A Court of Heart and Fealty | Rhysand

Chapter 94: The Creature

Chapter 94: The Creature

The world was black, dusted with speckles of silver. The first thing that Galadriel's mind acknowledged was the pain. The freezing water clamped around her like a binding, making her muscles seize up, her lungs squeeze, her bones ache. There was nothing around her to grab onto, to kick off.

Throwing her limbs every way she could, Galadriel pushed herself to the surface, taking a lungful of water as she did. Breaking through, she gasped loudly, trying to steal breaths of air through the splashes as she fought to stay above.

Clambering back to the ledge she'd just jumped off—not giving herself a moment to second guess—she clawed at the ground of solid, dark rock. Water spilled from her lips as she hauled one leg out of the water along with her chest, but she refused to take her other leg. If she did, she would not be brave enough to go back in. The arena was silent other than the hushed murmurings of the crowd, the water behind her still beyond the ripples pulsing from her spot. The others had already begun swimming down into the black depths, searching for the treasure.

Ice-cold water sluiced from her body as she panted, wet tendrils of hair clinging uncomfortably to her neck and shoulders. She'd cut it weeks ago with a sharp enough shard of rusted metal from the bars on her cell. It hung jaggedly like a child had been given unsupervised freedom with a butterknife. (Which she knew from experience)

Galadriel refused to look up, towards the faces and the eyes watching her every move, judging every moment. There were bets, she was certain, that she would be the first to die. There was no blaming them—the others were well enough fed, didn't have skin hanging from their bones. But they lacked the same measure of desperation that she had.

Closing her eyes, she forced away the images of the Winter Court river, the rushing current and the feel of her hands ripping against the frozen surface. Her chest physically pattered against the stone at the pace of her racing heart.

With a hard push, Galadriel shoved herself away from the edge, letting the water swallow her up to her neck. Shivering, her bare toes and fingertips numb, she practised kicking, a hand on the ledge holding her in place and securing her until she found the right rhythm and motions. She felt something in her mind guide her the right way, like the strings in her muscles being tugged on by a puppeteer.

Two faeries broke through the water one after another, mouths wide open as they took a lungful before diving again, the rest bobbing up periodically. They were gaining the advantage of time and exploration over her. 

Gulping down as much air as she could, Galadriel closed her eyes and dived.

Her face instantly stung. It kept her mind sharp as she kicked, waving her arms before her, cupping the water to push her deeper. Feet below the surface, she opened her eyes.

More darkness. It wasn't the darkness where she couldn't see anything, not even her own hand, but the darkness where there was nothing for the light to latch on to even with the warm fire and faelight coming in from above. Occasionally it would bounce off a swimming form or the glimmer of a rocky wall. That instinctive guide was still leading her, and she let her arms and legs move however they wanted to. To keep her bearing, she swam close to the edge, going deeper and deeper until her lungs burned and she had to fight back to the surface. There was nothing, not even a sign of the monster as if it had retreated at their splashing liek a frightened fish. Her fingers waved through cold emptiness. On the fifth time, going barely deeper than the first, Galadriel held herself against the rocky ledge, panting and thinking. The pool was endless. The bottom was too far for any air-breathing creature to reach and the tunnels that she knew would be somewhere along that line would lead out beyond the mountain. There was no possible way for her to reach anything. Though the darkness could be a challenge itself—the treasure tied to the rockface somewhere just beneath her feet.