Daily Excerpt Post: 5 November

[jupitersings.livejournal.com]

This is your Daily Excerpt Post!

Post an excerpt of your novel here rather than anywhere else!
Please try to keep it under 1500 words. Thanks!


<b>Username:</b> <b>Any background information:</b> <b>Excerpt:</b>

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[tarlwen.livejournal.com]

Username: Tarlwen
Any background information: this is somewhere middle-ish in the first scene
Excerpt:

“Great.” Shaun reached for the reins, missed, tried again and after yet another miss settled for glaring at his horse. As if he had not known that it was evil already. Right. He snorted. First things first. “Never mind all that crap about prophecies and ages, what about that beast of yours?”

“It draws nearer still.”

Of course it did. Shaun had finally managed to get a hold of his horse - without getting his feet stomped on - and was rummaging through his saddlebags. Whatever beastie the seer had his beard in a tangle about could not be that bad. “Did you at least have some vision of how I am supposed to kill that fearsome beast of yours?”

“No.”

Uh-oh. The seer was glaring at him again. Just wonderful. The old bat knew probably exactly what was coming after them and just did not feel like sharing.
“Ouch.” Shaun jerked his finger back. Blood, even better. Especially with some supposed unidentified beat out there. So much for allowing other people to pack his saddlebags. Considering how his luck was going the beast would probably turn out to be a raging hippogriff falling onto their heads. Or maybe an enraged dragon. Even if dragons were supposed to be extinct. “By the way,” Shaun fished his newly-found daggers out of the leather bag, “you never told me your name.”

“I had no reason to.”

“Of course not,” Shaun muttered under his breath and rolled his eyes, “it might have made you easier to have around after all.” A twig broke; something moved through the underbrush. Shaun followed the movement from the corner of his eye, pretending to be preoccupied with the flaps of his saddlebags. The seer would probably rather die than move anyway. There! He propelled himself forward, dagger at the ready, determined to kill before he could be killed. His brain had barely registered that he had launched himself at thin air as he already slammed into the ground, even skidding a bit. A groan escaped from his lips. Damn. Why did it always have to be his left knee? The dagger! He pushed himself up on his elbows, groped for his dagger and come face to face with - something. Shaun giggled, twisted his neck to look pointedly at the seer and then collapsed into peals of laughter as the roughly ankle-high, rabbit-like creature hopped a bit closer. It was small, fuzzy and really looked too much like a rabbit. Except for the wings and the antlers. He pushed himself to his knees and held out his hands. Within the blink of an eye the little critter had jumped into them, snuggling close to Shaun’s chest and making sounds that sounded suspiciously like a purr. It really was as soft as it was fuzzy.

“So,” he balanced the critter on one arm and picked up his dagger, “is this your beast or is there something else out there?”
The seer looked as though he had just bitten into an extremely rotten fruit.

“I saw a mighty beast with feathered wings as black as the night and the breath of a dragon.”

“Yes… well, it does have wings.” Wait. Shaun frowned. Dragon? Breath? “It breathes fire?”
This time it was the seer’s turn to grin maliciously.

The critter hit the nearest shrub, rustled to the ground and hopped back towards them. Shaun eyed it warily. The thing was sitting right in the middle of the road and looking rather displeased with being thrown about. A small puff of black smoke erupted from the critter’s nostrils.

“Beast!” Shaun yelped, taking another step backwards.

“Why yes, thank you.” Shaun opened and closed his mouth a few times as the thing positively preened. “It’s so nice of you to say that.”

“What is it?” Shaun had really hoped that the seer would - just this once - say something useful but the old man just shrugged.

“I,” the creature hopped from one foot to the other and fixed Shaun with a beady stare, “am Grendel.”

“Grendel.” Shaun blinked.

“It’s a family name.”

“I see.” Shaun racked his brain for something at least semi-intelligent to say. “Grendel like that swamp-troll-thing that ate the Count of Lorres’s court a few years back?”

“Good gracious, no! There is absolutely no family connection! My kin would never eat any human without sufficient provocation.”

[reynardo.livejournal.com]

Oh I love it!!! But why did Grendels voice sound somewhat like Sideshow Bob when I read it?

[tarlwen.livejournal.com]

I haven't got a clue, to be frank. Grendel wasn't even supposed to sound the way he does now. It somehow just happened. I do watch the Simpsons occasionally, but only the dubbed version and only if I happen to be at home and zapping around at the right time. I've seen a few episodes with "Tingeltangel-Bob" as he is called here but I can't really remember the way he spoke.

It's eerily fitting, though, since Grendel will turn out to be rather manipulative and masterminding quite a bit about the prophecy. :) unless my plot decides to take on a life of its own and get rid of that particular twist