idgeting his hands, Liam sat on the wooden stub. Kenyanire stood not too far from him. Her eyes fixed on his Glancing to the right, Liam saw Thorn and Thormoenia cowering from the safety of some bushes. Looking from the amazons to Kenyanire Liam feared what she must be thinking.

“So, you think I am weak?” Kenyanire said, grabbing Liam’s face. Forcing him to look at her. Liam’s heart started to race as he looked into her wide, crazed looking eyes.

“N…No, I didn’t mean it like that. I just meant the thing about you dying hypothetically,” Liam tried to rationalise. It seemed she was still annoyed by him suggesting that she may die, and he would need to be able to defend himself. Thus, why she should have allowed him to train. Or well that was the argument. But now Liam sat still in what felt like an execution.

“Yes, but that suggests I am weak!” Kenyanire said as she leaned in closer to him, her fierce eyes paralysing Liam. It was as if he was a bird staring down a starved Lion.

“I, I really didn’t mean it like that,” Liam stuttered as Kenyanire’s grip only tightened.

“Uurrrr,” Kenyanire growled as she let him go.

“Fine, but first apologise,” Kenyanire said as she placed her hands onto her hips. Liam looked at Kenyanire with a look of amazement. It was like he was talking to a giant child.

“Sorry? That’s it?” Liam said, feeling almost guilty that he wasn’t going to do something more to make it up to her. Don’t get me wrong it wasn’t like he wasn’t happy he wasn’t going to be skinned like a sheep or eaten alive, or worse than them all, sleep with her.

“Yes, after all, you are going to make that bathhouse for us,” There it was. The catch. The idea of warm water and good baths was seemingly appealing enough to the amazons that they were willing to put aside misdemeanours for a chance at having them.

“I see, then I will get going at that as soon as possible,” Liam said, quickly wanting to get back onto Kenyanire’s good side. Anyway, it wasn’t that bad, he was planning to make the

“Good, but you will have to do it on your own, no help from me or any other amazon,” Kenyanire said smugly as she placed her hands onto her hips. There it was the catch. His punishment for looking down on her. Liam pulled his knees into his chest.

“You’re a monster,” Liam said as he dreaded all the work he was going to have to do. All the digging, all the crafting… he would be lucky to finish it within the year.

“One last thing before you go,” Kenyanire said, her voice deepening. Turning around she flicked her wrist. The ground cracked as several; small vines shot out the ground. Wood splintered off one of the large jungle trees as the vines cut through it. Once the vines had broken through the wood, they wrapped around the bark of the tree. Liam watched with an ever-increasing sense of fear as the about twenty-foot tree came crashing down to the ground as the vines engulfed it. No human would ever survive something like that. He doubted even an amazon could do anything to fight against this. Fuck, it would probably take about 20 or so imperial legionnaires equipped with flame throwers to even scratch Kenyanire.

Seeing that Liam had heeded her warning, Kenyanire left him alone on the wooden stump. A smug grin on her lips. With newfound respect for the integrity of Kenyanire. Liam quickly jumped off the wooden stump to follow after her.

Over in the bushes. Once they had deemed it safe. Thorn and Thormoenia emerged out into the open. After checking around to see if there were any signs of blood, they came to the conclusion that Liam hadn’t been killed by Kenyanire. Much to the relief of both amazons as it meant when Yantraki woke there wasn’t going to be a civil war between the mother and the overly-protective-of-Liam daughter.

A small gust of wind brushed against Thorn’s nose. Sniffing the air, a smile came to her face as she could smell the familiar scent of Liam heading back to the village. Having nothing else left to go out in the jungle, the two amazons followed after the scent.

Dragging his heel. Liam trudged after Kenyanire. Muttering swears and curses under his breath as he walked. Unaware, or maybe just forgetful of how good an amazon’s hearing is, that Kenyanire was listening and making notes of every word he said. She loved him, she really did, but she knew that if he was to survive further here on the island, she was going to have to go back to her methods of toughening him.

Kenyanire racked her mind for ideas as the two entered the village. Grabbing Liam by the arm she escorted him back in the direction of their home. What was a good way to traumatise him without giving him any lasting damage? Well but then again, he had gone through quite a lot already. So, what would make him realise that this island was still dangerous? She only did this after all because she wanted to help him. She wanted to place a little fire in his step to push him further. After all, she didn’t want him to get too relaxed and cosy just yet. There were still many wars to fight and after seeing the state he was in after the battle on the beach. Kenyanire knew that she was going to have to make him much stronger if he was to stomach such things again in the future.

