A Thirst for Vengeance (The Ashes Saga, Volume 1) by Edward M. Knight Read Free Book Online Page A

darkness out.
    Little did they know that darkness had been lurking within them the whole time.
    Perhaps things would have been different if Vontas had been the firstborn. Perhaps his thirst for power would have been quenched when he inherited the crown.
    But that is not the story that is told today.
    Perhaps things would have been different if Vontas had been the second son. Perhaps his thirst for power would have been quenched had he inherited command of the city watch.
    But that is not the story that is told today.
    For Vontas was the third. Like I, he inherited nothing.
    His hatred for Rel’ghar took hold when he and his brothers were still children. His father came into their room and sat them down after they had all turned of age. He told them that Lagon, the oldest, would become King. He told them that Avery, the quickest, would become Commander. And he told them that Vontas, the weakest, would become whoever his brother the king commanded him to be.
    That awoke a furious sense of injustice within Vontas. Even as his brothers laughed and told him he would rule with them side by side, he seethed. He seethed with the pure hatred only possible in a spurned ten-year-old boy.
    He vowed to himself, that day, that he would kill Lagon and Avery before they inherited rule.
    But the darkness had not yet consumed the entirety of Vontas’s soul. There was good in him, too. Every time he thought to strike, guilt and remorse stopped him.
    Vontas grew into a shell of the man he could have been. He distanced himself from his peers. His inability to act ate away at him as he aged. He hated himself for his cowardice.
    His father died the year Vontas turned twenty-five. Lagon inherited the crown. And though Vontas hated Lagon, he was still too frightened to do anything.
    Vontas’s loathing poisoned his mind. He stayed in his rooms, coming out to see the sun only once a year. He plotted ways to overthrow his brothers as quickly as he discarded them. He spoke to no one. He slept alone.
    The only bright spot in his life was the maiden Isabella. She was half his age. He watched her every morning from the window of his chambers as she woke early and helped her father prepare the smithy.
    Perhaps if he had gone out and said a word, Isabella’s kindness would have subdued the darkness in his heart.
    But that is not the story that is told today.
    No. Instead, Vontas watched as his brother, Avery, greeted the girl every morning. When she turned fourteen, Avery began courting her. They were married within the year.
    The morning of their wedding day, as Isabella was woken up and carried away by her bridesmaids, she looked up at Vontas’s window for the first time. Vontas froze as their eyes met. Isabella offered him a shy, sad smile that meant so many things that cannot be described in mere words.
    That smile, and the promise of seeing it again, was what finally propelled Vontas to action.
    Vontas knew that, if he left the city, he could not return. His true nature would be revealed. But that did not bar him from communicating with those outside.
    That night, when the moon was hidden by the clouds, Vontas climbed the city walls. Seeing his brother was the excuse he used for coming up there. In truth, he had written a letter that described Rel'ghar’s greatest weakness:
    Rel'ghar was not built on magic alone. It owed half its stature to great architectural feats. It was a marvel that showcased the ingenuity of man. A series of aqueducts fed the city water from the highest mountains. They did not run straight into Rel’ghar, but instead stopped some leagues off, where they seemed to have simply collapsed. Water poured over the edge into a deep crater, never to be seen again.
    That drop off was part of the design. Underground pipes caught the escaping water and carried it the rest of the way to the city.
    None could suspect the secret of the aqueducts or their connection to Rel'ghar. To passersby, they looked like ancient ruins.
    But Vontas knew