The Mimics (Part 3) Feedback wanted

Lieutenant Boulevard readied her men, awaiting the general’s signal. The bushes behind her moved. She turned, spear pointed at the source as a dog made its way through the underbrush followed by Michal and his team.

“What are you doing here?” she hissed,

“The trail led here,” Mart jumped in.

“Great,” Lealiah muttered. “Join rank,” she ordered. Michal was still in control of the dogs, she had him stand with her; the animals might prove useful. She watched the sky for a moment. Suddenly, a fairy flew up above the building giving the signal.

“CHARGE!” She cried and rushed into the room.

The dark room lit up with their torches and the light of Lealiah’s hand. There were voices, some of them crying and all of them young. The kids. Ordering a search to be done, Lealiah found the children in the next chamber over. Bending down to them she smiled.

“Hey, guys, it’s okay now.” She said to the group. The older children stood up and some of them cheered, a few gave her a hug. Pulling herself away from the kids, she had one of her underlings gather them up and lead them outside. As they children left the room, the counted, all seven were there. She let out her breath and went to find if anyone had found the crooks. A low growl came from behind her. Michal was following the two dogs. The yearling gleefully found a small patch of silver blood.

“Leave them, we don’t want to spook her and lose her all over again,” she commanded. Michal clicked his tongue twice. The older dog instantly came to his side, tail wagging, but the yearling took off in the opposite direction.

“No!” Michal shouted as they both followed the hound. They heard a muffled scream coming from the direction the dog had taken, accompanied by excited barking.

“Moxie! Come!” Michal called harshly, the puppy ran out from a room, tail waving frantically. “Good girl, good come,” he cooed at the dog. Lealiah jogged into the room Moxie had come from. Tied to a wall was a woman, the prisoner. Her leg was cut open from the dog bite, silver blood flowed in massive heaps from the wound. Audrey River’s glassy gaze met hers. Her eyes were wide and full of fear as she watched the lieutenant, and more closely, the dog. Lealiah cut her down, Ms. River’s collapsed on the floor. Leaning against the wall for support she stood, glaring a challenge. Lealiah left her, giving orders that she be brought back to the prison.

Lighting a small flame in her hand, Lieutenant Boulevard, along with the head scholar, inspected the unconscious woman. Silver lines crossed her face, a long line that seemed to cut her face in half, a small arch that went across her cheekbones to over the bridge of her nose, and a small line on her chin. Where ears should have been were just holes, indented in her head. Ms. Rivers had passed out along the way due to blood loss and had been brought back to her cell, for the safety of the rest of the building.

“Have you sent word to the capital?” The scholar asked,

“Yes, the general sent word to the king as soon as we found out, we had a message sent that they have their best team coming down, but I don’t know when they will be h-” she stopped short as Ms. River’s opened her eyes, they were dark grey, and still had that glazed sheen to them. Next to her the scholar’s underling was frantically drawing her face.

“What are you?” Lealiah asked. “And don’t you dare say human,” she added. Ms. River’s eyes swiveled to meet hers. She sighed,

“We call ourselves mimics,” she finally replied.

“Write that down,” The scholar breathed to his constituent. The centaur immediately obeyed.

“Why didn’t you just tell us?”

“Cause...” She took a breath, “I had ta be safe,”

“Safe from what?”

“Harvesters, h-hunters, whatever you want to call ’em.” She touched her head with her hand.

“Ugh,” she rubbed her face and closed her eyes,

“Harvesters?” the scholar inquired. Ms. Rivers managed to open her eyes again,

“They take our blood, cause they think it’s real silver,” she scowled, “It’s not,” sweat appeared on her forehead and her shoulders sagged. “It’s not real...” she fell back into unconsciousness. Lealiah looked at the mimic,

“Bring her up to the medical center.”

“No, Jaxson, put that down,” Audrey heard as she slowly opened her eyes. She was back in the medical wing, though this time as her true form.

“But,” she heard a young voice say.

“I mean it young man,” a familiar voice commanded,

“Okay,”

“Mamma?” A young girl said. She had the same dark skin as the lieutenant with long braids clinging to her head.

“What darling?”

“She's awake,”

“I know, she’ll talk when she’s ready, and don’t you disturb her Jaxson.” Rubbing her head as she sat up, she took in her surroundings. There was a little boy with short dark hair, the little girl before, and Lieutenant Boulevard. In the lieutenant's arms was a toddler, laying on his mother’s shoulder.

“Mamma? Can I have a honey stick?” The boy asked,

“Did you bring money for a honey stick?” The boy sighed, then looked hopefully at his sister.

“You’re not taking any of my money,” she defended,

“Here,” Lieutenant Boulevard said turning over a little cash to the girl, “Take your brother and get four honey sticks,”

“Yes!” The little boy pumped his arms as he followed his sister out the door.

“You’ve got some good young ’uns,” Audrey ventured,

“Indeed, Cammie’s the girl, the boy is Jaxson, and this is Lucas,” She indicated to her now fidgeting son. She smiled lovingly at the little boy as she brushed his head.

"Did you find those kids?"

"We did, and two of the four suspects as well, we're still searching for the other two."

"That's good that you found the kids," She replied. Silence filled the room again.

“How long was I out?” Audrey said when she couldn't take the silence anymore.

“After you went out the second time, only about twenty minutes,”

“Twenty minutes?” The first time she woke her head was pounding and it felt like a fever had taken over, there was no way she healed that fast. She remembered talking but couldn't remember what about. She hoped she didn't reveal anything.

“With magic, healing takes a lot less time,” The lieutenant explained. Audrey looked down at her left leg and found it healed, and her right leg shackled.

“Still a prisoner I see,”

“We just don’t want you running away again. You’ve ruffled a lot of feathers, you know, a whole new species on the island.”

