Strands of his hair gently fluttered in the air. Blood covered the golden sands of the beach. Amazons were dragging off the bodies of the dead. Many, despite the losses, celebrated the battle as a great victory. Liam glanced behind himself to see the still unmoving body of Yantraki. Priestesses were hard at work trying to wake her. His glance then turned to Thorn. She had been mostly healed by the priestesses. Thorn and her warriors were now at work, healing their warriors. The high priestess got up from helping Yantraki.

The high priestess walked over to Liam. Taking a seat next to him on the sand. Using her hands, she whipped up the sand to bury the blood. Now comfortable, the high priestess turned to look at Liam.

“You look sad little one? Why? the battle has been won? You inspired many amazons today to see the Boruma as their equal. Many Boruma from what I here also have now invented names for themselves. Some even idolise you for helping them unify” The high priestess said with a wide smile. Her smile faded though as she noticed the macabre look in Liam’s eyes.

“Is Yantraki alright?” He asked sheepishly. The high priestess’ smile quickly returned as she realised, he was only scared for Yantraki’s safety.

“She will live, but it seems her alongside the other warriors who were hit by the arrows and placed into this…”

“Coma?” Liam chirped in.

“Yes, Coma. It seems the arrows they were hit with were poisoned. They shall live, and probably wake within a few weeks.” The high priestess chirped. But still seeing he was in a sour mood she leaned closer. Pressing her breasts slightly against his arm she moved her lips to his ear.

“If you like, I can sleep with you. Mabey because of the slave seal the shock of having her husband sleeping with another woman may shock her into awaking.” The high priestess teased as she leaned in even closer. Liam scoffed. Grabbing her arm firmly he shoved her back. A frown came across Huchoece as she looked down at the solemn-looking Liam.

“What is wrong? Really?” She asked, placing her hand onto his head. Snuffles and other noises of distress started to come from Liam as he dragged his legs into his chest and buried his face into his knees.

Huchoece pulled him closer. She lifted him up and quickly sat him between her legs. Her eyes started to widen as she tried to think of what could be causing him to be in such a state. Wrapping one arm around his upper body she pulled him into her chest. Gently humming to him she used her spear had to gently stroke his head. When she was living amongst the humans she worked in a primary school for a while. The instincts she had gotten from caring for the children back then started to kick in. Planting kisses onto the top of his head she placed her head between her breasts.

“Just listen to my heartbeat. I remember it calming humans when I lived on the mainland.” Huchoece said as she gently rubbed his back. Once his crying had stopped and he was calmer, she gently moved him back. Making sure he was still in her warm embrace, but she also made sure he was back enough that he could look her in the eyes.

“Tell me little one, what is wrong?” She asked. Her large eyes fixing on his watery ones. Wiping the tears from his eyes, he looked up at her.

“It’s…. it’s just that I am not used to seeing this many people dead.” Liam said, his voice slightly croaky from his crying.

“I’m fine now, I just lost it there for a second,” Liam said as he tried to move out of Huchoece’s arms. Huchoece though held on tight.

“No, you stay for a while longer. You need to rest.” She explained as she continued to hug him.

“From what amazons have told me, only about 19000 people have died here today. And only about 200 are our warriors and they were either amazon archers in the trees who were being shot at or Boruma. The rest were Thorn’s warriors. These casualties as well aren’t even taking into account how many are alive but unconscious. So, in other words, your shield wall worked very well here today, it kept the enemy from overwhelming us and we only started to lose warriors when Thorn broke through the wall and the fire arrows started to rain down on us.” Huchoece explained as she held him for a little longer.

“Sorry…I’m just not that good with death. Fuck, I’m fucking weak” Liam chuckled. Huchoece held him tightly as she buried her face into his hair.

“You are the weakest person here yes, but you do have power. You have the power to rally the strong around you. You get people to trust and love you. That is a power on its own.” The high priestess reassured. The very thought of allowing him to be seen in a state like this made Huchoece’s heart skin. So, at that moment she decided to take him back to the main village to try to cheer him up. Maybe if he saw the support the tribe had for him then he would understand he wasn’t seen as a monster nor weak.

Swooping him up into her arms the high priestess turned and started to walk in the direction of the jungle.

