Looking down at the bodies below, he could feel a sense of failure at thinking he was able to weed out the spies within only one night. Liam looked at the blood that stained his hands. No memory of the attack stuck in his mind, no matter how hard he tried to remember what had only just happened a couple of minutes ago. To his side sat Thormoenia. Her focus wasn’t on the bodies below. Rather her focus was on their surroundings. Liam wobbled slightly on the tree branch she had set him on. He would rather have been on the ground, even though there may have been more assassins, it was far safer down there than up where he was at a good 16ft drop to his death.

“Don’t move too much, you might fall,” Thormoenia said as she pulled Liam a little closer.

“Thanks,” He muttered, too distracted on trying to recall what had just happened to give much thought to his safety.

All he could remember now was when Huchoece found him. Liam could feel his stomach rising to his throat. That gaze, that fucking gaze she had given him was still haunting his mind. So many questions, so few answers. Looking to the amazons who had been arrested for the assassination attempt, Liam watched as some priestess amazons brought forward some of the purple liquid used to remove paint from the skin of an amazon. He watched as they poured the liquid onto the amazons. Paint dripped from their skin, revealing purple and green markings. One of the markings caught his eyes, the marking of a purple snake.

“Hey Thormoenia,” Liam said, the amazon didn’t look at him as she continued to scan the area.

“Yes human,” She replied.

“Those markings, the purple ones on the backs of the amazons,” Thormoenia’s widened slightly as she looked to where he was talking about.

“Stop, you didn’t see those, those aren’t your problem,” Thormoenia said, clamping a hand over Liam’s mouth to quiet him.

Firmly a prod onto the top of his head almost caused Liam to fall out of the tree. Startled, he Looked up to the prodder, he saw Yantraki on the branches above him.

“I would like to have a little talk with you, Liam,” she said, grabbing him by the arm as she leapt from the tree. Liam screamed slightly as he plummeted down out of the tree. Reaching the jungle floor just before Liam, Yantraki put out her arms. Liam’s head was the first to hit into the buxom chest of Yantraki before the rest of his body soon found itself entwined in her arms.

“Oh fuck,” Liam said as he grabbed his stomach, almost throwing up.

“Why did you have to jump?” Liam said as he pushed his head against her chest.

“Well, you see I have been thinking,” Liam shuddered, hearing Yantraki say that was something he really didn’t want to hear right now.

“Oh no,” He muttered to himself as Yantraki started to move him into a comfortable position in her arms.

“I was thinking about how you are my slave; I place high importance on the word my and I have realised that we haven’t had any time together. So just before we leave, I wish to have a little talk with you at home,” Yantraki said, a look of lust in her eyes that scared him enough to forget about the fact he was almost assassinated.

It seemed that the horniness of amazon was enough to override the fact he was almost killed a few moments ago. Liam’s head rested against the warm breasts of Yantraki as she ran back towards the house. Despite her seemingly relaxed demeanour, Liam could tell from looking at how she constantly scanned her surroundings that she was on edge. He had to admit he felt the same. The blissful ignorance that seemingly all held them after the initiation ceremony was a fault on all their parts. Yet Liam blamed himself the most. He was meant to be the voice of reason, the voice that gave the amazons ideas and tried his best to make them think differently. Yet he couldn’t see that there was bound to be another assassination attempt soon.

A soft hand fell onto Liam’s head. Looking up past Yantraki’s breasts, which only now did he realise he was against; he saw the loving smile of Yantraki.

“I’m sorry I allowed those bad people to get to you, but do not worry, no one is allowed to hurt what is rightfully mine, after all, we were destined to be together. For many nights I had prayed and offered sacrifices to the goddesses of fertility and love for a smart male who may entertain me and bear many children. When I found you on the battlefield, I first saw you like food, but looking into your eyes I could see your soul. Smelling you, I could smell potential and well I have yet to be wrong so far.” Yantraki said, again trying her best to sound loving but it came across as a little creepy and a tiny bit condescending.

