“Come on, you enjoyed it!” Yantraki said as she walked through the darkening jungle. Liam kicked a small stone at her ankle as he walked alongside her. He kept close to her side as due to the sun now slowly setting over the island his surroundings became ever more engulfed by the darkness. Knowing amazons had outstanding eyesight in the dark, he reluctantly kept by her side so he would get lost.

“The only reason I did it was because I was tired and ill. In other words, I wasn’t thinking straight, and didn’t know what was happening,” Liam said defiantly. Yantraki put an arm out and wrapped it around his neck. Yanking him closer she placed a kiss onto the top of his head. Liam scoffed and pushed her away. Despite his defiance though, when he was against her, she could feel his rapid heartbeat.

“Really? So, you didn’t like suckling on my nipples as you gently held by breast?” Yantraki said as she tried to pull the blushing and slightly irritated Liam even closer.

“Hey, I didn’t hold your breasts,” Liam said, pushing away from her. Just to be dragged back to the cosey side of his Amazonian wife. God, he hated thinking of one of these cannibalistic warriors as his wife, but he guessed he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter. Yantraki is smirked as she placed a kiss on his cheek.

“So, you were too tired to fight against me, but you weren’t tired enough to take in what was happening?” Yantraki teased. Liam frowned and headbutted into her neck.

“Shut up!” Liam snapped as he moved away. Yantraki kissed his neck and giggled as he tried to pull himself out of her forcefully loving arms.

“You looovvveee me!” Yantraki teased again as she planted soft kisses onto Liam's blushing and warm face. She knew he would never admit it, but he liked her loving attention. Liam on the other hand knew she would never stop her “loving” harassment, so he chose to simply tolerate it.

“No, you jump between being a child and a clingy, overbearing, overprotective, Amazonian,” Liam said, shoving his hands in his pockets. Yantraki could tell he was starting to get annoyed with her teasing, but despite this, she wanted to push him only a little further.

“Come on! Don’t be so pouty! I am only teasing you my little one.” Yantraki said as she placed another quick kiss onto Liam’s cheek. He had only been awake now for a few hours. Meaning he was still slowly waking back up to full performance.

They walked for a while in silence. Yantraki kept her distance as she knew the feast tonight was in his honour, so she didn’t want him to be miserable from her teasing. Look at the short male that stood next to her, she couldn’t help but wonder what his fate would be. If her sister was to attack, she would surlily have to fight. And in that case what will become of Liam? She placed the thought to one side. Tonight, they celebrated, drank, and ate not dwell on the future. Yantraki couldn’t help but wonder though if she should tell him about the boat. He was involved in several of their attacks by now, maybe he deserved to know? Again, Yantraki pushed it to one side, she would ask her mother first what she thought.

Monotonous, rhythmical drumming started to fill Liam’s ears as the pair reached the party. Amazons were lighted by the firelight as they leapt and danced around the fire. Several Borumas were dancing in long grass skirts, with large feather headdresses, and grasstops that left little to the imagination. Cheers and shouts of amazons fuelled the shaking, shimmying hips of the dancers as the drums increased in rhythm and intensity.

Slightly annoyed Liam was watching the asses of the dancing girls, Yantraki pulled him close to her side. What didn’t make It better was that several of the dancing girls had noticed him, gave him quick waves.

“If you are going to be a pervert, at least be subtle,” Yantraki said as she walked him over towards the same large, long table that they had their breakfast at that morning. Liam chuckled at the thought of the hypocrisy of Yantraki of all people calling him a pervert. He had seen her in the morning sniffing his pants when she thought she was being quiet and sneaky. Not wanting to start an argument, even though he had far more evidence of her and her entire tribe being leaps and bounds more perverted, to win an argument.

The two walked over to the long table and took their seats near Kenyanire and several of the other amazons Liam had become acquainted with. Kenyanire smiled at Liam and gave him a little pat on the head of welcoming. Liam never understood why the amazons were so seemingly obsessed with patting him on the head as a greeting, a way to say well done or to calm him. He assumed they probably did it as they still saw him as their pet human.

Yantraki disappeared off into the night before returning with a large green flower nestled on the left side of her hair facing him. The green flower matched her hairs natural colour. She was also now wearing a large feather headdress of a mix of green and blue feathers. Yantraki noticed Liam staring at her new look and blushed slightly, awkwardly reaching across and placing her hand on his lap.