“W…” Liam went to speak, just for the high priestess to place a hand over his mouth.

“You are tired, and your mind isn’t in the best place right now. Just stay still and cuddle.” The high priestess instructed as she carried him into the jungle.

Rays of light fell onto Liam’s face as they walked through the jungle. He squinted his eyes whenever light fell over them, and immediately opened them wider whenever his face was covered by the shade of the trees above.

The high priestess came to a stop, her eyes looked forward. Liam sat up slightly. Looking to where her gaze was focused on. Smiling Liam saw a small lake of water. He knew what she probably planned to do next. Sitting him down next to the water, the high priestess began to strip Liam.

“Hey, come on, I’m not a child.” He tried to argue.

“Quiet, you aren’t well, you need rest!” She demanded as she undid the last button on his shirt. Once his shirt was off, she quickly turned her attention to his trousers. With an odd level of expertise, she soon had his trousers off and even sooner his pants. Before Liam could fully register what was happening, he was already nude and sitting in the small body of water.

“Sit here for a while and rest, I need to go back and finish healing the injured.” The high priestess said as she quickly turned and fled back into the jungle.

Liam now sat alone in the cool water. It felt odd sitting alone like this. He was so used to Yantraki or another one of his many Amazonian “friends” annoying him or trying to gain his attention. Sinking into the water Liam closed his eyes. The battle lasted only a few hours, but the memories he had of the blood painted beach was enough to last him several lifetimes.

A rustling came from the bushes behind him. Liam immediately turned and readied himself for a fight. But immediately relaxed as he realised that Thorn and her warriors were too battered to even think of wanting to start a fight. As if his mind had been read by some kind of divine being. Thorn emerged from the bushes. Automatically, Liam took a few steps backs. He had to have been wrong about no one being stupid enough to carry on fighting. Thorn must have come back to finish what she started.

“Hey, wait, I’m not here to fight you, little human,” she said putting out her hands. Liam looked down to her side. A long scar from where he had stabbed her was now stretched along her side.

Thorn slowly moved closer. Once at the side of the water she took in a deep breath. Her eyes fixed on Liam, she then jumped into the water. After a bit of frantic splashing. Thorn managed to get herself stable as she clung to the side of the lake. Liam could see the genuine fear in her eyes as she tried her best to now sink into the shallow water. Liam knew amazons weren’t good at swimming, but this here, this was just sad. Moving over to Thorn, Liam grabbed her arms. Steadily he helped her get a good foothold on the rocks under them. Once she was no longer splashing around like a child in a kiddie’s pool, Liam stood in front of her. Quickly realising he was still naked, he sat back down into the water. Making sure to keep a distance from Thorn so she couldn’t see his privates.

Together, they sat in the water. Not saying a word. The first words spoken were from Liam.

“So…um… Can I ask what you are doing here…” Liam said as he kept his eyes forward. He knew if Yantraki heard he was looking at the nude body of her sister, she would probably rip his legs off.

“I came to speak with you. I followed your scent through the jungle.” She said as she moved a little closer to him. Now that their shoulders were touching, she began he talk to him.

“I have come to thank you for saving my warriors. Honestly, I thought I was going to die on that beach.” Thorn began.

“I have to admit, I didn’t expect you to stab me.” Thorn chuckled.

“I…can I ask you something?” Liam said, looking up to the blue-haired amazon.

“Sure human…” She responded her voice a little strained. She wasn’t used to talking to humans.

“How do you know how to make a shield wall? Let alone the round shields and longships.” Liam asked, quickly springing into action. Thorn frowned down at the energetic human. Despite the cuts and bruises that riddled his body, she could see such a bright spark of excitement in his eyes. Putting a hand onto his head of silver hair. Thorn thought she could start to see why her sister thought so highly of him. He had almost been killed several times in that battle. yet here he was. Rather than relaxing and healing his wounds, he cared more about information he could have gotten anyway later on.

“Fine…We got the information from a human boat that crashed on our shores. A man we captured told us about the culture in exchange we didn’t devour him. He taught us this ancient human culture from many thousands of years ago. To think you humans were once so much like us.” Thorn explained, swiftly placing an arm around Liam. Leaning in until her nose was only a little distance from his, did she the smile at the red face of Liam.

