Update: Fixed some things in this chapter as well. Nothing major to change the story though.
Update Update: Fixed a couple other things. Almost nothing though.
Again, I don't own anything except for my OC.
xxx
"Am I going to get a choice?" she asked quitely, her voice now sounding devoid of emotion as she readied herself for the answer she knew she was going to be given.
"No", Joko replied, his crooked smile turning upwards as he watched the small healer comply with his demand.
xxx
"We shall return back to the Bone Palace with quickened haste", Joko ordered as he turned back around to address his still waiting troops standing near the entrance to the cave. There were more important matters to be had in his continuing uprising. Dealing with the small rabble of Sunspears that had made a failed assassination attempt on his personal greatness had been nothing but a mere side project for him.
He continued, waving his arms dramatically towards his Awakened. "There's no use in wasting our time on this pathetic island any longer, we will return back to familiarity of the Desolation once more"
Julianna Fyre, the Ascalonian healer who suddenly had her life turned completely upside down, was still rooted to the same spot since meeting the infamous Scourge known as Palawa Joko. She had been spared her life, but it came with a great consequence. The terrible necromantic lich that she had only heard mere rumors about since her arrival to Elona, had forced upon her the role of becoming a healer for the walking cadavers within his Awakened army.
She blinked, trying to come to conclusion that everything was happening in real time and this wasn't actually a nightmare. Julianna felt as though she could hardly breath, unable to find the courage to move her legs as she really had no desire to follow after the filth that had caused her such an unholy mess. No amount of experience in tending to the infected Skale bites back in Lion's Arch could have ever prepared her for this.
Her dark eyes watched Joko's retreating back as he began to leave the cave, the water splashing noisily around his gilded legs. She bit her lower lip, looking down towards her felled teammate Koss again as she looked upon his lifeless corpse. Part of her hoped that maybe he wasn't actually dead, and he was simply playing a feint and was going to jump up and slay the terrible monster that was walking away any second now.
"Woman!" Joko snapped, turning on his heels when he couldn't hear the expected footfall from his new healer trailing after him. His order seemed to have broken the woman from her incapacitated trance though, but she hadn't moved still.
He narrowed his eyes towards the still-living pest, wondering if perhaps killing her off then and there would have been the better choice compared to going through the hassle of keeping her alive. Besides, the woman had even said it herself earlier. She had an apparent lack of skill in the area of the healing arts and it was certainly true that there were better and more skilled healers around the land of Elona that would live to serve him far more exceptionally.
As Joko recalled back to past times, there was that little spoiled Vabbian princess that had helped alongside the events of Nightfall with the troubling Sunspear group of heroes. He had to dig through the deep recesses of his forgotten memories to finally dig out that her name had been Tahlkora, or some such other well-to-do-hero name.
From what he had remembered back then when he had been showing past, long-since forgotten heroes how to cross the sulfurous wastes without harm in order to reach the corrupted Varesh Ossa, the Vabbian princesses had been something to that of a monk, much like Julianna.
Except she was probably a much better one.
However, Joko reasoned that the only problem with wanting to be more picky about choosing a specific person of interest, was that time was of the essence, and the lich had what was given to him for the time being.
Which unfortunately for him, left him with the quivering, stubborn woman still dumbly standing in the dark cave like a helpless field mouse. He didn't have the time or the patience to go hunt around the reaches of Elona in search of a decent healer to serve within his army, especially while there were far more important matters to attend to.
Such as conquering all of Elona.
Julianna remained still at the same exact spot, shaking in her boots after Joko had loudly shouted at her from across the cave. Her eyes briefly looked back up at see the pair of undead ones glaring hatefully towards her and a breath hitched itself in her throat. His booming voice had echoed loudly throughout the small area, and the order was still ringing in her ears because of how loud it had actually been.
From the brief interaction she had with the undead ruler so far, Julianna could quickly tell he was not a patient being, and that observation was further laced with fear knowing that he could easily extinguish her life at a moment's notice, if he so wished.