Despite this Liam still got the gist of her message as he allowed her to cuddle him a little more. Yantraki smirked as she saw his face turn red from embarrassment. This pleased her as she wanted to try to get his mind of just trying to be killed as quickly as possible. Her mother was the one who had allowed him to leave on his own, so she didn’t want Liam blaming himself for her stupidity. They walked for a little longer in silence before Liam spoke.

“Can I ask you a question? I’m not sure if it is an appropriate one, but can I ask it anyway,” Liam said, wanting to get some info on the purple and green snake on the assassins back.

“32,” She responded. Liam looked at her, a little perplexed at her seemingly random answer.

“Sorry what?” Liam asked.

“32, it is how many males and females I have slept with and then either sacrificed or eaten,” Liam sighed, hearing this kind of thing coming from amazon was something he was no longer surprised about.

“No, I wanted to ask about something else,” Liam said, not really changed by her statement.

“Oh, sorry, go ahead and say,” Yantraki said, a little embarrassed.

“On the bodies of the assassins were markings, markings of a purple snake,” Yantraki’s gaze snapped to look at Liam. Her eyes slightly widened as she looked into his eyes.

“That is a problem, I mean question, for mother, not me,” Yantraki said. Liam yelp slightly as she started to tighten her arms around him. Her gaze was now slightly darting around as she scanned their surroundings. Sinking into her arms, the true severity of his situation was starting to take hold. Who had sent the assassins? Why was their name so taboo to say out loud.

“Can you take me to Kenyanire,” Liam said, peering out from Yantraki’s arms.

“Sure,” Yantraki said, all thoughts of her previous intentions gone. Yantraki picked up in pace. Probably now going at least fifty miles an hour, she sprinted back to their home in only a matter of minutes.

It took a few seconds for Liam to realise they were already at the door to the house. He underestimated the speed of Yantraki yet again. Bursting through the front door, she strutted into the living room. Kenyanire and Thorn sat on a few piles of furs, both looked with confusion to Yantraki. Clearing her throat, Yantraki yelled something in their native tongue which immediately placed the two amazons into a state of alertness. Sitting up from their fur piles, the amazons’ eyes locked onto Liam. They bickered a little in their language before Yantraki rushed Liam towards the stairs that lead to the house’s second floor.

A hand grabbed Liam’s arm, stopping Yantraki before she reached the stairs. Liam could feel the air thin as Thorn stood before Yantraki, not allowing her sister to move any more forward. A vine broke between the two girls, snatching Liam away from them. Both girls’ attention was now placed on Kenyanire as she held Liam behind her. Kenyanire barked a few words at the girls. Liam felt a jolt of energy go through him as Yantraki moved towards her mother. Despite her eyes being locked on Yantraki, it was almost as if her gaze was looking through her.

“Mother, give him to me. You two have already proven you can’t look after him,” Yantraki snarled at her mother.

“Speak in Amazonian sister, there is no need for the human to be involved,” Thorn said, grabbing her sister’s shoulder. Spinning around, Yantraki’s hand smacked into the face of her sister.

“Don’t touch me, you are just as unreliable as her. You both allow him to walk around unsupervised. There is no one to protect him! You fucking idiots should allow him to understand what we are saying!” Yantraki screamed at her sister. Thorn’s eyes widened as she clenched her fist. Sparks of lightning started to crackle around her fist.

“Say that again,” Thorn said as she tightened her fist. Vines wrapped around the two girls, restraining them from attacking one another.

“It’s happening again,” Kenyanire muttered quietly to herself, Liam barely hearing what she said as Yantraki and Thorn started to loudly bicker and scream. Changing in and out of English to allow themselves to expand their vocabulary of insults.

“The cycle is repeating…” Kenyanire continued to mutter, her eyes fixed downwards. The ground shook as Kenyanire slowly lifted her head. Vines appeared and gagged the two arguing amazons.

“Quiet, both of you,” Yantraki bit through her vine, her eyes fixed onto her mother’s.

“Oh, fuck off, because of you Liam has almost died twice. You insist on using him as a tool, taking his ideas, but you do little for his security!” Yantraki yelled as she ripped herself from her mother’s vines. Darting forward, she slapped her mother across the face. Kenyanire stood stunned. The tension in the air had snapped.