“Well…Um… Can I ask about how you broke the shield wall? You know, the magic and stuff.” Liam said, trying to move back from the hungry gaze of the amazon.

“You want to understand magic? Well then aren’t you a little wolf.” She said, running her fingers down the side of his face. Liam didn’t understand what she meant by a little wolf, but he didn’t wish to question the amazon.

“To begin with, there are two types of magic. Free magic and contained. Free magic is the magic in the air. Contained magic is the magic in the blood of amazon or the crystals we make from sacrificing the blood and seamen of our enemies.” Thorn began. Making sure Liam’s eyes were locked onto hers.

“The magic in the blood of amazon is incredibly powerful. But it is very hard to activate. To activate it we usually have to go through many traumatic or life-threatening events. Or we can take a special drug that places us into a trance. Once in this trance, we can see the magic flowing through our blood. We must then find a pattern that amounts to all the many hundreds of thousands of patterns that will activate our blood's magic. It took me two years to activate mine, but that was only because I have fought through many wars.” Thorn said as she now finally relaxed and took a seat next to Liam.

“Sounds like a giant puzzle…” Liam thought out loud, now having a new understanding of the magic of Amazon and this world. From what he gathered from Thorn it sounded Like magic was like radiation. It was everywhere in small doses, but in amazons, their blood contains incredibly high amounts of magic. This probably explained how they were so good at using magic and humans weren’t.

“So, how do the crystals affect magic?” He asked, wanting to squeeze her for as much information as he could.

“The crystals all act in different ways, but most are a mixture of human or male Amazonian seaman since that tends to have high concentrations of magic. Now I think of it, that is probably why you humans taste so good. You have high concentrations of magic, but it is magic you can’t use. But like us, you can probably still gather it and it probably also forms in your body and blood.” Thorn said, drawled slightly at the idea of cooked humans.

“That makes a lot of sense…” Liam said. The grimace of the idea making a tarrying amount of sense to him.

“Once us amazons find that symbol that activates our blood magic. We then have to put it together. More parts we put together; stronger our base power (the minim strength of our power) increases. The crystals help to make our magic in general stronger, form what I hear they also make it easier to put together the symbol together.” Thorn put her hand out in front of Liam.

“Once we know the symbol, we can then think of that symbol and use our magic in the air without having to cut our hands to let some of our blood out to use the magic from that to make our spells,” Thorn said as she dug one of her nails into her hand. Liam watched as the blood raised into the air as Thorn muttered a spell. Her blood started to spark. Blue lighting wrapped around her hand. Causing Liam to quickly jump out of the water to not be fried to death.

“See, to use my magic I need to allow some of my magic blood that contains my symbol out into the magic in the air. I can then mutter a spell that is only known to me as it is told to me by my magic symbol. I only know a little of my symbol though so I can’t use the magic in the air without having to cut myself yet.” Thorn said, sounding slightly annoyed.

“Wow though. It's still impressive.” Liam said, smiling at her as she made the lighting disperse. Still not wanting to get back into the water out of fear of being electrocuted. Liam quickly pulled on his clothes. His wet body making the fabrics uncomfortable against his skin. Once dressed he sat against one of the trees. Thorn carried on relaxing in the water.

“So, what are you and your tribe going to do after this?” Liam asked. Thorn kept silent for a few seconds. Turning to look at Liam, her large eyes were filled with tears.

“I don’t know…” She spoke. Her voice trembled slightly as she wiped the tears from her eyes.

“Our Borumas are all still back at our village…but Rhexdice had probably already laid waste to them,” Thorn said. Liam watched her eyes carefully. She had been the first amazon he had ever met who had shown any kind of care towards the Boruma. Let alone cry over their deaths.

“But don’t you amazons believe that Borumas are just livestock?” Liam asked, wanting to understand what she was thinking and feeling.

“I know…but they still are amazon. It is not like they are humans like you who live short lives, so what makes them that different from us?” Thorn said as she regained her composure.

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“What if I said I can save you and your people,” Liam said, his tone growing serious. Thorn looked him in the eyes. Narrowing her eyes, she started to contemplate his words.

