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Magical Mimics in Oz

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<p><SPAN name="CHAPTER_4" id="CHAPTER_4"></SPAN></p> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus18.jpg" width-obs="601" height-obs="350" alt=""/></div> <h2>CHAPTER 4<br/> <small>The Mimics Mean Mischief</small></h2> <p>On the same morning that Ozma and Glinda left the Land of Oz for the Forest of Burzee, events of equal importance were happening in Mount Illuso, home of the Mimics.</p> <p>The Mimics were ruled over by two sovereigns—King Umb and Queen Ra. It is a question which was the more wicked and dangerous of this pair. King Umb was bold and brutal, while his wife, Queen Ra, was clever and cunning. Together they made a fitting combination to rule so wicked a horde as the Mimics.</p> <p>On this particular morning King Umb and Queen Ra secluded themselves in a hidden cavern, deep in the underground caves that honeycombed the depths of hollow Mount Illuso. Roughly hewn from the grey rock, this cavern was circular in shape and was filled with ancient books and strange and weird implements of sorcery and enchantment. King Umb possessed little skill in magic arts, but Queen Ra was powerful in the practice of conjuring and evil incantation.</p> <p>After the visit of Queen Lurline to Mount Illuso and the casting of the powerful enchantment that prevented King Umb and Queen Ra from leading their Mimic subjects in the destruction of Oz, Queen Ra had at first raged and fumed and wildly vowed vengeance on Queen Lurline and Princess Ozma. Then, as the years passed by, the evil Queen spent more and more time lurking in the secret cavern, studying the ancient sorcery of the Erbs, employing her black arts to follow events in the history of Oz and plotting the destruction of the fairyland.</p> <p>Of course the Mimic King and Queen were free to lead their hordes in attacks on people of other lands, and you may wonder why they didn't forget all about Oz and content themselves with bringing misery to other countries. The reason was that the wicked King and Queen of the Mimics despised all that was good, and they could not endure the thought of the Oz people living in peace and contentment, safe from their evil-doing. So long as the Oz inhabitants remained the happiest people in all the world, King Umb and Queen Ra could derive no satisfaction in bringing misery to other less happy lands.</p> <p>Queen Ra was well aware that Princess Ozma was one of the most powerful fairy rulers in existence, and that her loyal friend, Glinda the Good, was the mightiest and wisest of all sorceresses. Nevertheless, through her own dark magic, Queen Ra had recently made two important discoveries that raised her hopes so high that she believed she might be able soon to defy both Ozma and Glinda.</p> <p>First, she had discovered that Ozma and Glinda were about to depart on a journey that would take them away from the Land of Oz. Second, she had learned that in one of Ozma's books of magic records in the Royal Palace of the Emerald City was written the charm that would break the spell Queen Lurline had cast on the Mimics to protect Oz!</p> <hr class="chap" /> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus19.jpg" width-obs="257" height-obs="350" alt=""/> <div class="caption"> <p><span class="smcap">The Queen held in her hands a circlet of dully gleaming metal</span></p> </div> </div> <hr class="chap" /> <p>This morning Queen Ra had assumed the shape of a huge woman—almost a giantess—with the head of a grey wolf. King Umb wore the form of a black bear with an owl head. The Queen held in her hands a circlet of dully gleaming metal. The red eyes of her wolf head gazed at it steadily, while she muttered an incantation. As the wolf-headed woman spoke, a wisp of grey mist appeared in the center of the metal ring. The mist expanded into a ball, growing denser in appearance. Next it became milky in hue, then opalescent, finally glowing as with an inner light. Slowly a scene appeared in the metal-bound ball of shimmering opal mist. While King Umb and Queen Ra watched, the Throne Room of the Royal Palace in the Emerald City grew distinct in the milky depths of the captive ball. Princess Ozma stood by her throne with Glinda the Good at her side. The lips of the little ruler were moving, forming words, although the Mimic Monarchs could distinguish no sound. Ozma was addressing her subjects. Then the girl Ruler smiled and raised her wand. In an instant both Ozma and Glinda had vanished. The ball of glowing mist disappeared. With a clatter Queen Ra threw the metal circlet to the stone floor of the cave and triumphantly faced the owl-headed bear.</p> <p>"They have gone!" she cried.</p> <p>"You are positive that now is the time for us to act?" asked King Umb.</p> <p>"Absolutely," said the wolf-headed woman. "We know that one of Ozma's magic record books holds the secret of the enchantment cast on us. We know that Ozma and Glinda will be absent from Oz for three days, leaving the country and the Emerald City unprotected by their magic arts. We know that those people who have in recent years come from the great outside world to live in Oz, were not inhabitants of Oz when Lurline made it a fairyland. Thus they are not protected by the enchantment she cast on us. It will be simple for us to assume the shapes of these people—of course they are mere mortals—" the Queen added with a sneer, "but even so they will serve our purpose."</p> <hr class="chap" /> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus20.jpg" width-obs="650" height-obs="347" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> <p>"You have a plan then?" asked the owl-headed King.</p> <p>"A plan that will result in the utter destruction of Oz and the enslavement of the Oz people," asserted the Queen with grim relish.</p> <p>"Listen!" the wolf-headed woman commanded. "Tonight you and I, with Styg and Ebo, will fly swiftly across the Deadly Desert to the Land of Oz. We will go directly to the Emerald City. There we will seek out the two mortals from the great outside world whose shapes will admit us to every part of the Royal Palace. My magic arts have told me that at a certain hour tomorrow morning these two mortals will be together with no one else about to witness or interfere with our deed. After we have stolen their shapes, the helpless mortals will be seized by Styg and Ebo and returned here, where they will be our prisoners. Then we will be free to search through Ozma's magic record books. As soon as we locate the magical antidote to Lurline's enchantment, we will break the spell binding our subjects. By the time Ozma and Glinda return, Oz will be overrun by Mimics, and we shall be ready to give their royal highnesses a proper reception!" Queen Ra smiled wickedly as she finished this recital.</p> <p>The owl eyes of King Umb had been regarding Queen Ra intently as she revealed her plan. When she had finished, an evil leer spread over the King's furry features.</p> <p>"Ra," said King Umb, "you are the most wicked Queen who ever ruled the Mimics!"</p> <p>And that, by Mimic standards, was the highest compliment King Umb could pay his Queen.</p> <hr class="chap" /> <div class="image-center"> <ANTIMG src="images/illus21.jpg" width-obs="521" height-obs="350" alt=""/></div> <hr class="chap" /> <p>Several hours after midnight, King Umb and Queen Ra, followed by the two Mimics, Styg and Ebo, slipped outside the entrance of the hollow mountain. Immediately all four assumed the shapes of giant birds, black of plumage and with powerful wings. During the creatures' long flight over the Deadly Desert to Oz, they changed shapes a number of times, but always to another form of powerful bird.</p> <p>As they mounted into the air and soared through the dark night over the peak of Mount Illuso, King Umb cast a backward glance toward the summit of the mountain.</p> <p>"What about the Guardian?" he asked Queen Ra uneasily.</p> <p>"Bah!" the giant bird that was Queen Ra croaked derisively. "Who cares about her? Let her go on dreaming over her foolish flowers and sticks of wood—that's all she has done all these years!"</p> <hr class="chap" /> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />

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