Shiina abandoned her full chest form, spitting out the bags of gold, while striking at the guards holding her. The one on her right got the poisoned knife to the neck, killing him instantly, while the one on the left got brained by her shield. He tried to recover, but Shiina had his hand stuck to her. A quick flick of the knife ended that threat as well. Savory crimson burst over her as the man died in shock.

  The spray of coins had ended the other mimic's charge letting Shiina shift to face her kin in her preferred form. "Hey, so maybe we could talk this out. We're here to end the whole slavery thing so-."

  The mimic in front of her simply shifted to the side. A hammer headed pseudopod spun out of the mimic and slammed into her. Pain washed over Shiina as she tumbled end over end across the treasure room, skidding to a stop next to a trio of gold statues.

  Roar! Bite! her instincts screamed. She felt her body ripple with the need. But she forced that down and instead retrieved her shields. Shiina glared at her kin. "Why the hell are you loyal to these jerks? They're terrible people."

  "Loyalty? Pathetic. You're trying to become like the humanoids." The other mimic advanced. "I'm here because there's food. I surprise. I bite. I feast. That is the way of the mimic."

  The sheer contempt in the other mimic's voice shocked Shiina. But hot anger quickly replaced it. That thing was judging her? "Well you fucked surprise up already, so let's see how good you are in a real fight." She grabbed a gold cherub statuette and flung it at her foe.

  Her foe stupidly just hardened to take the hit. She smirked at it's grunt of pain. Then flinched back as a tendril hit her 'lid' "Fake human," the other mimic sneered as it used it's pseudopod to launch itself at her. Pain erupted in her side as another hammerblow slammed into her, then her enemy's jaw opened wide to cut her in half.

  "You're not a mimic, you're a box with teeth," Shiina hissed as she slammed her large shield down its throat. The impact gave a lovely crack as some teeth broke and dissolved away. She gave her foe another crushing blow for good measure.

  Her reward was another crack, before a hammerblow to her head sent her spinning to keep from losing the mass.

  The enemy mimic grabbed one of her humanoid arms and kept pulling her in a circle, pinning her shield arm and getting her away from the heavy objects lying around. Shiina could have abandoned her humanoid parts, but she forced herself to stay focused and whole. It was a matter of pride now. Instead she looked around for a good weapon. Her knife wouldn't do.

  She saw her chance just before another blow hit her. Shiina shook off the impact, then called up her nascent Technique. "Fishing Strike!"

  Her pseudopod lashed out over her foe, slapping into the face of a gold statue. With a hefty yank Shiina pulled it as hard as she could.

  The heavy statue was too big to move all on her own. But her tug had unbalanced it. Slowly at first, then increasingly quickly the statue leaned, then topped. Her foe had just enough time to realize the situation before the hunk of gold landed on it, shattering the fake wood and steel under its massive weight. The other mimic shuddered, then partially melted as it died.

  Shiina winced and stretched as silence fell over the vault. She had lots of bruises from the battle, but she'd won. Turning her attention back to the marble statue that was her target.

  The statue really was a work of art, depicting a halfling riding a lion in slightly larger than life size. Apparently it was the founder of the city, which is why his statues were used to power their enchantments. A careful look showed the many runes that controlled the whole thing. With time she could probably disarm all of them.

  Of course there were easier ways. Shiina fished out the bottle of acid she'd been given for the mission. A quick twist of the cap and then she merrily poured the liquid all over the statue's face and body. The spell required splendor, so as the face dissolved away and the fine engravings were pitted and damaged, the magic quickly died.

  That complete Shiina moved on to the next step. She recovered as many gold bags as she could without encumbering herself. Then she tossed a chunk of the gold out of the bags to shovel in some jewels, before heading back towards the doors. Along the way she saw a dress that looked like it might fit Delilah, so she grabbed that, along with a bolt of silk.

  She reached the doors and twisted the elaborate knob, but only half the bolts retracted. Shiina blinked at the barrier. "Who builds doors that can't be unlocked from the inside?" There had been guards posted here! Was this place really set up so they could get stuck and starve to death? Banging on the doors might get the outside guards to check, but there was obviously some kind of soundproofing, since no one noticed the fight she'd just had.

  A heavy clunk as the remaining bars suddenly retracted caused Shiina to pull herself to the side and shift to full chest form. Maybe someone had heard and they'd needed time to open up. Well the mess would be obvious, but hopefully they wouldn't send in too many guards.

