There is a certain satisfaction that comes with watching your opponent scramble for survival. It brought a sinister grin to the dun's ruined face and he wondered if this must be how a fox feels every time it chases a hare?

The hare got away this time.

A victorious smile quickly faltered to a scowl as the unicorn just barely avoided the crater growing largely behind them. A furious forelimb strikes out at the dry, dead ground in frustration while ears set back at the pain that gnaws with all too much reminder up his haunch. Ricochet cannot press on, not with a busted leg and an aching in the back of his head where the use of his magic pressed like a hot weight upon him.

Turning to leave this battlefield, Ricochet was surprised by the overwhelming force that suddenly shoved against him. In his haste to berate himself and mourn the continued existence of a unicorn, he'd forgotten the swordsman altogether; part of him had just assumed the lucky buck would flee with his life whilst it remained. That was his arrogant part.

This was his 'oh shit' part.

Eyes widened in the brief seconds that Ricochet had to understand his fatal error, and then he was pushed over.

It felt stronger than wind, more solid in a way, and certainly more cold than even the deepest blizzard blows. It swept into his core and left him a shuddering, hollowed thing as he lay on his right side, having toppled over and then slid to the rim of the Heart. His tail swung freely over the fire pit and though it seemed due to burst into flames at any moment, Ricochet was shivering.

His mind swam in confusion and fear. Never before had he faced something that imposed such a direct threat as this unicorn. Ricochet felt in every fiber of his being as if he'd been forcibly removed from his body and then equally so slammed back into it. Something had happened. Ricochet couldn't truly grasp what the feeling was, but it had been terrible and it had been mighty and he feared for that presence to return.

Gasping like a fish on dry land the stallion came back to himself in the matter of heartbeats, though it felt like an eternity that he lay suffocating, freezing, dying. Perhaps a weaker soul would have been snuffed out, but the Incendiary was a flame that burned too strongly. He bowed beneath the cold exhale, glowing brighter in the absence of it.

The sounds of cracking ground set his legs kicking. Just as the rim crumbled into oblivion Ricochet leapt up, a grunt pressing between his teeth as the exertion and the pain threatened to keep him down in this most dire need. Nervously he stepped away from the burning edge, no longer trusting what seemed sound enough to hold him when much of it had be rearranged in this short span. "Damn," he swore beneath his breath, clenching his teeth as his body seemed to throb in rhythm with his pulse. Everything ached now. A plethora of bruises were spawning under his hide where he'd been pummeled into the dirt. His lame haunch was worse now, having needed to call on it when he risked being the crispy Incendiary.

More than anything though, Ricochet felt wholly and completely exhausted. He trembled as he stood because his muscles seemed unable to hold him up or his joints to lock in place. His eyes were heavy and his heart like lead nestled in his chest. Were it for anything other than a stubborn conviction to be strong, Ricochet would have crumpled into the ground here and now and happily slept.

Warily he cast his gaze to the strange unicorn. The remainders of that event, whatever it had been, left Ricochet more shaken up than he'd ever felt. Teal eyes were sharp with questions and wonder, but primarily, hate. Most of all Ricochet felt slighted that he'd been lied to - this was not an earth unicorn.

Whatever he was, Ricochet made him a target now.

"I'll kill you next time." He whispered, his gaze unwavering from the dark sword.
Where a brush with death might paralyze some it only fed Ricochet a fabulous high. That and he simply could not let something that deadly with a horn continue to exist.

[closing defense - 730 words - gets slammed onto his right side and pushed almost over the cliff. Scrambles up before it breaks beneath his weight. His entire body is bruised and a great weariness fills him.]

R I C O C H E T - -
blam, you're dead