Liam watched the high priestess as she laid down on the grass and began her story.

The clear sky looked down over the shallow water below. The mixture of colours in the coral rife was home to many fish of different sizes, colours, and species. The peaceful waters were interrupted though as a small, dainty, white boat slowly cut through the rife. Bumping and tossing against the coral below the boat nestled itself into the dark golden sands of the beach.

Curious eyes watched the small vessel from the tops of a nearby tree. The figure slowly moved down from its place in the trees. Daylight slowly pored across the woman as she silently examined the weird craft that now had landed on her shore.

Just the night before there had been a violent storm that shook even the trees themselves. Because of this many amazons came down to the beaches in search of anything valuable that may have washed up from enemy Amazonian ships, or even the odd human ship that blew off course. Luckily for this amazon today a human ship had indeed blown off course.

Stalking slowly through the sand the amazons made her way to the boat. Pulling the boat closer she peaked over the metal walls. The metal of the boat could probably be used by the blacksmiths to make spears, meaning this catch was already very valuable. Assuming the original owner of the boat was already dead she pulled the boat further onto the shore so she could start her looting.

A small boy no older than 8 years old was curled under a rough and tuckered looking blanket. She put her hand out to remove the blanket and see if the boy had any flesh on his bones, she could probably eat. The warrior leaned in and wrapped her hands around one of the body’s arms. Leaping back, she looked down at the body. She could have sworn she had felt it move. It had to just be muscle refractions, right? Some dead humans they found did that before they died, so it had to be that right?

Moving closer she examined the body. Reaching a hand down she gently caressed the side of the boy’s face. His small eyes twitched as he slowly moved in the boat. It wasn’t muscle spasms that caused the human to move, he was very much alive. A wicked smile came across her face as she stared at the wriggling boy. He was like a small, helpless, defenceless, animal. Perfect for cooking over a fire.

Reaching into the boat again she picked him up and brought him closer. His eyes slowly flickered open as he stared into the hungry eyes of the amazon. She leaned in, about to get a good sniff to see how the man smelled before she ate him. But before she could get too close the boy burst into tears that rolled down his round cheeks.

“Hey, hey stop that…” The Amazon said in her native tongue as she pulled him in closer. She started to swear in Amazonian as she cradled the crying boy in her arms.

“Come on, I’m not that scary, am I?” She said as she bombarded the boy with gentle kisses. She couldn’t help it, she just wanted to help him. Clenching the boy to her chest she noticed something shining around his neck. Carefully she removed the shining object. The object was around a well-made medallion that was inscribed with weird letters. Letters which once she learned English, she learnt read fallen hope. The boy was probably the survivor of a shipwreck and whoever had placed him on this boat had given this to him. It was probably an heirloom.

The high priestess snapped out of her story for a few seconds as she looked at the entranced Liam by her side. He was a seeker of knowledge.

“I then introduced myself to the boy and I took him in as my…” She thought for a few seconds. She wouldn’t call him her son as she often treated him more like a puppy. Smiling she carried on with her story.

She took the boy back to the village once he had calmed down. The tribe were eventually going to eat him. But they decided he was too young so they would need to fatten him up first for a few years. A few years came and passed but a young Kenyanire as well as Huchoece (the high priestess’ name before she became the high priestess), but the amazons could bring themselves to take the human away from the princess Kenyanire and fierce Huchoece.

The high priestess again came out of her story, a depressed glare in her eyes. She turned to look at Liam again. Point out to sea she continued her story.

They were out hunting for the boy’s birthday. He was 25 and being the only human on the island they wanted to give him something special. During the hunt though he was attacked. When they found him a mother Chillcali had cut his throat with the talons hidden under its wings. A young Huchoece fought the creature but was gravely injured in the battle. As she held the dying body of her human friend in her arms some of the blood from the cuts on her face went into his mouth. This was how she found out Amazonian blood can give humans almost holy healing abilities.

