“She [i]what?[/i]” Drust’s body tensed, his hands clenching into fists and head jerking slightly down and to the side in his familiar tic. He stepped toward Elayra, making her take a defensive stance, ready to defend herself. He took a breath, his gaze hard, then forced his hands open and raised them so his palms faced her. “How?”
	“She watched through the shadowmire.” Elayra glanced to Ghent as he moved so the three of them formed a triangle in front of the now dead portal. “Between [i]worlds![/i] How’s that even possible? I thought she couldn’t reach outside Wonderland like that!”
	Drust snarled, then bent his head and pinched the bridge of his nose. “She’s getting stronger,” he growled through his teeth, his eyes closed.
	Both looked to Ghent when he seemed to respond appropriately to the situation, only to ruin it.
	Elayra stared at him in disbelief, and Drust’s snarl returned as Ghent continued, paying them no attention until he finished.
	“To think,” Drust spat more vehemently than Elayra would expect, “I was worried you actually had your priorities straight.”
	“I will [i]not[/i] run from her anymore!” Elayra swiped a hand through the air, her gaze fierce. “I’ve spent my life running from that witch!”
	“We continue with the original plan accordingly,” Drust answered Ghent’s first question rather unhelpfully, his tone gruff and forced. “She would have discovered us eventually. Later rather than now would have been preferable. But we can’t change that. We’ll just have to adjust our timetable.”
	Elayra snorted and looked back to Drust. “Great. Because training him,” she nodded toward Ghent and removed her pack, careful of the still tender bruise beneath it, “wasn’t going to take an eternity in itself.” She placed the pack on the ground, keeping one watchful eye on Drust as she knelt to rummage for her saber.
	Drust’s jaw moved as he grit his teeth, his neck twitching and gaze pulsating dangerously. “We’ll. Make. Do.”
	Holding her breath, her attention snapped fully to him. She gave a single, slow nod as she gripped the hilt of her sword from amidst the other items in her pack. She glanced to Ghent, jerking her head to the side, trying to tell him to back away, just in case. If Drust snapped, the last thing she needed was for Ghent to get caught in the crossfire.
	“What’s next, then?” She pulled her sword from the pack, stood, and set to hooking the weapon back in place around her belt. “Train him up, then go after her before she can find us?”
	Drust glanced between Elayra’s sword and pack with a questioning look. “No.” His words came sharp and clipped. “Yes, but no.” He shook his head jerkily.
	Elayra suppressed an irritated snort at the unsatisfactory answer, but the emotion still made her lips purse slightly and eyes narrow.
	“We’ve wasted too much time here. She knows our location.” He turned and headed to where the massive stony hills creating the walls around them left an opening on one end of the field, its sides dripping with ivy. “The sooner we leave, the better.”