The first kobold lunged, but they were slower than she expected.
Sonder twisted aside and flicked her fingers, and a splash of frost blossomed at his feet, freezing his feet and the mud solid.
"Stop!" she yelled. "I'm not here to-"
Another pair rushed at her.
She swept her staff in an arc, releasing a pulse to knock them back, not hard enough to break bone, but enough to give her space.
But they kept coming.
They were rapid.
More shapes emerged from behind barricades and the corners of buildings. That meant more spears, arrows, and snarling.
They were small and light, with weak power behind their strikes, but they had plenty of numbers.
"I don't want to fight you!" she said again, but her voice was swallowed by the clash of wood, the scramble of clawed feet, the rising panic of defenders who had no idea who she was or what she wanted.
Maybe they didn't speak her language. Maybe Sonder's gestures of peaces meant nothing to them. Or maybe they were simply too desperate to listen.
A thrown spear flew past Sonder's face, and she stepped sideways, straight into two more kobolds rushing her.
That settled it. She needed to take control of the fight.
She couldn't keep dodging forever. And she didn't want to hurt them. Not seriously.
Sonder planted the butt of her staff into the dirt and gathered power.
She had seen Vell do this, and she was convinced that she could do it too.
A shimmer of blue raced across the ground, rising into an L-shaped wall twice a kobold's height.
She dragged the barrier in a wide sweep with a sharp gesture of her staff.
Dirt scraped along with it; she lowered it so that it wouldn't cut into their feet or legs.
Vell had warned that barriers could be dangerous if placed wrongly, and seeing how strong and thin hers were, she didn't want to risk hurting them unnecessarily.
The nearest kobolds shouted as the barrier slid beneath them and dragged them around.
She guided the barrier in broad arcs, sweeping kobolds together as if herding livestock. They tumbled and scrambled, some tripping over others, but none were harmed beyond bruises and indignity.
Then, with a second motion, she summoned another barrier, one that would fuse with the first to form a cube.
She brought them together with a soft hum, and her work was finished.
The kobolds were boxed in, contained in a tight, glowing cube, unable to reach her but unharmed.
Sonder exhaled, sweat prickling her brow. As much power as she put into it, it would last about an hour before dissolving on its own, giving her enough time to look around.
"I'm not your enemy," she said, putting her hand on the barrier. The kobolds shrank back a bit before lunging at her again. She frowned at their attempts to break the barrier but still said, "And I don't want to fight."
Sonder tightened her grip on her staff. She hoped not everyone here was as battle-hungry as they were.