The wait was agony for Maric. He knew that he was probably worrying over nothing, that everything would be just fine, but that did little to comfort him.<br/>When he saw Layla land, he knew there was something amiss though. Looking into her eyes, he could see the dragon's own worry. Nimue was in trouble. And something told him that he'd need help.<br/>"Wait for me here." Maric instructed Layla. "I shall return shortly.<br/>"Faren! Ready your gear, and round up two volunteers." He called to his squire as he rushed into his home. "Wait for me next to Layla."<br/>Not bothering to pay attention to whether Faren heard or not, Maric bolted through the door and into his chambers. Here, he strapped on his armor faster than he had ever before. When he had finished only a few minutes later he began to leave, but halted at the door. He needed to save Nimue from something, he knew that. But would the few extra men be enough? He had to be sure that they would succeed. Loath as he was to do it, Maric turned from the door, only to kneel down and pry away a floorboard near the bed. Reaching in, he pulled out the long cloth wrapped object Faren had brought to him when he had first arrived. He had not used it in a long time since it felt... Corrupted somehow. But now, that mattered little. It had power, power that he needed. Slipping the cloth off of the object, it was revealed to be a sword held in a decorated sheath. He had heard legends that it supposedly looked like Excalibur itself, but that rumor meant little to him. Belting the sword on in place of his usual, the paladin ran outside to Layla and found Faren awaiting with a few dozen men instead of the two he requested. Apparently no one was willing to let him do this with so few people.<br/>They ended up deciding to split up. Maric didn't want to burden Layla with more men than she could carry after all. Two men would ride her with Maric and Faren, one of which being the guard captain that they had tea with. A dozen others would try to follow as long as they could on horseback, and track Nimue's prints when Layla flew ahead. The other couple dozen would stay and protect the camp in case the people that troubled Nimue decided to become bold.<br/>"Move out!" Maric called out once aboard Layla's back.<br/>With a sudden burst of speed, the dragon took off into the sky. It was all Maric could do to keep a hold of her AND keep from expelling his dinner. While he did have some secret flights with Layla in an attempt to get over his fear of heights, he had not improved much.<br/>"Try not to do anything sudden please." He begged her.