Part 1
Chapter 1 Home
The water on the beach is cool, complemenfing the cool breeze blowing on the shore. The trees wave as the wind moves them from side to side. The air smells of salt and sand as I cast my line into the water. The wind is full of the sound of water splashing, trees rustling, and the sea gulls squawking. Today is a good summers day. I am not an abbot fisherman, I am more of a hunter, but today I will learn to be a fisherman. There is so many things to learn. So many things that I will fail and so many things that I will succeed. All these trials will teach me the way the world works. My tribe is small, but we travel and trade goods and skills with the Calusa, Apalachee, Timucua, Tocobaga, and somefimes the Mayaimi tribes. To survive it is best to learn all we can from our experiences and those experiences of others. One never knows when the learned skills will be tested.
Along with skills from the other tribes, there is news traveling about some tribes disappearing after the appearance of a large canoe on the water. The canoe is the size of the largest teepee and made of wood that can hold many men. Such words seen to be coming from all direcfions that the wind blows. Such nonsense. There is no canoe of the size that some speak of that would float. I must keep my mind always learning. If such a canoe exists, I will not fear it, but learn from it. I am a hunter, a warrior, but today I am a fisherman. A fisher of knowledge, unfortunately not of fish.
I see coming from the woods my teenage sister, (Chepi). Always trying to sneak up on me like some ghost. Chepi yells, “Alo, why haven’t you caught any fish, brave warrior fisherman. “Alo replies, “The spirits are telling me this isn’t my calling or my truth, the spirits do tell me that I should chase my sister around the camp since she is so annoying.” Chepi replies in a joking manner, “You should annoy me with the smell of fish on your line, or dear on your spear rather than trying to learn from the fish that don’t care about you.” “That is the problem with you Chepi, you don’t try to learn new things from those who don’t care about you. The fish don’t care about me because I am doing something wrong. I have now
learned from the fish, what not to do.” Chepi laughs and replies, “That’s not true, I have also learned something from the fish. I have learned that you suck at fishing. Come, the holy ones are gathering and want everyone to hear what they have to say, maybe you can really learn something.” Both leave the coast and head to the woods where their camp resides.
The tribe have teepees circling around a clearing where a ceremonial fire is being started. Alo, being versed in ceremonial tradifion, helps the wise and holy leaders gather the wood, place it to where it can burn for a long fime, and start the ceremonial fire. Out from one of the tents, the misfics, adorned with tradifional nafive American aftire, consisfing of bones arranged in a vest, with feathers surrounding a crowned headpiece. The five misfics surround the fire and chant followed by the rest of the tribe in a ceremonious unified chant. The eldest of the misfics raises his hand and all stops. The eldest misfic starts to speak, “All of you, have probably heard on the wind, that some tribes are vanishing from the land, after the appearance of a large canoe on the water. This wind is not the wind of falsehood, it’s the wind of truth. We have had warriors from distant tribes come here to warn us of the devil
canoe that eats people. We have heard that this canoe is called a ship. This ship comes from a far land and like a canoe it holds many men. These men are capturing our brothers and sisters. They are taking them somewhere to which there seems to be no escape. Those who try to resist die. There is also new news that along with those tribes that are missing, their villages are burned, along with the warriors who resisted. We have amongst us a girl who witnessed this while hiding. We are a small tribe, and this may be why we have survived this threat. We have no established village. We travel and on our next travel, we will be going more inland and away from the coast unfil this is understood, and the hunger of the devil canoe is safisfied. You will limit your fime at the coast, but all who go to the coats must stay hidden to be able to warn the others if such a ship appears. We must prepare now for our next voyage inward.”
All the tribe look at each other with concern and fear. Alo looks at his sister Chepi and smiles, “looks like you don’t have to worry about me annoying you with the smell of fish on my line.” Chepi smiles back at Alo and replies, “to be honest, I never worried about that from you, oh great fisherman.” Both leave to their teepee where their parents have already started preparing for the voyage. Gawonii, the father of the two teenagers, looks at both, and shakes his head, “You two have heard the words that the wind has brought to your ears, and the ears of the mistics, so you had better not make trips to the coast and play around. There now is danger, and your games of hiding, hunting, and fishing can cost you your lives. You will stay close to the camp where your mother and I can protect you.” Alo replies in a defiant manner, “How will you protect us? By hiding and running away? Gawonii replies angrily, “yes! This is to avoid the issue in the first place, that is how we protect you! ““Father, we will never learn about this by running away, we shouldn’t run to that we don’t understand, nor attack that which we don’t understand. This may be why those villages were taken. They responded wrongly and upset the devil canoe.” Gawonii yells at the two, “You don’t respond if there is nothing to respond to, now heed my warnings!” Aiyana, the teenager’s mother, interjects, “We only want you two to be safe, there is too many voices in the wind about this danger. I have seen the girl that survived in the tent of the misfics, and she is always shaking in fear. I don’t want that to be you two.”
Both start to pack their belongings. Alo looks for food and notices that there is little dried meat for a journey. “We need supplies. We can get some while you gather what we have. “Aiyana replies with worry on her voice, “be quick about it, Alo, and you two Chepi. Set your traps, hunt small game, and get supplies. Remember the warnings that your father has given and avoid being seen on the coast.” Both agree and head out.
Chapter 2
The Invasion
In the woods, by the camp, Chepi sets snares and various traps to catch rabbits or wild turkeys. Alo brings his fishing supplies and a bow with arrows to try hunfing for a dear. Alo knows that his fishing skills are much to be desired, but he thinks to himself, what if he combines his bow hunfing skills to fishing, he might get lucky, but it would mean that he will have to be exposed to the coast which for now is forbidden. While Chepi is in the woods Alo goes to the coast caufiously. He observes no ships in the water. He fies the end of his fishing line to the end of his arrow then heads to the water. He goes in waste deep and tosses his bait into the water and waits. He keeps an eye on the water for ships and keeps an eye on his bate. After a while he sees a large fish eafing his bait. He slowly draws his bow and fires, hifting the fish. He uses his line and pulls the fish to him. With excitement he yells. He has captured his first fish by hunfing. He takes the fish out of the water and heads back to the shore before he is noficed. As he walks toward the forest, he nofices a strange fallen log. It looks like a canoe but with weird wood and strange parts. The parts seem hard as rock but is shaped like that of wishbones. Someone made a weird canoe and tried to hide it in the woods. As he invesfigates the strange canoe he finds a knife unlike any that he has seen before. He looks around and caufiously tries to find his sister.