Yells and screams of joy and pain-filled Liam’s ears as he followed Kenyanire deeper into the village. Whatever the source of the noise was probably quite far as they continued walking for a few minutes until they started to reach the source of the noise. Kenyanire led Liam out onto one of the edges of the village. Liam still didn’t know the layout of the village that well. Which probably was why he was surprised to find himself standing in front of the fighting arena. He was gone for what was probably seven or eight hours and already the arena was full of amazons from the different tribes kicking (for lack of a better word) the absolute fucking shit out of each other.

Even from the distance, Liam was at. He could hear the cracking of bone as the amazons beat the life out of each other. Kenyanire pulled Liam forward. This is what she wanted to show him. If she could get him used to seeing blood and seeing amazons beating each other to near-death experiences, then maybe he could start to get a little used to the Amazonian way of managing their differences. Kenyanire herself had to admit she was a little impressed with how well this was working so far. Who knows she didn’t have to commit blood sacrifices as compensation to keep the blood lust of her people in line.

Keeping Liam close to her side like a mother with her child, Kenyanire escorted Liam into the arena. Liam was immediately stunned in his tracks by the strong smell of blood. Despite being a good 30ft from the fighting, he could still taste the tang of iron blood on his lips. The bleachers that looked over the stands of the fighting pit was packed with growling, cheering, and to Liam’s surprise even aroused looking amazons. Kenyanire glanced behind herself as she realised Liam had come to a stop. Following his gaze, Kenyanire quickly saw the reason he had stopped.

“Don’t worry about them. It is nearing mating season, and because of that the amazons are looking for the best partners to bring into their families or clans,” Kenyanire explained as she quickly grabbed Liam, dragging him up the wooden steps of the bleachers. She didn’t want any amazons to notice him. If an amazon was in both heat and in the state of blood lust, they were all currently in. Well, I will leave it up to you to imagine what they would do to a fragile, vulnerable, human.

Stumbling up the steps. Kenyanire reached the top alongside Liam. She pulled him into a crudely crafted wooden hut. Liam assumed this was probably meant to act as a royal sweet for visitors of higher status such as themselves. Entering the hut, it took Liam’s eyes a few seconds to adapt to the difference in lighting. Serval Boruma with what looked to be hammers and a few crudely made nails were hammering away at… what was it? Liam wanted to say a bench. But the craftmanship of the armrest told him it was more of a sofa. Also considering there were several of these creations all pointed towards a large open window that overlooked the arena told Liam this was meant to be a viewing gallery of some kind.

Yelling something in Amazonian, Kenyanire stormed over to the Boruma. Without a word and only a few skittering noises the Boruma raw away towards another exit on the other side of the room.

“Sorry, I told some amazons to do this, but they got distracted watching the fighting and left the Boruma to finish what should have been their work. But either way, this is something I had them quickly put in while you were away. I know it isn’t of that great a quality, but this is only the first try and building it,” Kenyanire said as she summoned a few vines covered in long, claw-like thorns. Using the vines, she smoothed down the benches enough that they were safe to sit on without getting a splinter in the ass.

Carefully and cautiously, Liam lowered himself down onto the seat. Seeing that Liam hadn’t been pricked yet by any pieces of wood. Kenyanire took a seat next to him. Now sitting together, they could finally begin to watch the show.

Liam’s eyes focused on the dirt floor of the arena below. A Huntress and a member of the Thorn shields circled each other. It was obvious who was going to win. Huntresses were the amazons who were too vicious to be in any other village, so they came to Thormoenia who then proceeded to beat them into a bloody pulp before rebuilding them into one of her warriors. But then again Thorn Shields was meant to be some of the best melee fighters on the island. Liam couldn’t know for sure though as they didn’t really get a chance in the beach battle to show off their skill. This was something Liam was both proud, but also slightly annoyed at as he didn’t get to see their skills but if that meant no warriors died, he guessed he could live with it.

Dust filled the arena as the Huntress hurled herself at the Thorn Shield. The sound of flesh, bone and muscle colliding polluted the air as the two met. Liam watched with intensity as the dust stetted. The Huntress had her arms wrapped around the waist of the Thorn shield. Moving her strongest leg back, she used the woman’s height against her as she fell backwards. The Thorn shield crashed into the ground as the Huntress almost bent over backwards to slam the amazon into the ground.