“Do you like how I look?” She said, pinching his leg tightly. Liam gasp and nodded. He already thought she was beautiful, and being an Amazon, meaning she was good at reading the emotions of others he assumed she could already tell that from how he looked at her.

“Stunning.” He said quickly as he placed his hands onto hers to try to stop her from snapping his knee in half. Kenyanire giggled at her daughter as she happily held Liam’s hands (somewhat forcibly to Liam’s dismay).

“I think you are incredibly attractive Yantraki, so there is no need to hold onto my leg anymore… Please?” Liam said, gently trying to push her hand off him.

“Sorry, but I like holding you, so if you want me to stop…” Liam cut her off by quickly pulling his chair closer until the side of his head gently touch her arm.

“Happy now?” he said, smiling slightly as he saw her start to blush and stutter for words. She pulled her headdress down over her eyes so he couldn’t see her face all that well. Laughing, Kenyanire and Liam sat back to watch the show as Yantraki calmed herself after Liam’s bold move. Or well at least what she considered to be a bold move; Liam just saw it as a way to keep her happy as well as say thanks for looking after him. He knew she was easily flustered despite her usual ways of approaching him, so he thought moving that close to her after complimenting her looks was bound to get this kind of reaction for the amazon.

Drums and dancers kept the crowd of huntresses and Boruma happy as they waited for the food to arrive. Liam scanned the crowd of Boruma, there were still no signs of the two girls. As if on que the drums quieted and still keeping their dance going slowly stepped back off the stage. A large female Chillcali was led onto the stage by some muscular huntresses. To keep the creature under control the amazons kept a tight grin on the several leashes they had around its neck. Vines were wrapped around the wings of the Chillcali to stop it from fighting back, but one thing they didn’t bind was its beak.

The Chillcali bit and struck its beak at the warriors as they wrestled with it. Serval amazons attacked its’ legs. Soon they had the creature laying on the stage, its head upright and facing the crowd. Liam then learnt where the two brown haired girls had been. A small group of Boruma walked onto the stage. They were clad in small skirts of dyed red feathers. Their breasts were covered by more red feathers that were wound into necklaces that just managed to hide their breasts from the front and sides. Their hair was decorated with even more red feathers and keeping to the theme of their outfit they had small red feather headdresses on the tops of their heads. Lastly, their skin was covered in patterns of red paint. In their hands, they held bowls of a similar red paint to that they wore on their bodies.

Chanting an excited yet menacing song, the smiling girls surrounded the creature as amazons struggled to keep it in place. Dipping their fingers into the red paint, the Boruma started to paint the feathers of the creature in patterns and shapes. Liam turned his gaze from the ritual as he felt warm breath on his neck. Looking back behind him he saw Yantraki staring intensely at him.

“Stop looking at their bodies.” She said as she moved a little closer.

“I wasn’t!” Liam tried to argue. Moving forward again, Yantraki’s nose now touched Liam’s.

“Liar, you should know by now amazons are experts at telling whether someone is lying or not,” Yantraki said as she placed her arms around his waist. Pulling him closer she forced his legs around her waist.

“So don’t ever lie to me.” She murmured in his ear. Snarling, she placed her sharp front teeth onto his neck and gave him a small bite. Retracting she looked down at the small bite mark. Happy with the warning she stared into the now petrified Liam’s eyes.

“So, were where we? Oh yes, you were staring at the asses of those Boruma? If I catch you doing that again you know what will happen right?” Yantraki snickered as she licked her lips. A small amount of drool dripping from the corners of her mouth as if she was a lion staring down a stake.

“If I catch you giving any other woman that kind of lustful stare, I will fuck you. I will get myself pregnant, then I will eat your cock and balls. And not in a sexual way, well, maybe a little sexual for me as it means no other woman could ever have sex with you so…” Yantraki said as she started to place soft kisses on Liam’s neck.

“You understand right? I don’t want to hurt you, but I will if it means you won’t get seduced by any of those whores that litter the island.” Yantraki said, pulling back her head again to look him in the eyes.

