She could have chosen a better place to present herself as a living target, but poor stupid Kahlua was too wrapped up in her fantasy world- a world where brave knights fight for the pure joy of winning, to win a lady's heart or to bring honor to their name. Had she been prepared to find a battle she would have chosen a location with surer footing. Damp, loose, moss covered ground would not serve to anchor her footing. Had she been prepared to find a battle she would have chosen to stay in the thick trees. Wide open spaces would give her no chance to hide or use obstacles to her advantage. Had she been prepared to find a battle she would have chosen to run far, far away.

So enthralled as she was in watching the others hack and slash back and forth, she forget to keep tabs on her surroundings as they related to herself. She often did, though, since she placed so much trust in the world to keep her safe. Today, however, would not be a safe day in her life. She did not feel icy daggers peering at her from the shadows, she did not hear the whine of grinding teeth, she did not know what had found her in the woods. Her first clue was the soft thud of hooves against the mossy ground. At the first few thuds she thought it was a fight in the distance and did not concern herself with it. With the next step, the sound growing nearer, she became concerned.

Whirling herself about to face the noise, Kahlua's eye's grew wide as she saw a unicorn rushing at her head on. “No, you don't understand,” she managed to spit out before instinct took over. She had meant to say 'No, you don't understand, I'm not here to fight in the tournament,' but the stallion clearly had no intention of stopping his charge and Kahlua had no intention of being impaled to death. She leaped her front end to the right, her hind hooves unfortunately slipping just slightly on the loose moss over the ground. It was not enough to bring her to the earth, but enough to leave her hindquarters behind, placing her body at a slight angle to Farenjer. The stallion's horn slid across the upper portion of her left thigh, tearing a gash in the skin about a foot long and opening the blood vessels beneath. Sticky, red fluid began to trickle down her left hind limb as Kahlua winced in pain.

Still, if her fight with Ricochet had taught her anything, it was that battles waited for no one. She didn't know why she was in this particular spar, or what the stakes were, but she had always been confused about a lot of things. This would be no different. As soon as the stallion's horn stopped raking against her skin, Kahlua dug her front hooves into the moss and bucked. Hard. With any luck she would hit the stallion on his left rib cage, but then who could say where he had gotten to in that brief moment between his strike and her kick. As her hind hooves came back to the earth, Kahlua immediately began to canter off. She took four strides before stopping and turning. She hoped to put some distance between herself and the stallion, allowing her some time to consider the situation she had inadvertently gotten in to. She was near one of the narrow ends of the clearing now, about five yards of open space on either side of her and behind her before trees became an obstacle.

As she turned, she tried to catch sight of the stallion once more. From what she had seen as he rushed past they were about even in height, if he was just slightly taller. Otherwise, the moonlight had made it hard to see. She thought that he may have been a little thicker in build than she was, but dancing shadows and dark nights could play tricks on the eyes. Regardless, thinking back briefly to her fight with Ricochet, she tried to pull some other lessons she had learned. The close-quarters combat with Ricochet had been tough on her lithe body. She did not possess the strength that he did and in a battle of muscle she would certainly lose again. If she was able to keep some distance in this fight, perhaps she would be able to use her speed to her advantage. For now, she set her mind to what was to come and watched for the stallion. In preparation, she dug her hooves into the moss in the dirt, hoping to give herself some purchase on the ground should she need to bound away again.

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