King's Quest BlurbsAkril 11-30-06
The following are two rough outlines of sequels to King's Quest IX: It Takes Two to Tangle.
I don't plan on elaborating on these things in the near future. Sorry.UPDATE 11-9-07: I changed my mind. One of these stories is finished, and I'm about 3/4ths through the second one at the moment.UPDATE 12-12-07: The first story is currently being posted in sections here.
UPDATE 2-16-08: I've finished both stories. You can find links to them in their final forms in the Sierra On-Line section of my Literature page.
Blood is Thicker than SeawaterAlexander and Cassima's son is born. When he is several months old, he suddenly seems to grow very ill. He becomes thin, lethargic and almost deformed, and the court physicians can't determine what is wrong with him.
Alexander receives a mysterious letter from someone who claims he can help his son. The Guard Dog who delivers the letter can detect "no smell of an intent to do harm" on it, so Alexander obeys the letter's directives and takes his son to the town square at midnight.
The one who wrote the letter turns out to be a very short creature in a robe, which takes Alex into a nearby shack. The creature turns out to be the aardvark (the creature that the last known wizard on the Isles poofed himself into) from the Isle of Wisdom (the creatures of the Isle of Wisdom made themselves known on the Isle of the Crown after Cassima's child was born, as Suhad told Edgar in KQ9). Though the aardvark explicitly wished to remain unknown and remained on the island, he was informed of Alex's son's condition by Cassima's nightingale (birds act as messengers for the creatures of the Isle of Wisdom). After examining Alex's son, the aardvark (who still has an extensive knowledge of magic and the supernatural) determines that the child is not ill, but that he has actually been kidnapped and swapped with a fairy changeling that resembles him, but is slowly reverting back to its original shape.
These fairies are native to Alexander's world, not Etheria, and they are one of the few races that still follow "the old ways", which consist of a general contempt towards humans (unlike races like the one Edgar is part of). Alex is forced to find out which race this is and rescue his son (whom the aardvark assures Alex is in no danger – the fairies never kill humans unless they are provoked). He leaves the changeling with Cassima before he leaves, only telling her that he is leaving to find a cure for their son, not wanting to reveal the truth to her yet.
Suhad meets Alex before he departs, letting one of her people accompany him in order to aid and advise him (who, having difficulty speaking a human language, doesn't have the lingual strength to call Alex by his full name, and only calls him "Lex"). Alex departs via ship, and soon comes to a small, beautiful coastal city south of Daventry and Serenia.
There, he learns of an ancient race of aquatic fairies that dwell at the bottom of the ocean. He tries to find a way to reach them, and he eventually obtains a scrap of paper with the ingredients for two spells on it that can transform humans into merbeings. Unfortunately, not only are the names of the two entities written in an unfamiliar language, but only the female forms of both shapes are shown – the pictures of the male forms have been torn off. Alex is told that although the two female forms both resemble generic mermaids, one of the male forms is a simple male equivalent of the mermaid (a merman) while the other is an ugly, deformed creature (the merrow).
Unfortunately again, Alex can only find the ingredients for one spell, which turns out to be the merrow spell. Once underwater, however, he is able to find the ingredients for the merman spell and assume a less repulsive shape.
As a merbeing, Alex is eventually able to find the sea fairies' court as well as his son, who is alive and well and even seems to recognize him. Alex demands to know why his son was taken from him, and he is told that "the dark-haired human woman that rules the Green Isles" greatly offended the fairies of the sea in the past, and that until she confesses to this deed, her child will belong to the fairies.
He is told to return to his homeland, and that he cannot mention the fairies to "the dark-haired woman" in any way, otherwise he will never see his child again. As cruel and heartless as the fairies seem, there is still a hint of compassion about them (perhaps they have some minimal knowledge of what Alex's sister and mother have done for the fairies of Etheria). They also cryptically inform him that he "no longer needs to keep the truth from the one he loves."
Upon returning to his original shape and sailing back to the Isles, Alex tries to make Cassima confess of any wrongdoing towards the supernatural she is guilty of, but she repeatedly tells him that she has done nothing to offend any such creatures. She asks him over and over why he is demanding this of her, and Alex finally caves in and tells her the truth, how the fairies kidnapped their son, replaced him with a changeling and demanded an apology from "the dark-haired human woman" who offended them in the past.
