The Mimic in Monsterland

“How do they know about this shelter?! Is it him?” The lanky lion-maned elf practically jumped from his seat and pulled a dagger from his cloak. With the blade pointed in my direction, he continued his rant. “They were followed, I’m sure of it. Talk you traitorous filth. Betraying your own kind. I should—”

“ENOUGH!” Ranj slammed her hand on the table. She stole the knife from his hands and passed it off to the human beside her. He took it and walked away, heading deeper into the underground encampment. “Are you saying Ingrid, our best rogue, wasn’t aware of a tail?”

“But maybe he has a tracking sigil.”

“And Luu would have caught that. So if you are done, please go help Luu calm everyone down and await further instructions.” The elf’s face filled with indignation. After a quick and frankly pitiful attempt at an intimidating glare directed at me, he walked away.

Ranj then turned her attention to the guard who made the announcement. “Who leads this group and how far away are they?”

“I, um ma’am, I just started last week. I haven’t been clued in on those specifics, but I can say they are less than five minutes away. They were walking by the Tun’s fight club near the fountain when I spotted them. Four of them total.” The woman huffed out in between labored breaths, a small amount of panic in her eyes.

Five minutes? That doesn’t sound right, that shed stood in the same courtyard as that fountain. We walked for over fifteen minutes to get here. Through a labyrinth of alleyways I guess if they book it and know the exact route. But the guard said they were walking. I shook my head, looking back over at the two women.

Ranj walked over to her and placed a gentle hand on the woman’s shoulder. “It's alright Talia. Good work getting here so fast. I knew you were the right choice for the job. Can you describe who was at the front of the group?” There was a strange feeling in the air around the two women. An almost unnatural peace.

The girl’s expression softened, she took a deep breath and nodded. “It was a dwarf. Wolf ears, black and white hair. Two axes on his hips. And a right pissed off face.” The description sounded familiar to me. After a moment of thought, I remembered the dwarf from the wall invasion. He was shouting up a storm that day in the base camp tent Terl set up at the time. Don’t remember exactly who he was. But I did remember his outrage with everyone present and the ample colorful language. I shifted in my spot, not sure if I was going to have to prepare myself for a quick getaway. Or a fight.

Yet the blue elf woman’s reaction was the polar opposite of mine. Ranj closed her eyes and slowly let air flow out of her nostrils, her shoulders dropping a tad, almost as if the news relieved her. She opened them back up and spoke to the woman. “Go gather your little ones, dinner just ended so they are probably sleepy. They’ll be thrilled upon learning their mother will spend the evening with them.”

The girl looked at her. “Do we need to?” Ranj raised her hand. “No child. Not tonight. Just go and sit, be with them. They aren’t going to stay at this wonderful age forever. Cute, sweet, and loving. Sometime down the road, out of nowhere, you have rebellious rascals running around, causing untold chaos, never deigning themselves to give their tired mother a rest. So please, enjoy it while you still can.” Ranj nudged the woman’s shoulder with a playful smile.

The young mother smiled at the middle-aged woman’s comforting words, until worry came back. “But his face. He looked so angry.”

Ranj tenderly pushed the girl toward the campfires. “Oh he always looks like that. Just be glad you didn’t catch him smiling, it’s enough to rip the hide off a Karibu. I’ll handle him. He won’t bother us tonight.” The girl nodded and went on her way. She stopped a couple of campfires down. Two young boys who sat with an elderly woman yelped in surprise and jumped to their mother’s side. The fury from earlier rose anew as I watched the boys wrestle each other for a spot on their mother’s lap.

Why? Why the fuck are they forced to live like this? Families sleeping in squalor. My knuckles cracked as my fists tightened and I looked to the floor. I felt a tug on my shirt sleeve. I looked over. Ranj’s bright eyes stared into mine, moving ever so slightly, as if in search of something on my face. She stopped after mere seconds, with a slight grin on her face. She twisted around and found the fanged human, Luu if I wasn’t mistaken.

She gave him a slow and meaningful nod, he responded in kind then walked over to the door leading up the stairs. The male elf’s head popped up and he looked at Ranj, who shook her head at him. “You need to hide.” She said before turning back to me. “Something tells me our Mayor won’t be pleased to find out you were hanging around here.”

I nodded in agreement. “Yeah it wouldn’t look great if the Feral, who said he knew nothing of the Ferals here, was sitting around in one of their not-so-secret hideouts. Is there another exit?”

She shook her head. “There is but it's too late now. Herman is shrewd. If he already knew about this shelter then he’ll have a Scout on each entrance already. No, our only hope is hiding you in the store room. It's right over there.” She pointed at the door on the other side of the table we sat at previously. “How proficient are you in masking your Aura, your presence.”

“Next to none. No clue where to even begin with that.”

“What? Leonard hasn’t taught you anything about Aura Control?”

“Not a thing.”

Ranj, shook her head, genuinely confused by the fact. I was long used to not being taught anything actually useful aside from fighting monsters. And freaking burpees.

“But I can hide pretty well, what’s in the room?”

“Shelves filled with extra supplies. Crates of foodstuffs and some barrels of water. Why?”

