Icebound

Chapter 22

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The only thing that registered in Anyu's mind was the cold.

She'd thought that she knew what cold felt like. She didn't know what it was like to be not cold. Her whole life had been lived amongst blizzards and snows frigid enough to steal your fingers and toes if you stayed outside a moment too long. How could anything possibly be any colder than that?

Now Anyu knew how ignorant she'd been. This is what it felt like to be cold.

Anyu imagined this is what it would feel like to burn if fire were cold instead of hot. Like ice was crawling over her skin and slowly but surely consuming her alive. The water sucked all of the heat from her body in one short breath, leaving only her frozen fear. She couldn't breathe. She couldn't think. She could do nothing but endure the icy tendrils ensnaring her in their embrace.

Her eyes screamed in protest at the contact with cold water, but she couldn't will herself to close them. That, or they were frozen open. Anyu couldn't decide which possibility was worse.

She couldn't see anything. Only vague shapes and shadows focusing in and out of existence in the absolute blackness... Until her eyes caught on a small point of brightness, a light casting itself down into the watery abyss. Light, her mind told her almost instinctively. Sun. Land. Warmth.

The sudden sign of hope finally ignited Anyu's innate will to survive. She flailed her arms and kicked out her legs desperately, striving towards the small bit of light above. 'Arms and legs' being abstract terms. At this point her limbs felt more like heavy stones that she was trying to force upwards against their natural inclination to sink. Or was it upwards? She couldn't tell anymore, but she couldn't dwell on that now or she'd lose the fight.

She kept moving, although the light didn't seem to be getting any closer. A distinct humming sound reverberated through the water, and Anyu paused to listen to it, entranced. It sounded almost exactly like her mother's voice, lilting softly in her ear. If she hadn't been already submerged in water, Anyu was sure that she would have cried. Was this it? Was this how she was going to die? How shameful. Drowning like a coward instead of dying protecting her people and home. At least none of them would ever know... At least Anik would still be able to hope that she was out there somewhere, fighting with all her strength to come back...

Her body was almost completely numb, but she still felt it when something slimy and rough coiled tightly around her ankle. Anyu's stomach dropped sharply. A few seconds later more of the clammy things gripped her arms and torso, tightening their hold and beginning to drag her down.

Anyu renewed her struggle to reach the surface, but there was no point now. The forces pulling her down were too powerful, and she had no more strength. It felt like she'd been underwater forever, but the sudden burning agony in her lungs let her know that it had not been so long yet. However it would be too late anyway if she didn't get air very soon.

She thrashed wildly growing desperate, until a memory sparked in her mind. Anyu normally would have prayed to the gods for luck, but with her recent experiences in mind, she simply prayed to her ancestors' spirits for guidance. Sure enough, when she reached for her belt, her knives were still there. With numb fingers, she clumsily grabbed one in each hand. Both because of the water and because of her frozen hands, she didn't have her usual skill with the blades, but it didn't take any skill to recklessly stab the tentacle-like things holding onto her until they recoiled and let go.