If you were with us yesterday, you know that the original story was lost as I was uploading the illustration. Well after thinking about it at work, I decided to go ahead and do it again. While not exactly a copy of my earlier verse, this i believe is better in that it is shorter and more to the point.lets see what you all think. I want to thank everyone for there kind words on the art. esp countess8 and photostar. I can always count on your input and I thank you. On with the show.... She rode all through the night to reach the abbey. But it was too late. All that greeted her upon her arrival was the charred bodies of those who had been so familiar, the people who loved her and raised her since she was a little girl. Brother Thomas and all the others were now dead. But with in the heap of bodies there was another who had been very dear to her: Peter. Her soul was wrecked in anguish at the blackened remains that lay before her. This had been the man to whom she had given her heart, and now he was dead. For over an hour she just laid there and cried, sure in the knowledge that no one on earth could grasp the depth of her pain. Ever since she could remember the monks had raised her. They taught her everything that they could to prepare her for the role that she would someday take upon herself. Besides the monks only Peter and the strange wizard Legrad knew her secret. Or so she thought. For now she more than suspected that King Hazzroot also knew. For among the ruins of the abbey, she spotted several dead strangers all dressed in the uniforms of the King’s Fire Guard. “He must know!” she said to flames that still burned on the alter. As if she herself was on fire, something sparked inside of her. With purpose, she took the sword that once belonged to her beloved. She caressed it in her hands. This sword once belonged to his father, and before that, to his father’s father. They all had served the true King of Arcona. They had all served her father. She bent her knees among the ashes and looked up into the dark crimson sky. “Lord, with all that is with in me I shall take vengeance upon the King. He has taken everything from me, and with this sword I swear that I will take his life. For my parents, the monks and for my dearest Peter. I will never love another man until I have taken my rightful place upon the throne of my ancestors and have restored peace my dearest Arcona. So swears Alyssa, daughter of the true King and true heir to his throne!”