One moment he was a large horse, sparks flying and igniting with his rage as she attacked him. The next, he was throwing those hooves to the ground, shifting with a liquid roll into a large wolf and lunging for her. "You are impossible!" he snarled at her, his teeth clamping down across her little shoulders and her feet kicking out violently in retaliation. He didn't damage her too badly though, only a deep bruise that may have her limping for the next few days, a small puncture that began slowly bleeding.
"Fine. Don't tell me," he said sharply as they both stopped fighting, breathing hard. He bled from more places than she had attacked and she narrowed her eyes briefly, belatedly connecting that it may be a price he paid for his magic. The Unicorns didn't have costs like that. But she could still be wrong. She wasn't sure what else might cause it though.
The barriers around them fell away completely, marked by how the dust lifted and slowly settled where they had once been. Freedom! Her eyes leveled with his, small chest heaving with short breaths as she watched him warily. She could run. She could run now!
The darkness lightened suddenly, his magic swept away, and her eyes flew to the sky to measure how late, or rather, how early it had gotten, her eyes widening slightly. No! Not here, not with him. Not near him.
"You should hurry. It will be light soon."
She looked at him, watched him step deliberately aside as if to let her pass. But no, she wouldn't risk that. How silly he was. Her little jaws clenched tight, silver eyes gleaming, then she turned on her heels to run off in another direction. She would put as much distance between them as she could before it took her, before she was defenseless.
Before she was vulnerable.
She still had a chance. She still had time. A few minutes, at least, she guessed from another furtive glance at the sky. Far away, just get far away. Somewhere hidden. Damn! She'd always made sure to find a place well in advance, scope it out for possible threats she might find before her memory would return, find herself a safe place where her screams might be too far to attract attention, too muffled in a dense forest.
She hadn't been able to do that tonight, crossing him too early in her night-dawn to have the chance. A makeshift shelter would have to do. She could find somewhere quick. She had to.
