No one had expected such violence to lurk beneath Kael'thas's seemingly gentle, refined exterior. Everyone present was startled by the High Elf prince's apparently rash action.
Although Kael'thas's action looked astonishing at first glance, it had to be said that, in a sense, his choice was quite appropriate for the situation before them.
Since they did not know whether the other side had set any traps behind the gate, they might as well destroy both the gate and any traps that might be there. Although this could lead to certain uncontrollable consequences, it was far better than advancing recklessly.
The gate toppled backward, stirring up dust all over the ground and making the onlookers at the entrance cough several times.
Once Kael'thas summoned a gust of wind to scatter the clouds of dust, everyone could see what lay beyond the gate.
It was a courtyard of modest size, and it looked unusually empty. Of course, emptiness was hardly a problem. Perhaps Lord Prestor simply liked an unobstructed view?
But the unusual feature of this courtyard was also very obvious: the hard stone paving that had originally covered it was utterly shattered. The paving in the center, in particular, looked as though something immensely heavy had rolled over it repeatedly. Even calling it shattered was no longer quite appropriate; powder would have been a better description.
Looking at the broken paving stones, Aaron understood. It seemed that the old Black Dragonflight had revealed his true form here, or part of it. Otherwise, it was hard to explain how the paving stones in this courtyard had been crushed so thoroughly.
"What happened here? Did someone fight in the courtyard?" As the person at the very front of the group, Kael'thas naturally noticed the courtyard's unusual condition as well. Unlike Aaron, he did not know that Lord Prestor was a disguise worn by Deathwing, that deranged old Black Dragonflight.
The first thought most people would have upon seeing the scene before them was probably concern that Lord Prestor might have been abducted. It was not impossible, after all. The lord's very existence had already stood in quite a few people's way.
Both the two members of Alterac's royal family who wanted to take the place of King Aiden, who was already under house arrest, and King Thoradin, who intended to carve off a piece of Alterac's territory, were worthy of suspicion. At least, that was how Uther saw it.
Although this commander of the Silver Hand, faithful to the Holy Light, had held himself to strict standards all his life, that did not mean he knew nothing of the undercurrents in the shadows. After all, piety did not mean stupidity.
"Leave that aside for now. Let's look inside." Uther strode in with several Silver Hand knights, while Arthas and the other children were instructed to stay at the very back and wait until they had confirmed it was safe inside before entering.
Although Arthas was somewhat dissatisfied, he could hardly defy Uther's wishes. Uther was his instructor, after all, and if he wanted to join the Silver Hand, he had even less reason to oppose him. The young prince could only make a face at Uther's retreating back and obediently wait outside the gate.
As for Calia and Jaina, they had actually only come along to keep Arthas company. They had no interest in the matter, and Calia deeply detested that eccentric middle-aged man Prestor, so naturally neither offered any opinion.
Uther specifically asked Muradin to stay behind and watch over the three precious royal children, while the others followed him into the courtyard.
At the strange sight in the courtyard, everyone heightened their vigilance and prepared for battle.
Aaron simply drew his shield and longsword and cautiously approached the door.
Looking at the tightly shut door, Aaron could even feel a peculiar sense of dread coming from it, as though some savage beast inside the room was watching him.
But Aaron believed this had to be his imagination. After all, Deathwing had already cleared off. What danger could still be here?
Aaron cautiously pushed the door open with his longsword. Looking into the pitch-black room, he was just about to step inside when several low howls suddenly came from the darkness. Then several streaks of red light flashed, and three humanoid creatures covered in black scales lunged at him. Aaron had no time to register what these things were and barely managed to raise his shield to block their attacks.
Three dull metallic clangs followed. Aaron felt three almost irresistible forces slam into the arms holding his shield, forcing him to retreat several steps.
Several highly alert Silver Hand knights quickly advanced with their shields raised, shielding Aaron, whose arms had gone numb from taking three heavy blows head-on.
"What are these things?!"
Through the gaps between the Silver Hand knights' shields, Aaron looked at the three monsters before him. He could see that they had four powerful legs, long tails trailing behind them, black scales covering their bodies, and heads that looked more like those of dragons. They also gave off a sulfurous stench.
Blackscale Dragonspawn?! Aaron immediately realized what these creatures were. He had never imagined that Prestor-or rather, Deathwing-had hidden three dragonspawn in his residence.
Still, this was quite normal. After all, aside from their own kind, dragonspawn were the only subordinates dragons could trust. This was especially true of the Black Dragonflight. Because of Deathwing's betrayal of the Dragonflights during the War of the Ancients, they had been hunted by the other dragonflights for the past ten thousand years. Even Deathwing, the Black Dragon King himself, had no choice but to use these dragonspawn, who were far inferior to dragons, as his subordinates.
Unfortunately, Deathwing had fled in such haste this time that these dragonspawn had not received any word at all. Now they were trapped here, causing the group considerable trouble.
"Hold these monsters back! Don't let them near the prince and princesses!" Uther shouted, taking the enormous warhammer from his back into his hands and readying himself for battle.
Several Silver Hand knights also took the shields and weapons from their backs and stood before Aaron, forming a defensive line to block the three monsters and watching them intently.
The three dragonspawn showed no fear whatsoever. They glared fiercely at the men, constantly brandishing their obsidian weapons and occasionally letting out threatening roars.
"Gentlemen, leave this to me." Kael'thas's gentle voice suddenly rang out behind the knights. Accompanied by a rapid chant, tongues of flame abruptly rose from the ground before Aaron's eyes. Those scattered flames quickly spread, becoming a sea of fire in the blink of an eye and enveloping the three dragonspawn.
The three dragonspawn had clearly been unprepared for Kael'thas's attack. Suddenly engulfed by the flames, their expressions changed drastically, and they tried to break through the Silver Hand knights' defensive line. But how could the knights let these monsters have their way? They tightened their grips on their shields and forced all three back into the sea of fire.
The rising flames gradually spread over the dragonspawn's bodies, burning them and making them roar incessantly, howling in pain. The knights did not dare attack for fear of catching fire, but Vereesa kept shooting arrows at the dragonspawn with her bow, while Rhonin continually cast quick spells as well.
However, the three dragonspawn appeared to have quite a high resistance to fire damage. Although they were still howling in agony, they clearly showed no sign of dying anytime soon.
As the flames on the ground began to die out, the three dragonspawn kept glancing backward. It looked as though they intended to retreat into the room and use its layout to make a stubborn last stand.
Aaron hurried forward two steps and thrust his longsword hard. Now that he could exert his strength properly, the longsword in his hand easily pierced the dragonspawn's scales.
The other Silver Hand knights naturally followed suit and attacked the dragonspawn. But these dragonspawn were no wooden posts that would take attacks without fighting back. After putting out the flames on their bodies, they began swinging their heavy weapons to counterattack.