The Underground City(71)

“Clara!” her mother sprang to her feet. “Clara? Where are you?”

“I’m still here, Mum,” Clara’s voice said, “Wow! I … I think I’ve just become invisible! This is fantastic! Neil! Lewis! Can you see me?” She reached out and Lewis jumped as he felt her hand grab his arm. It was the weirdest thing.

Neil’s heart lifted excitedly as he looked around, trying to see the slightest trace of Clara. “Come on, Neil,” her voice urged, “try yours on! It’s amazing! The magic rings make us invisible!”

She watched as Neil slipped his ring onto his finger and promptly vanished as well.

“Crumbs,” Neil said, walking round, “this is great! It gives you a strange feeling, though, doesn’t it? Everybody looks … not quite real, somehow.”

She nodded and then remembered that he couldn’t see her. “Yes,” she agreed, “it’s … well … magicky. I can’t see you at all now but I can see mum, dad and everyone else through a sort of gauze … like a thin veil.”

“Well, we can’t see you through a veil,” her father said. “We can’t see you at all — not even a shadow.”

“There are one or two things to remember about the rings,” the Sultan said with a smile, “but we’ll tell you all about them later. Nothing at all to worry about,” he assured them, catching a glimpse of Mrs MacLean’s face.

“Could you take the ring off, now, Clara,” her mother said, trying not to sound too concerned. “I want to see you appear again!”

“To see if it works both ways, you mean,” said Neil.

“Don’t worry about the children, Janet,” the Sultan smiled, “they’ll come to no harm.”

Clara pulled off her ring and, transferring it to the third finger of her right hand, materialized the minute the switch was made. “Thank you, your majesty,” she said, giving the Sultan a really delighted smile. “Honestly, I’ve never had a more wonderful present!”

“Absolutely brilliant,” agreed Neil as he, too, pulled the ring from his finger. Never, in his wildest dreams had he expected anything like this. Magic rings! They were truly wonderful gifts but what meant more to him was the fact that the Sultan was trusting them with real magic.

“What if we lose the rings, though?” Clara looked at the Sultan worriedly. Her mother was always getting on to her about being untidy.

“You won’t lose them,” the Sultan shook his head. “Prince Casimir and I have seen to that.”

Still thrilled at the thought of such a marvellous present, Neil spread his fingers and looked at it in wonder. He owned a magic ring! How cool was that!

Casimir now stood up and came forward. “I have a ring for you, too, Lewis,” he said kindly, handing him a similar box to the ones the Sultan had given Neil and Clara, “a different kind of ring, but equally useful!”

Lewis tore the wrapping paper off and, as Neil and Clara peered over his shoulder, opened the ring box carefully.

“How lovely,” Clara said. “It’s beautiful, Lewis!”

“Thank you, Prince Casimir,” Lewis said quietly, “thank you very much.” He knew just by looking at it that this was a very special ring and one that he would never be parted from. It was much more ornate than the silvery bands that decorated Neil and Clara’s fingers. It was a ring of tiny interlacing gold snakes.

Lord Rothlan raised his eyebrows as he and the MacArthur exchanged glances. They knew the significance of the ring even if Lewis didn’t.

“It’s a magic ring as well and,” Casimir added dryly, “you won’t ever lose it because I’ve hexed it to stay with you. I know how you leave things lying around all over the place.”

“Will it grant me wishes, like you did?” Lewis asked.

Casimir smiled. “No, but it will protect you from harm and if you are ever in dire trouble, Lewis, I will come to your aid.”

The sincerity in his voice brought tears to Lewis’s eyes and Casimir smiled as he slipped the ring on his finger.

As the MacLeans crowded round to admire Lewis’s ring, Casimir turned to look at Kitor. “I still have two presents to give,” he announced gravely, “and the first one is for Kitor.”

Kitor had been sitting very quietly on the Ranger’s shoulder all evening, trying to avoid Casimir’s glance. He knew the prince had noticed him and had asked about him for he’d seen him talking to Lord Rothlan and to Clara. They must have told him how he had lied to Prince Kalman to save Clara’s life. He hoped that Casimir understood that he just couldn’t have seen her killed by a thunderbolt.