The Spirit of Revenge Read Online Free PDF

behind.
    The city fell to its knees, every brick and stone of its structures trembling to the earth, every building crashing about them.
    They rode on through the damned city, the fire on both sides of the road now encompassing them, flames engorging the streets below.
    They crossed the town square, almost entirely consumed in fire. Buildings tumbled to the earth and plummeted around the soldiers, explosions of flame and debris shaking the very air.
    Fireballs fell from the buildings and crashed down around the soldiers as they jerked their horses aside in an attempt to escape the explosions. Several met their mark and fell upon screaming men, crushing horse and rider under instant death.
    The soldiers rode desperately onward, leaving behind their fallen brethren. Hordes of Arzecs still chased after them, heedless of the peril.
    A firestorm rained down upon them. Buildings tumbled into the masses, tossing scores of burning bodies with every collapsing structure. The Arzecs pushed on through the hellfire, bloodlust red as the flames in their eyes.
    The militia rode on in a desperate struggle to shake off their enemy. A large two-story building collapsed before them and crashed with a great explosion of debris. The debris shot through their formation and tore men from their mounts in a flash of fire.
    Cain and his friends spurred their horses into the fire and jumped over the burning rubble.
    The flames licked at their feet as they sailed overhead. Their horses cleared the fire and descended over the street, landing heavily in a cloud of ash. The few remaining soldiers continued through the flames and left the blazing building behind.
    At last, they burst out from the mouth of hell and came out into an unfamiliar world, devoid of flame and death, the endless plains stretching out before them under a silver veil of starlight.
    Andaurel withered and collapsed. Its final moments were crushed beneath the weight of every falling building. The cries of hundreds of Arzecs pierced the night as flame and debris descended over them, snuffing their bodies in the sand. The last of Andaurel’s buildings toppled to the ground and nothing remained now save a great pyre that seemingly bound across all the earth.
    The failed defenders of Andaurel tore their gaze from their home and flicked their reins. They rode away from the town that had consumed so many lives, yet somehow spared theirs.
    They had survived the battle and escaped with their lives, but they would live on with more than a few scars to haunt their lives forever.
    Their town was destroyed, nearly all of their fellow citizens put to the sword, their families and friends forever lost. Their blood now stained the streets of that which they died to save. They had given their lives in defense of their homes, but in the end, they lost both.

The Warrior’s Code
    T he sun crept slowly over the distant horizon, at last breaking the feeble dregs of night. The shadows fell from the lofty heavens and the sun’s rays blared down on the backs of thirty men.
    They rode throughout the night, no reprieve to ease their fatigue. The night’s ride and hours of fighting had taken its toll on the beleaguered soldiers. The men hung weary in their saddles, blood encrusted skin soaked with the sweat of the long ride.
    Cain and his friends whispered amongst themselves at the head of the formation, hesitant to break the grave silence. “How much longer?” Silas asked Aaron as loudly as he dared.
    “Dun Ara should be over the next few hills,” Aaron retorted.
    Silas looked out over the flat expanse of grass stretching out as far as they could see. “Uh, right,” he muttered to himself, “Over the next few hills…got it.”
    Silas turned to Joshua after a long silence and the two began whispering heatedly, their muffled voices breaking the hushed air. It was obvious to anyone within earshot of the two men to grasp what they were saying.
    A fierce exchange of whispered curses and threats, the