“Princess” The Mimic's Arc

Chapter 1 of 1

Princess pressed herself flat against the mud, limbs tucked tight, breathing slow. The moss lizards moved in small circles near the water's edge, eating things she couldn't name yet. She needed to watch them without making them scatter. She needed them to forget she was there. But the hag's hut stood twenty paces back, half-buried in cattails and creeping vines. Its windows were dark. Its door hung crooked on leather hinges. Princess waited until the lizards moved closer to the shallows, then shifted her form into something low and wooden — a broken crate, split at the corners, crusted with algae. She dragged herself backward through the mud, slow as rot, until her back pressed against the hut's wall. From here she could see everything. The lizards didn't even blink. The wooden dock stretched over the pond, and the lizards gathered beneath it. One scraped its tongue along the posts where yellow mushrooms grew. Another bit at the lily pads, then spat them out. A third pressed its face into the mud and came up chewing. Princess watched each movement, cataloging which plants they touched, which they avoided. She could stay here all day if she needed to. The hut kept her hidden. The creatures moved freely, unafraid. For the first time since leaving the castle, her plan was actually working. She pulled the leather pouch from inside her chest cavity, careful not to shift her shape. The marbles inside clinked softly. Red for poison contact. Blue for safe consumption. Green for uncertain. She watched the lizard chewing mud, still alive, still moving. Her limb extended just enough to roll a blue marble onto the ground beside her. Mud: safe. The marble settled into the muck, and Princess tucked the pouch back inside herself. One answer. Finally. She stayed perfectly still against the hut's wall, watching for the next clue.