[Ecks stares back into his eyes, her seemingly blank gaze finding a mirror there. She has seen that look before in her brothers' and sisters' eyes, the same as she has seen them fight like this, without pain or fear. Dread certainty that he will not stop fills her heart, and she lets go of the hatchet to twist and grab the knife he has dropped, rocking up onto her right elbow and then letting her weight carry her back over as she swings the knife in a backhanded arc at his throat in turn.]
cw: blood, traumatic wounds, partial dismemberment, throat trauma