The Crown's Entrapment

Icy darkness... That was the last thing Clara saw the moment she heard the ice cracking underneath their feet. From there, the sudden weightlessness dragged her underneath the cold waters of the lake, the faint moonlight making it hard for her to even see what was up or what was down.

Of course, that didn't mean that she was utterly helpless. Far from it, she knew exactly what she needed to do.

'Damn! I have to get back up to safety!'

With that one thought as her guiding anchor, Clara forced herself to be still, doing her best to not let the icy cold seep into her very being any further than they've already had.

[Gilas will come for our aid,] Sheba remarked, her wolf's usual teasing tone now devoid of all emotion. [Keep calm. Reorient yourself and determine what's up from down.]

Nodding to herself, Clara forced her eyes open, the pain of the cold waters seeping into her eyes almost making her want to close them again before the gravity of the situation allowed her to push her body past its limits. With her vision clearer than before she suddenly found herself underneath the waves, the massive chunks of ice floating above her made it clear to her where exactly she had to face.

Waving her arms, she reoriented herself, making sure that she was at least upright underneath the waters again. Feeling herself, her stamina was already dwindling fast from the intense cold she was feeling. Add to that the fact that she was rapidly running out of air, and she knew that she only had a minute at best to make sure that she wouldn't sink too far deep into the lake.

At the very least, she should try and make her way to the hole where she fell. Surely, Gilas would be able to get her from there.

'You better come and save me,' Clara grimly thought out to him as she saw her vision slowly fade to black. 'I'm going to drown if you can't find me...'

Clara fought the urge to take a breath as her chest seized onto itself. The suddenness of her accident had caught her off-guard, leading to her only having enough air in her lungs to not immediately pass out from the shock. Her body shivered uncontrollably, and the icy waters surrounding her threatened to freeze her to death.

There was nothing she could do but stop and do her best to conserve her energy. She at least saw the hole she fell through by the time her vision went. And by the time she completely ran out of air, she could vaguely hear her name being shouted out by Gilas from wherever it was he was standing.

'I'll leave it up to you...'

With that one last thought in her head, Clara succumbed to the cold waters around her. She could only hope that her faith in Gilas wasn't misplaced. Or else, then maybe she was right in withholding from completing her Bond with him.

Then again, if he failed, then she would be too dead to take back her growing feelings for him.

***

Jumping into the frozen waters of the lake, Gilas fought the urge to shiver and swim back up to solid ice. He knew that doing so would mean Clara's death, and he really didn't want to be the one responsible for the death of her own mate.

'I know you're close by...' he inwardly told himself. 'I just have to look closely...'

With the faint moonlight barely piercing through the cold water's surface, the task of finding Clara was almost impossible for the common man. Hell, the only reason Gilas even dared to do it in spite of the odds was because she was his mate. He faintly heard her thought processes through their Bond, and from there, he knew that Clara had at least tried to make herself discoverable by having the strength to float herself near the surface.

'I won't have your faith in me be proven wrong,' Gilas gritted his teeth, recalling the feelings of trust and hope that Clara had of him saving her. 'Just hang on, alright?'

Forcing his limbs to move, the chills he was feeling almost made his joints lock up in pain. Each stroke through the water felt like wading through thick mud, but that didn't stop him from moving forward. After all, if Clara in her surprised state managed to fight through the cold and even manage to make her chances better, then who was he to complain about the sub-zero temperatures around them?

'There!'

His eyes widened underneath the waters as he saw Clara's unmoving form floating just underneath the thick ice. Thankfully, she had indeed managed to position herself near where she fell, but that didn't mean that the distance he swam was negligible. They were almost a minute away from the hole they both fell into, and Gilas knew that there was no way that Clara would survive any longer underneath the ice like this.

Pushing through the fear in his heart, Gilas cradled Clara's unconscious body in his arms before turning his attention to the ice above them. From a cursory knock, he could tell that it was far thicker than he would've hoped. He needed to punch through it if he wanted to escape this icy hell, and he'd be damned if he wouldn't succeed!

'Please don't be too thick!'

With a small prayer, Gilas cocked his free fist before ramming it straight into the ice above. The resulting hit thankfully cracked the icy wall barring their escape, but it wasn't enough.

Ignoring the pain of punching through what felt like solid rock, Gilas readied yet another punch. This time, his fist went through, exposing the moonlit sky above them as he rapidly punched a hole big enough for the two of them to pass through.

'Come on! Come on!'

Eventually, Gilas succeeded, and he promptly carried Clara's unmoving form up into the equally cold night air above. Looking around, he scanned for anybody that might be able to help, his worry only rising the moment he realized that Clara wasn't breathing.

"Someone! Anybody! I need help!"