The guy is shielded and the force-bolt dazes him but doesn't quite take him down. That plus Fetching the knife does slow him down, though, and Yfandes is now almost to the hut. 

Abras reaches for the nearest node and moves to grab the other mage in a force-net, trying to drag him away from the hostage and towards the door.

He's startled and confused, and also among the strongest of the mages. He lashes back in Abras' direction with a powerful levinbolt, even as he crashes down sideways through the door and lands sprawled in the dirt. 

Abras has shields, but he hasn't been paying them enough attention; he rocks back in the saddle and loses the force-net for a moment.

:Steady, Chosen: 

The fallen mage takes his moment of freedom to pound Abras with a couple of fireballs while he scrabbles in his boot and wrenches out a dagger. 

Abras gets his shields back into shape, pulling in more node-energy to reinforce them, and comes back with a levinbolt.

It doesn't make it through the mage's shields but it does weaken them, and distract him enough that he fumbles the attack he was preparing. 

Abras hits him with another one and says "Surrender already!" and somehow has just enough brain left over to feel like he could have phrased that a lot better.

The mage shrieks as the second node-powered levinbolt shatters his shield-talisman. "Ack! Aaaaah! I surrender!" 

Inside the open door, the two bound women are busy making terrified noises through their gags. 

Oh, thank goodness, now what are all the other mages doing? And if none of them are immediate threats, how is the Guard faring against the ungifted opponents?

Two of the mages are still on their feet and trying to attack his shield-barrier, though not very effectively, they don't seem to be strong or well-trained enough to draw on nodes and are clearly tiring. They're whittling away at his barrier but it's still got a few minutes in it. 

The Guards aren't having any trouble with the un-Gifted soldiers; a group have made their way around the barrier, but they're obviously not that well-trained with their weapons. 

:What do I do with the surrendering one?: he asks Yfandes. It seems weird to just ignore him, but there are hostages who need untying and he should check on the kids and maybe the ones fighting the Guard will surrender if he shows up looking scary.

:Hmm. Just immobilize him with magic, maybe? Probably he'll stay put since he'll expect you to hurt him more and maybe kill him otherwise, but might as well make sure: 

He immobilizes the other mage--and then freezes, remembering the time the same thing happened to him. Remembering what it was like to be helpless and alone and afraid he was about to die. He distantly knows there are things he needs to be doing but the memory is like a fog he can't see through.

:Chosen: Her voice is gentle but insistent in his mind. :Chosen. Focus. It's all right. Use the calming-loop if you have to?: 

Right. He's not alone. He wasn't then and he isn't now. Yfandes is right there. He focuses on the memory of the peaceful night in K'Treva for several long seconds, and climbs from there back to the present moment. When he can think again enough to make some semblance of plans, he slides out of the saddle and goes into the hut to untie the two women.

One of them sags to the floor as soon as she's untied; the others stays pressed up against the wall. Both of them are looking at him with dazed, unfocused expressions; they unsurprisingly seem to still be in shock. 

Abras isn't fully not-in-shock yet himself; he blinks at them and heads back out of the hut to look for the nearest place the fight is still going.

Mages are still attacking his barrier! It's starting to get a bit ragged, probably he should do something about that next. 

Yup, more node-energy for the barrier. At some point he'll need to switch to some less magic-intensive way of holding prisoners but hopefully the Guard will be freed up by then.

:Chosen, I just updated Jores' Companion - Jores wants to know if you can incapacitate the last two mages, he thinks the un-Gifted ones will just surrender if they see that happen: 

:Yeah--yeah, okay.: There follows an internal debate that probably takes seconds but feels like minutes before he admits he doesn't have a better way to stop them and immobilizes those two as well, biting the inside of his cheek to keep himself firmly in the present.

:Once we've gotten them all in one place you can maybe just shove a barrier up around them. They're exhausted and none of them are above Master-level, I think you could hold them all night if you boosted with a node. But we'd better actually finish the fight first: Pause. :Jores says the others are surrendering now. Wants to know if you can go check on the children: 

:Oh good. I'll go do that. Thank you.:  That's . . .  not necessarily a less frightening prospect but a differently frightening one. He heads for where he saw them last.