She looked down at the felled hero Koss still in laying motionless next to her in the shallow stagnant water and she frowned then, knowing now that her previous wish of him getting back up was never going to happen.
Joko was about to say something more to the pathetic woman when his attention was brought back towards the felled hero after he saw the healer turn her attention down towards the body. His opaque eyes suddenly lit up with newfound ambition as he was remembered back to the despicable plan he had planned for the warrior that had dared to try and assassinate him.
"Ah, yes. Your boastful, Sunspear friend. I nearly forgot about my elaborate plan for his near worthless hide", Joko said, walking back towards the two again.
A couple of his Awakened soldiers had walked forward from the group to follow right behind their illustrious leader in the case that something went awry. Though both undead doubted anything would actually happen given they could see the still-living woman was a quivering mess of emotions right.
Of course, both ended up eating their own words.
The healer quickly realized that Palawa Joko was about to bring Koss back as an Awakened servant, just as he had done to the other men and woman that had been slain in their previous party. Although she had little to no offensive capabilities to fight back with, she couldn't allow herself to stand idly by as the famed warrior was brought back as a mindless, walking zombie.
Without thinking rationally because of her own emotional turmoil, she moved to stand in front of Koss's body defensively, glaring at the tall lich's approaching form as he hadn't even paused in his journey. In fact, all he had done was let out an amused snort, which only fueled her sudden hate towards him.
"How noble of you, little one", he sneered while raising a curious brow towards the sudden brave actions of the woman that had once been standing there just moments ago shaking with fear.
She had been so absorbed in her own attempted action of glaring daggers at the approaching being, that she hadn't even been aware of the two Awakened soldiers quickly approaching her. Before she could even react, one of the two had quickly grabbed hold of her upper arm and began to physically wrench her away from the scene.
Julianna let out a surprised gasp, before stubbornly trying to twist her arm away from the immovable force pulling her elsewhere. The water splashed up noisily around them as she struggled against her new captor.
"Let go of me!" she yelled out, as she tried her best to wring her captured limb out from the vice-like grip pulling her farther and farther away from the slain warrior's body. It felt as though she was trying to fight against a rotten wall that smelled of death and decay, especially given how much more physical strength the Awakened soldier had against her.
"Banish my soul to the Mists and back if I don't try and do something", she thought to herself. She had already failed in her duty as a mender, but she wasn't going to uselessly stand by and watch helplessly as Koss was unwillingly brought back as a walking cadaver.
The Awakened soldier wrestled with the ornery woman for a moment before he finally managed to pin her arms downward at her side and kept her standing there against his chest. He sighed loudly in annoyance when she still continued to try and fight against his unyielding hold, and the soldier suddenly found himself wishing that his other Awakened cohort could have been stuck with the bothersome task instead.
Joko meanwhile had walked past the trio right towards his downed target as he ignored the scene going on next to him. He raised his tar stained arm with staff in hand before the weapon shot out a blinding, dark stream of magic towards the lifeless body.
"Now... rise... Koss Dejarin!" Joko bellowed as he watched the boastful warrior come to life once more as an Awakened, loyal minion.
Koss's body rose from the water, his skin taking on the look to that of an Awakened. His eyes looked more hollow, and they had an opaque sheen across the both of them. Areas where his skin could still be seen were now decorated with blistering wounds, as they threatened to expose bone. His stature was more hunched over as he stood there swaying from side to side, taking on the physical appearance to that of a living corpse.
"Let this be a lesson to any Sunspears that would dare try to assassinate me", the necromancer finished, lowering his staff once the deed was accomplished. "You shall condemn the rest of your miserable life within this cave, guarding it against any foes that would dare enter it."
The now, reanimated Koss said nothing more as he realized he had actually been brought back from the cold hands of Grenth himself. He decided that he had nothing else that really could be said in that moment, which had been a first for the mouthy warrior in a very long time. He had clearly lost the battle against the damnable Scourge, Palawa Joko, and he was now eternally damned to live out this new, miserable life within the cave that he had been slain within. He figured it seemed only befitting as he had failed in his duties as a Sunspear.