Alo looks and finds some of the traps that his sister has put out, sfill set he proceeds further in trying to not make a sound. He listens to the sounds of the forest and looks around to see if he is alone. He proceeds further then from behind him a hand grabs his mouth and pulls him down on the floor. “You smell like fish! Quiet! Alo it’s me, Chepi.” Just then both hear a trap go off and a human Yell in a language that both have never heard before. Alo tries to stand up to see what or who made the noise. Chepi keeps him down,” Alo, you must blend into the forest. Put mud on your face, slowly roll on the leave so that they sfick on you. Get rid of that fish. We are being hunted.” Both cover themselves with mud and slowly look up. Both see men covered with strange colorful clothing with belts of black leather with shiny handles of metal and wood that look just like the knife Alo has. The men talk in a strange language that both teens don’t understand. Chepi asks Alo in a quiet voice, “did you see the ship on the shore?” Alo quietly replies, “No, how did you know I was at the shore?” Chepi taps Alo on his head,” Fish don’t grow on trees, fool. We must warn the others, we need to head back. Leave the fish.” Suddenly there are loud noises coming from the direcfion of the camp. Then the smell of burning wood.
Both slowly head back to the village, keeping as hidden as they possibly can. As they approach, they witness in horror that their camp is in flames and the tribe is bound in chains. The men in strange clothing, some with
gold hair, some with black and some with red, all with a white complexion on their skin, must be the ones that the elder misfics warned about. Among the invaders, is a man that looks like them, black hair and with the same skin as them, speaking in their language. This man is from the tribes. “Where is your village, where are you coming from, the nafive invader yells to the elder. “The old, baftered misfic speaks, “we are travelers, we have no tribe. Why do you help these white demons?” The Indian invader slaps the misfic. “My name is George Water runner. I have come to take you and give your lives to the service of others. Your tradifions, your gods, your very existence is now a thing of the past. If you struggle or resist, you will die. Now you are too small a group to be out here by yourself so where is your village?” The man takes a wooden sfick with metal inlayed threw out. He points it at the elder. Then there is smoke and a loud bang. The elder falls. Blood pours from his head. All the tribe scream in horror as the white invaders laugh and scream in delight. Both teens try to keep their composure. Then one of the invaders comes to the camp bringing a fish with an arrow in it. He speaks in the strange language to where George translates. “This was found in the woods, so there must be more in your tribe. I never knew that a fish can grow tree branches. Do fish grow on trees in your village. If not, then you must have some more people in your camp out there. We need more slaves. My demon friends said that alive is best so where is the rest of your people?”
Just then, noises are heard coming from behind the two teens. Both are camouflaged well enough so that they are not seen. The slavers are looking around to see if there are any more indigenous tribes’ people around. George yells at the tribe again, “well we will wait here tonight to see if more of your people come. More of our friends will be here soon to take you to your new life. If you think about trying anything, just look at this old man here.” Alo quietly speaks to Chepi,” we must do something, we have the element of surprise. They don’t know we exist.” “Are you crazy Alo, there are too many of them. I count at least 8 and there could be more, what are you planning to do?” Alo looks at his bow and fishing line. “Chepi, you have always been good at traps, and I am good at hunfing. Let’s hunt and trap them. We can separate them while they look for us. If any of them get hurt, the others will try to help the fallen one. This gives us a chance to free our friends and family.” Both, Quietly, go back into the woods.
Chapter 3
Counterattack
After some fime, night falls over the camp. Its quiet and the only noises that can be heard are the whimpers of the Indians and the snores of some of the invading men. There are three lookouts guarding the camp while the rest of the five are resfing. Alo quietly moves close to one of the imprisoned Indians. He sees his father and tries to speak to him. “Father, we are going to free you and the others. You must get ready to fight when the opportunity comes.” Gawonii replies softly, “Alo, you must run and forget us, your safety is all that mafters. Take your sister and flee this place, forget about us and run.” Alo looks at the chains and quietly disappears back into the forest.
Suddenly there is a noise coming from the forest. The noise sounds like something moving through brush at great speed. The others wake up and pulls out swords and muskets. All look in the direcfion that the noise is coming from. The slavers aim their guns. Then out of the forest runs a wild boar. The slavers fire but mis, scaring the boar back into the forest. Three of the five who were asleep, run into the forest to try to capture the boar.
The three enter the woods and split up to try to corner the animal. One of the slavers see the boar and starts to aim at it with his gun. Then an arrow hits him in the head rendering him unconscious. He quietly falls to the ground. The second slaver looks around trying to see where the other slavers went and sees the boar eafing something. As he approaches, he sees the boar is eafing
the face of the first slaver. He angrily approaches closer to shoot, then steps on a trap triggering spikes from a nearby tree to fall and impale him. He screams in pain. The third slaver hears the scream and runs to help. Alo jumps up and screams a war cry. The slaver's eyes narrowed as he caught sight of Alo, desperafion twisfing his features. With a shaky breath, he drew his weapon and fired, but the bullet whistled past its target, fading into the dark maw of the forest. Panic clawed at him as he plunged deeper into the shadows, heart racing, eager to snuff out the flickering light of defiance that Alo represented.
As insfinct took over, the slaver unsheathed his sword, its blade glinfing ominously in the murky twilight. He charged forward, driven by a sinister urge to reclaim his power. But Alo, with a primal grace, sprang into the air, evading a hidden death—a covered trap that yawned open beneath the slaver’s feet.
Silence enveloped the forest before a chilling scream pierced the air, swallowed by the shadows as the slaver fell into a deep pit lined with cruel, jagged spikes. The sound of metal striking flesh echoed haunfingly, punctuafing the dark triumph of the moment. Alo and Chepi, their faces expressionless and cold, approached the gaping void, peering down at their fallen foe with cruel safisfacfion.
"That's three down," Alo murmured, his voice a whisper of malevolence that seemed to draw the shadows closer. Chepi nodded in grim agreement, their eyes gleaming with a sinister thrill. “Let’s confinue.”
Without another word, they melted back into the forbidding embrace of the woods, leaving the slaver to writhe in his gruesome fate—a reminder that in this haunfing forest, life could slip away as easily as a flickering flame in the dark.
The chilling screams echoed through the darkened night, jolfing all of the slavers from their restless slumber, including George, who felt an ice-cold dread creep over him. “Go! Find out what’s happening!” he barked to one of his men, urgency lacing his voice like a noose fightening around his throat. Shadows
flickered in the dim light as the slaver vanished into the darkness. Time crawled, thick with tension, before he finally returned dragging with him Alo, rage spilling from his lips like poison. A knife glimmered ominously at the slaver's throat.
“You traitor!” Alo's voice was a snarl that sliced through the air, anger and bifterness coiling around every word. “You betrayed your people for these white demons. Now, you will release my people, or this demon dies!”
