5. Chapter Five
Chapter Five
Nalina
I was used to being up late into the night, but this was just ridiculous.
I sat at my kitchen table surrounded by projects I should have been working on. My mug of tea had long gone cold, and my fingers were cramping from continuing to sketch.
Fades, he wanted this one . . . the one with the lowest V I’d designed, and it shouldn’t have mattered at all because he currently didn’t have a shirt covering his sculpted, perfect—
I sighed heavily and took a long swig of my tea, letting the watered-down room-temperature brew help clear up my thoughts. I was being ridiculous. He was a brutish, obnoxious orc! With a boorish grin, and narrowed eyes, and broad shoulders that were wide enough for me to curl up on . . .
My hands sketched without thought, working through the pattern I’d need to cut to get the shirt made. I couldn’t even guess what his measurements were. I’d need him to flex for me so I could make sure the shirt would fit even at the widest point . . .
I looked down at my sketch and almost groaned. I’d gotten lost in thought again and instead of drawing the pattern, I’d drawn him . With his square jaw and his teasing smile and his biceps flexed just so.
I jerked to turn the page, nearly ripping it in the process. This was the third time I’d drawn him instead of getting my work done, and at this point, I would never sleep again.
I got up from my table and wrenched open my kitchen cabinet, determined to distract myself with food. Inside were a few carrots that were half shriveled, a chunk of a loaf of stale bread, and a few almost empty jars of herbs for tea.
He was going to bring me food tomorrow morning, right? He wasn’t lying about that, was he? My stomach felt like a pit as I grabbed the bread and took a bite.
I really didn’t want to go to Headman Gerald again. Our leader was always willing to aid those in an unfortunate way, but it pricked my pride to ask for handouts.
My stomach grumbled happily as I swallowed. I sat back down, mind clear, and flipped through the pages of my sketchbook. Skirts and jackets and trousers. Designs that were quirky and fun, while others were sophisticated and regal.
I loved every one of them but had never made any. The folks of Oakwall were conservative and only dressed up for seasonal dances. Occasionally someone would want a new frock, but because I’d never actually made any formal wear, they always went to the seamstresses in town with experience.
And most of them didn’t have what I needed to trade for anyway. All the produce and grains were grown by the conjurer orcs, who used their magic to keep production up year-round. Only a few of my fellow villagers had room for garden patches, and those few were hesitant to trade away their hard-won crops.
I took another big bite of the bread and flipped to a crisp, blank page. Determined to finally get the pattern done.
It would have to be huge and would use so much fabric. The warrior orcs bodies were three times that of the conjurer orcs. I needed to adjust my pattern to fit him properly.
“The slope of the shoulder would have to be like this . . .” I murmured to myself as I sketched. He’d need ten buttons up the front . . . unless I lengthened the V neckline even more. Maybe I should trail it all the way down to his pant line . . .
Fades, blast it all! I’d drawn him again !
On a groan, I ate the last bite of bread, and my stomach felt deliciously full for the first time in a while. I rested my head down on my book and squeezed my eyes shut. I could do this. I just needed to rest for a couple of moments to clear my head.
A firm knock sounded at the door.
Surprise lifted me from my chair, and I snapped the book shut. I was quite accustomed to customers coming to my home during the day but at this time of eve? With the wind bellowing and the incoming winter freezing over the paths . . .?
My gaze went to the window and saw daylight .
Fades, have mercy. I’d fallen asleep!
Hendr was waiting for me!
Or . . . had he given up waiting?
My alarm was broken by another hard knock. Had Hendr got tired of waiting and come into the village? Fades, I hope no one had seen him! “C-coming.”
Without much thought at all, I threw open the door and was nearly knocked back on my ass in shock.
“Hello, Nalina,” Yevin said with a grim frown beneath his bushy, graying mustache. His burly hands were set tight on his teenage son, Rae’s, shoulders. The boy, who was more like a man now, was almost a head taller than his father and the cloak he wore didn’t quite go to the ground or close in the front.
Which gave me a generous view of his absolutely shredded shirt.
“My goodness, what happened to you?” I stepped aside to let them in. “Come out of the cold.”
“Not much warmer in here,” Rae grumbled, and it was then I realized that my fire had gone out. His father shot him a hard glower, and the boy murmured, “Sorry, ma’am.”
“Apologies for him,” Yevin said with a long sigh as he shut my door. “He’s just a bit surly after his mishap.”
“Quite a mishap indeed.” I eyed the remains of the shirt he wore. It had some patterned detailing on the hem that was ruined and a few pinkish blood stains, but his stomach looked fine. “Are you all right?”
“He’s fine. Got a healing tincture from the orcs in him.”
“Shouldn’t have wasted it.” Rae slung off the cloak he wore and threw it over one of my wooden chairs and I was able to see that nearly the whole shirt was torn up. It was a wonder it was still on his body. “I would have healed just fine.”
“Your stomach was covered in scratches, Rae. Of course we had to use it,” his father said, crossing his arms over his chest.
I understood both sides of this. The healing tinctures that the orcs created worked wonders but were incredibly expensive to trade for. A family was lucky to come by more than one or two a year. Unless it was a woman playing conquest. Then she could levy for as many tinctures as she wanted.
Rae grumbled something under his breath and turned toward my fireplace. “Can I get this started?”
“Of course, Rae. That would be great.” I moved off toward my stacks of shirts that were pre-made. Rae was exceedingly tall, though. I’d need to adjust one to fit his longer torso. “I assume you’re here to get a replacement shirt?”
