Page 53 of The Orc Chief’s Baker (Orc Mates Of Faeda #4)

Chapter

Forty-One

TRINIA

S ythcol was dead weight and his feet were already dipping into the sinkhole.

He’d used the last of his energy to save Brovdir! She couldn’t let him die !

But he was so heavy, and the sinkhole was right there .

“TRINIA!”

Brovdir’s agonized cry tore through her and gave her the strength she needed.

She could not die here. She couldn’t leave him now.

She hoisted Sythcol under the arms and used her full weight to pull him.

She slipped in the muck. Her leg sunk into the mud all the way to her knee. The water rose and she couldn’t get out. The wall was still buckling and swaying with Brovdir clinging for dear life right above.

One wrong move and he would fall.

One wrong step and she would slip.

They would both be sucked in.

“It’s here, Elder!”

Trinia gasped in shock as a group of young orc sons burst out of the tree line.

They ran right for the sinkhole.

“Wait!” Trinia cried as the children got far too close. “Stop! It’s dangerous!”

Another group emerged, led by Elder Plog. “It’s here! Bring the boar!”

The what?

More boys appeared ahead, clearing the path, ripping out bushes, moving aside debris.

“Over here! This is the best spot!” One of the younger sons cried from a precarious position on some rocks right at the edge of the sinkhole.

“Get away from there!” she cried.

“Nice work, boys, but she’s right! Come on down!” the elder agreed and the boys instantly ran to safety. Plog looked around. “Niloc! Ulid! Get her and Sythcol away from that edge before they get sucked into the drink! The rest of you, hook onto the wall!”

Hook onto the?—

“Don’t get close! It’s too dangerous!” she broke off, eyes wide, as the boys stopped a safe distance away. Their arms outstretched; their feet were braced.

They were going to hook into the wall with their magic.

Just then, another group appeared out of the trees. The older boys.

They carried the massive bolder.

“Good show, boys! Right up that way! Quickly, quickly!” The elder guided as the boys struggled to heft the enormous thing.

It was only after looking closely that Trinia realized their hands weren’t touching the rock.

They were using magic too. The task was still arduous.

Their jaws were tight with the exertion. Sweat covered their faces.

But they were grinning from ear to ear!

“W-what is going on?” Trinia gasped as the two boys that had been told to help her appeared at her side.

“Chief Brovdir called us to help,” Ulid said. “We should get Chief Sythcol out of here first. He’s out cold.”

“That’s what he gets for never sleeping. Catches up with you at the worst time.”

They dragged the conjurer out of the frothing sinkhole, and Trinia breathed a great sigh of relief. Her arms ached and trembled from the effort of holding him for so long.

The boys lifted the unconscious conjurer by his arms and legs and carted him off toward the safety of the forest. They made it look so effortless.

“TRINIA!”

Brovdir’s loud bellow reminded her she was a hair’s breadth away from the edge of the sinkhole. It was churning and swirling and still eating away at the ground.

But she was still stuck. She couldn’t pull her leg free.

“She’s fine , Chief Brovdir!” Elder Plog said. “Now relax ! Boys, this way! You’ve got it!”

Trinia watched with wide eyes as the young orcs positioned themselves right above the frothing whirlpool.

“Hold that boar butt steady!” the elder called. “Line it up proper!”

Boar butt? What was he?—?

Her eyes went huge with realization.

“I think we’ve got it!”

“No, a little more this way!”

“Yes, that’s better. There’s the hole.”

The elder had come up with this crazy plan all along. To plug up the holes with boar.

But not boar. Boulders.

“Is that a tree in there?”

“There is! Elder, there’s a tree in it already!”

“That’s fine! Less to plug for you. Do you have a good spot?”

“Yes, elder, we have it.”

“Count of three then!” the elder cried. “One, two, throw !”

Her heart was in her throat as a tremendous splash broke. It fell beneath the surface of the churning water. She held her breath and waited. Waited.

A silence descended as everyone forgot to breathe.

And then the water stopped churning.

Cheering erupted all around her.

“It really worked!”

“I can’t believe it!”

“We fixed it!”

They fixed it.

“Haha! I knew it!” the elder cried with a bellow of a laugh. “Thanks to the Fades!”

Trinia’s throat went tight, her vision blurred, and her whole body sagged with relief.

