There's a song in your lung and a dream in your eye.
Her escape had been successful, forcing her opponent to take up the offensive. As she eyes the brindled mare with eyes of burnished gold, she assesses the damage her opponent had taken. A sore shoulder and an injured flank, both of which would no doubt hamper any future attacks the mare is likely to make. It is a weakness she could use to her advantage.
She is injured herself, but not so much so as to prevent her from successfully performing a counter attack against whatever Raxa should choose to come at her with. Her neck throbs, but it is easy enough to ignore. With the adrenaline coursing through her veins, focus comes easy, her sight fixed unerringly on her opponent, watching for the subtle cues that would foreshadow the attack to come. As the mare picks up the trot, followed swiftly by a canter, arcing around to come at her, Joscelin’s gleaming gaze follows her.
Certainly she could have moved, could have cantered or flown away, forcing the other mare to follow, but she does not. Instead she lets the attack come. With her injured flank, Raxa makes the wise (and obvious) choice for avoiding placing more weight on her hindquarters than necessary. Which means her attack comes in the form of a buck. There is no surprise in the maneuver, no need for guessing, giving Joscelin plenty of time to formulate a counter.
Raxa mimics Joscelin’s previous attack, but while the other mare’s weight had been shifted and compromised, Joscelin’s is squared, prepared for any eventuality. As the other mare’s hind limbs fly backwards, Joscelin digs in her hind legs, pushing forwards and sideways into the mare. The movement would serve to not only lessen the force of the blow, but to push Joscelin’s weight into her opponents shifted and compromised stance. With her weight thrown onto her forehand, Raxa is off balance, making much easier for Joscelin in her attempt to push her of balance, and, with luck, knock her over. Using the full bulk of weight with the added momentum of her hind legs pushing forcefully, she plows into her opponent. Raxa’s hooves slam into her barrel, she feels the thud, the creak and sudden sharp pain of a rib fracturing, the whoosh of breath as it leaves her lungs, but she is already committed to her attack.
She allows her momentum to carry her forward, allows her from feet to catch her with a painful thud and a sharp intake of sorely needed breath. But her gaze never leaves her opponent, following her in whatever trajectory her attack had propelled her.
Joscelin
Tiphon x Elysteria