Posted by ETHEREAL on August 13, 2008, 3:33 pm, in reply to "The world will never, ever be the same."
205.188.116.72
The kiss of death came upon a frozen pre-spring eve - the very same night that Ethereal; the flame, battled Delilah; the bay. It came heralded by the sound of hooves colliding with the somewhat smaller bay mare's stifle region ('collided with the fleshy tension surrounding her stifle joint'), a markedly dangerous place for hooves to collide - a place that promised torture and anguish to the recipient of such treatment. And all while the joint was strained beneath the promise of a stand still and muscles remained taught while Delilah remained poised with her weight against her hocks in the evident need to throw herself forward ('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. '). It was here that Ethereal scored her first in major injuries... Or what should have resulted in a major and nearly catastrophic injury that tore muscle and rendered the region near such a crucial joint in a horse's movement and kinetic energy swollen and near immobile. A horse with an injured stifle or injured stifle region is far less apt to move, much less continue in battle. It's an injury that requires months of lay ups and stall rest in real life... But circa Blitzkrieg and the fancy Warmblood mare moved on without so much as a limp after taking such an injury without any attempt at getting away. Full impact. A mighty thud and crack as two sizzling hot heels tore into bay flesh. And for a note, the fact that Ethereal burned ever so hot and ever so bright was not a third nor fourth attack, but an ability granted to her by her birth. It was a privilege granted to her by the Gods, the Elementals as she'd joined their ranks at conception.
The trip around Delilah was never intended to take seconds. It was a carefully plotted out move that allowed the more dominant animal to take in the sight of damage, to survey the weaknesses and strength of the subordinate horse. Traveling around the posterior of the slightly shorter bay Warmblood was also an instinctive notion of 'driving' the mare away. Chasing her from the herd, making her feel unwelcome by the superior horse, the nastier horse. Common, simple, slow, calculated Equine behavior preserved to the max. It was a slow trip, catered to by her always burning body as she masterfully moved with caution through the slush and the slop against the bitter winds. She gave Delilah's hind quarters a wide berth, but the rest was far from wide, and some how Delilah on her injured hind end was able to pivot sharply in the slop to meet Ethereal head on in her next attack. Of course now the dimensions would have been changed. Ethereal would be forced away from her hopeful attack on the back of the should be crippled mare's right front knee, her left hind stifle hopefully keeping her from rushing off... But this was not to be so.
Delilah somehow managed to rear on that hurt back leg to strike for Ethereal's legs and chest. Ethereal, who already had partially risen to drive her own foreleg into Delilah's was already nearly a hand taller then the bay... And subsequently squealed in mock surprise. Then there was the clash of hoof against bone, Ethereal's had collided with Delilah's cannon bone and scraped away flesh to cause the bay to bleed. ('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. '). Of course a hit to the cannon bone was to be bone jarring in the method by which it happened. The same course of say two locomotives careening towards one another, the difference being Ethereal's hoof smacked into bone and flesh and was forced off to one side to scrape and tear the skin due to Delilah's forward motion. Good enough, the leg itself would harbor pain, harbor swelling, harbor damage that should leave Delilah limping both in front and the diagonal hind leaving the bay no place to rest while moving. A horse relies on it's diagonal opposite leg to support itself in every gait and in every movement.
Then came the smack and thud of hoof to flesh. Delilah's left fore made contact with Ethereal's right pectoral muscle on the fly and dragged down to scrape the flesh and leave the flame kissed mare with a cut and subsequent bruising. It forced the mare down to the earth far sooner then she expected. But it also left the horses facing head on. Face to face where Delilah had put them. Face to face where it had changed the parameters of Ethereal's attack and therefore the parameters of Ethereal's retreat.
In order to come up across Ethereal's left side now, Delilah would have been forced to make the first move for the flame horse would not be ignorant enough to simply pass by her foe's side and put herself in range of attack whether by the bay's fores or heels. Delilah 'lanced' forward somehow magically to come behind Ethereal via her left side. And as she did so the zebra dun mare threw her weight off her injured chest, threw her head into the air and scuttled backwards in the slop to turn and keep her head and shoulders towards her foe at all times. A horse's instinct is to protect it's sides. It's next instinct is to protect it's back end. And should Delilah have tried such an option while the Elementals weren't looking, Ethereal would have laid her out with her hind heels. But such an option wasn't available, and the flame did what instinct told her; guard her sides and bowels. But still somehow injured with both fore and hind limbs effected, Delilah struck for Ethereal's hocks... But Ethereal scuttled backwards, the brunt of the attack now landed and slid against her haunches and gaskin.
To scuttle backwards, a horse must put it's full weight into it's back limbs, curve it's spine and lower it's haunches slightly to the ground. It was in this motion that Ethereal was struck. The pain seared through her muscles as her haunch low near the gaskin was effected by Delilah's hooves. But remember, to attack Ethereal's left, Delilah would have to attack with her right... And that foreleg was already injured, was it not? Regardless, Ethereal sprung away in a shy with a soundless scream against her now gaping maw. The secondary hoof scraped her gaskin much as Ethereal slide slightly through the muck and mire to freedom.. But immediately she came to a halt a slight distance off where her shy had brought her and held her injured leg up. The muscle in her chest screamed in rebellion by the full weight of the opposite diagonal leg being forced into the air. But the feeling was fleeting and momentary as with a bruise and no broken bones, a cut with a gently bleeding line where hoof had collided with muscle, Ethereal lowered the hoof to the mud and snarled at her retreating enemy. Indeed the fight was over. There would be no prisoners... Not this time. But someday there would indeed be a rematch for it seemed the "super-horse" bled, limped, and licked it's wounds.
FIRE III | Warrior | Andarin
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