Grabbed roughly by the arm and dragged up into clearer air, Constans found himself too shaken to start in immediately with his habitual silver-tongued excuses. He ducked his head, feeling awkward as Alden let go of him and Bethen and once and turned to stare at them- well, no, mostly him meaningfully, a thunderstorm of accusation flashing in the middle-aged Enchanter's eyes.
"From the looks of it, you two are very lucky that someone came to find me. I suppose after last year," he frowned at Constans, lips pressing into a thin line, "it didn't seem as likely that you'd play the boy who cried wolf." Crossing his arms, the Enchanter demanded sternly, "Explain."
His throat felt cracked and scratchy from running and yelling and smoke, but in the face of that glare Constans knew it was up to him to defend himself, immediately. Part of his mind whirred away, trying to grasp at some lie, a chance to lay the blame for this on something else- on Bethen? That notion was abandoned in a heartbeat. For one thing it would take too much effort to get anybody to believe it, but more importantly... well, she didn't deserve it. Constans gave her a regretful glance as he began.
"The fire is my fault, Enchanter. I hope this doesn't sound as crazy out loud as it does in my head, but we were attacked by giant spiders." He smiled in embarrassment, looking guilty.
"We heard something back in the tunnels, so we went to look and got attacked. They were chasing us out, and I set a really big one on fire. I shouldn't have, ser, but at the time it seemed like the only thing that would work."