Barinthus coughed. He was panicking now, darkness clouding the edge of his vision. He splashed at the surface, legs instinctively flailing for the seafloor that wasn't there. He tried to breathe, but only a thin whistling sound answered him when he tried. He was choking.
He'd been eating a fish like normal, but things hadn't gone normally after that. He had eaten a little too fast, not paid as much attention as he usually did. He'd swallowed one fish without chewing enough and the spines of the fish had lodged in his throat. That was their nature, of course. A living fish would do anything it could to avoid being swallowed. This one was solidly dead, but the defenses of its body still survived.
He tossed his head back and forth, trying to dislodge the chunk of meat and spines. It didn't help. Every breathless moment made him less rational, less aware. Part of his mind knew that he could easily die out here. If he lost consciousness then he was going to drown for certain. He might be able to survive passing out on land due to something like this... but not in the water. The ocean was unforgiving.
