The Harp of Aleth (8 page)

Tavia groaned. “I am the Commander of the Royal Bodyguard. I should be there, not here!”

“The Dark Lord has other plans for your person, Tavvie.” Hezan stepped in closer to her. “You are the first Paladin of Slaanesh for over a millennia and My Lord would have you join him, in a position of honour.” He grabbed her hips and pulled her into him. “I want you to join him,” he whispered before he kissed her.

* * *

Virrinel growled. “There are creatures in the treasure room, I can smell them.” He whirled on Joran. “You said that all the creatures responded to the alarm trap!”

The blood mage shrugged.

“I didn’t. You were the one that said you hadn’t seen any other creatures go past.”

“Would you two stop that? I can hear voices,” Qin-Dar snapped.

Virrinel concentrated.

“It’s Tavia and a male voice that I do not recognise.”

Julissa frowned. “How did she get from the Guard Post to here without us seeing her?”

“There’s a tunnel and another room between there and here,” Joran said. “You wanted to go through the training room, so I didn’t mention them.”

Julissa rounded on the mage.

“Next time tell me everything you find, not just what you think I want to know.”

Joran shook his head.

“We decided 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 couple who were currently wrestling with each other.

Eorgh shifted his position slightly so he could observe the two without stopping work for too long, then he continued grading, his sensitive fingers telling him which gems were correctly cut, allowing his eyes to record the scene in front of him.

In the Custodian’s Quarters, Lady Lych gazed at her mirror, watching the scene through Eorgh’s eyes with glee.

“She’ll be ours soon enough,” she murmured. “Eorgh, when they have finished, tell Hezan to bring the Cavalier to the Crystal Room, then remain in the Treasury to keep an eye on the party that enters after the couple leaves.”

A pulse of green light in the corner of the glass told her that Eorgh had acknowledged his instructions. With a snap of her elegant fingertips, Lady Lych ended the observation spell.

“That seems to be going successfully.” She adjusted the neckline of her silk robe. “Now I need to speak to the Master before I carry on with my plan.”

The mirror shimmered with a red mist before resolving into the hooded gaze of the Aracan Katuvana.

“You required my presence, Lady Lych?”
the Aracan Katuvana’s deep voice in her public mind sent shivers of pleasure through the Lych Mistress’s curvaceous form.

Yet it is nothing compared to that which the voice of the Jar gives me. I wonder who is inside the ceramic.
She shook the thought away, even though it was held in the deepest part of her private mind.
I wouldn’t want him to think I was betraying him.
She smiled as the Aracan Katuvana’s lust pulsed through her senses.
At least I know that the Master desires me; the Jar tells me nothing of its interest in me.

“I wished to update you, my sweetest Lord, on the progress of our trap. The Cavalier is caught within and will soon be ours. Hezan has done his job masterfully.”

“Excellent. What of the Hero and her party?”

“They wait outside the treasure room. Julissa seems reluctant to enter while Hezan entertains the cavalier; she always was a prude.” Lady Lych considered the problem for a moment. “I think I may have a way of securing them, if that is what you wish.”

“My plans require that they survive, Lady Lych. The Cavalier will be more use to me if she is allowed to return to the High King. The Harp is of no consequence in the overall scheme and I do not wish to advertise the presence of the dungeon as anything more than a neutralised area.”

She bowed low, allowing him to stare at her breasts for a while before she raised herself again.

“As my sweet Lord wishes. What of the wellbeing of this dungeon?”

“Allow them to escape before you restore Wortarin. He has suffered enough in his years of confinement.”

“Mercy, Lord?” Lady Lych felt a little surprised. “Is that not dangerous?”

“He will serve me more loyally if I restore him, than if I destroy him. Chase the party away once you have the cavalier on her way back to Fron.”

She nodded. “Very well, Lord. Shall I return to you?”

“Once you have set the dungeon to rights, yes. I look forward to your arrival.”
The Aracan Katuvana sent a stronger pulse of bliss through her and she gasped as her body tingled.

“Yes, my Lord.”

The image faded into red mist again and then returned to being a mirror. Lady
Lych considered utilising the tingling to release her frustrations, but decided against it and pushed it into the back of her mind.

“Task first, pleasure later,” she murmured.

* * *

Julissa stepped into the room, Virrinel at her shoulder.

“They seem to be ignoring us.”

“Gremlins are single minded; they concentrate on their jobs until they are disturbed…” Joran said as he followed with Qin-Dar.

“…so as long as we don’t attack them, they will leave us alone,” Qin-Dar finished for the mage and the pleased glance the two shared made Julissa grind her teeth in jealousy.

“Let’s find the Harp then. Virrinel, do a slow circuit of the room and see if you can 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.