Reassured, Ellis spills from his knees into a sitting position on the grass beside her as he exhales a hard breath. Dread subsides. He touches her shoulder in quiet, shared congratulations.

"It seemed like a good move at the time."

Which is as far as he'd ever planned in the midst of a fight. Get in close, hit as hard as possible, fight dirty if you have to. As it stand now, the latter had turned out very literal. He pats his palm lightly over the tacky mess of his shirt and shakes his head.

"Do you think we'll need to haul Bradshaw back?"

Unspoken: will Ellis need to heave his body onto the luggage rack of the carriage?