The sudden plunge downards elicited a sharp scream from the archmage, which provided some unfortunate timing once she hit the odd liquid, forcing some into her already open mouth. This is met with sputtering and coughing as she retched, trying to remove the terrible taste, to the point where she is dry heaving.
Once she notices her surroundings a little more, this is met with more dry heaving accompanied by crying. She wasn't afraid to cry right now (there was no one around to see regardless) and frankly, could not help it: death, corpses, these were all things she had deep fear of.
It isn't until she realizes that she's on the verge of drowning does she begin to push herself, flailing at first to stay afloat before forcing herself to take stronger, more controlled strokes. Swimming was a prerequisite skill for a major in water magic at Gunnir, thankfully.
From there, the older woman swam north, eager to find some escape from the corpses.