After taking the boy back to the village she explained what happened to the queen and her daughter Kenyanire. Kenyanire had sisters though, sisters that feared this newfound knowledge. They believed that this knowledge needed to be eradicated as if when the warriors invaded the human mainland a few hundred years from then the humans may have tried to kill the amazons for their blood. Understandably terrified Kenyanire’s sisters roasted and ate the boy.

The high priestess again stopped her story. She was shaking slightly. Mabey out of sadness, maybe out of anger, Liam couldn’t tell. He noticed her bottom lip shaking as she clenched her fist. Even now after such a long time he could tell this event still upset her deeply. Liam put a hand out onto her leg. Her eyes widened as she seemed to snap out of a trance of anger. She smiled a strained smile at Liam before carrying on her quickly surmised story.

She continued to say about how she left the island and lived among the humans for many years. Faking her death every 40 years or so she jumped around the human countries. She learnt much about humans at that time. Her journey ended though when the Amazonian invasion began, and the Amazon started to colonise and raid human settlements.

When she returned to the island, she discovered Kenyanire, and her sisters were divided over the rule of the island. Much like Yantraki and her sisters were now in modern times. She ended her story by explaining Kenyanire had eaten a blood crystal, one that was a deep, dark, lush green colour. This was how she got her powers, and that there was a high chance the magic potential she had gotten from the crystals had been handed down to her sisters.

Liam nodded as he took in the information. These crystals sounded powerful from how the high priestess explained how the crystals were made through the sacrificing of either human, elf, demi-human or human lives. Guessing from how powerful the crystals were once consumed, Liam knew these were a dangerous commodity in the wrong hands.

The high priestess noticed the look of fear and amazement on Liam’s face as he contemplated the power of the crystals.

“You know the one Kenyanire ate was what we call an Evaro’ crystal. This crystal takes 1000 human lives to make or 100 Amazonian ones. To unlock the full potential of the crystals the person that has consumed them must go through a challenging, life-threatening or near-death experience in battle.” The high priestess said. She pointed out to the sea, making sure Liam was looking where she was pointing.

“Her home island used to be there,” Huchoece said pointing out to sea.

“Not long after I returned to the island Kenyanire’s sisters mounted an attack against her and her mother. They killed her mother and friends before turning on her. They insulted her and defiled the grave of the boy. She went wild, killing and slaughtering everyone in her path. By that time, I had escaped and met up with Thormoenia and some of her warriors. We watched as vines of unbelievable proportions came out of the sea, sinking the island. This island was probably thousands if not tens of thousands of miles in size. And now because of the anger of Kenyanire it no longer exists,” the high priestess said. Liam’s eyes were wide as he stared out at where she said the island once was. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How powerful one amazon was.

Huchoece finished by telling Liam more about the crystals and about how once the Amazons attacked the human mainland didn’t progress much further in terms of technology due to the constant attacks.

Liam lay back on the sand and stared into the depths of the ever-reaching sky. Huchoece, Thormoenia and Kenyanire had done so much over such a long period of time. With what remained of their forces from their home island they had captured some human males and colonised the island they were currently on, simply throughout 2 to 3 to maybe even 4 hundred years (there had been so many different wars with other species that time had almost been lost over how many years they were gone. But there was a high chance it was around maybe even 500 years ago this all accrued). He had also learned that the traditions and religions of the amazons on this island were passed down from the home island. Liam had already known that there were hundreds of amazon tribes on many different islands and places on the mainland, but thanks to Huchoece’s history lesson he now knew there were probably thousands more that humanity didn’t even know existed.

“Amazing…” Liam said, happy with the knowledge of some amazon history of the island and how many amazons have their powers through either eating crystals or having the powers passed down through family bloodlines.