Joko turned back around as he watched the burdensome healer off to the side still fighting against her current entrapment. It was quite obvious from her current actions of relentless kicking and clawing, that she hadn't been too pleased with the predicament for either her or the obnoxious hero she was with. But as annoying as her childish behavior had been, he had found it entertaining to see that her timid and scared disposition had quickly dissipated into something closer to that of a rude and stubborn Doylak.
The undead ruler also surmised it could have been that the small woman was already within the emotional state of anger, given how the stages of grief went. Then again, he figured it also could have just been her rotten personality suddenly shining through in this moment of weakness.
The Awakened solider behind her suddenly released his hold on her and roughly shoved her closer towards his King.
"You're horrible!", she spat, unable to hide the shakiness as it returned in her voice from nearly being thrown into him. Her nose crinkled, the returning fragrance of decay and rot assaulting her nose again from the close proximity.
Julianna couldn't deny that she was utterly terrified of him after seeing what he was capable of. She made a pathetic attempt to glare at up at him again.
"I live only to serve my reputation as the Scourge of Humanity", Joko boasted, outstretching his arms as a twisted smile finding itself upon his features as he looked down upon his new healer. "Now, I suggest you cease your despicable behavior at once. We have need to return back to my monumental Bone Palace in the Desolation, and we wouldn't want our new healer to retire before we even get there."
The ornery woman said nothing more, watching the retreating back of her despicable new boss as he turned and walked towards the exit of the cave. Finding that she wasn't able to do much of anything else given her incapacitated state, she stuck her tongue out at him when she was sure he wasn't able to see her actions anymore. Of course, her child-like action was rewarded with a swift slap to the back of her head when her captive saw the entire occurrence.
She let out a pained yelp, reaching back to hold onto the tender area of her skull that was now pulsating with a sharp, dulled pain.
"Move", the Awakened Soldier simply ordered, his patience now entirely lost with the woman.
Slowly, she timidly followed after Joko's footsteps, walking into the new life that awaited for her back in the wastes of the Desolation. She looked back one last time to see the standing figure of the Awakened Koss Dejarin before she turned away.
Julianna Fyre had vowed a promise to herself right then and there as she left the confines of cave, slowly following behind footsteps of the Palawa Joko. She decided in that fleeting moment, that she wasn't about to suddenly relinquish her stubborn behavior towards him, or his Awakened forces just because she had to work for them as a healer. She theorized that her headstrong temper was one of the few things left she had to fight with.
Even if he ended up going through the troubling effort of trying to break it from her, she concluded it would be the last thing he would ever allow him to take from her, given he had already taken most of everything already.
As she stepped out into the bay of the outside world again, she looked up towards the thousands of white stars dotting their dark canvas. She thought about The Six, and decided that if they had chosen to bestow upon her that she was going to be the healer the Awakened army, then so be it.
But that didn't mean she was going to like it.
And it most definitely didn't mean that she would be without reason to try and escape from Joko's hold.
"Give it time little one", Palawa Joko sneered at the brooding mortal a few feet behind him. "We have consequences in store for those whom do not willingly serve me."
Julianna said nothing at the words, as a frown formed on her face.
"Over my dead body..." she thought darkly as eyes narrowed towards the being responsible for uprooting her entire life.
xxx
If there was one thing Julianna had learned very quickly after traveling with Palawa Joko and his merry band of the Awakened brigand, it was that the reanimated undead did not fatigue very easily.
Or at all.
She had wanted to complain about how tired she had been feeling from the constant walking, but she knew better from a recent experience than to open her mouth and whine. She trudged on, keeping her mouth a taut firm line as she kept her focus onto just getting to their destination, wherever that actually may be as she was quite unfamiliar with the desert environment of this region. Hunger and dehydration gnawed at her from the inside, but she ignored it and also kept those two things at bay for as long as possible until they became a more pressing problem altogether.
