Orfeus gritted her teeth and held her light barrier as they moved towards her. Where now? Run to the ground with her back to the wall, sleeves empty of tricks.

A bulky figure held out a long object, Hyena and her stun-gun. When the stun-blast hit into her wall, the sensation sparked unpleasantly up her fingertips, and Orfeus dropped the barrier, shaking out her stinging fingers.

The Wolf and the Wasp and the Otter and the Ocelot moved in on her, all of them. The Wasp held out her throwing knife, ready to stab, and it didn’t seem likely she’d be so easily thrown off again. The Ocelot shifted, ready to hit, and Orfeus showed her teeth.

Orfeus whirled to the side, grabbing the Ocelot and physically hauling her so her body fell between Orfeus and the Wasp as the blade fell. It sunk into the Ocelot’s side, right up to the hilt.

There was silence. The Wolf and maybe all of them were able to move faster than sight, but no one moved. The Wasp said, quietly, “Oh.”

Held in Orfeus’s arms, the Ocelot’s body was tensed, and then it went loose, slack, and Orfeus staggered as she took her weight. She lowered the woman’s body to the ground and peered at her: her face was pale, her wound bleeding sluggishly around the knife.

“She’s hurt,” Orfeus said, looking up. “Stop the Trial!”

There was nothing. After a moment’s hesitation the Hyena walked up alongside the others, her gun lifted: the Wolf advanced, claws gleaming. Orfeus lurched to her feet, hunkering her shoulders, standing over the prone body with her teeth bared.

She sparked electricity out of her hand, channelling it out to one side, into the wall. The wall pulsed, brightly, pulsed again. It didn’t come down, but the lights overhead flickered. The Shark looked up uneasily. Orfeus gripped her knife. “Kick me out if you can,” she snarled. “Just help her!”

A solid thunk in her side, like being punched. More painful. Orfeus glanced down and blinked. Cauterknife wounds really were a lot more clean.

She swayed, then steadied. Had to stay standing. “Help her,” Orfeus repeated. If she died here too, no one would be helped, and the one wounded by a physical knife was in more danger of bleeding out.

But there was nothing, and the Starfish advanced with those glowing whips. Orfeus gritted her teeth and dropped to her knees, partly because she couldn’t stand any longer, partly to get closer to the wounded woman.

Orfeus pulled off her heavy cloak, her movements so fumbling that it took her three tries. She dropped it to the ground, ready to bind the woman’s wound, and frowned down at it. Removing the knife would cause more bleeding…

Hm.