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 Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:42 pm
Through the adrenaline and pain, it was all a little surreal to Hayagriva. It was almost like they were back in practice again. He shouted moves and motions at his pupils and they obeyed to the best of their abilities. The only difference was that now when they weren't fast enough they were hurt. It was another game they were playing now, all right.
"To the left, Gliss!" he shouted. "No, Bodhi! Get back in line with the others!" he shouted when it looked like the kalona would single her out. His voice was growing obviously hoarser by the moment but if those three young soquili were fighting for their lives he wasn't about to give up for a sore throat.
The kalona was getting angrier by the moment. That meant that he was fighting more sloppily... but it also meant he was fighting more wildly and with disregard for his own health. Haya's heart briefly leaped when he saw the kalona drawing backwards. Was he about to retreat? The kalona tensed onto his back legs, ready to spring into the air.
And Haya saw the kalona's piercing violet eyes lock onto him.
"Get down! He's going to fly! Get down!" he shouted to his students, all the while knowing that they were not the kalona's target.
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:48 pm
With a few flaps of his wings and a leap Xelloss was in the air, though not for long. As soon as he was up he was arcing downwards again... straight for the wounded golden half-kalona.
He'd tear his enemy's throat out and then leave as quickly as he'd arrived.
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:55 pm
Haya had heard that at times like this that the moment was supposed to slow down and draw out, giving you plenty of time to flash your life before your eyes. That didn't happen with him. Instead, one instant he was lying on his side watching the kalona shooting towards him and the next he was kicking the kalona out of the air.
He didn't know how exactly he managed to roll onto his back and bring his back legs up so quickly. It wasn't a maneuver he had ever done before or ever had need of. His back hooves caught the kalona square in the chest. Haya felt the shock of impact run straight through him into the ground. The kalona felt it too and was lurched out of his intended trajectory into crashing into the ground beside Haya.
It would have been hard to say which of them were more in shock, Haya or his enemy. The kalona let out a rough moan, obviously in a great deal of pain.
"Get out of here," hissed Haya with deadly quiet. He was tired of fighting and being hurt, tired of seeing his herdmates injured too. "Get out of here before I tear out your throat!" Those words he snarled with more energy than he felt. His teeth snapped together, far sharper than they would have been without his kalona parentage.
His threat was an empty one, he knew that. He couldn't let himself fall to that sort of bestial behavior. The kalona didn't know that he wouldn't, however....
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 12:59 pm
"You don't have to tell me twice," is what Xelloss tried to reply. In reality though, his voice came out slurred and barely intelligible. His head spun and the ground seemed to be tossing and turning beneath him. Could he even walk away in this condition?
One glance at the other soquili around him convinced that he needed to, whether he was able or not. He wasn't so prideful that he'd stay and let himself get killed instead of running.
He heaved himself to his feet shakily. He gave a last look at the soquili around him. "Congratulations," he muttered with a twisted smirk. "You've beaten me."
Without another word he staggered off. He needed to limp his way to somewhere more secluded before one of them got the bright idea to finish him off. He wondered if he'd make it far enough in time...
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:05 pm
The kalona left. It was over.
Haya sagged with exhaustion. Had he ever been this tired and sore? He realized now how fortunate he was to have gotten away so lightly in the last conflict he had with a kalona. They were monstrous beasts. Truly monstrous. He didn't want to be anything like them. Not at all. Not ever. His father may have been a monster like that, but he never would be. He swore that oath silently to himself as his breathing began to slow and calm. He would never let himself become a slave to his blood and a monster.
He realized the others were still over him, staring in worry and shock. "Go to your father," he muttered to Glissando and Bodhisattva. "He needs your help." He turned his head to Padmasambhava then, eying her wearily. "Go run back to the herd. Find Vara. Tell her what happened and to come quickly and bring all the unicorns she can."
The sound of thudding hooves let him know that his directives had been carried out. Good. He lowered his head to the ground and shut his eyes with exhaustion. He would rest until everyone else arrived.
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:06 pm
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Posted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 1:19 pm
Time passed. Spring had come and the Padmapani herd rejoiced to see the blooms poking out of the ground where snow had so recently covered it. Several of the members had new foals on the way and everyone was in high spirits, especially "Haya's Fight School," or so they had affectionately named themselves.
Nirvana wasn't just attending to get exercise anymore. Even with the help of the herd's unicorns his recovery had been slow and painful. He'd never forget the wrenching feeling when he first saw the kalona attacking his son and would never forget how easily he had been defeated when he moved to defend him. Though his nature was no less peaceful than it had been before the attack, he vowed to be prepared for the next time he had to protect his family.
