Taking no excessive risks, Ahnasha ducked behind cover to avoid the incoming crossbow bolt. Just as the attacking crossbowmen could hide behind their shield wall, the defending archers could use their fortifications to the same effect. Though, the enemy archers and mages were the only ones who could actually harm the defenders at this point, and since most of the others were focusing on halting the ram, Ahnasha decided to focus on them. 

Ahnasha peeked out for a moment to get a sense of the enemy positions, then charged a different spell in her hand. It was one she had been reluctant to use in public view, given its nature, but given the situation, she felt it was necessary. In studying that tome during the journey to Bruma, she found that for life extension, she would have to understand necromancy. As such, she had learned from the tome a particular spell: reanimation. She still only knew a weaker version of the spell, so it would not last that long, but she hoped the surprise of it would be enough. Exposing herself for just a moment, she stood up and fired the spell at a corpse in an area that was still somewhat covered by smoke. Ducking back into cover, she directed her new thrall to attack one of the crossbowmen. She hoped that no one who was close enough to react had noticed the reanimation, since the hunters making the shield wall had their faces mostly or completely covered by their shields, and the crossbowmen were hiding behind them. 

Once more, Ahnasha shifted her position slightly while behind cover, then nocked her bow. The smoke had diminished somewhat, but there were still fires present, and the smoke they created could still open up opportunities for the defenders. However, she had saw the mage trying to extinguish them. She was in front of the ram and bore no shield, so she was a target Ahnasha could hit. Even if there was a shield bearer in front of her, Ahnasha had elevation. She leaned out of cover, loosed an arrow at the mage, then ducked back, shifted positions slightly, and nocked another. She repeated this as quickly as she could to fire reasonably accurate shots in rapid succession. Her target was armored, but Ahnasha was using a bound bow, which meant it was made from daedric materials. The arrows flew faster, hit harder, and were let apt to break than standard wood and steel. It could still not penetrate sufficient quality steel, but if the arrow hit any weakened area, such as the joints she was aiming for or thinner points in the metal, then they could pierce through into the flesh. And of course, they could pierce all but the highest quality of light armor. If she could take care of the mage, then she would move on to focusing on the crossbowmen. Even if she could not kill them outright, preventing them from firing on her allies would hopefully allow them to keep the ram at bay. If not, they still had the oil trap they could trigger.