The White River Diaries

     I just arrived at White River, and it’s everything Mom and Aunt Lynny said it would be. Well, almost.

     The town itself is busy, but not as busy as the area nearer to Meridell Castle, or the part of Faerie City where I grew up. It’s just busy enough for one to see that even under Ramtor’s iron flipper, life still goes on in Meridell as long as they stay out of his way, and out of the places now overrun with his monsters.

     I saw the shops, the rows of cottages, and of course, the large building that was next to the city hall – the headquarters of the White River Order of Wizardry, or WROW for short, with its towers and observatory and of course, its wizards. That was where I would live; Mom and Aunt Lynny had sent them a letter so they’d give me a room in their quarters. They even arranged a caravan to bring me to White River even though I had said many times I was ready to make the trip alone.

     Even Dad and Minerva, my cousin, agreed with the caravan. “Mipsy, you’ve never been by yourself,” was what Minerva said. I’m only two years younger than her, why does that faerie Ixi treat me like I’m a kid?

     Okay, I guess some monsters we saw roaming the woods as we clattered through the forest paths looked scary, but I’m sure I could’ve taken them on. Wild beasts are usually scared of fire, and as long as you kept it from spreading, you could use it to frighten them away.

     Anyway, one part of White River that wasn’t quite like what my mom and aunt said was the bridge that connected the north and south parts of the town over the river.

     When I arrived, it was up. I expected it to be brought down to allow carriages, wagons and townsfolk to pass, but it stayed up the entire day. After I had left my things in my assigned quarters and received my schedule for my classes and lectures, I went back to the bridge and noticed a red Eyrie in a long green robe raising a gnarled wooden staff, which glowed emerald. This she pointed toward the bridge.

     I watched as the structure shuddered and strained to lower itself back into place, but remained upraised. Finally, the Eyrie turned, and saw me.

     I recognized her; Mistress Adelan, one of the top wizards of the Order.

     “You must be Mipsy,” she said. She smiled, but there were bags under her eyes and her shoulders were slumped as she gripped her staff. “Welcome to White River. I’m sorry I couldn’t meet you right away; I was trying to bring this bridge back down, but it stays up. The mechanism won’t work, and I’ve tried almost every spell in the book.”

     “But why?” I asked, before remembering who I was speaking to. “Er, ma’am?”

     Her brow furrowed. “Zombom. A wizard from our guild. This spell has his signature all over it.” Mistress Adelan made a “tsk” sound and added, “I warned him about consorting with Ramtor, and unfortunately, he did not listen to me. I don’t know why he or Ramtor wants to cut off half of White River and the rest of northern Meridell, but stranding many Neopians here and up north is unacceptable.”

     “Where is he now?”

     “Rumor has it that he’s now on an island in the middle of the sea, in a ruined tower. It’s quite far, and sailors give it a wide berth, believing it to be haunted. Other travelers have tried to visit it.” Mistress Adelan’s face darkened. “A few of them never came back.”

     For a moment, I didn’t say anything.

     “What about Neopians who can fly or swim? Can they get to the other side?”

     Mistress Adelan frowned again and said, “No, most mages get hit by an invisible barrier when they try to fly over the bridge or swim across the river. But I will try to fly to the other side after I’ve studied this spell more.”

     I pursed my lips. Ramtor, thinking that my family would be raising an army to push back against him, had shut down the magic academy they had opened in the south. That didn’t stop them, of course, from continuing to help the resistance forces secretly. And sometimes, I wondered if one of the reasons they agreed to send me to White River…was to keep me out of Ramtor’s reach in case the crazy Bruce finally caught wind of their plans.

     “Mistress Adelan, let me help you.”

     “Huh?”

     “I know I just got here, but I’m no spring Peadackle when it comes to magic.” I grinned. “I already know a thing or two, but I wanted to learn more here – where Mom and Aunt Lynny got their start as mages. Who knows? There could be a crack in Zombom’s spell somewhere, and there’s no way he can keep that bridge up for long!”

     I mean, at some point it’s going to be exhausting maintaining that spell, right?

     I was half-expecting Mistress Adelan to tell me I wasn’t ready for that sort of thing, and braced myself for the inevitable flashbacks to when my family didn’t believe I could finally be on my own.

     “I won’t allow you to do that right now, but you are free to ask me or the other master wizards questions, and use our library to form a plan. Just don’t mess with Zombom’s work without telling us first so we can prepare some safeguards. We don’t know if he has left any traps for mages who dig deep enough.”

     “Really?” I burst out, smiling from ear to ear. “Oh, thank you, Mistress Adelan!”

     Wait till everyone back home – especially Minerva – hears about this, I can’t wait to write to them.

     * * *

     Dear diary,

     Maybe I’ll write to my family some other time. Just finished my first day studying with the Order, and I made a great impression on Professor Wheatley by accidentally exploding his desk. That old Aisha actually had a neat little trick up his sleeve that helped him repair the desk, but…way to make a good first impression on the other wizards, Mipsy.

     At first everyone was laughing, but when the day was almost over, Professor Wheatley’s desk suddenly became old news. And, I even made new friends! Two of them – Theodore and Khareff – heard me talking about how I wanted to help bring Zombom’s spell down, and they wanted in. Of course, Khareff reminded me that we had to keep Mistress Adelan posted every step of the way. According to her, Zombom had been…kinda close with Mistress Adelan, so the matter of the bridge was personal for her.

     I’ll show everyone that I’ve got what it takes to save White River. But…I’m real sleepy. Combat magic, the history of the Order, levitation magic and curses, oh my! I’m so excited to learn more. We did magical duels on the training grounds, levitated all sorts of objects, even learned how to open and handle cursed items without getting cursed ourselves.

