Grim recognition lit the grulla's dark eyes as her foe turned toward her, faint glimmers of light playing off that golden horn as it was brought swinging up and over toward level. Intuitively she knew there was no chance of stopping in time, in avoiding that spear entirely. A mere stride and a half separated them now, and it was with wild desperation that Smoke veered to the right, frantic to keep that narrow point from finding a new home in her chest.

She found success in that, but none in slipping past that deadly weapon unscathed. Pain erupted in a sharp burst in her shoulder as Illynx's horn punctured muscle in the Wild Rose's left shoulder, sliding in just inches from where it had earlier sliced, only to reappear just inches on the other side. A hissing intake of breath was taken, but almost immediately exploded out in a groan as the grulla's momentum forced her further onto that rigid spike, and then the combined wounds couldn't hold the foreign object there any more, and flesh tore away with a splatter of crimson dropets and a rush of blood down her leg. Untended by magic, the flaps of skin and muscle would eventually mend, but leave a cross-shaped scar.

But then their bodies were colliding once more, and the pain redoubled, dragging a ragged gasp out of the Moon Doctor as she felt the unicorn give away before the impact, felt a new gush of blood rush down her leg, knew that better lighting would likely reveal a smear of equine blood on an unicorn's chest. It was because of this unexpected yet intense pain that her strikes had a renewed fervor, though the blows from her left fore were lighter than those from her right. That the nip of teeth on a broad curve of bruised shoulder muscle was ignored like the mild irritant of a strand of bramble catching on an unwary fetlock. Something noticed but shrugged aside with a small flexion of muscles.

Frustration was a heated sensation as Smoke felt her opponent move, pushing back against her. In a defensive reflex the sturdy mare twisted, shifting back to her right as the other mare's body drove against her left side. It was more uncomfortable than painful to shoved thusly, the lighter and more lithely built unicorn's frame lacking the bulk to make up for the lack of momentum. But enough to have Smoke landing awkwardly as she sought to maintain balance and not put weight on her wounded left fore. Tried not to think too much of the throbbing pain that kept time with her racing heartbeat and sent a steady trickle of blood down to stain her burn scars crimson. Maybe its ironic that a silver horn marked my hindquarters and a gold one marked my fore. Maybe not. Damn this hurts. Will have to make a comfrey compress, maybe some dock.

But it seemed this battle would end in harsh words, words that made white-edged ears flicker in mild irritation, her thoughts disturbed from the momentary musing of circumstances and treatment for her hurts. "You sound nothing more than a child complaining that life isn't fair. Should where you were born dictate where you'll die? Perhaps, but many souls both wiser and more foolish than you have learned that life doesn't work that way. If it did, I would still be Isilme, the souls of my friends and family would still be at rest, my son would be racing unhindered through the surf. My elder daughter would have met her father. Its past time you stopped lingering on the things that have gone wrong in your life and started focusing on the good." Favoring her left shoulder, Smoke began to walk away. Sheer determination to not show weakness kept the limp that nagged her gait to a minimum, even though it made the pain worse. "Now get your sorry self back to your Basin, and hold on to the frail safety the northern climes lend you from your own stupidity."

[679 words, closing defense]