Liam sat alone on the balcony overlooking the garden, a small piece of paper in his hand of Arran and himself. His face and body were turning a deep white the longer he sat in the harsh morning winds of that day. Despite the cold slowly overtaking him, his mind was only focused on the man. No, that thing was a demon he had seen the night before. Offer him the contract again when he was on the brink of death? Was that a threat or a warning?
Before he had simply ignored his dream, assumed it was just his overactive mind playing tricks on him. But now after seeing that thing in person, he was starting to doubt his sanity. Should he have taken the contract? He had only said no in the heat of the moment as logic told him that contact with a self-professed demon was worse than any deal he could ever make with an Amazon. The idea of powers and knowledge was incredibly tempting still.
No, what was he thinking? There was no way he was going to do it. There was no way he would ever sign a contract with a demon. Strength wasn’t what he desired. He only wished to be a little more like Arran. All he wished for was to have some of the kindness and blind optimism that he had. That was his debt to his old friend. Pass on the kindness, guiding and helpful hand of Arran.
Laughing slightly to himself, Liam remarked how he used to call Arran Adem as when they first met, Arran had written his name so poorly it could have easily been missed read as Adem. Things weren’t simple back then, but they were far more enjoyable than the life he lived now. Gently, a pair of arms draped themselves over Liam’s shoulders. Turning, he was greeted by the smiles of Andreaka and Icaria.
Dragging him from his post, they brought him into the somewhat warmth of the house. Once inside, they dragged him into their nest of furs and his clothes. With large grins across their faces, the two girls tucked Liam into bed before making themselves comfy under the covers on either side of him. Now having him sandwiched between them, they both gently started to stroke and rub his head.
Liam smiled at them, not wanting to point out the poor job they were doing of imitating what he did for them the night before. Maybe life wasn’t as bad as his pessimistic mind thought. Again, he really wanted to have some of that optimism that Arran had so much of. Placing a hand onto the head of either girl, he began to massage their scalps. Both girls’ mouths dropped as they enjoyed the feeling of his expert touch.
When he was younger, he often had to massage Katlin as she usually got stressed and he would have to need out the stress lumps on her back or neck. He also often had to massage away the relentless migraines she would get from managing the village and kids of the orphanage. The two quickly relaxed and allowed Liam to move once again. A tight feeling gripped Liam's chest. There it was. The feeling he had been having every day since his assassination attempt.
Dragging himself from the bed, he stumbled out of the room. Bending over slightly, he felt his chest clench again. Glancing around, he made sure no one was looking at him. All Borumas were asleep. Good, he didn’t want them seeing what would happen next. Clasping his hand over his mouth, he allowed himself to finally cough and relieve the feeling of what he could only describe as a hand gripped around his heart, squeezing the life out of him.
Thick, red blood escaped his lips and splattered onto his hand. Using the inside of his sleeve, he wiped the blood from his lips. If the Borumas had seen him, they would have probably freaked out. It was probably nothing thought, after all, it only happened about once a day. It wasn’t that bad. After all, the first assassination attempt was only what? One two days ago now?
It was probably just a side effect of whatever the high priestess had done to save him. Despite the looks he got from her as of recent, he still trusted her. Wondering through the house, he looked down on the sleeping Borumas. This was probably the first time in a while that he could call peaceful.
Smiling to himself, he wandered outside. The air was still as bitter as ever. Ignoring the bitterness, he started to ponder down the path to the village. His sleeve stuck to his wrist. Moving his hand down to his sleeve, he pulled it back slightly. Undoing his sleeve, he pulled it up to his shoulder. He then did the same with the other sleeve. Again, he wanted to hide his signs of injury. Best not to worry about the Borumas.
Wondering forward, he kept his eyes fixed down on the path. It was quiet. A rare luxury these days. An angry yell came up from behind him. Looking behind him, he looked to see a figure standing at the top of the path. Ah, there it was, the end to his peace. The figure tucked their head down and sprinted towards Liam. Her head slammed into his side, almost knocking him over. Pulling up her head, the brown-haired girl looked at him. An angry yet cute look sat spread across her face.
Angrily she muttered something at him in her native tongue. Her tone turned to panic as she noticed Liam clenching his side. Coughing in the palm of his hand, he placed a hand onto the head of Andreaka. Covering the blood splatters on his hand, he smiled down at Andreaka. Her mouth narrowed as her eyes sagged with sympathy.
“I’m fine, really,” he said, trying his best to show a level of comfort to Andreaka. She seemed to relax, but her face still showed a level of uneasiness.
