“Princess” The Mimic's Arc

Chapter 2 of 2

The blue marble still sat in the mud. Princess counted it a win. But a new sound reached her from past the tangled gate of trees—boots, heavy and sure, splashing through the shallows. She held her crate shape and watched. A figure pushed through the thicket's fog-wrapped opening. He wore all black, and his eyes caught the light like coins. He dragged something behind him. He set it down where the fog thinned. An old chest, lid tipped open, gold spilling over the rim. The coins gleamed against the weathered wood. Princess felt the old hunger stir before she could stop it. Gold. Real gold, unguarded, sitting in the open swamp. Her plan required poisoned treasure she could safely eat. This looked like a gift. The man cupped his hands and called into the reeds. "Little mimic. I know you fled the castle. I know what you are." His voice was low and slow, like he savored each word. "Come and take it. I only want to see the trick with my own eyes." Princess did not move. A hunter had found her. He knew her kind, knew her shape, and he'd come with bait instead of a blade. That frightened her more than a sword would. She studied the chest instead of the man. The coins near the bottom had a green crust. A smell drifted over—sharp, like rot and metal. She had smelled that before, on the mushrooms the lizards spat out. The gold was poisoned. He wanted her to lunge. He wanted her to snap the lid over her true form and reveal herself. Then he would know exactly how she moved, and he could plan for it. But he didn't know what she had learned by the dock. She knew poison now. She had watched the lizards teach it to her. Princess made a choice. She stayed a crate and rolled herself sideways, slow as rot, back into the cattails. She left the gold untouched. The hunter waited. He called twice more, softer each time. When nothing rose to take the bait, he cursed under his breath and kicked the chest. Coins scattered. He turned and pushed back through the thicket gate, boots fading into the fog. When the swamp went quiet, Princess crept out. She did not touch the gold with her true body. She pulled a green marble from her pouch and set it beside the spilled coins. Uncertain, leaning toward poison. Then she did something she had never done for bait before. She walked away from it. She had won. The hunter left empty-handed. But he had seen the swamp, learned its paths, and he knew she was here. He would come back, and next time he would not use gold. Princess pressed flat in the mud and understood the new problem. Someone was hunting her now, and she could not stay hidden forever.