A Magician's Quest: The Water Spells

      She preferred taking walks through the castle gardens, braiding daisy chains and frolicking with the small Earth Faeries that dwelled in the flowers. But there was something else she wanted, something more. She wanted to learn the ancient art of magic.

      The Earth Faeries knew it was forbidden for them to help her; they had been ordered by Queen Fyora not to teach their secrets, so they steered clear of that minefield. Emily went on with her life, knowing full well there was no way she could learn magic without being punished. However, that was all about to change...

***

      It was a beautiful morning in Meridell. The sun had just barely begun to rise and sunbeams reflected off the dewdrops on the flowers. Most people pegged Meridell as gross, but once you took a minute to look at it, it was quite beautiful.

      "What are you doing, Lady Emily?" asked a small voice. Emily had been sitting on one of the castle turrets when her Water Faerie friend flew up to her. It was a little known fact that Water Faeries had the ability to fly without the use of magical wings.

      "I'm just... watching the sun rise." Emily sighed. She removed her tiara and set it down next to her. "You know I've never liked being royalty."

      "Being a Faerie isn't all it's cracked up to be, either. You're constantly worried about Balthazar trying to catch you!" The Faerie, named Wendy, laughed.

      Emily smiled. At least she had loving parents and a wonderful home.

      "Hey! Look at that silly squire!"

      Emily peered over the edge and saw a small speck that looked a lot like a Blue Lupe. He ran around madly, his arms full of shields.

      "It looks like he's in charge of supplying weapons to the guards," mumbled Emily thoughtfully. Wendy leaned over the side too, just to get a better look.

      Suddenly the wind seemed to shift. It blew fiercer and Emily's hair flew up over her face. With a loud cry, she toppled over the side and plummeted towards the moat below.

      "Emily!!"

      It all happened so fast Emily didn't have time to think. All she could feel was numbness. The last thing she saw before blacking out was the Lupe squire, running towards the moat.

***

      "Oh, where am I?" moaned Emily. She craned open her eyes to see she was lying on her back on the grass.

      "Phew! I was worried King Skarl would have my head for letting you drown!"

      Emily opened her eyes wider and the Lupe squire hovering over her. "What happened?"

      "Eh, you fell off the castle. I fished you out of the moat before there was any real damage done," replied the Lupe, shrugging his shoulders.

      "What's your name?" asked Emily.

      "Me? Oh, I'm Darren. But most people call me, 'Hey you! Bring me my lunch!'"

      Emily giggled. This squire was very funny.

      "Do you need any help?"

      "No that's okay," replied Emily, wringing the water out of her hair.

      "Emily!" The Kyrii looked up to see her Faerie friend floating down in an orb of blue light. "Emily, I thought you were a goner!" whimpered Wendy.

      "Whoa! A Faerie! I've never even seen these before!" cried Darren, grabbing the faerie by her tail.

      "Hey! Let me go!" growled Wendy. Emily quickly snatched her away.

      "Don't touch her!"

      "Sorry, sorry! Didn't mean to cause any harm," said Darren, throwing his hands in the air.

      Emily smiled. She was beginning to like this squire. "Would you like me to show you around Meridell Castle?" she asked, gesturing towards the great palace gates.

      Darren nodded eagerly. It seemed like a good idea.

      Soon the three friends were strolling through the corridors and Emily was pointing out every little detail. "This is a painting of Sir Fladderbobom and-"

      "Did you say 'flabberbottom'?" Darren snickered.

      Emily put her hands on her hips. "Aren't you even the LEAST bit impressed?"

      "What's so impressing about it?" asked Darren nonchalantly. Emily opened her mouth to explain when Darren continued. "Why do people get so impressed over a big palace? It's not different than any other house. It's made of the same things by the same people with the same purpose. There is no real difference."

      Emily opened her mouth again but closed it. He was right. Emily sighed and leaned against the wall.

      "I never wanted this life. I want adventure, I want excitement. I also want to learn magic. Sadly though, that is forbidden for me." She sighed again. Darren tapped his chin thoughtfully.

      "You know, I've heard a legend of one particular book that contains all the secrets and spells of the Faeries."

      Emily's ears perked up. "Really? Tell me more! Where is it?" she demanded.

      "Queen Fyora's palace chambers," replied the Lupe.

      Emily felt like she had deflated. Now there was really no hope.

      "Good news for you, she destroyed it and scattered the spells throughout Neopia."

      That was all Emily needed to hear. "Well, what are we waiting for?" she asked. "The Shenkuu Lunar festival?" She quickly grabbed Darren's hand and dragged him to her chambers.

