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 Posted: Tue Jan 31, 2012 8:29 pm
Celestia felt the impact of striking the ferret dead on. Her jaws had opened and closed around the creature's body before it had even managed to cry out to the larger Soquili. Celestia's teeth sank into the neck flesh of the ferret as she kept her eyes on the larger prize. While the ferret did manage to land a few good nips here and there it wasn't enough to dissuade the wolf to let go. As much as she could Celestia began to back away just a little. She wanted the mare in front of her to witness the life drain from the eyes of her companion. The buffet from the mare's wings almost had the desired effect.
Braving the attack Celestia snarled softly around the mouthful of ferret before her jaws closed more tightly around the creature's neck. Suffocation was an unpleasant way to die for any poor creature. The mare's antics though rushed Celestia. She let the ferret's body touch the ground before she gave the neck a relatively quick twist. In the quiet that followed a muted snapping Celestia dropped the lifeless body of the ferret at her feet. Mission accomplished. She braced herself from any possible backlash from the mare.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 2:09 pm
Auva tripped over her own hooves after hitting the kalona, she screwed up her face as she felt something slap her on the rump... it stung and she had the distinct impression that she would have a bruise their in the morning. Her eyes were wide as she tried to look at everything around her. She saw the stranger with the pelt and fangs who had managed to get the Kalona to release her apprach... she could feel the pent up anger and agression of the beast that had grabbed her like his personal chew toy... and still... she didn't know if she could get away.
Everything seemed to move in slow motion as she tried to pull herself on the ground with her front hooves away from the Kalona. What would happen if she didn't get far enough away? Would she become the target instead? Or maybe something or rather someone would fall on her in the attack? He heart fluttered with panic as she doubled her efforts.
Her front hooves were leaving deep holes in the ground as she used them as leverage to pull herself forward..... she was almost positive she was moving too slow, but she couldn't bring herself to stop. She had to live! She had so much to see, to experience... surely her life would not end today?
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:34 pm
Even in his fury Phala could still make out Auva. She was still too close to the kalona. There was no easy way to get to his mark without going through her. Tough luck kid.
He didn't even try to change course. He moved in full force shouldering the angeni filly out of the way in order to get to the purple maned b*****d. He'd be scolded for it later, Phala was certain of it, but it wasn't his fault the child was so slow.
If the kalona was trying to use the little idiot as a distraction it wasn't working. If he was using her to slow down Phala's attack that was working quite nicely. He'd lost the force he'd wanted to take the kalona down on the filly, now he had no momentum to work with and had to hope he had enough strength to be a threat anyway. He aimed a kick in the kalona's general direction hoping that charging in wouldn't be a complete loss.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 3:43 pm
Vivace took a deep breath. Kakumei was right, they needed to get out of there. Not just because the wolf might come back but because it would be too easy trampled by another soquili here. "Okay. Okay. Um..." Another deep breath.
"Try standing?" He offered weekly. "You can lean against me and we can go try to find a unicorn." It came out in a rush. Vivace knew it was a crappy plan but it was the best he could come up with. He wasn't exactly the brainy strategic type. He would have traded his singing voice for some brains right now though.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 6:55 pm
Coda was dead.
Adagio remembered the many times he had ridden curled around her shoulders while she flew through the air. Every once in a while he'd clawed her up while struggling to stay on. She had sometimes gotten a little angry at him. She had been just teaching him to sing over the past couple weeks. Improbably, out of all responses, the thought that came to her now was wondering how she could possibly teach him the lullaby they'd been working on if he was dead. Coda and Bodhisattva, a familiar and a sister. Both of their corpses lay strewn upon the ground around her. Adagio screamed again, both in horror and in rage.
"You... STAY AWAY FROM THEM!" She could barely see from the tears running from her eyes but that didn't stop her. She wouldn't allow this wolf to defile the bodies of her dead friend and family any longer. The idea of anyone touching so much as another hair on Coda or Bodhi filled her with burning blindness. "Stay away, stay away! STAY AWAY!" Each scream grew shriller. She lashed out at the wolf with both her hooves and her wings. She had no training as a fighter, but she had the ferocity of grief and despair. She even tried to bite the wolf, she who had barely ever even raised her voice in anger through her life.
