Kenyanire walked into the human village. She was surprised to see her Amazon warriors who Yantraki had left there were all happily chatting and teasing the humans. Many of the humans seemed annoyed at the Amazons who were playing with them as a small child will play with a puppy. Kenyanire smiled, it seemed the humans of the village were going to make good pets and toys for the Amazons to look after and enjoy. Two tall, beautiful Amazonian warriors approached Kenyanire and bowed to her.
“Welcome War Chief!” the warriors announced. Kenyanire nodded her head and the girls stood.
“We assume you are also here to see where you and your daughters pet used to live?” One of the warriors said, her long black hair went down to her hips, she had large beautiful blue eyes.
Kenyanire thought for a few seconds. She was originally there to collect some books for Liam, but the problem was she wasn’t even sure what a book was or where to find them. Kenyanire decided she could just go to where Liam used to live and try to find out from anyone there.
“Show me to where the boy lived,” Kenyanire commanded.
The two Amazons nodded and started to walk their leader to Liam’s home, understanding who she meant by the boy. Soon enough they reached the large wooden and stone house upon the hill. Kenyanire was impressed by the architecture these humans could achieve. She followed the warriors up the hill and to the front door of the house. They knocked on the door. Kenyanire again was amazed by the advanced building the humans had made. She wondered how long it must have taken to make, she had a house similar, and it took her about 6 years to make on her own.
The door slowly opened, and a short black haired bushy eyed girl pops her head out from behind the door. Katlin smiled as she saw the Amazons.
“Hey, what can I do for ya?” She said happily as opened the door to them. Kenyanire and the other Amazons walked inside the house. Kenyanire admired the inside of human architecture. She was immediately drawn to though the scent and feeling of hatred. Kenyanire looked to a small sofa in the corner of the room, despite Amazon's not having sofas she already thought that that was a weird sight, but she quickly realised the hatred wasn't coming from the sofa. She glanced slightly to the left and around the sofa to the shadows behind it where she spotted a scared looking young boy staring at her.
“Hello,” She said, leaning down slightly and waving at him, a kind smile on her face. She could smell Yantraki’s scent as well as Liam’s on him. She knew this boy had to be important if he had both the sense of her daughter and Liam on him. Kenyanire move forward and placed a hand onto the boy’s head, he seemed shy, and she only wanted to comfort him and show she wasn't a threat. The boy hissed like a cat and smacked her hand ways he jumped out and started to scamper away.
“Give brother back!” he yelled as he ran off. Katlin rushed over to Kenyanire about her head apologetically.
“So, so sorry about Philip, ever since Liam left with Yantraki he has been in a bad mood whenever he sees any Amazons,” Katlin explained.
“I see… Well, my daughter does have the effect of people either loving or hating her” Kenyanire said, smiling at Katlin. Katlin felt a shot of relief go through her. Kenyanire moved closer to her and gave her hair and face a few sniffs.
“So, you are Liam’s family, yes? From your scent, I can tell you have a strong connection with him?” Kenyanire said, backing away from the nervous-looking girl to try and give her a better sense of security.
“I am Kenyanire, leader of the Theoptadia family, I believe you have already met my daughter Yantraki,” Kenyanire said, nodding her head to Katlin out of respect.
“I’m Katlin Griffin Thorn, head of the New Flame orphanage, I believe you have met my adopted brother/son Liam,” Katlin said, bowing her head to the Amazon out of respect. Katlin looked up, slightly surprised to meet Yantraki’s mother, but she didn’t mind, Katlin liked to think it was always nice to meet new people.
“I am here to collect some things you humans call books. Liam asked me to get them before we left for our island.” Kenyanire explained. Philip popped his head from around the sofa he had been hiding behind and stared at Kenyanire, tears in his eyes. Kenyanire noticed and gave him a warm smile, she then crouched down and opened her arms.
“You want Liam to come home, yes? But I am sorry. We want him, we need him, he belongs to us. But we shall never harm him in any way, I promise, now come here and allow your new auntie to hug you.” Kenyanire said. She knew some basic things about humans and how their families worked, she knew far more than the vast majority of Amazons, so she knew how hard it was going to be for the small human they called Philip to let his older brother leave them.
