[SWP] between the waves

In every respect, the ungainly technique of an equid treading water was one that both looked and felt  horribly unnatural - not to mention the art of breathing in a realm where lung-quenching oxygen seemed not really to exist. Valkyrie was feeling the strain of her misplacement as the monster hovering by the floating light-source, began to turn around. It dawned on her in those painfully slow seconds, that her endeavour to follow it so far beyond the safety of the land, had been a very foolish feat indeed. Swallowing hard (and surprised still that her lungs were yet to be inundated by the sour, burning salt of the sea), her stinging eyes found amid his grotesquely-piled pieces and parts, the shining eyes which seemed to echo the mystery in the depths that surrounded her. A voice resonated within her mind, taking her completely by surprise. Like a fish out of water she tossed and turned hopelessly on the spot, trying to work out the source of the words (clearly his mouth had not moved), swivelling with all of an earthworms grace and coordination; at least, she thought vainly, my hair looks lovely… It twirled and flowed about her like  white, satin ribbons in the wind, and distracted there briefly by her own undeniable loveliness, the ghostly pale horse continued around even after the voice had well and truly ebbed from her mind. Soon she grew tired, muscles that were unused to the stroke down here required began to moan and sting, and she heeded their protest with a sudden state of stillness. Where was the monster? Valkyrie’s lean throat twisted around and she spotted the murky silhouette of the stranger slipping away through the darkness behind her. It appeared to her uninformed eye (for, it was not a strength of hers to listen), that he was leaving - swimming back the way they had come - and recalling the second horse which had accompanied the journey, she glanced with some concern around the vast coral structures that had fallen back beneath shadow. It was too bad… galloping along the seabed at the rate of a striving snail, the Shieldmaiden in training, pursued the monster back to land.