Their small sailboat had no anchor, and the wind was blowing them straight towards the three giant crabs on the beach.

The crabs hadn't noticed them, thankfully, and were snipping at a pile of boulders. It looked like they wanted to get at something inside the large crack between the rocks, but couldn't fit a claw inside.

Mith whispered to Kynos to prepare a fireball. She was well aware that a shadow blade wasn't going to get past the shell of a crab, and had planned on having Kynos roast the crab whole.

It was going to be nutritious and delicious.

The great ball of fire flew forward as the boat scraped onto the sand. It caught the nearest crab and exploded, drenching a second crab in fire. The first crab collapsed, red from roasting, and the other two foamed at the mouth. Kynos quickly tried to prepare a second fireball as the the crabs scuttled with incredible speed towards the boat.

Mith ignored the disgusting sideways shuffle of the large crustaceans and dragged Kynos off of the boat as the nearest crab smashed into it, dispersing his fireball. The boat ripped in half. Drawing her rapier, Mith thrust it at the oncoming crab. The tip of the rapier caught a protruding edge on the shell and promptly snapped.

Kynos reflexively tried to restrain the crab with shadow magic, and found that he could easily overcome it. The crabs weren't magical beasts, just large crustaceans, and the second crab tripped over itself as half of its legs clammed up.

Kynos looked at Mith, and she immediately told him to imagine the shadow as an ooze that seeps into the crab's mouth and eyes. If he could get enough shadow inside the crab, he could just mutilate it from within.

As one crab dragged bits of rope, sail, and boat with it around in a frenzy, Kynos made a shadow sea urchin inside the other. It collapsed, still foaming at the mouth. After he had taken care of the last crab, he helped Mith drag the remaining half of the boat towards the rocks. In the worst case, they would need it as shelter to sleep at night.

Mith also told him to be wary of the rocks. Whatever the crabs had been looking to eat first was in there, after all.

As the two of them neared the rocks, having dropped off the remains of the boat a bit further way, Kynos made a shadow shield. It would be a bit flimsy during the day, but could save their lives if something were to shoot out at them. They neared the gap in the rocks and Mith peered through a slit Kynos formed on his shield.

“Hey, there's a brat in there.”

Kynos dropped the shield to take a look himself, and took a rock to the face instead. The young girl inside was panicked, and she frantically cried at the two in a language they had never heard before.

It was odd, Kynos thought everything just spoke the same language. Even though the sailors and the pirates spoke in strange ways, he could more or less understand them. He backed up a bit from the rocks and pebbles flying from the crevice and saw Mith standing back, hand on her chin, looking at the girl and thinking.

After a few moments, she beckoned the the girl with a gentle hand motion. 'How unlike Mith,' Kynos thought, and immediately received a glare.

She was starting to be able to read his mind more frequently. This was not good.