She can almost taste victory as she sends her feet flying, hoping to hear the way they crack the bones beneath them. But instead, all she hears is the sharp squeals of his pain. She feels the contact her feet make with his body, but it is not the bones she was attempting to hit. Instead, she feels the softness of flesh and muscle which proceeded the smell of fresh blood. While it isn’t exactly the attack that she had tried to implement, it did hit its relative target, so in that sense, it was a win.
As he manages to move a few steps forward, she continues to keep close to not allow him to gain any sort of force. She knows that her armor offers very few weak spots and she knows that the likelihood of an attack to her legs is overwhelming. Knowing that a break to a leg could be fatal, she keeps close to him.
And then it comes, just as she was anticipating. She sees the wat his body plants forward and there is little time to change direction. Instead, she surges forward to lessen the distance between her body and his hooves. Less distance, less force to be exerted upon her body.
She can feel the strike of his hooves against her right, front fetlock, feeling the tendon stretch and pull. She is thankful that she does not feel a snap, for that could have been her undoing. But when he pulls away from her, she is left standing there to survey the damage. The tendon is merely strained and would offer several weeks of discomfort. Knowing that her leg is out of commission and any use of it would cause further damage, Katniss seeks out Finnick. “Finnick, I know you are healing yourself, but my leg is injured and need to remain immobile if I intend to fight again.” Her words are spoken directly into the eagle’s head. Finnick, in all his regal glory, simply ruffles his feathers in pre-flight readiness.
She looks at Asterion’s fleeting figure as she waits. She knows his own bonded is watching her closely. However, she’s anticipating that the bonded will be more focused on her, and not of Finnick who is slowly getting himself into position. She looks on at the growing storm, the thunder beginning to rumble in the distance, lightning flashing. As the clouds roll in, the wind picks up.
In Finnick’s talons, he grabs some dirt - nothing fancy in this dirt. And then, he takes flight. He is careful to fly as silently as he can to take Asterion by surprise, but there is a danger with his feathers still growing back from his attack with another bird. He is not as silent as he hopes, the wind whistling softly as the air catching on the feathers that are slowly growing back. And as he flies with the wind (because he does not want to tire himself too easily by flying against the wind), he is flying towards Asterion. No doubt the stallion would be able to see him coming. And yet, he knows he must distract the stallion in the only way he knows how. He releases the dirt held tight within his talons. The wind takes the dirt and carries it towards the unknowing stallion. Hopefully, the dirt would fall at least a little bit into his eyes and distract him just enough.
With the dirt at the mercy of the wind (which could change and bring the dirt to the ground in any direction - that was up to the wind to decide), Finnick begins to make his descent, his talons open and ready. He swoops towards Asterion’s head, his strong talons seeking the flesh of the stallion’s eyes or ears, whatever he could grab onto. With his own wounds still healing, there was only so much speed and force to exert on Asterion. Reaching the stallion or not, the bird eases out of his dive and comes to rest on the ground near Katniss. The mare, ever proud of her new friend, gives him a knowing smile. And then her eyes are on Asterion. What would the stallion do next?
 |
