Just as the rage of battle overwhelms, so too does it fade.

The pain was returning in the aftermath of her wave of fury. Her kick had struck NED, squarely, though not where she had intended, and she had left him behind; now, with a moment to breath, she took stock of her own injuries. The chunk of flesh missing at the base of her neck throbbed with each step she took; the gash along her side, deeper than she’d first noted, gushed rather profusely. And her right shoulder - perhaps she had misjudged the bastard’s kick, for it to be aching like this, an ache that went down to the bone. It seemed to strain with each new hoofbeat, threatening to leave her incapacitated. This would not do.

And then her moment was over. The shadow-mare was set upon by two this time. NED had found his strength and was rapidly approaching her, slightly to the left; PALADIN, curse him, approached from her right. If she had believed in karma, she would have cursed herself for having followed Giselle’s orders earlier; but as it were, she simply didn’t have time to think at all.

NED had been closer, and so he was her first worry. A quick step to the right saved her left hind from being impaled on his horn, but did not save her already-wounded side from more wear. The wound deepened under his horn, and the shadow-mare screamed with pain and anger alike, intertwined, giving rise to the wailing, screeching sort of sound that lingers, even on a battlefield. Later, she would find that NED had cut to the bone. Gaping, red flesh framed the flash of white each time her muscles bunched and released; in retaliation, she attempted a kick, knowing that it was too late to even come close, not surprised when she missed entirely.

And then there was PALADIN still to deal with. Boxed in now, Psyche slammed her forelegs into the dirt, halting all forward momentum as her haunches kissed the cold ground; a spin to her left placed her body behind NED’s now as she kicked into stride once more, hoping to escape PALADIN’s searching teeth. She succeeded; his bite missed her spine by a hair, and her turn caused his foreleg to miss its original target. But still he hit, opening a new gash on her right hindquarter. A curse left her maw even as she darted away from the stallion, planning a new strategy as she ran.

She was not a runner. She was not weak. But in this battle, she must recuperate and devise a new plan that would allow her to survive. The shadow-mare had heard the slightest of cracks in her shoulder when she had stopped so suddenly. Now she limped, struggling to put distance between herself and her brother. The femme turned her head to glare at PALADIN, the hatred plain in her amber gaze. I will kill you, my brother. If it’s the last thing I ever do.

[W/C 474
Psyche dodges to the right to avoid NED, but not quickly enough, for he strikes her already deep side wound, exposing bone. She stops and spins on her hindquarters to get away, trying to avoid PALADIN, who scores a gash on her right hindquarter.]

Walk walk walk.
"Talk talk talk."
Think think think.