What the last panel is supposed to tell you: That isn't the first mage Shara has fought.
Updated on 2018-01-03: While revisiting these strips I realized the sentence above clashes somewhat with page 75 and what I wrote there about Shara not knowing how magic items work.
So to elaborate: Shara has learnt how to fight mages, but not much more ... knowledge about wondrous items that are not weapons wasn't a priority there.
( ... also: every battle plan that relies on running head on into a loaded crossbow and hoping you can dodge is pretty desperate ... )