Bang, the connection was made, hooves collided with softer flesh. The impact shuddered up through his strong limbs, the left one chronically affected by the entire ordeal. As it descended from its height, it dragged along the ground, the pain from his back and thigh making it difficult to discern normal sensations - basically, every movement hurt. Putting his foot back down on the ground hurt, even though the injury was higher up. It radiated throughout his left hindquarter, burning down from the small of his back, intensifying over the flap of skin that bled down his thigh, and made him clumsy and unwilling to bear his full weight upon that left hind. So he shuffled, as hurriedly as he could, knowing that there was no more he could do for now. The control had returned to him, the rage slowly dissipating as the aches and pains in his body seemed to reawaken the conscious Madyrn, instead of the enraged Madyrn.

The dryer earth was before him, and he hobbled towards it, moving as fast as his aching, exhausted body would allow. Eyes rolled in their sockets, the whites showing as he tilted his cranium to his left, attempting to track the movement of the crimson stained steed who was invading his home. That ivory horn glinted once more in the moonlight, and with his apricot hued eyes he saw it make its way towards him - fast. Panic fuelled him now, no more was rage the reason why he reacted, but actual self-preservation. His own crown ducked down once more, as low as it was when he had kicked out just before, hovering at the level of his knees. His feet moved as swiftly as they were able, most of the weight loading onto his right side, as that was the direction he was moving - away from Tolio, away from the pain, away from everything that could and would destroy him. He was not usually one to run away, to abandon hope, to admit cowardice. But it was not abandonment of hope or cowardice that triggered this, it was simply sheer exhaustion, sheer will to live, and there was no living with that pesky stick pointed at his vitals.

Madyrn was a flame that would not be extinguished, not by this unicorn with his stick, not by this invasion. He had dimmed, he was a pile of glowing embers compared to the wildfire he began as, but he would not be extinguished this night. He lurched away from this enemy, though even as he did so, he felt the horn touch down. The lowering of his neck and the scrambled steps away from the unicorn had altered the target area. He felt the horn tangle in the mats of his dreadlocked mane that gathered at the base of his crest. No skin was broken, no blood shed, only a handful of wiry hair pulled loose from its roots. Madyrn kept moving as he felt this, the pain on his left causing a large, obvious limp, but still he pushed on, until firmer ground supported his weight underfoot, and that horn was no longer felt tangled in his tresses. Breathes rasped in and out of his lungs, burning through his respiratory system, but still he managed some deep, rumbling words as he detected the retreat of other enemies from their surrounding borders, as his kin fought and won.

"Time to go back to your frozen wasteland, dickweed." Smugness carved a grin upon his maw as he beheld the unicorn squarely in his vision, pausing his motion finally as he stood tall, nape arched proudly despite the wounds that ailed him. He was alive, he had done his deed for his herd, and he would be damned if this unicorn would get the benefit of seeing him openly admit defeat.

[ ooc :
642 words.
4/4 attack posts.
1/1 closing defence.

Thanks so much for a wicked fight, Brit <3333]