Before he can tell her that he has now dashed all hopes of seeing their son again, Allaria enters the room and asks why the couple looks so upset. Before Alex can speak, Cassima tells her mother that the fairies have replaced their child with a changeling baby, and upon hearing this, Allaria gasps and looks horrified. When asked why, Allaria says that many years ago, before Cassima was born, the young queen and her husband were caught in a fierce storm at sea while aboard the island ferry. During the storm, Allaria repeatedly cursed the entities of the sea, much to Caliphim's chagrin.
Allaria realizes that the changeling must be a much-detained form of revenge from the fairies, and she shouts out her apologies and pleas for forgiveness. The moment she says these words, a fairy carrying Alex and Cassima's son appears in the room.
When a confused Alex asks the fairy what is going on, the fairy explains that since the people of their race live much longer than humans, they often forget how quickly time passes in the human world, and that the twenty years between Cassima's birth and her son's birth seemed to be scarcely more than a few months to them. When the fairy that kidnapped their son came to the Isles, it thought that the "dark-haired woman" sleeping in the same chamber as the infant was Allaria, not Cassima, and that the child was Allaria's baby.
Since Alex didn't directly mention the fairies to Allaria, he didn't break his word, and since Allaria confessed her wrongdoing, Alex and Cassima's child was returned home. The fairy takes the changeling and departs.
Age Before DutyWhile staying in Daventry, Edgar suddenly begins to grow old at an astonishingly fast rate: his hair begins to turn white, his skin begins to wrinkle and his body begins to weaken. He is soon too weak to walk. Nobody is able to figure out what is going on, and none of the doctors are able to help either.
Since Rosella refuses to leave his side, Graham sets out into the surrounding city in the hopes of finding someone who can cure this ailment, which he suspects to be magical in nature (he also carries the Magic Shield as a precaution). He eventually finds a solitary sorcerer, who examines Edgar, and after hearing his history, tells the family that the cat's life Edgar has been living on uneventfully for several years has suddenly started to "assert itself". Edgar is now in his early twenties…and cats only live for an average of twenty years.
Rosella is quite distraught at hearing this, since she was the one who originally revived him with a cat's life. The sorcerer admits to never having seen anything like this before. He tells Graham that the only way to help Edgar would be to restore his original life to him. Rosella protests, saying that Malicia destroyed Edgar's life, but the sorcerer claims that no one's life can be truly destroyed (he refers to the lives of Caliphim and Allaria, which were returned to them by Samhain). They can be separated from their owners, but they are still kept intact.
However, the sorcerer admits that very little is known about restoring the original life to a person living another creature's life. He tells Graham that such a thing is something that only a dark practitioner of magic would be familiar with. Unfortunately, the only dark wizard still living that Graham knows of is Manannan, who, ironically enough, was trapped in the body of a cat when Graham last saw him.
Since Manannan turns out to be the family's only hope, Graham reluctantly returns to Mordack's island. He confronts Manannan the cat in the ruins of the fortress. The wizard-cat is still alive, though he has resorted to eating dead fish and catching rats to survive. He is very weak and barely puts up a struggle as Graham captures him.
Inspired, Graham gives Manannan a choice: he can help Edgar and regain his human form, or refuse to help and live out the rest of his life as a cat. Though it is a bluff, it works. In his desperation, Manannan agrees (communicating with Graham by scratching out messages in dirt). Manannan "says" that if Graham wants to get Edgar's life back, Graham must seek out Death – not the Lord of the Dead, who merely reigns over all that is dead, but the one who is responsible for death itself and claims people's lives when they have ended, a close kin to the Fates.
Graham leaves Manannan in a cage in Daventry, journeys forth and eventually finds Death (a gaunt, tall, robed man), who finds Edgar's predicament amusing – not only does Death possess the life of a person who is still living, but that person is living on an animal's life! Graham is able to put himself in Death's good graces, so Death eventually agrees to help Graham. After a series of ordeals, Graham regains Edgar's life (a transparent, glowing candle, ala the Grimms' "Godfather Death"). He and Death return to Daventry, where a concerned Alexander has arrived. Despite his condition, Edgar still struggles to make light of his situation ("It's not fair…I'm growing old but not wise."/"Don't you know it's not polite to stare at your elders, Your Highness?").
