Fiore the Greatest Bull in a China Shop.

That would be his title should the Gods be so kind to grant him one. For twice in a row now he had missed his opening onslaught. At least he hadn't fallen over his own feet, an improvement from complete humiliation he had faced last time and a minor relief to an otherwise dreary opener. His dogged spirit told him to carry on regardless whilst his ironic side racked his body in desperate laughter. He almost wanted to carry on galloping to the edge of the cliff before slamming on the breaks and shouting as loud as he could to the crashing waves and the carefree wind. That was how frustrated he was with himself and that emotion plagued him through the next sequence as the fight thundered on with no let up for his trampled pride. Tenacity was becoming an unfortunate specialty of his. One day everything would go right and perhaps the apocalypse would begin as a result. Either way, the tall order became taller and facing both horse and dragon became a little more harder.

His mind reeled with an effort to throw together an emergency plan as he initiated his breaks, back legs digging into the ground and when he had enough purchase the painted stallion turned onto his left. Lace had already expertly sped up to avoid his rash move that had completely missed and now the grulla was on the attack. Fiore's eyes widened as he saw the oncoming hooves a little too late for him to dance completely out of the way, solid feet clipping his barrel with enough force for him to wince and grimace at the bruise it would bring. The melee didn't end their, his earlier mistake beginning to prove costly, as in swooped a white reptile with fiery intents. Fear took hold of his instincts if only for a moment and, rooted to the floor, Fiore only managed to flinch his face away from the barrage of heat. Stumbling sideways from the previous attack as he did so.

The flames licked the left top half of his neck and the soldier made a sharp noise of pain as the sensation of burning filled his senses. "Fuck" he cursed, which wasn't like him, but his first burn from a dragon flame was more than just a nick on flesh. Frustration filled his mind and made his teeth bite into his lip, surely he was capable of more than this? It was followed quickly by self loathing as he began to hate his own incompetence, his own ordinariness, why would they promote such an idiot to Sergeant? There wasn't a moment in a fight yet that he had even thought he had gained the upper hand. Worthless soldier who punched above his own weight. That's who he was right now.

He engaged his legs once again and flung himself towards where he thought the monochrome like stallion was, the ordinary equine just like himself, except he wasn't. He had a dragon and what looked like well tuned skills. He was elder and most likely, wiser. Fiore powered on with his frustration, determined to at least mark him in some way and pull a little glory for himself! Blue eyes zoned in on hopefully his left fattier rump area, still through his annoyance the normally gentle warrior didn't want to accidentally hurt the old man badly and at the last moment, he flashed out his teeth and aiming to take a chunk from his furry hip zone. His own shoulder attempting to barge into his barrel, hoping his slightly inferior height would still give him enough strength to knock the webbed male off balance.

Fiore didn't hope for a better result this time. The soldier simply did what he thought would be best, would give him an advantage and left fate (and skill) to decide whether or not it was worthy enough to land that glorious blow that would boost his confidence from the dreary annoyance he was currently stuck with.

[677 Words & 2/3]