The Death of the Gold Crusade - Part 1

Date: 22nd of Gol (The 5th Month of the Year 204 of the 2nd Age)

I must keep my writing brief, for we arrive at Anvil in the morning, and we all need to get some rest.

If our forces are the first to arrive, then there’ll be a big battle tomorrow at the city and, if we’re not in our best form, we could lose.

Hoping for a good battle, the men are in good spirits, although some of them seem rather on edge.

I imagine that they’re concerned that, unlike the fight to retake Stone Shard where we had the full might of the Crusade with us, it’ll only be our detachment assaulting the city. Based on the past few battles, our detachment should be more than strong enough to take the city, even if they have the same number of soldiers as us.

Or perhaps we’ll be in luck and the High King and Taigstun’s forces will have reached the city before us and have already occupied it.

Ancestors, as much as I and the men could do with a good fight to keep our spirits high, it’d be much easier if the other armies had arrived ahead of us.

If they haven’t, then we will take back the city and begin setting up our encampment and fortifying the front. If the others have already arrived and taken back the city, then we can just spend all of our time fortifying the frontlines instead.

With any luck, and with our Ancestors blessings, we should be stationed at Anvil for at least a week, more than enough time to change the High King’s mind and set us on the right course for taking back our ancient homes.

Sir Euwan just informed me that the night watch has changed and that he himself is retiring for the evening.

I shall do the same.

Hmm, I wonder…

Were Lord Long-night’s men anxious about the battle in the morning or were they still on edge after Lord Long-night’s display from a few days before…if it even happened, that is.

Ancestors forgive me for being filled with such doubt and distrust for my own kin.

Captain Kethan can hardly claim to have an unbiased opinion, and I am not keen enough to be able to deduce when a man is lying to me just from what he says and how he acts, but Lord Long-night isn’t someone I can trust entirely either.

How am I going to be able to properly determine what happened at Anvil if I cannot trust a word that people tell me?

Perhaps I can trust the foot soldiers, the ones who couldn’t care less about the games played by the nobles, but even they have their loyalties.

No matter.

I have no choice but to trust them about what happened at Anvil.

Below, I will transcribe the final entry in Lord Dorvan Long-night’s personal journal that he made during the Gold Crusade, a book that he carried with him at all times, even when battle raged around him.

Lord Long-night, while I do not know how truthful your words are, thank you for writing this journal…and may the Ancestors watch over you and your kin, from this time, until the end of time.

Date: 23rd of Gol (The 5th Month of the Year 204 of the 2nd Age)

Today is yet another historical day for the Dwarven people.

Earlier this day, I and my forces arrived and found the city of Anvil already under siege by none other than High King Torvar’s own detachment, drawing all the goblin scum towards his lines, allowing us to charge into the city and hit them in the back.

It was a glorious slaughter!

The goblins, trapped between my men and the High King’s, never stood a chance.

They had already broken and began to rout against the High King’s army but, when they saw us at their rear, preventing their retreat, the goblins tried to scamper and climb up the walls, desperately trying to find any way to escape us.

By nature, goblins are quite skilled climbers and they can weasel their way out of almost anything, but our archers made short work of the keen climbers.

Soon enough, they were all dead.

While the scholars are still counting the number of vermin that died, they say that there are at least 20,000 of them, roughly the same number that we ran into at Stone Shard.

As for how many of our brothers died, the medics and scholars aren’t quite sure, although the hospital that we’ve set up has a few thousand wounded in it.

With our Ancestors blessings, only a handful of them will die of their wounds and the rest will be ready, and willing, to get back into fighting in the Crusade as soon as possible.

After the fighting was over, I, Lord Ahkvan and Sir Euwan went to greet the High King, blessing his arrival and expressing our gratitude that he had made it. Strangely, despite his negative attitude towards me the last time we spoke, he seemed rather happy and glad to see that we had made it.

I suppose, when it comes down to it, I and my men are members of the Gold Crusade, so of course he would be glad to see that we were all (mostly) still alive.

And, true to his word, the High King immediately ordered roughly a third of our men to start work on the fortifications near the tunnel to the lost city of Dark Hammer and the goblin infested territory beyond.

The rest of the men were to help move the goblin’s corpses into the tunnel the High King’s army had come from and to set up our encampment.

Quite a lot of work after a tiring battle, as easy of a fight as it was to win, and the men weren’t exactly overjoyed to start on such a long day of work.

I and the other lords assigned our men accordingly and I personally oversaw the fortifications with Lord Feather-fall, given our combined expertise and experience.

However, as we worked, my mind began to wander once more.

The goblins would have received word about the Gold Crusade’s approach from their kind that ran from Stone Shard, which would explain why the goblin town we came across had emptied its larders, but it wouldn’t explain why the goblins hadn’t even tried to set up proper barricades or defences facing the tunnels we were coming from.

An army of 20,000 goblins would’ve been able to have at least set up basic walls and spikes in all three tunnels before we arrived, and yet we found no evidence of them even trying to set up any defences before our arrival.

There was nothing in the tunnels, no walls or defences partially constructed and left abandoned in the city either.

Just…nothing.

Anxious, I sent for Sir Euwan and had him and a hundred of my men search the city for their food and supplies again.

An hour later, they came back to me and reported what I had feared.

It was exactly the same as what we found at the goblin town not a week ago.

When I spoke of this to Lord Feather-fall, he said he was too busy to discuss such things and kept working on the fortifications, saying that I was overthinking things. Then, jokingly, he said, “Maybe they were just as poorly prepared for this Crusade as we were.”

As much as I want that to be true, I couldn’t just stand still and not consider this line of thought at all.