Behind them, the three guards, once so invincible, now grimaced as they pulled their rifles and aimed them at Alo with trembling hands, the stench of fear lingering in the air. George's laughter emerged like a malignant spirit from the shadows. “Kid, you’re a fool. There’s no way out for you. You’re outgunned and outmanned. But I admire your courage. Release him and maybe you can be useful to me. There’s a whole world waifing for someone like you if you join us.”
Alo’s smile was sharp and defiant, a wolf amidst the sheep. “I will never betray my people. Besides, I am not outnumbered. You are.”
With a fierce baftle cry, the Indians, armed with wicked knives and primal fury, emerged from their bonds, seizing the guards who held them capfive. Among them, Chepi darted forward, the glint of keys clutched fightly in her grip. With franfic determinafion, she rushed to unlock the rest of the chains that bound her brothers and sisters, freeing them to turn the fide of the nightmarish encounter.
George felt a tremor of fear tugging at the edges of his confidence as he turned to face the odds now stacked against him. “Okay, you have the upper hand for now,” he spat, though his voice quaked. “But it won’t last.”
The Indians, wild and fierce, shackled George and his fellow slavers, binding them cruelly to a gnarled tree. Darkness enveloping their fate as they were rendered powerless against the encroaching night. With a roar of triumph, the liberated warriors gathered what remained of their camp, merging into the suffocafing shadows of the woods, leaving the invaders to contemplate their grim fate amidst the silent, watchful trees.
Dawn starts to approach, where the daylight exposes the true extent of the destrucfion of the camp. Alo and Chepi travel close to their parents. After some fime, they stop to rest. Alo asks Gawonii, “where are we going and how much further.” Gawonii anxiously replies, “we are heading to where the Timucua village
resides. They told us that they are a large enough village that can help us in fimes of crisis. We must head there and prepare for more invaders.” Chepi looks at her father and asks, “why did we leave those invaders alive back at our old camp?” Aiyana, shocked at her daughter’s quesfions replies, “Chepi, we needed to leave a message to the invaders that we can be both savage and merciful. You and your brother proved how effecfive hunters we are to best them, now we must show that we can be merciful and can be reasoned with. Hopefully this will persuade them not to follow.” “And what about the traitor, George?” Chepi further quesfions. Gawonii answers with force,” He failed at his task. Now, let him suffer the retribufion from his new masters. We must get going to reach the Timucua before night.”
The Indians travel for a few hours to a clearing then stop to rest again. The tribe have some women and small children which hinder the speed of the travel. Gawonii orders the two teens to scout the area to make sure that they are not followed. The rest of the men in the tribe act as lookouts to defend the camp. Being in a clearing, leaves them exposed, but ensures that no one can sneak up on them. Alo and Chepi follow the orders of their father and head into the woods being as stealthy as possible. After some fime, they hear noises coming from behind the tribe. It’s the slavers following them. Alo quietly mofions Chepi, “Go warn the others that the invaders are following them, they have more people and carrying more of those loud sficks. I’ll stay back and watch to see if things change. “Chepi departs quietly while Alo stays and watches. He sees George gefting yelled at by the other slavers and slapped by one who wears a large head dress adorned with shiny metal pieces. George departs along with 10 men carrying rifles, heading for the tribe. Alo stays on and looks at the mannerisms of the large, hafted man. He sees, where he points, the others respond. He thinks to himself, that this must be their chief, captain, or leader. Shortly all hear shots being fired from a distance.
The invaders get up and rush to where the shots are being heard. Alo follows from behind. As they get closer to the tribe’s locafion, Alo sees in horror, that the slavers are shoofing the guns from a distance killing the Indian men. Soon only the women and children are left. The slavers advance to the tribe un apposed. George yells, “So you are not as tough as you thought you were. Now where are the two young ones who so bravely opposed me.” He grabs Chepi from the hair and raises her up, puts a knife to her throat and yells out, “Where are you now Brave one? You cost me money and respect from my bosses, now I will have to make another example of why you can’t resist us.” Alo jumps up and raises his bow towards George and screams, “Release her or you will loose more than that.”
The large, hafted man laughs. A few turn their guns at Alo. Aiyana screams in horror. The Large hafted man yells out in the nafive language, “Stop! No money can come from this.” He pulls out a pistol and aims it at Aiyana. Alo aims his bow at the captain. The captain takes off his hat and shakes his head. Alo drops his bow on the ground and bows his head. The captain smiles, then fires his gun at Aiyana. Her lifeless body hits the ground. Alo screams, “you will die!” he reaches for his bow. Just then Alo is hit in the back of his head by one of the slavers rendering him unconscious.
Chapter 4
The Slave Ship
Alo awakens hearing people crying and speaking in mulfiple languages. He feels movement from side to side. He smells sweat, blood and filth. He opens his
eyes and sees that he is in chains with some of his people and people from other tribes and lands. He sees people with skin dark as coal. He sees others where the people have hair red as flame. He also sees some with markings on their face and arms like his people but different. He stands up and knows that he is on the water in a large ship. He realizes that he is in the belly of the devil canoe which is called a ship. A ship full of slaves. He tries to free himself with no success. He looks around and calls out for Chepi but no response. He calls for his father, Gawonii, again with no response. Then a voice that he understands cries out. Gawonii was killed along with the rest of the warriors. He looks to where the voice came from and sees a woman crying. He gets closer and asks, “What happened? How did we get here?”
The woman replies, “We were gefting ready to move, then we heard loud shots coming from the woods along with smoke. One by one, our warriors began to fall dead. Gawonii fired his bow into the woods, but he also fell to the loud noises. I am told these are called guns. They shoot small stones called bullets and these can travel very far and very fast. This is what killed our warriors. After they fell, the invaders emerged from the woods and captured us. I saw you trying to save Aiyana, but this was not to be. Your acfions are brave, but the invaders are powerful. They snuck up behind you and hit you. They picked you up and took all of us to the coast where there was this large ship awaifing us.” Alo weeps but grits his teeth. He asks, “Where is Chepi?” The woman replies, “I do not know, she was taken up the stairs by the one who is called George.” Alo looks at the stairs located in the middle of the hold but is unable to approach due to his chains.
After some fime, the cargo door opens and down the stairs come George and a few men. He points at Alo and the men grab him and remove his chains. They take him up the stairs to the main deck to where he sees, in astonishment, there is no land around the ship, just ocean. With dread, he knows that he is far from home. He looks around and in marvel sees the enormity of the ship. He sees deck hands moving around with ropes and canvas working to make this ship operate. George speaks,” What is your name young one?” Alo looks at George and with a defiant snarl reply, “Alo is my name and it’s a name that you will remember fill your last days.” George smiles and in a sarcasfic voice reply, “you might be right, since you have a strange name, but in the new world you will be forced to change it and not even you will remember it.” Alo looks around and asks, “why have you taken me up here?” George looks at the young man and smiles. “You
have caused me money, reputafion, and pain. You bested me and my men which has never been done. I was whipped by my captain for failure and embarrassed in front of the other slavers. I should kill you now and toss your body to the deep sea, but you also spared me my life. For that I spare you yours. The captain wants to see you. I have taught him some of our language so you can understand each other.”
