Helaman shows himself a poor storyteller by failing to exploit the great drama in this episode but achieves his purpose of praising the faith and miraculous preservation of his Ammonite warriors. The hostile and restive Lamanite prisoners require a substantial number of Nephite guards en route to Zarahemla. The arrival of these reinforcements is unexpected because they had not had enough time to reach Zarahemla and return. Returning early means that either they still had the Lamanite prisoners with them or that the prisoners had escaped, probably inflicting great casualties on their Nephite guards as they did so. Still, they arrived just in time, and the battle was won. Helaman does not explain how this happened until verses 30–34.
Mormon does not describe the source of the Lamanite force. However, these battles occur in the southern entrance to the land of Zarahemla, one of the historical entry points for Lamanite armies. It is therefore possible that this attacking army represents fresh troops from the land of Nephi, probably combined with the Lamanites who had been driven from this area by Nephite action.