“When we eat the crystals, depending on the colour we get different abilities. The blue help strengthens the power we already had. Red gives us a new power; green gives us an even stronger power and yellow give us a god-like power; don’t even get me started on Evaro’ or Imbued or one of the many other classes and crystals that are a mix of colours. But from seeing Kenyanire at full power I guess she has eaten probably 50 of the green crystals, maybe even more. Potentially even an Evaro’.” Huchoece said, lying down next to Liam on the sand. Huchoece was far downplaying the power of the crystals as she didn’t want to explain that the green crystals weren’t even that strong compared to the gold, silver, or purple. There was much she hadn’t told him about the crystals simply as she wasn’t sure how he would react to hearing of such powers.

“Holy fuck. How many died to give her that power?” Liam theorised.

“The entire island, so maybe hundreds of thousands, if not millions,” Huchoece said, also amazed at her level of power. Most amazons had magic due to it being given down through bloodlines, but Kenyanire was different in her level of power due to eating so many crystals. Liam could only imagine what would happen if Yantraki and her sisters awakened that power if it was passed down through blood liens as Huchoece said.

That they sat together for what felt like years. Discussing the power of the crystals and coming up with theorise on how they worked. They also discussed the long history of human and Amazonian conflict which could have probably been hundreds of thousands of years old. The only reason there was no proof was that amazons only kept historical records of human sacrifices and how to perform them and that amazons would only attack humans for about 300 to 600 years before disappearing back to their islands to allow the humans to rebuild for a few thousand years before they attacked again. Because of this humanity saw the amazons as mere legends of old warriors, and kept forgetting about their existence, seeing them as only fairy tales. Liam brought up the fact about how humans couldn’t find them with technology and Huchoece explained this was due to amazon’s placing shields of magic around their islands that made them impossible for humans to go near without getting stranded and becoming food. The human boy she met and raised was one of these poor souls.

Turning around Liam noticed the sound of Yantraki and what was probably the huntresses arriving to take him on the hunt so he could start his plan.

“You and I should probably not be allowed around one another,” Liam said, laughing slightly as he looked at the concerned Huchoece.

“Why is that?” She said, not understanding he was simply joking.

“We talk so much and get along almost too well. Meaning we haven’t done anything about the water wheel” Liam said, Huchoece now understanding his point. Liam went to go and greet Yantraki when Huchoece grabbed his arm.

“Don’t tell Kenyanire or anyone else about our talk today. Kenyanire would probably prefer it that you didn’t remind her of what she has lost. What happened to her home island is also probably one of the reasons she gives you so much support as does the warriors. Since her daughters are fighting for control of the island, she wants to find a way to stop what happened to her island from happening again.” And with that Huchoece let him go to greet Yantraki and the huntresses.

She watched as he ran to meet them and get started with his plan. Her face sagged downwards as she looked at his happy expression and the love-struck face of Yantraki whenever the two locked eyes. They reminded Huchoece so much of herself and the boy. His name was Edward, it was the only thing he could remember when she found him. She wished she could have saved him. She loved him more than anything. If only she could have traded her life, or even that of her tribes to have him by her side once again. Her eyes widened slightly as she looked at the back of Liam as he walked into the jungle. The same kind of excited, proud but timid stride he had was so much like Edward’s. Wiping her eyes of tears, she sat up in the sand. If only she had paid more attention to him then he would still be alive. Mabey this hatred for herself was the reason she was so hard-set on making sure Yantraki did the right steps in her relationship with Liam.

Reaching in between her breasts Huchoece pulled out a small golden medallion that fitted perfectly in the centre of her hand. She hoped Edward was watching over them. Watching this boy who was so much like Edward beginning to make a difference.

The high priestess decided to stay behind to wait for Sruna and Takire to come back so they could go and meet Kenyanire, then finally take the rest of the day off.

“Can I ask a few questions about the Chillcali?” Liam asked as he walked a little faster to be by Thormoenia’s side.

