The New Age Has Dawned - Part 2

As for Lord Karock Long-night, he and the rest of the Long-night family have been well since the end of the Gold Crusade.

While Lord Karock sustained some bad wounds at Strangúld, his life was never truly in danger and, like his father before him, quickly became recognised as a new hero, someone to help usher in the new age for our people, known for his skill in battle, his modesty and his compassion.

As for that last one, well, people’s views of him became even more positive following what happened to Lord Tarth Star-forged.

Lord Tarth and his family were scorned and hated in the city for many months following the Gold Crusade, even after Tarth had almost been killed on the battlefield at Strangúld and, no matter what he did, it seemed the general populace’s disliking for the Star-forged family wasn’t going away anytime soon.

Out of his own pockets, he gave as much money as he could to the survivors and their families, so that they could live a better life, but, even though some appreciated the gesture, many more started scolding him, saying things like, “It’s all well and good that the survivors don’t suffer, but what about the rest of them? What do they get ‘cause of your dad? They don’t even get a grave.”

Further, once King Varthan was sworn in, he gave almost thrice as much money to the survivors as part of his way of paying for High King Torvar’s debt to them, and that of Taigstun by extension.

[He assured Lord Star-forged and the people that it wasn’t to spite him; it was to help the survivors]

[I’m sure that you would imagine more people would’ve been outraged with the High King rather than Taigstun following the survivor’s return from the Gold Crusade; however, several gossips and spies overheard the survivors curse and mutter about Taigstun’s plan and people started saying it was all Taigstun’s fault that the Gold Crusade failed]

Lord Tarth was, understandably, at the end of his rope; he was trying everything he could to improve his family’s reputation with the people, doing as much charity and volunteer work as he could, and giving away more of his wealth to those who desperately needed it (Like those in the slums).

Then, during one of Lord Tarth’s weekly outings to help build houses for the poor, Lord Karock saw him and offered to help.

Lord Tarth, his guards, the builders and all the bystanders who saw that were beyond surprised.

I wasn’t there and the news shocked me just as much when I first heard it.

I wonder if some of them expected Lord Tarth to refuse the help, spit in the face of Lord Karock and tell him to (Forgive my language, Ancestors) ‘Fuck off!’ like his father would to Lord Dorvan.

However, Lord Tarth smiled and said he would appreciate the help.

Lord Karock changed out of his fancy clothes into builder’s scrubs and got to work, doing whatever it was Lord Tarth needed and asked of him.

As they worked, Lord Karock and Tarth talked happily with one another about what was going on in their lives and even talked cheerily about the Great Defence of Strangúld.

As I understand it, things became tense when Lord Tarth whispered something along the lines of: ‘If only our fathers could see us now.’

Lord Karock smiled sadly and said that they wouldn’t believe it, although Lord Karock remembers his Uncle Taigstun very well from when he was younger and never knew what caused the two to fall out with one another.

“From what my father told me, it began at the Slaughter of Slayers and, um…”

“Lord Tarth?”

“My lord, forgive me if I come across as trying to disgrace your father’s legacy.”

Lord Karock smiled brightly and reassured him to continue.

“My father told me that Lord Dorvan had spread a…nasty rumour about him…”

“A rumour?”

“Yes, my lord…” Lord Tarth sighed heavily. “My father said that Lord Dorvan had told people, while drunk, that my father was a coward and incompetent as a warrior…which is why he got his wounds.”

At first, Lord Karock said nothing and then, after some tense, silent moments, said, “I don’t know how true that is, but…I wouldn’t be surprised. My father was…changed after that battle…even though he had told me at first that he owed Lord Taigstun his life. I never did get to ask Uncle Taigstun about that day.”

While the mood was bitter-sweet, the two lords continued working through the day and the conversation became happier again.

Even though their fathers would’ve found it unthinkable, following that day, the two became good friends and I’ve heard whispers of potential marriage between their siblings.

Whenever Lord Tarth was doing his volunteer or charity work, Lord Karock would come to help him out.

Eventually, the hatred people had for the Star-forged family faded and, while many still blamed Taigstun to this day for the failure of the Gold Crusade (Whether it was entirely his fault or not, I’m not sure), they forgave the family for Taigstun’s sins.

“If Lord Karock can forgive the son of his father’s worst enemy, then why can’t we?” became the general attitude towards Lord Tarth and the Star-forged family, although I doubt his family will ever be able to truly wipe that stain off their family’s record no matter how many thousands of years pass.

Maybe not even until the end of time.

As for the one thousand survivors, most of them are still alive which is the best new that I could have hoped for, all things given, but I worry for them, especially after, well…I’ll talk about that later.

