Amanda Moonstone and The Holiday Horror

I decided to submit this summer-y beach comic in the middle of December why? Well because I lost track of the days.  

That's about the measure of it, yes!
Admit it, this is par for the course with me. XD

This is another commission for
It's his two characters Amanda and Wilfred having a beach stroll when they're attacked by a Sand Ghul. Actually there's a story accompanying this comic so please give it a read! xD

I had so much fun drawing this and I really love the characters of Amanda Moonstone. I'm actually planning to submit more Amanda Moonstone book art I've done so I really hope you'll look forward to it!!

Annnndd without further ado, here's the story that goes with the comic!

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Whitesand Beach


Amanda and Wilfred walked hand in hand as the sounds of the waves floated through their ears and created a calming sensation in their minds. The sand felt warm underneath their feet, but not too warm. It was a cool breeze today, which helped balanced the hot rays from the sun, leaving Amanda and Wilfred warm – but not too warm. Every so often, the water to their right lapped across their feet, wetting their toes. It almost tickled a little and made Amanda chuckle once or twice.

She looked to Wilfred – his blue eyes, almost the same colour as the clear sea, sparkled in the sunlight. Though she had to struggle to take her eyes away from his bare chest now and then. Wilfred wore blue trunks, revealing his entire top half. She herself was wearing a green two piece and she was sure that Wilfred was enjoying looking at her as much as she was looking at him. Amanda had always been somewhat shy about her own body really – she never saw herself as particularly pretty, in fact she always considered herself rather plain. But with Wilfred, she was happy to let go of some inhibitions.

So far their holiday had been absolute bliss. Having just moved into their new house at Ashfeld, and Amanda having got her potion business off the ground, they decided to take a short holiday to celebrate. And with it being summer, they decided to visit Whitesand Beach – a popular getaway spot for the people of Celtland.
Amanda and Wilfred gazed into each others’ eyes, both lost for words. But neither of them really needed to say anything – they both knew how they felt for each other, body and soul. Amanda felt Wilfred rub a thumb against the top of her hand and she shivered a little. Her palm pressed against his closer, the sweat in each other’s grip almost making them stick together. They both smiled at each other, just enjoying the moment and the peaceful stroll. Just the two of them.
Or so they thought.

The sand exploded a few feet in front of them, causing them to jump back in fright. A large, lumbering beast burst forth from the dust storm that lingered after the initial burst. It was at least five times the size of Amanda and Wilfred, with dark brown and orange skin that seemed to flake off on occasion. The creature looked at them with yellow, beady eyes, hidden behind eyelids that looked like mini rock piles.

‘It’s... it’s a sand ghul!’ Amanda gasped. These sorts of ghuls were rare – but had been known to frequent beaches on occasion. And like any ghul they were extremely dangerous and would attack anything non-ghul on sight.

The sand ghul opened its mouth and let out howl that sounded like cracking stone. Its mouth was so wide that Amanda and Wilfred could see that there was nothing inside it – at least not yet. It lifted up two large pinchers, which dripped with sand as they opened and closed. Despite not looking sharp, they looked sturdy enough to crush a human to pieces.

‘Get back, Amanda!’ Wilfred cried, instinctively throwing himself in front of the ghul. ‘I’ll take care of this...’
He reached for where he thought his sword was – but grabbed only air. He gasped and the sweat poured from his brow as he frantically grabbed at the air by his hips – as if he was hoping it would just magically appear before him. But he remembered that he left his sword back at their camp when they changed. Wilfred would have been embarrassed by this simple mistake – except that he realised that he and his wife were in greater danger now they had nothing to defend themselves with.

Wilfred palmed the side of his face, cursing his own stupidity. ‘I’m such an idiot.’
Amanda put her hand to her mouth to hide a gasp, feeling both Wilfred’s embarrassment and horror. The middle of her arm pressed up against a small, spherical object. One of many that hung around her neck. She moved her fingers down from the mouth, towards the necklace of various dragon gems that Amanda had been collecting for a while.

Lucky for them – because these gems gave her magical powers.

Amanda had just discovered magic and had been collecting these gems for several weeks. She had always had a fascination for magic and found out that these gems were actually pretty useful – once she had learned how to use them. Being a sorceress wasn’t something that she let people know publicly, given that modern society were afraid of them, so she used her powers only in private. Wilfred was the only one who really knew she had the ability to control them.

Amanda’s hands brushed across one of the gems – a blue coloured one. Then she turned to the ghul, remembering that it was made out of sand. She smiled – then stepped in front of Wilfred.
‘Amanda?’ Wilfred cried. ‘What are you doing?’
‘Why don’t you let ME deal with this?’ Amanda suggested. ‘I can use my magic to get rid of it.’
‘How?’
Amanda lifted up the blue gem in the middle of her necklace. ‘Easy. I’ll just blow it away.’
‘Are you sure?’ Wilfred asked, somewhat nervously. ‘Remember what happened last time you used that spell?’

Amanda did remember, when she had used it to clear away some leaves in their back garden. It actually caused more mess than it cleared! The only reason they kept it secret from the neighbours was by saying it was a freak gust of wind that passed over.
‘Trust me,’ Amanda assured him.

The ghul let out another sandy roar and Amanda knew that she didn’t have long. She started to breathe in to power up the magic. ‘Stand *hhhhhhh* back...’ Amanda breathed to Wilfred. ‘Or *hhhhhhh* you might get *hhhhhhhaaaa* blown away *hhhhhhhaaaaaa* by mistake. *hhhhhhhaaaaaa*’

She then took in a deep inhale. The air pressure around her was almost like a vortex and the ghul was almost dragged towards her. Had Wilfred not stepped back as warned, he would have probably been caught up in this intake of air. Amanda felt her strength gaining with each second her lungs filled. Though the sand ghul was many times larger to her, Amanda now saw it as no more than a speck of dust that she could blow off a book – or a candle that she could put out in one breath.

Amanda pursed her lips together and blew as hard as she could. The rush of wind she exhaled was almost on par with the powerful gales that legendary Rana Dragonkin could blow. The sand ghul was moved back by the mighty breath and looked like it was going to be lifted off the ground. It dug its claws into the sand, hoping to hold on so that it could last through the gale force attack. But Amanda increased the pressure from her lungs to blow a little harder, somewhat surprised she had not got rid of him already. But eventually, her breath proved to be the stronger between her and the ghul. Despite being many times larger than Amanda, the ghul was lifted into the air by Amanda’s breath like it was a leaf. It soared into the air and towards the sea, the air current finally stopped and the creature tumbled into the water, where it disappeared out of sight.

Amanda flicked her hair over her shoulders and smiled, flexing a bicep. Remembering Wilfred, she turned back. He had a shamefaced look and Amanda was worried that she may have damaged his masculinity by being the one that saved him.

‘Er, wow... I feel embarrassed,’ Wilfred stammered. ‘So much for me being the hero.’
‘Aw, it’s ok,’ Amanda said, hugging him. ‘It was sweet that you tried to defend me in the first place.’
After putting that behind them, Amanda and Wilfred continued their walk along the beach – hopefully not having any more unwanted visitors like that.