So, after excusing myself from Lord Feather-fall, I went to find Lord Ahkvan who was helping set up the supply caches in the camp.

I asked to speak with him in private and told him what I was thinking, all while he nodded in deep thought.

“Strange for it to happen twice in a row like this,” he mumbled, stroking his beard. “No sign of the supplies from the town neither?”

“None,” I said.

“Hmm. If they ain’t here, then they could’ve taken the supplies deeper into their own territory, maybe storing the lot at Dark Hammer for the time being. Or maybe they’ve realised they can’t hold us back and are tryin’ to find a good place to?”

“Perhaps, but-”

“Dark Hammer is known in the ancient tales as ‘The Obsidian Castle’, an unbreakable fortress that could never be breached.” He grunted and spat to the side. “What a fine joke that turned out to be. If it’s still got its old fortifications, then it’d be a good place for the goblins to hold up in and resist us from.”

“But that would mean-”

He nodded. “They’d have to have a warlord with some intelligence leadin’ them. It’s unheard of.”

“Meaning that it’s not impossible then.”

“Even if they do, they’re gonna be tryin’ to defend against us, not attack us. They can’t beat us in an open fight and they know it. That’s why they’re takin’ their best supplies and runnin’ for it.” He smiled and patted my shoulder. “It’ll give us more time to convince the High King not to be Taigstun’s bitch, so don’t worry so much about it.”

I smiled and we both shared a small laugh, and we left it at that.

His words had reassured me as the evening began to set upon us.

The men fortifying and setting up the camp took a well-deserved rest and another chunk of the army took over their tasks.

However, I, Sir Euwan, Lord Ahkvan, Lord Quartz and Lord Feather-fall had been all enjoying a meal together, when something dawned upon me.

“Why are Taigstun’s men late?” I whispered, turning my gaze to the central tunnel at our rear.

“My lord?” Sir Euwan asked.

“My lords, do you remember when Taigstun and the High King showed us the map of the three tunnels to Anvil?” They all nodded or spoke up in agreement. “They were all roughly the same length, correct?”

Lord Ahkvan’s eyes narrowed and he said, “Aye, they were.”

“And all three detachments left for Anvil at almost the same time, yes?”

“They did, indeed,” Lord Feather-fall said.

“Then, why is it that our army and the High King’s forces arrived at Anvil less than an hour apart, yet Taigstun’s men haven’t reached the city?” They all raised their eyebrows at that and I clasped my hands together. “We’ve been here for more than 10 hours and yet, no word from Taigstun or his men. No scouts, no ram riders, no messengers, no…nothing from Taigstun”

“Perhaps they ran into more goblins than expected?” Lord Quartz offered. “Taigstun did say that his tunnel would, in theory, have the largest number of goblins in it.”

“And, my lords, let us not forget that Taigstun took with him a much larger host than either our force or the High King’s force,” Lord Feather-fall said. “It would take a lot longer for that army to arrive than our own.”

“My lords, forgive me, but…” Sir Euwan started to say, but he looked to one side and said nothing more.

“Sir Euwan, please, speak your mind,” I said reassuringly with a smile.

He nodded and then looked back to the table and said, “Wouldn’t Taigstun have taken that into account and pressed his men to march harder to make it here as soon as possible? As much as we may dislike him, he’s not a complete idiot and would understand that for all our men to arrive at Anvil at the same time, as he himself suggested, then he’d have to force his men to march harder and faster than our armies, especially because it would improve his reputation with the High King as well. So, I must agree with my lord that something could be wrong.”

No one at the table could offer up a counter argument or disagree with Sir Euwan’s thoughts and we all sat there for a few moments in silence.

“My lords, would any of you be willing to come with me right now and speak to the High King about this?” I asked.

I, Lord Ahkvan and Sir Euwan all went to the High King; Lord Quartz and Feather-fall politely refused as they had to organise the work ongoing in the camp for the night and day to come.

When we arrived at the High King’s tent, we were welcomed warmly and offered delicious food and ale which we gratefully accepted, despite having just eaten.

“So, my lords,” he began with a bright smile. “What can I do for you this fine evening?”

I and Lord Ahkvan took turns explaining what we had discussed before and the High King didn’t do, or say, anything.

All he did was sigh once we were done.

“Lord Long-night, are you attempting to dishonour my chosen commander by saying his lateness makes him incompetent?”

“Not at all, your majesty,” I swiftly denied, bowing my head. “I am concerned for the wellbeing of Lord Star-forged and his men, simply because it was he himself who said all three detachments should arrive at Anvil at the same time. For the person who suggested himself to be late makes me worried for him.”

The High King narrowed his eyes and stared at me, then at Lord Ahkvan. “Lord Ahkvan, do you feel the same as Lord Long-night?”

Lord Ahkvan turned to look the High King right in the eyes and firmly said, “I do, your majesty.”

The High King didn’t say anything for a short while and folded his arms, staring down at the table before him in deep thought.

“I had not thought anything of it, but…I am slightly worried for Lord Star-forged’s safety,” the High King said. “Dispatch three hundred ram riders to depart in the next ten minutes into the central tunnel and tell them that they’re to report back to us as soon as possible what is delaying them and where they are.”

We thanked the High King, bowed and left, and then I came back to my tent to write the day’s events down.

Never thought I’d say this, but I am somewhat worried about Taigstun and his men.

Hopefully, it’s 

That was the last entry in Lord Long-night’s journal.


Author's Note: (Wow, it took me much longer than I expected to post this on here. I'm so so sorry for the delay, but it's just that I've been working on 5/6 things all at once, and only 3 of those are related to other novels I'm planning to post on Honeyfeed in the future, so my apologies that this chapter has come as late as it has. I have some exciting things to announce soon, so please don't miss that!)