Labor Day Novel 2008: Day Two

5672 words.

[members-only cut]

I now have a ton of different plot threads started:

1. Cassandra's plotline. She's the princess that has just come of age, doesn't at all want to be stuck with the normal fate of princesses, which is to get married off to a neighboring kingdom as an alliance exchange. Her father, the king, has noticed that she would make a better ruler than either of his sons, who are both morons. But she needs to do something to prove her worth to the Council, who are going to balk because she's a girl. So, little does she know that there's some sort of quest in her future, just as soon as I figure out the details...

2. Meanwhile, the city of Trincal is about to go to war against the druids. They've discovered a "secret weapon" in the form of an old, powerful, yet retarded vampire who is really spectacularly good at sucking the lifeforce out of everything. They have no idea what he is, other than "some sort of lifeforce sucking demon", and they've been carefully herding him in the direction of an underground passage that leads straight to Duuniain, the druid's main village. And they're planning to coordinate an attack at the same time as he arrives to there.

For his part, his mental capacity is basically on the level of "braaaaaaaiiinnnsss..." - and the lifeforce energy on druidic lands is extra delicious, and he really really wants to go there just as soon as he finds a way. He's been bumbling around in the Trincal sewers while the rest of the city coordinates.

Cassandra's quest is probably going to have something to do with all this.

3. Meanwhile again, Rumen is a powerful vampire, and he has been living among the druids for the past 16 years. Trincal doesn't know about him, and the druids don't know he's a vampire either (otherwise they would've evicted from the lands by now, as they hate vampires). He was just going about his business eating a random Trincal resident, when he overheard the battle plans. He's going to rush home to tell them, only to find that they've discovered he's a vampire, so they're going to lock him up until they figure out what to do with him. After all, even though he's a vampire, he's also been an honored guest for 16 years and has helped them out a bunch during that time.

Since vampires are telepathically aware of each other, he knows about the other one, doesn't like him, but doesn't have any idea that the other guy is the "secret weapon."

4. Jenya is a young girl whom Rumen adopted as an infant, 16 years ago. Her dying mother placed her in Rumen's care, not having any idea what he was. For some reason he actually honored her dying wish and brought the baby to her people, which are the druids. This whole story is also supposed to be about Jenya discovering that her "revered grandfather" is actually a vampire in disguise, and coming to terms with that. I haven't figured out how to introduce her yet.

That's the Beginning, anyway. My thoughts for the middle so far:

1. Trincal attacks Duuniain. They fail, because Rumen is in there to defeat their secret weapon.

2. Cassandra, who was involved in the attack, ends up stranded in druid lands. So does Gray, who has been charged with teaching her how to be leaderlike instead of merely ladylike. Gray was raised by the druids, so once he's cut off from the Crown and the oath that binds him to Trincal, he can start going unhinged about everything that's happened to him in his life.

3. Lots of high minded philosophical existentialist debates on what to do about Rumen. This will go on until the battle, at which point he proves that he's on their side, which then complicates the debates. Eventually, it's up to Jenya to decide his fate. I'm hoping she'll decide to let him go, preferably in peace. (Because if she decides that she hates him, he'll be sad. He'll still go - it's not like they can actually lock him up for real or kill him unless he lets them, which he won't.)

4. I haven't decided what part of Rumen's timeline this is. It could be right after his first rampage when he was mad at the world for having become a vampire. Or it could be the rampage after Alec got killed by a hunter, when he killed the hunter's entire family line. If I'm hoping to match all this up to the Sacramento story with Craig, it would have to be the latter. See, Craig comes into it as the one member of the hunter's family line that Rumen missed, who has been trying to hunt down Rumen ever since... On the other hand, the whole setup with Trincal could also make sense as when Rumen first met Alec in the first place.

5. I also have no idea whether the Trincal MCs are going to run into Rumen and Jenya, and what will happen if they do.

And now I'm going to head off and brainstorm up a proper intro for Jenya. Her story starts right at the point where she discovers he's not who she thought he was, and I need to set up the circumstances for that....