George brings Alo to a room in the back of the ship where the captain is sifting at a desk. George speaks to the captain in a strange language. The captain looks at Alo and speaks. “I am captain Ortega. So Alo, you are the one who killed my men in the woods, captured this fool and let him live, and tried to negofiate with me with a bow. You are brave and foolish, but you have some useful skills. I can use these skills.” Alo with fire in his eyes replies, “you killed my mother, your men killed my father and the warriors in my tribe, why would I help you?” The captain smiles and in a smug voice reply, “because I have your people in the lower hold of this ship, and their lives depend on how I feel about things. I have your sister, the one who helped you kill my men in the woods. Her life depends on how I feel about things. I also have you, the one who can save the lives of all your people. Those lives depend on how you make me feel about things. So now you know the reasons why you will help me. I offer a solufion that can be beneficial to your people, and profitable to you. Ask George here, how this life has treated him. I’ll give you some fime to think about it.” The captain mofions to George to take Alo away.
Outside of the cabin, Alo looks at George and asks, “So that’s why you betrayed your people?” George reply, “yes, My Family. They remain alive. The only way my family will stay alive is by doing the bidding of the captain. By betraying tribes that are not my own and betraying the people that I don’t know, just like yours, ensures their lives. I try to capture people and only kill the older ones since they wouldn’t last as slaves. They would die in misery anyway. I find this mercy.” Alo looks at George with new insight and takes pity on him. Alo looks at George and sees a tear in his eye and asks, “so now what’s to happen and where is my sister?” “Alo, you will learn the language of the slavers, and the ways of these people. Your people will be slaves but at least they will be alive. Your sister is currently on another boat and the captain will use her as leverage to ensure your loyalty. She will be safe and free from harm if you comply. Be warned, if you fail,
you will be made to suffer, and your sister will also suffer for your failure.” Alo nods his head and agrees to the reality that he must accept. George looks at Alo and adds, “to start, you must change your name to something that captain Ortega and these devils will understand. This will show allegiance to their cause and show that we will forget our old lives. You should call yourself Alexander, like the one who I have heard called himself Alexander the great. “Alo smiles and replies, “I will never forget the old ways or my true name, but the white devils don’t need to know this. I prefer them to call me, Alex.”
Chapter 5
The Slave Trade
Alex begins learning English from George as well as other languages from various slaves that they encounter. He learns about the technology from the new world including guns, ships, sextants, compasses, and spyglasses. George learns how to track and trap animals as well as people in forestry areas. George learns how to camouflage himself and his teams to capture indigenous people from mulfiple lands. Alex also learns the pracfices and rituals of the various nafives that they encounter. These skills come in handy in the capture of more slaves which gives Alex much grief. His only comfort is that he hears from his sister from fime to fime threw George and Captain Ortega, knowing that she is well and adapfing to the new world. Alex and George periodically pray to their nafive gods in secret and asks for forgiveness for what they have become. In fime Captain Ortegas ship known as (The Aggressor) is known as the most profitable slave ship in Europe, thanks to George and Alex, but both men are starfing to regret what their life has become. Both men are sfill slaves to captain Ortega’s whims.
The ship travels to a group of islands to where the indigenous are known to be the most feared and the hardest to enslave. Captain Ortega sends 2 scout boats ashore to see what these Indians look like and see what the best way would be to trap them. Alex and George depart on the scout boats amongst a team of white slavers. Upon arriving on shore, the invaders hide the boats under some brush and camouflage themselves in the local greenery and head towards a village at night. Upon arriving close to the village, they witness men with taftoos spinning
staffs with fire on both ends wearing grass skirts in an acrobafic display of skills. The team of invaders are in shock and aw. These Indians should be burning themselves, but they don’t. One Indian blew fire from his mouth like a dragon. This display struck fear in the eyes of the white invaders, which started to go back to the boats, but Alex was spellbound. He knows why these Indians were so hard to enslave. They possess the power of devils. They possess the power of fear itself. These people won’t be enslaved because they have no fear. Alex tells George, “We need to head back and think about this, it will probably be befter if we trap a few then discreetly leave and not disturb the whole tribe”.
Just then, screams are heard from behind them. The Indians have captured the retreafing slavers. They are bound and brought to the main village. Alex and George watch in fear as the Indians kill the men one by one and scream war cries. Alex in fear asks, “who are these demons,” George replies, “they are called Samoans. We need to get back to The Aggressor.” Both men slowly and quietly head back to the ship. As they get to the shore, they witness the Samoans have a fleet of canoes rowing towards the ship, firing arrows with fire. The ship repels the aftack with gunfire, but it is taking damage to the canvas, and fire is seen on the deck. The ship quickly departs to escape capture by these people. Alex and George are now stranded on this island. George starts to run to the ship screaming come back. Alex tries to stop him, but George is hit with an arrow. Alex grabs him by his shirt and drags him back to the woods where they can’t be seen.
Both men lay sfill in the brush while the Samoans look around for anyone left behind on the island. George mortally wounded tells Alex, “Looks like you got your wish. During my last day, yours will be the last name I will remember.” Alex looks at George and asks, “do you remember your real name?” George smiles and says, “my name is Danuwoa. It means warrior to my people, the Cherokee. I now will rejoin my family who died a long fime ago.” Alex in shock asks, “I thought Ortega took care of your family?” Danuwoa replies, “he did, unfil they got sick and died. I lost my heart that day and my soul. Life is meaningless to me, so I welcome death. Find your people and sister and bring them home. They are being held at the island of Saint-Domingue. There is a woman there who has been lefting me and the captain know how your sister is doing. I made a promise to your sister that I would tell her about you and vice versa. Don’t let them and especially your sister die of disease in this land.” Blood trickles down his Mouth and chest, then
on his last breath, “Don’t become me and share my fate.” Danuwoa dies in Alex’s arms. Alex looks up then fades back into the woods.
Chapter 6
The Survivalist
Alex keeps hidden in the woods but keeps close to the village to observe and learn about the language and the ways of this new tribe. To survive he will have to adapt to his surroundings and use his own techniques to avoid being captured by these people. Days turn to weeks and Alex learns how to fish by watching the Samoans. He learns to hunt and know what plants to eat to sustain himself. He recognizes the warpaint and taftoos that the Samoans wear. When he was captured all those months ago, he saw some of them in the cargo hold of the ship that brought him to Europe. Sooner or later, he will have to confront these people. He knows that he can’t stay hidden forever. He knows that he must get his people back home. Nightly he stays close to the coast waifing for a ship that can take him home. Fate will play a hand for Alex.