A part of her still expected Coda to open her eyes and tell her that she shouldn't fret and that this was all a dream. With Coda a mauled red ruin on the ground, that would never happen again.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:10 pm
Kakumei wanted nothing more than to cower at Vivace's feet until his mother or help arrived, but he somehow forced himself to pull away and try to stand. The urge to give up and hide was defeated by adrenaline and the animal instinct within him that pushed him to run and run until he could run no more. He managed to stand but was as wobbly as he was when he first stepped out of his basket. His front legs splayed and his injured back leg could barely hold any weight. He could feel his back leg start to crumple and wondered if he was about to fall over again...
"BODHI! Please, someone help!"
"I will have your heart!"
"Stay away from me!"
"Kakumei!"
Out of all the cries of his herdmates, in terror, rage, or pain, it was the last one that reached his ears that taught Kakumei's hooves how to run again. Out of the din and hellish chorus of voices he heard his mother shouting his name. "Vivace! We gotta go! We gotta find her! Please! Come with me!" Kakumei started a pained three-legged gallop to where he thought he heard the voice coming from, hoping that his protector would be beside him.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 7:57 pm
Xelloss was frankly astonished and even impressed with the fanged stallion's performance. He was so enraged that he would trample the foals of the herd in order to kill him. He had the sadism and cruelty of a demon or a mazoku. It was almost a pity that they were enemies instead of allies on this field of battle. What was even more the pity was that Xelloss thought he might get genuinely injured if he made a misstep here.
He pulled his head back out of the way from the kick, but not entirely. It was his mistake to have dodged the smallest amount possible instead of a less graceful but safer move. The hoof struck his horns instead of his head, which ended up being almost as much of a shock. The force from the impact traveled directly down his horns to his skull and made his ears ring. Flashes danced in front of his eyes, but not enough to obscure his vision.
On the defensive now, Xelloss twisted away with his front half and kicked backward with his hind legs.
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Posted: Wed Feb 01, 2012 9:58 pm
Auva didn't know what hit her, nor could she have stopped it. It felt like a tree had literally rolled on top of her, her side aching and throbbing in agony as contact was made with the charging stallion. She was thrown to the side, rolling in a mess of feathers and pain. She hissed in a breath and found herself lying flat on her back with her four hooves in the air.
It seemed as if the world had stopped, and her focus was wavering as everything dimmed out before coming back ever so slowly. She was close to passing out from the pain and lack of air in her lungs, but still she found herself fighting it. To lose consciousness now would likely mean death....
...even as she thought that her world turned to black.
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:06 am
Vivace had no idea what Kakumei had heard. Practically everything had just been sounding like noise to him since all of this had started. In the end it didn't really matter, the kid was moving and right now he was just standing there like an idiot watching slack-jawed. He gave his head a sharp shake to bring him back to himself before moving after Kakumei.
It didn't take Vivace long to catch up with the limping foal but he couldn't decide if this was good or bad right now. "I'm with you Kakumei." He said wondering a bit over his particular word choice for a moment before opening a wing to shield the foal and let him know that if anything came he would deal with it. He was just not so secretly hoping that nothing came. "Let's try and get out of here as quickly as possible."
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 7:22 am
Phala had felt his blow make a connection and he was finally able to focus enough of his attention on the kalona to see the reaction. It wasn't what he had anticipated. Rather than staggering off the kalona turned and kicked out. Phala tried to get out of the way by leaping to the side. The blow caught him in the shoulder and he found himself staggering instead. He hissed in pain and swore violently before pushing all of that aside for another attack, this time he was aiming for a wing.
Ignoring the sharp pain in his shoulder he charged in weaving slightly in his steps to make counter attacks harder. His bright green eyes were completely focused on the kalona's dark wings and his mouth was slowly opening giving away his intent. Right as he moved in to make his attack Phala's dark pelt slipped off his back with the movement revealing the large lotus flower that marked so much of the herd. The herd that hated him. The herd that had now gotten his sister killed. That flower would look better with the kalona's blood on it.
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 8:40 am
Enough was enough. Xelloss didn't wait for Phala's attack to reach him, he ran. Flapping briskly, he lifted himself into the air and rose above the battle. He left the raging stallion beneath him, as well as the little filly crumpled on the ground. Her eyes were shut and she wasn't moving. It was entirely possible that the stallion had trampled her to death. Xelloss wondered if the other soquili would blame him for that, not that he would mind if they did.