“I’m fine. Really. Just… trying to not die I guess, same as usual,” for a moment there was silence as Andreaka stared at him.
“You…want to go for a walk. Act as my personal therapist or some shit?” Liam said, not knowing anything better to do for the moment. Andreaka’s glare didn’t break.
“Can I ask you a question? It’s been bugging me since…” Liam thought for a few seconds about what the ‘demon’ had called itself.
“A person reminded me about something I did, and I wanted your opinion on it?” Liam said as he began to walk down the path, Andreaka following behind him. Her eyes fixed onto the hand on which he was trying to cover the blood he had just coughed up.
“If you were sat down at a table and someone gave you a gun and… no. Look, you have two friends being knelt in front of you. You are surrounded by men with guns. They gave you a gun with one bullet and…” Liam stayed quiet for a moment.
Grabbing his arm, Andreaka dragged him to a stop. Looking down at her, he went to speak but decided against it. He feared that if he spoke, he would start to cry.
“Follow me,” he said, allowing Andreaka to gently hold his arm as he walked. The words of the man had made him think. If he was to unite the Amazons of this island, would that really keep his people safe? There were still gangs that ran wild around the villages of his part of the island. Then there were the other Amazon tribes. From what the man had said, he guessed there were millions maybe even hundreds of millions.
“Does actually help you, your people, the tribes. Does that make a difference? I mean I’m just giving you prods here and there to get you moving right? Your tribe just does the rest. But, hypothetically, what if I did more?” Liam said as he entered the village with a gentle Andreaka cuddled against him.
His mind buzzed with ideas as he wandered quicker through the village, trying to remember the root back to the beach which he had arrived at the island all those months ago. Soon the two reached the beach. The warships sat along the side of the beach under some large leaves as camouflage. Moving to the water. He looked out across the seas.
“You know, I think I have come up with a way to finally repay the kindness Arran showed me. I think I found a way to bring order, maybe even peace. I’ll build an empire. I’ll become smarter, stronger, better at anything I can see as a way to win. This island shall become a starting point, and from here outwards I untie the Amazons, then the humans, then anything else that threatens peace,” Liam said, a wide, optimistic grin on his face.
He Knew Andreaka didn’t understand him. He knew what he said sounded stupid. But if he did it, then it would then maybe fitful a final wish. If he untied the tribes of not just this island but the others, and after that slowly change their culture to one that didn’t threaten humans, then maybe his village would finally have peace.
Andreaka smiled at Liam, seeing a bright spark in his eyes that made any concerns she had for him disappear.
“To do this, I’ll need you, and your little team of amazing idiots. We’ll make weapons that will revolutionise us. We’ll make an economy in which all can thrive or live peacefully. We’ll forge a society like no other,” Then maybe we can have peace.
At that moment, babbling his optimistic ramblings, Liam saw for the first time in he could repay what Arran did for him. He could finally repay the sacrifice Arran made for their village by making an empire to protect their village and others from the horrors of war. His smile widened. That bastard demon. Not for a second would he sign that contract, but instead he would make a place where all were safe.
Ok, number one thing he needed to do. Make an economy. Without a strong economy, there was no way he could build a stable society. He would try and find what Amazons from both their island and others liked and try to find a way to merchandise it. Second, an army. He needed to make weapons as well as start training an elite fighting force in how to use said weapons. Then third, untie the tribes.
The story has been taken without consent; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
But first, he needed to unite this island. Looking out to the sea, Liam took in a deep breath. Alright, this was it. He was going to commit to helping the Amazons. Before he was committed, he saw it as nothing more than a job, but if he was to really make a difference, he would need to do more. Taking into account what the demon had said about the cycle, he knew the way he was going now was going to be a dead end.
So doing this, maybe he could finally break the cycle as well as save his village.
Stupid, optimistic, and something that was currently far out of his reach. Sounded like fun…
Andreaka gently bumped into his back. Turning around, he looked down at the confused face of the Boruma girl. Placing a hand onto her head, he smiled.
“Sorry, got a little carried away there. Start with making a bathhouse, then a battleship.” Liam said as he gently stroked Andreaka’s head. Blushing from the embarrassment of going on such a mental tirade, he allowed Andreaka the gently cuddle against him before walking back towards the village. Thank God, she didn’t understand him. He thought to himself as he blushed heavily at the thoughts of everything he had just thought up.
