Revenge Of The Black Cloak Society Chapter 20 (A King's Quest Fic)

Attention: King’s Quest is property of Sierra. Most character names are also from the King’s Quest Companion by Peter Spear. Some characters are my creation. This story also takes place after all eight King’s Quest games.

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Revenge of the Black Cloak Society

Chapter 16: Who Comes Down The Aisle? (Audio)

Edgar wasn’t sure if he had slept that night. In all honesty, there were some times he thought that the past few years had been a dream. He had been kept by the wicked fairy, Lolotte, and twisted into a deformed mess. Then Rosella came along, and for the first time since he knew not when, he had hope in his life. Now, one of the kindest, most loving souls in the world was just about to become his wife

That thought left his mind when he heard a knock on the door. For a moment, he thought it might be Rosella, turning her back on tradition by coming to see him before the wedding. He dismissed it since he figured her wedding party would not let her. He walked over to his room door, and opened it.

To his surprise, King Otar, leader of the trolls in the Vulcanix Underground, as well as his best man, stood there with a slight smile on his face. He was happy to see the ruler, even though their first encounters had not been the best. King Otar walked in, and in a jovial tone, said, “Prince Edgar, are you ready for your big day?”

Edgar closed the door, and his nerves came back to him, causing him to slouch a little. "To be honest, my friend, I'm a nervous wreck.". He walked over and sat down on the bed. "I can't seem to shake the feeling the something is going to go wrong." He almost sagged as those words crossed his lips. Of course, if he had to go by his own history when it came to Rosella, every time he had tried to further their relationship, it was disastrous. They had also been times when he was under the sway of an evil fairy.

He was thankful when the king of the trolls came over to his side. “Now Edgar, ever since Rosella helped stop Malicia’s plan, you’ve made the right choices. She’s a very smart, and very beautiful, by your standards, girl. She’s also very considerate. How many young women do you know that would help plan a wedding that would welcome trolls to it?”

He had to smile at that. Edgar had recalled that Rosella had wanted to including some things that would make Otar and whomever he invited to the services feel welcome. “She does think of others first, and wants to treat everyone to what they like.” He then let out a small laugh. “Mind you, she did hope that the troll that worked in cave with Oppi wasn’t invited. She didn’t want to deal with what he liked.”

He felt even better when Otar laughed at that. “Oh yes. Although, he started to get his act together. Mathilde smacked him good when he tried to flirt with her.” After they laughed for a moment, Otar gave him a questioning look. “Is it true that you had Oppi make the rings?” When Edgar nodded, he saw Otar’s eyes go wide. “Well, I heard he had was an expert with gems. Edgar, you shouldn’t worry too much about the wedding. I have a feeling that everything will be alright. You already seem to have the important things to you and Rosella handled.”

Those words made Edgar feel better, and he nodded at King Otar. “Thank you. That means a lot coming from you. I’m still sorry for what happened to you Otar.” Before the king of the trolls could respond to that, both heard a knocking on the door. Edgar had a feeling who it was, and went over to the door.

Just as he had figured, his father, Oberon, was standing there, a smile on his face. “I hope you are ready, son. The big day has finally arrived.” He then saw his father look over at the other occupant in the room. “Ah, Otar. Offering some advice for my son?”

Edgar watch as Otar got up, and headed over to them, a smile on his face. “No. Just helping him avoid cold feet. He shouldn’t be worried. He’s found the perfect match in Rosella.” He watched as Otar then bowed to both, and left the room. No doubt it would be time for the ceremony to begin. He sighed, and headed off to prepare for the ceremony. For some reason, however, he couldn’t shake the feeling that something was looming over him.

Princess Yvette of Kolyma had just finished getting into her dress for the ceremony. She admired herself in the mirror, and wondered how much nicer she would be dressed when her wedding day came along. She hoped she could call on Rosella to be a matron of honor at her wedding. She wouldn’t push it since Rosella had already saved her life, and it was tough to say no to anyone after they saved their your life.

