Unlike Cole, nothing of Auberon’s clothes remained. The flesh had been stripped from most of his body, but some remained on his upper thighs and ass. Glimpses of bone peeked through the bloody remains of Auberon’s legs.
Cole swallowed the sand still clogging his mouth as Auberon lifted his head from the lake. Water poured down his face and washed away the sand. Had he denied himself when he could be slurping down water like this kid?
Resting his hand against the cool rocks, Cole drew on the shadows and used them to cloak himself as he slipped from the shelter. Auberon dipped his hands into the water again, but he didn’t bring the liquid to his mouth this time.
Instead, he froze as a shake started in his hands and ran into his arms before racking the rest of his lean frame. Cole frowned as he tried to understand what was happening. Had the kid consumed too much water too fast after not getting any for so long and was having convulsions?
And then, Auberon began to scream—or, at least, Cole assumed it was a scream. The sounds issuing from him were unlike anything Cole ever heard before, and he’d fought in the war. He’d seen the dying, listened to their screams, and done things he’d never believed himself capable of doing, but he’d never heard anything like this.
It was a gurgled, shrill, shrieking sound that brought to mind a bird being plucked of its feathers while the poor creature was still alive. Auberon jerked as he held his hands up before him.
Beneath the glow of the moon that rose while Cole slept, the water glistened on the tips of Auberon’s bony fingers and slid down his arms. Cole didn’t understand what was wrong until bubbles started foaming on the ends of those figures.
Like a sandcastle crumbling beneath the incoming tide, Auberon’s fingers started dissolving at the fingertips. After the tips were gone, the first knuckles crumpled and then onward down to his second knuckles.
With what remained of his fingers, Auberon started clawing at his throat. The skin peeled back from his mouth, and bloody bubbles pooled from his lips before spilling down his chin.
Acid, Cole realized.The water contains acid.
And not just any acid, but an acid that ate whoever consumed it. Disgust and fury churned in Cole’s gut as he watched Auberon melting like he was the wicked witch someone threw water on. He wanted to look away; he didn’t.
He could never report the exact details of what happened here, but later, when he told Durin of his son’s death, he would make sure the man knew his son suffered a horrible fate. He wasn’t sure it would matter to Durin, but it mattered to him.
He watched until all that remained of Auberon was a foaming pile of loose bubbles sliding toward the water. Oh yes, Durin would suffer for his cowardice more than his son, as would Alston for volunteering Eoghan for this.
First he had to figure out a way around the lake, and he didn’t think that would be as easy as taking a stroll around it. He suspected he would find no end to this lake.
Keeping himself cloaked in the shadows, Cole walked to the edge of the lake. If Aelfdane was nearby, he might sense his presence, but he wouldn’t see him.
A more powerful dark fae than him would see him, but Aelfdane was not more powerful, and Cole didn’t see or sense him anywhere nearby.
Maybe the sand had taken care of Aelfdane, or perhaps he was ahead of Cole in the trials. Either way, Cole had to figure out how to cross the lake without becoming the Wicked Witch of the West.
Kneeling at the shore, he ignored Auberon’s puddle of remains still seeping toward the water as he studied the pristine surface. He crept his fingertips toward the water but kept them away from the deadly liquid. He didn’t know how much it would take to turn him into a puddle, and he wasn’t taking the chance.
Cole concentrated on the water as he drew on the strength thrumming through his veins. The rocks vibrated beneath his fingers as he focused his power on the water. As the vibrations grew stronger, they created ripples across the lake’s smooth surface.
He’d just woken, but he was still exhausted. And it was a bone-deep exhaustion that would take weeks of sleep to eradicate. He was also starving and needed to feed, but this land would never provide him the opportunity to do so.
Despite those growing weaknesses, he shoved his power forward and seized control of the water. The ripples on its surface intensified as he took control over it and started to push it apart. A lightning bolt crack zigzagged across the water’s surface until it vanished.
Lifting his hands, he placed the backs of them against each other before pushing them apart. The crack widened, and the water peeled back until two walls rose twenty feet into the air on each side of him.
His muscles quivered as the water exerted its force against him, but it held firm… for now.
He had no idea how far he’d have to go until he reached the other side of the lake. He’d have to move fast as he also didn’t know how long he could keep the water apart.
Rising, Cole stepped onto the damp rocks lining the bottom of the lake. He could only hope that dampness wasn’t enough to dissolve him as there was no way he could keep the water parted long enough for the rocks to dry.
Keeping his hands out at his sides, Cole sprinted across the stones. As he ran, the water crashed down behind him, but he moved fast enough that it didn’t touch him.
He had to block the pathway behind him; he couldn’t take the chance that Aelfdane would follow him through here. If Aelfdane lived, he would have to find his own way across the lake.
Ahead of him, the walls of water trembled as the weight of them tested his strength. His feet slapped against the rocks as he ran and ran and ran. The bottoms of his feet burned, and Cole suspected he was losing some of his newly formed flesh, but he wasn’t starting to melt away onto the rocks, so he took that as a good sign.
As the minutes stretched into what felt like hours, he was beginning to think there wasn’t an end and, eventually, the water would win, but then a wavering light rose out of the darkness ahead of him.
Reinvigorated by that light, Cole poured on the speed as the crashing water cut off all chance of an escape behind him.
