Swamp Guardian

The hag ordered Cinnamon to put down her child and follow her outside. Unable to disobey despite her growing panic, Cinnamon did so. Once outside, the hag waved her hand and chanted a spell.

Instantly, Cinnamon jerked upright but found nothing had changed. No, something HAD changed. While she physically looked the same, her very nature had been altered to something inhuman, something evil but hidden.

Slowly, she began to feel strange urges. She wanted to enter the water. She wanted to hunt. To hunt humans. To devour humans. But first, she would need to lure them in, to let them ride her so she could drag them into the swamp and...

Wait, ride her?

Yes, ride. This human form was not her true one, though she could take on many forms at will including this one. However, she did have a form she was most at home in, that of a-

"Now, my servant," the hag cackled. "Show me your true self!"

Baring her teeth, Cinnamon shivered and changed, seeming to melt into swamp scum that twisted and reshaped, finally solidifying into a beautiful black horse. For she was now a kelpie, a malevolent horse-like creature that used her shapeshifting powers to entice humans to come near, thinking her harmless, only to become her next meal.

"Wonderful!" The hag did an odd little dance in her glee. "Go, now. Enjoy your new home, my pet."

The kelpie tossed her mane, flashing some disturbingly sharp teeth for an equine. Then, she leapt into the water, her hindquarters morphing into an undulating fish tail as she plunged below the surface and disappeared. The hag clapped her hands. "That's that. Now for the babe."

Back inside, she picked up Nina who resumed her crying.

"There, there, small one. You have a new mother now. I will take good care of you and teach you all I know. One day, you will make a fine hag."

1. As years go by, Nina learns magic from the hag.
2. Meanwhile, Borovius is frantically searching for his family.
3. By some fluke caused by a mixture of magics, Cinnamon regains a bit of her human mind.
4. One day, the hag's swamp is attacked by the dragon.
5. One day, a knight wanders into the swamp.

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