Walking deep into the jungle, Thormoenia guided the group towards the area where most Chillcali tended to live. Liam ordered the group into the trees so they could watch the creatures from a higher perspective. They waited for a while, watching the nests of the Chillcali carefully. On the way, Thormoenia had said that the Chillcali went looking for food for their young early in the day and returned around mid-day. The huntresses sat in a semi-circle around the treetops. The plan was to try to chase the Chillcali towards the field where Kenyanire could seal them in the field with her vines. Sitting in the trees the group stayed in silence until about 8 of the large birds trampled over the large bushes and out into the opening.

Liam took in a long breath, then another, then another. Yantraki wrapped her arms tightly around his chest, wanting to keep him calm.

“Don’t worry it will work, I promise,” Yantraki said, leaning into him and planting a kiss on his cheek. Liam blushed slightly as he heard the amazons chattering and giggling as they watched him. She kissed the blushing boy again.

“Just remember, no matter who or what thinks it can harm you, I will never allow it,” Yantraki said, her sweet words being emphasised with her tight, warm hug. Thormoenia’s nose raised as she snarled slightly, a common way Amazons showed they were annoyed or displeased. Thormoenia could see the glazing overlook in his eyes. If Yantraki continued to pamper Liam like this, then he would probably pass out.

Yantraki on the other hand saw this as an opportunity to remind Liam of his place as her pet. Liam’s head gently slumped back against Yantraki’s warm chest, just to shoot forward as he tried to keep himself awake. Slapping her overly affectionate hands away Liam tried to go back to watching for the correct time for them to pounce onto the creatures below.

The Chillcali were now relaxed and unexpecting as they made their homes on the ground. Liam looked to Thormoenia next to him, who was already waiting for the order to start rounding the Chillcali towards the field. Thormoenia yelled and the attack began. The Chillcali leapt as they picked their young from their nests using their beaks and started to sprint in all directions. Huntresses though jumped down from the trees and surrounded the creatures. Screaming and whooping the amazons scared them into flocking towards the direction of the field.

Huntresses chased the Chillcali towards the field, where Kenyanire was waiting from the treetops, to trap them inside. Yantraki held Liam close on her back as the warriors chased the sharp-beaked, plump, around 9ft tall birds towards their new home. Intensely watching the group of Chillcali that sprinted only a few meters in front of them; Liam noticed one of the younger ones struggling in its mother’s mouth. His eyes followed the creature as the small baby dropped from the mother’s mouth.

“Hey, stop” Liam whispered to Yantraki. As they stopped, he signalled for the huntresses to carry on rounding up the Chillcali.

“Why are we stopped?” Yantraki asked as Liam climbed off her and onto his feet. He only pointed as he crouched down.

Yantraki smiled as she saw the baby Chillcali shaking as it moved back into the bush. It reminded her of the cowering Liam usually did when he was asleep and having a bad dream. All seemingly fell silent for the amazon though as a small pool of blood started to form Infront of Liam. She looked past him and to the Chillcali, whose talons were now stained with blood. At that moment all she saw was red. Leaping forwards to Liam’s side she quickly stripped him of his clothes to see every possible wound that could have caused such a large amount of blood. Her eyes were soon drawn to the large, infected looking, talon marks across his chest. Luckily the marks weren’t too deep, and her healing magic quickly closed the wounds. Looking at the wound she assumed he would probably be ill for a while. But if she was to feed him some of her Amazonian milk then he would probably feel better within a week, rather than 5 weeks. Holding Liam in her arms she watched as his eyes slowly flickered shut, then pulled themselves open again. Yantraki could tell the venom that was stored in the Chillcali’s claws for the defence was now kicking in. Thankfully due to the healing magic he would probably be fine, but even then, he may need an antidote.

