-HER-

"This is my land. My word is the law here," Ezekiel growled. If looks could kill I'd already have been dead twice because there was an inferno burning in his eyes and the dangerous vibes that were oozing off his body had already had all the wolves taking a step back but I didn't move an inch. I stood in my place, holding his burning gaze with my chin tipped high.

It was now easy for me to see through his tactics. He was trying to piss me off. He was trying to provoke me and Nuessa was just one of his cards in this game but I wouldn't let him get to me so easily this time. If anything that I had learned in all these years, it was to maintain my calm in situations like this. Everyone was watching. It was a big probability that the aggressor would most probably make a fool out of himself if I continue to maintain my calm.

And since Ezekiel mostly lived off of his ego, the best way to get back at him was to harm it and how do I do that?

I use my words not my strength.

Everyone watched us holding their breaths. The power oozing off of Ezekiel's body grew stronger and stronger but it didn't have any effect on me anymore. I cocked my eyebrows at him, crossed my arms over my chest, and spoke to him very clearly and calmly, "Are you forgetting again that you're on the receiving end of this deal, Ezekiel?" I thought I heard some people gasp because I addressed Ezekiel by his name in front of him instead of saying His Majesty.

I could see the effect my words had on him. He ground his teeth and glared at me even harder while I continued to show him his place, "So either you take your nose out of our business or I take my army back to Zaeris,"

"Wow, that rhymed," Lua commented from somewhere back.

"Which one do you choose?" I asked him very calmly, holding his gaze very adamantly. Even if he was the king of that land, I was the one in control of the situation. He had to bend in front of me. He had to put his ego aside for a while.

"Nuessa stays," He gritted at the end and walked away without uttering any other word. I smirked to myself. I've had the upper hand for now.

I sighed and looked around to find all the wolves and lycans looking at me with shock.

"What?" I asked out loud. This made them snap out of the shock before they pretended to go back to what they were doing. Though I was aware of those curious glances that I got from time to time. I turned to Nuessa last and spoke to her with the same calm voice, "Obey me and you'll get enough to eat. Disobey me and I'll personally make sure you starve to death. Do you understand me?"

She nodded weekly at this and went her way. The situation was under my control for now but I knew it in the back of my head that Ezekiel would be back again to take revenge. Well, let him come to me. I am prepared for him in every way now.

After wrapping up all the things, we set out deeper into the forest. Most of the way was pretty clear and the men were starting to get comfortable but I knew better. I had done my own research about this forest. There were about thirteen cannibal tribes that lived in the woods and according to my observations, we were supposed to bump into at least two of them on our way and I was right.

We were navigating a very thick portion of the forest when we heard a cry. It was a very inhumane cry and for a moment, it made my heart palpitate. Everyone fell silent for a while and waited. All of a sudden, the place grew very eerily silent. Even the birds stopped singing. For a moment it felt like the whole forest was holding its breath, waiting for the storm that was about to come and wipe us away.

"What's happening?" I heard Lua mutter beside me. I closed my eyes and threw my head back and listened to what the woods had to say.

Footsteps, hundreds of them... sharp weapons, bloodthirsty...

"It's them," Ezekiel gritted before I heard the sound of metal sliding against metal as he took out his sword. I snapped out of my vision to find him preparing to attack.

"What are you doing?" I asked him. At this, he glared at me. I could see the anger slowly starting to build up inside him.

"Getting ready to cut some trees," He answered sarcastically but I knew what he was actually going to do. Attack them. It would be the stupidest thing to do.

Even though we were greater in number, attacking wouldn't be the right strategy because we still had a long way to go and we couldn't start losing manforce and resources from the very first day over small things like these. There was always a way around and I think I knew one.

"Put it back," I told him before I turned my horse towards the way they seem to be coming from. I didn't wait for Ezekiel's response but I did hear him growling at me but I ignored him and focused more on the distant movements and the noises of those tribe members moving closer to us. Ezekiel caught up meanwhile and positioned himself before me like the machoest he was.

