Page 131 of The Orc Chief's Baker
“She’sfine, Chief Brovdir!” Elder Plog said. “Nowrelax! 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 atreein 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 withrelief.
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.”