Without wasting a moment, the Huntress sprang to her feet. Screams filled the crowd as the Thorn shield was already back on her feet. Charging towards the back of the Huntress, she lifted her leg high into the air. The direction of her blow aimed for the Huntress’ spine. A wide grin fell over the Huntress’ face. Leaning forward, the Huntress kicked backwards. A harsh thwack sounded as her foot collided with the face of the Thorn shield. Sending her crashing onto her back.

Seeing an opportunity despite now being on the ground. The Thorn Shield placed her hands to her side. Pushing herself upwards. She managed to land a quick blow onto the back of the Huntress. The attack wasn’t much, but it was enough to send the Huntress into the wood wall of the arena. Seeing her attack had stunned her opponent. The Thorn Shield scurried back to her feet. Swiftly she moved back to try and get some distance between herself and the Huntress. But it was too late. The Huntress had regained her composure and was already halfway across the arena to face her opponent.

As Liam watched the fighters. Something felt off. But his mind quickly realised what it was. The two amazons were the ones from this morning. The ones he had seen sitting on one of the tables that were exchanging verbal blows with a table of Kenyanire’s warriors. Now he thought about it. The Huntress was also one of the amazons who had been arguing with the Thorn Shield table. As a matter of fact, this Huntress wasn’t even a Huntress, it was only because of the mud and dirt that had been smeared onto her skin from fighting that had given her the appearance of a Huntress. This warrior was simply just one of the villagers from Kenyanire’s tribe. Leaning forward, Liam now found a new sense of interest in the fighting. In his mind, it was no longer so heavily swayed in favour of the amazon he thought to be a huntress. Now it was more in the favour of the Thorn Shield.

The Amazon of Kenyanire’s tribe tackled the Thorn Shield. Her strong arms locked around her waist as she charged her into the side of the arena wall. Sending small shock waves through the stadium. Seeing Liam now gripping to his seat to stop himself from falling off it, Kenyanire placed a steady but welcomed hand onto his back.

“Thanks,” Liam said as he moved back onto his seat. Allowing the amazon to wrap an arm around his waist. Usually, he would have been embarrassed by this kind of attention. But due to their position in the box, no one was able to see them he guessed he could tolerate her a little more than usual.

“Watch carefully Liam. I wish for you to get used to seeing bloody battles like this so when the time comes to be on the battlefield once again, you will not be as scared when amazons start battling around you,” Kenyanire said as she pulled Liam a little closer again. Ok, now maybe the touching was going a little too far. But at the same time, Liam couldn’t help but think about what she had said. She was right. He needed to start getting used to blood and combat if he were to stay cool-headed on the battlefield.

Another bang shook the arena as the Thorn Shield finally got out of the vice-like grip of the amazon. The bang was caused by the amazon being flung across the arena and into the opposite wall of the arena. There was a moment of silence as the Thorn warrior pulled herself to her feet. Readying herself for the amazon she had just thrown a good nineteen feet to do a counterattack, the amazon placed herself into a defensive position. All watched as they prepared for the counterattack. But nothing. There was no movement from amazon.

Two Boruma jumped into the arena. Moving to the side of the downed amazon. They checked her over. After a while of fiddling around the downed amazon. They announced the winner to be the Thorn shield. Cheering and whooping the amazon jumped into the crowd. Being greeted by her friends and fellow Thorn Shields. After a while of hugging and kissing later, the blue and black-haired warriors parted their way to allow Thorn to move between them. It seemed she had also decided to come and watch the battle. Thorn wrapped her arms around the woman. Once she had placed a kiss on her forehead, tears started to roll down the cheeks of the overjoyed girl.

For whatever reason Liam got the idea to look to Kenyanire. Her eyes were intensely fixed on her daughter. Liam laced a hand onto her arm. Snapping out of her gaze, she turned to look at him. Quickly she wiped the gaze off her face.

“Are you alright?” Liam asked, moving back to allow Kenyanire some space to think.

“Yes… it’s just… remember what I said about how there were no obvious higher archei amongst the tribes as you saved Thorn’s warriors? Well Thorn’s tribe just took a big step towards being the most dominant,” Kenyanire said, seeing the worried look in Liam’s eyes as she could almost see the ideas, he was bubbling together to combat this new problem.

