Alex looked past his barrier. He could see her ice holding across the junction, with a pale line pressing down on it from above.
"Stay there."
He stepped back from the yard and lowered the rune beside the formation. The strand followed, cracking the edge of the barrier in his hand.
Alex kept his other hand away from the organ.
The light woman watched him withdraw. Her fingers relaxed, and the pressure stopped increasing.
Alex let the broken edge of his barrier fall apart and took a shallow breath. His right side hurt when he tried to fill his lungs more deeply.
"She wants it intact," he told Mingyue. "I can get it out without carrying the whole yard with it."
"Then keep control of the support. Don't hand it over while our people are still caught."
Alex nodded, though she was looking toward the road now.
Alex waited for the next pulse from the organ, then placed a small rune beside the crossing beneath it.
