Tyaethe had the presence of mind to actually slide to a halt before plunging through a wall of flames and wheeled around to glare at the bombastic fire mage. There was but a moment's pause as she weighed up her options before his attack. In that moment she discarded the cautious and conservative approach; every second wasted was a second where the mastermind could guarantee the death of their hostage.

So she sprung towards him, twisting uncomfortably close to the burning streams as her left hand relinquished its grip on the hilt. The follow-up strike was predictably wild and easily avoided; the paladin was both far smaller than the blade warranted and using her non-dominant hand. But it was so easily avoided that mere reflex would lead anyone not getting caught in the reckless attack to be in line with her [i]planned[/i] attack. A pure magic user trying to fight a knight in the field was vulnerable to either, in her experience.

"Just die and [i]get out of the way![/i]"

The paladins left hand pushed out, [i]into[/i] the flaming shield, and went for the throat. If the impact didn't crush it or snap his neck, then Tyaethe would just keep going, bringing them both to the ground and choking the life out of him. She would be down a functional arm if it took long but that was the one part of her current state that wasn't frustrating: being able to take such serious injuries and fight on regardless. Even though her armour would have avoided all this risk at all...