The last constructs fell in the ten minutes after, picked apart systematically. Elizabeth's barrier had held the bridge long enough for Alexander and Mireya to clear the far end completely.
Iris had pushed the left flank back into the trees with the kind of contained efficiency that Rex filed for later. Apollo had handled the constructs that got through with physical precision, and Talyra's arrows finished off the stragglers.
When it was over, Elizabeth stood at the center of the bridge with both grimoires open but inactive, scanning the tree lines on both sides.
"They knew where we were," she said to Alexander.
He nodded. "That's twice today, and it's starting to get ridiculous!"
"Why don't they just fight us right now?!"
"The corridor, and now this," Alexander said. "Mordecai's network is better than we assumed."
Elizabeth looked at Rex. "That was coordinated, and nothing on that gorge rim was random deployment."
