Monday September 15, Gonen's Bridge
"Leave it for the torches, lads, and make haste for Gonen!"
Cruniac's words soon spread through the entire camp, and men began hurrying in
all directions. Moments before, the runner sent to warn Tallow had returned,
only to tell us that Tallow, along with every other village and town along the
northern border of Forest Heart, had been ravaged by the undead. Even worse, the
enemy is amassing a huge army less than a day's march from here. Cruniac
believes they are coming to recapture the keep.
The commander has sent me and a group of Dwarves ahead of our main force to
"stuff Gonen like a turkey." I was unsure of his meaning until we reached
Gonen's Bridge and the Dwarves began to load the bridge with satchel charges.
Apparently he plans to destroy the bridge behind us once we are all across, to
make pursuit more difficult.
Cruniac and some other men stayed behind to put the keep to the torch, thus
preventing it from falling back into the hands of the enemy. As we began our
ascent into the foothills of the Cloudspine, I turned back and saw the blaze well
under way. And that is when I noticed movement around the keep.
I thought I knew what fear was, or that I had known fear. I was wrong. This
night I have experienced true fear. The army of the Dark is upon us and it has
no end. They march toward us, shoulder to shoulder, for as far as the eye can
see. The very earth must be crying out at the damnable weight of them.