Together they walked back to the village and then eventually back to their house. In the hour or so they were gone, the horde of Borumas had awakened. The small army had already painted patterns onto their skin and armed themselves with spears, all probably thinking that Liam and Andreaka had been kidnapped or something.
On seeing the two approach, the warriors sprinted down the path towards them. Angrily, Andreaka and Icaria bickered as the Borumas started to yank and pull off Liam. Their hands probed him, checking for any injuries or signs of harm. Almost like wild cats, they licked and nurtured any small cuts that even slightly looked as if they were signs of harm.
Liam sighed as he felt the native women start to lift the back of his shirt as they now used the idea of checking him for injury as an excuse to strip him. Slapping their hands away, the women-only ever stopped when Andreaka said something to her. She looked concerned, and as she spoke that concern soon spread to the others.
Not thinking much of it, and deciding to just get on with the day, he walked back to the house. Going to the garden, he was quickly greeted by the angry yells and chatters of Borumas. Andreaka soon arrived and calmed them, he guessed that they all were annoyed as well that he had left without saying anything. Like the others, they all stood with looks of concern and annoyance on their faces.
What was she saying to them? Was it about the coughing? Did the Borumas all think that he was going to die or something? Sighing, he expected no less from living on the island. A new day, a new problem was now a way he expected to live life. Once the crowd was calmed, they cooked and ate some Chillcali meat before carrying on the day.
Once the two hundred were gathered and ready, he took them back to the construction site. The entire way he escorted them like sheep as they often went to wander off, distracted by other Borumas who were just waking and leaving their huts. Once at the construction site, the Borumas almost immediately went to work finishing their word from the day before.
They repeated the making of the bricks from the day before. After a couple of hours of this, they used the bricks to pave the inside of the bathhouse. The bathhouse had a small staircase leading up to the door. Entering the bathhouse, they used clay, stone (carved by Borumas using Kukuna knives) and wooden poles to make a floor. Going along the walls, they took out a few bricks to create windows.
Once done, they left the bathhouse and made a small hatch onto the bottom of the bathhouse. Opening the hatch leading to the bottom of the bathhouse. This was where they were going to place the kindle to heat the clay and stone floor. This in turn would heat the water, and then all was left was to make the roof and fill the bath with water.
After having some Borumas fetch his books from his house, he managed to find a simple diagram of what the building was meant to look like. The Borumas got the rough idea and set about using axes or knives to cut off any ugly or odd pieces of material that awkwardly protruded from the bricks.
While the Borumas did the last finishing touches by cutting off any pieces of wood, stone or clay that awkwardly protruded from certain points, or smoothing down or checking the stability of the walls (based on some rough drawings made by Liam off people pushing and tapping on walls), he pulled out a small cloth from his pocket. Subtly he wiped the blood he had coughed up earlier from his hand. Glancing over to him, Andreaka noticed the small specks of blood but said nothing. He wasn’t just unwell, there was most definitely something that he wasn’t telling her.
Andreaka sat him down on the grass while the Borumas checked the stability of the walls. Sitting there, he just prayed that the Borumas didn’t accidentally knock over any walls and destroy everything that they had made.
Six hours, about three hours quicker than the day before. Smiling, Liam remarked to himself at how quick life seemed to go when he wasn’t dealing with the annoyance of the Amazons. Going back to the village, he tried his best to try and collect as many buckets as possible, but the Borumas quite forcibly volunteered to take his place. Whenever he tried to grab a bucket, the women would then take it from him and collect the buckets himself.
Andreaka and Icaria kept to his side, not allowing him to do any physical labour. As they did this, the blue-haired girl orchestrated the Borumas into collecting anything he instructed. Leading the Borumas to the beach where the large pots were.
“Come here,” He muttered to himself as he lined up the Borumas on the beach.
Looking behind himself, he saw the Borumas he had just put into the line wondering around to watch what he was doing. Seeing where this was going, he decided it was best to not try to stop them. Going to Andreaka, he decided it was best to just show them rather than try to be organised. Putting his hands out, he tried to gesture for Andreaka to pass the bucket to him.
She started at him, sucked in her cheeks, the growled at him. What the fuck? Ever since that morning where she had seen him coughing, she had now been acting so… What was it? It was like she was trying to be caring by not having him do any labour, but it was very detrimental to trying to do anything practically.
Slowly he reached forward. The second his fingers touched the bucket, she snapped at him again. Seeing that she wasn’t going to relinquish her bucket for whatever reasons that seemed logical to the Boruma, he escorted her over to the water. Bending down, he showed her that he needed her to fill the bucket. Quickly understanding, she filled the bucket. Next, he took her over to one of the large pots.
