Behind Seyun’s back, Mina and Halin had chosen the shorter eastern lane between the eight-sided pillars on their very first step.
Seyun didn’t look back to confirm it, and he didn’t shout a single word to correct their choice. Just as he had practiced with his eyes half-shut in the dark courtyard last night, he heard the crisp, clear double beat of their boots committing eastward across the dry flat stone slabs. Halin’s heavier, shorter stride under the thirty-five-pound splint basket on the outside, Mina’s lighter, steady step with the twelve-pound herb basket four inches to his left.
They were heading straight for the gap between the first two eastern pillars. The exact opening Daro’s backup Jade plane was angling to shear shut.
In the tenth of a breath before Daro’s short sword touched his ash staff, Seyun didn’t stiffen his wrists into the sixth foundation block of Ash Reed.
Had he met Daro’s dual Jade thrust with a rigid Deeper Bronze wall across the center line, the sheer moving mass of Daro’s main plane would have driven Seyun’s heels straight backward into Mina’s path. Meanwhile, the angled backup plane would have bounced off the rigid wood and sliced right through the mouth of the eastern pillar lane.
