Prendergrasswas watching her body reactions and facial expressions carefully inthe mirror. It was time to act. He put down the fine porcelain cupand said.
‘I dare sayyou’d like to kill me but you can’t move because you’re whole bodyfrom the neck down is paralysed.’ and she found it was.
‘My goodnessyour gown has disappeared.’ and it did and she was naked.
‘Now what doyou see in the mirror.’
‘I see the uglybitch you turned me into. I see the bruises and bite marks of thebastards that tortured me and I’ll get even with you no matterwhat.’ said Miranda with vengeance in her voice.
‘Good.’ saidthe wizard. ‘You’re nearly there. Now look down to your right hand.You’ll see a small pebble. It has quite remarkable powers.’
‘Now use it toeliminate all those unsightly marks and bruises.’
Mirandaconcentrated on the stone and slowly all the marks and bruisesdisappeared.
‘Now changeyour appearance back to what it was before I made you ugly.’
Sheconcentrated and miraculously her features changed to her originalform. She was back to her beautiful self again. Then she suddenlythought that if the stone was powerful enough to do all thesethings it could probably break the paralysis power that held her.She concentrated on the stone and her limbs became normal again.She spun around intending to attack him but stopped dead in hertracks. He just sat there looking at her sipping his tea.
‘You’re veryattractive naked. You look just like your mother.’
Miranda wassuddenly embarrassed and imagined that she still had the robe onand it appeared.
‘I’d prefer itoff.’ said the wizard and it disappeared again.
‘Damn youwizard!’ screamed Miranda. ‘It’s staying on,’ and the robe appearedover her body again.
‘If you disobeyme, I’ll take away the magic pebble.’ said the wizard and itdisappeared.
‘No you won’t.’said Miranda and to her surprise the pebble reappeared in hersweaty hand.
‘Bravo.’ saidthe wizard clapping his hands. ‘You have mastered the main elementsof the illusion. Now use the pebble to erase the terrible ordealthat you suffered the last two nights. It didn’t happen. It was allan illusion.’
Her mind froze.It was all an illusion. The memories came flooding back. Her motherSnowbelle had repeatedly warned her about how powerful theillusions could be in Moonmist. She had never listened. She thoughther mother was exaggerating. Now she had experienced it firsthand.It was all so real.
‘No.’ shereplied. ‘I won’t erase it. I want those memories as a constantreminder of how powerful illusions can be in this place. I don’twant to ever have to go through anything like that again.’
‘Are you sure?’queried the wizard. ‘It may affect how you relate to men in thefuture.’
‘Yes. I’m sure.I’ve never really related well with men anyway. I guess it’s due tohaving a nymph for a mother. She kills every man that gets nearher.’
‘It must behard to have a boyfriend. You could never take him home to meetyour mother.’
‘Yes. It hasbeen hard until recently. Then I discovered this lovely bear. He’sso brave and courageous. Mum likes him too and he’s immune to hercharms.’
‘Ha ha ha.’laughed the wizard. ‘Very pretty and a sense of humour too.Wonderful. I couldn’t have wished for more. I’ve heard that she’snot too keen on wizards.’
‘Yes.’ repliedMiranda walking over to the wizard and sitting down at the table.‘I’ve never quite understood that. She’s said several times thatthere’s never been a wizard born that you can trust but I’ve neverfound out why she hates them so much. You wouldn’t happen to knowwould you?’
‘Er. No. Iwouldn’t have a clue. Now back to the present situation. The pebbleis an illusion.’
‘What?’ saidMiranda suddenly panicking ‘How can it be. It cured me.’
‘No. The pebblewas only a token. It represented your willpower. By concentratingon the pebble you were able to manipulate the illusion to yourwishes. Imagine it gone and it will disappear.’
‘Remember thatI cast two effects on you. One was a polymorph to change yourfeatures and the other a glamour to give you the dragonflypersona.
The glamour isactually quite powerful and permanent unless you dispel it. Itallows you to change your image to suit your mood. Many of theElendari women wear these glamours like you would wear clothes onMudrun. In actual fact you are naked. The robe you are wearing andthe Dragonfly body are the glamour covering you in the illusion youwish to display.’
‘Can you seethrough it?’ asked Miranda both curious and a little shocked.
‘Yes, if Ichoose to. However, I’ve grown accustomed to seeing pretty womenand so will all the other Elendari men and women. They may sneak apeek at your real looks but will prefer to see your Dragonflypersona.’
‘Did theglamour cause those terrible events last night?’
‘No that wascaused by an hallucinogenic drug in the food and that mirrorsuspended over your head. Once you had eaten, it only took a coupleof simple suggestions to you and your mind and the mirror ofillusions took over. You created your own nightmares in your ownpersonal Chamber of Horrors.’
‘On Moonmistthe plants get very little light to grow. So most of the edibleplants use hallucinogenic chemicals in their leaves and fruits tolimit what eats them. People from Mudrun are very vulnerable tothese compounds although given a few months you will develop aresistance like the Elendari and myself.’
‘So this is anillusion.’ she replied and thought of Aquitain and a small greenbear appeared in her hand. It flew down to the floor and grew to afull size bear standing only two paces away from him growling.
His eyes turnedgolden.
‘So that’s howyou did it. Remarkable! You created an illusory defender to wardoff any attacking illusions. I wasn’t aware that you were anillusionist as well as a druid.’ he replied.
‘I’m not. Imean I didn’t know I could create illusions.’ she replied as shedismissed the illusion of the bear.
‘Illusions aremental images that take on a magical presence that can be seen byothers. If those others are not aware that they are illusions thenthey can be influenced by them. Here on Moonmist where the magic isstrong the illusions seem much more real.’
‘Fearfulillusions can be great weapons reducing people’s ability to thinkstraight, causing them to panic, freeze or flee. Benevolentillusions can boost courage and morale. Illusions can be used fordefence. An illusory wall in front