“So, what is this place, really?”

“Atoninasia, a home for all magics... a safe place for those who are being hunted because of what they are.” The woman met her eyes, and Audrey knew she had said something about the harvesters in her previous delirious state.

“So, the rumors are true then?”

“Yes. It’s a safe place for those who need it, a good home for a family.” She looked fondly at her child. Suddenly the other two children burst through the door licking their honey sticks. The girl held two extra in her hand.

“Mamma, Cammie got four, but she only gave me one!” Jaxson complained.

“Yes, I know I told her to.” the boy’s mother said,

“Why?”

“Because I want one too,” the woman replied as the older girl handed over one of the sticks to her mother.

“But there’s one more,” Jaxson exclaimed.

“Yes, I know,” She turned back to Audrey, “Would you like a honey stick?”

“Sure,” Audrey replied as the little girl gave her the treat. “Thank you,” In truth, she was hungry, having not eaten since those hunters nabbed her.

“You’re welcome!” The girl piped, she then looked at her shackled leg and took a step back.

“Are you a bad guy?” Jaxson asked following his sister’s eyes.

“Umm,” Audrey said as she patted her hands on her lap. She looked to the lieutenant for help.

“Not exactly a bad guy, but... she lied to me, and you know that it’s wrong to lie.” Lieutenant Boulevard said, cocking her eyebrow at the boy.

“Woah, you lied to mamma and got away with it?”

“No, I didn't get away with it, she put me in jail,” Audrey explained,

“Then how did you get here?”

“I escaped”

“WHAT! Mamma! I thought that no bad guy could escape you! How did you do it?!” The boy exclaimed, turning to his mother; Audrey laughed at his disbelief.

“Like this,” She turned her face to match the boy’s, he squealed with delight.

“That’s right, she pretended to be Travis, only I didn’t know.” Lieutenant Boulevard said.

“That’s awesome!” The boy said in awe.

“Ohhh, do me!” Cammie asked,

“Okay,” Audrey said as she complied. The child’s face lit up and she clapped her hands.

“Do you, do you, do you, want to see what I can do?” Jaxson asked.

“Jaxson, no!” The lieutenant commanded sharply, “you know the rules, not inside.”

“Just the hand thing?” he whined.

“No,”

“But.” His mother gave him a look.

“Yes mamma.” He said resigned.

“So then, what are you, Lieutenant?”

“A fire forger, and call me Lealiah,”

“Okay, Lealiah...can you get this off of me?” Audrey gestured to her bound foot.

“Unfortunately, I can’t, the king commanded it,”

“The king?”

“Yes, he-” there was a knock at the door.

“The king’s scholars.” The guard answered.

“Speaking of which," Lealiah remarked to her, "Enter,” the lieutenant said to the guard outside. Audrey stood as a group of people filed in. There was man who was half horse, a tall man with pointed ears, a short woman with scales and dragon wings, and a man with tall opaque wings.

“General Aplin,” the lieutenant said with a nod to the fairy. The old man with the pointed ears stepped forward.

“I am Scholar Gilford,” he spoke with a deep voice, “and you must be Audrey Rivers.” Audrey nodded her head, unsure where this was going.

“If you don’t mind, we would like you to answer some questions.”

“Of course,” she conceded,

“Remind me what your species is called.”

“Mimics,”

“Mimics, I see. And what are your abilities?”

“We can change our form to someone that we see.”

“Someone? Could it be an object?”

“It has to be alive,”

“Are plants and animals included?”

“Not plants, but some animals, it would depend on how different it looked to how difficult it would be.”

“Can you change your clothes?”

“Only the strongest can, and only for a short time.”

“I see, and how many of you are there?”

“I know of about a thousand.”

“A thousand? Are you all together?”

“No, most of us are nomadic... but...” She stopped, her heart racing in her chest, she struggled to keep a neutral expression. She began to hope, hope that she wasn’t about to doom her race, that she wasn’t making a mistake in trusting these strange people. Hope that her people might be safe. Besides, the lieutenant had told her so, she just wished for to gather more information, but she was running out of time. For every minute that she spent away was another chance for her brethren to fall. It was time to tell the truth. “But there is a coalition.” Audrey finally said after a long moment. There was no going back now.

“A coalition?” the scholar echoed

“Yes, most mimics are connected to them somehow. It’s in place to protect us.”

“Protect you from what?”

“Whatever threatens us, which right now is hunters.”

“Hunters?” The scholar repeated, a habit Audrey found quickly becoming annoying.

“Yes, they hunt us down for our blood, because they think it’ll get them somethin’ cause of the color.”

“And remind me of what that color is.”

“It’s a silver hue.” The scholar’s quill danced across the parchment, marking everything that she said, she was sure.

“I see, and why not just disguise yourselves all the time then, if you are being hunted?” Audrey dug her nails into the palm of her hand, “Cause, we can’t hide our smell. They trained their huntin’ dogs to find us. Then they drain our blood, and take it for their own gain,” she said angrily, her hands becoming fists at her side.

“It’s why I’m here.” She took in a deep breath, and pinched herself for good luck, “I am a member of the Coalition, and I was sent to figure out if this place is the magical sanctuary it’s said to be.”

“It is.” All eyes turned to General Aplin as he suddenly spoke. His bright blue eyes met hers. “I can promise you, here you will never be hunted for what you are.” He indicated to his wings, “My people are safe here, and I am sure that yours can be too. We can bring them here; that’s what this island is for.” Audrey felt her heart beat faster than she thought possible, while she felt the wight on her shoulders lift. She had done it, she hoped, her people would be okay! She used her magic so no one could tell that tears were building in her eyes.

“Thank you.” She managed. She straightened up, looking around the room with the strangest assortment of creatures she had ever seen. She smiled. “When can we get started?”