The rat pinned him to the floor and bit at his left shoulder. He felt the sharp front teeth sink in, slicing through tunic and flesh, but there was no pain.
"Back! Back!" Nona cried, poking at the rat"s snout with her trident. The beast made a sound that might have been a squeak had it been small, but was a hissing snarl now.
Its head whipped around, and it caught the shaft of the spear between its teeth. The thing was hauled from Nona"s hands, and she fell back, terrified.
"Dagger!" Darius cried, still pinned.
One appeared in Nona"s hand, then floated across to his right hand, which was closest to her. He clutched it so that it pointed up, moved his hand down under the beast"s throat, and stabbed up. He seemed to score only on loose folds of skin, which moved aside without being penet
