WORKING WITH A SMALL CAST IS SO REWARDING!
Posted on May 15, 2019
Arcana Creek is proving to be so much fun to write. It's refreshing to only deal with a limited cast. I'm up to chapter 4 and so far its just Max, his grandmother, a naiad, a young fox, and a vicious white cat. Here's an unedited excerpt from Chapter 4 of the face-off between the kit and the cat.
And Chapter 5 will be awesome to write tomorrow. It's called: Not So Still Waters Run Deep.
Suddenly, the cat bounded down the deck stairs and charged at the fox. It leapt at the kit, nearly knocking it into the creek with its forceful impact.
The fox sprang to the side at the last moment, and its attacker rammed it hard in the lower jaw, sending the kit spinning.
The cat's momentum sent it toward the creek. The feline squawked in protest and twisted and scrambled to halt its plunge. It skittered across the loose rocks lining that side of the creek and landed on its back in a slick stretch of mud. It rolled onto all fours and hissed at the indignity of the discoloration.
Max guess its magical force field from earlier was no longer operational.
It wiggled its hindquarters hard, sending mud flying. But that action only removed half at best. It eyed the mud caking its tail and all four legs with contempt. It snapped to attention and resumed the hunt, almost as if some outside influence had issued a scolding for fretting over a little mud and ordered the cat to continue its offensive. It stiffened and shook its head before slinking toward the fox.
The cat didn't creep across the wet grass for long. It sprang atop the fox, raking its front claws across the small animals' white chest. Slashes of blood appeared immediately, and the fox yelped and scrambled up the embankment. The feline pursued its prey, attempting to latch onto the kit's long red tail.
"Stop that!" Max yelled.
The fox froze and stared at him. The cat paid Max no heed and dove atop its prey, batting at its large ears with formidable claws. The fox twisted free, this time expending much more effort. It hopped two steps higher on the bank. The cat crouched and stalked right in a wide loop.
This spurred the fox to sidestep toward the short grass of the neighbor's yard as it sent panicked looks at it attacker and one or two at Max. Although, those desperate glances directed at him appeared more of the do-something-foolish-human variety.
It dawned on Max what the cat was doing. It was herding the animal away from the unsteady terrain of the creek bank, clear of the loose stones and soft mud of the slope.
Max didn't want to see the fox injured further. And he certainly didn't want to see the vile cat take the kit's life. He slapped at his thighs and started whooping and hollering at the pair.