Free Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler

Okoye back into the cabin, and when the yellow-haired man followed, she stepped in front of him and gestured unmistakably for him to leave. He hesitated, and she decided that if he touched her uninvited, she would throw him into the sea. Sea, yes. That was the English word for the water. If she said it, would he understand?
    But the man left without coercion.
    Anyanwu coaxed Okoye to swallow some of the liquid. It made him cough and choke at first, but he got it down. By the time Doro came to the cabin, Okoye was asleep.
    Doro opened the door without warning and came in. He looked at her with obvious pleasure and said, "You are well, Anyanwu. I thought you would be."
    "I am always well."
    He laughed. "You will bring me luck on this voyage. Come and see whether my men have bought any more of your relatives."
    She followed him deeper into the vessel through large rooms containing only a few people segregated by sex. The people lounged on mats or gathered in pairs or small groups to talk—those who had found others who spoke their language.
    No one was chained as the slaves on shore had been. No one seemed to be hurt or frightened. Two women sat nursing their babies. Anyanwu heard many languages, including, finally, her own. She stopped at the mat of a young woman who had been singing softly to herself.
    "Who are you?" she asked the woman in surprise.
    The woman jumped to her feet, took Anyanwu's hands. "You can speak," she said joyfully. "I thought I would never again hear words I could understand. I am Udenkwo."
    The woman's own speech was somewhat strange to Anyanwu. She pronounced some of her words differently or used different words so that Anyanwu had to replay everything in her mind to be certain what had been said. "How did you get here, Udenkwo?" she asked. "Did these whites steal you from your home?" From the corner of her eye, she saw Doro turn to look at her indignantly. But he allowed Udenkwo to answer for herself.
    "Not these," she said. "Strangers who spoke much as you do. They sold me to others. I was sold four times—finally to these. She looked around as though dazed, surprised. "No one has beaten me here or tied me."
    "How were you taken?"
    "I went to the river with friends to get water. We were all taken and our children with us. My son . . ."
    "Where is he?"
    "They took him from me. When I was sold for the second time, he was not sold with me." The woman's strange accent did nothing to mask her pain. She looked from Anyanwu to Doro. "What will be done with me now?"
    This time Doro answered. "You will go to my country. You belong to me now."
    "I am a freeborn woman! My father and my husband are great men!"
    "That is past."
    "Let me go back to my people!"
    "My people will be your people. You will obey me as they obey."
    Udenkwo sat still, but somehow seemed to shrink from him. "Will I be tied again? Will I be beaten?"
    "Not if you obey."
    "Will I be sold?"
    "No."
    She hesitated, examining him as though deciding whether or not to believe him. Finally, tentatively, she asked: "Will you buy my son?"
    "I would," Doro said, "but who knows where he may have been taken—one boy. How old was he?"
    "About five years old."
    Doro shrugged. "I would not know how to find him."
    Anyanwu had been looking at Udenkwo uncertainly. Now, as the woman seemed to sink into depression at the news that her son was forever lost to her, Anyanwu asked: "Udenkwo, who is your father and his father?"
    The woman did not answer.
    "Your father," Anyanwu repeated, "his people."
    Listlessly, Udenkwo gave the name of her clan, then went on to name several of her male ancestors. Anyanwu listened until the names and their order began to sound familiar—until one of them was the name of her eighth son, then her third husband.
    Anyanwu stopped the recitation with a gesture. "I have known some of your people," she said. "You are safe here. You will be well treated." She began to move away. "I will see you again." She drew Doro with her and when