Retribution

Chapter Fifteen

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Two hours later, we had final reached out destination, a mid-sized clearing just outside the main city of Malara. The clearing couldn't have been bigger than 100 meters squared, and in the space were seven caravans, the jeeps and supplies. Upon arrival, Jaxon lost his playful mood and turned serious, his blank face making an appearance as he ordered men around to set up and clear the loose branches shed from the many trees surrounding the clearing. To my surprise, nobody had used their sorcery to make a clean and relaxing living environment for the next two weeks. Everything was done by hard manual labor, and later Jaxon explained that he needs his men fit because magic isn't always the solution to life problems and manual working was an effective way to do that.

The plan was simple. In two weeks' time we invade Malara and in the meantime, both myself and a few of Jaxon's men were to travel into the city to investigate who the boss was with absolutely no leads at all apart from the basic fact of if the government was behind this, then they had to be in the city of Malara. I had to admit, I was filled with nerves as I thought about the plan. Nothing had been set in stone and we were pretty much winging everything. The only set plan was seizing Malara in two weeks.

'Olivia,' a gruff voice sounded grabbing my attention. I looked up from my position on the ground, a branch in my hand and I added it to the small pile in my arms as I cleared the space around Jaxon and my caravan. I saw a man standing in front of wearing a low hanging baggy white singlet top and black trackie shorts. His long straight hair fell to his shoulder in one large blonde wave as his light blue eyes pierced into mine, a scowl plastered on his hard face and strong arms crossed over his marked skin.

'Jaxon needs to see you.' His voice sounded detached and bored as if he wanted to be anywhere but here. His tall frame loomed over me and I took a small breath, trying to not appear intimidated by the man.

'Where is he?' I asked, my voice strong and semi confident.

'Follow me.' He turned on his heel and at a fast pace started walking back from the direction I presumed he came from. Quickly throwing the loose branches off into the dense bushes and trees surrounding the clearing, I jogged up behind the man and followed him as he led me to the direct other side of the clearing and into the trees.

The snapping of dry twigs and leaves under out feet filled the awkward silence as we walked, small branches poking into my legs as I clumsily tried to avoid the overhanging trees.

'Where are we going?' I finally demanded, stopping following the man when the clearing was out of eyesight.

I heard the man sigh as he haltered his steps and turned to face me, a bored expression on his face. 'To Jaxon.' He stated in an obvious tone.

'Where is he?' I asked, folding my arms as waited for a reply. Immediately a scowl laced the man's face and he looked straight pissed off how I stopped us.

'About a minutes' walk away, there's another small clearing.' I hesitantly nodded my head and frowned when the man's scowl was replaced with a smirk of amusement. 'You scared to walk through a bush with a man?' His words trying to taunt me.

'Can you blame me? I don't even know you?' I pointed out to him.

'I'm Matt.' He said after a moments silence before turning on his heel and continued walking in the direction we were originally heading.

'Yeah, cause that helps,' I muttered under my breath, shooing mosquito from my face as I hurried to catch up with him. I couldn't help but smile slightly when I heard matt laugh in amusement to my sarcastic comment.