“You’re a bad woman. Go away and give back Liam” The boy muttered as he returned to his hiding hole.
Kenyanire gritted her teeth, she didn’t like being ignored by such a little human pest, if he weren’t a member of Liam’s family, she would have just slaughtered him there and then. On that note, though she started to think. Liam had dark silver hair, but no one else here who called themselves a relative of his resembled him. But then again Katlin did say he was adopted, maybe this place she called an orphanage was a place for people she had adopted? Kenyanire summed it up to that and carried on her mission.
“May I ask what a book is and where I can find it?” Kenyanire asked, slightly embarrassed that she was having to ask a human a question about something she didn't know the answer to.
“Books are a collection of pages that have information on them… I am not good at describing things really, so why don’t I show you?” Katlin said as she pulled on her shoes and walked to the door.
Katlin took the Amazons to a large library that sat in the centre of the village just next to the local church and school. They walked through the village until they got to the amazingly large old building that was the library. Kenyanire yet again was amazed by the pillars of the large stone and glass building. Katlin smiled as she noticed the amazed look on the face of Kenyanire. The library was one of the only buildings in the entire city that were more modern and up to date, it even had several computers for researching. The library was one of the places the villagers were most proud about.
Katlin walked the Amazons to the front gates of the library grounds. She slowly opened the gate and walked the Amazons inside. She walked them to the front door of the library and let them inside. Kenyanire’s, as well as the other Amazons’ eyes all, widened as they stared at the towering shelves of colourful paper and leather books.
“This is our Library, home to some of the best books in the kingdom,” Katlin said proudly. Kenyanire walked over to one of the shelves and ran her fingers across the red leather of a book.
“Amazing…” She muttered.
“You look around, I will bet you the books Liam wanted,” Katlin said, running off to collect Liam’s books.
As Kenyanire walked along the wall of books, she took the time to read some of the covers and blurbs. She took several books that she found interesting. She was about to grab a green leather book as she noticed a smaller brown book next to it the title along with the book’s spine reading:
“Inside the mind of a killer, how a man manipulated an entire village” Kenyanire picked up the book and read the blurb. Kenyanire smiled as she had found an almost perfect book. The book was about how a murderer manipulated people with fear and exposing them to terrifying scenes. Kenyanire placed the book into her cloth and leather bag, smiling to herself the entire time.
The Amazons walked around for a while longer, looking at all the different kinds of books. Kenyanire was the only one out of the Amazons who could read English, thus she was the one to tell the Amazons what the books they were looking at were about. Katlin soon returned with about 20 or so large heavy and thick books on different subjects that Liam had asked for. Struggling to deal with the weight of the books Kalin quickly passed with off to Kenyanire who happily took the books of her.
“Thank you very much, Mrs Katlin,” Kenyanire said, patting her on the head. Katlin looked up at the Amazon, slightly annoyed. Kenyanire had seen Liam pull a face similar to hers several times when he was annoyed with her daughter touching him too much in public and making him embarrassed. Happy her mission was complete Kenyanire thanked Katlin and left the village, heading in the direction of the war camp. It was getting dark and Kenyanire wanted to set a plan she had just come up with into action.
Yantraki sat on the bed with Liam’s head on her lap. She looked down into his eyes as she rubbed his forehead. She wanted him to be well-rested and deep in sleep for when the sacrifice starts. She hadn’t known Liam for long, but one thing Amazons are good at is that they can understand human emotions very well from just a glance. She could tell Liam said he was going to allow them to kill a girl that night, as long as she was the last one, but despite this, she knew he would probably try something to stop the ritual from happening, she Yantraki needed him to be in a deep sleep so he couldn’t interfere.