He had, hadn’t he? The elder had known this whole time through communing. The Fades had told him to dig. And they’d dug up exactly what they’d needed to fix this sinkhole.

The elder snapped his gaze to Brovdir who was still clinging on to the nearly toppled wall. “Come along, boys! We need to get that wall righted. Chief, you just stay put and look pretty. Not that it’s so hard for you.”

Brovdir’s disgruntled huff had a smile stretching her lips despite everything.

“Trinia,” he called, and her chest swelled with relief. “I’m coming.”

“No, you are not!” the elder said. “Can’t you see these boys struggling to hold the wall still? You can’t be wiggling about all over like a spider in honey or they’ll lose their hold and splat the village.”

Trinia’s stomach twisted at the harsh reminder that the schoolhouse was on the other side. “What about the evacuation? And Ogvick?”

“They’re fine,” Brovdir said. “I can hear them. Evacuation is ongoing.”

Trinia exhaled again just as the two boys that had saved Sythcol reappeared from the woods and ran over to her. How far away did they take him?

“Fades have mercy, you really got this stuck in there!” Ulid, a slender nine-year-old with a cheery disposition, kneeled at her side. He started digging at the ground around her stuck leg with his slender pale green hands.

“Should we just chop it?” Niloc, a much larger boy of the same age, asked.

“No, you idiot! Humans like their legs attached!”

“You’re the idiot! I meant chop with our magic ! At the ground !”

“Just say that then!”

“Now, boys, don’t bicker or our good chief might give you a wallop!” Elder Plog chided her wayward rescuers.

“Chief Brovdir wouldn’t wallop a flea,” Niloc muttered, and Trinia huffed out a shocked laugh.

Brovdir had led a life of brutal fighting and turmoil, only to enter Rove Wood Clan and become known as the chief who wouldn’t wallop a flea.

The elder turned back to the group of nearly thirty orc sons who were now all braced to pull the wall back into place. “Remember what I taught you. Lean into the Fades light. Use their magic to fuel your intention.”

The look of concentration on the boys’ faces was adorable.

They’d done it.

They’d stopped the sinkhole.

And now they were going to right the wall.

Everything would be okay!

Niloc tugged at her leg, and she let out a hiss as pain bloomed sharply in her ankle.

“Trinia!”

She snapped her gaze to where Brovdir was now trying to edge his way down from the wall.

“Chief Brovdir, stop moving! ” the elder demanded. “I told you to just sit still. You need to be patient and wait until we’re completely done!”

“Then stop hurting her!”

“I’m fine , Brovdir,” she insisted. Though, truly, the only thing she wanted was for Brovdir to come down and sweep her off her feet.

She really did love him, didn’t she?

Brovdir grumbled with irritation but settled back down.

“Now, on my count, boys. One, two, heave !”

Trinia watched in awe as the group of boys, with beaded brows and trembling muscles, heaved the wall forward.

Way too hard.

The wall snapped upright in an instant and Brovdir was launched off it like a shot! He flew through the air and landed right in the sinkhole.

“Brovdir!” Trinia cried, but he burst up from the surface immediately.

“Well, that’s one way to get off the wall!” the elder said with a laugh. Most of the boys were laughing too. The mirth forced Trinia to relax, but she still wanted Brovdir out of that water as soon as possible. What if the boulder dislodged, and he was sucked inside?

He made it to the edge and came straight for her. He was back on solid ground and all right.

She wanted to cry with relief.

“Trinia.” He kneeled next to her, pressed his soaking wet forehead to hers. “You are well?”

“Yes,” she managed as tears of relief soaked her cheeks. “Yes, I’m fine.”

His thumbs brushed them, only to leave more moisture behind than was already there. He looked down at himself as if he’d only realized he was soaked. She didn’t care. She was just so glad he was with her.

But he stepped back again, moving off a fair distance.

And then he shook like a wet dog.

Trinia slapped a hand over her mouth, but it couldn’t stop her laughter. Biscuits and jam, this male was just like a puppy.

Her puppy.

He came back to her side and turned his attention to her stuck foot. She cupped his face instead. “What am I going to do with you?”

“Stay with me.” His voice was rough and quiet.

“And love you,” she said breathlessly. “I love you, Brovdir.”

His expression melted, and he leaned in to kiss her.

“What in all blast has happened here?”

Trinia’s heart jumped right up into her throat.

Headman Gerald had arrived.