He didn't open his eyes again.

Mauja had been bred from generals and sergeants, raised ruthlessly in an army, fought horse and land alike. A thousand battles, a thousand wounds, a thousand scars - nights in the cold, blood-covered, shivering in the crimson, muddy snow. On fire with the pain, yet never had it flickered before his eyes. A flash of light, of orange, fire, across the darkness of his eyelids, the bemused, analytical query are the dragons breathing fire? echoing in the dark recesses of his mind.

Then the pain hit him.

It rushed hotly along his alabaster hide, sunk its fangs into thin skin and raged, whispered, crackled in his ears; Mauja's horned head jerked up, but his eyes remained shut, even as every nerve in his body screamed in agony and fear. It built in his throat, too, a shrill, wordless cry, deafening in its intensity, echoing out across the battlefield as the flaming horse crashed into the enemy line. Shock circulated his system, every fiber of his being on the edge of breaking along with his drying skin - it cracked and bled, fire eating deeper, and the relatively soft nip of AARON's teeth on his left flank triggered a reflex. Without breaking his stride the maddened King bucked, haunches arcing up and then slamming out fast in the shorter draft's direction.

But he didn't stop.
Couldn't stop.

Mind blanked out, there is only fire, there was little of sanity left in him.

A weight (LEANDER) slammed into his left side, dying, falling, and momentum couldn't see him through unscathed. In his maddened state he could not think, not understand, the only thing which remained was pure, raw instinct; his head snapped around to the left, jaws opened fully to latch onto his assailant. But then he was falling, hooves slipping and legs flailing; Mauja's right fore gave way and he was thrown onto his shoulder, and in confusion the burning horse actually opened his eyes where he was, lying on the mossy ground, but the world was cast into an orange glow which snapped in front of his face and he could feel its hot breath upon his body and his eyes melting and-. Another guttural shriek left him as he clawed frantically at the ground, somehow propelling himself upright again; white lids slammed shut across blue eyes, his horn nothing but bone-white now that the frost had melted, evaporated, into the air.

Burning-
He staggered sideways, sick with the intensity of the pain ravaging his body.
I can't-
He trembled, he shook, body scorched all over and his skin chapped and bleeding, torn and cracked.
- hold it-
His head arced through the air, higher, higher, but there was no escape from the flames seated in his very own flesh.
- together-
Why was he still standing? Why wasn't he dead?

Orange light still licked the edges of his world, lighting the darkness behind his eyelids. He still burned. The world still burned, and somewhere, a giant golden dragon slammed his bronze-marked friend into the ground.

[ 512 ]
( 20 seconds is quite long in these circumstances, hence why he's still on fire. It'll stop the next round. Mauja gets nipped by Aaron and bucks at him, then as Leander slams into him he tries to bite him (anywhere where he can reach). He gets smacked over on his right side before staggering up and just standing there, twitching. )

Mauja Frosthjärta