“Don’t worry, it won’t change too much as we are still the majority. The only difference is that Thorn’s warriors will believe that they can act a little more… boldly, yes, that’s the right word to describe it,” Kenyanire said as she placed a warm hand onto Liam’s messy silver hair.

“Just stay safe and pray to any god you believe in,” these words made Liam a little nervous. This feeling of uneasiness was only added to as Liam noticed Thorn and the victorious warrior making her way towards the hut.

“Oh shit,” Liam muttered as he quickly got to his feet. Automatically he started towards the opposite door to the one the two warriors were approaching. He didn’t even know why he was running. It just felt as if it was the correct cause of action if he were to survive. Survive against what? Liam wasn’t even that sure himself. But a sense of looming dread was starting to take over him.

The second Liam had reached the door. The door opposite to the one Liam was at opened. Thorn’s voice hung in Liam’s ears as she greeted Kenyanire in Amazonian. Despite not knowing what she was saying, Liam could detect the sound of confusion in her voice as she realised Liam was no longer by Kenyanire’s side. Much to Liam’s dismay, the warrior noticed him by the door and immediately pointed it out to Thorn. Thorn wasted no time in darting to Liam’s side. Picking him up and throwing him over her shoulder.

Yep, okay, he was going to die now. That was all Liam could think as he was placed onto the wooden bench. An energetic, red-faced, amazon standing over him. For a while, there was a moment of awkward license that seemed to drag on forever for Liam before Thorn explained the situation to him.

“This here is Smoesoybre, a trusted and powerful warrior of mine,” Liam nodded his head to the warrior out of a mixture of fear, respect, and politeness. The warrior returned the bow before turning to look at Thorn. Smiling Thorn nodded to the girl. Smoesoybre then turned her attention to a grinning Kenyanire who also have her nod of approval. Immediately on permission, the amazon seated herself next to Liam.

“I do not know if my mother has told you, but myself and Smoesoybre here will be teaching you closer quarters fighting. We know you probably won’t be strong enough to kill an army of amazon but a least you may be able to kill one or two by the end of it,” Thorn said as Smoesoybre prodded and poked at the face of Liam.

“Ok then, so why is Smoesoybre…” Liam said, gesturing to Smoesoybre as she prodded his face with intrigue. Giggling, Thorn explained.

“You are the first human she has seen. She is probably deciding if you are worth eating or not. Mabey even sacrificing you in some ceremony. We tend to have quite a lot of fun in those,” Thorn explained as she gave a sadistic chuckle. Liam shuffled a little away from the amazon as Thorn explained this.

“And you have a little bit of infamy for being the human who gave us the idea of farming. Also, of cause they have a little renown for stabbing me in the battle and saving Yantraki,” Thorn said to try to calm the look of distress that now gripped Liam’s face.

“So don’t worry, we don’t plan to bring you any harm. Well, not outside of training that is,” Thorn continued. After a little while longer of the amazon prodding at an ever-increasing in annoyance Liam, Kenyanire decided to put a stop to Liam’s slight torture.

“Anyway. What will happen for now is that the head of guards shall teach you the basics of archery and how our warriors work in combat. You know, just getting to know our people and their culture a little more by first-hand. Secondly, you shall be trained by Thormoenia, I am not really sure what she will do for training, but that isn’t my problem,” Kenyanire said as she gently patted the now highly irritated Liam on the head. Which only added to his irritated state.

“Lastly as I said before, you shall be trained in basic melee combat by Thorn but mostly by Smoesoybre as Thorn will be training the Boruma. So please try to have a good relationship with her,” Kenyanire said as gently pushed Liam a little closer to Smoesoybre as she continued to play with the exotic silver hair of Liam. Liam wasn’t listening too much to Kenyanire as the skilful hands of Smoesoybre massaged his scalp.

“Looks like you have had a long day. I’ll put together a schedule for you, remember I only do this because you will have to start building your little bathhouse tomorrow. After you have built that, we shall give you a little training before the mating season where we will then find some way to try to keep you safe,” Kenyanire said, knowing her words were falling of deaf ears as Liam drifted to sleep against Smoesoybre.

“He’s had a long day,” Kenyanire explained in Amazonian to Smoesoybre. Laughing, Smoesoybre continued to massage his scalp.

“He is easy to put to sleep,” Smoesoybre pointed out as she allowed Liam’s body to lay against her.