She left her room, and started heading to where the bridal party were assembling. She walked through the hallways, taking a moment to admire the building. Still, she noticed something was a little off. The building seemed to have a slightly darker tint to it, like a shadow was infesting the place.

For a moment, she recalled the dark tint that started to appear before she disappeared from her home. There had a been a darkness showing up in the place, and it seemed unnatural. For some reason, she was starting to feel that something was up. It felt like there was a shadow in the place. She shuddered, swearing that she felt a chill in the air.

Finally, she reached the area that the bridal room was in. While there was a happiness in the air, she still felt a slight unease. Part of her hope that it was just nerves, but another part of her reasoned that with everything that happened to her cousin’s family, something might happen on such a happy occasion. It was quite possible that what ever force that had struck the family on those past occasions was preparing another strike. Even though special measures had been taken, she had a bad feeling they wouldn’t be enough.

She was just about to enter the room, when she almost walked into Queen Cassima of the Green Isles. She had stopped just in time, since she had heard about the good news. She smiled at Queen Cassima, and said, “Congratulations, Cassima. I heard about your upcoming bundle of joy.” She was thankful when the Queen of the Green Isles smiled. It momentarily pushed away the worry she was feeling.

Cassima nodded, and took her hand. “Thank you, Yvette. It is a good thing to be happening. When Alexander almost turned into a cat, I actually worried that the stress the situation had caused me to lose the baby.” She sighed and then quietly said, “Have you noticed anything odd about the castle? I could swear there is some sort of bad feeling in the air.”

Yvette nodded, and quietly responded. “Yes. I was feeling the same thing as well. Do you think some sort of evil force is going to strike today?” She felt a slight calm, since she wasn’t the only person feeling that sense of unease. Of course, if something was afoot, they would have to keep an eye out for whatever might be happening.

She watched as Cassima looked around, and then softly said, “I have that feeling something might happen. I just don’t know what. Something tells me that if it does, Rosella is going to be the target this time round. Her, and possibly Tamir. Alexander had told me once he was back home that shortly after he returned to Daventry, Rosella had been whisked off to find something in Tamir.”

For a moment, Yvette started to worry that something might have happened to Rosella, and then she saw her cousin step out of her room. She was in her wedding dress, and had her veil on as well. Her cousin looked beautiful, but Yvette almost did a double take when she saw her. Now she had gloves on that covered her arms. Of course, it could have been because she hadn’t wore them when showing her the outfit yesterday. Still, she couldn’t help but think something was odd because of the veil and the gloves. She tried to put it out of her thoughts as she joined the bridal party as they went to the chapel.

King Graham waited at the entrance of the chapel. Everyone else in the family had gone to their seats, but he had to wait because he had a special task to perform. It was a task that he both looked forward to, and dreaded. That latter feeling was amplified a little because of all that had happened in his family in the past few months. After the return of Dahlia, Hagatha’s abduction of his niece, and Mannanan returning to human form, he felt something was going to happen today.

As he thought about that, he saw that Edgar and his groomsmen were all in place. He had been thankful to see that Alexander and Cassima were part of the bridal party. The only other member of the party whom looked a bit out of place, was King Otar. Edgar had named the king of the trolls as his best man. It was a slightly odd choice, given how the two had met, but Otar had been good about putting the past behind him.

He was brought back to the present when he saw the bridal party approaching. The front of the party was the flower girl, and that was another sign of forgiveness. The flower girl was Malicia, the evil fairy that had been regressed into infancy again. She was apparently being raised right, and Graham could see she seemed happy.

After the little girl started down the aisle, tossing flower pedals on the carpet as she headed down, Graham saw Cassima and Yvette coming towards him. Both of the girls looked lovely, but both had a look of slight worry on their faces. Since Cassima had to go down first, Graham positioned himself to stand next to Yvette, and quietly asked his niece, “What’s wrong that has you both a little worried?”

