As soon as the icy water covered Cassia's head, she knew she had made a mistake. This river was so much more than she could handle. The powerful current sucked her down into it's cold grasp, knocking the air from her lungs and freezing her nose and any part of her body not covered in thick fur. She felt it pull Huck from her back then slam him down into it again. The only thing keeping them together were the straps of the bag and she prayed he could hang on. She knew if she was this cold as a polar bear a injured wolf must be freezing. Huck was only managing to keep hold of the straps because the cold was causing him to lock his jaw. They spun around in the dark depths of the water and Cassia opened her polar bear eyes, hoping to be able to navigate, but found only inky blackness in any direction. Her lungs were starting to burn, crying out for oxygen. She felt Huck's claws at her back, trying to keep them together. She knew he must be terrified.
Suddenly, something hit Cassia's feet and she instinctively tried to dig her claws into it. To her great joy, she felt the muddy river bottom squish between her toes. Excited, she shoved as hard as she could against the rushing river floor and shot them upwards. When their heads broke through the choppy river surface, both animals gasped for air. It only lasted for a moment before they were plunged back under the water. Cassia fought to keep her direction though and kicked hard with her strong bear limbs to get them back to the air and try to keep them there. This time, when they came up, she pushed and managed to keep them there for longer. She heard Huck coughing from her back and felt him scrambling to stay with her. She didn't know how much longer he could make it.
As much as she hated staying in the river, Cassia knew they needed to hold out as long as they could. The longer they were in the water the farther it would take them downstream and out of the territory of the King who would want to punish them now if not kill them. They needed to go farther because they were still too close to the village and the Kings men, not to mention her brothers who would not be happy with her now. She knew if she was taken back, the only one who could really offer them any protection would be her mother. Imaging her mother arguing for mercy for her was laughable. She had to many other, and in her eyes better, children to worry about. If the runt Cassia got herself into this mess she would have to get herself out of it. That had been her mothers sentiment her whole life.
Her thoughts were interrupted by hitting a deep spot in the river that sucked them back under and spun Cassia around, head down and feet up, before she righted herself again. Or at least she hoped she had. The spinning and the darkness had her disoriented again but at least this time she had gotten a good breath first. She kicked and worked to swim towards what she thought was the surface. Cassia couldn't see anything until right before they surfaced again. She gasped for air and caught a glimpse of the starry sky above them for a moment. Then the river played a new trick. They were slammed abruptly into a boulder, knocking the air from Cassia again. She gasped, getting a mixture of air and river water, causing her to cough. She had not yet caught her breath when they slammed into another boulder, this time with her side. She paddled to keep their heads above water and felt her body cry in pain when she hit a third bolder hard against her hip. She let out something like a yelp and pushed off from the rock to try to get them away.
No sooner had they gotten out of the rocks than something strange happened. Cassia was paddling and working to keep their heads above water when the water seemed to just drop out from under them. Her limbs flailed around in open air and she had less than an instant to realize what was happening. She inhaled sharply as they were suddenly dropped out of the sky, down, down through the water spray and air. Down the highest waterfall either of the pair had ever seen. Their limbs went everywhere as they fought to grab hold of something to save them but of course nothing was there. One moment Cassia was below Huck and the next he was somehow below her. As they spiraled towards the river below though the weight of the polar bear won out.
So it was Cassia who slammed so hard into the water it knocked the air from her lungs. Her ribs felt like they had cracked and her limbs like they had been ripped from their sockets. It was Cassia who torpedoed down into the black water, swirling with debris and foam. Her eyes stung and filled with dirt as did her nose and mouth. It was Cassia who hit the rocky river bottom head first and in the icy cold depths, everything went black.