Loccy brought the hammer down before the barrier cart cleared the final block, crushing its front axle into the road channel.
The wreck screamed against the stone, a sound every miner on the wall would replay for weeks afterward.
The men pushing behind it stumbled as one pale-gold Wing opened from her back, covering the cart gap without touching either escape route.
Her second strike folded the first shield against its owner and sent him backward through the men crowding behind his horse.
The captain shouted from beyond the wreck and pushed four crossbowmen toward the ridge while the remaining riders entered the channel.
"The left gap stays open," Hajin ordered, pointing toward the clinic route. "Anyone still standing there moves behind Cassie's earth wall now."
Cassie drove her staff into the road and raised a waist-high earth barrier where the recruits could lower their spears without blocking the retreat.
