James looked at the counter and did the sum out loud in eleven words.
"Get it fully onto the moving stone before that hits zero."
"I can throw it," said Alice.
"You can throw it and it walks back on. That's the job — it doesn't get back on the marked floor. Not for the last five seconds, not for one."
Alice's chin came up very slightly.
"That I can do."
The Warden did not wait for the rest of the plan.
It came off the corridor line at Ronan with the maul already up, and Ronan took the swing on the angle again and gave a step, and then another, and this time the steps were where he wanted them — back, and to the left, toward the seam.
Finn stayed off it until it tried to turn away from Ronan, and then opened its flank every time it did.
James put himself directly opposite Finn so it could not cover both sides at once, and the Warden had to pick, and every time it picked it lost something.
Maeve held.
Cillian held.
