Smaller than a human male, Merrill has three things to rely on to not be bested by Gus. One is that she's fast, slender; she drops her staff, all the better to wriggle out of his attempts to pin, to avoid any severe damage from the knife, though she can feel it slice some spots. She's also Dalish, which means she's been raised to do whatever she must in order to survive a scrap with any humans, and she hisses, kicking and thrashing.

The other is that he's not the only one with a knife.

The blade is freed from her belt and she thrusts it up, toward any part of the mage that she can reach.