The crashing in the undergrowth was getting distant. I could hear the teachers responding to the noise. We had minutes—maybe less.
"If they find you here, those injuries will be yours to account for." I moved in front of him, requiring some creative repositioning in the tree fork, and put both hands on his face. "Drew. Look at me. Right now."
He was shaking very slightly. Not from fear—the opposite. The stones were still falling somewhere in the distance. I stroked his face the way you'd calm a startled animal—slow, deliberate, present. I'm here. I'm fine. Look at me.
His eyes found mine, and for a moment, I saw something raw and unguarded. The stones diminished. Slowed. Stopped.
I leaned in and kissed the corner of his mouth—brief, careful. Come back, the contact meant. He blinked, looking at his hands as though seeing them for the first time.
I kissed him softly on the lips, and the last of the silver light faded from his palms.
"We have to go," I whispered. "Right now. Five minutes, and we walk out from the other side like we've been searching the whole time."
He nodded slowly. We climbed down in silence and moved quickly through the undergrowth, using the sound of the teachers' voices as a compass. Four minutes later, we stepped out of the tree line at an unhurried walk.
"Lady Clark!" Instructor Nicole reached me in three strides. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," I said with a convincing amount of breathless relief. "I got turned around. Drew found me."
Around us, the other Instructors were converging on the section of forest where the attack had happened. Instructor Elias returned wearing a grim expression. "It seems," she said carefully, "that the forest's protective enchantment activated tonight. Those apprentices appear to have approached the grounds with ill intentions."
"The forest has never responded quite this... extensively before," another Instructor added, looking at the damage.
"Are they alive?" I asked.
"Yes. We've put them to sleep for the pain."
"I'm glad," I said, and I meant it.
Malcolm appeared at the edge of the group, concern arranged carefully on his face. He took a step toward me. Drew moved one step forward without looking at him, and Malcolm stopped.
We walked back to the temple in silence, side by side, close enough that our hands almost touched the whole way. Neither of us mentioned the tree.