Beastly | Arcane Silco

One

Blood poured from her open wound into the water, the dagger which had cut through her skin floating almost mockingly beside her. There were times she knew swimming up to the surface wasn't a good idea, and she had sensed that this was one of these times, but her empty stomach was motivation enough to try. Granted, she had been expecting neither the group of men standing on the pier nor the attack that would follow. She should have left then and there, though her stubbornness seemed to get the better of her. It was a trait that had kept her alive for so long, but now she realized it could become her doom as well.

She pressed one of her hands to her side, groaning in pain as bubbles emerged from her mouth towards the water surface. The oxygen in the waters of the Undercity was scarce and so she wasn't always able to stay underneath for too long, but not once had she felt the lack of it so strongly as now. The blood was leaking fast, the water around her discolored as she used her free hand to push herself towards the surface.

The thin skin of her webbed hand made it easy to move underneath the water, but the oxygen and blood loss robbed her of her strength. As she gazed up, she saw shadows walking across the pier she was swimming next to, making her stop in her tracks. They were still here, presumably looking for the prey they lost. She couldn't risk getting closer to the air but if she stayed underneath for too long, the wound would get infected. Despite the fact that her body had built up a certain immunity towards the toxins of the Zaunite waters over the years, a cut this large could still cause her some serious trouble.

She wrapped her free arm around one of the columns which held the pier in place, her gaze shifting back towards the dagger that had now sunken to the ground close to her, light reflecting on the metal as the soft current of the river moved the blade back and forth.

Suddenly, there was a thud from above and she instinctively moved behind the column, trying to hide her body behind it as she watched another sink slowly. It appeared to be male and dressed in what she recognized was expensive clothing. There were times that leaving the comfort of the water was something she had to do, for one reason or the other, and so she'd learned a thing or two about landwalkers, as she liked to call them.

The man didn't move. His eyes were closed, his short hair following the current's steady rhythm as he sank deeper. The bubbles had stopped rising from his nose and mouth, giving no indication of him being alive. She followed him with her eyes for a moment, only leaving the security of her shelter when she noticed the shadows above disappear.

There was not much time left and the stinging pain in her side did not seem to cease, but a man like him didn't fall into the water every day and if there was even the slightest chance of him carrying some sort of money it would buy her a good meal. She was sure she could have survived on raw fish, disgusting as it was, but the creatures in these waters were anything but edible. She had made that mistake years ago and would never make it again.

Groaning, the woman pushed herself away from the column and loosened the grip around her wound to swiftly let herself float over to the body, grabbing him by his collar. The man was young, presumably in his early twenties, which was only noticeable if one looked close enough thanks to the multiple scars that ran over his face in seemingly random directions. Either he was the victim of a disastrous accident, or he had messed with the wrong people. Given how he had ended up in the river, she assumed it was the latter.

Quickly, she went through his pockets one by one, her blood blending with his and submerging them in a red cloud. She could feel the metallic taste on her tongue as it entered her body through her gills and filtered out with the rest of the water before it could infiltrate her system. There were a few coins in his breast pocket, as well as another, small object. As she pulled it out of his jacket, she found herself looking at a silver diamond ring. It looked unlike anything she had ever seen before as she twisted and turned it around, observing how the gemstone reflected the light from above beautifully. It even made her forget her pain for just a second.