“It wasn’t her fault,” Liam said, finally breaking his silence. Yantraki’s gaze turned from her mother to Liam.

“What?” Yantraki muttered.

“I was the one who wanted to go back, I was being overly optimistic,” Liam pleaded. Yantraki snarled as she moved over to Liam.

“Don’t let them manipulate you, my love, their words are nothing,” Yantraki said, putting on a soothing tone.

“I’ll kill them, then we can go and be happy,” Yantraki said as she slowly moved over to him. Kenyanire’s eyes snapped up to look at her daughter, a look of killing intent in her eyes.

“No, you know that I am right, you know me well, right? Then you know that I am overly optimistic, you know I place myself in danger. So, let’s all settle down and talk through this,” Liam said, keeping eye contact with Yantraki. Something seemed to switch in Yantraki’s head as her eyes calmed.

“I see,” Yantraki kept her eyes on Liam as she undid his vine bindings. Looking to Kenyanire, Liam could see she had also seemingly calmed as she untied Thorn and allowed her vines around the room to fade into dust.

“I think I need to lie down,” Thorn said.

“I need a walk,” Kenyanire said, moving to the door. Liam watched as the two started to move away. This wasn’t good. They were only a few days away from the mating season, he couldn’t manage a civil war right now.

“Wait,” Liam said quickly. The amazons stopped, turning to Liam, he could see the despair in their eyes. Taking in a deep breath, Liam allowed rationality to take over.

“Let's all just sit down and have a little talk,” Liam said, gesturing to the fur piles. Small drips of sweat moved down his face as he watched the amazon’s eye each other’s moves. What felt like hours passed as the amazons didn’t dare to move, neither did Liam. He was far too scared to move, let alone speak in case he somehow caused another fight to break out. Thorn was the first to break the silence.

“Fine,” she said as she moved to a pile of furs on the far side of the room.

“Well due to your lack of being able to take care of Liam yourself, I’ll stay too,” Yantraki said, placing herself down onto a pile of furs behind Liam. Grabbing his trouser buckle, she dragged Liam onto her lap. Her arms wrapped around him, securing him tightly.

Liam watched Kenyanire carefully as she lingered in the doorway. Letting out a sigh, the amazon moved over to another fur pile.

“Talk quickly Liam,” Kenyanire said, her eyes fixed onto Yantraki. Taking in another deep breath, Liam scanned the room. The tension in the air was starting to build again. One wrong word and another fight could break out.

“Apologies,” Liam said, sitting up straight to show confidence.

“Yes, apologise to me for being rude,” Thorn said, her eyes locked onto Yantraki.

“HA! Do you think he was talking to me? He was obviously saying it to you two!” Yantraki retorted.

“I was talking to the both of you, dipshits,” Liam said.

“You are both far too important to lose either of you, so we need you two to work together and stop fighting,” Liam said sternly as he crawled of Yantraki’s lap.

“I would never apologise to her!” Yantraki yelled.

“SAME!” Thorn yelled back. Sighing, Liam smacked Yantraki on the head with his fist. Thorn burst out in laughter as she saw the look of confusion go across the face of her sister. Liam’s eyes moved to Thorn as he walked over to her. Raising his hand, he planted another hit onto the head Thorn.

“Idiots, if you are going to act like children, I’m going to have to start treating you like children,” Liam said as he looked down onto the two girls.

“I am responsible for my own safety, if I get hurt, it is my fault. So don’t go starting a civil war because some assholes thought they could assassinate me,” Liam said, dragging Thorn up and forcing her to sit next to her sister.

“Apologies,” Liam said again. Neither girl disagreed with what Liam said, and not wanting to anger their human, both girls looked to each other. Sighing, Yantraki decided to speak first.

“If I am to be his wife, I should learn to be the bigger person. Thus, I shall go first. Sorry sister,” Yantraki said, nodding to Thorn. Despite the small jab in her apology, Thorn seemed to return the favour.

“Fine, I’m sorry sister,” Thorn said as she nodded to her sister. Turning to Kenyanire, Liam watched as a small smile spread over her lips. Quickly she moved forward, grabbing her two daughters, bringing them in for a forced hug. The two girls struggled and bickered with their mother as she started to lovingly hug them. Liam took a few steps back, allowing the family to express their love to each other.

