They begin.

The goliath's eyes harden in concentration as he seizes his opportunity to properly size up his foe. There is just under a hand between their heights, and Volterra fully intends to use his superior size and strength to his advantage. There is a downside to the beast's added weight, however, especially in these conditions - he will sink into the snow deeper than the agile unicorn, and his movements will be compromised by the energy-sapping terrain. This will test his endurance to its limits, and his thick muscles tremble with excited anticipation.

His dragons scream, their voices muffled by the snowstorm and all the more ominous because of it. Thank the Gods Vadir cannot read Rikyn's mind, to know he is referring to her as small when she is already the same size as the red - to a prideful queen like herself, that would be a killing offense. She hangs back in the stormy heavens, her excitement thrumming down their bond into Volterra's mind, begging the brute to let the fight begin so she can play. Vérzés marauds nearby, his hunger more tempered than that of his golden sister, an experienced old hand at this - one of the rare occasions when he shows more self-control than the ice-hearted gold.

The unicorn shifts into motion, and Volterra narrows his eyes against the driving snowflakes. He tilts his body, trying to angle it so the storm is blowing towards his back rather than his face, and demands his dragons use their sharper gazes to aid him in keeping tabs on his opponent. Both men are black, so stand out like great obsidian rocks against the white snowscape, but so thick are the flurries that the beast would sooner be safe than sorry; he uses the three pairs of eyes at his disposal to focus on the unicorn, observing, waiting. Rikyn moves towards his right side, and the behemoth immediately throws his colossal weight forwards, swiftly cursing the snow as it snatches at his legs and slows his movements. As a result, instead of hitting his right shoulder, the unicorn's weapon carves into Volterra's right side, just over his ribcage.

It cuts, and it cuts deep. Blood splatters the snow, and pain erupts through the hellion's mind like a great wall of molten fire.

Fuck. He bites back the word, determined not to let it break free from his lips - his masculine pride prevents him from letting Rikyn know quite how much it hurts. The goliath sidesteps to his left, hauling his body away from the unicorn's horn and preventing it from actually removing a great chunk of flesh (also aided by the fact the skin is tight in that particular area and not easily severed), but he doesn't need to be a doctor to know that the wound is unpleasantly deep and quite serious. Mercifully, it avoids any important organs, and will restrict his movements less than it would have done had it hit his muscle-riddled right shoulder, but he is still furious at the ease with which his foe leapt like a fucking gazelle and stabbed him like a fish.

The leviathan is suddenly grateful for the frigid temperature, which quickly numbs the pain. His sidestep to the left means Rikyn's bite and horn-slap fail to find their target, thank the heavens.

If there is one thing to come from his opponent's successful strike, however, it's the fact that it ignites Volterra's volcanic temper. Whenever he's fighting, the stallion's rage rests beneath the surface, always one kick away from snatching control. Friendly spar or not, Rikyn's lit the blue touch paper, and the grenade's about to explode.

Fucking boom, you stabby little bitch.

The unicorn attempts to retreat after his attack; oh, no. If he thinks he can carve the leviathan open and then flee unscathed, he is in for a painful surprise. With a savage bellow, Volterra summons his magic, and commands the ground directly in front of Rikyn to erupt into a chest-high wall. He hopes this will at least stop the unicorn in his tracks - even better, he hopes Rikyn will slam right into it, bruising his chest and earning Volterra some small measure of revenge. Hauling his limbs out of the snow with considerable difficulty, whilst trying to force the pain of his wound out of his mind, the goliath lunges forwards in pursuit of Rikyn's hindquarters. He flings his head to the right, aiming to pepper bites across the left side of the unicorn's broad ass, whilst his right foreleg aims a vicious sideways kick towards the bottom of Rikyn's left hindleg. Not hard enough to shatter bone should it hit - although the temptation is there - but hopefully hard enough to hurt.

______________

Spar for @Rikyn !

Changing tables mid fight because I really want to use this one >.>

1/3 - 795 words