“What do you want from this?” Thorn said, matching Liam’s tone.

“Simple, First I want your knowledge on your weapons. Second, I want you to train the Boruma in your fighting style. After all, from what I hear your people are some of the best. Third, your tribe will join ours. I’ll talk to the others, and I can probably convince them to let your tribe integrate.” Liam offered; his eyes locked onto Thorn. Watching her every movement to try to decide what she was thinking. Thorn kept her gaze on Liam, probably also reading him to try to see if he was lying or planning to betray them in some way.

“Why should I trust you?” She asked. Liam smiled.

“Don’t, not once. Never trust me, always question me. That will allow you to form your own opinion of my actions.” Liam said, crossing his legs. A smug grin on his face. Not understanding her only hours ago enemy’s kindness. Thorn just stared at him with a mix of confusion and amazement.

“You mean you want us to join your tribe? Will my mother even allow such a thing?” Thorn said, cursing herself for even considering what he was saying. After all, it had to be a trap. Amazons weren’t known for their kindness, nor were the humans. So why was this little human who was sided with the amazons now being so kind?

“Grrrr,” Thorn sighed.

“I am probably going to regret this, but fine. I’ll place my trust in you little human. But just because I think you are attractive doesn’t mean I won’t beat you the second you go against me.” Thorn said, crossing her arms over he breasts as she placed her body weight onto one leg. Putting herself in a smug posture. Just from looking at her, Liam could tell she was doing her best to seem as if she was in control of the situation. But the twitching of her eyes betrayed her. He knew she was nervous and dreading the thought of his betrayal.

“Good, if you don’t mind can you relay this to your mother and the others. I plan to sneak back to the village to try and gather my thoughts and I don’t want any of them bugging me.” Liam said as he got up and started to walk into the jungle.

Thoughts of the beach still racked his mind as he trudged through the overgrown brush. He could only shake the thoughts for a small amount of time before they quickly returned to him.

Multitudes of thick green bushes of all different plants and shades of flowers lined the rough trodden path he had now found himself on. He didn't even know when he started down this path, but he seemed to had to leave towards some form of civilization considering now and then he could see the barefoot footprint of an Amazon along the path. His gaze stunned from the thick Bush is to the even thicker tropics above him. Branches of the trees twirled within one another creating a ceiling of green that blocked almost all the light of the sun.

Thick droplets of water fell off leaves splattered onto the ground around him. dank and damp bits of mud stuck to the bottom of his shoes and trousers as he trudged through the clinging mud.

Liam was soon reassured that the path he had set down was now the correct one as he heard voices of amazons ahead. Light poured into the shadows of the jungle. Signalling that an exit to this tropical cave was not too far from him.

He ground to a stop as he could hear the cracking of branches above him. The noises were too loud and the branches breaking seemed to be too heavy for it to be a bird. Leaving only a few options. He started up his scroll once again towards the exit. This day had already been far too much for him and he didn't have the time, patience nor mental state capability to put up with another problem now.

The crashing of sticks behind him instantly made Liam start to sprint towards the exit of the jungle. His escape was ground to a stop as a pair of arms wrapped around his waist. Calmness came over him. Pushing his fear aside as he realised the familiar voice that was now chirping in his ear. Short brown hair, big brown eyes. This was Andreaka. Meaning that… His thoughts were interrupted as another body hurled into his stomach, knocking him to the ground. Icaria, Andreaka and their respected possies of Boruma now all sat around him as he lay on the ground. Their kind smiles and gentle eyes lightening his darkened mind and mood.

All of the about 20 girls swarmed Liam as they started to drag him to the exit of the jungle. Lascivious grins spread across their faces. Sunlight poured over Liam’s face as they exited the jungle. The sounds of the crowd increased as the Boruma carried Liam towards them. As they moved through the crowd, Liam could see the many faces of the amazons looking down at him. Soon the girls reached a long wooden stage. The only thing that gave this away to Liam was the creaking of the steps as they raised him even higher.

