As expected, Pavetta wasn't interested in changing her mind. There was no world in which Raymond's reaction could be construed as surprise, or disappointment: he'd walked here for a fight and was rather short on mercy, and a five minute conversation with the striped mare was enough for even a particularly inattentive individual to see that she was too fearless and proud to change course once committed.

There would be a melee, then.

Fortuitously, Raymond and Pavetta were more or less evenly matched, neither one giving the advantage of height to the other and both built rather similarly. This would be an honest contest, and it began entirely without bravado. She charged headlong toward him with no heed given to the wind or even what she'd do with the red stallion once she reached him. Her boldness itself was cause for intrigue, though he didn't have nearly enough time to fully digest it as the mare barrelled pell-mell into the wind.

When it became clear she was on a collision course with his left shoulder, Raymond did what any horse in his position might have done. He shifted his weight back onto his haunches, pivoting around his hind feet to the right away from the charging horse aimed squarely for his left shoulder. Had a body slam been her intent, she may still have connected with his hindquarters as they supported the spin, but Pavetta braked instead to throw an explosive buck his way instead despite the potentially dangerous prospect of skidding to a stop in this dirt.

It reminded him somewhat of Asterion's move - the one that had done quite a number on his chest, but proved ineffective at deterring the true threat of facing Raymond in open combat.

Pavetta's hind legs rocketed out as he spun away, and her momentum carried her far enough that the pivot he'd executed to avoid getting body-slammed wasn't quite enough to also pull him out of reach of her hooves. The grey mare's left hind foot connected with and dragged hard at an angle along the meat of his left shoulder. A low, half-grunted whistle rushed out between his teeth.

However, a chain of events had already been set into motion. Raymond had not taken his eye off Pavetta when he turned and had seen her last-moment change of direction in the wide sweep of his peripheral vision. Even as he'd pivoted away, he had swept his bladed tail up and away in a wind-up arc. Now he released that pent-up energy, adding the momentum of his spin as he swung the blade back around in a diagonal arc, and aimed for the open expanse of her left side. Ribs, haunch, shoulder, leg - what part of her body ended up in the way of the blade's sweeping arc didn't particularly matter to him. If she was still stretched out or collecting herself from the buck, it would be difficult to react in time, and even more difficult to properly see his attack properly if she'd also put her head down for the attack.

He had turned the blade just enough that he hoped it would prevent serious injury if it connected, but he had not done her the same favor he had done Asterion in presenting its flat side. This was an exhibition, not a training match.

She'd wanted to know if his blade was useful for more than woodcarving; perhaps she would not enjoy the answer.

The red stallion followed through with his pivot and set himself down, favoring his left foreleg so he could test the integrity of the injured shoulder. As he kept turning to his right, making almost a full circle as he fought to keep a bead on Pavetta, he tested his weight on his left fore for a few ginger steps.

Yeah, it hurt, but nothing seemed broken.

But he had already taken his opportunity to retaliate in the window Pavetta's own attack had opened. There was no need to chase her on three good legs, and he had no intention of doing so. Having had to turn into the wind and having no desire to be molested by the elements as he faced the mare's next attack, he half-trotted and half-limped southeast to keep her on his uninjured right side and force her to charge into the wind yet again if she wanted to close with him.