I don't own anything except for my OC.
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"How do you know she isn't just hiding out somewhere here in the Palace? Or perhaps she's just been holed up within her room this entire time?" Utumishi asked.
The traveling merchant and his healer escapee had stopped once it was close to nightfall and the Elonian sun was threatening to disappear entirely for the night. They had gained quite a bit of distance through the cruel land of the Desolation, making their way through the winding trails and avoiding Awakened patrols and camps whenever they could. The pair and their Doylak companion were now on the very outskirts of the Bonestrand, huddled away in a lone outlook carved into the nearest mountainside looking down into the Elon Riverlands. Elevation wise, they were still quite some ways up, and would need to descend the winding path to get into the small town below them.
From here, the imposing-looking structure of the Bone Wall could be seen as it was stretching in either direction for miles upon miles. Beyond that, lay towering rock formations that climbed into the sky at varying heights. Further even beyond those geological structures if one could see, were the near-endless rolling dunes of sand that could be seen on the farthest horizon.
Almasi had worked on procuring a small campfire, grateful that he had packed extra logs as the wood around this area was incredibly scarce. He knew the fall of the sun had also dropped the temperature drastically within the desert, and the group would need warmth to sleep through the night safely without fear of hypothermia setting in.
The Doylak had already hunkered down on its knees, the burden of its merchandise that it carried for the trip had been taken off in allowance for rest. The supplies on its back were pulled off and placed some ways away, sitting in a lone pile near the edge of the camp so as to not catch any stray embers. The horned animal chewed its cud loudly, the bovine trying its best to ignore the person of blonde curly hair right in front of it.
Julianna waved an inticing carrot right in front of the beast's mouth, looking on in disappointment as it hardly even licked its chops but just continued chewing. She almost debating trying to push the vegetable right into its lips instead.
"Why won't it take any food from me?" she asked, turning towards the merchant and raising a brow. She could see that he had already got the fire up and going, and was now stoking its core to entice more flames. He looked up from his work when he realized she was talking to him and not the Doylak anymore.
The merchant chuckled, the corners of his weathered looking eyes crinkling in amusement. He walked over, gently offering his hand out as the woman gave him the vegetable. He then held it out in offer for his pet, the animal taking almost less than a second to garble up the orange stick.
Julianna huffed in annoyance, filling her freckled cheeks with air and crossing her arms before turning away in a pout. "Why does he take it from you then? What Doylak doesn't want a carrot?"
Almasi hummed aloud, scratching his beard and thinking about the stubborn amount of likeness the woman shared with the beast as he patted its black and white snout."Well, I don't mean this in an offensive way. But given your longer stay at somewhere such as the Bone Palace, you probably reek of death."
The pouting healer raised a high brow, eyes slightly narrowing. "Look, while I'm not offended at the accusation, I did actually bathe on regular occasion while housed in that horrible place."
Almasi laughed with clear amusement on his face, moving back to his previous seat upon a slab of sandstone as he poked at the fire again. "I'm not saying you actually smell bad of course. But I think animals have a sense to that sort of thing. I mean, you were pretty close to the likes of that lich, and I imagine some of that disgusting, dark magic of his has stuck to you whether or not you were aware of it."
The comment had been like a icy pick to the woman's heart, as it had more truth to it than what was realized. And unfortunately, in more ways than one. Her hand went up to ghost over the scar on her inner shoulder blade, the imperfection of skin a blatant reminder that she did indeed have some of Joko's magic within her, whether she liked it or not. It was a constant reminder that when he had used Necromantic healing magic to mend the dire wound she had been unable to do herself, it had unfortunately resulted in some of his magic seeping in with her own.
Up until now, she had been completely unsure as to whether or not that would have dissolved over time. But having the Doylak's sense to such things had been like a reminding punch in the gut that it must still be lingering around.
She swallowed, her tongue feeling thick as she pulled her scarf back up around her head. Her feet felt like lead as she stood and moved back to join her traveling companion near the fire, seating herself down across from him on the ground.
Almasi had said nothing more, sensing the sudden change of mood from the woman as she was staring into the embers of the campfire with an uncomfortable look on her face. He watched a moment longer as she was anxiously fiddling around with the scarab decorated ring on her left middle finger. He decided not to pry any further, but he made a mental note to leave such comments to himself for the short remainder of their journey.
xxx
Palawa Joko had returned to his imposing yet magnificent Bone Palace a few days later as predicted, a battalion of fatigued and injured troops following behind him in his wake. He waved them away before stepping into the inner sanctum of the Throne Room, looking forward and tilting his head curiously at the surprising scene in front of him. He was nearly caught off guard at the sight of someone other than Grand Vizier Utumishi milling about in front of the three chairs, as instead there was a well-dressed man standing about in his place.
Joko stopped in front of the stranger some ways away near the bottom of the raised mound, leaning on his staff languidly as he looked the man up and down. His eyes took a generous amount of time to survey what was in front of them, as it had been an unwelcome sight upon his glorious return. There were few mortals he could bear to stand, even less of those that he tolerated standing so close to his appointed throne.
