Two Rivers Isle broker no argument

Cormorant almost wondered if Magpie was beginning to breathe up water, given the way they were arranged - but the thought was there and gone with the yelp that twisted out of him. It seemed like the water was at his legs and then suddenly it leapt at his belly and it was too much. His teeth ground, a set of pained breaths eking out of his throat without his permission. It was swept by the sound of the water around them, but it still stained his ears with a dire memory.

His vision was back in smears; water and fear and pain smudging it all into dozens of terrible scenes. It felt like the air in his lungs was worthless, there and then gone. He only had half a thought to try and ease the pain with sympathetic wriggling, like if he overtaxed everything that it could take away from the burning discomfort, but there wasn't enough time.

It was with a shriek that he fell, his crutch and anchor gone in an instant. The weightless quality of water doing nothing to save him from the bite of freezing water flooding his wound as he was tossed. It sunk through his fur like teeth, and he was instantly choking on water and so lost. He couldn't see Magpie. Every leg swept out in a terrible reflex, and the ensuing cry was nothing but bubbles in a string of churning blues. His good legs kicked, paw-pads scraping the riverbed, and by some miracle, breaking his head out above the surface to spit enough water out to suck in air.