The Children: The Moonserpents

Chapter 11 Glacie - What is this? Bigger fish?

Glacie looked down at the dome in awe, it couldn't be real. People LIVING down under this much water? It all looked too beautiful to her. "So.. We need to get you, down there, you can't swim so you'll have to figure it out?" Calder was beginning to see a flaw in this plan. "How long can you hold your breath? My record is three hours," Amirah piped up, a little boastfully. Glacie blinked at her, thoroughly confused an hour? She's pulling my leg. She laughed, thinking she was joking, quickly stopping seeing their expressions of equal confusion. "You're serious?" she asked incredulously, they nodded, Amirah grinning a little. "Uh.. Two minutes? Maybe three? Any more and I'll melt." Glacie felt a little foolish, but what's new? Calder and Amirah weren't familiar with the term 'melting', but they figured they'd ask later. The two helped Glacie off the small debris raft as she tested her leg in the water. She barely sank at all, even in such deep waters. She floated. Calder looked at Amirah then to the floating but still flailing Glacie in confusion.

Bal hopped off the raft after a few minutes of Cal and Amirah trying to calm Glacie down and settled on her head. Almost instantly, she stopped thrashing at the water as to not disturb him. "Will you need help getting down?" Calder asked, secretly hoping not. He probably wouldn't be strong enough to drag her against the water. Glacie nodded, she didn't like the feeling of being in water, it was very wet. "You'll probably run out of breath, if that happens don't stop, okay?" Calder didn't want her to drown but he felt she could probably be 'tough enough' to swim down, after all she took little notice of her leg. She nodded again, this time a set look on her face. Satisfied with her answer, Calder and Amirah dove down below making their way to the dome. After a bit of trial and error, Glacie had found a way to make her way below the surface level without popping back up seconds later. Constant kicking. After securing Bal in her scarf she followed the others well ahead of her.

Everything was going 'swimmingly' until a slight weight lifted from her back and neck. She didn't realize what this meant at first until she looked back. Bal had been swept away; a freak current had caught her scarf unraveling it. Panicking, she stopped going towards the dome instead swimming frantically towards her oldest and dearest friend. She got him, but at a cost. She had upset her wound and thus reopened it, as if things couldn't get any worse for her, she had let out the last of her breath. In the distance, she could see a blurry 'thing' swimming towards her. A sea serpent. A big one too.

Calder saw it too, he had looked up to check on Glacie to see if she was still making it. He saw the sea serpent and called to Amirah. They both dashed towards the ice child, trying and failing to swim one armed and legged. Her leg wound was bleeding again, it hurt like mad. They both caught hold of a leg each and swam down, towards the dome as hard as they could. There was little chance of them beating the sea serpent in a fight. No chance to be accurate. Nor was there much of a chance they'd escape while dragging Glacie. In all the rush of what was happening, her gaping leg wound, lack of oxygen and sheer stress of their predicament, she froze. Her arms and legs stiffened, her face, blank is if a mask.

This did nothing to help Calder and Amirah's attempts to pull her down, their legs pummeling as the situation worsened. However, with little warning, Bal shot away from Glacies statue-like arms. His coat, shorter than before and tail longer. Shorter coat and longer tail? Must've been a trick of the light. Either way, he shot towards the serpent, needle-like teeth barred, and eyes narrowed. His protective instincts kicking in. He shot hither and thither around the serpent, biting and scratching quicker than it could defend itself. Bal did little damage, but it was infuriating. The sea serpent becoming frustrated, decided it wasn't worth the trouble, swam away begrudgingly. Bal nyoomed back to the three figures, two swimming frantically the other still and un-moving. He nudged Glacie affectionately, to no response. That was ok. He'd get one later he knew, the others however, did not.