“I love you… Now you say it,” she said smiling an angelic smile at him. This savage woman’s smile relaxed Liam more than he would have liked to admit. Nodding franticly Liam made it clear he wasn’t going to allow any other woman to try and seduce him.

“I love you,” Liam said quietly. Despite his obvious reluctance, him just merely muttering the words was enough to satisfy Yantraki. Giggling she placed him back in his seat before retaking her place beside him. Now with a newfound sense of excitement and love on Yantraki’s end, she wriggled in her seat as she slowly placed her hand onto Liam’s lap. Under any other circumstance he would have probably tried to stop her, but then again what was his place to tell an Amazonian princess who was obsessed with him to say the least, that he didn’t wish for her to touch him. He had to admit, he was terrified at the thought of angering such a powerful woman.

Trying his best to keep his gaze on the very openly erotic Boruma dancers, Liam continued to watch the ritual.

Dancing, the Boruma using what was left of the red paint moved to the head of the battling bird. They painted the front feathers and beak in the remaining red paint before retreating off to the sides of the stage. As he watched the wild animal battle on stage as amazons, dressed in a larger version of the red feather outfits the Boruma wore walked on stage. Knives in their hands. They surrounded the bird, staring at the creature with wicked grins smeared across their faces. Drums roared as the knife-wielding amazons swayed their hips to the beat of the drums. Throwing their bodies across the stage, their hair flipping wildly around their faces. Yipping and yelling the amazons that were restraining the bird let go and the amazons holding knives pounced.

Stone cut flesh as the warriors ripped the bird apart. Liam watched the bluestone knives carve into the Chillcali’s flesh as if it was butter. From what Liam had heard, the flesh of the Chillcalis rivalled even the tough, bullet durable skin of an amazon. These knives’ blades had to be made out of the metal that was designed to kill amazons. From what he heard from scouts that passed through his village who were on their way to trade with the Grey Skinned Amazons, this metal was just regular metal or stone that was imbued with magic until it turned a deep blue colour. This was the same metal the arrowheads in the pillboxes of the warhorses were made out of.

Screams of the bird filled the night, only matched by the excited screams of the crowd. Yantraki next to him cheered and whopped at the creature’s torture. Liam smiled a little to himself. He had never seen her this excited before. But he couldn’t blame her. She was an amazon, a bloodthirsty creature by nature. The only bright side to this was that at least it wasn’t a human or Boruma that was being skinned alive on the stage.

The bird fell slight as a wet rip and tear cut through the night. Grabbing the wings of the bird they started to remove the feathers and thick hide of the creature, leaving its fat, fleshy body exposed. Salivating amazons cut off the thick, muscular wings of the bird and started to pluck them off their feathers. Others started to do the same to the body. One amazon, with the help of several Boruma, started to cut off the head of the giant bird with only a singular blue stone knife. Pools of crimson blood splattered onto the floor as the head of the bird was finally cut from the spine.

The head of the bird has carried off the stage as the Boruma started to collect chunks of meat from the bird. They used wooden polls to spit roast the meat over the fire like a shish kebab. Intoxicating scents soon filled the night as the fire-roasted the meat. Dancing and the rhythmic beat of the drums kept the crowd entertained. Yantraki was mostly occupied though with trying to convince Liam to snuggle into her side under her arm so she could “keep him safe”.

Relief finally came through for him as two Boruma approached him. The Brown-head girl and Sac hurried over to the table in their short revealing skirts of grass and somehow even more revealing corded grass tops. Happily, they bounce towards the front of the table. they came to a stop in front of Liam, the back straight and large bowls of fruit and cooked meat. Liam released a sigh as he knew the reason they were here.

“Yantraki, can you translate this for me.” He said pointing to the two girls. Yantraki snarled slightly as she despised the fact, she was having to take her attention off Liam to deal with these two pests.

“Fine my love” Yantraki said as she prepared to translate Liam’s words.

“I’ll give you both names, but for now, only you two,” Liam said leaning forward and pointing out the two girls. They quickly placed his bribes of food onto the table about to him ready to receive their names. He shut it a little as he wasn't expecting them to bow to him, he couldn't help but feel like he was going to accidentally get some sort of superiority complex. Quickly lifting his hands he signalled to the girls to stand and look at him in the eyes.

