Amazon Moon by James A. Haught

Macedonians gave us food—produce stolen from our own farms—then marched us further downstream to the Great River. There we were forced to help build large rafts of logs tied together with vines, our transport into slavery. The task took two days, and we slept at night on the riverbank. When the rafts were ready, we were loaded aboard with bags of food.
    "Our flotilla of young slaves floated slowly down the Great River, watched by armed guards on each raft and by occasional patrols along the shore. To drink, we dipped water from the wide stream. We had no latrine, but hung off the back of the raft. We slept on the logs, huddled together like foxes in a den. From time to time we passed small cities. After five days we came to an awesome sight: a large port city with a broad ocean stretching behind it, vanishing at the hazy horizon. Later we learned it was the Black Sea.
    "Beside a river pier was a slave trading post built of upright logs. Women and girls were locked in one chamber and boys were sent to another. Our small brothers looked back to Mitha and me before they disappeared. We never saw them again. The next day, slave merchants examined us, poking and squeezing our bodies to assess our fitness. Mitha's breasts were checked with great relish. Finally a fat trader bought six of us and we were led to a small sailing ship in the harbor. Luckily, Mitha and I remained together in the lot.
    "The ship spent two days crossing to the southern coast. Then we were marched inland to our destination: a quarry where creamy white marble was excavated for the temples and statues of Greece. Under guard, a hundred slave men hacked and split marble blocks in a dusty pit. Breezes swirled clouds of powder into their lungs. They tried to cover their noses, but they coughed painfully. On windy days the diggers were white like ghosts.
    "Women didn't dig marble. We were assigned to a cooking shed where we prepared food to carry to the men. We dipped urns of water from a small stream and slaked their thirst. At night, women slaves slept in a small bunkhouse, while the men had large barracks. Older Slav men talked with us. They had learned to speak some Greek and taught us words. We learned that, to Greeks, the word Slav meant slave.
    "We worked four years at the quarry. We learned the Greek language. My body bloomed like Mitha's, and I lost my virginity violently, as she did. Five quarry guards held me down on the creek bank and took turns with me. Slaves are mere possessions, like cattle or pigs, defenseless. Later the quarry superintendent ordered me into his bed a few nights. But he preferred experienced women among the cooks, instead of a frightened girl. Despite all this, I didn't feel like a sexual woman, because I never gave myself willingly to a lover—until now.
    "Then the marble vein dwindled until only thin layers remained. The quarry owner sold half his slaves to traders. Mitha and I were among ten women bound in a string and marched south to a small market at Kavopolis. That's where we were sold to the Overseer of Aegolus. And you know the rest of my life."
    I held Litha close. We pondered the strange cruelty of tribes endlessly warring upon each other and enslaving each other.
    * * *
    Late one night, sweaty from lovemaking, Litha said: "Let's swim."
    "I can't enter the Amazon pool," I reminded her.
    "Then I'll join you in the slave pool."
    Naked, we walked through the dark village and quietly entered the warm water. She felt deliciously slippery against me. Soon, to our surprise, we made love a second time at water's edge. Then we made our stealthy return to her room. We felt like secret spies, undetected by people around us. It was a time of great happiness.
    "I may become pregnant," she said. "If I bear you a son, I would want to keep him, not send him into slavery as the Amazons do with male babies."
    The thought of losing our possible son disturbed me.
    "But we might have no choice. The Amazons are strong women with strong