Their opponent comes, but the pair is not pleased. Their raging anger has brought them down into themselves, and they look on towards the woman and her griffin with hard, mechanical eyes. Archibald stops trotting and turns to face the white, antlered unicorn as she observes them for only a moment. The brute snorts hard and arches his neck, muscles bulging carefully and solidly. His sticky, wet forelock is plastered to his face and his golden eyes are a blaze of rage and pure, unadulterated bloodlust. Archibald has no vendetta against his mare, against her soul, against her actions, but she was the physical body that would take the beating of his uninhibited, unbridled strangling vehemence. Archibald's burning eyes quickly shot around, taking note of the boulders he would need to avoid during their battle of rage and determination. His anger would not blind him; he was a warlord.

Loretta trots still, snarling as her amber eyes find purchase on the griffin. Narrowing her eyes, Loretta is the first to kick into high-tailed movement, just as Arah forces herself into a gallop. Loretta snarls again as the griffin comes in diving for her. The bitch has never faced such a hybrid of a creature before, but she is not thwarted by fear or apprehension even as the darkness ebbs and flows around the screeching creature's body. Loretta does not back down. No other companion strikes fear into her heart. Loretta has killed dragons. Powerful hind legs suddenly propel the shaggy wet dog into the air, jaws open wide to reveal her steel trap of teeth before she slams her jaws shut. She aimed her bite towards the griffin's throat, hoping to bring the creature back to earth with her and shake its body until it fell limp in her jaws, neck crushed and broken in the cage of her jaws and teeth. The beast's claws just scrape down her shoulder as she jumps into it, but adrenaline and rage course through her compact body too heavily for her to full react. A growl continually rings from the depths of her belly, however, and as her muddied paws hit the wet soil she can feel the effect of the magic that coated itself around the griffin's claws. It is a sudden feeling, overtaking her body like a hurricane. Although she has just begun her assault, the bitch feels as though this battle has been waging already. There is a light tingle in her legs and spine as the blood rushes to meet the surface of her two parallel cuts and bleed into her fur, and Loretta bites out again, hoping to grab onto the cretin's right foreleg, and then Loretta rips her head away hard, hoping that if she found her purchase she will pull the hybrid creature's shoulder from its socket.

Archibald is only still for a hair of a second, eyes narrowed in darkly on the white mare as she charges toward him. His eyes flicker down to her hooves for only a moment, wondering how she can move so skillfully over the slippery earth. Even with her lighter build and carefully crafted ancestry fueling her appearance, it was amazing how she did not slip even in the slightest. Snorting again, Archibald lets the idea drift from his mind and springs into the throws of the battle. The mountainous stallion moves into his own cantering charge, back hooves slipping some as he propels his mass forward. The white mare lowers her antlers toward his chest and Archibald quickly adjusts, weight shifting away from Arah and to the right. Archibald knows he cannot take her antlers head on unless he wanted a chestful of tines digging their way towards his darkened heart. Instead, he intends to canter parallel to the woman. Their dual charges are wonderfully met, but despite his feign to the right, Archibald suddenly feels the white hot sting of pain as one of the unicorn's tines scrape across the point of his left shoulder. Archibald pushes forward a few more steps before he launches his attack. The inky stallion turns his hips to the left, hoping to bring them close to the white woman, before he rockets them towards her. Archibald's weight is shifted forward as his demolishing rear hooves kick up and back toward where he hoped Arah's ribcage as, or even her hips. In his rage, the king wants to feel her bones crush beneath his power, his weight and might. Focusing on her body, Archibald summons his magic to solidify her bones. He needs the slow her down if he wants to gain the upper hand against her. With her desert ancestry, the white woman could flick in and out between her blows just as Locket when he danced with the Dauntless.






[WC: 798 | PC: 1/3 | Archibald vs. Arah | Teaching Spar | :: [Magic: Earth (U) | The ability to turn another's bones to stone, causing immobilization or slower movement.]
:: [Restrictions | Bones are turned to actual stone; the effects will wear off gradually. In battle, attack lasts for 50 seconds. Can only be used once in a post.]]

   Archibald the Dauntless    

a lionhearted king among warriors

_{DRAWING BY AEOLLE}

Teaching:
+ I love Arah's determination and reason to enter this fight. While these two normally would never cross paths at all and battle, her IC reason to be undaunted by a challenge is great. Often times, with OOC planning overshadowing the reasons of sparring/battling, we fall into this inorganic, mechanic, unjustified reason for our characters to fight. However, I think you did a great job incorporating our OOC planning into Arah's IC personality and determination.

+ "This was not just a battle she had to win against him, this would become a mental fight with herself. Replacing thoughts of 'I can't' with 'I will'." -- I love this, because later in the paragraph she sizes up Archi and he's a complete opposite of her in every way. This part is so good because she's not doubting herself, not regretting what she's gotten herself into, but is instead looking at herself. What can she gain from this battle? What will this prove in her life?

+ "Often in history the mountain was crushed by a pebble, today she would test these stories and see just how she measured up. Today there would be no room for any fear, there would be no fleeing today." -- This is good! However, what fear is she talking about? Fear of herself and her past failures (if there are any), or of past opponents? Expand upon her past a little and you'll be amazed what you can get with emotion, as well as connection deeper to your character because it shows how their past affects their current self.

+ "murder within her eyes." -- Why? I felt this a little odd, really. She's not *angry* at Archibald for any reason, but has merely come to his call to battle to prove something to herself. Why does she had this look in her eye? Not that it is bad, at all, but an explanation of this would have been awesome!

- "The distance between them is closed within a few short moments" -- Be careful with this statement, because it is bordering powerplay. In her charge, you cannot assume Archibald will just stand there. Make sure you are using predictive words and phrases like: hopefully//hoping, intending to, attempting to, etc. throughout the battle.

- I like how you have Arah think of what Archibald could attack. She knows she's left her back wide open, but what can she do about that? Is she thinking of ways to defend herself should Archibald try to attack her most vulnerable areas? Does she have enough battle experience to think this way, or does she even care?

- Overall very good. Your writing is good (with just a few mistakes) and your emotion is good. My suggestions for the whole of the fight are to: use Arah's past to her advantage or disadvantage, and expand more on the breed differences between her and Archibald. You mention them briefly, but do not explain how Arah will be at an advantage or disadvantage. I think you mean to when you write about how quick you want Arah in and out, but you don't really go on to explain why she wants to.