Blitzkrieg: You made a liar out of me; ILIUM round ONE

This chaos, this calamity, this garden once was perfect
Give your immortality to me; I'll set you up against the stars

Alyss has not been back into Blitzkrieg since her nice first-class vacation to the desert, courtesy of Baraqel for losing her last battle. Even though winter has started to let up, as she swishes into the mud formed by lingering snow she isn't happy about the change of season and footing. But she isn't at such a disadvantage being used to deeper footing with less of a hold - thank you sandy beaches for doing some good. Still the mud is going to be messy and a factor that doesn't allow for much speed, which works in her favor for the moment. Thankful that she isn't a thinner, quicker breed like her last opponent, Alyss is built for close contact, brutal fighting. With the mud she might get just that.

She enters in an even canter - it’s a risk but one she doesn't take until she is close enough to only have to go about 10 strides or so. Even then it is not a canter meant for speed or height - she doesn't try to balance her weight on her hind end because horses in the wild don't know how to do this. She canters normally, quite spectacularly on the forehand towards the other dark mare with little fanfare. There is no nod of acknowledgment even when she gets close enough to taste the earth that permeates the air almost enough to cover up the bite of lightning hidden beneath. It is only when she feels the lightning, a mere static cling in the air about her that she lets loose a twisted smile. Another lightning viper, how fortunate for my Jaegar to have met two. Alyss has her own smell and taste, one of cinnamon and ash that is all fire. There is no real elemental advantage between the two of them except for the fact Ilium has double what she possesses – two individual elements instead of her mediocre one. To be a little less likely to win is all it takes to double her determination to do so - it's like throwing gas to an open flame. It blazes behind her violent purple eyes - an internal fire that will someday consume her - and it is not a pretty thing.

Alyss looks like she intends to meet the other woman head on, diving towards the other mare's chest. She is really at about more of a 140 degree angle coming across the other mare's right shoulder towards her left. Alyss's white teeth flash she feints so elegantly towards the left side of Ilium's neck and head in a move that is sure to make the other mare spin away from her teeth, towards the right. If Ilium ends up spinning away from her teeth Alyss is going to stop even quicker and be already better lined up to deliver her first attack. Even if she doesn't Alyss has the momentum to keep going right past her shoulder, not intending to even brush it although the fire beneath her skin begs to burn the other mare. A stride past her she uses the fire that leaps to be used as an advantage - pushing it from her front hooves into the ground momentarily allowing it to harden as it heats and dries. Because she is already on the forehand it's not hard for her to stop the actual forward motion of the canter and instead use her already lightened hind quarters to provide a sweeping backwards kick. Just so we are all clear Alyss is now at an approximate 45 degree angle with her haunches to the other mare's right shoulder. As her hind feet leave the ground her forehand lowers and her head tilts slightly backwards - purple eyes gleaming under dark lashes. Her target is a range of plenty of vital things - and Alyss isn't too picky. She could hit as far forwards as the brachiocephalicus muscle - a muscle that runs where the lowest point of the chest meets the shoulder and that helps allow the front hoof to be pulled forwards for any attack - to the actual shoulder joint itself potentially ruining any foreleg attacks. She could also hit at the back part of the shoulder ranging from the actual elbow itself, which you have done enough battles to understand those consequences, to a muscle that exists right above it called the latissimis dorsi which allows a horse to move the humerus backwards when the front hoof is on the ground minimalizing any sort of movement at all including spins. And because a horse carries most of its weight on the forehand, up to 60% percent or so, anything that Alyss hits up there is going to have a lot of weight on it and therefore take quite a bit more damage.

But my mare isn't done - she has still got one more attack. Because the ground is slippery she isn't going to try to change any position herself although no doubt Ilium has begun to move herself away from Alyss's hooves. As quickly as Alyss's back hooves touch the ground they are back up in the air again for what is a double kick. Now if Ilium has stepped forwards Alyss is going to be connecting with her ribs this time, not a good possibility. If the other mare spins away Alyss's hooves are going to have a longer time to gain downward momentum and most likely connect with some sort of upper leg muscle in the foreleg, or even if she was miraculously lucky the front knee itself. If Ilium backs, although not a natural reaction for any horse in the wild, Alyss is going to strike nearer to the aforementioned shoulder joint and the front muscle running down the area where the shoulder and chest meet. If the other mare moves into her hooves Alyss is going to strike up higher on the shoulder itself and with the added weight swinging into any attack the damage is going to be greater. The beauty of Alyss's second attack is that it is quick and uses her advantage of bulk efficiently. It doesn't take more than a couple moments before Ilium has been hit twice and if by some twist of fate Alyss finds the same target twice, double that damage and give my mare a metaphorical pat on the back for a job almost too well done.

When my dark mare's hind feet connect back with the earth a second time she lets a smooth two-beat trot, one of the most balanced gaits that has impulsion, carry her away putting distance that is going to be hard to recover with any element of surprise. With a look of sadistic delight she glances backwards, now-plum eyes glinting. What does the disgruntled viper have planned for my wonderland mare?

A L Y S S
and she just needs a different sky; through the looking glass
benediction x illiana