The King's Quest DT

A few notes before I go to bed.

Marlon is suspicious because the King doesn't appear to be aggressively pursuing the kidnappers. If he is right, then that could allow a number of different plot twists. For instance, it could be that the King himself has abducted her and put her into hiding to give him an excuse to invade the Azaks. Another possibility is that the Princess wasn't kidnapped at all, but is escaping to join the Azaks. Or perhaps the King is deliberately letting the Azak kidnappers get away, so that he can invade the Azaks. The main idea was to provide an alternative to the tired "kindly King" cliche. By making it a "rumor" it leaves it open to just following the cliche.

Marlon will try and convince the others to leave immediately, skipping the two days of training, with the idea that the kidnappers have enough of a lead without giving them an extra two days. Any additional training can be done on the way, or so he'll argue. Whether he'll convince the others or not is another matter entirely.

I'm making suggestions based on what I've seen here and in the story. I can't be held responsible for not following a secret plot.

@Writers Dream: A spy hunter is very much like the secret police or Royal Guard. They're in charge of protecting the king from assassins, criminals, and spies. If a bad guy is hiding in the shadows, the spy hunter is trained to go into the shadows and catch them.

Also, would you like to write a scene where Marlon and Imara meet up? Marlon's speech pattern will be tends to be more cynical and pessimistic, and be filled with exaggerated analogies, like "Her hair was blacker than a witches cat."

Spoiler! :

Name: Ashalyn (Ash) Joachim

Age: around 19 (we're not 100% sure <u>'')

Gender: Male

Elf, human, dwarf or sprite: Half Human, Half Ghost Sprite

Appearance: He has medium length jet black hair and deep dark blue eyes, which greatly contrast to his extremely pale skin. He's fairly tall, but not too much so. His body type is the lean-muscular type, more adept to quick movements/running and endurance rather than brute strength. His expression is usually distrusting and shut out, his face almost set in a glare-like stare that can easily change into an angry or annoyed scowl. He's usually clad in all black, with his belts/armbands/outer coat lightly decorated with silver accents. Despite his seemingly heavy clothing, he can move around quickly and silently.
Being half Ghost-Sprite he can disappear on will if he concentrates, but is otherwise visible. When he's emotionally torn or extremely upset, he flickers uncontrollably in and out of visibility. (He might also flicker when he’s asleep, although usually only if he’s having a nightmare.)
His weapon of choice is throwing-knives, which he is amazingly skilled with. And although he has talent in hand to hand combat, he doesn’t like to resort to it.

Personality: At first Ash appears aloof and possibly emotionally detached from those around him, which is partially true. He’s the kind of person who immediately prefers to be by himself in the corner and not pay too much attention to others, aside from watching (glaring <u>’’) for threats.
Due to his past (see below) and that throughout most of his childhood he has only seen the evil side of people, being driven and/or beaten away by almost everyone he’s come into contact with, he has become cold and distrusting. His true personality has become tainted with experience, and can be incredibly hard to get around (only one person has ever truly come close). He’s also usually very irritable and is prone to becoming angry.
Despite his outward appearance and mannerisms, he is actually incredibly loyal and self-sacrificing. It may be hard to attain but once you've earned his trust or respect you have it forever. Even though he may still seem defensive and may even still refer them coldly, he’s willing to take a bullet for those close to him (Maybe not a bullet, but you know what I mean :3). (Also, any anger he might get when he’s being cold is no match for his anger when someone close to him has been hurt in anyway.)
Although he’s not the kind of person to base people off purely of first impressions, it can be a short trip to get on his bad side. He is loyal to almost no one; not even to the king. The only person he appears to respect (or even resemble being loyal to) is his caretaker/adoptive father, whom he refers to as ‘The Old Man’.
Also, once you get to know him, you find out he’s incredibly stubborn, incredibly blunt (but incredibly sorry if he hurts someone close), embarrassed easily (the kind of embarrassed that tries to cover up his embarrassment (usually with a seemingly angry/aggressive attitude) but ends up blushing anyway), incredibly protective of those who need help, good-natured, and actually pretty shy.
But once again, due to his complicated past and experience with people, he often can become (temporarily) emotionally unstable, which is bound to happen if anyone tries to reach him or if he finds himself reaching towards others. Although, as I mention bellow, he hasn’t been unstable since he was young, it can happen again.