“You look tired? Would you like to eat early then sleep? I will wake you once we are on the boats heading to our island.” Yantraki said, leaning down and placing a kiss on his forehead. Liam stared dead into her eyes. He was disappointed that he had let his guard down so much around such a dangerous woman. He wanted to try to escape, but he knew he almost had a duty to find a way of preventing the Amazons from having to hunt and eat humans. As well as being trained to be an assistant teacher, he was also well ejected in politics and persuasion, so he hoped that this would come in handy.
He studied her face wanting to see any signs of hostility in her eyes. But there was none. He didn't know why he was checking for hostility or even why he considered the idea in the first place, but he felt as if something was wrong, and this was his best idea. He knew he'd agreed to and how he said that tonight was going to be the final sacrifice, but not wanting to see a life lost even if it was someone willing to give their life for A cause, he decided that he would have to find a way to put an end to the bloody ritual that was going to happen that night.
Liam set up off Yantraki’s lap pillow. He jumped as he heard her giggle and a hand wrap around his face.
“No, lie down, I have not said you can leave yet little human,” Yantraki said, forcing Liam’s head back onto her lap. Liam gave out a grunt and tried to set up again this time sliding away from her so that she couldn't grab him. But before he knew it, she's somehow already pinned him down and forced his head back onto her lap. Slightly annoyed now that he was trying to move around for an unknown reason, Yantraki started becoming slightly more forceful in her approach to keeping him calm.
“I just want to go for a small walk, I have too much energy,” Liam said, giving Yantraki his best smile to try and convince her. Yantraki grunted, she loved and hated his smile at the same time. His smile made her heart flutter, it was a smile she struggled to say no to, which is always a problem when it came to situations like this where she knew she would have to deny his request.
“Sorry, no, let me get you something nice to eat to make up for it,” Yantraki said smiling, seeing a perfect time to activate her plan. Yantraki walked out of the hut and outside. Sruna and Takire were already sitting around the fire, helping to prepare for the feast.
Sruna seemed quite macabre though, but this was usual. Yantraki laughed slightly to herself, Sruna and Liam are so alike in their beliefs they could even probably be related. Yantraki approached Sruna and placed a hand on her shoulder. Sruna turned and smiled at Yantraki.
“What is it you need great one?” Sruna questioned. Yantraki smiled at her. She's about to speak when something caught her attention at the corner of her eye. Yantraki from that she saw her mother had now returned, the cloth and leather bag she had taken with herbs now filled with large thick books. She wasn't meant to come back for at least another half an hour until the sun was just about to set, something wasn't right. Yantraki put the thought to the side though as she looked back to Sruna who was waiting patiently, if not slightly confused at why the Princess had started talking to her and then suddenly stopped.
“I understand you do not enjoy watching the feast, nor does Liam, if you like you can spend a part of the night by him making sure he gets a good rest, that way neither of you will have to take part in the ritual” Yantraki offered. Sruna accepted without a second thought and quickly jumped up asking if she could go to the Hut now so she wouldn't have to watch the girl being prepared. Yantraki nodded and gave her approval. Yantraki then looked back to where she last saw her mother, but much to her disdain she was gone.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Yantraki jumped up and started to make her way towards the food Hut. As she walked, she looked at the happy Warriors as they admired the beautiful body of the almost naked Boruma that was being rubbed in edible ceremonial oils and paints that would act as a sort of seasoning for when she was being cooked. Yantraki couldn’t help but feel slightly dismal. On one hand, she was happy that by this being the last sacrifice Liam would willingly come back to their tribe and help them find a sustainable food source, on the other, she was saddened that this was going to be the final sacrificial party.