“I guess we don’t have long until we have to leave, so should we go get ready?” Liam asked, seeing the embarrassed looks on the faces of the two girls. Kenyanire reluctantly let go of the two girls, who immediately dove to the side to avoid their mother’s love. Kenyanire hid it well, but Liam saw the small tear rolling down her cheek as her two daughters playfully bickered as they ran upstairs. Neither of them forgot to steal Liam away as they went.

“Thank you,” She mouthed to Liam as the girls hurried him away upstairs. Why was she so emotional? Yeah, the fight could have ended badly, to say the least, but there was little chance anyone was actually going to die. Liam smiled and nodded his head to her as he finally disappeared up into the top room.

Alone in the room, Kenyanire fell back onto her pile of furs. She could have sworn one of them was going to kill the other, then all of their work would have been in vain.

“Liam, you are an amazing idiot,” she said. Kenyanire could hear clearly as the two daughters dragged Liam into the bedroom, yelling, laughing, and giving little verbal jabs at each other.

Slowly the door to the house creaked open.

“It almost happened again,” Kenyanire said, smiling at the high priestess as she entered the room.

“I know, just like you and your sisters,” she said solemnly, nowhere near as joyful as Kenyanire.

“What if more join us? What do you think it would be like to have eight of my daughters all arguing over who gets to take him for a walk, let alone the arguments over who he felt the most affection for,” Kenyanire giggled, a slight undertone of fear in her words.

“I have something to admit,” The high priestess said, sitting down next to Kenyanire.

“What is it?” Kenyanire said, leaning her head back to look at her friend as she sat behind her.

“I saw it happen again, the same thing that happened to Edward. I don’t think he knew, but his eyes went white…” Kenyanire could see where she was going.

“He went into berserker mode,” Kenyanire said, her small bit of hope now dashed.

“Indeed, it seems the side effects of drinking an amazon’s blood have now started to kick in,” The high priestess said, gripping a knife under her skirt.

“I was thinking of killing him,” Kenyanire swooped around as the high priestess said this. The high priestess didn’t move like a pair of vines bound her legs, and Kenyanire pressed a knife to her throat.

“Say that again,” Kenyanire muttered, her eyes fixed on every movement of the high priestess.

“Think about it, kill him now, we have his tactics, we have his ideas, we don’t need him. If your daughters don’t join us, then they can die. I’ll take the blame, I’ll allow you to kill me, just get rid of him, break the cycle,” the high priestess said, her voice straining as she struggled to not scream at Kenyanire.

“Leave, leave now, we are going to leave soon for the Daughters of the Moon, if I see you anymore before then, I think I will get you where you stand,” Kenyanire said, standing up. Her vines carried the high priestess to the door, throwing her outside before slamming the door behind her.

For what felt like an eternity, Kenyanire sat and watched the door. Waiting for the high priestess to burst through and attempt to kill Liam. Kenyanire decided at once she wouldn’t allow history to repeat itself, she wasn’t going to allow Liam to become some monster or military tool. Yantraki was right, they needed to domesticate him more before he became too involved with the Amazonian army. After all, that was her mistake with Edward. Looking up the stairs, Kenyanire contemplated if she should tell Liam. Tell Liam about the side effects of drinking Amazonian blood, tell him more about the real extent’s amazons would go to for those they had imprinted on. Those they rightfully saw as their mates.

She could remember how her sisters all fought over Edward, how they all desired him for varied reasons. The high priestess had told Liam her story, she knew that she also knew she hadn’t told him the full truth and that she had lied about a few things to keep him in the dark about the true nature of amazons that could come out. Smirking, Kenyanire knew that was something for which he wasn’t ready. Looking back to the door one more time, Kenyanire then moved up the stairs. It was finally time to leave.

