Page 51 of The Orc Chief’s Baker (Orc Mates Of Faeda #4)

Chapter

Thirty-Nine

TRINIA

“ I ’m coming with you!” Trinia sprinted after Brovdir as he rushed through the clan. She was sweaty, out of breath, and completely determined.

He’d just told her there was a sinkhole at Oakwall. At her village . Her stomach twisted so hard she was afraid she would vomit.

“No,” Brovdir said over his shoulder. He didn’t speed up, though she could see from his expression that he regretted telling her. He probably wished he could have snuck out of the hall unnoticed.

“I’m coming!” She gulped air, refusing to slow even as her lungs screamed and panic gripped tight in her throat. “I’m coming whether you want me to or not and I swear if you try to stop me, I’ll?—”

Brovdir whirled around so fast dust and rocks sprayed out around him. He took her shoulders in his huge hands as he stared into her face. “Trinia, it’s not safe .”

“I know it’s not!” Tears flooded her eyes. “I know that. But I can’t sit here wondering and hoping and... please. I need to come with you.”

Brovdir swallowed, and then looked up at the path. Sythcol had already run ahead and disappeared into the forest. There were no other orcs around. Just empty homes and an icy wind.

He picked her up in his arms and began to sprint.

“Thank you,” Trinia managed as she clung to him. “Thank you, Brovdir.”

The trip took too long. It felt like a lifetime. The crisp scent of the forest mingled with Brovdir’s spice as she buried her head in his shoulder. The roaring of the wind in her ears grew louder with every passing breath.

And then, they finally came upon the sinkhole and she realized it wasn’t the wind that was roaring.

“Fades,” Brovdir breathed as he held her a little tighter. She couldn’t even get out words.

Before them was a massive, churning pool of muck and debris. It bubbled like it was boiling from beneath. The whole grange hall and yard could fit inside it and with every moment it chipped away at the edges, swallowing up bushes and ground.

On the opposite end, through only one layer of trees, she could see the massive wall of oaks that protected her village.

And the churning depths grew larger by the moment.

“Ogvick!” Sythcol called to a warrior orc Trinia had only just noticed. The warrior ran over, giving the roaring sinkhole a wide berth. “How fast is it growing?”

As if on cue, one of the pine trees at the edge groaned and tipped as the ground beneath it was swept away in the current. It disappeared beneath the water’s surface, sucked into the unknown.

It was swallowing everything up!

Brovdir snatched her up by the waist and yanked her back, even though she was nowhere near the edge. “I’m fine!”

“Not safe!” he nearly roared. “Ogvick! Report!”

The male straightened. “It only started a few moments ago, but it’s gotten huge .”

“Send a message to my conjurers!” Sythcol demanded and the warrior pulled a paper from his leather pants. “Call them here now . We have to try to stop it!”

Was there even time for that? With every breath, the hole grew wider and closer to the wall. Toward houses ! Toward?—

Trinia’s eyes locked on the wide, spiraling trunk of a huge willow tree on currently stable ground to the left of the sinkhole. Its branches stretched high all the way up and over the wall of oaks. It was a tree that every person in her village would instantly recognize.

“The schoolhouse is right on the other side! The willow!” She pointed to the tree. “That willow shades the schoolyard!”

“Fades mercy!” Sythcol bolted toward the sinkhole, getting so close that the edge around his feet began to crumble, but instead of backing off, he extended his hands toward it. “Ogvick, you need to get my conjurers here now .”

“There isn’t enough time!” Trinia yelled.

The roots of the oaks jutted out into the water like bone stripped of its meat.

The ground chipped away under the wall and toward the willow.

She could hear the trees groaning as their support weakened.

“We have to warn the villagers. We have to get the children out of the schoolhouse!”

“I’ll send a message to Headman Gerald!” Ogvick cried.

Sythcol burst out of his concentration and rounded on the warrior. “ No ! I can fix this!”

“We have to!” The young warrior’s eyes darted between them and his hands trembled as they pulled a piece of parchment from his pants pocket. “There are children !”

“He’s right!” Brovdir shouted. “We must!”