  To her surprise the first thing through the door was the bloody corpse of a guard. "Oi! Mimic girl!" Hafsa walked in, covered in blood, to toss down the corpse of the other guard. "I know you aren't dead, because you're still my master. So let's fix that bullshit."

  Shiina popped up after a moment, "Wait, uh, what's going on now?"

  The catgirl kicked body aside and looked down at her. "You morons bought me, and then sultana enslaved the rest of your crew. Which means, as the only free member, you're my owner. Your friends told me the whole 'free the slaves' plan, so I suggest less gawking and more doing, 'master'."

  Shiina's head was spinning, but she could work with the bits she understood. "Uh, okay. We need to get to the top of the tower, and probably should avoid fighting all the guards. So can you clean off all that blood?"

  Hafsa looked down at the mess. "Point." She twisted a ring and the blood evaporated off. "Glad the sultana is obsessive about us looking clean at a moment's notice."

  Things were still moving fast, but that was probably good. If Shiina was confused everyone else had to be worse off! "So, slaves probably don't wear backpacks. What can I disguise myself as?"

  "Er, maybe a large basket?" Hafsa grimaced. "But I can't use my swords if I'm holding you."

  "Well we can't be stealthy if you've got a mimic walking next to you," Shiina replied before shifting to a basket similar to one of the few in the room. "Anyway, let me handle the stabbing." Her assassination ability would help more.

  Though that did bring up how had Hafsa killed the guards so cleanly? Maybe the woman had an assassination ability of her own.

  This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

  Hasfa hissed in annoyance but picked her up. "I suppose."

  As the catgirl carried her out Shiina wedged the inner lock and grabbed the key before shutting the doors. She handed it to the woman as a peace offering before going fully to basket form. Hasfa's eyes widened and her ears perked up, but she accepted the gift without comment.

  They began maneuvering through the lower floors, quickly bypassing the guards, both slave and free, before ending up in the slave quarters proper. The one place that wasn't covered in gold.

  Shiina wondered for a moment if they were going to meet up with Delilah and the others but Hafsa took her through the passages to a large spiral staircase. This had to be the bottom of the tower. The catgirl looked at the mass of steps before her, tail lashing, before starting up.

  They continued on for several floors before Hafsa spoke up again. "So how the hell did you end up in this plan?"

  "Work related. We either destroyed slavery or got in a really stupid fight," Shiina said. "My turn. What's with all the cursing? They can't like that." It seemed like something that would get a slave killed.

  "The bitch in charge ordered me to keep my foul language in check. Magically forced me to bite my tongue." Hafsa's grin turned predatory. "Now that it's gone I'm never keeping my mouth shut for trash like that again."

  Shiina could understand on some level, but her mimic instincts still shied away from it. "Might consider it for stealth missions."

  "Maybe." Her tail swished violently, but she did quiet down a bit. She whispered as they rounded another full circle. "Couple of guards two floors up. Then it's clear to the top." Shiina vibrated in understanding.

  Her mood soured when she found that 'a couple' of guards turned out to be four. All of them were in chain mail, with scimitars designed for indoors fighting. From the flick of Hafsa's ears, that was unusual. However she continued forwards like there was nothing wrong.

  "Stop. Why are you here?" a guard asked.

  "The sultana asked me to set up a spot for her," Hafsa said in a neutral voice. "She wanted to show the new slaves some 'flying lessons.'"

  The guard snorted, but shook his head. "Captain Rafesh said no one will be allowed up without his express permission. Go speak with him so he may consult with the sultana."

  "Competent bastard," Hafsa muttered under her breath. Shiina took that as a sign stealth was about to go poorly.

  Her dagger lashed out at the leader's neck, while her big shield struck the closest one. At the same time she slipped out of Hafsa's grasp and dropped to the floor. Surprise flooded the room.

  She pulled the dagger from the dying man's throat and went for her third target, but the man managed to step back. She had to slam the knife into his armpit, the point slowly pushing into the rings to deliver its deadly venom.

  She let her attention fall back to the other fighters. A shield bash kept the stunned man out of the picture, while she moved to parry the final guard's swipe with her buckler. The first blow was turned aside, but the man twisted his strike and stabbed. Once again pain hit her as the tip pierced into her side.

  The guard's cry of triumph turned to a shriek as a sword took off his hands at the wrists. Hafsa stepped past the man and with a spinning move clove through the heads of both that guard and the one fighting off Shiina's poison.

