Dust it Off Blog Hop--Day 2

Theresa Paolo and Courtney Pearson are hosting this blogfest. Here is the idea:

We've all had those manuscripts that we poured our heart into, fell in love with the characters and still think of them at random, but unfortunately had to shelf. Now it's time for a little spring cleaning. Take out those manuscripts and Dust It Off!

Second Day, May 5th: Post your favorite excerpt from Ol' Shelvy. 300-350 word limit. ;)

From my Nanowrimo 2009 WIP--Draguman. (Note: This takes place in Sendek's ancient past, thus 3 moons and 2 suns adorn the skies. I have to admit that as I read through what I had written I was pleasantly surprised. There is a lot of work to do, but there were lots of nice scenes. Because of the word limit, I decided to share two snippets from the first five pages. Elvin is 14 and thus it sounds a bit MG although the book is not.)

It was just as beautiful in the moons’ light as it was in the suns’ light. He placed his hands on the sides of the egg and let the warmth flow through his fingers. Concentrating on the life energy he could feel coming through the hard shell, he let his mind drift until he could almost see it. He focused his thoughts into the shell searching for the brightest spark of life. Elvin wasn’t sure if that spark was the brain or heart, but he knew that if he could find that place he would be able to form a connection with the creature growing inside.

When he found the brightest point of light, he wrapped his mind around it, sent some of his energy to that spot, and felt the creature reaching back. The jolt of electricity almost made him drop the egg.

None of the other forest creatures had ever done that. This being was intelligent and had magical abilities of its own. Elvin only knew of one creature that would lay an egg this large and as sentient as what he now sensed—a dragon.

Elvin's gaze darted to the sky, expecting the mother dragon to swoop down and swallow him whole. His tremor of fear was answered by the baby dragon. A gentle nudge moved him to more peaceful thoughts. Whatever had happened, the egg had been alone for most of its life. No dragon was coming for it as far as it knew.

_______

Source

Elvin could see a fine network of cracks webbing their way across the surface of the egg, with one small hole on the side where a small horn like appendage pushed outward.

The egg pulsed with each breath the dragon took, slowly pressing the shell outward, weakening the tough membrane trapping it inside. The cracks grew wider, small pieces flaked away with each breath. Elvin could now see other body parts trying to stretch their way out. He wanted to help, but he knew not to. For a moment, the egg shrank, collapsing in on itself, and then the dragon chick exploded outward as it broke free of the shell. 

It lay exhausted from the effort, green and wet from the moisture that had protected and nourished it. He watched it breathing as it searched for how to use this new body. The egg horn fell off when the little guy rolled over brushing it against the rock. It finally found its hind legs and wobbled into a sitting position, bringing its long neck around so that it could look at the boy. The deep brown eyes looked into his violet eyes. Elvin almost laughed at the comical tilt of the chick’s head, but then he felt an intense hunger burning in his stomach.

And so begins my Sendek Saga. What do you think?