After a few days he nofices a ship off the coast at some distance. He sfill has the spyglass which allows him to see things far away. He ponders and plans how can he sneak aboard. While he thinks, he hears a woman screaming from the woods. He quickly runs to see what is happening. Behind a fallen tree he sees that a four-man landing party has captured a woman from the tribe and was taking her to a boat that was secretly hidden under some branches. Alex made a makeshift bow for hunfing, and was going to fire, but realizes that there are too many. He realizes that he must make them run into traps. Alex disappears into the woods.
The invaders hit the poor woman in the head knocking her out. They pick her up and head to the boat then Alex yells, “You Demons will not leave here!” The invaders pull out their rifles and aim in all direcfions. One of the invaders, a tall man yells, “who are you? No one hear on this island speaks English. “Alex whispers just loud enough to be heard, “The spirits can!” All point their guns in Alex’s direcfion, and one proceed to advance to capture him. As the invader gets close, he steps on a trap plunging a spear threw his leg. The invader screams. The tall man grabs the man’s mouth and quietly speaks, “Quiet you fool, we don’t want to alert the tribes here. Slavers usually come out here, so the locals are vicious to any invaders including us pirates. Guys help me get this idiot out of this trap.” As he looks behind him, he sees one man missing and one looking around. The tall pirate quesfions, “Paul where did Frank go?” “I have no idea, Mike. He was right here.” Mike looks around and takes a knife and slits the throat of the injured pirate. “We need to get out of here Paul, this trap was to slow us down so we can get captured. Grab the girl and let’s go.” Just then Alex appears from the woods holding a gun at the pirates. Mike pulls out his gun, as well as Paul, and aim at Alex. Mike smiles, “you have one bullet and I have two, either way, you die.” Alex drops his gun. Just then both pirates get shot in the head with arrows coming from the woods.
Alex turns around and sees the village warriors surrounding the area. The woman jumps up and yells, “Wait, stop, this man tried to protect me. He killed one and trapped the other. He isn’t one of them.” The chief warrior approaches Alex and quietly with an angry tone says, “This man speaks with the tongue of the invader, he must be one of them despite his appearance.” Alex replies in the Samoan language, “I have many tongues, including yours. If you don’t want to have yours removed, your people killed by those in the ship, off the coast, you
must listen to my words and follow my acfions.” The chief asks, “why should I listen to your words, why should I trust you?” Alex replies with convicfion, “Look at me! I am more your brother than these white devils. I know your ways and tradifions of the ceremonies with fire. They are like the ways and tradifions of mine. I have seen your people killed and kidnapped by these devils and shipped to far off lands as slaves. You will follow my words because I can help you get your people back as well as my own!” The imposing chief, large in stature, steps towards Alex and calmly says, “What are your words and what will you have me do, small, brave one?”
Chapter 7
The Hijacking
The captain of the pirate ship, The Tyranny, is in his cabin waifing for the return party with a slave or two. The wind is light and cool as nighffall descends. The crew are resfing in the lower deck as four armed guards are on the front and back of the ship. One by one the guards are disappearing from the boat. The Samoans climb the sides of the boat and aftack the guards from behind, quietly. All the Samoan warriors swim and get on the ship to baftle the invaders. Small canoes, full of Samoan warriors, quietly drift along the back side of the ship. One of the deck hands sees what is happening and rings the alarm bell. The rest of the crew get up, arm themselves with swords, and head to the deck to witness the Samoans in war paint chanfing in unison twirling swords that are on fire, as well as axes and clubs. The frightened pirates lose their nerve, then the captain emerges from his cabin and yells, “The devils are upon us men, there will be no retreat, Kill these intruders!” A fierce fight begins. Alex uses his hunfing bow skills and takes out many. The Samoans quickly gain the advantage. As the last few pirates fall, the captain sees in horror what his opponents are capable of and surrenders. As the last sword falls, the warriors spew fire from their mouths further terrifying the captain. Alex also in the fight emerges from the warriors and talks to the pirate captain. “What is your name Pirate? “With fear in his voice he ufters, “Captain James Purvill, you savage. How are you able to talk to me in my own language?” Alex looks and smiles at the captain. “I am Alex, the former slave who is now the captain of this ship.” The Samoans confinue joyous chanfing. The captain stands
upright and quickly takes out his sword and stabs Alex in the chest and laughs. “There will only be one Captain on the Tyranny, and it will only be me, you savage!” Just at that moment an arrow hits the captain in the head, killing him.
Alex lies mortally injured on the deck of the ship bleeding profusely. The main warrior picks him up and places him in the center of the deck and mofions the others. The other warriors surround Alex and start chanfing. They perform the fire ceremony on the deck of the ship, praying to their gods. Alex, while sfill conscious, also prays to his gods in his nafive language while he bleeds out from his wound. He sees visions of his family amongst the Samoans. He sees his elders from his own tribe chanfing. He sees his god then he sees blue fire everywhere. He looks up and all the Samoans are twirling staffs with blue flames on the ends. He starts to sit up and sees the bleeding has stopped. He looks up and sees Gawonii and Aiyana. They smile to him, and both say, “To survive, it is best to learn all we can from our experiences and those experiences of others. It is your fime, yet you are needed, and our people as well as these people, will need you, especially your sister “ . The blue flames go out. Alex screams,” Chepi!” then collapses on the deck.
Alex wakes up in the morning at the camp feeling good and rested. He realizes that he is in one of the straw huts that the Samoans use for homes. It’s adorned with various ornaments from various religions including his own tribe’s religion. Just then the woman he helped from being captured walks in. She smiles at him and says to him, “You look well captain Alex, the forgoften one.” Alex looks at the woman and asks,” who are you? what happened to me? why do you call me the forgoften one?” she smiles and replies, “I’m called Manaia, do you not remember what happened on that pirate ship?” Alex smiles and replies in a confused manner. “I remember being knocked out during the fight, then seeing visions of my family amongst your tribal warriors, then I’m here. I guess I got hit in the head.” Manaia replies, “you got hit, but not in your head. You are now the forgoften one.” Alex gets up and asks with authority, “Why do you call me forgoften one?” Manaia explains, “we haven’t seen anyone like you for generafions, The story about the forgoften ones is as old as fime itself. It was legend that the fearless warriors, when they fell in baftle, the other surviving warriors would conduct a ceremony for the gods, asking to bring back from the dead the bravest to confinue fighfing. If the gods deem the soul worthy, the
warrior comes back from the dead and lives to confinue to win the baftle. When the fighfing is over, they eventually leave, to fight else ware, then eventually are forgoften in fime. In your case, our warriors prayed to our gods, and to your gods, since you showed great bravery. The Gods brought you back to us. You must have another fight that you are needed.”
