The Mimics Mean Mischief
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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!
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.
"They have gone!" she cried.
"You are positive that now is the time for us to act?" asked King Umb.
"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."
"You have a plan then?" asked the owl-headed King.
"A plan that will result in the utter destruction of Oz and the
enslavement of the Oz people," asserted the Queen with grim relish.
"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.
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.
"Ra," said King Umb, "you are the most wicked Queen who ever ruled the
Mimics!"
And that, by Mimic standards, was the highest compliment King Umb could
pay his Queen.
* * * * *
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.
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.
"What about the Guardian?" he asked Queen Ra uneasily.
"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!"