Tanith had been closer to Tesseract. Dex saw her go down and quickened his pace. Tesseract was fast, fast enough that he managed to turn before Dex could surprise him, and with Tanith's sword flashing in his hand. He used it like it was a dagger, not a sword. Not the first time Dexter had seen a blade used like that in a street-fight; noble-born he might have been, but he'd spent most of his time getting into fist-fights with peasants.

It had been a long time since he'd had to use conjurations in a fist-fight, though.

His hand came up at his waist, shimmering with energy; the sword connected with the small conjured shield and slid past his side. Dex stepped inside Tesseract's guard and twisted his hand to snake past the blade, energy crackling in his palm toward Tesseract's solar-plexus. His other hand rose to strike Tesseract's wrist and knock away his arm before it hit his jaw, a spiked gauntlet conjured around it for maximum damage.

Behind him, Solomon stepped in through the doorway, thumb twisting the cane's head so the sheath slid off; he flicked the blade to send it out the door, where he couldn't step on it by accident. Marr was gone, but the shackles binding her to the chair and table were enough for him to see where they were. He stepped around them but held back. He couldn't attack Tesseract without hitting Dexter; he could barely tell the difference between them. His sharpshooting skills weren't that good yet.

But he could guard the door, and did.