"EEK!"
As he moved his body back out of reflex, he saw Alan's dagger shine right before his eyes.
'He is too close!'
A mage should never get too close to the enemy and should always keep the distance at all costs. After getting beaten up to a pulp by that soil dude, Kairen had completely grasped the meaning of that phrase.
He also learned that if the enemy was too close to you, using spells was probably the worst idea. You could get used as a human shield against your own attack and that was not good!
That said, Kairen had thought about some solutions for such situations while he was being forcefully held home by Kain.
No, actually it wasn't thinking for solutions. He was just dreaming about how he could possibly win the battle against that man and the different things that he could've done, just like how one thinks about the ways to win an argument of 5 years ago while taking a shower.
