No way, she was a Fox Deer this whole time?! A freaking Queen no less?! I need to calm down, I need to calm down, calm the heck down! I screamed in my mind. She doesn't know you know yet. Act as natural as you can and make a plan, she could have killed you six ways from Sunday by now but she hasn't yet. She hasn't killed you yet, don't give her a reason to drop her act just yet. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, even though doing that left me wide open I had to make things look as natural as possible.
"Well we have water here, so maybe we can see if there is any fish we can hunt in the lake?" I suggested calmly after opening my eyes. "By the way I don't know your name and I can't keep referring to you as girl in my head." Her eyes widened slightly and then she closed them and started to laugh again. I could not figure this beast out, I mean we should be hunting each other not conversing like this. Father had said they would use any trick in the book to devour us, I should have caught on last night when I appraised them. Kinda was a bit hard to concentrate though I mean we were being slaughtered by these things. Now I not only healed one but I was pretending to not even realize I was in one's presence.
She stopped laughing and wiped her eyes. If my Detection wasn't so high or my appraisal I would have seriously thought this was a Hellcat from my village. Cocking her head to one side she replied slowly, "You know I've met many Hellcats over the years, none of them have been able to see through my Mimic as fast as you have. Your a special one that's for sure. It would be a shame to just eat you now." She had a genuine look of intrigue on her face however her words made my blood run cold. How did she know I knew?! I couldn't help my reaction showing on my face and that set her off into another giggle fit. "My dear child your WAY too easy to read, also add that to the fact that I'm a magical beast. We can tell when we are being appraised. You don't have to be so on guard though, if I had wanted you dead you and I both know I could have killed you in several different ways. You honestly did save me though that wasn't a trick. I also really was injured by that trap those traitors set for me."
Wait what? Traitors? Did I step into some kind of Fox Deer politics or something? They were beasts for Pete's sake! Magical yes, but beasts nonetheless. I felt as if my world just turned upside down and I had to sit down to process it. She watched me sit, and slowly did the same thing.
"Look I know you may not believe me because I'm sure you Hellcats have labeled us as cunning tricksters," here she pauses and gives me a pointed look. "However despite that truth there is more to us than what you may think. It's true Hellcats and Fox Deer have hunted each other ever since the first Hellcat moved to the edge of Drakemere Forest. However we Fox Deer as a species have lived in this forest and protected it from humans, demi humans, and demons for centuries." She waited for me to digest her words for a second before continuing. "When Hellcats moved to the outskirts of our land and began hunting us as a right of passage we felt compelled over the years to do the same. We would always only send out as many Fox Deer cubs as there were Hellcats to make things fair. However one year things changed, an unknown being had found itself in our woods. We couldn't tell what race it was, only that it seemed to come in peace. I told you Fox Deer protect the forest, we live in harmony in a sort of circle of life with the other species of the forst never taking too much of our share of prey. We gaurd over a specific Flower field that holds great power for Drakemere, infact it's those flowers that which has given our home it's very name. They are called Drakemeres. They only grow in this forest and it is why that stranger had come. They wanted the flowers, they heard some weird legend that if one ate a single petal from a Drakemere they could attain almost Dimond class in an instant. We wouldn't take him to them of course so he went crazy and started hunting not only us but our main staple of food source the horned rabbit until there were barely any left. This drove a majority of us crazy and we split into two groups. Ones wanting to continue on how things were being respectful of the circle of life and those that wanted to just eat to fill their bellies and kill for the pleasure of it. That day two factions of Fox Deer were formed, the light and the dark. The ones that attacked you as soon as you entered the forest were the dark, they didn't respect the tradition of at least waiting the two week period before hunting you. You were easy prey and they knew it, it was disgraceful, you didn't have a fighting chance at all. Where was the honor in that?"
My mind was racing with the brain dump. If that was the case then that means we were actually given a chance to fight fairly with these magical beasts after gaining control over our wings and polishing our skills. However something still didn't seem right. Why had she mimicked a Hellcat and pretended she was one of us when I first met her? Why was she even now still in the form of that Hellcat? Something wasn't right, my Detection was still going off but I could only breath lightly to try and ignore it. I did however want to know more about her skill mimic. Deb can you tell me more about the skill mimic?
[Confirmed. Mimic is a skill that primarily magical beasts use to get closer to their prey to trick and eat them. However for the skill mimic to work the beast would need to kill and consume the target they wish to mimic. ]
So she had had to have killed one of us to look the way she does now. Was this why I felt weird? Was this the reason why Detection was still making my hackles raise?
The Fox Deer Queen caught on to my inner turmoil but she didn't say anything instead her body began to immet an intense light. Her whole body was shinning when suddenly it looked like her body had become playdough and was being molded into another shape. An intensely bright piece of playdough that almost reminded me of that one show from Saturday morning cartoons were creatures evolved after you caught them. Suddenly I was looking at the most beautiful monster I've ever laid eyes on.