After Orth had spoken his question, Amber ruffled his hair and said.

"I go ask. You need to rest up. Healers orders."

But now sleep was something that would not come to Orth anymore. He had first nodded off because of the exhaustion, and therefore, it was pleasantly dreamless, but now his memory showed him pictures of that bloody, crunched body again.

At Orth's fidgeting, Mor also awoke, looking around a bit confused.

"Did we fall asleep?" He asked, and Orth nodded.

°Yes. Exhaustion and shock got the better of you.° The human added.

"Amber is going to ask about the girls," Orth said, and Mor sat up a bit straighter.

"Aren't they here?" He asked, looking around.

"I don't know. I hope they are safe." Orth answered.

While the boys were getting more nervous by the second, Amber walked right to the headmaster and demanded to know where the two students were. The headmaster almost wanted to shout at her, but he thought better of it. Instead, he sent her to the teacher, who was keeping track and trying to regain a semblance of order in the huddle of students.

"Miss Amber, what can I do for you? I'm very busy right now, getting a sense of who's where." He greeted her.

"I need the status of two students, one Saphine and one Clare," she said calmly but sternly.

The teacher sighed.

"Just a moment, I need to look over my lists. Do you have the family names and years of those students?" He asked, and Amber shook her head.

"I don't. But they are probably first-year girls." She answered.

"That, at least, limits it a bit." He mumbled, looking through his lists.

"Let's see. We still have twenty-five first years missing, so let's look there first," he continued.

While the teacher was looking, the headmaster came closer, wanting to ask Amber about the hurt students.

"Miss Amber, how are we on injuries?" He asked her.

"Everyone here is through the worst. We only healed the most serious wounds for now to save our energy for emergencies. We will still get to every student, but it will take a while. Two of my adepts are seeing to that right now. They are in a rotation of healing and regaining energy." She reported, and the headmaster nodded.

"So, no losses here?" He wanted to confirm.

"Yes. We could get to everyone in time. Now it's only nonfatal injuries." Amber confirmed.

"Found them!" The teacher said suddenly.

"Miss Saphine Sapphire and Clare Celestyne! They are... still missing..." He added and flinched as the headmaster rounded on him.

"HOW ARE THEY STILL MISSING? HOW MANY ARE?" The headmaster shouted.

"Were they missing twenty-five? Of the first years, a hundred overall?" the teacher mumbled, cowed.

"But. We already have three teachers on that, who are tasked with getting the students out of the collapsed tower," he added defensively.

"How long are those gone?" The headmaster asked, skeptical.

"Just about half an hour now! They are a bit late, but if the teleport runes are destroyed, it might take longer than expected." The teacher explained, and the headmaster took a deep breath, trying to calm himself down.

"Who did you send?" He asked in a forced calm.

"We sent... Ah here!... Miss Amenist, Mister Pietersiten, and Mister Kunzy. All of them solid mages." The teacher answered, and Amber nodded.

"I know Pietersiten. He has a good talent for healing magic. Good choice." She agreed, but the headmaster looked over where the two boys sat when the last name was mentioned.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

He didn't look at them but at the two figures next to them and cursed.

"How are you such a pencil pusher?! You know we have a hysterical Miss Kunzy sitting over there, and you never! Not even once! Thought that this might have something to do with her soul-partner?" The headmaster really wanted to scream and punch this administrative idiot.

The teacher looked confused and said, "I don't understand," but Amber caught up much faster.

"Hysterical, and her soul-partner is overdue?" She asked.

"Seems like it?" the teacher answered, and instantly, the headmaster and Amber were rounding on him.

"HOW DID YOU NOT CONNECT THIS?!" They shouted at the teacher, who only wanted to escape this situation.

The headmaster let out a pained sigh, draining his aggression away.

"We need to assume that all three teachers are dead. Whatever destroyed the tower may still be up there threatening the cut-off students. Get our most combat-capable teachers together. We need to get up there!" the headmaster ordered, and finally, the administrative teacher reacted.