Reaching the top of the stairs, Kenyanire’s eyes fell onto the two girls as they chased Liam around the room. Like lionesses toying with their prey, they let him go, before chasing after him, pinning him, teasing him, and then starting their cycle again. Growling, cackling, and laughing the girls toyed with Liam. Kenyanire smiled as Liam tried again to berate the girls, just for them to laugh it off and carry on their torment. It seemed she didn’t have to domesticate him that much at all, her daughters were already doing it for her.

“Get your things ready, we are leaving now,” Kenyanire said as she used her vines to start collecting things from around the room for their journey.

“Great, I guess we shall be going on a warhorse, right? Well, Liam then can stay in my room!” Yantraki announced as she wrapped her arms around Liam, dragging him into her breasts. While Liam struggled for air, Thorn tried to argue her best about why he could be staying with her. Seeing their bickering was both literally and metaphorically suffocating Liam, Kenyanire used her vines to wrap the three up into cocoons. This was probably the best if she was to avoid having to deal with them fighting.

Once all were things and people were safely secured, Kenyanire started her journey down to where the warhorses were kept. Thormoenia met the group halfway towards the warhorses, a few warriors and herself tagged along with Kenyanire to give them some protection.

As they walked, Liam managed to pop his head out of the vines. Looking around, he soon realised where he was. Liam’s eyes landed on Kenyanire as she walked.

“Hey!” Liam yelled to Kenyanire, getting her attention. Kenyanire turned, seeing Liam’s head peeking out from her vines.

“Oh, hello. Don’t worry, I have our things and we shall be at the war horse in only a few minutes,” Kenyanire said.

“Just before that, I have a few things I quickly want to do,” Liam said, Kenyanire sighing angrily. She simply wanted to have him relax with her and the others, after all, he was almost killed only a few hours ago.

“What is it, Liam?” Kenyanire asked, hiding her annoyance.

“I just wanted to ask a few questions, about the gas the version of the aphrodisiac, like how it is made,” Liam said, always plotting, always looking for something to keep his mind occupied. Kenyanire knew this, but she decided to entertain him.

“We burn the drug; we then collect the gas into large pots that we then heat. This allows the drug to slowly move out of the pot. None of us is really sure why, but it works,” Kenyanire explained. Liam nodded. It seemed the drug was incredibly reactive. So reactive in fact he assumed the drug being heated in the confined clay or wooden boxes allowed it to start to leak out the gas.

“How do you transfer the gas into the containers?” Liam asked. Kenyanire sighed, she could see that he was going to be asking about this for a while.

“Can we talk about this later?” She pleaded. Calming down, Liam could see Kenyanire was starting to get tired after such a long day. It was probably best if he left her alone for now.

“Yeah sure, just one thing. Could you ask that one of the iron pots made by the blacksmith be filled with seawater? Once that is done light the bottom of the pot containing the saltwater. Once all the water was evaporated, have the amazons take out the salt and store it,” Kenyanire didn’t understand most of the words Liam was saying. Something about getting salt from water. She still gave the order, an amazon quickly running off to go and enforce it.

Soon their group met up with Sruna and Takire, alongside their Boruma counterparts, Andreaka, Icaria and the Blue-haired girl. Their group of about thirty all held a few cloth bags, each ready to leave and head onto the journey with Liam. Kenyanire got a few glances of worry from the girls as they saw Liam peaking out from his vine bindings, but none said anything. Everyone knew too well that it was a bad idea to question Kenyanire on this kind of thing.

Together the group moved through the village, out the village again, back into the jungle, and after what seemed like an eternity of walking, they reached the stables which held the mountains war horses. Looking up to the giant beasts, Liam still struggled to comprehend how such animals came into existence. Using her vines, Kenyanire quickly sped up the process of placing everyone into their respected pillboxes, as well as loading the luggage.

To avoid an argument, she made sure to place her two tightly bound daughters into a private pillbox. Liam snuggled between them to assure that they wouldn’t argue, or at least as much as they usually would. Kenyanire sat with Thormoenia as some amazons took the reins of the gigantic beast. With the last few checkups and a couple of flicks of the length reins, they set out on their journey.

