Elven Chaos (Bathed in Dragon's Blood Book 2) by Al K. Line

Author:Al K. Line [Line, Al K.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-06-18T16:00:00+00:00

CONFUSING TIMES

My eyes had acclimatized to the water now, but vision remained somewhat blurry. Nevertheless, I searched and searched, running my hands along the lake bed, sifting through the fine silt. The only problem being, it clouded the water, making it harder to see and causing more problems for us. To my left and right the others were doing the same, while Nava paddled around, checking if the brooch might be floating.

Soon, a wide swathe of the lake became murky, with silt glinting as the sun's rays refracted. I found nothing but pebbles. Within seconds, my heart began to hammer and my head grew fuzzy as pain crept into my bones as though the marrow was being gnawed. I lost track of what I was meant to be doing and took a deep breath, forgetting I was underwater. Coughing as I broke the surface, I splashed my way to the shallows, utterly uncoordinated.

Panicked, I scrambled to the shore and staggered out to find the others emerging, gasping for breath and mumbling incoherently. Shi's face was bright red, Charles was the opposite, looking like he'd seen a ghost. Maybe he had.

Tali eased forward cautiously, mindful of the water, seemingly unable to bring herself to even get her feet wet. Maybe she feared osmosis. Was it possible it even worked like that for her kind? Or was this my mind playing tricks on me?

The closer I got to her, the less pain I suffered and the easier thinking became until I collapsed by her side, gasping for air as my lungs burned. The others joined me soon after, and we lay there, already exhausted, with nothing to show for our efforts.

Nobody spoke, and minutes later we stood, nodded to one another, and tried again.

This time I swam out as far as I approximated we'd been when we arrived, then dove to the lake bed where the water remained relatively clear. I was in trouble almost instantly, unable to cope with the distance from Tali. The ringing in my ears became a thundering crescendo, unbearable as bodily functions began to shut down, once more preparing for death. Ignoring the growing pain and rising panic at being unable to breathe underwater, I searched and searched, more frantic and exasperated moment after terrifying moment.

I shoved off with my feet and sucked in air once I surfaced, then floated on my back and kicked with my feet until I made it to the shallows. Reluctantly, I flipped over, got my footing, and waded ashore before collapsing beside the others who had already returned.

"Anyone got it?" I asked, coughing, then purging the sweet water that had got into my lungs.

"Nope," spluttered Shi.

"Nava, you okay?"

"Can't go again for a while. I'm sick as a dog," he panted, grinning miserably.

"You rest up. It's taking more out of you because you're smaller. Where do we look now? Have we covered the area we swam from?"

"We need to check there," said Charles, pointing south-west. "There is a very subtle flow to the lake where it runs towards the populated area, so the brooch might have been carried that way.

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