Virrinel growled.
    Qin-Dar giggled. “You can’t hear them because they are not speaking, Virrinel.”
    “What are they doing?” the autochthons whiskers stiffened. “It sounds like they’re fighting.” He went to push the door open, caution forgotten in his curiosity.
    Qin-Dar laid a restraining hand on the feline champion’s arm.
    “They aren’t fighting; quite the opposite in fact.”
    Julissa looked at the cleric who smiled, and then Julissa blushed and giggled.
    “They aren’t? In the middle of the Treasure room?”
    Joran laughed. “I knew that wealth could inspire attraction, but not to that extent!”
    Virrinel backed away from the door.
    “Oh, but who in the world from a dungeon would be doing that with her?”
    “What should we do now? I need to search the room for the harp, but I don’t want to disturb Tavia,” Julissa said. “Every girl needs her privacy after all.”
    “She could be under a spell,” Virrinel growled. “What is wrong with you, Julissa? We ought to just charge in there!”
    Julissa shrugged.
    “I don’t know. I’m not all that bothered for some reason. Besides, she must trust whoever she is with, which means that she is in no immediate danger. I am more concerned with finding the Harp.”
    “I can feel magic being worked; however it isn’t being directed at Tavia and it’s too general to be dangerous to us. Whoever she is with, she is with him voluntarily.” Qin-Dar smiled. “It is not our place to interfere.”
    Joran and Virrinel exchanged irritated looks and would have argued further, but a blast of air as Sul appeared beside Qin-Dar interrupted them.
    “What? You haven’t got the harp yet? Lady Keiliare says that you have very little time left.” The wind spirit blew Julissa’s plaits around in annoyance. “I can feel the harp near here. It’s either in this room or within two rooms either side of this one.”
    Julissa pounced on the information. “Can you tell us which one?”
    Sul frowned and turned from side to side.
    “I cannot tell exactly where, but I can tell you that it’s to the right of this door.” She smiled brightly. “You do know that the gems in Virrinel’s sword will react to the harp’s presence? The harp has hundreds of blessed gems all over it, so the chances are, the closer you get to the harp, the more the gems will react. I’ll see you soon!” She disappeared with a swirl of air that brought dust flying from the elaborate sconces of Gremlin heads on the walls.
    Virrinel looked down at his sword. The rainbow coloured gems were pulsing softly.
    “Why didn’t the goddess tell us that earlier? It could have saved a lot of difficulties while we were planning this incursion.”
    “Who can say why the Deities do anything?” Qin-Dar raised an eyebrow. “Especially the Three. They are the flightiest of all those of Light.”
    “Never mind that. Let’s get in there and get the Harp.” Julissa’s mood had been lifted by the spirit’s show and she was now eager to get on with the quest again.
    “What about Tavia?” Joran looked at the bard. “She was rather busy in there remember?”
    Virrinel listened for a moment.
    “It’s quiet now. I can’t hear any voices…or anything else other than the creatures in there.”
    “We’ll chance it.” Julissa pushed the door open carefully and peered inside.
    * * *
    The Gremlins on the other side of the room ignored the antics of the two humans. Their orders were to harvest the seemingly endless seam of gems in the wall and as the good gremlins they were, they followed orders to the letter.
    One gremlin however, paused in his task of grading the gems to watch them. Eorgh had been spawned with a higher intelligence than his fellow Gremlins, which made him ideal leadership material in the new Custodian’s view. She’d given him very specific instructions regarding the surveillance of the