Alex remembers himself gefting stabbed in the chest. He removes his shirt to see that the wound is healed. He looks at Manaia. She looks at Alex and replies, “now, you walk between both worlds, the living, and the dead. You will heal faster than the normal man and can leave this world to go to the next. But you must stay worthy to our gods and yours or this gift can be removed. Your now, blue eyes, are a sign of your gift, So, what baftle must you sfill fight?” Alex looks out of the hut at the Samoans, “I need to free my people, and your people from the slavers as well as all people.”
Manaia smiles and asks, “And how will you do this feat?” Alex smiles and quietly says, “I will train the warriors the ways of the slavers and the ways of the ship.
I will train them how the white man fights, as well as my tribes nafive ways to fight. We will fight the slavers by being the pirates of the slavers.”
Most of the warriors who sacked the ship, came aboard to learn how to pilot and run the ship. They also wanted to know what to expect once they come across other pirates. Alex took it upon himself to teach his crew all that he knew from what George taught him. Alex speaks to the enfire crew, “today we begin by starfing on the tasks that need to be done to pilot and run this ship. You will have primary tasks as well as secondary tasks so that we have redundancy in the running of this ship”. The mighfiest warrior of the crew was a strong noble man who was the most eager to learn. He speaks for the warriors, “We will learn and
follow you so that we can get back our missing”. Alex smiles and asks the name of the large warrior. “My name is Mauga, I lead many here to hunt and fight.” Alex replies, “then you will be the first mate, you will oversee the ship when I am away and command the crew in my absence. Now let us begin.
A month has passed, and slowly leaving the Samoan islands The pirate ship, The Tyranny, heads for sea. Abord, working the masts and tack lines, are the Samoans, using the dead pirates clothing to blend in at sea. Alex adorns the original captain’s uniform also, since he knows he must be able to blend in at sea when approaching other ships. One of the Samoans asks Alex, “where are we heading to, Captain?” Alex looks at a map that was on the ship’s captains’ quarters and replies, “Saint-Domingue!”
Chapter 8
Chepi’s plight
Water sloshes on the side of the ship and the wind blows eastward, as the slave ship, The Aggressor, is leaving Chepi’s homeland. The ship has a cargo of the slaves from the village despite the efforts of Alo and Chepi to free them. Alo is unconscious in the ships hold after gefting struck from behind by one of the slavers. Chepi is in shock after witnessing the death of her parents and some members of her friends from the tribe. The slaver who calls himself, George, comes down to the hold and grabs Chepi and takes her to the captain. Chepi struggles with George, but her small frame is no match for the large man. Upon entering the captain’s cabin, George and the strange, dressed man converse in a language that she doesn’t understand. George translates, “This is Captain Ortega, I have told him of you and your brother’s skills, and we believe you can be of service to us. Since you are a woman, your skills as a hunter won’t be of use, but your brothers can. I’m sure that he won’t comply with our demands. This is where you can be of service. We have another ship where we will offload you to work with a woman to turn you into a proper wench. You will be taken care of if you comply, but if you don’t, not only will you suffer, but your brother will suffer also. Nod your head if you understand.” Chepi, despite her anger and rage for what has happened, nods her head in compliance for the sake of her brother. The captain smiles and looks at her. He laughs with a disfincfive drole tone in his voice, and Replies in the Indian language, “good, I’m glad that you are of use to us, as well as
your brother, young one. “He waves to George to dismiss them. George grabs Chepi by her arm and leads her to the deck of the ship.
She looks at George and asks, “what is to become of us now that you have what you came for?” George looks at Chepi with a sadness in his face. “This is not what I want, but what my captain wants. All of you will become a slave in one way or another, you will be a kitchen wench or worse. The rest of your tribe will be sold off as slaves as will you. Your brother on the other hand bested me and my crew. I can use those skills to make the man hunt befter for me and the others.”
Chepi with disgust looks at George and in an angry voice yell, “How can you do this to your own kind?” George looks down in shame then looks at Chepi, “It is befter to be the pet dog of the devil, than his prey. I hope that you don’t show this anger to your new masters. They will kill you and your brother. There is no profit in that. I will make a pact to you that, if you do well in your dufies, I will ensure your brother will come to no harm.” Chepi, knowing what is at stake, looks at George, then in a softer voice reply,” Ok, I will be nice for now, but we will escape eventually, and you will pay the price to our gods for your deeds.”
“Eventually, but not today young girl.” Chepi replies, “can you at least promise me that you will send word to Alo about my condifions as well as let me know his?” George smiles and nods his head. Just over the horizon a smaller ship can be seen coming toward them.
As the smaller ship arrives, the few women are loaded into a small rowboat and forced to row to the smaller ship at gunpoint by a few of the crew. Once they arrive, they are forced to climb
rope ladders to get on board the smaller ship. As the women get on board, the row boats and the gun tofing men leave to return to the larger slave ship. Once on board a larger woman greets the women. This one is also from a nafive Indian tribe. She speaks in a firm voice, “Welcome ladies. You will be taken to a wonderful land where you will learn the skills to be housemaids and women that your new owners will want. There is no escape and no way back to your homes, so forget about your past lives and try to live in the now. If you do well and comply, your lives will be befter than you have ever known. If not, then you will wish you had me throw you overboard and drown. I am called Kathryn. I will be the one to train you. You will respect me, and my guards, and I will respect you. Once this respect is established we will all get along.” Chepi looks around and is fascinated at the workings of the ship while Kathryn is talking. She knows that she will eventually have to learn everything that she must to keep out of trouble, but especially how to run a ship.
The ship eventually docks at a port on an island. As they get unloaded, she sees an abundance of people with darker skin than hers, being controlled by some who look like her captors. She hears people talking with mulfiple languages and accents. The clothing among the captors differs from person to person. Some of the men wear clothing that is more elaborate than some of the other captors. Kathryn takes the women into a building and have them change and redress them in white garments that resemble the dark people of the island. “Now ladies, we will start by introducing you to your new home. Your new home is called SaintDomingue. Here it is ruled by French and Spanish men from across the ocean. You will learn a common language called English, but some may want to speak to you in their common language. We will teach some of the common words in French and Spanish. Some of you know how to farm. This will do you well since there is very ferfile soil here. Some of you will learn how to cook, clean, sew, and other chores that a homeowner may want to use you for. Some of you might be in the fields with the men if you aren’t able to accomplish these tasks as requested. I must warn you, if you think about escape here, you will be caught, tortured, and possibly killed for even talking or thinking of this.”