He hoped that it was just a bit of nerves linked to the day. Even though they weren’t the ones getting married, he could understand a bit of nerves in case something went wrong. Nobody wanted a case of cold feet to ruin a wedding. The answer he got, however, was something that was bugging him as well. “We can’t shake a feeling that something bad is going to happen. After all that has happened in the past few months, I have a feeling someone is going to attack Rosella today.”

Before Yvette was about to start her way down the aisle, Graham nodded, and said, “I understand. The guards are all in place, and everything has been double checked. Besides, everyone has assured me that none of Lolotte’s minions are anywhere near the castle.” He wanted to say more, including the fact that Lolotte had been completely destroyed years back, however after Dahlia had returned from the dead, he wasn’t entirely sure that would stop her.

Before he could say more, Yvette started down the aisle. He knew it wouldn’t be long until his daughter approached in her bridal dress. He wouldn’t feel better about this until the ceremony was over. He couldn’t shake that bad feeling that something was going to happen today. He didn’t think his daughter would get cold feet at all. Still, he couldn’t help but worry that somehow, his daughter wouldn’t make it to the aisle.

He started to breathe in relief when he saw his daughter approach. Rosella looked beautiful in her bridal dress, and the veil was lovely. It kept with tradition, obscuring her face while able for her to be seen through. She had beautiful lace gloves on her arms, and just barely sticking out from under the veil, he could see part of a golden pendant. She was a truly beautiful sight.

Graham placed his arm out, awaiting his daughter. Once she was up to him, she placed her arm in his. As they walked to the door, he patted her hand, and said, “It’s almost time, Rosella. I understand if you are nervous. Are you nervous? I know a lot has happened to our family in the past few months, but nothing is going to happen today.” He saw her nod, and he knew he should have felt better about it. Still, he couldn’t shake the feeling of something bad was going to happen. He had to put it aside, however, as the bridal march started to play, and he walked his daughter down the aisle.

Queen Valenice sat in the pew, waiting for Graham to walk Rosella down the aisle. While she waited, she worried that something was going to happen. So far, everything appeared to be going well. Still, she was not going to relax until the wedding was done.

As the bridal party made their way down the aisle, she was distracted from her worry by one of the guests. It was Queen Katrina from the land of Silmaria. She and her husband, King Devon, had been invited by Rosella since the two had struck up a friendship. The brunette had learned over to her, and said, "Your daughter has very good taste when it came to the dresses. I remember when that dress style was first introduced."

That statement continued to distract her from her worries. For that moment, she tried to recall the details that Rosella had shared about Katrina. She could not recall anything that might make sense of the statement, and so she asked the question that momentarily nagged her. "Excuse me, but didn't that dress style appear centuries ago? I could have sworn it was an old style when I was a girl."

She heard a slight chuckle come from the brunette. She shook her head as she responded. "I'm sorry. I forget that I am much older than I look. Part of my life, I had been a vampire, but the actions of my husband has restored the humanity in me. I earned a second chance at life because of that."

The admission caught her so off guard that she momentarily looked towards the one window. While most of it was a beautiful stained glass design, the upper portion was a clear glass window. Looking out of it at that moment allowed Valanice to see something that made her worry. It was a figure that looked like it had wings. She remembered what Rosella had said about the goons that Lolotte had used, and how her daughter had thought they had fled when Lolotte died. Was this a sign that she had somehow found a way to come back from the dead?

She returned her attention to the ceremony as she noticed that Graham and Rosella were walking down the aisle. She followed them hoping that no attack came at this moment. This was to be such a beautiful day and she didn’t want the dark forces that had been attacking her family to ruin it. As the two were about to pass them, she was ready to breathe a sigh of relief when she felt a shudder from somewhere.

