Greetings, Weekend Writing Warriors! For the next few weeks I will be sharing one of the first short stories I wrote. Its was inspired by a collection of short stories The Itch of the Twitch , by Harvey Tyson, a South African writer. This week we meet the target of the main character’s hunt: the rare and elusive Xenica.
This story takes ‘twitching’ into the future, and the Multiverse of Homo Galacticus.
For continuity, the preceding paragraph started:
Suddenly, a diamond-shaped, bronze-scaled head popped out between the foliage fringing the cave.
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“Stay” my partner signalled, silently and slowly. It was at that point that I realised that I had lost voluntary control of my body. I lay paralysed as the two dragons continued to stare at us intently. They shrugged through the tangled curtain of branches and vines and came to stand, facing us, just outside the lair.
They were still well over a kilometer away, but that did nothing to diminish the size of them. The adult was at least nine meters long, and although classified as a lightweight, came in at a solid eight metric tonnes. The white flash along her crown, nape and mantle were unmistakable, as were the distinctive black edged white bars across her primaries. The youngling was half her size, and mottled in shades of brown.
© Kim Magennis
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In case you are wondering:
The Xenica is actually a breed of dragon as detailed in the Temeraire Series by Naomi Novik. Little is known about this breed, other than when ‘tamed’ it prefers female riders and, is a lightweight. Below is a diagram of the adult Xenica.
Fantastic twist on birding–dragonning! I think I’d have watched from a bit further than just a kilometer away! Brilliant descriptions!
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What wonderful visuals (and I don’t mean the picture!). I hope they survive!
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Ah, I used to have a garden sign that said, “here there be dragons”! And I still have a “Dragon on Board” sticker on my Jeep, so you know I am loving this! Great snippet!
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Too bad she can’t run. I think that’s what most people would do.
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Well, at least if they get killed, it will be by some very pretty ‘birds.’
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Laughing. Consolation indeed, Caitlin
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I would be, uh, okay… quaking seeing something so large and so unamed standing so close to me. Terrific visuals (even before the graphic)
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Nice vivid descriptions of the dragons!
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Oooh, pretty! But, if Mama dragons are anything like mama bears….this might be a very, very dangerous situation to be in. A kilometer? I’m imagining that’s about nothing to a dragon!
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Beautiful description, Kim. I want one. 🙂
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Haha, and here I was picturing some little bird, hawk-sized at the max. Dragon-watching takes twitching to a whole new level!
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Well that snippet was excellent! Bird watching and dragon watching do have similarities, I can see, but wow!
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DRAGONS! So cool. I love dragons, be they “good” or “bad.”
Great snippet!
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I like the scene with your character frozen – you could expand this moment. It’s so visceral – being frozen and seeing the dragons. It’s the key moment. The sighting. I like the tension that you created in this scene. Nice. And Dragons – well we all need more dragons.
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Love it! But this is the point where I’d be wondering if perhaps I need a new hobby.
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Yup. I would have frozen too. Great descriptions! 😀
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Ooh! I’m glad we’ve finally got a visual of the Xenica. Maybe their size was mentioned earlier in the story but I’ve been struggling to understand just how scary the situation was up to now.
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Hi Ian. Thanks for stopping by. No, you missed nothing. I kept the size and species a surprise for the reader.
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Another splendid snippet, my friend.
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Thank you Charmaine
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Wow! When you said twitching I thought you were talking about pretty little birds, not 8 tonne dragons! Exciting.
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Good description of the dragons. You make them seem so real.
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Fabulous description!
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Thank you!
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Wow, I’d be frightened of the youngling. I can’t imagine coming face-to-face with its mother. Great snippet!
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Thank you, Jessica
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I wonder if this sighting counts toward their birding totals?
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Definitely, Ed. Mission Accomplished… If they survive 😉
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Good story, i had my mental binoculars up looking at them ☺
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Thank you! For dropping by, and for the comment.
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