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She is gone. I cannot see the rain-saturated form below me any more, and I stream by her with a silent curse in my mind, before I twist my head up and open my wings. For a moment, there is such extreme pressure on them, coming out of the dive, I want to cry out. But such a move could be fatal, even in the rustling, crackling boom of the thunder, for Kri is somewhere above me.
Like I had only moments ago, she had disguised herself in the weeping gray cloud cover. It was maybe the oldest trick in the book- and a very useful one. If you cannot see the enemy, you cannot see the threat, and you cannot pose the threat. If they were above you, they have the advantage. Right now every muscle of my body was shrieking alarm to my brain, or maybe it was the other way around.
The torrent of rain meets my eyes as I look upwards, scanning the gray cover desperately. My nostrils flare- I can still smell her, but smells are so very difficult to distinguish in this cold wet sky, where in the most evasive maneuvers set you wondering if you are about to crush yourself against the cold earth so far below, break every delicate bone in the body that has, over the ages, slowly become lighter, even if not hollow. For another moment, my heart is pounding wildly in my chest, before I beat my wings downward, and begin to spiral up.
I tip to the left, pivoting around my near-side wing, adding an extra stroke with my right wing. There is a hiss of lightning, the ominous rumble of thunder that makes my teeth chatter and my feathers stand on end. The sky lights up in as an arc of golden white light streaks across to land somewhere in the desert below. The desert.
Even if I were to win, the herd would not trust me, not for a while anyways.
In the brief moment the sky is lit, I catch sight of a flickering wing-tip, before it disappears. I do not allow myself such a feeling as excitement as at least now having a chance of knowing where the Sultana is. Instead, I flare my wings, down-stroke, and begin upwards. Up here, the air is more turbulent, a monstrous cat who wishes to play with my slender frame. Slender from build, and skinny from hunger, even if now my flanks have filled out.
This time, I cannot allow a blow to land on my body. I use every evasive technique I have learned to escape detection, spiraling and draft-dropping, thermal-catching and white-washing. There is the tell-tale sizzle as ozone crackles, and the lightning crashes again, so very near to my skin. It evaporates the relentless torrent of rain around me, and for one bizarre moment, my skin is dry, before the rain begins its assault again. Soon my forelock is plastered to my face, obscuring pieces of my vision, but I care little for it.
Where is the Sultana? How much time has passed? I flap my wings once, twice, three times, glancing downwards. Have I somehow gotten above her? Yet the wind increases again. Wary, remembering her first assault, I try and search for a possible source. That is how I find her, the mare escaped into the clouds. She comes diving downwards, at a sharp angle to my left shoulder and wing. I remember the hot pain as her hooves had landed on my wing before, and in the brief time before she hits, I allow my instinct worn into me through hundreds of fights to take over again.
My left wing crumples under me as my right wing twists tight to my body. For one terrifying and adrenaline-filled moment, I barrel roll suspended in the sky. Yes, I do drop in height, but only a few feet before I hope to collide with Kri. After completing the roll, I spread out my wings, expand the massive beings, and take to the higher skies.
I am nearly vertical now, and it is no easy ascent, but it is faster and more direct than a slow spiral. The muscles in my shoulders torque and tighten as I move upward. Soon I will be a frozen horse and the two of us may fall out of the sky, but for now I can and will make it above the wet clouds. With every breath the oxygen grows more scarce, but my massive lungs inhale quicker, deeper, until I break above the stormclouds in a shower of droplets that flash and sparkle in the light. There I hang suspended, the clouds laid out in a glorious display below me. She will have to get me.
WC: 799
Other: 2/4
sometimes i wonder what i'm trying to do in this life.
but mostly i just want to fly.
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Nothing to Lose [Kri Challenge]
