Rillan

Illusionist at Large

From the notes of Caarad Surestrider, submitted to Borrum Binbalik for his work "On the Bearers of Akasha".

I caught up to the Illusionist Rillan while he was giving a 'free' performance on a Throalic street corner. Finding him in Throal was unusual enough, given the fact that he was an elf. But when I located him on that street corner, I halted in my steps, for I only saw a head, one which I wasn't sure belonged to the proper race, given the shaggy black hair which initially covered his ears. But with a flourish he tossed his iridescent hair back and flared his cloak, and suddenly the rest of him was there. I'm not sure I believed my eyes initially. But out of nowhere, a small bowl appeared and dropped to his feet.

With a twist of his fingers a coin appeared in his grasp, and it too dropped, landing noisily in the bowl, its clink sounding as solid as a real coin. Of course, it might have been a real coin. My dealings with Illusionists have not been many, but I have heard about their interchanging real and false magics, to keep the crowd on its toes.

I got the sense that the trick was a cheap parlor one for Rillan, but as the crowd applauded, it seemed that almost a dozen more voices sprung up around it. I found myself looking around for the body whose voice had shouted "Again!", but was disappointed. It was nowhere to be seen. Still, the elven Illusionist bowed to it and repeated the trick. This coin fell into the bowl beside its mate.

Then the elf crouched, as though poised for danger. His eyes looked around wildly for some enemy, and I found mine doing the same. He put a finger to his lips and the crowd hushed instantly, waiting for what would come next. Silently, he waved a hand, gesturing for the crowd to back away. I remember the dwarfs pushing me backwards and almost knocking me over in their eagerness to obey the Adept, to see what would come next.

Rillan's hands moved deftly, and suddenly there were four of him. Four, then three, as the original faded before my eyes when the elf pulled his hood over his face. The copies looked around, back to back, in identical poses to what the original's had been. Still no one saw any threat.

And then the creatures appeared, from behind a pillar, around a corner--I swear that one appeared behind me and crawled between my legs, headed for the elves in the middle of the crowd. Thankfully it ignored me--I remember watching the creatures' oversized fangs gnash as they approached the trio in the middle. They outnumbered the duplicates more than three to one.

Then the magical blasts came through the air and fried six of the beasts before they could get close enough to attack. One leapt at each of the duplicates, biting savagely. One by one, the illusory elves vanished, taking their opponents with them. The final creature looked around it, confused, realizing it was cornered by the crowd. In fear, it tried to leap away, over the heads of the watching dwarfs.

It landed right in front of a black-haired elf who hadn't been there a moment before. He pointed at it, yelled "Stop!" and the creature froze. The elf walked up to it and petted it on the head, then passed it and walked through the crowd, back to where he had initially disappeared. The creature followed like a pet.

Rillan bowed, flaring his cloak. I saw bright colors shimmer on it that hadn't been there a moment before, I'm sure of it, and as the audience applauded the creature vanished, like its fellows before it. Coins flew through the air, landing in the bowl and around it. I found myself throwing several silver in along with them.

Slowly the crowd dispersed, obviously wanting more. I waited for a minute, then approached him. He scooped the bowl up, emptying the contents into a money pouch, then hid the bowl within his cloak. As I drew near to him, I realized what I hadn't noticed before, while he was surrounded by dwarfs. He was very short for an elf. Still with the slim dextrousness that one expects of the race and more, but he looked almost frail.

Especially when he wiped wearily at his brow, showing his exhaustion for a second. Then the showman's mask went up again as he smiled at me. His pale pale grey eyes met mine as he said, "A drink? I'm thirsty." He slapped me on the back as he started walking.

It wasn't what I'd expected, somehow. I'd just seen the man battle indescribable creatures. Illusions of creatures. Illusions of the man battling illusions of creatures. I must have appeared thoroughly confused, because he said, over his shoulder as he walked to a nearby tavern, "You're not supposed to know what's real, sir. Or else I wouldn't be doing my job." I quickly caught up with him, pulling my notebook from my pack.

I started to say something about the strain caused by making illusions, but I stopped, seeing nothing but strength and confidence on the man's face. Had he been at all tired by the display? He laughed, seeming to again know what I was thinking.

We entered the tavern and he found an empty table. The server was there instantly to take drink orders. She smiled at him as he pulled out a money pouch and dropped it on the table. The server was pretty enough that I confess it took me almost a minute to notice that it was my pouch on the table! I made a noise and smiled, trying to appear relaxed.

He watched me silently, his expression humiliatingly amused as he noted my discomfort. Was the pouch an illusion? Surely he couldn't have taken it off of me without me noticing. I sipped my drink as he ordered a dish of fruit and gleefully paid with the money from the pouch--my pouch! Finally my hand dropped to my side to find my money gone. I looked up at him so suddenly that I spilled my drink.

He only chuckled. "You'll have to be quicker than that to find out the secrets of this Illusionist, my friend," he laughed. "Remember that sometimes the illusion is the illusion. If you don't, next time you may lose more than a few coppers. The next course would have been Skeorx steak." He wiped his eyes, which had begun tearing up with his mirth.

He caught his breath as he flared his cloak. "I hope this has given you enough to write about, good sir." I choked briefly on my drink as a flying carpet--a flying carpet!--unwrapped itself from around him and moved to hover near him. He stood and stepped on it, seating himself comfortably as it raised him to eye level to me. "Otherwise you'll have to catch my next show."

The carpet flew out the door, and I heard him shout behind him, "And next time I *will* order the Skeorx!"

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Last Updated 05/28/98 by Paul

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