“Look, this isn’t some sort of honour or thing saying I like any of you. As I don’t, I find all of you annoying and wish I could just get my job here on this island done so I can have some peace. So, let’s start with names” Liam said. He looked to the brown-haired girl first.

“First, you,” Liam said as he pointed to the brown-haired girl. He tried to think of something that was somewhat Amazonian sounding as he didn't want them to stand out too much or be seen as outsiders due to having a more human-sounding name. Racking his thoughts, he came up with two names that he believed he'd heard before mentioned in several books they think he could pass off as Amazonian.

“Would you like the name Andreaka?” Liam asked the Brown-haired girl. Yantraki translated his words to her, and her eyes lit up she started to mutter the name for herself learning it, memorising the best ways to say it. Beaming a smile at Liam she looked toward her friend next to her.

“Andreaka!” The brown-haired girl said, pointing to herself. Sac grinned as she then looked up to Liam, her stary eyes twinkling brightly. Liam smirked as he looked at the excitement these girls had over being given names.

“Icaria, your name will be Icaria” Liam smiled, awaiting the excited giggles of the girl.

As assured as soon as Yantraki translated her new name to her Sac or now better named Icaria giggled and hugged Andreaka. Sitting back in his seat Liam placed his hands onto his chest. His eyes glanced upwards towards the small number of stars he could see from under the tarp that covered the huntresses’ camp. Kenyanire took a seat next to him. Looking over to them she smiled and gave a little wave as she asked a nearby amazon to fetch her some food. As the warrior hurried off Yantraki got from her seat and moved over to her mother’s side. Leaning down she whispered something to her in Amazonian. Liam watched on as Kenyanire’s face sagged as she nodded. She whispered something back to Yantraki who returned the solemn look. Her eyes were dull as she looked down at the table. Liam reached over and gave her a friendly hit on the arm.

“Hey, what’s up?” Liam said, being in a somewhat good mood he wanted to try and help her. Kenyanire looked at him for a few seconds before pulling a strained smile over her face.

“Nothing to worry about little one,” she said, placing a loving hand onto his head. Yantraki sneered slightly as she went back to her seat next to Liam.

“He should know!” Yantraki snapped as she slumped down in her chair.

“He is our pet; he doesn’t need to know any more about the coming wars. And if it gets too bad, we can just fall back to his village on the mainland.” Kenyanire reassured as she ran her fingers down his back.

“What is it? I’m sure I can help in some way?” Liam smiled up at her. Kenyanire smiled and planted a kiss onto Liam’s forehead. Liam narrowed his eyes at Kenyanire.

“Tell me,” Liam said, pinching her side. Kenyanire winced and looked to her daughter. Yantraki gave stared at her mother’s eyes. Telling her she wanted her to tell Liam the truth.

“When Yantraki was bathing with you she saw a scout ship sent by the Sun Sisters. They are probably going to try and attack us again within a few months. They have about 24,000 amazons under their banner,” Kenyanire sighed as she bit her bottom lip.

“Thormoenia also said her scouts have seen another of Yantraki’s sisters, Thorn and her warriors. We believe they may try to attack us on the two beachheads along our shore that faces towards the lake. Thorn will probably bring 14,000 warriors of her own.” Again, Kenyanire’s face strained with a look of fear and anger.

“We only have 11,000 amazons, including the huntresses that makes us 11,900 strong. We have nothing compared to them.” Kenyanire muttered. Liam could see the fear in her watery eyes. She probably feared having to repeat what happened to her home island.

“I think I can help,” Liam said, standing up out of his seat. He then turned and looked Kenyanire in the eyes.

“I don’t want to see the work I have put into this place destroyed, so allow me to help. You told me about the war meeting, now let me attend it so I can help.” Liam demanded. Kenyanire sighed and slumped back in her chair.

“I have been putting the meeting off for the longest time now, but it seems you have forced my hand.” Kenyanire smiled up at Liam.

“You said before you had many ideas, I’m excited to learn about them.” She said, raising a cup to him.

“But for now, eat, drink and relax,” Kenyanire said, pulling Liam back down into his seat. She had to admire his determination and willingness to help, but she doubted there was much he could do. He was good at helping them make a sustainable food source, but besides that, she doubted he could save them. Yantraki placed a kiss on Liam’s cheek as she stood up and walked over to her mother.

