Marvela Mystic | ✔️

Chapter 6 ✨ Up a Tree

Her rat patted her shoulder while Marvela trembled. "I don't get it. Why are they so mean?" the fluffed-up ball of black fur mewled to her familiar.

The white rat shook his head at her. "You're not living in a happy little fairytale forest anymore, Marv," he said flatly. "Some people are just jerks. These guys, for instance," Curious added, making a face at the still-barking dogs, "Are renowned in the Belowground for nipping off more than a few rats' tails." The rat held his own tail close to himself as the dogs continued to fight against their chains.

"Thievin' rats! Always taking our stuff!" yelled Knife.

"Yeah, we don't like rats around here! Get lost!" yelled Blade.

"Yeah, get lost!" echoed Knife.

"Yeah, what he said!" echoed Blade.

Her head spinning from all the raucous barking, Marvela glared at the bone across the yard. Her singed fur rippled. The stinging sensation drove her up the wall. If she couldn't even cure herself, then what kind of a witch was she?

She needed that bone.

She swished her tail. She was small, but she was fast. Surely, she could outrun the two monstrous dogs, snatch that bone, and race back to the safety of the fence with ease.

...Right?

Without another thought, the kitten threw herself down from the fence, ignoring the horrified exclamations from Curious. The dogs resumed barking at full force again, but she gritted her teeth and struggled to ignore them. She kept her eyes focused on the prized bone just a few mere yards in front of her. She was so close...

Heavy paw-steps thundered behind her. Hot breath beat against her tail-tip. With a yowl, she changed direction and shimmied up a nearby tree just as enormous jaws snapped shut a whisker's width behind her. The cracking sound of the dog's jaws reverberated against the side of the nearby shack.

Marvela's claws dug into the limb she clung to. Her fur painfully stood on end. And below, the two dogs circled the tree that sheltered her.

The kitten was trapped.

"Hello again, itty bitty kitty!" a raspy voice cawed from the branches above.

Marvela scowled. She recognized that voice. She tore her eyes away from the snappy dogs below her to search the branches that loomed above. That old scarecrow had been slacking on his job. A black crow sat perched amongst the tree's red leaves, beside herself with laughter at the kitten's plight.

Somehow the crow's laughter agitated her more than the dogs' incessant barking. "Branwenn!" the kitten hissed through bared fangs.

"Bird!" bellowed Knife as he circled the tree.

"We don't like birds!" bellowed Blade.

"Yeah, birds always trespass! Get lost, bird!"

"Yeah!"

Both dogs slammed their forepaws against the tree in an attempt to shake both cat and crow free. Marvela yowled as she felt herself slip. Now clinging to the branch with only her forepaws, she tried to summon her magic, but in her frantic state, it wouldn't answer. All she could do was hold on for dear life while toothy jaws cracked shut beneath her dangling tail.

Branwenn laughed in her raspy voice, unbothered by the dogs' attempts to shake the tree. She hopped down from her branch to perch beside Marvela's claws. "You know what's sadder than seeing a cat stuck in a tree?" she said, chuckling, to the struggling kitten. "Seeing a familiar without a witch. But that's what you get for serving a weak witch. Don't worry. Soon Vigilance will be full of witch-less familiars just like you and you won't feel so alone."