[Deorlin]

Deorlin floated, his mind a blank. Only the dull throbbing in his head letting him know he lived still.The open wounds on his legs and arm were too numb from the icy waters to cause any pain - yet. Blessedly, he was unaware really of all that had transpired in those few short moments. He knew vaguely that if he didn't get out of the water soon, he would go under and draw water instead of air, and that would be the end. But the end of what? He tried hard to think, to remember. An image flashed through his mind - a horse - Frey? No this was a chestnut, not a dun. It wasn't Frey. But he was riding it - why would that be? And then he saw a bright spurt of blood and heard a horrible horse scream and it was down, falling, rolling already in the grip of its death throws. and then . . . once more his mind was blank. Why was he in the river? Where were the others? The others? Why had he been riding with, who was it now, Aelfritha, Anglachel, and . . . oh yes, the tiny woman, Izrenna, had that been her name? This was the River Snowbourne, for some reason he knew that much for sure. Once again, he thought he had better get out of the water, befoer he drowned, but a strange lassitude had taken hold of him; he felt oddly relaxed, warm even. It would take such an effort to roll over and swim to shore. It was much more pleasant to jst let the current carry him along. he opened his eyes. The sky above was bright blue, with only one white cloud to be seen. perhaps he should just stay like this, forever.

As he drifted into unconsciousness, Deorlin's body was carried closer to the northern shore. There it came to rest, lodged against a fallen tree trunk. he bobbed gently up and down in the backwash, his face still turned towards the sky.