Arriving at Mount Illuso early the following morning, King Umb and Queen Ra passed the day secluded in the secret cavern where the Queen was accustomed to study the dark sorcery of the Erbs and practice her evil magic. This cavern was so well hidden, far in the depths of Mount Illuso, and its location was so closely guarded, that only a few of the most faithful subjects of the Mimic King and Queen were aware of its existence.
While Queen Ra's shape was that of a woman, her body was covered with a heavy fur of a reddish-brown color, and her head was that of a fox with a long snout and sharply pointed ears. Two green eyes blazed with a fierce light from her furry face. In her hand the fox-woman held a brass whistle on which she blew a shrill blast. In answer to this summons came the Mimic known as Ebo. Ebo wore the body of a jackal with the head of a serpent.
"Go to the Cave of the Doomed and bring the two prisoners to me at once," the Queen commanded.
"Yes, your Highness," hissed Ebo as he swayed his serpent head in obeisance and left the cavern.
"We might as well have a little fun while we wait for midnight," grinned the fox head of the woman evilly.
King Umb appeared as a great, grey ape with cloven hoofs and the head of a man. From the center of his forehead projected a single horn. The man-face was covered with a shaggy, black beard which fell to the hairy chest of the ape-body.
"What do you intend doing with the girl and the man?" asked the grey ape.
"I shall practice transformations on the man, giving him a number of unusual shapes and then perhaps combine them all into one interesting creature. It is amazingly easy to change the shapes of humans, so it will not be much of a feat of magic. Then, just before we leave for the Emerald City, I shall change him into a salamander—a green salamander instead of the ordinary red kind, of course, since he is from the Emerald City—and then when we are over the Deadly Desert I shall drop him into the sands. Salamanders are the only creatures that can exist in the desert, so it will really be a merciful fate, since it will not stop him from living."
