Sabine held her breath and raised her hands. Her eyes darted in every direction. The trees, the trees, she repeated in her mind. She knew she had learned something about trees. Something Marcaille taught her. Something about roots. Something about the strange glowing wooden knots she used in alchemy. Where they came from.

Her eyes widened. Her hand wrenched out a glass vial from a belt pouch. She didn't think she would have a use for this until now. She pelted the vial against a tangle of roots half-buried in the soil beneath Do'Rhajul's path. Its muddy brown contents splashed apart without any visual spectacle.

A crackle and a snap beneath Do'Rhajul's feet grew into two rapid sprouts of tough root that whipped securely around Do'Rhajul's wide ankle. Sabine's expression dropped as she saw a shape grow behind him. Made of wood, leaves, and a vivid orange glow, the vaguely feminine figure drew up to full height with a cacophonous buzz of swarming winged insects. The spriggan regarded Do'Rhajul with a cool face, before wildly jabbing a twisting root-like limb at his armoured chest.

Sabine had no idea how strong the creature was. Neither did she know if it was any match for Do'Rhajul. Her thoughts were interrupted by a foreign shout that put a draft into the fog around them.

Janius was perfectly poised to strike his opponent in the neck with the back of his axe. He could not have recognised the words Yerig shouted if they hit him in the stomach. And they did. Though his armour absorbed the brunt of the impact, the near-invisible force was like the kick of a giant. He flew back a short distance and landed with a jarring thud and a slide on his back.

To Janius' credit, he did not waste time doing anything other than attempting to scramble back to his feet while keeping wary of Yerig should he follow his flight path. In his mind, however, he was not sure if he was in reality or a dream. The shout was unlike any magic he had witnessed. The only thing he could think of was what Meesei mentioned several times in the past.

"The Thu'um," Janius breathed behind his helmet. "This cannot be."

The mix of the frost and the shock of the shout in the air made Fendros pay his debt of hubris. His cuts only sliced the air as the mage managed to save his own life.

Fendros had been around Ahnasha long enough to recognise the sound of a daedra being summoned. He passed his sword from his left to right hand to receive the threat. The infernal foot soldier that appeared was less than Fendros has expected. Still, he raised his guard and immediately swung in to put pressure on the churl. He could dispatch it without trouble, but it would allow some moments for the mage to recover and reposition.