The mages are not hard to isolate - his Othersenses can distinguish their brighter Gifted auras, and also they're the ones currently charging out at the source of the attack, which is Abras. 

He starts trying to knock them down with force-bolts, nearest first.

They're surprisingly well-shielded, and the force-bolts bounce off. The shields have an odd feeling. 

:I think they might be wearing shield-talismans: Yfandes suggests. :You'll have a hard time getting through with mage-attacks:

Can he see the talismans well enough to Fetch them off? He can definitely put up barriers to stop them from throwing anything at the Guard.

They all seem to be wearing the talismans under their jerkins, unfortunately. 

Think, think, what won't a shield stop--there's no convenient rocks around to throw at them and they might have physical shields anyway--

He puts a weather-barrier around the biggest group of them and sucks out the heat. Suddenly being in the middle of a frigid winter should be a good distraction.

It's a very good distraction and they're so confused! ....For about five seconds. Abras is overpowering the reverse weather-barrier substantially, shifting the heat a lot faster than is normal, and a result of this is that the heat is being yanked directly from their bodies as well. 

He's got four of the mages inside his barrier. One tries to shout something to the others, who attempts what's obviously intended to be a heat-spell or maybe just a fireball, but the spell fizzles - he calls something back but it's slurred - and then he drops to his knees, starts bringing a hand toward his face, and then topples. The others quickly follow. 

:Chosen that's probably enough–:

Yfandes is right, of course, and he's already thinking what did I just do as he drops the spell, but there's no time to think about it because there are three more mages still standing. He tries wrapping the next one in a force-net and dragging them away from whatever they're doing.

He yelps and flails against it, manages to hack his way loose with clumsy blades of mage-energies, but falls over in the process. 

Meanwhile another mage is hammering his barrier with levinbolts, and -

:Chosen, look out! I think one of them is going for the hostages. The adults, I mean: She gestures with her muzzle at the running man. 

That guy can just get a blast of force overpowered enough to go right through his shield and knock him flat.

The man screams and goes flying, plowing into some brambles and landing in a heap. He's alive, though, judging by the distressed noises he's making. 

The mage Abras knocked down is struggling to his feet again, joining his comrade in attacking Abras' barrier. 

He reinforces the barrier and--shit, what next--starts hammering their shields right back until he gets a better idea. Is brambles guy getting up and trying again?

Brambles guy is staying down! The other two aren't down yet but their talismans are straining to handle his strikes. 

:Didn't the one we captured say there were eight mages?: Yfandes sends suddenly. :I'm only counting the seven: 

:Shit you're right--: Abras opens his Thoughtsensing and Empathy wide up. Where is every person in this camp and what are they up to.

A dozen un-Gifted men are lining up with weapons; some are trying to creep around and flank the group of Guards, they're wondering if the shield extends all the way around. Some others, further into the camp, seem to be very hurriedly hustling the bound children out of their cabins, tying them to horses, clearly bent on making their escape. 

Over there is a building that he can't get into with mage-sight or Thoughtsensing, even with the camp-shield down, it has an additional hasty mage-shield flung over it. 

:Yfandes--in there--!: He shows her his mental image of the building, then shouts a hasty mindspeech warning to Herald Jores about the kids and starts knocking the men herding them down one at a time as Yfandes heads for the shielded building.

Jores shouts back acknowledgement. The men herding kids go down easily, none of them are Gifted. 

:Chosen, can you Farsee in there?: 

He can give it a shot, at least! (Should have thought of it faster--think about that later--)

He can! 

Inside, a man in leathers seems to be getting ready to murder one of the adult hostages! He's got a knife ready and everything! 

ACK big bolt of force right into the back of that guy's head! And if that doesn't work he'll Fetch the knife out of his hand to buy a couple seconds.