Metal-clad hooves slammed back down to the ground after Archibald's assault on the massive black feline. He heard his hooves hit it--what he perceived as his mother--and it hissed before scattering away into darkness. Turning, Archibald's body screamed in pain and protest and the stallion winched, ears pinning hard behind his fake costume ears with pain. All he could hear was his blood pounding, but his golden eyes fell on the friesian mutt when his assailant was dealing with his own feline demolisher. Archibald took this time to move away from Biru, hoping in his mind that the other inky stallion was still cursed by his magic. In the distance, Archibald heard a yelp leave Loretta's maw, and the massive stallion pushed forward. His head ducked and he pushed into the density of the forest blindly, roots tangling up in his feathers and thorns pulling at his sides. He winced and tensed in pain, and he felt a sharp prick at the point of his left-side buttock. The prick was the end of Biru's horn, his intended target of Archibald's heart way off in the Dauntless' attempt to charge into the forest and smash the source of Loretta's pain. The remnants of the deer's mist still was fogging Archibald's brain, and now in the immense pain he was feeling from this battle, his thoughts were very narrow and little else entered his mind.

Get Loretta. Leave this demonic jungle.

Biru's dual horn attacks pulsated and bled, much less than the set of claw wounds down his rump, but still made the Dauntless' body react greatly. The paint that turned him white and cat-like was beginning to run and drip down his sides, the macabre of his blood mixing darkly with the temporary paint. In his charge through the forest the cat ears were ripped harshly from Archibald's head, leaving a small cut above his eye that stung wildly. Loretta was tangled in the grasp of thorns, her legs bleeding greatly and chunks of fur and flesh missing from her side. Her instinct had told her to kill the deer, and her charge after the creature was much less dainty and natural. Archibald stopped when he found her, stomping at the thorns around her, their prongs cutting away at the thin flesh of his knees. The kingly Captain bit back the pain as he freed his companion. When the red and white was free from her trap, Archibald knew the battle was over. He left Biru to deal with the jaguars in the clearing, having pushed past him successfully to find Loretta, and there was no way in hell the Dauntless was going back to save the blue and black boy. His own stupidity would be his downfall--he should have listened when Archibald told him to move in the first place, before the battle even began.

There was screaming pain ripping through the Dauntless' massive body, his heart racing beneath his breast and his muscles shaking. The beast's breathing was labored and sweat pooled around his body. This landscape had taken its toll on him in its own right, but Archibald was greatly affected by this battle. In all of his life, in all of his experience, the warlord was never participated in such a battle that had him wanting out from the beginning. No, Archibald did not fear this jungle or what lay in it, for he was without the capacity of being daunted, but he did not welcome this place either--and this place did not welcome him. Blood poured from the deep wounds on the right side of his rump, the cuts from the demon's claws excruciating. His mother had scratched him before, but nothing of this manner. She was here now, however, a phantom that had attacked him while he was battling for his way out of this clearing. Biru had done his part in fighting back, and left Archibald with a pulsating cut on his ribcage that bleed--incredibly less than the jaguar cuts--but still bled nonetheless. Loretta held her own share of bumps and bruises, her attempt at going after the deer leaving her bleeding cuts along her legs and tufts of missing fur along her sides that had been ripped away by the vicious bark of trees as she scraped past them in her mad dash. Limping, bruised and bloody, the pair walked with their heads held high out of the clearing, ready to be rid of this place entirely.




[PC: 2/2 | Defense: 1/1 | WC: 744 |

|| Surroundings: You're in a dense jungle where a lot of foliage covers the ground and vines aplenty wait to tangle you up. You've managed to find somewhat of a clearing, where you square up for your fight, but it seems to be home to someone else as well. Jaguars prowl through the brush and try to grab at you, defending their territory and likely, trying to fill their stomachs. A jaguar manages to strike each fighter once in the fight, which causes a painful and bleeding wound.]