Quickly, a team of mages was assembled, including the headmaster himself and an adept of Amber's retinue.

"We have some missing students, and some may be alive. In addition, whatever is responsible for this atrocity may still be in that tower. We will go up there and get everyone out, but remember, we probably can't teleport back out. Keep alert. We don't know what destroyed the tower. It might be a monstrosity. That means we will go in as four teams with two members each." The headmaster ordered.

"Now for team composition, Miss Amtis will go with me. Miss Prehn and Miss Spinel, you are a team. Miss Sugilty and Mister Malachy, you will build the next. And finally, you are the final team, Mister Magnesitor and Miss Hematon. Priority is getting everyone out! Destroying whatever is rampaging is secondary. And stay safe!" He continued to a gaggle of nodding teachers.

With a bunch of "pops", the eight of them were gone, reappearing with a "whump" back on the top of the destroyed tower.

"Fan out, find everyone you can." The headmaster ordered, and all of them scattered.

........

Clare was breathing heavily, her energy was almost drained, and the headaches were brutal. Still, she couldn't give up now! Saphine depended on her healing power. Clare's desperate attempts were suddenly interrupted by a voice calling out.

"I found some! Are you alright?" It called.

Clare looked up, tears in her eyes, finally noticing the woman looking over the broken edge of the staircase. Clare wanted to stay calm and answer, but her emotions got the better of her, and a crying voice answered.

"Saphine... I'm not powerful enough." Clare howled.

Miss Sugilty recognized the precarious situation.

"Mal, get over here and help me!" She called back.

She dropped down to the two girls, and the other teacher was close on her heels.

"We need to get the stones away," Malachy said, and without waiting, he turned them all to dust.

"Couldn't you wait with that?! What if this destabilized the staircase?" Sugilty chided the other teacher, who just shrugged.

"It couldn't. I controlled first. I'm not stupid," he countered, and Sugilty let out an exasperated sigh.

"And you didn't tell us?" She started but then waved it off, instead concentrating on Saphines injuries.

"We need to get her stable and then out of here. This is something only the adepts can cure." She said, letting her magic flow to at least stabilize the most grievous injuries. Malachy kneeled next to Clare and laid his arm around her.

"Good job. You saved her." He said soothingly, but Clare just threw herself against his body, crying.

"I got her!" Sugilty shouted. But we need to be quick now! I don't know how long my treatment will last."

Malachy nodded, got up, carefully picked up the hurt Saphine, and with a gigantic leap, he was gone.

"I really wish he would communicate a bit more." Sugilty sighed but embraced the stunned Clare and flew after her colleague.

..........

There was a commotion in the gathering hall as all available healing adepts rushed to the entrance, and Mor and Orth got up to take a look. They finally reached the building entrance and the cluster of nosy students. There, they found a sidelined Clare.

"Clare!" both boys shouted, and she raised her head, tearing up and charging them. Orth got hit by her almost tackle, being the one further forward and, therefore, the first target. The force of Clare's impact threw them down to the floor. Mor just got on his knees to get down to them. After a few short moments, Mor got a hug himself.

"Clare! What's happened? Where's Saphine?" Orth asked, and Clare started to sob again.

"The adepts... I tried... But I couldn't." She sobbed, and both boys looked in concern at the wall of bodies.

"Calm down. Now that she's with the adepts, she will make it. Saphine is more tenacious than you think." Orth tried to calm Clare while she continued to cling to him.

"I go ask!" Mor decided and tried to force his way through the mass but couldn't make headway.

°Calm down. She will be fine. Remember, she isn't that malnourished girl anymore, even if they don't see that. Her body has now reserves,° the human said calmingly.

°But I need to know!° Mor complained.

°She's alive, or the adepts would have already stopped treatment. And that would be pretty obvious. Let them work, and calm down. Saphine will need support from all three of you.° The human chided, and finally, Mor nodded and returned to his friends in defeat.