Knowing this Yantraki was about to pull Liam over her shoulder, but her eyes were drawn to the baby Chillcali that was sitting angrily against a bush. Its wings were spread out in a v shape to try and make itself look larger. The wings were also thick with special feathers that even the amazons with their spearheads and arrowheads that were designed to kill amazons could barely pierce. She put her hand out and tightly gripped the neck of the bird. Crying out for help, the creature started to beg as Yantraki placed her thumb into its neck.

About to snap the bird’s neck, she only stopped as a hand landed on her arm. She looked down the weary, smiling face of her beloved human.

“It’s just scared, it defended itself, no need to kill it,” Liam said as he smiled at her. She gritted her teeth and tucked the franticly flapping bird under her arm as she slung Liam over her shoulder.

They walked for a while in silence until they reached the field where the huntresses had already secured the Chillcali in the field. Somewhat confused the Chillcali sprinted around the field, looking for an escape. Thorns protruding from the bushes blocked them from trying to climb the roots. Kenyanire stood upright, a wide smile on her lisp, and a sparkling look in her eyes. Liam sighed as he looked from his place over Yantraki’s shoulder. The fact he was now practically immobile, and her newfound smugness would mean if she was anything like her daughter, she would probably want to flaunt her skill for a long time.

Kenyanire’s eyes widened as she saw the injured Liam lying over Yantraki’s shoulder. His clothes were loosely pulled over his body, meaning Yantraki had undressed him and redressed him. Her gaze then went to the bird under her daughter’s arm. She put two and two together and assumed the bird had something to do with Liam now lying over Yantraki’s shoulder. Rushing to her side Kenyanire took the bird carefully from under Yantraki’s arm.

“Take him to a lake, give him some of your milk then bring him back if he doesn’t show any signs of illness. We will wait here” Kenyanire said in English. She wanted Liam to be able to understand what was about to happen. Liam waved his hand though in defiance.

“But first let me tell you the next steps so you can carry on without me for a while,” Liam said, a bright smile on his face. Liam informed Yantraki on how he needed her to make a gate out of strong sturdy vines. She lined the fence with thorns to stop the Chillcali from using it as a climbing frame to escape. They lastly used some softer vines that Kenyanire summoned to make stools for people to stand on to look over the wall and down into the Chillcali field.

He was glad to see the amazons were finally having a bit of fun with his plan as they teased the Chillcali. Liam sat on a small hill under a tall tree with Yantraki and Kenyanire close by his side. Together they watched as the Chillcali started to come to grips with their new home. By this point, the brown-haired girl and Sac had migrated with their horde of Boruma to the field. They danced and sang cheerful songs as they usually did. But something wasn’t right. The Boruma seemed even happier than usual. Which wouldn’t have been a problem for Liam only if he didn’t suspect they were up to something that would include his reluctant participation.

Scanning the field from the safety of Yantraki’s arms, Liam felt a shiver run down his spine as he could no longer see Sac and the brown-haired girl. Liam felt something soft press against his face, but quickly realised it was one of Yantraki’s breasts as she pulled him in closer.

“The tribe plan to have a celebration tonight where we will sacrifice a Chillcali in your honour. You will come and spend the night by my side and answer any question that the tribe have about the farm.” Yantraki informed him. Liam placed his fist over his mouth as he leaned forward, coughing into his fist. Yantraki looked to Kenyanire as he coughed for about 8 seconds. It wasn’t a long cough but for amazons who rarely got ill, they couldn’t help but exchange the same concerned look.

“Mabey you should take him down to a lake now? Get him well-rested and feeling a little better so he can’t have an excuse not to go to the feast tonight.” Kenyanire muttered to Yantraki in Amazonian. Yantraki grinned as she placed Liam onto her lap.

“His eyes are darting around; he is probably looking for the two girls,” Yantraki said in Amazonian as she planted a kiss onto his cheek.

“I saw them with the high priestess. They seemed to have seen him from a distance, seen the pale ghostly look his skin has become. They could probably see the ill state he is in and are preparing some medical herbs.” Kenyanire theorised as she placed a kiss on the blushing boy.

