The two behemoths struck with a solid thud that sent a ripple back over Rilana's pristine pelt. Against all the dirt and darkness of men and black armour and wooden weapons the snow-bear nearly gleamed. 

Shiny black eyes closed briefly at the impact, savage jaw lunging forward with fangs bared against black maw, but the tumble spoiled the snap and Rilana's teeth came together on thin air with a heavy snarl. 

The momentum carried her through and over the chimera and she was turning, rearing again with a paw flung wide. As the sleek black monster surged forwards, Rilana missed the brief stagger but the gryphon inside her mind, a natural predator, did not. Later, the moon fey would say that she couldn't be certain whether it was Khona or herself who brought her tree-trunk arm back towards the beast with bone-snapping force into the chimera's good head, saving herself from being bitten by the teeth aimed at her leg.

The bear bellowed angrily as razor fangs dug through thick fur, tough skin, and an inch of body fat to clamp into her shoulder, fortunately missing the jugular in her short neck. Blood oozed out around the chimera's lips and into it's mouth, a bright crimson stain streaking through Rilana's fur.

The bear reared higher, balancing on hind legs to lift the leech attached to her completely off the ground. She wanted to get her teeth into it and snapped, snarling and roaring huffily as she hit it about the head and shoulders with her paws, digging and pounding cruelly at it with talons that were made for scraping through thick ice into the black flesh. She would peal the tissue from the bones! And in the process, somewhere in the back of her mind hope that the beast was at least distracted enough for the tiny man-sized blurs at the edges of her vision to scuttle in on the creature's unprotected rear.