The first part of their trip had been spent on a boat ride back to the main continent of Elona. Julianna had spent the entire time in silence, still mourning over what had happened to Koss as she was witness to seeing him ruthlessly killed and brought back as an Awakened to serve under a ruling thumb. None of the other Awakened, including Joko himself, had made any attempt to talk to her and that had suited her just fine since she had no desire to say anything to them either.
But ever since their departure from the boat into the mainland, the journey now had consisted entirely of trekking through the wake of the Desolation. Which, given the treacherous landscape of the environment, meant it was not an easy place for a mortal to journey through. The group of Awakened soldiers traveled across the landscape in a tight-nit group, with Joko leading his troops near the front.
Julianna nearly tripped over another jagged outcrop, the interrupting causing her to wonder what would happen if she dared to request a stopping point as she walked within the middle of the group. Her mouth scrunched up to the side as she ran the potential scenario through her head.
She remembered back to a particular scene from a few miles back, when one of the Awakened soldiers had brought up how bothersome he had been feeling ever since a sharp sliver of rock had embedded itself into the bottom of his foot. She had quickly recognized the soldier to have been the same one that had held her back from trying to defend Koss's body and had also been the one responsible for smacking the back of her head a little too roughly.
At first, she had thought it was a sweet dose of justice served upon seeing he had acquired a pained limb in their shared journey. But justice or not, she figured no one really deserved the wrath of the angry and temperamental Scourge. Even besides that, her bleeding heart hadn't allowed the resentment for more than a fleeting second.
The comment about the foot injury from the Awakened warrior had quickly been rewarded with Joko simply asking the soldier if he would rather have his entire limb forcefully removed and fed to a Junundu right then and there instead.
And said soldier hadn't uttered a single word since that brief encounter with his undead ruler.
Julianna had been watching the entire scene from afar, as she made a careful mental note to herself about never whining to the ruler unless she also wanted to endure his impatient wrath.
Currently as the group progressed through the desert, Palawa Joko had been very well aware that his new healer was beginning to tire from fatigue. He had noticed her pace had slowed considerably since they had set off from the boat. He craned his neck around to watch her for a brief second, deciding then that he could take the time to bother her about the matter.
He slowed down his own pace from the front of the brigand so that he could walk directly alongside the short woman. The notion that she hadn't asked to stop at any point was incredibly entertaining to him, and he wondered what was going on in that stubborn little brain of hers that was preventing her from actually asking.
"Getting tired already?" he taunted, a gleam in his eyes as he begun conversation for the first time since the cave. He figured that if she wasn't going to ask for the necessary help, then he was just going to have to manipulate her into doing so. After all, he knew that he needed to round out that headstrong behavior of hers at one point or another.
Julianna's head glanced up towards the bothersome person next to her before she quickly turned it away again and kept her eyes focused back on the cracked ground below her while processing the simple question. She could feel the fear already beginning to bubble up inside of her again from the close proximity of the intimidating undead ruler walking so close to her all of a sudden. She greatly disliked that she was obviously still scared of him whenever he got near, even though her hate for his entire being greatly dominated the fear. The healer's sense of smell was also assaulted with the the familiar stench of rotting flesh poorly masked with expensive fragrance again, and she was more than glad the owner wasn't able to see her disgusted face as she continued with her intense examination of the ground.
Her thoughts couldn't help but wander back to the last soldier who had whined to Joko as she mused over his question and decided how to answer it.
"No... not at all...", Julianna lied, even though she was in fact, very tired and on the precipice of exhaustion. But she wasn't about to let him gain the upper hand on their conversation.
Or whine to him. Especially not that.
"Really, not at all?" he echoed back as he turned his head quizzically to the side, the jingling of ornaments following the movement. He continued with his teasing as he took gratification from how uncomfortable the woman looked. "I was going to inquire about a possible rest somewhere soon, given your feeble mortal body. But given you insist, we can keep moving without means of ceasing anytime soon."
