Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler Read Free Book Online Page A

by the shoulders. "Nothing will harm you, Anyanwu." He spoke with utter conviction. "Not these slavers, not the sea, not anything at all. I have not brought you all this way only to lose you. You know my power." He felt her shudder. "That power will not harm you either. I have accepted you as my wife. You have only to obey me."
    She stared at him as he spoke, as though those eyes of hers could read his expression and discern truth. Ordinary people could not do that with him, but she was far from ordinary. She had had time enough in her long life to learn to read people well—as Doro himself had learned. Some of his people believed he could read their unspoken thoughts, so transparent were their lies to him. Half-truths, though, could be another matter.
    Anyanwu seemed to relax, reassured. Then something off to one side caught her eye and she stiffened. "Is that one of your white men?" she whispered. He had told her about Europeans, explaining that in spite of their pale skins, they were neither albinos nor lepers. She had heard of such people but had not seen any until now.
    Doro glanced at the approaching European, then spoke to Anyanwu. "Yes," he said, "but he is only a man. He can die as easily as a black man. Move away from me."
    She obeyed quickly.
    Doro did not intend to kill the white man if he could avoid it. He had killed enough of Daly's people back at their first meeting to put the Englishman out of business. Daly had proved tractable, however, and Doro had helped him to survive.
    "Welcome," the white man said in English. "Have you more slaves to sell us?" Clearly, Doro's new body was no stranger here. Doro glanced at Anyanwu, saw how she was staring at the slaver. The man was bearded and dirty and thin as though wasted by disease—which was likely. This land swallowed white men. The slaver was a poor example of his kind, but Anyanwu did not know that. She was having a good look. Her curiosity now seemed stronger than her fear.
    "Are you sure you know me?" Doro asked the man quietly. And his voice had the expected effect.
    The man stopped, frowned in confusion and surprise. "Who are you?" he demanded. "Who . . . what do you want here?" He was not afraid. He did not know Doro. He merely assumed he had made a mistake. He stood peering up at the tall black man and projecting hostility.
    "I'm a friend of Bernard Daly," Doro said. "I have business with him." Doro spoke in English as did the slaver and there was no doubt that the man understood him. Thus, when the slaver continued to stare, Doro started past him, walked toward the branding where he could see Daly talking with someone else.
    But the slaver was not finished. He drew his sword. "You want to see the captain?" he said. Daly had not been master of a ship for fifteen years, but he still favored the title. The slaver grinned at Doro, showing a scattering of yellow teeth. "You'll see him soon enough!"
    Dore, glanced at the sword, annoyed. In a single movement almost too swift to follow, he raised his heavy machete and knocked the lighter weapon from the slaver's hand.
    Then the machete was at the man's throat. "That could have been your hand," Doro said softly. "It could have been your head."
    "My people would kill you where you stand."
    "What good would that do you—in hell?"
    Silence.
    "Turn, and we'll go to see Daly."
    The slaver obeyed hesitantly, muttering some obscenity about Doro's ancestry.
    "Another word will cost you your head," Doro said.
    Again, there was silence.
    The three marched single file past the chained slaves, past the fire where the branding had stopped, past Daly's men who stared at them. They went to the tree-shaded, three-sided shelter where Daly sat on a wooden crate, drinking from an earthen jug. He lowered the jug, though, to stare at Doro and Anyanwu.
    "I see business is good," Doro said.
    Daly stood up. He was short and square and sunburned and unshaven. "Speak again," he growled. "Who are you?" He was a little hard of hearing, but