Sacrifice parties like the one they were having that night were a large source of entertainment back on the island. Yantraki couldn't help but feel a little pessimistic undoubtful that Liam would be able to find something just as fun for the natives off the island to do instead of sacrificing a young man or woman in one of their rituals. But she had hope and Liam even if it wasn't much in this case. She walked past the Boruma as the other Boruma will finally dress her in her outfit of fruits berries and Flowers. Yantraki couldn't help but feel slightly bad for some reason, she didn't know why she felt this way. As a part of the initiation ceremony in her tribe what's the go turns 18, she alongside every other girl for ages taken to the edge of a large forest that stretches for at least 10 miles. They are then dressed in skirts made of strong-smelling Flowers and fruits as well as tops made of the same materials, they are then given large head dressers of colourful feathers and Flowers, their bodies are painted in many mixtures of colours depending on what their family had chosen them to wear that night. Lastly, they were given a large bowl of fruit and Flowers to represent prosperity for the tribe. The women were then forced to run through the jungle to the other side, once they made it to the other side they would then be welcomed as full members of the tribe rather than the second-class position, they had held prior. What made this whole ceremony dangerous though was that as the girls run through the jungle the families as well as other Warriors of the tribe was sing a ceremonial song along the edge of the jungle. Once the song was finished, the older then chase off into the jungle after the young Amazonian women. If a girl was caught, she was disqualified and taken out of the jungle into the other side escorted by the hunters that had captured her. They would then be banished from the tribe, making them a Boruma.
Yantraki was 20 years old and had already gone for the ceremony. Out of her and her nine sisters, there had been attempts sister she had failed the ceremony and had become that night sacrifice alongside many other young women that failed. She remembered the night well as she remembered helping prepare her crying sister before they placed into a large cooking pot. She didn't feel sympathy towards the girl as she was weak and wasn't worthy, nor put in the effort to become a member of their tribe. But for some reason, Yantraki knew that this ceremony it's going to be a very big obstacle for Liam, and again she started to think about how he would have to find a way around that if he was to stop the eating and sacrificing of the failed Amazon's or as they called them Boruma.
Yantraki Notice something that she had never really notice before about herself, she noticed that she didn't love her sisters, naturally, she didn't like them as they were competitors for the throne and each had a village of their own unlike her, but she'd always thought she was the nicest of them. She hoped that Liam could accept this side of her, her Amazonian side, her bloodthirsty cold-hearted and ruthless warrior Princess side. She loved Liam, and she knew all she could do now was hope that one day he would love her too.
Yantraki carried on walking past sacrifice until she reached the huts where the side dishes and bowls that were going to be filled with fruit, and soon filled with the meat of the young sacrificial girl was being prepared by other Boruma. She walked past them and over to a short brown haired Boruma who was preparing the sleeping position for Liam as well as his food. Yantraki frowned as she saw her mother talking to the girl. She approached them quickly and as her mother noticed her, she smiled and started to approach her. Yantraki went to ask her mother what she was doing, but her mother ignored her and walked straight past her.
Yantraki didn't bother talking to her and she wanted to be able to drug Liam get him to sleep as quickly as possible as the feast was soon to start any minute. Yantraki walked over to the girl that was preparing the food for Liam as well as a place of food for Yantraki. Yantraki decided that she could just give her plate of food to Sruna as she wouldn't be joining them in the feast and Yantraki being the Princess of the tribe she could probably get a nice cut of the young woman who they planned to cook.
“Thank you very much for this, you go and enjoy the feast I'll start seasoning my Liam’s fish in the sleeping drug,” Yantraki said to the Boruma. But the girl shook her head pointed past her to where her mother was.
“The queen has already done it.” the girl said.
Yantraki turned around and stared at her mother wondering what she was trying to do. But the drums signifying the feast was starting and she quickly hurried off to the Hut where Liam and Sruna were so she could give them their food. She ran into the Hut and smiled as she saw Liam talking and prodding at Sruna as she tried to touch his clothes to see what the weird fabric he wore felt like. Yantraki laughed a little too herself she also thought the human clothes were a weird thing when she had first seen them, she couldn't blame the young woman’s excitement.
“Here you go, the fish is for Liam and the Catcark meat is for you,” Yantraki says she handed the plate with a cooked fish on it to Liam and the plate with the weird purple and green meat on it too hungry looking Sruna.
“Thanks,” Liam said quietly.
“Thank you, sister!” Sruna said, much more energetically than Liam.