His feet landed on the ground. He looked around for a while, trying to get a good idea of his surroundings. He was standing on a quickly made raggedy stage, he recognised it as the stage where he had given his speech. Swearing under his breath. Liam cursed himself for getting so lost in the jungle once he had left. Around them stood a wall of seemingly never-ending trees. In the open area below, he stood the hundreds if not thousands of the amazons and Boruma who had come from the battlefield.

“Welcome, Liam.” A familiar and cheerful voice said.

Almost automatically his eyes fell onto Kenyanire. Naturally, she beamed him a smile. As she walked forward, she put out a hand. Her hand found a comfy place on Liam’s messy still slightly damp hair.

“Well done today little human. I had the Boruma keep a good eye on you, and it seems they got you here safely.” Kenyanire said, going to place a kiss onto Liam’s head. Reaching up a hand, he blocked her attack.

“No” Was all Liam said to her as he turned to walk off the stage.

“A victory would be where we could have finished this battle without having to kill each other. Just remember I only help you a lot to help myself and my people. Now go see your bloody daughters, ones in a coma and the other just had most of her tribe slaughtered. They probably both need a little motherly love.” Liam finished as he walked off the stage. Kenyanire stood stunned as she watched the back of Liam’s head disappear down the track that led into the village. The Boruma close behind him to guide him in the right direction.

Kenyanire looked to the crowd of easily just as confused and stunned warriors. They planned to thank him for his efforts with a celebratory feast in his honour. Something was wrong with him. Usually, she could tell what kind of emotions he was feeling just by glancing at him. But right now, she couldn’t identify even the slightest of what he was feeling. He should be happy, yet his actions show anger and sadness. To an amazon who was always set on their emotions, these humans seemed to be a strange species. One minute they were smiling and happy, the next they seemed depressed and solemn. It seemed she was going to have to start talking to the high priestess more if she had any chance of trying to understand this human.

Looking to the crowd, Kenyanire signalled for them to all head back to the main village so they could help the injured taken there before then celebrating their victory with a feast. Kenyanire on the other hand decided to take on Liam’s advice. She wasn’t sure why she wished to take on his advice, but for whatever reason, she felt as if what he said was right. Walking through the crowd who now all made their way after Liam and back towards the main village. Kenyanire soon slipped out of the crowd and back towards the direction of the beach.

Now alone along the dark dank path towards the main beachhead, Kenyanire was now left alone with her thoughts. She hadn’t seen Thorn since the initiation ritual for Yantraki and her generation of amazons. Thorn and her other sisters besides Yantraki and…the other, had come back to redo the ritual to show off how strong they had become since they had joined and conquered other tribes on the island. At that time Thorn had been arrogant over the new weapons and style of fighting she had brought to the Amazonian culture. Now she was thinking about it. It was probably no coincidence that Thorn’s shield wall was very much similar to that of Liam’s. It seemed she would have much to talk about with her daughters.

Liam walked down the dirt path. Small amounts of dust kicking up now and then as a Boruma grabbed him and directed him down a separate path that led them closer to the village. The day had been long, and to say the least it had been stressful. What didn’t help was also the sense of guilt that was coming over him from snapping at Kenyanire. Mabey he could make something for her and the other amazons? Something to celebrate their victory. Liam smirked reluctantly as he realised he still had work to be done.

Airbrushed against his feet as he overlooked, the field. Well, to call this rough area of flat land a field was a bit of a stretch. But none the less it was going to have to do. Liam sat down and started to imagine what he was planning to build. There was no doubt it was going to take some time to build, but if that meant he could have some peace of mind then there was almost nothing he wasn’t willing to do.

What was his plan? Well, it was to try and build a bathhouse. He wanted to relax and have a nice bath rather than washing in a lake. He could use the filtered water from the cooking pots to fill the bathhouse. What was leftover he could then find a way to bottle so he could drink something other than Amazonian breast milk or the watered-down wine? The wine was watered down using… well actually Liam wasn’t sure what it was watered down with. He knew the amazons didn’t drink clean water and that they were good at making very strong wines. These were the only two things that their tribe produced.

Running his fingers through his hair. Liam decided this project could wait. He just wanted to wait to see if Kenyanire had talked to Thorn about joining their tribe. Then there was Yantraki. It was only now about 7 hours after the battle. There were probably about 2 hours until sunset. Liam rubbed the bridge of his nose. To say the least, he was tired. But was still far from going to sleep. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see the beech again. It seemed that the more and more he thought about the battle, the more it engraved itself in his mind.

