The Wandering God

37 Cold As Ice And Frost 1/3

冷若冰霜
Lěng ruò bīng shuāng
As cold as ice and frost.
(Usually said of women) To have an icy manner.

*~*~*~*~*~*

As the air whistled past me, and the river hurtled toward me, I thought of one thing.

I can not let go of the little prince.

I cinched my arms tighter around Sanli's waist.

We hit the water with the force of a charging horse, and I felt the air knocked from my body. Even more than the impact, the cold was a shock, hitting my skin with such a burning that it was as if I had fallen into a kettle and not a freezing river.

Don't let go.

The current grabbed at us, and turned the prince and I over and over, dragging us against rocks. I knew better than to fight it, and instead let it take us, trying my best to shield Sanli from the worst of the impacts.

Don't let go.

I felt Sanli struggle against me, feebly trying to fight to get to the surface. Over the roar of the water in my ears, I heard the last of his breath escape from him in a great groaning bubble, and felt his body convulse in my arms.

He needs air.

I wrapped my legs around Sanli as well as my arms. The next rock the current threw us against I grabbed with one hand, nails folding and ripping as they dragged along the smoothed stone.

Grunting, the current trying to rush over us and push us both down, I pulled my and Sanli's head above the water.

"Little prince!" My voice was lost in the roar of the rapids. Sanli's face was pale as the river foaming around us. His eyes were closed, and he wasn't breathing.

I need to get him out of the water.

Even as I thought this, the current pulled at me, and ripped away my tenuous grasp on the rock.

We were whipped away downstream again.

This time I tried to keep Sanli's head above the water, legs furiously kicking at the river and my arms wrapped around his torso just below the shoulders. I was soon exhausted. My muscles burned even as the cold water numbed my skin beyond feeling.

Just let it take you. You will wake up somewhere, wet and cold but alive.

I would wake up, but Sanli would not.

I continued to fight the chaotic current, holding the prince's head above water, wondering how much longer I could.

*~*~*~*~*~*

At last after what seemed like hour in the rushing river, but was probably no more than a quarter that, the same current that threatened to drag us down or crush us against rocks delivered us to safety. I found myself washed up on a beach of small stones, river waves gently lapping around Sanli and my legs.

Panting, I stood and pulled the prince out of the water.

As I left the water, the cold bit into me like a dog's teeth. The freezing air of the mountains cut into my skin through my wet clothes. I immediately began to shiver.

One of the arrows in Sanli's shoulder had fallen out in the rapids, shaft, head and all. I realized that both wounds were shallow, as though the shots had been made from a great distance. That was probably the only reason Sanli was still alive.

I reached down and carefully snapped the other arrow off at the shaft, just above the head. Sanli grunted in pain, then coughed, and the water he had swallowed emerged from his lungs in coughing gasps.