Two blades scored the beast's hide.  The now-massive mace swished through the night air to land with a devastating thud, cracking ribs beneath its weight.  When the death blow of the smouldering magic impacted the pitiful animal, sending the corpse skidding across the heath by several feet, leaving it smoking and unmoving at the edge of the firelight, silence fell over the area.<br/><br/>Some heavy panting, and the night was rent asunder by the sounds of a panicked mule fleeing as fast as its laden and hobbled self could manage, clattering through the dark, ignorant of how much of a signal it made for other predators that might be about in the night.