When the night finally passed and the Paladins emerged from their tents, Rhonin woke up as well.
Seeing the exhausted faces of Aaron and Vereesa, the red-haired mage breathed a sigh of relief. Things did not look too bad.
"Aaron, I'm glad to see you again. I nearly died in that old Black Dragonflight's jaws." With Aaron's help, Rhonin sat up, looking as though he had narrowly escaped death. "At least I finally made it back. I'm starving. Do you have anything to eat?"
But before Aaron could get up to fetch anything, a group of Paladins gathered around them. Duncan, at their head, muttered, "This fellow's finally awake. Hey, wizard, tell us exactly what happened to you."
Rhonin opened his mouth but said nothing. Aaron forced his sleepless body to stand and said, "Sir Duncan, I think, in the name of the Holy Light's justice, we should let Rhonin eat something before questioning him in detail."
"All right, but he'll have to answer while he eats. I don't have time to wait for him to finish." Duncan muttered this, then ordered a Paladin to hand Rhonin a piece of field ration.
Aaron instinctively felt that such hard food was unsuitable for someone who looked as weak as Rhonin. But seeing Rhonin enjoy the bland rations and the drinking water another Paladin offered him as though they were fine food and wine, Aaron decided there was probably no need to interfere.
Sir Duncan looked at Rhonin sternly and asked, "Mage, I'd like you to begin by telling us what happened last night. Although there were no casualties, I believe that was thanks to Aaron and had nothing to do with you."
Rhonin remembered that when Deathwing seized him last night, a guard besides Aaron had approached him on the wall. He had thought that knight would not survive, yet he had come through unharmed. That must indeed have been Aaron's doing.
At that thought, Rhonin gave Aaron a grateful smile. In his eyes, this young Paladin was truly an impressive figure.
Under those circumstances, Aaron had not only placed protection on Rhonin himself but also protected the Paladin beside him. His performance had already been outstanding. As for failing to keep Rhonin safe... Deathwing had acted in person, after all. Aaron could hardly have killed that old Black Dragonflight single-handedly, could he?
Rhonin looked straight at Duncan's gloomy face and said, "I'll tell you everything I know, though there isn't much I can tell you. I was indeed standing on the wall, but I didn't cause that disaster. I only heard an explosion, and then the wall began to collapse. One of your guards had the misfortune to fall. I'm very grateful that my escort managed to save that poor man."
Duncan stroked his sparse gray hair and said, "But someone saw you casting a spell. That poor boy tried to ask what you were doing, but you refused to answer."
Rhonin took a bite of his rations and said, "Sir knight, I was only preparing a voice transmission spell. Aaron can vouch for me."
"Sir Duncan, I believe I already told you that last night?" Aaron frowned, not understanding why Duncan kept pursuing the matter.
"Sir Aaron, please remain silent for now. Mage, tell me, whom were you planning to contact last night?"
"I..." Rhonin hesitated, then said, "I wanted to contact Krasus, an Archmage of Dalaran. He was the one who sent me to Khaz Modan to monitor the Orcs' movements."
"Very good. That matches what Sir Aaron said last night. I'll believe you for now." Duncan nodded, then warned him, "Mage, you'd better not let me catch you hiding anything. We need to get you to Hasic and put you aboard a ship as soon as possible. You'd better recover quickly. We leave in an hour."
Seeing Rhonin breathe a sigh of relief, Aaron relaxed as well. Whatever else, the old knight had at least stopped hounding Rhonin. Still, Rhonin did owe him thanks. Had he not saved that poor Paladin, Rhonin would probably have had a much harder time getting through this.
"Rhonin, are you all right now?" Vereesa asked.
With Aaron's support, Rhonin stood up and stretched his limbs. "Thanks to Aaron's Holy Light spells, I feel fairly well. I just don't know whether I can still ride a horse."
Aaron reached out and took hold of Rhonin. "A responsible mercenary doesn't put his employer in danger. Leave the rest to me."
Aaron said this because he had discovered that a new mount icon had lit up in his mount collection, and this mount could carry a passenger.
Aaron could not help feeling grateful for how considerate the book in his mind was. It was practically handing him a pillow just as he was getting sleepy.
When the Paladins had taken down their tents and were preparing to set off, everyone saw the Chauffeured Chopper Aaron had summoned.
At Aaron's request, two sturdy Paladins lifted Rhonin into the sidecar. Sitting in the cramped compartment, Rhonin kept muttering, "What exactly is this thing? And Aaron, where were you keeping it before?"
Aaron thought for a moment, then patted the little pouch at his waist. Without explaining further, he merely told Rhonin to hold tightly to the edge of the sidecar and take care not to get bounced out.
To be honest, riding a motorcycle through a place like Hillsbrad, with its predominantly hilly terrain, was hardly a pleasant experience. Never mind Rhonin, who had been carried off by Deathwing-even Aaron felt the urge to throw up his breakfast.
To distract himself and keep from vomiting, Rhonin chattered nonstop in the sidecar. "Aaron, you know what? When that old Black Dragonflight carried me off, I almost thought I was going to die. Some bastards in Dalaran said I should make Deathwing choke to death on me. Those fellows clearly haven't seen Deathwing with their own eyes. With his size, how could I possibly choke him?"
Although Aaron was concentrating on the terrain, trying to find smoother ground, he still heard Rhonin's chatter and could not help giving the red-haired mage a surprised glance.
Aaron had already noticed it earlier, but now it seemed that after this brush with death, Rhonin's former, unmistakably gloomy air had been swept away. Instead, he now gave Aaron a vaguely familiar feeling-one look confirmed it: he was definitely a goofball.
But Rhonin clearly did not notice Aaron's odd look. Evidently, he was only using this method to ease his discomfort. "Let me tell you, everyone in Dalaran thought Deathwing was dead before, but now he's shown up again. That proves those Archmages are completely unreliable. If you ask me, you can't confirm that dragon is dead until you've blasted it to bits with Fireball."
"I say, mage, could you be quiet for a moment?" Clearly, Aaron was not the only one who wanted the endlessly chattering Rhonin to shut up. Duncan, who had been riding alongside them all along, could not help speaking up.
"Old man, I didn't ask you to follow me. If you don't want to hear me talk, move farther away. You're the one insisting on sticking beside me." It seemed that even without his gloomy air, Rhonin still held quite a grudge against Sir Duncan.
Clearly no good at verbal sparring, Sir Duncan muttered that he would not argue with an injured man and silently urged his mount away from the two of them. Out of earshot, out of mind.
As the party approached Hasic, most of them noticed something amiss: apart from the occasional birdsong, there were no sounds from any other living creatures around them. Once Rhonin noticed something was wrong and stopped talking, the feeling became even more pronounced.
Duncan said to Vereesa, "My lady, we've clearly run into trouble. Something may have happened up ahead."
Vereesa replied, "Perhaps we're simply being oversensitive."
But even Aaron could hear how forced Vereesa's words were. Duncan ordered everyone to rest for a while. Rhonin kept glancing toward Hasic, and Aaron could only reassure him not to worry.
If something really had happened to Hasic, rushing there would do them no good. They might as well pray that Hasic was safe and sound, though judging by the present circumstances, something must have happened there. There were not even any merchant caravans or travelers coming and going along the main road. That was clearly wrong.