Bodhisattva was motivated both by her father's injury and by a deep sense of personal pride. She had helped to fight off the kalona! She had saved both her father and Haya from being killed and eaten! She was smug and proud of herself and rightfully so, she thought. Of course she was going to stick with the training. She still wanted to be the prettiest mare in the herd... she just wanted to be the toughest mare in the herd too now.
Glissando and Padma no longer arrived in unison now. Glissando had three small fillies to contend with and his time was divided. He couldn't spend as much time practicing to fight anymore now that he had a family to look after. When asked if he wanted to bring his girls along some day, Gliss avidly refused. He didn't want his lovely ladies growing up to be ruffians, he'd said.
For Padmasambhava, it wasn't quite as fun to come without Gliss. She missed her best friend and couldn't help being a little jealous that he now had his attention so diverted. After actually fighting a kalona and seeing that what Haya taught them was useful, however, she attended practices with an almost religious devotion. She knew that she didn't look like much and that it would be all too easy to pick on her if a bigger stallion came along. If she paid attention at Haya's practices... that bigger stallion would be in for an even bigger surprise!
Samsara was the only one from the original group that no longer attended. Her father no longer pressured her into coming and so she no longer came. She preferred the solitude... that and she thought that it might be better if she didn't know how to hurt other soquili. She couldn't always control the urgings for blood that her kalona heritage called for. She didn't want to further arm herself for the next time those cravings came...
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:53 pm
Haya had expected a long physical recovery from the brutal beating that he had sustained and his expectations had been accurate. He had healed faster than Nirvana, though the half-angeni stallion had feigned good spirits despite his injuries. Haya wondered sometimes if the cheer that Nirvana put forth now was simply a front to mask a deeper pain. Haya knew the agony of seeing your child harmed. Even if Nirvana had kept Glissando from bearing the brunt of the attack he wondered if the caring stallion's conscience would let himself forgive even the smallest of wounds against one of his children.
But spring was here and wounds had healed.
When was the last time I have been this content with my life? The thought sprang unbidden into Haya's mind as he watched his pupils, his warriors training. He had come to his mother's herd as an outsider. He still considered the soquili here her family and not his, but that didn't mean he felt no connection to them. On the contrary, his pride for his little group grew every day. To watch them grow from rank beginners to something resembling an actual defensive fighting force was more than he had ever hoped for from the group. He watched them practicing and smiled to himself. One and all, they were serious in the work they did now.
Sometimes when he watched them though, he wondered a little to himself about what might have been with his children. Could he have inspired this sort of unity and strength in his children if he had been a little less childish, a little more attentive? Could he have stopped them from becoming the lost creatures that they were now? The answer nagged at him and he knew it for truth. The kalona blood in his children might have been what had pulled them towards the path to misbehavior but it was his lack of influence in their life that allowed them to walk that path unhindered.
Next time he would be more careful, more caring. Next time...
Haya's eyes widened. Though his fighters still attended to their craft in front of them he no longer saw them. Next time. There would be a next time for him to have foals and be a father. There would be a next time for him to, if not atone for his mistakes, at least avoid making the same ones again.
Next time.
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:17 pm
Bodhisattva blinked at their leader, wondering where his thoughts strayed to as he stared off into the distance. "Hey Dad, do you think that we should- Hey!" She squawked in reproach as her father's push nearly shoved her off her hooves. "No fair! I was distracted!"
"First rule of defensive combat," toned Nirvana with an air of lecture. "Always use your opponent's weakness against them." He smiled after the recitation. Perhaps he had invented some of that himself, but it was certainly similar to what he had heard Hayagriva telling them previously.
"Second rule of combat!" shouted Glissando. Today was one of the days he had taken time from his family to attend. "Use superior strength in numbers to take down your enemy! Sister, Padma! Let's take him down!" He laughed and circled around his father.
Padma was quick to join in. "We can all take him! After all, we took down a kalona when it was just the three of us!"
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Posted: Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:27 pm
Haya was lost in a reverie of hope for the future and assuaged self-loathing. He didn't have to avoid having children just because he was half-kalona! He just needed to put in the extra effort. He needed to-
He blinked back into focus. Everyone was ganging up on Nirvana. Though Nirvana was good natured enough to laugh it off Haya still could recognize an unfair situation when he saw one. He seriously doubted that any of his pupils would be able to hold off the rest of them on their own.
It was time to turn the tables a bit.
With a defiant grin and a bound Haya was standing beside Nirvana. "Third rule of combat: Never claim victory before the fight is over!"
The battle was on and lasted until long after the sun set. When they finally dispersed it was with weary bodies but lightened spirits. When Haya returned to his mate Ayanna's side he found with surprise that the smile still hadn't faded from his face. He had found a place for himself in the herd, not to mention new hopes for his future. Though night had fallen, somehow the day still seemed bright.
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