Yantraki smiled at the happy two and stayed for a few more minutes until she made sure Liam had eaten the fish. She then waited for a while longer as she saw the first hints of sleepiness in his eyes. Happy that the drug was now setting in and working to the full extent of its ability Yantraki happily skipped outside to go and join the feast. She ran over to the roaring fire with the spit hanging over it, her fellow sisters of the tribe were all already sat around staring at the young girl dressed in a dress stop and headdress or Flowers through sands other things to make her taste better once they tried to the spit and begin to cook her. Yantraki felt a rush of excitement go through her as she stared at the young woman and the nervous look on her face. Over the past few weeks, she hadn't eaten anyone let alone killed that many people besides the humans outside of Liam’s village that was standing guard, thus she had a lot of pent-up energy which she wished to release upon this poor girl.
Kenyanire smiled as she watched her daughter join the rest around the fire as the sacrificial girl began her dance. Kenyanire chose to stay at the back of the group and the nearest to Liam’s tent. She listened carefully for him. She had put a plan of her own into action so that she could start emotionally manipulating Liam into two things, one a tool to save the Amazons from their food crisis but this was a far fetch, and the second thing that she wished to take him into pet worthy to unite her daughters together. She really didn't know if he could save them, but if it meant that the Boruma were no longer killed and were rather put to work differently, she was happy to take whatever gamble necessary. She would apologise to Liam when the time came, but for now, she wanted to give him the emotional budge he needed to start working hard to help them, after all, she saw a fire inside him, a fire she wanted to see grow into an inferno.
Kenyanire had taken an idea from one of the books she had picked up (you can guess the one) and decided to show Liam the true severity of their situation, and how if he didn't want to see such brutal ceremonies carry on you need to find a way to stop them. Kenyanire herself was a brutal person who enjoyed torturing others who she despised, but she believed that the killing and eating of people should be reserved for their enemies rather than the Boruma. When she found out about her daughter’s plan to drug Liam from two of the guards (again you can guess which ones), she had decided that she would get the food first and use the sleeping potion on Sruna’s meal and a watered-down version of the sleep potion that only worked for a few minutes on Liam.
As the Boruma danced gracefully around the fire in a Tahitian/Polynesian style dance a handful of women including an incredibly excited Yantraki started to approach her, their hips swaying in a similar yet less frantic and graceful kind of dance. The Boruma’s dance grew faster as the girls surrounded her, each girl holding a bowl of a pale marinade. The girl looked slightly nervous but continued her dance as the women crouched down around her and rubbed the thick liquid up and down her swaying hips and along her legs and upper torso. Kenyanire always liked this part of the ceremony as she found the dance to be erotic, as did many other Amazon's as well as humans that they had captured before. The Amazon as well as being great Warriors had also mastered cannibalism to a terrifying art, what to say the least fabulous dancers that could probably even rival an angle in their skills. Kenyanire despised what was to happen next though as she watched as the native women started to undress the young girl and throw her clothes into the audience than snack on while they watched the girl cook.
Kenyanire always wished that she could have put into the ceremony on her own, but not having a way to make a sustainable food supply, let alone have the support of her blood-related daughters on the island, so she never tried to put a plan in place, let alone try to think of one. But now she had Liam who would most likely gain the support of her daughters and hopefully others of the tribes, and they could finally put an end to this cycle of savagery.
Every member of the tribe watched on as the dancing girl was quickly bounden tide to a large metal spit and hoisted over the fire like a Hawaiian pig at a Luau. Kenyanire could feel anger inside of herself. Naturally, as an Amazon, she liked the sight and smell of the cooking woman, but she still hated herself for not trying harder to get the support of her people and daughters to find an alternative for their people and stop this ritual.
Kenyanire looked intently at the fire as she heard the sounds of Liam slowly creeping out of the bed. She glanced to the side and watched as Liam slowly pulled back the cloth to the Hut door. She could feel her heart in her throat as she started to consider if what she was doing was the right thing and if it was going to cause more harm than good in the long term. But it was too late as Liam stepped outside the Hut to see what the loud noise was going on, completely forgetting about the conversation he had had before about the feast.
