Cutting Room Floor Part One

In honor (belatedly) of Hutra’s first “birthday,” which was on February 20, 2023, I will use the next few posts to share scenes cut from this fantasy novel.

I mentioned in an earlier post that Hutra originally clocked in at around 100,000 words. To be more in keeping with the genre, I slashed almost 40,000 words. It might seem impossible to jettison that many words from a book and still have it make sense. It can be done. Of course, that means removing favorite passages.

My first “cutting room floor” passage comes from the novel’s beginning, where I introduce the character Nor for the first time. In the published version, I probably pared down the scene below to about one sentence. Even then, it didn’t show up until mid-way through the story.

Here we go. Hutra Cutting Room Floor (Part One).

Portals shimmer, portals glow
In the sky they always go.
Nine and twenty days and then
See the portals rise again.
If you step inside, you’ll be
Lost for all eternity.
A child’s rhyme from the Reserve

Lesser Norved Nommis celebrated his fifteenth birthday by creeping through Elder Belack’s woods toward the portal site in Sector Eight. As a rule, sons of lords rarely skulked about on private property, but how else could he witness a portal rising?

Never mind that only Portal Authority members were permitted in the area on Rising Day. And never mind that Elder Belack had threatened to sic a pack of hounds on Nor if he caught him trespassing again.

As promised, three hounds charged just as Nor crouched behind a pine tree on the southern edge of the landowner’s narrow strip of woods. Soon, two snuffled lovingly at Nor’s ankles while the third licked his right hand. The old man must have forgotten about Nor’s animal communication abilities. If the Guild got wind that he’d used his aura to pacify guard animals, he’d be sent before the Ethics Board.

But it was his birthday.

After a short wait, a one-horse cart entered the bottom of the open field beyond the tree line. The male driver, dressed in a blue, one-piece Portal Authority uniform, stopped his cart on the plateau of a small incline.

The agent, not much older than Nor, removed a collection of red and white striped planks from his cart. Working quickly, he constructed the pieces into eight trestles and positioned them around a circle of scorched ground. He stood back as if admiring his work.

Nor gaped from the portal agent to the temporary barricade. How could those meager trestles protect Reserve residents from a rising portal? The agent leaned against his cart and began to key into his communications device. He didn’t even scan the woods for suspicious characters that might be hiding behind trees. While that was good for Nor, it didn’t seem safe for the general population.

The agent frowned briefly at his com, then typed furiously with his thumbs. He muttered to himself and forcefully logged off. The agent shoved it into his pocket and, with jaw set, climbed into his cart. He snapped the reins, forcing a gallop from his horse. The wheels bounced over the uneven ground as he raced away.

Nor stood frozen, eyes bulging. Was this the normal procedure? What stopped anyone from vaulting the barricade and diving into the portal? The fact that no one who entered a portal ever came back acted as a better deterrent than the meager barricades. At least, that’s how Nor saw it.

Time ticked by with no change to the charred circle of ground. The area lay still as the afternoon air. Even the hounds lost interest and bounded away. Just as he, too, was about to give up the wait, a hissing, crackling sound reached his ears. He jumped to attention and edged to the front of the tree again.

The noise grew louder, followed by an overheated smell. The odor reminded him of when his father’s sanctioned generator needed repair.

Swirling sparks slowly rose from beneath the ground in the shape of a wide cylinder. It slowly continued to rise. Nor stood mesmerized by the sparkling display.

“Give it back, you little troll!” a girl’s shrill voice shouted from below the portal site.

The voice belonged to fourteen-year-old Tenna, Lord Maz’s eldest heir. Her family’s property abutted the section of unoccupied land that held the portal site.

Nor slid deeper between the tree branches, relieved not to be the victim of Tenna’s bossiness. Master Kinny, her six-year-old brother, bolted from a copse of trees. A red-faced Tenna, skirts hiked above her shins, charged after him.

“I said give it back!”

Kinny laughed and ran away as fast as his little legs would allow. Each chubby hand clasped a black ballroom slipper. He glanced over his shoulder at his sister, gaining.

When the boy veered toward the portal, Tenna skidded to a stop. “No! We’re not allowed to go there.”

The child glanced over his shoulder at her. He slowed to a walk but still moved toward the portal. He grinned mischievously and took another step toward the sizzling column that had now risen above his head.

“If Mama finds out, she’ll thrash you.”

“I just want to listen. Cam said there’s a kitty in there.”

Nor appraised the portal. In the time he’d been spying, he’d heard only static.

“Cam is a cobbler’s son,” Tenna said in a tone that implied cobbler’s sons couldn’t possibly be experts on portals. “You’d better come away from there before the Portal Authority arrests you. They’re probably watching you right now.”

The little boy’s head turned right to left. “Nobody’s here.”

“Someone should be.”

Nor raised an eyebrow. Had the agent abandoned protocol as well as his post?

Kinny inched closer to the trestles. “I’m allowed to touch this fence.”

Tenna huffed. “Who told you that? Cam? I’m counting to three. If you don’t come away from there, I’ll tell Mama and Papa. One … two …”

“Wait. I really do hear something inside.”

Kinny took only one more step when an invisible force wrenched him between the barricades and into the shimmering portal.

Nor blinked. It had to be a trick of the eye. Except now, Kinny’s frozen image, in deep blue silhouette, hovered inside the rising column. Movement from below pulled his gaze toward Tenna. She slowly backed away, then turned and bolted to the line of trees at the edge of her property.