“I might have a plan, do you have anybody here that’s good at whatever you called it. Masking Aura?” I asked, a dumb but quite possibly ingenious plan forming in my brain.

Ranj looked around the room, then her gaze landed on a familiar hooded girl. “Ingrid!”

Ingrid turned to us and rushed over. “Quick, what is it? I need to get out of here before they show up.”

“Change of plans, take him into the storeroom and hide him.” Ranj said while she pointed back at the door.

“What? No, no way. I did my job with him for the night.” Ingrid said while crossing her arms.

“Not the time, just go and—”

“Ma’am, they’re outside, we need you up there now.” Luu ran up to Ranj and interrupted her. She inhaled. “Ingrid just take him. Trust me on this.” Ranj pulled the girl over to her and stared at Ingrid’s face.

“Ranj, not a whole lot of time.” Luu said, holding the door to the stairs open for her.

Ranj pulled Ingrid closer, whispering something into the girl’s ear. Ingrid nodded slowly. She turned and grabbed onto my shirt pulling me over to the store room door. “Move.”

“Uh okay.”

She threw the door open and pulled me inside. The room was filled with shelves of linens and simple clothes, along with the aforementioned crates and barrels. Well, time to test that theory from long ago. Better late than never. I would have hoped to not have time constraints but what can you do?

“I know you probably have questions to ask me about my powers, and after what's about to happen, you’ll have a hundred more. I’ll answer them later, so for now just mask your presence or whatever. Make it so it looks like only one person is in the room.”

Ingrid squinted her eyes at me. Ignoring it, I walked up one of the barrels and touched its wooden surface. It was right about my size crouching down. Perfect. I activated object mimicry, scanning the barrel. No negative notifications appeared, so I was good. Wood grew out from my body, growing out from underneath my clothes and ultimately covering them. My body crouched down and contorted slightly, forming the body of the barrel. My forearms widened and sat above my head, creating the lid. After a minute of creaking sounds, I finished my transformation. Then a longer than usual notification blipped.

[Mimic Entry “Wooden Barrel” Recorded]

[Level 10 Mimicry (Object) achieved]

[Good Job!]

[PS. THERE. YOU HAPPY NOW LIAM. I GOT NOTIFICATIONS WORKING FOR ABILITY LEVEL UPS. YOUR WELCOME. -Tutor]

If I was in the position to face palm, I would have probably smacked myself in the face. But nevertheless, thank God that worked. Everything in here was made from wood. I was worried about the whole wood versus log thing for a while. Wait a second. This can only mean one thing. I can be a treasure chest. SCORE. LET’S GO!

I opened my eyes, they were situated on the side of the barrel facing the door. I looked over at Ingrid. Her eyes wide open, still in shock of what just occurred in front of her very eyes. Ooh Another thing I never actually tested. Talking in object form.

I stretched my mouth, a slight cracking sound followed. “Hey. Hello?” It was a little uncomfortable moving my mouth and speaking but I could manage it. Ingrid’s mouth went slack jawed this time, her brain clearly not processing what just happened.

“Ingrid, questions later, please I promise, ack, to answer them, but for now stealth, cough, time. And sit next on top of me.” I kept coughing in between my sentences for some reason. My throat felt dry.

She slowly shook her head, peering over to the door. Probably weighing her options on whether she wanted to stay in the room with the freak who just turned into an inanimate object, or risking it outside. She walked over to me slowly upon completion of her risk assessment. Ingrid sat on the floor behind me. Her back to mine. “No way in hell am I sitting on you, jackass.”

Embarrassment filled my wooden chest once I realized what I just asked her to do. “Yeah, cough. That. That was creepy. Ack. My bad.”

Sounds of people shuffling around the door was the only sound in the room. Neither of us spoke. I knew she wasn’t in the mood for speaking, not that she seemed the type to ever be. But I wasn’t going to push my luck. I was just glad she didn’t leave.

Then after a few moments she whispered. “Just what the hell are you?” Can’t blame the girl for having questions, but now really isn’t the time.

“You can grill, cough, me later. Let’s, ack, get through this first.” I rasped out.

A loud slam boomed on the other side of the door. The stairway door if I had to bet. Ingrid stood up. Resting her hand on my back to ease her ascent made me shudder and vibrate on the floor for a second.
“Denn’s taint! Don’t shake like that out of nowhere. Give a girl a heart attack.”

“Sorry.”

She snuck over to the door and pressed the side of her head up to it. I saw the top of her hood bob for a moment. Her hidden bunny ears shifted, trying to hear what was going on outside. After a minute, she stopped and looked over at me. “Close your eyes.”

“No. Why would I do that?”

“Just, nevermind. It's fine.” She tilted her head down just a smidge. Then pressed up against the door again. Why so secretive about the ears? Whatever.

I heard the rumblings of voices coming from the door, but nothing comprehensible. Barrels didn’t come with super hearing powers apparently. Which was bullcrap in my opinion. “What, cough, are they saying?”

“Shush.” The voices continued for a while, until a loud shout resounded outside. Ingrid jumped away from the door and rushed back over to me, hiding behind me again. I felt her small hands touch my back, making me suppress a shiver.

BAM!

The door to the storeroom blasted open.