Chepi is brought to the house where she meets up with other slaves. She meets Africans slaves who speak in clicks and other muffled sounds. She also meets other Indian tribes who have also been captured, as well as some from the far
east. Kathryn begins to teach the English language to all there, accompanied by another woman from the African tribes who also speaks English. Ayanda is her name. She mostly teaches the African woman English as well as how to farm and do household work just like Katherine. The young Chepi knows what she must do but for now must comply with these people for her sake and Alo’s sake.
Chapter 9
The Forbidden Subject
In fime, Chepi learns the language enough to be useful to her captors. She learns the skills of the Spanish and French homeowners, as well as some new techniques of farming from the Africans and other slaves from far off lands. She makes many friends from all the other slaves there and they talk to her about their homes that they were taken from. One of her dufies is to bring mail from the incoming slave ships to the main house as well as bring mail from the house to the incoming ships. This gives her Insite to where she is. This place is a central locafion for the slave trade. Slaves from Asia, Africa, America and other far-off lands, are brought here to learn English and be trained, in order to be used in the fields farming goods to make money for the owners of the island or be sold. For every new batch of incoming slaves, the talk of revolt and escape come into being uftered in secret. This is quickly muffled by the guards who openly whip, beat, and kill those who ufter words of this forbidden subject. Chepi contemplates escape often but keeps her thoughts to herself in order to keep safe from harm or killed. As she adapts to her new life, periodically Katherine gets word from George threw lefters exchanged during slave shipments about her brother. Katherine reads the lefters from George about how Alo skills are being used to being an important slaver. This distresses her, but if he is alive and well, this puts her mind at ease. She quickly learns how to read and write from Katherine since she is the only slave gefting lefters from the slave ship, THE AGGRESSOR. She hopes that one day she will be able to write her own words down and send this to her brother without Katherine reading.
While receiving lefters from the incoming slave ships to take to the house, she nofices some of the Africans making clicking sounds and gestures when new
Africans are brought to the island. She knows that this is a way of communicafing. It is such a different language that she, nor anyone else, can understand, except for Ayanda. Chepi knows that her listening to the odd sounds and words will come in handy someday, so every fime she delivers the mail for these ships, and she nofices Africans gefting offloaded, she looks at how Ayanda responds to these noises, and how the slaves react to the sounds. She remembers certain words and phrases that are being uftered after the clicking sounds. Especially words like ihawu, inkululeko, Zulu, ukuvukela and especially the word Dingiswayo.
In the evening Chepi wakes up early and nofices some of the slaves heading out to the fields to do work, but also nofices, Ayanda talking to them like as to direct them. Then by noon they return with harvested crops, but they don’t look defeated. They look as though they have hope. This goes on for a few months unnoficed by the slave owners. The French and Spanish are delighted at the progress that the slaves are providing so they take a blind eye to the posifive temperament of the black slaves. Chepi’s main concern is to her people, herself, and her brother, so she doesn’t quesfion things.
A month passes and no word from Alo or George. Then another month passes with no word. Chepi starts to get concerned since Katherine has been gefting mail from outside of the island, so she politely quesfions Katherine, “excuse me, has there been any word about my brother?” Katherine replies, “no word, last I heard they were heading to capture slaves from the Samoan islands, and they will be out of touch for a while.” Then she turns and walks away. Chepi knows that she is lying. Something has happened and she is keeping something from her. Chepi knows what she must do to find the truth. She must get ahold of the last lefters that Katherine got from The Aggressor.
In the evening as the slaves go to the fields to sow the crops, Chepi sneaks to Katherine’s office and looks for the lefters that she receives from her correspondents, away from the island, last month. She finds the lefters that she was looking for and reads them to herself. “Katherine my beloved, I’m glad that you are ok and will be seeing you soon, as I must get some new slavers for my next excursion. I have recently lost men, including the stupid savage redskins Alex and George, on my last trip, by an aftack from the nafives from the Samoan islands. My ship took some damage, so I am docked in Ireland for some repair. I
have heard that there was another ship that went there and was lost, so I am grateful that I was able to make it out of there alive.
I know that George was sending you messages about the savage Alex on my orders to keep Chepi in line. I would recommend that you keep up the rouse that he is alive and well or that you haven’t heard from us. Personally, I could care less about the two savages, but they did get me fine stock of slaves and profits have been good. The problems between Spain and France are heafing up and the crown has been giving word that if ships can be used as a privateer, we will get paid to aftack French ships. This can make up for the lost profits due to the loss of those stupid Indians. It’s just as dangerous as what I am doing now, but its more stable. Hopefully the tensions that are happening between the two countries doesn’t spill over to your island. Hopefully we will be together soon and look forward to your warm embrace. Love, Captain Marcus Augustus Ortega. Captain of the good ship THE AGGRESSOR.
Upon reading this news, her heart sinks. This woman has lied to me about my brother and is in relafions with the captain who kidnapped me from my home. Ortega has no feelings for anyone nor does any captor here. She closes things up in the office and runs away from the house into the fields. She must escape from this place. She wants to go home. She cries while running aimlessly threw the tobacco field. She stops, falls to her knees, and sobs. Then she hears clicking noises and hides under some tobacco brush. She sees the shadow of some people that seem to be hunfing with some odd-looking shields. She tries to be as small and stealthy as possible since these shadows may be demons hunfing her. She sees a glow coming from the center of the field that she didn’t nofice earlier, so she quietly proceeds to travel to it. As she gets closer, she sees threw the brush, Ayanda talking to the Africans holding a spear made from animal hide and sficks. She speaks in her nafive tongue and makes clicking sounds then the other chant and stomp their feet in unison.
Then out of the shadows, two slaves, dressed in branches, emerge from the field. The chanfing stops. Some run into the field carrying their work clothes with them while a few head toward the fields with these odd-shaped shields. She realizes that she is now being hunted. She unknowingly stumbled on a private meefing or ritual. She tries to return to the house as quickly and quietly as she
can, then she hears clicking very close to her from her left. she slowly looks over her left shoulder and sees a pair of eyes in the darkness. She jumps up and sees a man with a grass skirt and spear looking at her. He lunges towards her with the makeshift spear and misses. She grabs his shield and uses it for leverage to kick the man in his balls to escape. She runs back into the fields to be hit in the head with a shield and knocked down. As the African hunter starts to drive his spear down on Chepi, she screams, “Dingiswayo!!” the spear stops an inch from her chest. Two others appear including Ayanda. Ayanda crouches down puts her hand on Chepi’s mouth and forcibly whispers, “Where did you hear that name girl?” Chepi whimpers a quiet response, “name? Who is Dingiswayo?”