History: A long time ago, in a far region of the kingdom, a small war broke out between the Ghost-Sprites and the newer Human villages. The Humans settled there had growing suspicions about the other races, especially against the Ghost-Sprites, who they rumored to be literal spirits who had come back from the dead to pre-maturely fill their ranks with the living. Although the tiny war has been mostly forgotten, it was still as brutal and costly as war can be.
Despite the Ghost-Sprite’s lesser numbers, they were better trained in fighting than the Humans. This does not mean the humans were defenseless. One warrior in particular was a woman named Jezabelle. She was known for her incredible endurance, fierce determination and loyalty, and amazing ability with throwing-knives.
One day she was returning to her village empty handed from a hunting trip when she came across a Ghost-Sprite named Kim, who turned out to be the second son of his group’s leader. They faced off, almost circling each other like two predators would.
Until, to both their surprises, Kim cracked a joke that sent Jezabelle reeling with laughter.
After they ended up talking for a little, Kim asked her to meet with him again. And she agreed. As they kept meeting up they both realized how pointless and misguided the war between their peoples was, and that there could be peace if they tried.
And, well, they fell in Love (<3 ~ :3).
Both tried on their own ends to end the war and although they managed to convince many, many still thought the war necessary. However, at the final battle of the war, they found each other on the battle field and fought side by side, them versus both the other groups. This finally convinced the people on both sides that there could be peace between the races, and ended the war.
After the peace had settled, Kim and Jezabelle married and eventually conceived and give birth to their only son, Ashalyn. For about four years everything seemed almost perfect for the small family; until one night it went up in smoke.
After the fire that took his parent’s life, the 4-year-old Ash wandered through the near-by human villages, living off whatever he could. Where ever he went, all he heard was whispered gossip about the people who murdered his parents, and how almost everyone was against it from the start. (For a little boy who had grown up mostly only knowing his parents, and after seeing them be killed, hearing how much people hated them is quite a lot to take)
No matter who or where he went to, everybody either beat him away or ignored him, whispering or cursing under their breath. Once he came across a tribe of Ghost-Sprites but they immediately rejected him, breezing past him and disappearing (because of this, he feels no kinship with Ghost-Sprites). As he became more and more desperate, he resorted to stealing little bits of food to survive, only to be beaten and rejected from society all the more.
Eventually this started to freeze him over, hardening himself against people. By the time he turned 7 he had stopped reaching out to people, expecting to be beaten but still hating everyone for it. He eventually began to hate himself for being born the way he was, and going as far as to almost hate his parents. Despite all of this he kept going, even when he forgot what the point of going on was.
One day, when he was about 8, he collapsed at the edge of a road in the middle of a forest, exhausted from lack of food and water. It happened to be after he had lain there for a few hours the region’s old local healer came around the bend and found him. Immediately upon finding the boy he got him up, taking him to his home and nursing him back to full health.
Despite healing Ash’s body, the old man couldn't heal his shattered soul or bent mind as easily. Ash had become emotionally unbalanced; prone to lashing out at the old man if he tried to get too close and at the people who came to visit him who would look at him funny. He would also break down in tears when he was alone or sometimes just out of the blue. Plus he was still incredibly wary towards everything, and extremely hard towards other people.
However, slowly, the Old Man began to reach him. Sometimes he would be able to calm him down when he was angry or crying; even sometimes able to reach some bright/happy side of Ash. Ash seemed especially more calm and relaxed when he tried training him in fighting (especially in throwing-knives, which Ash really took to). Although Ash remained quiet, it seemed like he was starting to heal.
This, however, didn't last. One day the Old man had to go to the nearby village to resupply and told Ash to stay at the house. He didn’t listen and followed him soon after he left, staying out of view.
As Ash followed him into the town he heard snippets of conversation in his wake. At first it was of unimportant matters, but as the old man came and went the conversations changed to pity and even anger. They talked about Ash’s behavior with disgust, and how he was nothing more than an abomination the Old man had shown saint-like pity for. As Ash continued, the more and more upset he became until one of the discussions turned to how some of the people had lost respect for the Old man, and how he possibly wasn’t as good a man as they thought or maybe he was just starting to get too old. One theory he heard from one of the people was that the old man was as much a freak as Ash.
As soon as he heard that he stopped dead in his tracks, overcome with the hatred of these people and their distrust of the Old man because of him. He ran back to the house and collapsed in sadness, anger, and frustration. The Old man found him sick and racked in tears with his back turned towards him.
After he recovered, he became incredibly removed from the world, the progress the Old man had made almost completely obliterated. Ash had decided that it was his own fault that the Old man was starting to be distrusted, but almost made a kind of peace with his hatred of himself. He still respects the Old man highly, and if he ever heard any negative talk of him he’d glare down the speakers and has gotten into a fist fight or two. He stayed away from others as much as he could, focusing his days on helping the Old man and training himself with knives in (almost agitated) silence.

He doesn't freely talk of his past, nor is very keen on sharing. He has never told anyone of his parents, not even the Old Man. On the contrary, it was the Old Man who was able to tell him more of his parents on the rare occasions he’s asked about them. As I said, he won’t tell anyone about his parents, unless on the slight chance someone’s gotten close to him. (FWI: Although it’s obvious he’s a half-breed, the story of his parents isn’t well known, and is probably only remembered by the Old Man and few others.)
As I mentioned, Ash isn't personally very loyal to the king. It was Ash's adopted father who had received the invitation to join the group to save the king's daughter. (The King and him go way back. X3) As mentioned above, the Old Man insisted that Ash take his place since he was getting old and had duties to the/his people. Secretly, he thought it would be a good chance for Ash to experience the world, and perhaps learn to trust people again (Not that Ash is very keen on getting to know people).

Dragon: No (But maybe he could find one on their travels? :3 *Just an idea that can be used for anyone X3*)

Other: He’s not against love, but the way he is right now it’s almost beyond his comprehension (that he could love someone like that, and they could love him back.) However, if someone could reach him, reach past his cold exterior and self-hatred, there’s a chance he might fall for someone. (He’s straight, fwi <u>)
Also, whenever he has to be invisible for long periods of time he usually slips on a thin golden bangle which was his mothers. It helps him concentrate and is like a safety blanket to him. If he ever lost it or was stolen he’d probably go insane/flip out.

Spoiler! :

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