“They may also be preparing food to bribe him with to give them names” Yantraki joked as she kissed her now fidgety Liam again.

They enjoyed embarrassing the boy with their love in public like this. It never failed to make him blush and start fidgeting in place. Yantraki went to kiss him again but was stopped as he started to splutter and cough. She looked to her mother and nodded, her way of saying she was going to take him to a lake to wash him and feed him her milk.

“Come, you can talk more about the Chillcali farm later at the feast, but now I must get you well washed and rested,” Yantraki said as she swooped Liam up into her arms. He hated it when she held him like this. It was like he was a giant child. This always attracted the attention of curious amazons who wanted to prod and poke at the strange human that was curled in her arms.

Liam pushed his hands against Yantraki’s breasts. They weren’t giant but each one was about the size of his head, or maybe just smaller. But despite this whenever she held him like this, she completely forgot that she was almost suffocation him. Looking up to the smirking amazon Liam realised she was probably doing this on purpose to tease him.

“You asshole.” He muttered as he lifted her breasts and pushed his head out for between the two large flesh orbs. Yantraki laughed as she pushed Liam’s head back down under her breasts.

The rest of the journey towards the nearest lake consisted of Liam trying to climb out of Yantraki’s clutches and Yantraki just pushing him back down whenever he was close to victory. By the time they reached the lake Liam was already exhausted from struggling against her love and what she thought to be pampering.

Liam peaked from between Yantraki’s breasts to see the large circular lake. Placing Liam on the ground she walked over to the lake. Looking back to make sure Liam was watching her, she slowly started to strip off her already revealing grass top and skirt.

“I’ll go wash down there somewhere,” Liam said, turning to try and walk along the edge of the lake. Large arms wrapped around him, stopping him in his path.

“You’re going to strip me, aren’t you?” Liam sighed as he felt Yantraki’s hands running down his body.

“I wouldn’t have it any other way my little husband,” She laughed as she began to strip him of his clothes. Liam only sighed and allowed the amazon to strip him. He knew there was no point resisting her. There was always this look of animalistic lust in her eyes that Liam could tell simply from looking at them that he should never try to go against.

Yantraki got into the water with Liam close by her side. She pulled him onto her lap and placed his head against her breast.

“Open wide~” Yantraki teased as she made him open his lips.

“I’m not a fucking -” He was cut off as Yantraki forced her nipple into his mouth. She wanted to get him well-rested and in a deep sleep as soon as possible. Liam’s eyes reluctantly succumbed to the warm embrace of Yantraki as she fed him. He despised the fact he was giving in to this amazon and her weird seductive methods. Seeing the look of excitement and love in her gentle eyes though, Liam decided he could probably let her have this moment with him, just for a little while at least.

Yantraki smiled down at the small head of Liam as he drank her milk. The milk of an Amazonian was incredibly helpful to the human body in recovery. Air whipped through Yantraki’s hair as she used her body to protect her beloved from the bitter wind. Looking out across the lake she could only just see the shore of the Sun Sisters tribe, her sister’s tribe, Rhexdice’s tribe. Her eyes narrowed as she saw a small scouting boat across the about 5mile in size lake. The boat flew a golden banner that had at its centre a grey sacrificial dagger, which was wielded by the silhouette of amazon with long blond hair.

She held Liam close to her chest as she watched the scouting boat looking across the shore. It seemed they were scouting the nearby beachheads for an area they could land their troops. Staring down at Liam, Yantraki placed a kiss on his forehead. Knowing how the Amazonian war usually worked, they probably had only a few weeks before her sister would try to invade them. The Sun Sisters had about 24,000 amazons who despite lacking in melee they were specialised in archery. Yantraki’s tribe only had 11,000. 11,900 including the Huntresses.

For the time being though, all Yantraki cared about was the little Liam who lay against her breasts. All she could do was pray to the Goddess of war for safety.