The Gold Tablet on the Wall of the Fallen has around 4000 names inscribed onto it so far and I’ve heard that it could take almost another hundred years until all of the names of the Gold Crusade’s dead are written onto it.

Despite the tremendous task before them, the builders, as hateful as they are towards the Gold Crusade and what it represents, haven’t gotten lazy or careless; they haven’t left any spaces, skipped over any names and are intent on writing all 299,000 names of the fallen onto the Tablet.

Though we are all angered and upset by the Gold Crusade, we will not allow disrespect to fall upon those who lost their lives fighting for that foolish dream.

King Varthan personally reassured the council and the public that the Golden Tablet will be completed, whether in his lifetime or in his descendants.

One of the most tragic tales about the Gold Crusade’s survivors, however, belongs to Sir Euwan.

After surviving the retreat from Anvil, combined with the despair of losing his liege lord and close friend, and after fighting and living through the Great Defence of Strangúld, Sir Euwan was a changed man, to put it very lightly.

He said very little, ate very little, drank very little, and moved very little, shuffling down the streets as he walked at a pace of an elderly gentlemen, and rarely looked anyone in the eye.

Despite the pleading of Lord Rarock, Sir Euwan left his position as a sworn knight to House Long-night and instead moved into a small shack in a rundown part of the city.

Even though the area was known for its high crime rate and filled with cutthroats, thugs and thieves, no one dared to touch him; whether that was out of respect for what he’d done or fear of his battle prowess, I’ll never know.

Before I had sought after him to interview him on the events of the Gold Crusade, he had given me Lord Dorvan Long-night’s journal and said that he hoped I could use it in this book, a debt which I will never be able to pay, and it was difficult to talk with him.

I was scared that saying anything to him about the Gold Crusade would cause him to suffer a panic attack as I had heard rumours of him doing so, even at it being mentioned in passing, but he seemed disconnected almost when I spoke to him about it.

While I wish I could write that he got better, I cannot lie.

The day after my last interview with Sir Euwan, he went missing.

No one had seen him exit his house in days and, fearing for his safety, neighbours had told the guards who had come immediately and broke down the locked front door into his house.

They found him…inside.

Hanging from a rope…wrapped around his neck.

He hadn’t left a note.

When I heard about it, I was devastated and…I can’t help but blame myself for it.

I started wondering if I had caused him to become more and more depressed to the point that he couldn’t handle it anymore and with his oldest friends dead and no wife or children to keep him going, he couldn’t do it.

I had intended to publish this book sooner but I couldn’t do it, not after what happened to Sir Euwan.

It felt wrong to.

A few of the other survivors of the Gold Crusade had also taken their own lives, but most of them had tried to return to the lives they had before, finding their place in the world with other people and taking strength from them to support themselves.

For that, I’m extremely grateful to my Ancestors.

Closing Thoughts

It took me 2 years to decide to publish this book.

I had finished writing it around six months after the Gold Crusade, but, after Sir Euwan’s suicide, it made me reconsider releasing this book despite the effort I had put in and the intentions I had behind writing it.

At first, when I first envisioned this book, I had wanted to tell the glory of the Gold Crusade and the shining new age that it brought the Dwarves into.

Instead, I wrote this book instead, documenting our greatest failure in our people’s history and trying to piece together what happened to those who lost their lives in the foolish campaign.

By the Ancestors, I’d never have even been able to start writing this book had it not been for the efforts of Sir Euwan and the other survivors, so I cannot help but be reluctant to put their nightmare on public display in the Archive for anyone to see.

However, I believe that in order to properly honour their sacrifice and the horrors that they brought home with them and have to live with until the day they die, I must publish this book, even if it means opening up old wounds for the survivors.

My hope, even now, 2 years after I started writing in this book, is as follows.

To the person reading this book, whether you are a commoner or a noble, I implore you: please, never, ever try to repeat this part of our history.

Never, ever, attempt a campaign as foolish and as costly as the Gold Crusade.

Leave our lost homes as just that; lost to us, until the end of time.

Spare your people from that cruel fate that I and my generation have lived through.

As much as it might boil your blood to think on, or as much as it might upset our Ancestors, I beg of you, do not ever try to take the fight past Strangúld again.

Protect the Dwarven Kingdom and its remaining cities; do not lose anymore.

Let the Gold Crusade be our last, final, and greatest, mistake in our history and may something like it never, ever happen again.

Apprentice Scholar Joseph

Written: 11th of Fevra (The 3rd Month of the Year 207 of the 2nd Age)