Confusion rattles in Caneo’s brain. His aim has proven true, the proof of it a narrow slash through the black and blue flank. He expects to feel pain in return. Everything he knows of fighting, everything learned in his desperate struggle with the dragon-king, tells him to prepare for a counterattack.

        The boy sails away free.

        Like a man hewn of stone, this new opponent reacts at half speed. Caneo’s hooves slam into flesh, the ripple of impact a red thrill in his nerves, before the spotted boy even seems to wake up. Perhaps this new opponent means no harm? One silver ear twitches as confusion breaks through the desperate rush of Caneo’s first attack. He slows, long legs drawing beneath him, as the pitch of the deck thrusts his bony left side against a nearby railing. For a moment then Caneo leans there, head cocked back, blue eyes reflecting the strange hue of the enemy. It wears a fake smile, though the expression does little to lighten up the dull red of those eyes. Caneo is nimble in comparison; this realization breaks into his mind like the sear of sunlight over the water.

        He grows complacent.

        Triumph will ever be Caneo’s downfall. In hesitating, he invites a new attack from an unexpected corner: an errant cloud grows nearby, dark and ominous. With a snort the boy leaps away, rushing back across the deck. His weight is everywhere at once, a nervous clatter of excited hooves. Behind him, the shadow of his enemy lowers a golden rapier at last. Caneo’s answer is simple, immediate; his haunches lift up, preventing the horn from striking flesh and aiming to strike it instead, to cleave off the end with the force of flying hooves. Caneo is learning to use his haunches; he peers back, squinting through the flying mess of his veil, to gauge the hit. Some deep part of him, something he recognizes only distantly, hungers to hear a snap and to feel the weapon break.

        This smiling creature is not finished, of course. It swings toward him with the lurching tide, using his first strategy in turn against him. Fear bolts through silver nerves again. Eyes rolling, Caneo darts to the left. The thought of contact with this enemy repulses him; he will flee around the deck forever before he submits to fighting close. His hooves scrape against uneven boards, his weight bracing against the haphazard support of warped lumber and crooked nails. The sun, reluctant still to let a dark horizon swallow it for good, burns in the silver boy’s eyes. His costume glows with a radiant light; the bands along his tail spark silver. Still, Caneo finds himself blind to the beauty of it. He squints bitterly against the light and his only sense is pain, as a sudden line of brilliant fire opens up along his shoulder.

        With a squeal, Caneo dodges left and forward, tail lashing, confusion bright in his eyes. The joker was behind him – what is going on? He glimpses a little shadow then, and the flash of a longer blade than his own. That two-legged creature, so quickly forgotten despite his concern, has caught him as he crossed back over the deck. The tip of her blade runs dark with blood to match the shallow scrape across Caneo’s right shoulder. Rivulets of blood stain Caneo’s silver flesh; it stings. With an indignant squeal he bolts, reckless and shining, toward the narrow walkway at the back of the room.

        He forgets the spotted boy as he runs. Flight, that strongest of all his instincts, burns through his mind.

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attack: 2/2
word count: 603 words
notes: He ran away from the dark mist, and so was running back across the deck as Biru moved to stab, so he was a bit in front of the motion and instead of being scraped by it, kicked at Biru's horn/face with his back legs. When Biru tried to ram, Caneo changed direction slightly to run further left, toward the walkways at the back of the room. In doing so, he ran back into the pirate and she slashed his shoulder. He was so confused and surprised he kept running, hoping to reach the narrow walkway.
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@[Biru] no need to tag me :)