I sat straight and still on my horse with my eyes focused on the last bush that was chopped down and from that gap appeared a very tall and slender woman with dark skin. She was barely covered, putting the tattoos carved into her skin to full display. I felt my skin crawl slightly as I looked at her tattoos. Those were her very dominant features and looked very beautiful on her skin but I just couldn't help but imagine the pain she might have to endure to have them.

The woman was not alone though. Her tribe members stepped behind her, most of them were men and all of them shared the same features— dark and tattooed skin, tall and slender. All of them were holding very deadly weapons.

I was the only one to notice this one important thing first— they didn't attack us right away. Instead, that woman stood tall in front of Ezekiel, holding his gaze savagely. Not caring if he was the king, holding a huge and heavy sword that could cut her into two pieces by just one swing. And Ezekiel being the sweet and docile son of a scheming bastard he was, greeted the woman with an equally savage growl.

I made a mental note to give him a class on basic social etiquette. He definitely was in great need of those.

In repose to Ezekiel's growl, that woman rose her spear that was long and sharp enough to pierce through ten Ezekiles at once and turn them into a kebab. I chose this moment to step in front and raised my hands to assure her that we didn't really want to attack.

Her eyes lingered on me for a moment before they swept from my head and toe. Her spear remained raised in the air for a while before she finally put it down and turned towards me.

"Where are you headed?" She asked me. Her voice was deep but still, there was this feminine trait to it that made the people listen to her.

"We are headed towards the East," I answered.

"Why?" She demanded.

"Get out of our way, woman. We don't have time to answer you," Ezekiel growled beside me, making me even more irritated. I was tempted to slap him in front of everyone. I saved it for later.

My quota of hurting his ego for the day was almost exhausted.

At Ezekiel's words, the woman rose her spear again but I was quick to interfere, "We are headed there to guard the Eastern command. What could we do for you?" I asked her very keenly.

At this, she finally put her spear down and looked at me with interest. Her eyes gleamed into me for a couple more seconds before she took a step closer to me.

"You said you're going east," she spoke.

"Yes, we are,"

"Are you going to cross the Hemlock river?"

"Yes,"

"Change your route. There's a war going on there in between five tribes," She told me. For a moment I was surprised that she was telling me something so important but it didn't take me long to realize that this came at a price.

"Thank you for you informing us. What could we do for you?" I asked her again.

"You're heading East," She repeated again.

"Yes, we are,"

"Bring me Monk's leaves from there. We'd be waiting in this route for you," She told me. I didn't know what a Monk's leaf was but I agreed to her before they finally cleared our way.

"Well, that was helpful," I couldn't help but comment as we tuned in the North-East direction instead of going straight towards East.

"Do you know what Monk's leaves are?" Ezekiel asked me very, very calmly. He sounded unnaturally calm which somewhat made me uncomfortable.

"No. What are Monk's leaves?" I asked him and suddenly the tension in the air increased.

"So you're telling me that you agreed to bring them Monk's leaves without even knowing what Monk's leaves are?" He Ezekiel questioned.

I shrugged and he growled.

"Another reason why women shouldn't be heading an army,"

"Well, I was able to negotiate something good with them otherwise we'd have been facing five Canibal armies in the evening," I shot back in return and I heard him grind his teeth. "Now, tell me what Monk's leaves are,"

In response, Ezekiel offered me a growl before speeding his horse ahead of us.

"How informative," I commented after him.

~

It was starting to get dark when we finally reached this clearing. We decided to camp there for the night. While our men were setting up the camp, Lua and I sat down with all maps and devices to try to understand our current location.

Meanwhile, Ezekiel, Tryfon, and some of his warriors scouted around the camp location to make sure there was no danger around the place.

"We aren't far from Hemlock," Lua commented as we looked at the map. "Hopefully we'd be able to cross it tomorrow without getting seen,"

"That wouldn't be a problem. We are farther from the war zone. The only problem is that we are now on the much deeper side of the river," I told her. The river itself was going to be a huge problem for us now.

"Do you think there could be something in the river?"

"We'd be very lucky if we manage to stay in one piece after crossing it," I told her.

"We could always use those two Lycans as bait for danger while we cross the river, don't you think?" Lua joked.

Suddenly, I got an idea. My mind was already running a thousand miles per hour as I thought about this.

"Why not?" I giggled.

_

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