As Death is about to restore Edgar's life, he suddenly says that he cannot perform such an act in a group of people so tangled up in hate. Graham doesn't understand this statement at first until he realizes that what Death is referring to is his family's hatred towards Manannan – Alexander's hatred being the epicenter. Death explains that he cannot safely restore Edgar's life with so many negative emotions permeating the souls of the people Edgar is close to, and that the only way Death can help him is for there to be no hate between the cat and Alexander – though Manannan has grown too humbled and weak to hate anymore, Alexander has to forgive his former master for all the hardships and pain he has made him and his family endure.
As Edgar grows weaker by the minute, Alexander refuses to forgive Manannan. Rosella pleads with him, saying that he has to do it for Edgar's sake. Graham and Valanice plead as well, saying that Alexander has to ensure that the only heir to his homeland survives. After a barely coherent Edgar mutters a cryptic remark ("It was just the way it was written…"), Alexander finally mumbles that Manannan is forgiven. As soon as he says this, Death restores Edgar's original life, taking the nearly spent cat's life in exchange.
Luckily for Manannan, Death also ensures that Graham's promise to Manannan is kept – however, the promise turns out to be in Graham's favor. Manannan is restored to his human form, but is utterly stripped of his magic, completely incapable of committing any act of evil. If he attempts to engage in evil of any sort, Death says, his life will be over. Manannan is then transported to a far away land, where his presence will never disturb Alexander's family again. Edgar slowly begins to regain his youth, immensely grateful to his father- and brother-in-law, as is Rosella.
These two stories can take place in either order – it might be fair to have ABD be first, since Graham hasn't been on a quest for a long time. In fact, given the similarities between the two stories, they can almost take place in the same time frame (though there is a slight overlap near the end). Alexander and Graham could even cross paths halfway through their respective journeys.
I didn't come up with any names for Cassima and Alex's son – it's a pretty big decision to make, and I didn't want to rush into it. I contemplated the name Derek…then I remembered Derek Karlavaegen and there went that idea. Roland and Darren were two other choices I had in mind.
A plot synopsis which alters the events of "Valanice" to fit the backstory of "The Forgotten Captives":
Prince Cedric of Kolyma marries a miller's daughter named Coignice (spinning is probably involved in some way). Soon afterwards, he becomes king. Valanice is born in the castle in the middle of the lake in Kolyma. As a child, she befriends Genevieve and Amaranth, two girls from the town, and they grow up together. In their late teens, Genevieve, being a very beautiful maiden, is courted by a visiting prince and eventually departs with him.
When Valanice is in her early adulthood, Hagatha and Dracula arrive and begin terrorizing Kolyma's people and burning their homes to the ground. Amaranth is able to evade them, but is incapable of defending both herself and Valanice's home. Hagatha and Dracula invade the castle when Cedric refuses to surrender, immobilizing (but not killing) him and Coignice. While Dracula makes the castle his own, Hagatha takes Valanice to the base of the cliffs, where she prepares to open a portal to the realm where Valanice is to be kept prisoner. Amaranth tries to follow them but Hagatha creates a vast chasm between them. Hagatha takes Valanice through the portal to the island where the tower stands and leads her up the tower's steps.
Just before Hagatha shuts Valanice in her room, Amaranth comes running up the stairs. She magically created a flimsy bridge across the chasm and managed to reopen the portal. When she demands that Hagatha release Valanice, Hagatha strikes Amaranth, sending her toppling down the stairs (hence Valanice's fear of them in KQ2).
Hagatha then transports Cedric and Coignice to the realm. She changes Cedric into a lion to guard Valanice, and she changes Coignice into a large golden fish to swim the realm's lonely seas. The couple is doomed to remain enchanted until their daughter is freed, since Hagatha plans to give any suitors with the hope of rescuing Valanice the slimmest of chances to free her: she moves the portal to the only other island in the realm, some distance across the sea. She then creates the three doors to the realm's portal (leaving Amaranth's bridge intact) and hides the keys in the various locations they appear in in KQ2. What she does with Amaranth's body is unknown.
Hmm…maybe Amaranth could be Philomel's forgotten daughter? Also, I didn't realize this when I named her, but amaranth is the only flower associated with immortality (since its blooms never fade). Hmm…
Also, the KQ storyline is open enough for Valanice's parents to meet her again. However, another possibility is that Cedric got caught up in another enchantment on the way to Daventry and was transformed into an owl with no memory of his past life except for his name, and then got taken in by a kindly wizard in Serenia. Meanwhile, Coignice suffered a similar fate (sans the wizard bit), and she and her husband drifted apart, unable to see each other as anything but friends...remember that "old friend" that that owl said he was visiting in the KQ5 intro? ;)