The Book Revealed

All right! The secret's out. I figured out the name of the As Yet Unnamed Story a few weeks ago, but I couldn't post it for fear of spoiling this:  


 Without warning, the door suddenly flew open seemingly of its own accord and smashed into Avon’s nose with a resounding ‘crack!’, sending him toppling over backwards to sprawl in an undignified heap on the floor. Diddle jumped to one side in surprise as an arm with nut-brown skin followed the door, followed closely by a shining black hoof that lashed out at Avon in a vicious kick, barely missing the man and hitting the ground right between his legs.

Avon squeaked in terror and shuffled backwards on the ground, still clutching his nose between his fingers and his eyes wide with terror.

            “Get back inside, monster!” she shrieked in a high voice, stumbling to his feet. When he released his hands from his nose to haul himself upright, Diddle saw that the force of the door hitting his nose had given him a nosebleed, which dripped onto his clean white shirt and left bright red stains in the flawless linen.  It seemed like a bad time to laugh, so Diddle bit his tongue and instead stepped over to Avon’s side so he could see the animal inside the stall. What he saw left him both shocked and horrified at the same time.

            A centaur.

            She was huge, towering at least three feet above Diddle’s head and a good foot and a half over Avon’s. Her horse half was big, sleek, and heavily muscled, and her black coat and tail were glossy and well-kept; matching the midnight-black hair bound up in a ponytail atop her head. She wore only a faded blue sleeveless shirt that covered her human torso, and a small pendant necklace bound by a woven hemp cord around her neck. Her arms were long, and as strong-looking as her horse legs, with powerful hands that she kept crossed across her chest as she glared at Avon. Her human face matched the rest of her—nut-brown skin, a powerful jawline, and dark, black eyes that stared with such fierce intensity at the two human intruders that Diddle couldn’t help but shrink back a little.

She was intimidating, and not just because of her size. She had the unmistakable air of someone with a temper, and who would be quite willing to punch someone’s face inside-out if they gave her half a chance. Diddle realized that she could have easily stamped one of her sharp, black hooves right through Avon’s chest if she’d chosen to, but something had stopped her, and she instead settled for creating a deep depression in the hard-packed earth where the terrific force of her foreleg had slammed into the ground. Avon seemed to realize how close he’d just come to death as well, as he was shaking all over even as he raised his voice in an attempt to override the centaur woman’s quiet air of power and strength.

Centaur Ranch. 

 Centaurs have always been my favorite mythical creatures. Maybe it's leftover from when I was a typical eight-year-old who wanted nothing more than a pony, but nevertheless, the case is so. Figuring out what they can do is interesting; for example, how do they sleep? Do they move their arms when they run? Does having two stomachs mean they can eat grass? Their personalities are fun to develop, too. Be sure to stick around for the next chapter, and the past five chapters are up in case you missed anything.