The plunge hit harder than any sword.
The world went cold, weightless — then crushing. Daemon's lungs squeezed tight as the river swallowed him whole, dragging him into its freezing, endless embrace.
Caldrin's hooves kicked and thrashed beside him, the stallion fighting for its life as the current pulled them deeper.
The shock of it didn't scare him. It wasn't fear that bloomed in his chest, but something else.
Relief.
The ogres' roars above were long gone, replaced by the silence of deep water. For a moment, all the world was blue and black, and for the first time in days, Daemon let himself drift.
His wounds throbbed against the cold, his bones ached from the fall, but the river was gentle compared to the battle he'd crawled out of.
"Tch. Monsters above, monsters below," he muttered under his breath as his head finally broke the surface, gasping for air.