“Pa?”
Rae’s worried tone had me turning back around and Yevin let out a long sigh. “Well . . . do you think you might be able to mend it?”
“Mend it?” I asked, taking a look at the shirt again. It really was in tatters. “I don’t know . . .”
“Please.” Rae stepped toward me and the pleading in his face made him look like a little boy again. Shaggy blond hair, pink cheeks . . . shimmering tears in his eyes. “You’re our last hope.”
My brows furrowed. “We already asked the other seamstresses, and they said it couldn’t be done,” Yevin said.
I chose not to linger on the truth that I’d been the last choice and instead focused on the fact that if I managed to fix this shirt, I would surely be their first choice in the future. “Well, take it off so I can see. Do you want something else to wear for the moment?”
“I’ll just sit by the fire.”
“He’s got more shirts at home. I keep telling him not to wear this one since it’s so special. Was the last one his mother embroidered before she passed last winter.”
My heart ached for the boy as his eyes grew mistier and he passed the shirt delicately to me. I know well what it was to lose someone and how hard it was when the few things that reminded you of them wore out. I still had my mother’s cracked and crumbling mug tucked away on the top shelf of my cupboard.
I laid the shirt down on my table. Luckily, all the pieces were still there, just torn, but the embroidered hem was a complete mess. I’d have to redo it almost entirely.
“It’s not going to come cheap,” I said firmly.
“But you can do it?” Rae’s voice was bright with joy.
I smiled at him. “Yes, I can do it.”
The boy whooped and his father was grinning ear to ear. I swear my whole cabin felt twenty times warmer. “I’ll give you all the candles you need for the winter. Three moons worth.”
My heart nearly stopped at such a generous offer. “A-are you serious?” Candle making might have been his business, but usually, a repair like this would only cost a half-moon worth of candles at most.
“Yes,” Yevin said with a firm nod. “No one else was willing to do it, and it means so much to us. You’re the Fades light itself for even making the attempt.”
My chest warmed even as my stomach twisted.
I didn’t need candles. Not really. I needed food .
Taking a deep breath, I said, “Do you think you could leave out a few hands of candles each moon and throw in some bread instead?”
The two looked between each other and my chest twisted in dismay as Yevin scratched the back of his neck. “Well . . . you see, Trinia hasn’t been trading us as much bread as before. Something about her pans getting nicked and not being able to cook as many loaves at once.”
Her pans were stolen? I was about to ask, but I supposed it really didn’t matter at the end. Fact was, they didn’t have extra bread to spare.
I looked into their pleading, worried faces. Rae was tense and wringing his hands. This shirt clearly meant a lot to him.
I just couldn’t deny them. “Just the candles will be fine, then.”
The delight of their beaming smiles made the grumbling of my stomach much easier to ignore.
“Fades, bless you, Nalina. Thank you.” Yevin sagged with relief.
“I’ll sing your praises to everyone who will listen from this moment on!” Rae burst with joy, and truly, that was worth almost as much as the candles.
“Thank you for that.” I carefully folded up the shirt. “How did this happen, anyway?”
“Fell into a bramble patch while we were out looking for poor Susara.”
I blinked and looked between their somber faces. “Susara, the shepherdess? She’s missing?”
“You haven’t heard?” Rae asked on a gasp. “I thought everyone knew how one of those bastard orc warriors had stolen her right out of her bedroom.”
My stomach dropped. “What? When? How ?”
“Snuck in last night right after dark,” Rae continued. “Snatched her right out of her own window while her father was home! He came to bid her goodnight and found her room ransacked, gown shredded on the ground, window open. There was a huge, ghastly footprint in the middle of her bed. An orc print.”
“Rae, we don’t know for sure that’s what happened,” Yevin said, though there was a tension in his voice that I found unsettling.
“It’s been all night, and she hasn’t been found yet. We only found her crook left behind on the path leading to Rove Wood Clan. Waston has been leading a search party around. We were with them until I fell down a slope into a blackberry patch.”
“They still haven’t found her?” My throat felt tight with worry for the woman.
“No,” Rae said. “Everyone is worried. Honestly, Waston might be right about this village. It might be time for us to leave the Rove Woods and settle somewhere new—”
“Rae,” his father said sharply. “Do not even think about it.”
“Why not?” Rae asked as he threw the too-small cloak around his bare torso. “Loads of other people are talking about it too, Pa.”
People were . . . talking about leaving the Rove Woods? The idea gave me chills. Our village had been cut off from the outside world for centuries.
“I said don’t even think it,” Yevin snapped. “I cannot believe you would want to leave our peaceful village and go out there where war is raging!”
“The war is coming here , Pa! They say more warriors are coming to settle in Rove Wood Clan.”
“Those are nothing but rumors.”
“Waston says they’re true!”
“Waston is a blithering fool ,” Yevin yelled so loudly that my heart jumped into my throat. It was then that he seemed to realize what he’d been doing and instantly turned to me. “I am so sorry, Nalina. We’ll go now.”
“It’s all right.” I breathed. Fades, I’d not known any of this. I’d been buried in my work so deeply that it smothered out everything happening outside these walls.
“Sorry,” Rae said as his father ushered him back out. “And thank you for fixing the shirt.”
The door slammed shut behind them, and I stood there, cold and reeling with everything they had just said. My mind buzzed with questions so loud I felt like I was vibrating.
And I knew who could answer all of them.
I snatched up my sketchbook, swung on my cloak, and headed out the door.
Hendr had some explaining to do.