A few minuteslater, the door was opened and an old wizard and a couple of thedungeon guards walked in. He asked the guards to leave him andattend their duties then casually walked over to Miranda.
‘Hello there,my name is Prendergrass. I’m going to remove your hood so that wecan get to know each other. I hope you’re as pretty as the lastone. Now she really put up a fight. It took me considerable effortto tame her.’
Regardless ofthe rising fear she felt, Miranda held still as she wanted to getrid of the hood. It was such an indignity. Hunters put hoods onwild animals to pacify them. They were treating her as if she wasan animal. Darkmantle hadn’t even bothered to look his captive inthe face. She was worth less than his wyvern. Now this bastardwanted to see her face. He probably wanted to gloat as she screamedunder the pain of his torture.
Prendergrasscarefully removed the hood cutting away some of Miranda’s fieryhair caught in the hastily tied knot which held the hood in place.He was getting old. His hands weren’t as steady as they used to beand lately he was starting to feel a little guilty about howDarkmantle was treating Newman captives from Mudrun.
Ever since hisNewman druidess wife had run out on him Darkmantle had becomeobsessed with Mudrun. The young Lord felt that she had made him thelaughing stock of all the other Elendari Lords. He wanted MudrunNewmans to suffer. He wanted vengeance on her and all her kind forthe indignity she had placed upon him. It had unbalanced him. Hewas turning dark and that was bad for all those in his employmentincluding Prendergrass.
As the hoodslid off, Miranda’s eye’s tried to compensate for the new lightingconditions. She saw the old mage stagger back a few steps, thecolour drained from his face and he looked at her as though she wassome type of hideous monster. She wondered what could have causedsuch a reaction.
‘Has anyoneother than the young Huntmaster seen you child.’ he said, thenhastily walked over to the small barred window in the cell door tosee if anyone was watching.
Satisfied thatthey were alone he came back for a closer look. He pulled herstraggling hair back and peered at her face.
‘Remarkable!’‘Tell me quickly, has anyone seen your face?’
‘No.’ noddedMiranda a little confused.
‘Why? What’s soimportant about my face?’ she thought.
The old wizardlooked a little thoughtful for a moment then said
‘Of course,you’ve probably never seen your mother’s face have you.’
‘You have onlyknown Snowbelle as your mother.’ and he pulled out a locket thatwas held on a fine silver chain around his neck. He opened thelocket and thrust it in her face for her to see. It was a smallpicture of Miranda.
‘This is apicture of your mother when she lived here. You look almostidentical to her. I should know. I saw her every day for almostthree years and had many discussions with her before her suddendeparture.’
‘I don’tbelieve you,’ thought Miranda. ‘This is some type of trick, somenasty sadistic joke that you’re trying to pull on me.’
‘I’ve alwaysbeen afraid of the fateful day when you’d follow in your mother’sfootsteps, lured by the physical beauty of the Elendari only todiscover the truth that they are hideous, heartless monsters on theinside.’ said the wizard.
‘I can tell youquite categorically that almost anyone here will recognize yourface immediately and if Darkmantle were to know about you he willsurely torture you to death in the most excruciating and painfulway he can devise as a way of getting back at Snowbelle for thehumiliation she caused him.’
‘But why wouldyou care about me?’ thought Miranda her mind suddenly realizingthat this old wizard might be telling the truth and if so she couldfind out many answers to questions her mother would not answer.
‘Not now,’ saidthe wizard as if reading her thoughts.
‘I’ll tell youmore later. We have to change your appearance or you’re dead. I’mgoing to replace the hood and take you to my place. I’ll get thattongue healed too so that you can speak. The new Huntmaster isalways cutting out tongues. The bastard thinks he’s in some type ofcompetition with the old Huntmaster.’
Prendergrasscarefully replaced the hood and called for the guards to releaseher in his care. Once outside the dead magic area, he teleportedthe two of them to his rooms. He led her through a doorway setbehind a bookcase into a secret room where he took off her hoodagain. The first thing that Miranda saw was a large painting ofherself or more correctly her mother dressed in beautiful clothesseated on a chair the size of a throne. To her left was the pictureof a Lord dressed as if for a coronation.
‘That, my dearis a picture of your mother when Lord Darkmantle assumed hisfather’s title after his father’s untimely death. It would havebeen a much more joyous occasion except for the fact that everyonebelieved that your mother had poisoned old Lord Darkmantle.’
Miranda nodded.‘So what he was saying was true,’ she thought as she looked at thepainting.
‘Oh I canassure you she would poison him and probably did.’ saidPrendergrass as he walked over to an old wooden cupboard andwithdrew some small items from a drawer.
‘She reallyseemed to love Darkmantle.’
‘Here’s yourmother’s hairbrush and these are a pair of small booties that yourmother knitted for you out of nymph hair. She never did tell me whyand it was rather ironic that when she died The Lady reincarnatedher as a nymph.’
Even with atongue Miranda would have been speechless. This wizard knew herreal mother before she had died and obviously had great admirationfor her. What else could he tell her?
‘It isimperative that we change your appearance for both our sakes. Iwish to cast some very powerful polymorph magic on you that willalter your appearance semi permanently. It will also heal yourtongue at the same time. That way no healer will get a look at yourface. Later, when the time is right I’ll change you backagain.’
‘Now are youwilling to trust me?’
‘Yes.’ noddedMiranda a little frightened but with little choice.
‘Good. Now I’mgoing to make you look like an ugly hag, then