They grab the girl and take her to the center of the field. They sit her down and Ayanda begins to speak. “What we say here if you breathe a word, you will die a horrible death in the belly of the warriors. These slaves come from the tribes of the Zulu and Mthethwa, as do I. Dingiswayo is our king leader. He teaches us never to be defeated or surrender to invaders. These devils have taken us from our land and some of us were sold to these devils by our own people. As more of us arrive here we will soon outnumber the devils on this island, which then will become our island, and those who enslave us will be considered the invaders, so we will defeat them. You are not Spanish or French, and I heard that you come from the new world. This is why you are sfill alive. Why are you here and how did you know our leader’s name?”
Chepi wipes the tears from her eyes and starts to speak, “I am here by accident, pure chance. I just found out that my brother is dead, and Katherine has lied to me for at least a month. She is in relafions with the one who kidnapped me from my home and was responsible for sending my brother to his death. I was brought here, and my obedience was ensuring my brother and people won’t be harmed. That deal is now over. So, I must get off this island with my people and find a way home. I have watched you and was fascinated at how you communicate with each other with noises and tapping. My tribe uses these similar sounds when we hunt in groups to track prey. We use drums to communicate to other tribes when war is approaching. I have heard the words Dingiswayo and others as well when you talk to the Africans, when they arrive, after you make the noises. That’s how I know.” Ayanda smiles, “It appears that we are not so different after all. You move very stealthily and blend in well with your surroundings. This is good for
hunfing and for war. If you help us we can capture one of these ships for you, but we have no experience with travel across water. That is something that you must master and teach us. We can teach you how to make and fight with the Ihawu or shield as you call it and eventually, if revenge is also what you want, we can help you achieve that.” Chepi smiles and agrees to help the African tribe. Ayanda mofions the others to let her go back and in her nafive language smiles at the others and tells them that she will be one of them.
Chapter 10
The African tribe
The next day, Chepi did everything as the previous day as though the evening prior had never happened. Deep down she felt the loss of knowing her brother was dead, but she had to hide it. She was full of anger and sorrow, but her mind was fixated on any aftempt to escape with her people. She had to learn about how to pilot a ship. She had to learn how these African warriors can take over this island armed with finy shields and spears. Grief had to be put aside to focus on the tasks at hand. Every chance she got to get on a ship for mail, she took it and learned a liftle more from the deck hands, and sailors, on these vessels. In the evening, she learned about the African language called Bantu, along with French and Spanish. In the late evening, she when into the fields to learn from the Africans how to fight and defend herself with the liftle shields and found out what a formidable weapon it can be when used properly.
One such evening in the field, she had a chance to listen to Ayanda speak to the others about her home and her tribe along with the rest of the warriors. Ayanda spoke, “My Father was a warrior and he wanted me to be one as well, but females didn’t have the ability to be this. My father didn’t care, so he taught me how to defend myself and told war stories to me about the Zulu and Mthethwa. The main offensive strategy the Zulu army used was the Bulls horn. It basically entailed the young and inexperienced warriors oufflanking and encircling the enemy while the old and experienced veteran warriors formed the main thrust at the enemy. These experienced warriors directly assaulted their enemies. In this situafion, we must gather the firearms of the soldiers, and keep informed of
what’s happening outside of the island. If war among the French in their homeland happen, then there will be discontent with those groups here, which will divide them and that’s when we can aftack. We don’t know if we will ever be able to be back home, so we will make this our home. We must be smart about it and be ruthless. We must observe everything here and use this knowledge against our oppressors and above all, we must keep silent so our numbers can grow. “
Chepi asks Ayanda, “I will soon know all about pilofing a ship, but I will need a crew. I’m sure I will be able to take some of you back to your home. Why wouldn’t you want to go home?” Ayanda reply’s, “our home is in the deserts and harsh lands. Food is obtained by mostly hunfing, but here, we can plant and grow food all threw this land. Also, it has taken many ships to bring us, and some died on the way here. We have all seen this. I personally don’t want to get onboard any ship. There are not that many ships for all of us to return. There are others who’s lands I have heard, are lush with plants and animals. Some of the other tribes, from faraway lands, may want to go back to their homes. We should be able to provide this service for them in exchange for their help with this revolt.”
Ayanda confinues,” This is where you come in, and why you have this task. Freedom is a great mofivator, but fear is somefimes greater. If we offer freedom, and a passage home, that will turn the others to our cause.” Chepi smiles and understands. Her mofives to being able to pilot a ship benefits her and her tribe but, can also benefit the others who want to escape. She won’t be able to accomplish this unless the warriors are victorious or at least be able to distract the guards enough for her and a crew to hijack a ship. She knows that she must find the rest of her tribe that are on the island and have them try to learn the tasks on how to run a ship, since her people will want to go home.
Secretly Chepi finds her tribes members and instruct them to try any chance they can to learn about the ships and how to pilot them. Since most of them are women, they use their looks to swoon the deck hands to teach them on how the ships operate.
Chapter 11
The French problem Arise
The problems occurring in France starts to escalate. More ships start to come to get the stocks of sugar, cofton, coffee, and tobacco. As they come to get shipments, they bring news of the troubles they are experiencing back home. The weather was bad this season, and crops of wheat didn’t grow, so there is no bread for the everyday person, but the rich can eat without issue. So, a riot started, and their leaders had to relocated to a safer locafion. Most of the plantafion owners of the island are of this rich class and they start to fear that this turmoil at home will begin on the island. French ships start bringing weapons for the plantafion owners so that they can defend themselves in case any revolt happens on the island. The locafions these weapons are being stored at has intrigued the interest of the African slaves. One person was a livestock hand and coachman for a plantafion in the norther part of the island. He was a local slave but met favor with his owners. He met with Ayana when he was in town to bring news from the northern part of the land and was working to conduct a revolt in the norther part of the island when the fime was right.
The women from Chepi’s tribe didn’t want to be involved with a revolt on the island and wanted to escape before the hosfilifies started. In the evening, Chepi went to talk to Ayanda and the African slaves about supporfing the women when things got bad. Ayanda smiles and agreed. “You will need to have the original crew removed, killed, or convinced to work with us. I don’t think your tribal women can accomplish this so my warriors will help you in this task when the fime is right”. Chepi nofices the northern livestock hand also at the gathering, and asks,” who is that person? I see him on many of the ships and, also see him gathering many supplies for his plantafion”. Ayanda smiles and brings him to meet Chepi. “This is the nafive from this land. He has done good work with giving us informafion and helping organize things for all of us”.
The slender gentleman smiles and introduces himself, “My name is Toussaint Louverture. I have seen you on and off ships and have heard what you are doing for our cause. I am grateful that you wish to transport those away from here to convince some to fight for us”. Chepi smiles back and replies, “It’s good to meet you, and thank you both for supplying guards to help secure the ships for us. I also feel that I should know how to fight like you do”. Ayanda smiles, “you watch us enough, so you probably know alot, but ill personally teach you what I know,
and in return, you will teach me what you know from your tribe.” Chepi smiles and graciously accepts the deal.
