The thing is that particular yth Aemoten attacked is an unusual one in that its behavior is different from that of most of its kind... and it's definitely not a creature that would accept death easily. So the first attack is mostly vertical... Now, I don't recall whether Aemoten actually pushed the guards and Olan aside to get close to the yth (he probably did) since otherwise the yth would still be able to slide backwards far enough to entirely avoid the attack... But even presuming that Aemoten is too close for that to be possible the yth would still relinquish its grip on Olan's halberd, draw its two free left arms in close to its body and throw itself as far to the right as it could, mostly saving its torso but sacrificing the stuck middle left arm.

That's drawn in ten minutes with only the mouse? Impressive... although I've stared at it for a few minutes now, and I can't seem to spot the bird in the fire. Or maybe... Ah, I now I see it. It's just bigger than I thought it would be. Anyway, it serves the purpose of making it easier to identify you at a glance just fine.
Interesting, albeit perhaps somewhat obvious, fact about my new avatar: that's a picture of my actual left eye. I haven't edited it at all aside from messing around with the contrast and saturation and turning it into a negative (though not in that order). The little black dots are a little annoying, but I decided to leave them alone simply for the sake of being able to truthfully state that it's unedited aside from that.