Annis is a young enslaved woman with a sharp intellect and a deep connection to her West African roots. She learns combat, foraging, and survival skills from her mother, drawing strength from memories and ancestral spirits. Her journey forces her to endure a grueling march from North Carolina to New Orleans, where she relies on her resilience and resourcefulness to survive.

Sasha is Annis's mother and an enslaved woman on a North Carolina plantation. Having learned combat from her own mother, she passes this martial tradition down to Annis alongside stories of their family heritage. She is fiercely protective, intervening to shield Annis from sexual violence despite the severe consequences.

Represented as a collective force of oppression, the white enslavers in Annis's life remain deliberately unnamed. They include Annis's biological father in North Carolina, who subjects the women to constant threats of violence, as well as the cruel husband and wife who later purchase Annis to work on their Louisiana sugar plantation.

Mama Aza is Annis's grandmother, originally from the West African kingdom of Dahomey. Formerly a royal warrior wife, she was sold into enslavement after an affair and survived the brutal middle passage. Her legacy of survival, symbolized by a small awl carved from an elephant's tusk, provides the foundation for her descendants' endurance.

Spirit Aza is an ancestral entity who communicates with Annis during her most difficult moments. Claiming to have guided both Mama Aza and Sasha, the spirit offers advice that is often cryptic and contradictory. Her presence forces Annis to develop her own decision-making skills rather than relying entirely on supernatural intervention.

Safi is an enslaved woman on the North Carolina plantation who becomes Annis's first romantic partner. She is deeply compassionate, offering Annis vital emotional support in the wake of her mother's sudden departure. She seizes a perilous opportunity during their forced march to change her circumstances.

Esther is an enslaved woman who works in the house of the Louisiana sugar plantation. Accustomed to the cruel starvation tactics of her enslavers, she relies on hunting and foraging to survive. She quickly befriends Annis, sharing crucial knowledge about the plantation's dangerous dynamics.

Mary is an enslaved woman working alongside Esther and Annis in Louisiana. She does not speak but demonstrates profound survival skills, easily hunting small game to supplement their severely restricted rations. She is an integral part of the small community of women who support each other in the enslaver's house.

Bastian is Esther's brother, a man who lives covertly in the backcountry lowlands surrounding the sugar plantation. He periodically returns to the edges of the property to provide food for his sister. He forms a brief, meaningful connection with Annis when she ventures into the woods to forage.

Phyllis is an enslaved woman chained in the line marching toward New Orleans. She bears heavy scars from past beatings but possesses vital knowledge about the landscape, sharing stories about the Great Dismal Swamp and the communities living within it.

Emil is an enslaved man who works on the Louisiana sugar plantation. He has only one good hand due to a previous work accident. He frequently endures severe punishments from the enslavers, including being locked in the underground earthen prison known as the hole.

Nan is an enslaved woman who lives with her children in the same cramped quarters as Annis and her mother. She demonstrates the difficult, crowded living conditions the enslaved people are forced to endure on the estate.

Camille is a cook who is purchased and brought to the sugar plantation at the same time as Annis. She experiences profound grief upon her arrival, having just been forcibly separated from her daughter by the slave traders.

Cora works in the kitchen at the Louisiana sugar plantation. She is knowledgeable about the devastating effects of yellow fever and helps prepare the edible mushrooms that Annis forages to feed the women in the household.