Paladin's soul and mind were hardened now, and the boy he stared at was not his son. The reality was cold and cruel, but even the soulful creature had his limits. Never would be reveal just how much this betrayal tortured him in the inside, rattling every calm fiber he had worked so hard to rebuild here. "Infinitely more so," the stallion responded, standing proud with his neck tall like a general now, assuming the natural authority that boomed with his voice. "You are naive, thinking you know the world when you are still a child. That you challenge your elder in combat while you are still growing into your frame screams of your stupidity."
The dark stallion felt blood pour between his teeth as he snatched at Varath's back, and he heard the cry of pain. Only those untested, those new to the injuries of battled cried out so weakly, and he knew that this should be a quick battle as long as the gray colt's young build did not win out against his older one. Still, Paladin was impressed as Varath still staunchly came after him, and the black dun weaved in and out of trees, knowing these woods well now. He led them, for as long as Varath followed, to the white cliffs, prepared to shove his son over the side if the battle demanded such an action.
Varath's words followed in his ears. "I am not your father," he said, his voice absent of even regret. Paladin took a small bite to the right, hind leg as Varath's teeth snapped at him, but the black dun immediately reached around, trying to plant his own fangs on Varath's skull. The face bled like a bitch. A harsh laugh escaped his throat. "You are and always will be a half-breed, and there is no changing blood," he replied with a sneer. As the colt ran into his side, Paladin's arthritic hips gave way, but fortune saved him. The stallion ricocheted off a tree and remained on his feet, just a little bruised.
Too close.
Finally, at the Edge of the cliff, Paladin slowed to circle his son, ears pinned tightly against his skull. "My sins are my own, and I have done everything in my power to atone for them. You, were even my atonement, and attempt to set straight my own past and love where I had never believed it could happen," he said. "I was very wrong, I see. For my history keeps catching up with me, it seems. Speak what you wish. I am not afraid of what lies behind me." Paladin lunged forward then, having tried to circle around Varath while he was talking to keep the boy off guard.
Then, he tried to shove his weight into the gray and topple him clear over the cliff and dash his body on the rocky ocean, far, far below. A little blood tickled down his right leg from the wounds and his hip was smarting rather strongly, but he could not allow that pain to shake his focus - not now.
[[(540 words) | (2/4)
- Paladin takes a bite to the leg
- Paladin tries to bite Varath's face
- Paladin tries to shove Varath over the cliff]]
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