  Shiina took the opportunity to alternately bash and stab the last guy to death. She carefully sealed her wound, panting at the effort. "Well that sucked,"

  "Guard must be on alert because the tribes are gathering," Hafsa muttered. "Better finish this before the Captain realizes the dumb bitch of a sultana didn't question your friends at all and forces them to spill the whole story."

  "Sure thing!" Shiina said, hopping on Hafsa's back as a pack. "We'll have to think up a good move for the statue though."

  Hasfa's tail bristled. "You can't be serious. Why am I carrying you up the stairs?"

  Shiina slowly grinned. "Should I carry you?"

  "It'd be nice," the catgirl retorted.

  "Okay!" Shiina slipped off and scooted through the door. Checking the tower it was perfect for her goals. They'd stopped adding intermediate floors from here on, making the whole thing a spiral staircase with a railing overlooking the drop in the middle. "Let's go!" Hafsa was smart enough to realize Shiina was up to something, but the woman eventually just headed into the tower.

  Once they were both inside, Shiina tightened her hold on the catgirl and started doing the upward jump pulls that she'd used to help Delilah around. Hafsa yelped and latched on as Shiina yanked them upwards, jump by jump. It was a little tiring, especially with all her injuries. But it was also pretty fun!

  They came to a stop below the trap door to the top. Shiina turned her attention back to Hafsa. "Was that good?"

  To her surprise the catgirl smiled. "Fuck yeah! That was much better than the stairs." The woman's expression became more thoughtful as she looked up. "Right so we have to break the statue? You have something for that?"

  "Used it already. Gonna have to deface it the hard way," Shiina admitted.

  "Well, guess I'll get to try out my trick earlier than expected," Hafsa said before climbing up through the door. Curious, Shiina followed.

  The statue was a perfect copy of the one she'd defaced down in the vault, down to the runes. Or maybe this was the original? Either way it sat in the middle of the tower, surrounded by open space before the roof. She had to admit, the view was pretty amazing from up here, even without binocular vision. That must be why people were willing to go up all those stairs.

  Returning her focus to the statue, she saw Hafsa standing next to it, sword out. "Uh, I know you're good but isn't that a little too hard?"

  "Just gotta understand the stone right." Hafsa muttered. The woman centered herself, then gave a single clean cut.

  Blue sparks flared as magic hit magic, then quickly faded. The neatly bisected halfling figure slipped off the lion to hit the floor hard. Shiina winced as cracks covered the floor, but fortunately it only seemed to have damaged the tile up top, not the main structure.

  Shiina felt the magic in the city shift, then a moment later evaporated. The night seemed still, then screams started to sound from below. Hafsa gave a wicked laugh and snapped the thin slave collar around her neck. "Oh its time to have some fucking fun!" The woman looked at her. "Wanna join me?"

  Shiina shook her head. "I should probably find my friends. We're supposed to meet up at the base of this tower."

  Hafsa slowly nodded. "Okay, that's fair." She grinned. "Well I'll help you down, then start looking for some revenge."

  "Thanks!" Shiina hopped on her back. "Try not to die though. I figure it'll take a while for the local tribes to bust in and finish off the guards."

  "Don't worry about me. I've got plans," the catgirl said with a nasty smile.

  Clever readers will notice big massive enchantments that can cover cities seem very similar to prophecies. Things like 'so long as the founder is venerated, slaves will serve,' or 'the walls will never fall so long as brave men defend the gate.' This has two reasons.

  The first is that a lot of prophets and fortune tellers were the best mages in the old days and they were quite willing to make sure their prophecies came true via direct action. They had declared what would happen, and were willing to spend lots of time and effort to make sure they were correct. So a lot of ancient prophecies have a spell attached to them.

  The second is since most people designed massive enchantments around prophecies, those are the best researched. Tying your massive enchantment to a legend, prophecy, or other saying means you don't need to worry about time wearing down the runes, or some rogue disarming it like a trap. The magic just 'is.'

  The downside of course is that when you tie your magic to ethereal things, weird quirks of language can cause problems. Nonsense like how the walls of Perphia fell when the last brave man at the gate was killed by an arrow, even though there were plenty of brave women there.

  This is why the multiple item path for large enchantments has started to gain ground. It's more expensive, but generally impossible to just cheat via reinterpreting the spell. And if properly defended can be just as effective.

  All to say, Al Jirtea's system was stupid not because they put their spell in statues, but because they only had three; the things had to be in 'important' places; and because slave soldiers is just a dumb idea. A really dumb idea. And that's why their city state got destroyed.