Lifting his hand, he went to open a small hatch on the pot. Icaria darted over and slapped his hand down. Seeing he was again not going to be able to do something as simple as this, he had Icaria open the hatch for him. Carrying on the mining, he showed them how to pour the liquid into the pot. They repeated this a couple of times until the pot was full.
Still not allowing him to do anything, the Borumas roughly followed his instructions as he moved around showing them what bits of wood to collect. Once they had collected the wood, he had them place it under the pot with the water in it. Sitting down next to the kindling, he gestured for them to move over and start making a fire. At first, they were confused by the strange hand movements he was making, but soon they got the hang of it.
Not before in his life had Liam run back so quickly as he saw a Boruma with a flaming stick. The Borumas started the fire under the pot and all scurried back. Perfect, the process of separating the salt from that water had begun. The water from the first pot would evaporate, go through the tube connecting to the second pot, and then they would eventually have salt in one pot and clean water in the other.
Being Amazons, he guessed that the slat didn’t have to be entirely pure as they did often eat things that would probably have to give your regular human several different diseases or illnesses. So having sea salt was probably not that bad for them. He knew before that they had salt, but from going around the village for the past few days, he didn’t once see a place that looked as if it could produce it.
He didn’t see any other places that made clothes or items either. So, from taking into account their raiding culture, he guessed that all clothes, salts, spices and anything besides the local wine was probably stolen from other Amazonian tribes or human settlements. If he was able to have the Amazons start producing clothes, foods, and other things, then maybe he could turn the Amazons into a merchant nation as well as a warrior one.
The Borumas all muttered awkwardly as they saw Liam sitting in the corner of the group chuckling evilly to himself. Not judging, the Borumas only nodded to each other as they continued their work. Once the pots were filled, and the fires were lit, all sat along the beach. Several Borumas made sure to position Liam under a tree as the sun steadily rose above them.
After a couple of hours, Liam moved to go and check on the pots, much to the annoyance of Andreaka and Icaria who pestered him for head pats. Much to the dismay and annoyance of Liam, he found that his head pats were starting to become quite infamous amongst pocket groups of Borumas. Moving to the pots, and with the unwanted help of Icaria, he opened the hatch. Steam billowed out of the pot for a few seconds but quickly settled.
Peaking into the pot, he could see white salt starting to form along the sides. Moving to the other pot, he again with the help of Icaria opened the hatch. Inside, he could see condensation slowly turning to water. Quickly he had her shut the pot, not wanting to allow any more steam to leave and not turn back into the water in the pot. Perfect, he was now on his way to collecting the water needed for the bathhouse.
Sitting back, he allowed another hour or so to pass before checking the water again. Yet again with the help of the Borumas, he opened the hatch to the second pot that was collecting the water from the tube. It was almost full now, perfect. Having the Borumas come over with their buckets, he showed them how to undo a small piece of metal on the bottom of the pot. Once this piece of metal was undone, a small tube would come out that they could then collect water from.
After filling the buckets of a few Borumas, Liam directed them back to the building site. Once back, they entered the bathhouse. Walking inside, Liam showed them to put the water into the large, bath. Moving to the sides, they knelt and poured the water into the large pool. After the pool was filled, they returned back to the village.
Wanting to get the bathhouse done as soon as possible, Liam had the Borumas collect some large bowls and storage containers as well as wooden spoons and follow him. Opening the lid of the giant pots, they started to scrape out the salt from the walls inside. Having the salt collected, he allowed the Borumas to taste test the salt. Once each girl had a good taste, he had them fill up the pots and repeat the process again.
This did this for the entirety of the day until the bathhouse was full and they had a few, large, good, bowls of salt. Finally finished with the creation of the bathhouse, Liam had the Borumas gather some wood for kindling. Once the kindling was gathered, he had them place it into the holes under the bathhouse. Lighting a fire, they set light to the kindling. All steps were finished, all that was left now was to allow the water to heat.
When the water had heated, Liam planned to have the Borumas relax while he made a clay oven to cook some food with the salt. The salt was definitely going to help a lot. It would help to both cook and preserve food. Now the tribe wouldn’t have to immediately eat all the things they killed and burn anything they hadn’t managed to eat. So, in other words, they no longer were going to be wasting so much food as they did before.
Finally, a small step towards revolutionising the Amazons since the weapons.