Rhiow bounded forward in the others' wake, whirling around with another snarling activation to dissolve some eight or ten monsters that had been trying to flank them. "Nanoha!" she shouted, cursing the fact that she had not had the time to set up the telepathy spell. That was when she remembered the comm.

<< Nanoha, I can stay in the rear and set up shields at our backs to keep them off us as we progress. I just need to make sure everyone is inside them before I throw them up, do you think that's viable? >>

She sounded remarkably calm - and so she was. She had faced this kind of pressure before, this kind of fight. They may have smelled like death and gasoline, and looked like nothing Queen Iau would have ever made, but they were no worse than the saurians.