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

better. He knew, and wrote of the weakness and cast his letter over the side of the wall, to be carried by the dark ocean of the night. He trusted those who hated Rel'ghar as much as he would discover the communication.
    Anxious months passed. Isabella moved to live with Avery after their wedding. Vontas never saw her again.
    Doubt grew in Vontas’s mind. Had he been specific enough? Had he trusted too much in chance?
    One night, he was awakened by a raven pecking at his window. He opened the glass and let the bird in. It had a message tied to one foot:
     
    Dear Friend,
    Tonight is the night we strike. We wish to thank you. At the hour of our moon’s peak, come to the place you spoke of. We will be waiting.
     
    Vontas ran. He ran to the gate where the underground pipes opened to bring water into Rel'ghar. There, he found a great beast cloaked in shadows.
    “Open this gate, and let my kin in,” the beast said. “Open this gate, and let your revenge be known.”
    The beast’s words shook Vontas. They were not spoken in the common tongue, or in any tongue he knew. Still, through some power of sorcery, he understood.
    Vontas threw open the gate and let in the army that would destroy the city.
    In minutes, screams pierced the night. Alarm bells rang. The city watchmen ran to their posts, seeking attackers past the walls, not within. They were slaughtered with their backs turned.
    The city burned. It burned so bright that the night was cast away by artificial day.
    The enemy had a wizard in their ranks, and he hated all witches. Rel'ghar burned from the flames sprouted of the mouth of the dark creature the wizard had summoned out of hell.
    By daybreak, none was left alive save Vontas. The culmination of all his desires had come. He stood proudly over the carcass of his brother, the King. He stood proud of the burned remains of his brother, the Commander. And he wept when he found the body of the maiden Isabella.
    He wept from joy, not grief. If he could not have her, his hateful heart told him that no other should.
    Vontas stood alone as the sole survivor of Rel'ghar, and his weeping transformed into laughter
    But the wizard saw the man’s true nature. The wizard, like Angelica, could see into the hearts of men. And he saw that Vontas still ached for one thing.
    Vontas wanted to be ruler.
    He struck Vontas from behind and knocked him down. The wizard and his army had no use for the ruins of Rel'ghar. They had eliminated the spawn of witches. That had been their only purpose.
    And Vontas, however unfaithful to the city, was one of Rel'ghar’s own.
    The armies collected all the gold of Rel'ghar and cast it on the ground. They erected a cross on top, and nailed Vontas’s hands and feet to it. The man screamed. His blood poured down and tainted every coin.
    “You wanted power,” the wizard said, “and now you have it. You wanted revenge, and now you have it. You wanted the city to yourself, and now you have that, too.”
    The wizard turned to the beast beside him and whispered in his ear. A great gout of flame erupted from the beast’s monstrous jaws. It ignited the gold at Vontas’s feet.
    The wizard cast two spells that day. The first was a spell that would keep Vontas alive until the last ounce of gold had been removed from the city. The second let the beast’s fire burn for all eternity.
    Those were the last Great Spells that this world has seen.
    With the witches and their offspring dead or dying, the wizard had no cause to remain in this world. He took his armies and his beast and disappeared forever.
    Vontas’s screams endured for two hundred years. They echoed as his blood mixed with the melting gold beneath him.
    People all over the world heard of Rel'ghar’s downfall. They heard of Vontas’s betrayal. And they heard of the treasure burning at his feet. They sought it out.
    When the last piece of gold was taken from the ruins of Rel'ghar, the curse was lifted. And to this day, when mothers warn their