Derowynn turned over in her sleep, waking up to see the last of the glowing embers starting to fade out. Sitting up, she rubbed her neck. She had certainly slept on the ground before, but the rock of the floor of this cave didn't do much for sleeping comfort. The light of the moon was shining through the crack of the cave that served as it's door. Standing and stretching, Dero made her way to the door and looked out.
It hit her then that there should be someone else here, Vadik. Where was he? Derowynn looked around and scratched the back of her head. Yes, she was grimy and would fix that this next day. Perhaps a trip back to the brook in the forest that she had entered in on would serve the purpose. She seemed to remember some pools of water as she had walked through the forest.
Looking down at the ocean, she thought she saw some movement. Rubbing her eyes, she strained to see. Yes, yes there was someone or something down in the water close to shore. Vadik? Yes, it appeared to be him, but who or what was there with him? Not waiting to find out, she quickly made her way to the water where Vadik was. "Vadik!" she shouted down from behind him, but he seemed to not hear and kept wading out more. There were three other forms there too. But only heads seemed to be bobbing out of the water.
She called out his name again, the man was in the water up to his shoulders now. She followed in behind him and was waist deep in the water when he noticed the look of the creatures with him. They looked hideous and their eyes glowed red. Derowynn knew then and there this was trouble. She was just about to grab Vadik by the shoulder, trying to keep her head above the water, when he went under.
Her eyes were as wide as saucers as she watched and then heard the cynical laughter of two of the creatures that were looking at her and then waved a hand at her as if to say good bye. Quickly Derowynn went under the water and reached out with her hand. Nothing. She could feel or find nothing under the water. She as quickly losing air and needed to surface when something hit her outstretched hand. Feeling it again, she grabbed at it and found it to be Vadik's leg.
Grasping to it as tightly as she could, she started to tug the leg back towards the shore. There was resistance and at first, she felt herself being pulled further into the depths of the ocean. Her foot then found a large rock on the ocean floor and Dero was able to use it to stop from being pulled and then as leverage as she pulled back again. She tugged with all her might until Vadik's body seemed to float to her. Turning to face the shore, she made a few quick strokes to make way to it. A short time later, she was able to pop her head out of the water and gasp for air.
Soon Derowynn was able to stand and be out of the water enough to breathe. She pulled Vadik to her so she could get his head out of the water. Once she did, she noticed he was unconscious. Tugging with all her might, she made her way to shore and reaching it, pulled Vadik out of the water collapsed next to him. Turning to him, she could see he was not breathing. Rolling to her side and making it to her knees, she checked him for breathing and hearing or feeling none, she did a few pumps on her chest like she had remembered from a CPR class some years back.
Doing some more compressions, she finally bent over him, tilting his head back and breathed into his mouth. She did this a couple more times when Vadik started to cough. Dero watched him as he coughed and spit up water. Satisfied he was now breathing on his own, she collapsed back to the ground out of exhaustion and laid there trying to catch her own breath and rest for a moment. Sitting up suddenly as she thought of the creatures, she scanned the water, but saw nothing. She laid back down and asked in a soft voice, "Are you ok? Ya gonna make it?"