“Do you mind taking him home? I wish to watch the fighting a little longer,” Kenyanire asked. Thorn and Smoesoybre nodded.

“Don’t worry, we will get him home,” Thorn reassured as she carefully lifted Liam into her arms. She had to admit, despite looking so defenceless as he did now; he saw the determination he had when he was training with Thormoenia. Which was something she had to admit she found impressive. Yet all that bravery was so quickly stripped away when he was tired like this. As he hung in her arms like a newborn. Thorn found it interesting, to say the least in this bravery he had that seemed to disappear and reappear at the drop of a stone. She wished that from having Smoesoybre training him, maybe she would then be able to see some of that weird, sudden bravery again.

This bravery of his was probably why she decided to teach him. Well, one of the reasons at least. The first was that she could start to get closer to him by having him become friends with one of her friends. The second was that she wanted to see how far a human could go with the training of an amazon. The third was that she simply wanted to help him because she like him. Then came the bravery aspect.

Together Thorn and Smoesoybre carried Liam out of the arena and back towards the village. Both eagerly talk about ideas for training a human in melee combat. They also quickly came to the conclusion that it would be a good chance for Liam to try and understand the Amazonian culture a little bit. After all, why should the head of the guards have all the fun with showing Liam all the great and dark sides of the Amazonian people of this island? For a while longer they chatted and laughed at how scared he probably was going to be when he found out how many rituals and ceremonies were based around the sacrificing of a person. Or better yet the fucking, cooking and finally eating of a person (this being the one that was most ingrained into their warrior culture and just culture in general when it came down to how they should treat enemy warriors).

“Do you think that we as well as the others (you know our tribes) will actually stop eating our enemies?” Smoesoybre asked Thorn as she watched Liam’s head bounce up and down as they walked up the small slope to reach the village. Thorn was quiet for a few seconds.

“He can probably stop us from eating each other. But the thrill of fucking an enemy of yours into a pile of submissiveness before basting, marinating, and preparing them to cook before finally roasting or boiling them,” Thorn licked her lips at the idea of a roasted Sun Sister on her plate.

“That thrill of breaking and eating someone that has done evil to your people. That is something I highly doubt our little one will be able to stop,” Smoesoybre nodded as she agreed with her master.

“The older ones of our tribes are wary of him as they believe he will try to stop us. I understand their fear, they have been around for many thousands of years and believe strongly in our culture, rituals, and beliefs. Just like them, I wouldn’t want to give up my culture just because someone else says it is wrong,” Smoesoybre added.

“Liam is a good human and a better man. From talking to my mother, I can understand the only wants what is best for his people. And to do that he needs us to stop the attacks and eating of the humans. That we can do. We can even eat Chillcali meat instead of human, amazon, or Boruma. But stopping us from offering blood sacrifices and eating our enemies is something engraved into us, and I doubt that is something you can change,” Thorn said, looking at Liam’s face.

“How did you know I was awake?” Liam asked as he nuzzled into the warmth of Thorn.

“I know you were awake and listening since we picked you up and took you out of the hut,” Thorn said, laughing a little as Liam clung tighter to her as she almost tripped on a rock before quickly regaining balance.

“Back to what I was saying though, I understand you wish to bring what you deem to be peace to our island to help your people. But what you call peace and what we call peace are entirely different things,” Thorn continued.

“I understand, but still… I hate death, it disgusts me. So, watching those I deem friends talking so lightly about eating others, it just makes me feel ill,” Liam said. Turning back to look at Smoesoybre, Liam realised something. She was speaking English. Something quite rare amongst the amazons.

“Can I ask something? How do you know English? I understand you were speaking it because you know I was awake and listening, but I thought it was rare,”

“It is, but Thorn has taught us a lot over the past few years when we were learning from the humans that washed up on the shoreline near our tribe,” Smoesoybre explained.

“Smoesoybre here was in charge of learning about the history of you humans so we could learn from your ancestors’ tactics,”

“After I learnt everything, I could from the humans, I skinned them and turned two into a nice skirt and the other into a drum,” Smoesoybre chirped in, a little too excitedly for Liam’s taste.

“Anyway, that’s how she learnt English,” Thorn said, also quite oblivious to the fact they just admitted to skinning humans and turning them into items of clothing and items. Deciding that it was too late in the day to question the ethics of the Amazons. Liam placed his head against Thorn’s chest as he decided to have a nap before the next problem arrived.