The man was not yet Awakened, though he was built like a Minotaur given his bulky size. He was dressed in a rich-looking combination of heavy armor and sandy colored robes, tassels of varying sizes hanging off his belt as a rusted looking mace hung next to his side. There was a glowing aura that surrounded him, as strands of blue energy danced around his arms and torso.
"Ah, one of my many loyal followers I presume. And just who exactly are you again?" the undead ruler asked, not skipping a beat and already sounding bored with the encounter.
The so-called stranger nearly choked on a snort, in disbelief at his monarch's lack of understanding of who he was. "I'm your most recently recruited Archon, you allowed me to join your cause back during your conquer of-"
Joko waved the man dismissively with an expressive clawed hand, sounding even more uninterested than before. "Oh, yes. Well then, what business does your miserable-looking hide have here within my own personal throne room?"
"Grand Vizier Utumishi gifted me the full responsibility of his duties until your awaited arrival back at the Bone Palace", he replied, sounding less and less confident. He bowed his armored head in acknowledgement. "I am truly grateful for this allowance of an important role, and I have been taking it most seriously, my king."
There was a sudden cough from somewhere in the room, as Utumishi had actually been standing about and listening in, but had instead been strategically located behind one of the pillars until his name was called forth in the conversation. He moved around from behind the structure, nodding towards the familiar lich some safe distance away. Secretly he had been hoping he could have avoided this conversation for a short while longer.
The undead ruler's passive, yet terrifyingly unpredictable face had hardly shifted, as he turned towards his adviser and lifted a single brow. He wasn't surprised to see that the little slimy worm of a man was not only standing some distance away, but was also avoiding near complete eye contact with him, which was the only visual cue the lich needed to see to immediately know something had gone terribly wrong during his short absence.
Though what exactly that was had remained a mystery to him.
Yet.
"My king, you must understand that...", Utumishi began, hesitantly returning eye contact once more. But he trailed off when his attention was caught sight of a particular nasty-looking wound marring the surface of his monarch's tar stained arm. There was a large open cut taking up nearly the length of his inner forearm, as an endless stream of tar seemed to be running rivulets down the limb into his closed hand around the staff before dripping down the weapon's shaft.
The adviser continued, eyebrows drawn together with slight worry. "King Joko, I don't mean to intrude, but your arm? It looks to be in quite the state of disarray", he asked. While he knew the lich was immortal, and such wounds would never impose a problem to his health, it still caused a bout of concern given the undead ruler would rarely let wounds go untreated like that.
Joko raised his arm, voice turning almost disturbingly jovial as he proudly showed off the dripping wound. "Nasty piece of work, isn't it? That miserable Talkhora was guarded by a would-be Sunspear hero that tried to defend that her pathetic and accursed existence. I gifted him the opportunity to get at least a good swipe at me with his meager showmanship of bravery."
"And?" Utumishi pressed, knowing he wasn't going to like the next answer. He pulled at the tight collar of his embroidered shirt.
"Ah, Utumishi, you should have seen the look on his face when I immobilized him right there on the spot after he so willingly chose to attack me", Joko said laughing cruelly as his attention was diverted back to his arm. "It was only made better when I wrenched the weapon right out of his hand and pierced him right through his heart, while he could only watch on helplessly."
The adviser swallowed, feeling bile at the back of his throat as he turned away. It never ceased to surprise him how truly cruel the great, Palawa Joko could be. He took a few shaky breathes, trying to regain his calm demeanor again as he suddenly felt light headed. The fact that such a fate could be in store for him at this sudden time was causing him second thoughts about needing to be in same room.
"I've been saving this pesky wound for our healer to deal with instead", Joko replied, a large smile on his face as he prodded around the flayed, leathery skin. Part of him had hoped it would entice even the smallest sting of pain, but he knew it was a far fetched reality for someone that was undead. But the other part of him was greatly looking forward to bothering the stubborn flame with his little problem instead.
But almost as if a tripwire had been set off in the room, there was now an aura of unease loitering about the room, the tension thick enough that it could have been cut through with a blade.
He turned towards Utumishi, his once, jovial voice turning to that of a more serious one. "Speaking of which, where is our healer? I do have some other unfinished business with her as well", he asked aloud, looking around as though he expected her familiar curls of hair to pop out at any moment.
But he sensed there was something wrong, and Joko was quite sure he wasn't going to like the news when he heard it.
"She... isn't here", Utumishi said, swallowing hard as he fiddled around with the cuffs of his sleeves. "There's been so sign of the lout for the past few days now."
The undead ruler's face turned to a deep scowl, the deep lines on his face standing out. "My underlings do not just disappear without any trace unless I am the one responsible for it. When was she last seen?" he asked, voice now laced with venom as the grip on his weapon had become similar to that of a vice.
"Just two days ago, around the same exact time that you had left in your short journey back to Vabbi again to deal with the princess", the adviser answered, now taking a few small careful steps backwards to put even further distance away from himself and the tempermental Scourge.
