Tyaethe spun around, taking stock of the battle and realising things were about to get very messy unless she intervened. That was exactly what she had been trained to do in the first place, though... what good was a defending paladin that couldn't break up a fight without striking a single blow? Her sword was big enough to work as a shield for more than one reason.

Alette's view of the captain was obscured by a looming figure in dull plate, and the incoming attacks impacted instead on a shield far more durable than the squashy mercenary would have been. The Shark wasn't being entirely trusted, either: any attempt to get at someone beyond Tyaethe would have to go through her shield, her sword, or the paladin. None of those options were going to present a clear chance of getting someone on the other side.

[b]"STAND DOWN! That man was a traitor!"[/b]

How did she know? Simple: the bodies were several days old. They'd only received word of something happening at the fort today and had arrived to find the mercenaries still finishing off its previous occupants. So either more than one person had suddenly gotten away after days of the garrison being slowly decimated... or the mercenaries were telling the truth. But all the corpses were days old, so that wouldn't hold...