Zane hesitated at the edge of the ice for a moment more, despite Byrce’s encouragement. The younger wolf tentatively placed one paw on the ice, then another, before following after the two as Byrce draped his tail around Thea.
	The youthful princess smiled down at Byrce, noticing a slight chill seeping through her dress where his tail touched it. She looked at him curiously when they reached the end of the ice-walk.
	“Going all the way,” she nodded toward the opposite side of the river as Byrce scratched at the edge of the ice, “or should we go back and cross at the bridge?” She nodded upstream, beyond the gentler flowing waters of the lake-like area they now crossed where the river flowed into it before carrying onward to the east. About a quarter mile upriver, a bridge in need of repair crossed over the flowing waters at a narrow path weaving its way through the forest.
	She laughed lightly when her friend answered her by jumping into the water just as Zane arrived at her side. “Crossing here, it is, then!” She watched, awe glittering in her dark eyes, as he tapped his nose to the edge of the elemental walkway, and another layer of mist formed, poling around the edge and leaving yet more ice in its wake as Byrce swam backward. 
	She followed the path slowly, admiring the ability her friend had developed, as well as watching to be sure the ice did not begin to give way beneath her. Though she trusted Byrce with her life, she had seen how easy it was to overestimate a budding ability, courtesy of more than one Mage’s apprentice residing in the castle.
	“And now, I can honestly say that I’ve walked an ice bridge at the end of summer!” she said, glancing to Zane. The wolf’s ears were pulled back against his head, his attention shifting uncertainty between Thea and the ice.
	When Byrce reached the other side well ahead of Thea and Zane, three distinctly human heartbeats reached his ears. Should he bother to pay them much attention, two grew slowly fainter downriver until the splashes of the water drowned them out, while the third remained fairly nearby. The third beat slightly slower than the other two, its pulse changing ever so slightly with the sound of the water as if matching the rhythm of nature itself. 
	Noticing her friend struggle to the other side, Thea’s eyes widened. “Byrce?” She called, fear for his well-being saturating her voice. Thankfully, he managed to get on shore, but only to collapse. “Byrce!”
	Zane gave a yip as the other wolf managed to get back to his feet and shake himself off. He whined and glanced between Thea and Byrce, as if torn between the two as Thea quickened her pace.
	With a flash of white easily missed in the span of a blink, thick cracks marred the ice directly beneath her next hasty footstep. The moment her full weight bore down on it, the cracks webbed through the ice around her with unnatural swiftness and a series of unnerving crackles. 
	In the split second it took to take action, the world seemed to move in slow motion; Thea’s eyes widened, and Zane tried to skid to a sitting halt with a fearful cry, but slid forward a few feet before his claws stopped him at the cost of yet more of the ice bridge’s wavering stability. Without a second thought, she bent down, dug her heels into the ice, and shoved Zane forward toward the unaffected ice.
	The wolf slid forward as Thea took a step to hurry after him, but, with a shattering crack, the ice gave way beneath her. She shouted as she fell into the frigid water below. Though only about four feet deep, she fell back, managing just in time to take a breath before she was momentarily submerged beneath the murky darkness of the water.
	Though the top layer held the wintry temperature of the ice and cooling seasons, the water had not yet fully relinquished the warmth of summer further down. The two warring temperatures in the water was a disorientating feeling.
	The moment she found her footing on the soft lakebed, she quickly pushed herself upright. She inhaled and flipped back her hair as she broke the surface about two yards from the remaining ice bridge, carried slightly away by the current. The water rose to her mid-chest, giving her a reminder of her shortness. 
	“I’m alright!” she called to her friends, Zane barking madly for her from a sturdy spot on a firm patch of ice. Realizing he was fine, she chuckled as the wolf gave a final, relieved bark, then dove into the water and started paddling toward her. “Nothing like a last swim before fall fully—!”
	Thea’s words cut off when an intense undercurrent rushed by her, snatching her legs in its shockingly strong grasp and pulling her under once more before she could be reached. She gasped as she went below the waves, a bit of water filling and burning in her lungs as the undercurrent dragged her swiftly downstream.
	Her heart beating wildly and lungs begging to expel the liquid they had taken in, Thea reached out in a panic for anything she could pull herself to a stop with. The world had turned into a murky brown her vision could not penetrate through. What air remained in her chest burst out in shocked bubbles when her stomach slammed into a large rock hidden underwater. She tried to grasp onto it, to use it as leverage to get her closer to where she thought land was, but another rush of water easily pried her from the algae-covered stone.
As she closed her eyes, terror making the pain in her chest that much worse, something snagged her wrist, jerking her to a halt. With her free hand, she reached over and grasped what felt like a long, thick rope as it pulled her toward what she hoped was the bank.
	 She paid the rocks at the shoreline little mind as they scraped at her arms in the shallows before she managed to drag herself the rest of the way. She coughed up liquid and gasped for breath the moment her head met the air. She knelt on hands and knees in the shallow water, a small noose pulled tight around her wrist. She draped a hand over her stomach where she had collided with the stone, and followed the rope with her gaze to her rescuer.
	A man dressed for the woods in a pair of heavy-looking pants and a long-sleeved shirt made of animal hide, complete with a hooded cowl, stared down at her. Though she could only fully make out the bottom half of his face, she thought he looked fairly young, maybe a couple years older than her, a triumphant grin spreading on his full lips. 
	“Thank—” she rasped, but ended in a coughing fit aimed at the pool of water beneath her.
	The man let out a cruel chuckle that sent a chill down Thea’s spine. “Don’t thank me yet, [i]Your Highness,[/i]” he finished with scornful mockery.
	Trying to keep her breaths even and constant, Thea’s attention snapped back to him, her jaw setting.
	“Oy! ’Urry up!” a deeper voice called gruffly as a second, taller man dressed similarly to the first pushed through the forest to join them. A bushy black beard stuck out from beneath his hood. “That blasted werewolf and ’er little pet’ll be close behind!”
	Thea blinked at them in surprise. They knew about Byrce? And Zane?
	She glanced to the rope, held loosely in the younger man’s hand. As fast as she could, she gripped the rope further up, jumped to her feet, and ran, trying to pull the rope from him.
	“Byr—!” she tried, but the young man tightened his grip in time, and yanked on the rope, jerking her back. “Byrce!” she tried again, her scratchy voice echoing through the trees as she tried to squeeze her hand from the loop around her wrist. “Zane!”