The Archon cleared his throat, reminding the two that he was still there. "Perhaps it would please you instead to know that I sent out numerous search parties to check every nook and cranny of the Palace. And this was immediately after Utumishi had given me the full responsibility and let me know of our meager blight of a problem. There was little evidence left to be found, but it points to the fact that she has likely high-tailed it out of here under our noses."
Joko cursed a colorful string of words under his breath, his jaw strained together in frustration at the knowledge that something he owned and was an asset to his ruling cause was now gone. He turned his attention towards the Archon now in his sudden bout of rage, outstretching a clawed hand towards the poor sod as his limb was enveloped in a dark cloud of deathly-looking mist. He quickly clenched his outstretched digits, feeling a pulse of magic course through his arm as it immediately drained the life force of the once-mortal body.
The Archon crumpled to the ground as though he weighed nothing , the man hardly having the time to react against his undead ruler's tantrum. His heavy form fell loudly against the scattered bones beneath his feet before it finally came to rest again.
"Your unremarkable contribution is a gift to your esteemed ruler, be proud of it", Joko said to the downed corpse, turning to look at the injured state of his arm as the skin mended itself back together after draining the life force of his unsuspecting prey. He clenched and flexed his hand repeatedly, watching the healed ligaments move under his tight decaying flesh.
The other Awakened milling about in the room had taken a few cautionary steps backwards upon seeing their newly recruited peer taking from the world of the living. Even those that had been around for quite some time felt frightened about their leader's unpredictable actions.
Utumishi sighed, rubbing a hand across his balding scalp in slight relief upon seeing the lich had already dished out his blatant outburst on someone else instead. While someone else had suffered the wrath of Joko and had paid the ultimate price for it, their death meant that Utumishi was safe at least for the moment.
Joko continued. "She must have been planning this, the deplorable wench. I imagine she probably waited until I was out of the picture before even daring to brave such an escape", he mused to himself out loud, his gravely voice still low and threatening as he watched the black mist on his hand slowly dissipate.
He thought back to the last few moments he had last seen her, thinking to the memory of when she had emerged out from the traveling merchant's room right before their progressive encounter together. She had mentioned to him after his teasing that her reason for being there in the room was because she had been inquiring about the acquirement of certain goods. But the lich now understood it had been a complete and blatant lie right to his face. His anger towards the woman was boiling dangerously now as the puzzle pieces all came together.
"She was scheming with the merchant right then and there behind my back", Joko thought aloud, clicking his tongue. "The clever little tart must have slipped out along with the only person that would have been allowed free leave from my Palace."
"And it's rather remarkable that not a single undead pair of eyes seemed to have noticed anything out of the ordinary when he had left. But then again, Julianna herself is quite the ordinary lout, she hardly stands out, even obnoxious as she is", Utumishi said with a scowl of his own, though it was quickly dropped when Joko shot him a sharp glare.
Utumishi coughed into his hand awkwardly before continuing. "Wurmmarshal Osa Ekolo also visited the Palace the previous day and had been the first to realize Julianna had been missing", he explained, his mouth feeling dry as he hoped the words would have calmed the angry lich down some. "She left shortly after to go recruit Beastmarshal Eranko Ekolo to help track her down."
"And? Have they made any further progress than the obvious lack of what was accomplished here?" Joko nearly spat, glowering towards the short man as he walked over to the downed corpse and lightly kicked at it to double check the effectiveness of his spell, though he hardly doubted his ability.
"They just came back with a report not long before your arrival. Eranko had mentioned they had been following an unknown trail north some ways through the canyons before it went cold", Utumishi explained.
The undead monarch hummed a short note, bringing a clawed hand to his chin and scratching it in thought as it bumped against the metal of his lip ring. "That must have been the merchant then. The only place hardly worth a damn for petty mortals within my Kingdom would have been the two miserable villages sitting on each respective sides of the Bone Wall."
"You think they would have gone that way then?"
"It's the only reasonable place for a merchant and his unfortunate quarry to have gone through", Joko mused aloud. "Send a message to both Eranko and Ekolo that I will deal with the rest of this matter myself. I won't imagine the two fools would have gotten very far yet, especially considering how fragile a pathetic mortal is under the conditions of unforgiving environments and travel. As such. they won't have moved very quickly in heir journey, wherever that may be."
"Shall I accompany you?" Utumishi asked, suddenly interested in seeing the potential consequences that was going to be used to deal with the bothersome lout. He would have gleefully rubbed his hands together if not for receiving a hated look from his ruler just moments prior.
"No, you won't", the lich replied quickly, looking back down to the corpse again and lifting a limp hand with his clawed foot. He tilted his head curiously, the ornaments ringing against each other with the movement. "Besides, you have a mess here to clean up anyway."
The slimy con of an adviser almost couldn't contain the grimace on his face when he looked towards the dead body. "It will be done, my king..." he said, sounding less than enthusiastic about his newly appointed yet all too familiar task.