Liam jumped as a hand gripped his shoulder. Immediately he turned around. His eyes weary fell onto Kenyanire. Calmed by her presence. Liam went back to looking out over the field.

“What do you need?” He asked, his voice slightly parched due to lack of something to drink.

“I have talked to Thorn. She told me what you told her about saving her people. I like it.” Kenyanire took a seat next to him on the grass. Once she had placed her arm around Liam in a sign of love. She began to talk.

“We have now counted the bodies on the beach. 200 amazons of our tribe lay dead. 800 Boruma do as well” Liam nodded to her words. What she was saying was something he didn’t want to hear, but he felt as if it was something he needed if he was to improve his plan for the future.

“I see…if that is all then I would like to just sit here alone for a while longer…” Liam said. He didn’t want the amazons to let alone the Boruma to see him in such a state.

“You know I can’t just leave you here to get ill or hurt by some wild animal,” Kenyanire said as she wrapped her arms around him. Lifting him she placed him between her legs to keep him close to her warm body.

“Everyone Is already back at the village celebrating. Thorn and what remains of her warriors are either stripping the dead of their flesh so they can keep their bones to honour them. Or they are also doing their best to relax and join the party.” Kenyanire said, planting a kiss onto the top of his head. Running her fingers through his hair, Kenyanire kissed him once again before dragging him to his feet.

“COME! The tribe wish to see the human who helped lead them to victory!” Kenyanire said cheerfully as she started to escort Liam back to the village.

“What about those who died?” He said quietly. Kenyanire sighed. It seemed he wasn’t used to the nature of war and the casualties suffered in it just yet. But she couldn’t blame him. For amazons’ death was just another part of daily life. But for a human…she knew this was going to be a big adjustment. Maybe even a bigger adjustment than getting used to the Amazonian culture of blood sacrifices.

“The dead will have their bones taken to be honoured by their friends, mothers and sisters” Kenyanire explained. Turning around she pulled Liam even closer to her side.

“Now stop being so depressing and just come and relax. If you behave, I will make sure you have a nice cuddle tonight.” Kenyanire said as she planted a kiss onto his lips. Making sure he stayed close by her side. She gently caressed her hips against his side. A smile spread across her lips as she saw a bright red blush go across his face as his eyes focused on her swaying butt. She was usually quite noble and strong in her stance. But now and then it was nice to let loose and tease her family’s pet like this now and then. It made her even happier if her teasing lifted his mood. Even if it only improved his mood slightly.

“Now that’s the look I like!” Kenyanire chirped as she saw a smile spear across Liam’s lips.

Together the two walked back to the main village. They made their way to the village centre where the party was already in full swing. But a tense feeling did still hang in the air. Both the huntresses and Kenyanire’s tribe partied together but didn’t dare to mingle with Thorn and her warriors. The two groups sat on either side of the roaring bonfire. Liam could almost see a physical line of deviation from where the ecstatic and celebratory warriors of the huntresses and Kenyanire’s tribe met with that of the nervous, understandably sour and hateful Thorn Shields.

Moving from Kenyanire’s side Liam walked over to Thorn who sat around the centre of her warriors. Seeing the human man approaching the amazons moved aside to allow him to pass. Kenyanire watched as Liam took a seat next to Thorn. A surprised Thorn welcomed Liam and offered him a drink of Thorn Shield wine they had managed to salvage off one of their boats. Smiling, Kenyanire noticed his bold move had already caught the attraction of several huntresses and members of their tribe. As Liam got to chatting with Thorn, several amazons and Boruma started to migrate over.

“He is a weird boy, isn’t he?” a voice said from behind Kenyanire. She turned to see the high priestess as she moved to Kenyanire’s side. Together they watched as Liam, as well as Andreaka and Icaria, led the charge towards merging the two groups. What made Kenyanire’s heart race though was how she noticed her daughter Thorn blushing every time Liam’s arm or leg brushed against her.