      "All right, we have everything we need. Water, provisions, rope, cloth," said Emily. However, it didn't look like her. She had shed her royal garb and replaced it with an old potato sack and some pants sewn together from old pieces of cloth nobody used anymore. She looked just like a simple Meridellian villager.

      "Are you sure you want to do this?" asked Wendy. "King Skarl will send out his best knights to look for you."

      "Good riddance to those knights! I've been working in this castle for five years now and I haven't received a single knighthood!" scoffed Darren, shouldering his knapsack.

      Wendy folded her arms across her chest. "Well, if you two are going to kill yourselves, I may as well come along," she grumped. Emily and Darren just smiled.

***

      The sun was beginning to set and Wendy was riding on top Emily's head. Emily pushed aside a branch as they tramped through the dark woods of Meridell. Darren followed behind, his eyes darting every which way. In the distance, they could hear the howls of Doglefoxes.

      "They found out I'm not there," whispered Emily.

      "I told you King Skarl would send out his knights," hissed Wendy. Suddenly Emily went sprawling to the ground.

      "Ow! Something tripped me!" she cried, wiping the dirt off her pants. She turned around and saw a root sticking out of the ground. What was that wrapped around it, though? Emily cautiously removed the paper and read it over. "It's one of the spells!" she cried gleefully.

      "Read it! Read it!" exclaimed Darren.

      "Acara, Shoyru, Lutari, Quiggle,

      "They each all have the gift of life...."

      Wendy crossed her fingers.

      "And if that gift is taken away,

      "Give it back to them this day!" Suddenly pale blue tendrils of smoke curled out from the paper and around Emily's fingertips. It spread up her arms and began to wrap around her whole body. "Guys! Help me!" she cried.

      "We're coming, Emily!" called Darren. He grabbed her shoulders and pulled. Suddenly Emily dropped the paper and the two friends fell backwards in a heap. "Get off of me," grunted Darren. Unfortunately, Emily couldn't hear him; she was focused on something a lot bigger.

      A giant tentacle had grown out of the ground! It was about as high as the trees and was lined with jagged teeth-like suckers.

      "What is that thing?" she screamed. The tentacle rose up and smashed down in the spot where Emily and Darren were standing just a minute ago. Thankfully, they had jumped out of the way in time.

      "It must have been guarding the spell!" cried Darren, ducking behind a tree. He quickly drew a sword he had packed and charged blindly at the monster.

      "No! You'll get yourself killed!" yelled Emily. Too late.

      The tentacle swung itself to the side and sent Darren flying into a tree.

      "Oh no!" cried Wendy. Emily quickly ran over to her friend and got down beside him. His eyes were shut tight and his sword lay a few feet away, broken in half.

      "Darren! Speak to me," she said. She grabbed his hand and suddenly that same blue mist crept out of her fingers and spread across Darren's body. With no heed as to what was going on, Emily grabbed the sword chunk and ran towards the tentacle.

      Just as she was about to take a wild swing, her feet were suddenly lifted up off the ground. She turned her head to see Wendy struggling to carry her through the air.

      "If we're going to lose Darren, we may as well win the fight," she said simply. Finally she deposited Emily on top of the tentacle's head. Oddly enough, there was a small glass dome on top and a strange light came from within. The tentacle's life force!

      Emily lifted the sword bit high in the air and brought it down with tremendous force! The glass shattered into thousands of tiny bits and the light faded! There was a low groaning as the tentacle began to tip over.

      Making a desperate leap, Emily jumped off and hoped Wendy would catch her. She was right.

      "You did it!" laughed Wendy, gently setting her friend down.

      "We did it," replied Emily jogging over to her fallen comrade. She stooped down next to him and watched as the blue mist faded, leaving Darren virtually untouched.

      "He was so brave," whispered Wendy, putting her hand on Emily's shoulder.

      "No, just stupid," Emily said, choking back a sob.

      "Hey, who are you calling stupid?"

      Emily gasped and looked down. Darren was smiling warmly. He looked a little dazed, but perfectly fine!

      "The spell must have given him new life!" cheered Wendy.

      "I'm glad we found that one first," said Darren, stumbling to his feet. Emily helped him to stand and smiled at him.

      "You know, at first I was a little afraid of what would happen when we went on this crazy mission. But now, now that I have you and Wendy with me, I'm actually excited about what we'll find next," she said.

      "Well, let's just hope that whatever it is, it doesn't kill us," replied Darren.

      With a new spell and new hope for what lies ahead, the three friends kept on walking. Searching for whatever came next...

The End