She bit her own tongue at that last bit of comment as she was now faced with a dilemma against the despicable bag of bones. She had the choice to either be stubborn and continue going forward with her dwindling status, or brave forward and ask him if they could have a short rest. Which unfortunately would also mean that he would win this game of wicked entertainment that he was quite obviously pulling the strings at.
Palawa Joko had already walked back up towards the front of the brigand again, a sly smirk growing on his weathered looking face though the healer would have been unable to see it.
The conflicted healer meanwhile had watched him return back to the front of the Awakened forces, her dark eyes watching him with clear annoyance on her features as her eyebrows furrowed together tightly.
"Doylak spit..." she quietly cursed under her breath as she realized that inevitably, she was now going to have to ask him up front about a possible rest before she did actually pass out from sheer exhaustion. She figured he was likely already aware of it given he had asked her about it first. She would also have to find a way to ask in such a way without sounding like she was whining or complaining about the matter, given she didn't want to test his limited patience.
She ran a hand through her tousled hair of short blonde curls before looking over to one of the many undead soldiers marching on forward just to the right of her. Julianna closely observed then how the Awakened were mostly just composed as large walls of muscle and power brought back to life through some disgusting magic. She thought back to how easily one of them had been able to pull her away from a scene with little to no effort.
"Maybe Joko would just order one of the soldiers to haul me around like a useless bag of potatoes for the rest of the trip if I actually couldn't go on anymore", she mused to herself as she watched the soldiers nearby.
She continued with her inner dialogue to herself. "Or maybe I would be fed to a Junundu instead because of my complaining. Whatever that beast may actually be."
Julianna shook thoughts away and swallowed bravely as she looked up towards where Joko had returned walking near the front line. She quickly made her way there, slightly having to jog to catch back up with the lich again as she willed herself to find the courage to speak to him once more.
"Look, I'm sorry... but... I do need to stop and rest for a bit", Julianna began between pauses of breath, now feeling more and more unsure about her request as the familiar feel of fear began to bubble up from within the confines of her stomach.
"And why would I do that?" he asked right back, raising a brow though he already knew the answer.
Joko was going to make her request as much of a difficult task as he could. The healer was proving to be much more entertaining than he originally thought, and he was going to drain that enjoyment to the last possible drop until he entirely broke her will. Other than constantly bothering Grand Vizier Utumishi back at the Bone Palace with mundane requests, he hadn't had a decent dose of entertainment for quite some time.
The woman bit the inside of her cheek to prevent herself from retaliating with a snappy reply of her own, looking back down at the ground once more as she struggled to keep a calm composure for herself. She didn't think it was possible to hate this supposed God-King anymore than in that single moment, but he continued to prove her wrong.
A vulture that had been following the Awakened brigand screeched noisily above them.
She briefly wondered to herself what would actually happen if she were to try and cast a smite spell on the walking lich right then and there. She didn't know too many offensive smiting spells, but she knew at least one that could probably put a dent in his face.
After a long pause, she finally spoke up again. "Because I don't think I can physically keep up at this pace for much longer", she replied, trying to hide the fear in her tone as looked upwards to the much taller being next to her. He hadn't even bothered to recognize her presence as he kept his own eyes trained forward and continued his brisk pace.
"So then, you're asking me that I stop all of my troops just to pander to your small, meager little request?" he asked after an uncomfortable pause, a grin stretching across his face as the large ring on his bottom lip moved with the action. An elongated life had proven through past experiences, that he had loved to emotionally manipulate those underneath him. It was something he had gotten quite good at through decades of mastery, and it had helped in more ways than one with his conquering use of deceit and false promises.
The healer paused in her hurried steps for a moment as she had stopped again to absorb his twisted wordplay as he had obviously echoed back what she had tried to ask of him. On top of that, he had also somehow managed to corrupt her words and completely turn them around to make it sound as though she was a villain for asking such a thing.