Unlike other kalona, Xelloss had no compunctions against a strategic retreat. He had come to get his revenge against the herd that had shamed him and with a young and beautiful mare dead, he had achieved that. He wasn't a true member of the Mahapadma so had no need to stick around for the skinwalker to boss him around. He was his own agent in this mission, and part of his goal was not to get injured.
He caught sight of the dead mare as he flew over her. Someone had found her but was in the process of being attacked by a wolf. Her delightful screams carried up on the air to Xelloss and he gave a satisfied sigh. He angled his flight to take him back over the mountains, in the direction of his usual territory. Without so much as another look over his shoulder, Xelloss was gone. All in all, it was a job well done.
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 9:34 am
Whatever Phala had been expecting that wasn't it. The b*****d was flying off. so that was it then? He came, murdered Phala's sister, then flew off the second someone challenged him. Not today. He wasn't getting away that easily.
Phala watched the kalona's course with a furious stare. "You're not getting away." He said, seething. Nothing was going to stop Phala now. He would chase the winged devil to the ends of the Earth to get his revenge and without wasting anymore time he started after him. He would be slower on foot but he could still find him. No matter what Phala would find him.
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Posted: Thu Feb 02, 2012 5:18 pm
The ferret was dead.
Celestia still could taste the familiar's blood on her tongue and she knew that her muzzle was bloodstained from both her attack on the foal and now the ferret. Her eyes tracked the mare with a hungry look before she realized that the mare was charging forward. She was being buffeted by the mare's wings and almost trampled yet again. Darting away quickly Celestia put a little bit of distance between herself and the grieving Soquili. The mare obviously was blinded with emotion. Her injured paw from before throbbed mercilessly. Her gaze narrowed. She wanted at least to make a meal of something but she was alone. If she had more of this loose pack with her maybe she could succeed. As it was though Celestia ran the chance of being injured even more - even killed.
A quiet snarl sounded from her small frame. It was a challenge to the mare. Perhaps she could make the female back off and or make an error in her defense.
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 2:01 am
In Auva's little world of darkness her mind felt remarkebly at peace. Nothing hurt, no sound pieces the black expance before her. All there was was a sence of pure calm. It made her want to smile, but her body was so heavy it didn't seem to belong to her. Instead she just enjoyed.
Auva had always liked the darkness, perhaps it was simply because her herd was active at night and she had grown used to it.... or perhaps it was because she was easily ignored at night? The pelt that she had mostly inherited from her mother and grand father was speckled with stars, echoing the darkness that she loved. The soft purple on her back and rump was the mark of her fathers line, but even that in the dark appeared near black. The perfect camouflage. The perfect way to be ignored. Maybe that was why the world of her mind was nothing but pure darkness.... or... was it possible she had died?
A soft sadness rippled through her mind at the idea of never getting to say good bye, of never getting to look at her sisters, mother, father, grandparents, herdmates... everyone, ever again. But there was nothing she could do about that now. At least her rear hoof didn't hurt anymore.
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In the real world Auva hadn't moved a muscle, her breath was slow and shallow from the injury to her chest from the fall, but still it was relatively steady. Her hoof had started to clot, though there was a puddle of blood surrounding it. Scratch marks marred her pelt. Despite it all Auva would survive.... the only real questions were... when would she wake up? Or would something else get to her before she could?
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Posted: Fri Feb 03, 2012 12:46 pm
"You big idiot, Phala! Get out of the way!" Shrivatsa shouldered past her brother to run to the side of the fallen angeni filly. As soon as the battle had started, Shrivatsa had started working on keeping the herd together. It was the only thing she could think of doing in such a situation, though she knew that it was hopelessly inadequate.
In quiet misery she had watched as soquili were attacked and maimed. She was no fighter, she hadn't been able to help them. She was the new alpha of the herd and the best she could do was cluster together the small part of the herd that actually listened to her. She didn't blame them for ignoring her and scattering. She wasn't Vara, they had no reason to listen to her.
She hated herself for not noticing when Auva wandered away from the group and hated herself even more for not noticing that Auva was in trouble until it was too late. She had let a filly and a guest to the herd get attacked by a kalona... and then trampled by her own brother. She was so mad at Phala she wanted to scream at him.... or cry.
She looked over the filly with a trained eye and thanked the gods that she had gone to Regulus to learn the art of healing. The filly didn't look like she had suffered any fatal injuries, though she could easily be wounded severely on the internal level.
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