Sythcol scowled. “Do not disobey me! I will stop it!” He reached into the sleeve of his robe and pulled out a slender brown vial the length of his palm.

Ogvick’s face went pale. “Chief Sythcol, no !”

“This doesn’t concern you!” Sythcol snapped as he uncorked the top.

“Brovdir! He can’t!” Ogvick said. “It’s killing him!”

Brovdir sucked in a hard breath, and he advanced on Sythcol.

“It’s only to increase my magic! Without it, there is no hope of stopping this sinkhole!” Sythcol uncorked the vial and downed its contents with one gulp.

“Fuck!” Ogvick stepped back, eyes wide and aghast. Brovdir’s complexion had gone pale. Trinia could not see magic as they could, but she knew what they saw must have been a horror.

Sythcol turned to the sinkhole undaunted and thrust his arms down toward the crashing waves of water. It was shooting out of one side and spiraling into a hole on the other. The cavern sucked in everything it could: dirt, bushes, entire trees?—

The wall ? —

Sythcol let out a cry so sharp it sounded over the roaring of the water. His back bowed, his fingers contorted. It was a wonder they didn’t break.

And then he collapsed down to his hands and knees. He fisted the dirt, heaving for air. His eyes were huge, his face pale. He shook like he’d seen a ghost.

“I can’t... I can’t bend him,” he breathed.

Him?

“Ogvick. Send the warning to Oakwall now!” Brovdir demanded, and Ogvick had a bird before Trinia could blink.

“I can’t stop it!” The panic in Sythcol’s voice was so shrill that Trinia shuddered from the top of her head down to her toes. “I can’t! It’s too powerful. It broke my—” Sythcol looked down at his shaking, blackened hands. His fingers were twitching and seemed to be out of his control.

“We could tie the willow to the wall!” Ogvick said as he released the bird. The robin darted off through the trees, taking Trinia’s hope with it. “Hold it up that way!”

“No!” Brovdir said. “The willow is going to go too!”

And it was. The sinkhole was chipping away beneath it already.

“We must do something !” Trinia’s throat was choked from her panic. “What if Headman Gerald doesn’t get the message in time? What if they haven’t noticed the wall is tipping yet?”

The thundering crash of the land being ripped away raged on. The roots of the wall were fully visible. The tops of the trees were shuddering, buckling.

Tipping toward the town.

“Ogvick, run down to a stable point, climb over the wall, and evacuate them!” Brovdir ordered.

Ogvick sprinted off into the trees.

There was another tremendous crash as more of the land was sucked away. The frothing brown water roared as it spiraled into the deep.

“I’ll try again!” Sythcol said. “If I could just plug the tunnel.”

Brovdir inhaled sharply and Trinia turned to find him yanking a scrap of paper out of his waistband. He pricked his thumb with his claw and scrawled a note in blood.

“What are you doing? What are you writing?” Trinia said, craning her neck to see. “You... you’re calling on Elder Plog for aid? What? Why?”

Brovdir whistled, and a bird swooped down, snatched the note from his outstretched palm and disappeared into the trees.

“I don’t understand! What are you doing ?”

Brovdir turned to her and gripped her shoulders tight in his hands. The warm, heavy weight grounded her and the steadfast determination in his face helped her breathe. He took a long inhale through his nose, and she copied him, filling her lungs, exhaling with him.

The panic eased.

A tremendous boom sounded, and they both jumped and spun around.

A huge stretch of ground beneath the wall had been swept away.

The wall rippled and leaned.

“I must tie the branches of the willow to the wall.” Brovdir gripped her shoulders again. “I must.”

She knew he did. She knew he had to try, even though it seemed impossible.

Her eyes flooded, and she wanted to start wailing and never stop.

“Stay here,” Brovdir ordered. “Stay here... my love.”

Her stomach flipped over, and her eyes widened. Her blood heated up in her veins.

“I love you too .”

Joy flooded his features, and he pressed a hard, fast kiss to her lips.

“Come back to me!” she demanded as tears began to course down her cheeks. He paused only briefly to brush one with his thumb.

And then he was gone.