Sir was lucky, locked out of any easy way off the battlements as he was, that the Soveni soldiers found themselves distracted by more interesting sights. Though more than one head had turned at his loudly announced frustration, only a few had broken off their given task to deal with him. Over his own barking, along with the general cacaphony from the castle and city, he didn't hear their cautious approach behind him. Riven's shout only barely registered, and then only because he recognised his own name, ears perking up before he even understood why his tail was wagging. 

He paused with a forepaw braced against the door and glanced down over the wall, the other paw curling in uncertainly. There were too many figures churning about below to pinpoint who had called him. So, he went back to digging at the door, his efforts redoubled now that they'd been acknowledged. Soon enough, something cracked behind the wall, and a roughened voice proved the man hadn't liked it. Sir was all set to try again when stranger sounds distracted him. First an ear flicked back, then his scrambling paws froze and he lifted his head to find bright silver life behind him in a shape he readily recognised. Along with a few others he did not. 

The large Anan let out a quiet huff at odds with his earlier enthusiasm and cocked his head while she ignored him. The strange soldiers were between him and her anyway, though they were also looking at her now, and the arrows he'd already decided he did not like were trying to hit her. He snapped at one quick flash of grey as it went past his muzzle and then lifted his head in surprise when he realised Taula was no longer standing where he'd last seen her. Sir let out a little whuffle of air in confusion until the crack of breaking ice slammed through his eardrums and made him bounce nervously. A moment later, as the soldiers all ran to the edge of the wall, he caught a breath of dead water and snorted. 

She'd gone swimming. 

She wasn't going to open the door for him. 

Sir turned back to it, determined to finish what he'd started as shouts sounded behind him and arrows struck stone too close for comfort. When it opened of its own accord, he had to freeze his immediate lunge and stifled the growl in his throat before Riven noticed his threat. And yipped excitedly. She had dealt with the door. And the man he wanted... She would tell him what to do next. His tail ticked once, twice and then she was spinning, barking her own angry sounds and saying his name. The Anan looked at her to prove he was listening, though he could not ignore the soldiers this time as they closed in. He was growling before she gave up giving an order, and he followed her to the edge, but baulked there, teetering. 

He turned a worried circle, snapping at the strange faces surrounding him, hesitating to follow her when that wasn't where he knew his master was. Another circle, and he lunged at the men closing in to force them back. But while they moved out of reach, two strings twanged and he yelped as arrows slammed into his flank, turning to bite the offending twigs as though they were insects he could nibble free. A sword struck his other side and the Anan, though still caught between his desires, chose the lesser of two difficulties and hesitated no more, but launched himself after Riven and Taula. 

Fear-stiffened legs struck the ice and spidering fractures exploded apart, engulfing him momentarily in breath stealing cold before he bobbed back to the surface through the shattered blocks of ice. He'd landed near enough to Riven that there was a rather wide area of blocks that bounced off his muzzle and back as he thrashed at the water, large paws automatically moving in a pattern that would keep him from sinking. Snorting and huffing to clear his nose of water, the Anan scrambled at the ice, pushing chunks beneath the surface as he tried to climb onto them until he reached the edge. 

The more solid ice there let him get both forepaws up before it gave beneath his weight and he went splashing back down. He tried again to get out of the water, again and again, rising sometimes halfway clear of the water before the ice gave out. But each time falling back. The moat smelled of wet rot, heavy and thick with dead plants. The cold had quickly crept through his wet coat though Sir's efforts kept him warm for the moment, the heat wouldn't last. At least his injuries had grown numb. 

His efforts, more blinded by desparation than aided, had him scrambling parallel to the wall rather than away from it. He was heading a little off to the side of the hole Taula had created, and managing to crack and splinter the ice across a wide surface until the hole he'd made had become a dark line contrasting against the snow and water splashed up through the ice on either side in little pressure made geysers as pieces shifted and slid against each other.