Altar of Twilight Eyes that fire and sword have seen

Wait, he wanted him to get closer to more sharp pointy flying bits?  He was gonna get booted upside the head with a hoof or something, yikes.  Mal should stick to like.. Bunnies or something.  They were a lot less freaky and huge.  But whatever, he'd try!  And with an affirming grunt, he sped up a little bit more.  A little more... Then after a moment of hesitation he dove at a lowish point of the deer's neck, getting a not particularly safe hold, trying to do something to slow it down.

Maybe it was his own negative thoughts giving him bad juju, but again he slipped -- or rather, he got caught by a hoof, the deer was yanked out of his grasp, and he went under.  But he was also getting tripped on.  So the fact that he was unintentionally providing some uneven footing might help too, but unless the doe crashed down right on the other side, he was totally out of any further extension of the chase.

He rolled to his stomach and a stop, looking a bit dazed and bewildered at what had just happened.  But considering it didn't seem like he was bleeding out all over the place or anything super obvious, give him a minute or two for the pain to kick in so he could get a better idea of just how big the bruises from this were gonna be.  Mal was already trying to get to his feet, wobbly though it was.