Page 127 of The Orc Chief's Baker
“Send a message to my conjurers!” Sythcol demanded and the warrior pulled a paper from his leather pants. “Call them herenow. We have to try to stop it!”
Was there eventimefor that? With every breath, the hole grew wider and closer to the wall. Towardhouses! 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 herenow.”
“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 arechildren!”
“He’s right!” Brovdir shouted. “We must!”
Sythcol scowled. “Donotdisobey me! Iwillstop 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?—
Thewall?—
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 downat 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 dosomething!” 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.