“I would like to talk to you alone.” She whispered to her in Amazonian. Glancing back to make sure Liam was distracted with the dancers and the girls making clothing out of the bird’s feathers. She didn’t like leaving him to be potentially seduced but at the same time, she also didn’t want him to be scared or panicked due to the coming war.

Kenyanire nodded and stood up. The two walked a little into the jungle to find a place to talk in private. Their hair gently moved as they walked in the soft breeze. Their feet crunched the leaves and sticks under them.

“So, what did you want to say,” Kenyanire said stopping and placing one of her hands onto her hip, the other hand lay lazily by her side.

“I want you to have faith in Liam. You and I both see the potential he has to learn and adapt to his environment. I have a feeling he will say some things that are a little unorthodox for us amazons, but I want you to convince your warriors to hear him out.” Yantraki said, stopping as well. She turned and looked her mother in the eyes, the light of the moon behind her eliminating her hair as it flicked gently in the wind. Kenyanire’s eyes widened for a few seconds. She could barely recognise her cold and calculated daughter. It seemed that Liam was somehow managing to change her for the better.

“I see, I will try,” Kenyanire responded, a large smile on her face. She was amazed to see her daughter doing a favour for a human of all things.

“You love him? Don’t you.” Kenyanire joked as she turned and started to walk back to the village.

They returned to the village where they bullied Liam a little over getting a slight erection from watching the half-naked dancers before Yantraki downed a cooking pot-sized cup of Amazonian wine. I should say Amazonian wine is about 30 per cent Alcohol. So, to say the least, Yantraki was slightly tipsy. She dragged a terrified at being cuddled to death Liam back to their hut and back to bed.

Tightly wrapped in Yantraki’s arms Liam slept like a baby for the rest of the night. Only to be woken by Kenyanire slowly peeling him away from her daughter. His eyes flickered as the morning light caressed his face. Kenyanire greens down at the wincing boys she carried him down the steps of their home and outside.

“Hey,” Liam said rubbing his eyes as he noticed who was carrying him. Kenyanire beamed a smile down at the small boy.

“I see you didn't even get time last night to take off your clothes before my daughter dragged you into her bed.” She snickered as she called on his now two-day-old shirt.

“I know, but it doesn't matter. I can go a day in the same clothes maybe even too necessary honestly I don't care if has to be a week as long as I get to washing that time.” Liam said as he wiped the last bits of sleep out of his eyes.

“So, what magical trip are you taking me on today?” he asked sarcastically slowly sitting up in her arms. Usually, he would have gotten upset that she was carrying him rather than allowing him to walk, but now being here to get at least two or three weeks into living on their island he'd gotten used to this mode of transportation that they so insisted on.

“The others are already waiting, we're currently the last ones to arrive at the war meeting” Kenyanire set and join the surprised face of Liam as he quickly hurried to straighten enough his shirt the best, he could despite being held in her arms. She couldn’t but help find it funny that he still wanted to look presentable despite his dishevelled state. Smirking she allowed him to stand on his own feet.

“You alright with walking? I just think if I carry you in, it may make you look weak. I mean the other amazons including myself already see you as weak physically, but I don’t want them to think you need to be carried everywhere.” Kenyanire said, patting him on the head. Liam wiped her hand away.

“Doing that I think will also make me look weak. But thanks for looking out for me there…” Liam said, smiling up to the amazon. Kenyanire laughed and they carried on their walk.

They walked through the Huntresses’ village until they reached Thormoenia’s hut. Kenyanire pulled back her cloth curtain and welcomed Liam inside. Liam walked into the hut, his eyes immediately landing on the high priestess and Thormoenia as they sat on large piles of fur. The two-amazons smiled and waved their hands to him.

“I talked to them last night about allowing you to be here, they agreed, but then again she didn’t,” Kenyanire said, pointing across to a silver-haired girl sitting on her pile of furs. Liam recognised her as the head of guards who he met when he first arrived on the island. He smiled at her, but she simply responded by sitting back in her seat and crossing her arms.