She momentarily looked back along the pew, trying to see if anyone had gotten up. She didn’t see if anyone had, but what she did see was Queen Katrina’s husband leaning in close to her, a look of concern on his face. She then noticed that Queen Katrina had a look of dread on her face, as if she had just noticed something horrible was near by. Was it possible that due to the woman’s past, she would be sensitive to dark forces at work? If that was the case, she didn’t think she could dare interrupt the services. She just hoped, as Rosella neared the altar, that the wedding would go off without any problems.

Genesta stood at the altar, watching as Rosella made her way towards it. She had been grateful that her friend, and savior, had managed to make it to this part in her own wedding. Ever since she had heard about all the things that had been happening to Rosella’s family, she had a feeling that something would happen today. At least at this point, nothing should be able to happen, especially as she recalled the dream she had had the previous night.

Once Rosella was at the altar, she began the services, using a specially prepared service that mixed the mortal ways of humans, and the ceremony the faeries used. “Dearly beloved, we are all gathered here to witness the sacred union between a prince, and a princess.” As she continued, her mind momentarily wandered to the dream she had had. Why this happened at this particular moment, she wasn’t sure, but it had to have some sort of meaning.

While she continued the ceremony, the images of the dream came back to her. There were many familiar things involved in it, things she hadn’t seen for a few years. The first was the jeering face of Lolotte. The evil fairy had been a rival of hers for a long time, and that rivalry had only gotten worse as evil consumed her. She only wanted power, and had no caring for others. She had taken joy in spreading that evil, and had even wanted to release the ultimate evil, one that would corrupt the world in a possibly unstoppable wave. Luckily, Rosella had stopped that.

The next image appeared in her mind, and it was one that she had seen Lolotte take off after she had swiped her necklace. It was Lolotte’s necklace. It had glowed with an unholy power, even when Lolotte wore it. Every fairy had a talisman that they wore. If the unthinkable, which only happened once in living memory, happed, the talisman of the fallen fairy would be absorbed and merged with the talisman of the one who had slain them.

That very thought helped to cause her to pause in the ceremony. For a moment, she thought she could see the very talisman from her dream. She tried to pull herself together, since it wasn’t possible for that to be true. She had reached the recital of the vows, and it was time for Rosella to say her part. She looked at Rosella, who at that moment, had been looking down, as if the girl didn’t want to meet her eyes.

It was then that Genesta saw it. Rosella was wearing the very talisman she had seen in her dreams. The one that had been worn by Lolotte was now around Rosella’s neck. Something in her told her that Rosella wouldn’t have worn it if she had known about it. She was certain about that, but was it possible it still had power in it. Lolotte had been dead for years now. It shouldn’t be possible for it to have power, at least not anymore.

In that moment, Rosella looked up at her, and she felt it. A dark energy was coming from her friend. Princess Rosella had been somehow consumed by a dark energy, darker than anything Lolotte had when she was alive. She used her own sight to look at Rosella then, hoping that she was wrong about what she was sensing.

Her eyes glowed with golden light, and she could already sense people reacting to the change. The fairies knew this wasn’t part of any ceremony, and the non fairies were picking up on the action. She needed to see through the veil Rosella was wearing. She had to be sure Rosella was herself, and not Lolotte wearing some sort of glamour.

It was then she saw Rosella remove her veil, and to her horror, Rosella face looked the same, but her skin had taken on a green tint. Rosella had taken on traits of Lolotte, including the red eyes full of malice. It was then that Rosella smiled a wicked smile, and said with a malice that didn’t sound right coming from the Princess for Daventry, “Yes, Genesta. I’m back.” She realized now what had happened. Somehow, Lolotte had managed to possess, or even start to merge with Rosella. She wanted to shout it, but at that moment, a blast came from Rosella’s now extended hand. It was magical blast that could only come from a fairy. As she collapsed to the floor, she heard everyone starting to rise to their feet and move. She just hoped that no one would attack, since it was quite possible that the attack would kill her, and possibly Rosella.