Around him, he noticed with blurred vision, there were barren trees with gnarled branches reaching high above his horned head. The sky was dark and cloudy with snow falling and spinning like angry demons in the brutal gusts of chilled air. The cold bit as his skin and face like a hungry animal. His widened eyes searched for the dragon who occasionally would cast a dark outline just below the churning clouds. He needed shelter quickly before the beast came for a second and final blow on the weakened stallion. Tholt's heartbeat was low but erratic due to the shock of what was happening to him. Hunted by a dragon and loosing blood rapidly. The trail of crimson blood was in stark contrast to the metallic, white snow it was spilled upon. He moved with faltering steps as his head grew heavy and his vision blurred. The bloody trail was thin but thickening as he lost more and more due to the struggle of an attempted escape. Could he really escape the imminent death he faced at the jaws of that monster, though?

Spooked by the reappearance of the looming shadow in the sky, Tholt attempted to quicken his pace. He launched himself through the barren forest and over the banks of snow. Hearing the livid growl of a beast overhead, Tholt panicked and managed to fall while trying to cross a frozen stretch of water. The exhausted, wounded stallion stiffled his cry of pain from the impact of the fall onto his bruised body. The gash on his belly was inflicted by the earlier blow of the dragon who continued the search for him. Tholt lay quietly on the surface of the frozen pond. His head barely able to lift now and view his surroundings. Snow was already attempting to cover his body as lay there.

His blood slowly began to seep out of him again and frost up as it settled on the surface of the pond. Tholt closed his pupil-less, teal colored eyes and prayed to be saved from a death like this. His ears flickered as he caught the sound of the ice slowly cracking beneath his weight. Even the irrational fear of drowning didn't produce the needed energy to at-least crawl from his spot on the pond to it's bank. He was too weak to lift his head anymore.