Kenyanire, felt a sense of guilt flowing through her as she saw the petrified face of Liam as his eyes locked on the cooking girl. Yantraki was happily dancing around the fire as soon as her eyes fell onto you Liam, she shot from the fire at lightning speed to his side and pushed his head between her chest so that he couldn't see what they were doing to the poor cooking girl. Yantraki started to curse herself as she started to think she may have put too little of the sleeping drug in his food. But her eyes fell upon her mother she realised her mother must have had something to do with his sudden awakening.
Liam punched and screamed as he tried to move away from the Amazon, absolute fear and desperation had fully taken over his mind and he wasn't thinking straight. He knew this entire ceremony was happening tonight, but even though he is he knew this was happening and the conversations he had with Yantraki were flooding back to him, he still couldn't bear to see the sight before him. Yantraki cradled him in her arms and told him loving words as she planted kisses along his face started to gently hum into his ear to calm him like she had done the night she had captured him while he tried to escape. Again, the song of an Amazonian calmed Liam, his eyes flooded with tears as he looked off into the loving face of Yantraki who was doing her best to keep his attention solely focused on her. Despite the red war paint that covered her face giving her an almost devilish look, he could still make out the faint details of her kind eyes staring down at him. Still crying he pushed his face into her chest and started to apologise and ask them to stop the ritual.
“Please for the love of God stop this, I understand there was a part of the agreement that this was going to be the last one, but for the love of God, I can't bear this” Liam cried.
Yantraki narrowed her eyes down at him as she embraced him. She couldn't forgive her mother for tainting her plan and making her beloved see such a horrific sight.
“I love you my little Liam. But I can't stop this, I swear on my life this shall be the last one, and all I ask is that you go back into the hut and sleep.” Yantraki bastard with him, feeling a sense of anger and dread come over her at the betrayal of her mother and the sadness she had caused her Liam.
“Please…” Liam tried to argue back again, but Yantraki only hushed him and started to stroke his hair. Liam struggled and fought to get out of her arms as he wanted to run, he wanted to escape, but again Yantraki with a superior Amazonian strength held him tight and didn't let him leave her side.
“I love you. But remember your place, I am Amazon, and you are captive. I own you, and I love you, more than anything in the world, but you must learn to behave” Her words both angered and calmed him. Liam couldn't help but hate himself more as her words were started to calm him.
“I hate you…” He muttered as she pulled him to the ground and placed his head onto her lap. His weak human body being no match for her.
“I know, but one day, you shall love me,” Yantraki said as she planted a kiss onto his forehead. The tribe watched as Yantraki picked Liam up into her arms and started to walk into their Hut. Liam stared at the serious yet loving as well as sympathetic eyes of the Amazon who had shown him her own twisted idea of love. But his underlying feeling of hatred remained.
“I am so sorry my mother showed you this sacrifice tonight; I promise I will never let her hurt you again,” Yantraki swore as she kissed her beloved on the head. Liam didn’t resist as he stared into her eyes, he was like a dear in headlights, he felt as if he moved even an inch she would rip him to shreds. He still couldn’t make up his mind, if this weird creature was on his side or not. But one thing was certain, this angle had the side of a monster.
“Daughter,” her mother said, but Yantraki only responded with a quick stare of hatred towards her. She couldn’t believe her mother would let her beloved bear witness to such a ritual that was bound to scar him.
“No, I understand you're probably just trying to help, and that whatever you did you did for a good reason, but for now I will be going to bed, and for the future don't you think about laying a hand on my husband,” Yantraki said sharply as she walked into the Hut with Liam pressed against her chest like a child. After tonight, after Yantraki saw the look of pure hate in Liam's eyes, she knew she was going to need something to keep him under control. Maybe something magical. Yantraki grinned as she started to plot, she knew there was a way she could control him. But she would have to do it in a way her mother wouldn't get suspicious, and she could probably even get her mother to go along with it. Yantraki grinned, ready to start the manipulation.
That twisted night was to stay in his mind. The demonic nature of the amazons and his now knew promise to himself to never allow such a horrific event to happen again. He was just an assistant teacher turned soldier. But now he was willing to do more. Now he wished to change a culture.