“I wonder if he will survive?” Kenyanire added as they watched as Thorn kept trying to subtly move her arm around his waist. Only to jump back as either Andreaka or Icaria noticed and would immediately start giggling or try to tease Liam sexually to try to make her jealous.

“If she is anything like her sister, she will probably end up trying to sleep with him tonight.” Kenyanire teased. The two laughed before trickling off to go and join in with festivities.

Liam sat at the centre of the ever-increasing drunkenness mass of amazons. He couldn’t help but smirk as he took note that as the amazons got more and more drunk as the night went on, they started to mingle more and more with their former enemies.

Something small prodded into Liam side. He turned to look at who had prodded. Despite Thorn’s gaze not matching his, he could see she was offering him a cup of wine. Liam took in a deep breath as he thanked her and accepted the cup. Thorn smiled widely, struggling to keep in her embarrassingly wild amounts of glee from spilling out. Staring down the cup. Liam contemplated if it was safe to drink such a strong-smelling liquid. He was about to take his first sip. But was interrupted as someone took the seat next to him. Looking to his side he saw the high priestess. Her usual motherly smile on her face.

“Drink, then there is somewhere I would like to take you.” The high priestess ordered.

“Ok, but just before that I need to talk to Kenyanire about military…” As soon as the word military left his lips the high priestess smacked him on the top of his head.

“No. Not tonight. Tonight, you drink and relax.” The high priestess commanded Liam.

“But.” Liam went to argue, just to be hit again by the high priestess.

“NO! You are always working or thinking about something. Tonight, turn your little thinking brain off and just relax.” She again commanded as she grabbed the drink from his hand. Grabbing the sides of his face she forced his mouth open. Now having him in the position she wanted, she poured the drink down his throat.

Liam spluttered as the strong tang of the liquid stung his throat. Amazons laughed as they saw him wobble in his seat as he tried not to collapse from such a large intake of whatever was in that drink.

“Good boy. Now come one, I have somewhere to take you.” The high priestess said as she lifted Liam onto his feet. Guiding the stumbling Liam, they started to walk towards a path that led deep into the jungle.

Together the two walked for a while. Well, it was more like Huchoece guiding Liam in his drunken state. She escorted him down the path for a while until they reached a tall stone pyramid temple. They walked up the steps and into the large stone building that sat at the top of the temple. The tall wooden doors were opened by a group of waiting priestesses. Huchoece hurried Liam through the room. She didn’t wish for him to see the injured that they were keeping up here to be healed. It wasn’t like they weren’t going to live. It was just that being in such a drunken state she understood humans sometimes gave in to their emotions too easily. This meant if the overly kind-hearted Liam was to see the state of the bloody and battered injured, he would probably start sobbing and Huchoece didn’t want to have to deal with that again. Despite how adorable she found it.

The high priestess escorted Liam into her bedroom and over to her bed. Liam couldn’t make out too much in the room as it was pitch black and even then, if he could see, his vision was starting to blur hindering his vision further.

“Here you are,” Huchoece said as she placed Liam onto the bed.

“This is where I am keeping Yantraki until she is better. I’ll leave you with her for a bit. Tell me when you are ready to go, and I will take you back to your home” Huchoece explained as she left Liam on the bed next to the unconscious Yantraki.

Liam had understood the words of the high priestess, even in his current altered mental state. He looked to the rough outline of Yantraki he could see. Fatigue is taking over him. He fumbled his hands around until he found Yantraki’s hand. Lying down his placed her hand onto the top of his head. He thought he had figured out why she liked to pat his head. It was just a way of her trying to show the least perverted sign of affection that she could towards him.

“Just wake up you idiot” he muttered. His eyes grew heavy as he slowly nodded to sleep. The high priestess watched from the doorway as Liam’s body relaxed and he fell into a deep sleep. Knowing it probably wasn’t a good idea to leave him here for the night. She moved forward and carefully swooped him up into her arms. The high priestess walked to the door. Thorn and Kenyanire both were waiting by the door, wanting to give their own best wishes to their sister/daughter.

“Make sure he sleeps well.” The high priestess said as she handed Liam over to the women.

“Don’t worry…I’ll keep him well and safe,” Thorn explained. Placing Liam’s head against her chest. A broad smile spreading across her face.