Liam looked around the dark box. The last time he was in here, he almost got killed by the Sun Sisters. Now he was sitting between two amazons, trying his best to entertain the small group of Boruma in front of him. Liam watched on in disappointment as the Boruma lay down on the floor. Their arms raised above their heads and their feet pointed. Every time the tall warhorse strode, the Boruma would roll across the ground. They cheered and laughed as they were rolled around the carriage. This was his fighting force. These were the people he was trusting to become a large part of their fighting force.

Andreaka rolled into Liam’s legs. For a few seconds she looked confused, but soon she realised where she was. Smiling she grabbed Liam, pulling him onto the floor. Liam tried to resist, but soon he found himself rolling around with the Boruma.

“FUCKING IDIOTS!” Liam yelled as he stumbled to try to get onto his feet, just for the Boruma to drag him back down and force him to roll around with them.

For the next hour, this was the torment Liam had to undergo. Well, at least it gave the two sisters some enjoyment as they laughed at Liam’s pain. Midway through another roll along the wooden floor, Liam’s eyes widened. He could feel his heart rising into his throat as he realised his body was in the air. Looking around himself, he could see the confused and puzzled faces of the Boruma as they also found themselves in the air.

Like a bag of iron, they violently slammed down into the wooden floor. Liam’s vision started to tilt as cries and yells from the amazons above filled his ears. Looking to the slit of the window, Liam could see blood splattering out onto the trees as one of the front legs of the war horse tumbled to the ground, freshly cut from the body.

Liam braced himself as he flung further into the air. Knowing what came next, he wrapped his arms around his head but wasn’t quick enough the get his legs into a suitable position before he crashed down onto the splintering wood. A humming hung in Liam’s ears as he looked around. Boruma scattered to the sides as Yantraki, and Thorn struggled against their bindings. Looking to see the small slit of light along the floor, Liam quickly realised that the entire pillbox had been flipped upside down. Arrows started to fire under the slit, Liam moved to grab a box of arrows. Sprinting to the box, he shoved it towards the gap, doing his best to block the arrows from getting in.

Through the slit, Liam could see the shadows of the attackers outside as they crouched to fire arrows into the box. Vines rose in front of the box, blocking the light, but also the arrows. Kenyanire was nearby. Borumas managed to get Thorn and Yantraki out of their bonds. All armed themselves with arrows, spare knives and spears.

Yantraki didn’t hesitate to wrap Liam into her arms, while Thorn broke the door open. Light flooded into the room as the Boruma scrambled to get outside and into a battle formation. Thorn made sure the Boruma were armed with their round shields and short swords or axes. Charging out of the box, the amazons began their counterattack. Once Yantraki had carried Liam out of the box, he could immediately see Thormoenia and her huntresses deep in battle with their attackers. Liam didn’t get a good chance to get a look at the aggressors as Kenyanire began to wrap a wall of vine around the horse’s body.

Liam’s eyes were drawn to a quick movement out the corner of his eye. A woman stood on the body of the horse, not too far away from himself and Yantraki. Liam gripped his knife tightly as he examined the woman. She had dark, tanned skin, like that of the other amazons. Her body was painted with red paint stripes. Around her waist sat a red, corded grass skirt. Large feathers hung from the waistband of her skirt, much like that of the Amazonian or Boruma dancers. She wore a large leaf top that covered her breasts. Unlike most amazons, she didn’t wear a feather headdress, instead, she wore a mask. Liam could feel his stomach clench, her mask was a skull. Well butchered and crafted, it was the cut off front of a human skull.

Yantraki noticed the glare in Liam’s eyes. She went to follow his gaze. Stunned in place, she saw the attacker, the only attacker. The woman in the skull mask raised her closed fist into the air.

“GET DOWN!” Yantraki yelled as she dropped to the ground. Clenching her raised fist, light burst forth, blinding Liam. Yantraki moved, swiftly drawing her short sword as she sunk it down into the flesh of the attacker. Wait, no, it wasn’t the attacker. Liam looked through her arms. Serval large animals, looking like wolves stood before them. One of the animals lay dead on the ground. They needed to regroup, yet Yantraki wasn’t moving.

“Yan,” Liam stopped as he saw the look of fear on Yantraki’s face.

“Sister…” She muttered as the creatures approached.