Oh, Gus. You picked the wrong mage to try that on. She broke the hold of a blood mage once for Hawke; it is far easier for her to do when she can see the blood magic happening. As tempting as it is to boil Gus from the inside using his own blood, Merrill would rather not, considering the present company -- even if a part of her would like to show that not all blood mages are monsters, that killing for power and trying to enslave others doesn't end well.

Adelaide is relatively close to the mages, and Merrill vanishes into the earth once more using Stone's Throw to reappear next to her. She may not have a sword, spirit or otherwise, but she has a staff and the element of surprise -- as soon as she reappears, she leaps toward Gus with a yell of "May the Dread Wolf take you!", swinging with her staff to try and at least surprise the Venatori mage, if not take him out. The earth around her all but explodes, roots flying up and out of the ground to curl around limbs and tighten, to keep moving despite whatever is in the way -- in this case, the body of any Venatori that gets in the way.