Nikolas and the others made for Hearthglen, one of the few cities of Lordaeron that had remained unscathed by the Scourge’s advance, where they would find what remained of the Darrowshire defenders at Hearthglen. On the journey, Carlin Redpath, one of the defenders and brother to the fallen captain Joseph, brought Nikolas and his companions up to speed on the Scourge and the war to defend Lordaeron. Nikolas realized that his father might suffer a similar fate, and was heartbroken knowing it was too late to return, for the Scourge had overrun the battlefield as they fled.
When he found them in Hearthglen, Nikolas told his mother and sister what had happened to Altus. They were devastated, feeling the same harrowing grief that Nikolas had rode with the entire way. On that ride, Nikolas had decided to try and lessen the pain of Altus’ death for his mother and sister. So he lied, telling them he and the others had managed to drive off the Scourge long enough to retrieve Altus’ body. He told them they had burned the body along the way and scattered the ashes over Darrowmere Lake. Though they felt bad for lying, Myrokos, Dobrin, Carlin and the others went along with the lie, feeling in their hearts they would possibly do the same were the roles reversed.
Naya and Katia remained at Hearthglen, supporting the war effort from there, while Nikolas and Myrokos acted as scouts for the Lordaeron defenders. Some months after the fall of Lordaeron, however, there suddenly came a lull in the Scourge’s advance. The undead advances slowed significantly. Nikolas would later learn that this happened for two reasons: the Scourge and their demon masters had suffered a crushing defeat in Kalimdor at the hands of an unlikely alliance between the Horde, those who had fled Lordaeron, and a race of elves native to the western continent. Because of the defeat, the Burning Legion’s control of the Lich King and the Scourge had waned, causing a complicated civil war. The Lich King wrested control of the Scourge away from the Legion, while some of the Undead created by the Scourge began fighting to claim their independence from the Lich King. The power struggle caused the Scourge to turn its intention inward and away from what remained of the northern nations, allowing the survivors of the war to begin rebuilding.
At this point in time, Nikolas’ relationship with his family began to be strained. In Hearthglen, Naya and Katia- still grieving over Altus- had joined a group called the Scarlet Crusade. This body of zealots, comprised of Lordaeron Survivors, had the singular mission of wiping the Scourge and all other Undead from the face of the land. Their fanaticism in reaching that goal reached extreme measures, to the point of questioning the “living/undead” status of every person not of their ranks. The Scarlet Crusade was merciless in its persecution of the Undead, to the point of labeling anyone who would not join or support the Crusade as a “sympathizer” of the Undead. So bitter was the hatred of Naya and Katia toward the Scourge that they were easily captivated and taken in by the spirited and zealous preaching of the Crusade’s leaders.
Nikolas was less sure about the Scarlet Crusade. While he certainly felt strongly that the Scourge must be fought, he could not share the same extreme views and methods of the Crusade. On one visit to Hearthglen, when he expressed his concern to Naya, he was surprised when she got angry and accused him of not fully understanding the nature of the Scourge. She said Nikolas hadn’t been around when they had started to invade and slaughter Lordaeron, so he couldn’t possibly understand the threat as well as the other survivors. She said he had been too busy playing “troll conqueror” in the woods to pay attention to the world outside the mountains, so he couldn’t ever have the same feeling of justice or grief that the others had. Her purpose (and that of the Scarlet Crusade) was to visit destruction on the Scourge for what they had done to their homes and families; Naya intended to take her revenge on the Undead for the death of her husband.
Nikolas asked her if she shared the sentiment about those who wouldn’t join the Crusade, if she felt he was a “sympathizer.” She told him she knew he wasn’t, but that if he wasn’t going to help the Crusade, he’d be better off leaving, for there were some who wouldn’t like his cool attitude toward the Crusade. He bid Naya farewell, promising to come and visit. She asked what he would do. He told her simply that he would seek to find his place in the world. With a kiss and a hug, Nikolas left his mother in Hearthglen, not to see her for several years.
Katia rode with Nikolas to the edge of Hearthglen. They talked, and Nikolas learned that Katia saw things in much the same way as Naya did. Katia felt it was her duty as a bearer of the Light to destroy that which was unholy and destructive to the Light. Nikolas felt she was betraying the Light in her methods, but kept that to himself for the sake of their relationship. He bid her farewell also, telling her that should she or Naya wish to see him, they should send a message to Quel’Danil- he wouldn’t always be there, he felt, but they would know where to reach him. With that, Nikolas turned away from his family and returned to the Hinterlands, to Aerie Peak and Quel’Danil, the only places which he could call home.
No comments:
Post a Comment