Julianna suddenly felt like a great inconvenience to him, which was to say, mostly true in her opinion and it made her question her worth again as a living non-Awakened healer for his army. She found herself wondering more and more why a fiend like Joko was even going through the trouble of keeping her around, instead of killing her like he should have back in the cave with Koss.
She grumbled to herself, biting her tongue again and finding herself hating this simple request more and more with each passing second. She shoved her frustrated feelings back down again as she hustled back up towards the undead ruler once more.
"Yes, I'm asking just that...", she mumbled out as she looked back up at him again, struggling to hide the shakiness in her voice. It hadn't helped that she was nearly dwarfed by his intimidating height, as she barely came up to his torso.
The woman visibly flinched when the vulture screeched overhead again.
"What's that? I couldn't quite hear you under your incessant mumbling", Joko continued to tease, cupping a clawed hand around the side of his ear as though he was straining to hear her better. The clattering of the ornaments on his headdress jingled nosily with the movement.
Julianna's eyes narrowed in disbelief at the absurdity of this supposed God-King's blatant egotism.
"Yes! I'm asking that we all stop, just to pander to my meager little request!", she nearly yelled, her voice raising with irritation. She was mentally and physically drained at this point, and she just wanted a short moment of rest for herself before she succumbed to the vulnerability of exhaustion. She wasn't used to this amount of walking, especially in a difficult landscape such as this.
A few of the nearby soldiers had turned their heads in curiosity upon hearing the loud outburst from the quiet woman that had mostly been silent during the entirety trip thus far. They were somewhat shocked to see that the tiny healer had spoken to their ruler in such a disrespectful tone.
Much to said woman's frustration, Joko just hummed to himself in seemingly deep thought as though he was taking the extra time to think over the simple request. He tapped a finger on his chin to further emphasize he needed to think over the answer, even though she knew he really didn't.
The freckled woman's mouth formed a taut line as she watched the despicable lich, while dancing on the line of impatience herself. She could tell that he was obviously choosing to playing the naive fool in this situation, but the healer couldn't help but wonder what would actually happen if her body slumped over from fatigue right then and there in the middle of the gods forsaken desert.
"I'll probably just be slung around like a bag of potatoes by one of the brutes...", she mulled over again, looking over to one of the staring soldiers as they watched the scene with current interest.
But another part of her also knew that a person like Joko was more than capable of the cruelty to just leave her there to rot on the desert ground and be completely done with her. She knew from her little experiences with him so far, that the Scourge of Vabbi could be incredibly impatient on certain matters and he was aptly prone to showing a complete lack of remorse for any of his actions.
She looked up at the circling vulture above them and shielded her eyes from the glaring sun, grimacing at the sight of the bird overhead. Having her dead body feasted upon by a carrion bird didn't sound very pleasant either.
"I suppose we could arrange for that", Joko finally said after a long pause. He had wasted enough time by throwing the idea around in his head, even though he had already been fixed on an answer ever since she had mumbled the request to him. He had obviously bothered the healer to a great extent, and that had satisfied his thrill of entertainment for now.
"No other inquiries then?" he asked, looking down to the woman still walking alongside him.
"How many smite spells could I cast upon your rotting head before you struck me down?" Julianna thought to herself as she held back a smile of her own.
"No", she replied shakily, trying to bite back the desire to say anything more that would likely cause her a decent amount of trouble for herself.
"Perfect", Joko replied back, grinning towards his obviously bothered healer with a insidious glint in his eyes.
Julianna Fyre came to the conclusion that while her request certainly hadn't resulted in being fed to a hungry Junundu, it was certainly a battle and a half to ask for such a simple request from the esteemed Awakened ruler. She thought that if he pulled this kind of behavior every time she asked of something from him, then she knew for a fact that she was going to end up saying something that she was going to deeply regret.
And if she had any desire to try and escape her current predicament, then she still needed to be very much alive.
