Snippet #1729746

Nephelle froze when she heard the sand-muffled thudding of hooves. She almost laughed aloud. She learned in a moment how her spell had been received in this country. The speed at which they had found her seemed quite ironic and amusing. When the charging centaur came closer, she grew a little sad. He looked glorious as a centaur, why was he so angry with her? He could not gallop like that unless she had given him four legs.

She would have to reason with him later. First, she would have to defend herself and the sailor. Transforming into a griffin was a last resort, because she could not cast spells in her beast state. For the sailor's sake, she put on a worried face. She felt him trying to pull away from her and run, but she kept an iron grip on his arm.

What truly surprised Nephelle was that a spell was already cast before she had a chance. Nephelle turned her head and saw a young woman who had just released a mighty gust of sand at the centaur.

The fall of the centaur was quite a sight. Nephelle marveled at the twisting physique and the rippling of muscles, and felt a great pride in having created this combination of horse and man. Her attention turned to the sword, which was flying in midair. It landed near the feet of her sailor. Nephelle released his arm. She looked at him to see what he would do. He took the opportunity and grabbed it with his good arm.

Then there sounded the call for Sir Rion. Now that he was released by Nephelle, the sailor ran in the opposite direction of the oncoming guards. Nephelle lingered and devised an obstacle for the guards. Her greatest powers were in the transforming of animals. She looked around the sand at her feet. There was a lowly crab scuttling by. She grabbed it and murmured a spell as she held it…

The sailor ran towards the girl who had saved them. He opened his mouth to express his thanks, when there was a flash of light coming from the beach. The sand began to move in strange patterns, and then large orange-grey stones began to creep up from under the sand. They were all between six and eight feet across, and the beach was crowded with them. Then it was revealed that they were not stones, but indeed man-size crabs. Not only that, but Nephelle had instilled in them a will to attack. They began scuttling towards the guards with claws snapping.

Nephelle was pleased with her spell, and dashed after her sailor.