Blitzkrieg: The world will never, ever be the same.

There was no doubting the glorious appearance of the unfamiliar mare (the horse who had thrown forth her challenge to Delilah this cool early spring morning), but Delilah had no way yet of perceiving a super-horse, fearless and flawless both physically and psychologically. As she neared the stranger, her trot carefully slow and steady despite the slush which now deceptively blanketed Blitzkrieg’s surface, she saw simply a horse, built similarly to herself and with unusually striped legs. She was hardly intimidated, instead offering the usual smile, her face bathed in genuine and natural cheer. The only thing she was careful to note was the licking, crackling flames, those that reminded her instantly of her electrical defeat by the stallion Baraqel.

Even as Ethereal came to flank Delilah, she was cautious not to suddenly vary the smooth, rhythmic manner of her pace. She did not care to slip, not to expend excess energy, nor waste her focus. She could feel the singing heat radiating from the strangely colored horse’s body as she they moved not so parallel, and although the smell that seeped from such a display, the warmth was pleasant while the air was cool. Ethereal closed in and her face rose to harass Delilah’s right cheek and naturally Delilah curled her neck down, tucking her chin tightly against the side of her throat where Ethereal lingered. She was no fool, and just as any horse would, defended her head proactively, curling and twisting her slender neck to evade the high nature of this teasing.

Her soft, honey-brown eye watched attentively as the other lurched away to the right and she paused to brace herself. This was the only suitable option she figured, for any other fleeting jerk or dodging action should cause her to slip and slide, and that would render her more vulnerable. She did not care to read the potential clues that Ethereal’s flinching, tensing muscles offered for already the opponent had lodged distractions and she would not allow herself to be susceptible against such tactful confusion. It was no effort to stop and thus she had easily found the time and opportunity to clench and brace her hindquarters, her weight rocked back against her hocks and ready to launch forward again should she perceive it to be necessary.

Also, she could not have foreseen that Ethereal’s hooves were sizzling, hot. So when the buck (much the same as the double barrel sort), collided with the fleshy tension surrounding her stifle joint, that impact backed with the searing, singing burn caused her to grimace and catch her breath. She did not squeal or cry out; she had been hurt many times by now, as was the custom in battle to attain injury; but she did immediately step out again to adopt the same calm, clean trot as before (she would not wait stock still for another assault of that variety) to assess the true severity of the bruised burn across her flexing thick thigh area. She could still extend her leg entirely, perhaps not should her weight have been distributed forward, but the bruised muscles and the nerves that layered above them just below the surface of her warm dark skin pinched and stung in protest against the exertion.

She did not force herself; there was no need while the footing was so poor, so in the few seconds that it took for her to decide, she relaxed her pace. At the same moment, Ethereal had sailed all the way around to the right, behind Delilah. The young bay was far from fretting, in actual fact the gentle, comfortable smile, which so often found its place across her lips in the most unfitting of moments bathed her face in a passive serenity and she curved her neck (there was nothing around to obscure her direction) to view the other mare.

It was that careless glance that did not pass Delilah’s attention unnoticed (‘and the cruel glance towards the piece of her enemies body that she wanted to destroy’), for she was not so inexperienced by now, to not use such a square indication to her advantage. Delilah paused to turn out and face her advancing opponent, and the other mare’s dramatic neigh rang like clarion bells through her perfectly pricked ears- those, which were always tuned to the sound of the other’s heaving breath, and pounding steps. Her own movements were each light, considered and well practiced.

So Delilah was stationary and facing the other when Ethereal’s left hoof struck forward to target her right leg. At the same moment Delilah propped back against her hocks, the bruised muscles compressing nonetheless and as such, caused her to clench her teeth and wince a little. A bruise however would not prevent her from executing this counter attack (plus, to refuse to use a strained or bruised muscle would cause it to stiffen). She did not rear, for there was not enough purchase below to trustfully secure her balance, and leaning back slightly she struck out herself with both fore hooves thrashing to inflict as much damage on Ethereal’s knees, cannon bones, pastern, perhaps even chest.

For Ethereal’s attack to be successful, she would not have utilized the ‘saved right leg’ because such an action would draw the power from the strike of the left hoof. If this was the case, the other mare would have come close enough to Delilah reach their goal (‘somewhere just above the delicate back of her knee, the knoll of the carpus that stuck out to connect to ligaments down the cannon bone’) for Delilah’s own hooves pummeling attack to connect in some damaging, fully forced way, afore mentioned. In this fashion, Delilah’s right leg was struck as intended, but the tendons and ligaments were not slack or flaccid therefore minimizing the damage. Again Ethereal’s hooves burnet the delicate, thin skin covering her cannon bone, and the jagged brim of the offending hoof grazed across it causing the skin to tear and peel away- thus also causing Delilah to bleed.

If, on the other hand, Ethereal did recoil her strength into her supporting right leg, the attack on Delilah would have inflicted minimal damage and perhaps she would not bleed- only bruise the skin, or cause a light lesion.

Delilah’s attack on the other hand was without limit.

She was careful as she landed, gathering more of her weight into her left foreleg than the right, for either of the option would have sustained damage be it minimal or major. The burn was a terrific source of agony but not without its encompassing attack, otherwise that could mean the other has dealt more than two attacks. At no point did Delilah allow Ethereal to escape, for to catch her again could be terribly difficult while she struggled in the slush, much like the thick dry sand in Solira. The bay did not have to twist in the way that Ethereal described, instead lancing forward carefully to flank the other’s left side as she attempted to break away from the proximity of their bodies.

It was at this moment while Delilah was close enough to the curve of Ethereal’s turning, retreating buttock to feel the flickering heat of the flames that Delilah pounced forward with an upward stretched neck to deliver the last of her attacks. She did not need to rise more than a foot and a half off the ground to execute the lunge, and she aimed her questing fore-hooves for Ethereal’s swinging hocks. In this way, she could easily fracture the tarsus (specifically the bones and joints of the hock), and that was her ultimate intenstion. With two hooves glancing forward and down upon either of the two available targets, there would be little Ethereal could do to prevent the critical assault. Depending on the outcome of Ethereal’s second attack (if she had withdarn to defend, thus lessening the damage), Delilah would not favour the injured foreleg as much. However, if it were the opposite case, she would obviously deliver the fullest force through the other hoof, and cater to the pain of the bleeding wound. As for the bruise across the nerves and muscles in her thigh, she worked it nurturingly to avoid further pain, while still keeping it warm and as flexible as possible.

Finally, she dropped back to the mud. The fight was finished and she would travel back to Andarin. There would be no prisoners claimed in this instance, for both trained under the wolf army.