Chapter 35

“So, how is it that one minute I couldn’t see the bus and the next I could?” Nena asked.

“How did you ignore the go-away spell?” Tom asked Nena instead of answering her question.

Nena frowned and then said sarcastically, “Right, of course, you used magic spells to hide the bus. How silly of me not to realise that in my delirium.”

“How are you feeling right now?” Tom asked as he nodded his head towards her right wrist where Nena was absentmindedly rubbing the medical band.

Nena looked down at the band and then fiddled with it. She knew that she hadn’t been wearing it the day before. It was an odd sort of bracelet and not one that she would have picked as a fashion item. She also had this very weird feeling that she shouldn’t take it off, or at least not just yet.

She sucked in a breath and realised her chest didn’t hurt so much anymore. Her nose wasn’t stuffy, nor was her throat sore. Her head felt remarkably clear, as was her thinking. “What does it do?” she had to ask.

“It is a medical bracelet. The spells help you fight off viruses and such,” Tom told her truthfully.

“Geez, you could make millions, no billions if you made and sold these bands,” she gasped as she looked at the fairly simple blue band with the silver clasp.

“Sorry, but the logistics say otherwise. For one thing, each band has a very special crystal embedded in it. They aren’t found here on Earth to my knowledge. While I have some spares, I don’t have enough to make seven hundred bracelets let alone seven billion.”

“Also, the time required to spell the bracelets is such that I’d barely make a dent in even Australia’s population in a year, even if I did nothing else but eat, sleep, shower and shit.”

“To my knowledge, the number of incantations required can’t be mass-produced like a car or a vaccine. Well, at the least, I can’t do it, even at my current level. Queen Lee might be able to, but she isn’t here, and I haven’t found a spell to work at that magnitude.”

“I do have some potions that don’t need many spells, but even so, some of the ingredients may not meet the stringent requirements of the Australian Health Department even if the recipes have been around for thousands of years.”

Nena giggled and then looked at Tom’s wry smile. “You’re deadly serious, aren’t you?”

Tom sighed dramatically, “So what could I possibly do to convince you that I’m a wizard?”

Nena frowned again. “Well, what sort of ‘Wizard’ are you?” she asked with quotations by using her fingers.

“Now that is a better question. Hum, Tron told me that I’m called a High Paladin. Apparently, that’s somewhat like a wizard in abilities, but I don’t serve a Lord Wizard. Paladins serve a Queen Wizard. Apparently, we are supposed to be some sort of protector for our Queen.”

“So which Queen Wizard do you serve?”

Tom grinned from ear-to-ear, “Buggared if I know. Queen Lee said I wasn’t one of her Paladins and she didn’t think that I currently had a Queen. Someday I’ll probably have to find someone to fill that vacancy.”

“I’ll explain wizardry hierarchy to you some other time. For now, I have a self-appointed task that I need to conclude, and it doesn’t involve me serving another wizard.”

“What, work out how to get rich - quick, by sucking in gullible females?” sneered Nena.

“No, I need to perfect my medical skills. I’ve done some training as a magical healer, but I really need to perfect my non-magical skills to better understand how to use my magical ones and when. I made a promise to heal a little girl that has some terrible injuries, and I will do it.”

“It will probably take me the next eight to ten years of medical school and training to get to that level. However, I always keep my promises. It also feels right to me to do this, so here I am at a crossroads in my life.”

“You are one very strange cat,” Nena muttered.

“True, but I’m cute, and house trained,” Tom said and wiggled his eyebrows at Nena.

Nena had to chuckle.

Nena knew that she too was at a crossroads.

“So, let’s just say I buy your story, Mr White Wizard. How are you going to stop me telling all and sundry what you are?”

Tom sighed, “Honestly, I can only really see a couple of options. The safest one is that I hypnotise you so that when you step out of this bus you have no knowledge of me, and you go on with your life.”

“That is fair enough. However, you may have difficulty hypnotising me. I’ve had other people try and fail, even a so-called professional,” Nena warned Tom.

Tom nodded, “I had a feeling that this may be the case since you can see through my glamours. I suspect you have some latent magical abilities yourself, even if you didn’t know it. My friend Monte, who used to be my chauffeur, told me that he had seen glimpses of it here in some of the people.”

“You had a chauffeur?” Nena asked unbelievingly.

“Well, he was really my bus driver and tour guide. He is a Prince on his world, and I didn’t want him to feel demeaned by having to ferry me about while I had an impromptu holiday,” Tom replied.

He knew he was confusing Nena. He was being a bit naughty because he loved watching all of the expressions that flittered across her lovely face. She had such dramatic eyes.

Nena blinked several times at this off-handed statement. “So why isn’t this Monte fellow, your chauffeur anymore?”

“Well, I was able to help him fix his medical problems and a plague on his world. Being a Prince, it just didn’t sit right with me to keep Monte bonded to me as my driver. Helping rule a nation and having two wives and three kids means that he has enough responsibilities at home as it is.”