“She likes you, but only because I do and your hair as it is similar to the God she worships. She isn’t sure though, so she has decided to keep a distance from you.” Kenyanire said as she escorted Liam over to two large piles of fur. Liam took a seat on one pile of furs as Kenyanire took a seat of her own next to him. Liam gave a nervous laugh as he could feel all eyes in the room were currently fixed on him.

“Now then to the 1st order of business, Mr Liam here would like to assist us with ideas to fend off the approaching invasion.” Kenyanire set an Amazonian before repeating it in English so he could understand the conversation.

“But first I would like to know everything about the ones coming to invade us,” Liam said as he sat upon his pile of furs, his face blank. All the amazons accept the head of guards knew this meant he was serious, as he usually always went around with a solemn frown bright smile plastered across his face.

“Well, then we'll talk about the first faction, the Sun Sisters.” Kenyanire began.

“The son sisters I'll bring what we guessed to be around 24,000 warriors, they would probably act as Archers considering they spent both their days offering blood sacrifices and worshipping their goddess rather than training like regular amazons do. The only real battle training they do is in archery as they prefer to ambush people then capture or kidnap them for sacrifices.” Kenyanire said as Liam started to ponder on the different possibilities, he had in front of him to battle against them.

“The arrows they will be using are going to be made out of Kukuna, which of course is just regular stone or metal that has been blessed for a few months or sometimes just a few weeks by singular or group of priestesses until the metal goes a certain shade of blue. Depending on the darkness of the metal once it has been blessed depends on how sharp and how sturdy as well as durable the metal is. The arrowheads that we firing at us are probably going to be made out of this material as it is the best for killing amazons,” Kenyanire explained further. Liam I could remember seeing this metal before. He remembered seeing it when he went for the ride in the pillbox of the War Horse, Kenyanire had warned him not to touch it as it was very sharp and highly dangerous for humans as it will probably cut them like a 1000-degree knife through butter.

“Since they will be the archers, that leaves Thorn and her warriors to be the main infantry. Thorn’s warriors clad themselves in strange armour, as well as carry short/ also long swords, large round Shields about the size of an amazon’s torso, and lastly these again rule made of the Kukuna material. Ooh, and they also carry these weird, curved blades mounted on the end of sticks Since her warriors are the best at melee they will probably be the main infantry to fight against.” Kenyanire continued.

“So, what do we have on our side then in terms of power?” Liam asked leaning forward and resting his face on one of his hands. I could see now that the amazons had divided their armies into two forces The Archers and the infantry meaning that they had any chance of fighting back against them they would most likely need somewhat of the same. As for the weird, curved blades mounted on the ends of sticks that Kenyanire spoke of, were probably a type of axe or sickle. He had to admit considering the amazons mainly use Spears and bows that any other weapon on this island existing was quite impressive.

“We have 11,900 amazons who are well trained in fighting with a spear and firing a bow, of course, this number includes the 900 huntresses meaning that 900 of these warriors greater stealth and masters of the bow. I guess we could trade some of the artists to become infantry, but I doubt they will be able to fight off this large number of warriors coming at them. but then again we only need to defend two beachheads to stop them from landing on our shores so I guess we could hold them at choke points to stop them from advancing.” Thormoenia said.

“What about the Boruma?” Liam asked. All was silent around the room for a few seconds as the amazons looked to him as if it was joking.

“You do realise that despite us treating the Boruma much better than we did before, they are still slaves in our society. Thus, to allow one to hold weapons let alone fight on the battlefield would be stupid. And in the first place the reason that they are Boruma it's because they're the ones lucky enough not to be used as food by us amazons after their trials that they failed.” Thormoenia retorted.

“Well, let's say we use them as a fighting force, then how many warriors would we have?” Liam insisted, his eyes now fixed with Thormoenia’s.

“18,900…” She said, seeing now that adding them to their army would drastically increase the number of warriors. A moment of silence later, and Liam spoke.

“Ok… I think I have an idea on how we can keep this tribe safe.” Liam said a small smirk on his face, despite this the amazons could see the uncertainty in the twitching of his eyes.

“I am going to train the Boruma into a fighting force, but I am going to need help making some weapons,” Liam said, sitting back in his pile of furs. Crossing his legs his eyes stared on at the snarling faces of Thormoenia and the head of guards, he could tell they were going to be his biggest adversaries to his decision.