The cold, watery grave beckoned.
The ogg struggled to maintain his balance as he searched for solid ground. The other Orcru tried to follow his horde leader, but the ice was a living, moving thing now. It gave out beneath him. Fed him to its dark master below. He never reemerged.
Pressure bent her spine—a hand crushing her. Jogo was trying to use her to climb out, but there was nowhere to go. Her breath fogged in front of her face as she tried to find purchase. Triedto buck out of Jogo’s grasp. Her nails scraped hopelessly against the frozen surface and her blade was of no use to her. With every move she made, more pieces crumbled away beneath her, determined to give her to the hungry abyss. Her knees hit the water.
Vessa couldn’t stop the inevitable.
“Fuck it,” she growled.
Jogo fought wildly against his fate. Freezing water sloshed over her back. Gods, this was a shit way to die, but it didn’t matter. If this was the end for her, she was taking all these bastards with her.
She reared her sword arm back and let her blade fly with all her strength. In the seconds it took to find her mark, the ice beneath her split open—hungry to devour her. But her raze sword hit true. Right through the retreating ogg’s skull.
He teetered forward, then back—unaware he was already dead.
He fell.
Vessa was dragged under before his body hit the water.
Chapter 11
Vessa
Hellsfire. A thousand needles. The water was so cold it was incomprehensible to her. It didn’t matter that her suit was made to withstand the frigid temperatures. It wasn’t meant to seal underwater.
Jogo tried to use her as a flotation device, pushing her down, even as he convulsed. She kicked and struggled against him. Clawed at him. She tried to swim away, to reach for the opening that had swallowed her.
But she was only dragged deeper. To darkness. To death.
The depths grew impossibly colder.
Jogo’s deadly grip eventually slackened as he succumbed to his fate.
She should swim. Move.Survive.
But she was in the clutches of a much greater danger. A frigid fist closed around her. Numbness spread. Consumed. Took her over.
There was no light. No direction. Just this freezing and unending black.
It was much too late for her. Her body wouldn’t listen to her commands. Or maybe it was, but she couldn’t know if her legs and arms were moving her upward because she couldn’tfeelthem.
But her lungs burning? Vessa felt that. She hadn’t been able to gulp in a full breath of air before she was dragged under. Out of all the ways to die, this was not how she’d have bet she would go out. There was no honor in these depths. No glory.
She longed for her raze sword. A Seken warrior should always die with her blade.
At least she’d taken out the ogg. Surely, his death counted as more than one kill?
Kedar.
He would be angry that he hadn’t gotten to kill her himself, her brain produced unhelpfully. Probably would never know what befell her. One minute she was there, the next gone. The ice had probably already sealed back up. She was just a sacrifice to this ancient, slumbering devourer.
What a waste.
Something sent her jerking to the side, and precious oxygen left her. Was it a beast? Something hungry that ruled these waters? Her body spasmed as she willed her lungs to last a little longer even while knowing the futility of it.
It didn’t matter. She only had seconds left. Sadness and anger rushed through her at things her mind couldn’t produce but her bones remembered. Her slowing heartbeat was a softly fading lament in her ears.
At last, her mind conjured an image—something tangible and familiar, something that felt like loss and home at the same time.Him.
