We fled, our hooves clashing as we ran at top speed down the passage. We had entered a new chamber, which had seemed very nondescript, and in crossing the threshold, we clearly triggered a trap. We had had about twenty seconds warning before a gigantic skull had come to life, massive enough that it would be able to do serious damage to any Courser it caught. We had turned to run, thinking that a giant skull wouldn't be able to follow, but somehow it was propelling itself at immense speed down this passageway. I was once again at the back of the party, due to being the slowest of us all. Cal was well ahead of me, his blue tail the only part of him that I could still see. Following him, close on his heels, were Bear and Kraken, their hooves firm on the ground where mine were liable to slip. 

As I ran, I thought back to being a child, watching two famous Heraldics joust and being utterly amazed at how they never seemed to lose their footing. For a long time after that event, I’d wanted to be a Heraldic. I’d trained on the slopes of a nearby mountain, trained to bounce off the slightest footholds the way they do, and every time that I failed (which was often), I became more and more frustrated at my ungainly Courser body. I used to think about those jousters often – it became my dream to become one someday.

"He's catching up!", I shouted, having caught a glimpse of the skull gaining ground behind us. 

“Go FASTER”, I heard Kraken shout at the two Coursers ahead of her.

They all put on another burst of speed, pulling away from me despite my best efforts. The skull was close enough now that I could feel the displaced air from the clashing of its giant jaws. We had entered into a massive chamber, and as I cleared the doorway, I saw a flash of blue sprint past me, towards the skull. I followed it, turning my head as I ran, and realised that Cal had slammed his body into the skull just in time to stop it from bringing those massive teeth closed on my tail. I shuddered and skidded to a halt. I wouldn't leave Cal to fight this alone. Kraken and Bear had also turned and sped back to take part in the fight. 

They all had a very different fighting style to me - they had been taught to use their lightness and sure-footedness in a fight, whereas all of my fighting prowess was in my weight and the intense leg muscles that allowed me to launch powerfully at whatever enemy I was facing. It had taken a long time for me to accept that my body could be just as deadly as a Heraldic’s, and I was proud of how good I was in a battle now. I knew that people hired me for my might, and I’d taken great pride in watching Cal build his muscle up as he learned things from me. Together, we’d essentially taught each other enough that we fought in our own unique, hybrid style, and it was very effective.

I steadied myself and drew my blade, catching my breath and watching the others fight as I waited for my opportunity. It was interesting. Bear and Kraken were almost identical in their movements, elegant and graceful, launching off the rock walls in order to attack repeatedly, and moving so fast that the skull wasn't getting a chance to attack them. Cal had taken a different tactic. He had also drawn his blade, and he was keeping himself hidden in the shadows next to the fight, and simply darting out in-between the flurries of attacks from Bear and Kraken in order to slice the Skull repeatedly. It was effective, and happily kept him well out of the way of danger. 

Wizard, Bear's pet drake, had seemingly decided that Cal's tactic was the best one, and was adopting a similar one on the opposite side of the skull. Wizard was darting forwards, breathing little puffs of steam into the skulls eyes to try and obscure its vision.

The skull seemed a little hurt, though it didn’t give much outward sign of that. There was no skin or blood to give the usual indications of damage, and there were no cracks running across it. But nonetheless, the Skull seemed to be moving a little more stiffly, a little more cautiously, as though it were wounded somehow. It’s deep empty eye sockets seemed to stare at me. Impressive, since there were no eyes in there to stare with, but it was definitely staring. Creepy.

I hadn't had any opportunity to attack yet, but I was itching to. I saw Kraken notice me waiting, and she gave some sort of signal to Bear, because a few seconds later they both span away from the Skull, leaving me the opportunity I needed. I leapt forwards, launching blade first at the deep black eye holes of the skull. I kicked my front legs out, ensuring that both of my hooves would do damage as I landed on it too. I felt Kraken and Bear close in with me and even Cal and Wizard darted out in time with our attack, so just for a moment we would all hit it at the same time. 

We all made contact, and the world went white.