He wasn’t all that smart, was he? And he had drawn a knife. He did not look to be much of a warrior. Not like the bushels of men that sporadically came to visit the forest in hopes of finding some pelt, dragon scales, or perhaps even the legend that they had made of Katsuki. He bore his teeth at the idiotic human. Did he not understand what he was saying? He gave him a chance to get away alive? He should be dropping off his horse and scrambling away like some insignificant vermin. Trying to get away with the horse was futile. His family was so set on having it for dinner, after all.
“Leave the meat.” He clarified. Perhaps that would help.
Katsuki was more than ready to charge him, should he become as simple as to think he could fight a pack of wolves. He would rather not risk one of his brothers or sisters getting nicked by that knife though. Which, admittedly, was a nice knife. Katsuki made a mental note to, should the opportunity arise, take the knife for himself. He would never be able to create something like that out of mere stone. For now, however, it would have to do, and he crept around the horse’s behind to it’s flank, as the other wolves encroached, snapping at the beast left and right, waiting for their mother’s signal.
Katsuki approached the dark beast’s flank, mindful of the legs trampling, the frothing mouth that might rear around to snap at him. Quickly, he moved, a sudden slash, hacking at the saddle’s girth. He may or may not have nicked the horse’s side. His blade came back red, though it was nothing compared to what the mauling teeth of his family would do. The smell of fresh blood made then smack their lips and deepen their growls. The strap held on by a few threads, but was soon to snap. A loose saddle on a wild horse was such trouble…
With a pained squeal and a terrified chomping at his bit, Orion stamped his hooves with newfound fervour, the sudden flash of the knife by his side lending the horse an even greater desire to live. Loudly, Hanta swore, his own knife almost falling from his grip as he fumbled to maintain a steady hold on the steed's reigns. He'd been distracted for just a moment; a cream coloured wolf- one of the larger of the pack- had taken a gutsy snap at his horse's front leg, and in the moment he'd turned his head towards the immediate danger, the blond- the human wolf child- had darted into his blind spot and taken a damaging swipe to Orion’s tack.
With an even greater sense of alarm, Hanta shifted his weight as the horse’s body roiled beneath him, and felt the saddle shift as well. The calculated strike from the wolf child had almost severed the billet strap; without it, the saddle would pitch to the side and fall off, and so would he.
"Woah boy-!" Though the words that left his lips were automatic, he knew the moment he spoke them that they were useless. No amount of soothing words would calm his horse in this situation- no amount of anything would.
Am I really going to die here?
Orion bucked forwards again, front hooves sinking into the earth as both his hind legs kicked, and with a startled yelp Hanta found himself falling forwards against the creature's neck. When Orion reared backwards once more in preparation for another aggressive kick towards the snapping wolves, the saddle shifted, the frayed tatters of leather pulled, and then they snapped.
The farmboy barely had enough time to shout before his back was striking loamy earth with enough force to send the air rushing from his lungs. Orion, unburdened by the weight of his master- driven by fear and fuelled by an instinctive order to flee- kicked once, twice, three more times, a wild bucking that churned up the loamy ground and only just avoided trampling the winded, gasping teenager on the ground, and then he bolted. It was a wild action, one that Hanta knew the horse would never have achieved with him holding his reigns and weighing him down, but the suddenness of the movement ( and surely the distraction of the human hitting the ground before them ) was enough to take the wolves by surprise. Unexpected probably by everyone there ( wolves and humans and horses alike ) the fear-mad animal broke through the ranks of circling carnivores and thundered into the undergrowth beyond; panicked, powerful, and alone.