     One day, I’m going to travel the world like my parents and my aunt, go on adventures, wield super powerful spells…the works. But before I go anywhere, White River needs my help.

     Good night, diary.

     * * *

     Dear diary,

     It’s been two weeks, and I can’t believe Zombom could keep that bridge up for long.

     The entire top floor of WROW is a whole library, and I’m pretty sure they’ve used magic to make the inside much bigger than the outside. I’m writing while poring over this dusty old volume about anti-machine spells and magics that can cause most mechanical objects to stop working. It’s a lot of advanced stuff, but I think I get the gist of…most of it. Like, this is why devices and gadgets from Virtupets stop working once they’re within Meridell.

     And I’m not the only one who wants to stick it to Zombom. Besides Mistress Adelan, and the rest of the leaders, anyway.

     Theodore’s family lives in the north side of White River, and he can’t return home while the bridge is up. The yellow Nimmo’s specialty is light magic, but he’s finding ways to turn light into a source of energy for anyone who can counter Zombom’s spell. He’s next to me, drawing glyphs on a scroll of parchment with his wand.

     Then there’s Khareff, she’s a fire Draik who’s trying to figure out if the air and wind over the bridge could be manipulated to allow mages to pass through. She thinks she can use Theodore’s glyphs to amplify her own spells.

     And Theodore just created a flash of light and got shushed by Head Librarian Fallan. Maybe I’ll just borrow these books and we’ll study in the café across the WROW headquarters? Mom did say the coffee there was good…

     * * *

     Dear diary,

     We came to Mistress Adelan with our plan so we could practice and get advice from the other high-ranking wizards like Professor Wheatley. The other wizards set up a scale replica of the bridge over the fountain in the training grounds and held it in place with a freezing incantation. Then, it was up to me, Theodore and Khareff to undo the spell and get the mini bridge down.

     Okay, it wasn’t just us. Quite a few other wizards proposed various ways to get past Zombom’s magic. One even proposed just throwing the whole bridge out, believing it would dispel the power holding it up. Of course, Mistress Adelan and the others said no.

     We set our plan into motion: I would hex the bridge mechanism to weaken it, and Theodore would power up Khareff so she can manipulate the air around the bridge. Once the Draik was in position, a willowy Kougra from our class sent a figurine of me soaring over the bridge, and it worked!

     All of us cheered, and I could feel my heart soar. Our plan actually worked! I was jumping up and down when Mistress Adelan reminded us that the real thing may be trickier as Zombom was a more powerful wizard than any of us in the class. Then, I felt like a deflated balloon.

     Still, she was right. And she proved herself right when she immobilized the bridge herself, and Khareff and Theodore could not get past her defenses at all.

     When that session was over, Mistress Adelan probably saw the look on my face and took me aside. I waved my friends and classmates away; I knew they’d be going to lunch, and I could join them later.

     “Don’t feel bad,” the Eyrie wizard said. “While I don’t think you’re ready to break Zombom’s spell yet, remember why you’re here. You’re here to learn, and to grow, as a wizard.

     Great, I started to get choked up when she said that, and sniffed. I was wondering if she would pull a tissue out of thin air for me or something. She didn’t, and honestly, that was fine. Otherwise, it’d be embarrassing if someone doubled back and saw one of the top wizards hand me a magicked tissue to wipe my tears.

     Back to the drawing board – or should I say, the library.

     * * *

     Dear diary,

     Even though we haven’t gotten closer to bringing the bridge back down, I feel like I’ve gotten stronger as a wizard since getting here. Mistress Adelan told us that eventually, we’ll be ready for a hunting quest in the woods outside, and help clear it of Ramtor’s monsters. She has returned to the bridge to try a new spell she came up with after an all-nighter, and she hasn’t returned to the Order for hours. We’re in the middle of a free study session now, and I’m drawing the bridge again, noting the spells I could use to break Zombom’s hold on it, and the spells I could use when I find him and have to fight him.

     I couldn’t help but giggle a little. Imagine, if I got to be White River’s hero! I’d have so much to write home about

     * * *

     Dear diary,

     I guess I wouldn’t get to be White River’s hero after all.

     While I was writing my last entry, I heard the sound of creaking and grinding, and we all looked outside the biggest window of WROW headquarters to see the bridge finally coming down to allow Neopians and their wagons and carriages to walk and run and roll through it. While the bridge was moving, Mistress Adelan had noticed that the barrier in the air was gone, and managed to fly to the northern part of town to see Elder Jeltharo for the news. She was probably so excited that she forgot that she could send a Weewoo, or she wanted to see for herself if Zombom’s magic had finally disappeared.

     All of us thought Zombom had finally met his mage match. But something different happened.

     According to Elder Jeltharo – the blue Ixi who was on the town council – a swordsman from Trestin in the west had come to northern White River, volunteering to find Zombom and fight him. The swordsman even claimed to be the son of the great knight Sir Reynold. And he had returned alive – beat up, but alive, with the bridge finally moving.

     I sat at my table for what felt like an eternity and a half. My plans, the spells we had cooked up together…

     I should be happy for White River. The north and south sides are no longer separated by some wizard’s cockamamie spell. And I am.

     But I can’t believe it. Zombom, beaten by a non-mage. Or at least I think so, no one’s mentioned if the swordsman knew sorcery too.

     I remembered what Mistress Adelan had told me – that I was here to learn, and grow as a wizard.

     Perhaps if I went to meet this swordsman for myself, I’d learn a thing or two, especially about going on adventures and coming back alive to tell the tale.

      The End.