An Awakened Heart

An Awakened Heart

By

Daniel Running Water

Chapter Three

Previously in chapter two:

Hoping to catch Yellow Hawk naked, Strong Bear moved stealthily through the trees and bushes, his eyes searching for his lover. When he arrived at the river his heart sank, for nowhere was Yellow Hawk to be seen, but the sound of water splashing caught his attention and Strong Bear moved further down the river and found his lover standing waist deep in the water...surrounded by the crimson color of his blood...

"Gah-ween...surely you are not injured," Strong Bear said with much alarm in his voice, causing the young warrior to turn abruptly around to face Strong Bear.

Moving from the water, Yellow Hawk knew that he was not only caught naked, but his secret was to be revealed to Strong Bear.

Shaking his head in disbelief, Strong Bear suddenly stepped backwards, away from Yellow Hawk and his mouth hung open in shock.

"Gah-ween Yellow Hawk...what is this that I see?"

"Please my love...please don't cast your eyes on my shame," Yellow Hawk whispered, his head hung down and his shoulders slumped. "I cannot bear what I see in your eyes Strong Bear," he added and then grabbed his buckskin towel and ran away crying in shame.

Now chapter three:

Yellow Hawk ran quickly to his lodge and once dressed, he flung himself on his bed of pelts and blankets, crying profusely. His young heart was breaking as his mind's eye saw the shocked expression on Strong Bear's face when he discovered that which Yellow Hawk had for years, kept secret.

"Yellow Hawk, it is Strong Bear and he wishes to talk with you," Strong Bear said, standing outside the entrance to Yellow Hawk's lodge.

"Go away, I cannot bear your eyes looking at me and my shame," Yellow Hawk cried out, unable to curb his crying.

Ignoring the young warrior, Strong Bear stepped into the lodge and his heart melted when he saw Yellow Hawk lying and crying on the bed.

"Why is it that my handsome husband to be, cries?" he asked, kneeling down beside the bed and his hand resting gently on Yellow Hawk's bare back.

"Do not look at me Strong Bear, for I am ashamed of what you saw," Yellow Hawk cried, refusing to turn his eyes to meet Strong Bear's eyes. "I saw the disgust and hatred that was in your eyes when you saw my secret and shame," he added.

"Look at me," Strong Bear said turning Yellow Hawk to face him. "It was not loathing that you saw in my eyes my beautiful one...it was surprise and I cannot believe that you did not trust your secret to me. I love you deeply Yellow Hawk, and I still wish to make you my husband," he added, causing Yellow Hawk to gaze upward into Strong Bear's eyes.

When their eyes met and held, Yellow Hawk only saw love for him in his lover's eyes and it caused him to fling himself into Strong Bear's outstretched arms. Strong Bear held his lover tightly in his arms and kissed him with a kiss that told the young warrior that he had nothing to fear or to be ashamed of.

"Why did you not trust me enough to share your secret with," Strong Bear asked, knowing that they had to get past this before they could move on.

"I was afraid that once you saw how our Great Spirit gave made me a man and a woman together, you would abhor me."

"I have seen this defect only once among my people and it is what the white eyes call a hermaphrodite. It is nothing to be ashamed of Yellow Hawk, because you could not control how you were created."

"But that look in your eyes...I saw it as anger and loathing," he said as he sat up and snuggled warmly in Strong Bear's arms.

"It was no such thing my heart. I was simply caught of guard and my eyes expressed my surprise. I love you Yellow Hawk, and this does not diminish my love for you. If anything, it makes my heart love you more," he whispered against Yellow Hawk's lips and then kissed him.

His kiss was all consuming and it spoke what his words could not, telling the young warrior that Strong Bear had nothing but love for him.

"Then you are not ashamed to take me for your mate?"

"Never, for in my heart you are already my mate, Yellow Hawk."

"Yellow Hawk, it is I, your father," Roaring Thunder called out from outside the lodge. "May I enter my son?"

"Ay-uh father," he said and snuggled tighter into the arms of the man that he loved.

"I saw you running to your lodge crying, and I feared that all was wrong between you," he said, but from the way that Strong Bear held him, Roaring Thunder knew that his fears were wrong.

"I love your son and soon I shall bring a bride's price for Yellow Hawk to you, Roaring Thunder," Strong Bear proudly said, standing to meet eye to eye with the powerful chief. "That is if you allow this humble chief to take him as his mate?" his heart slamming in his chest as he waited for the chief's answer.

"It is not I that makes this decision, it is up to my son to decide if he wishes to be your mate," Roaring Thunder said as he looked over at his smiling son.

"Ay-uh father, Yellow Hawk wishes to take this man as his mate," Yellow Hawk said, standing and rushing into Strong Bear's arms.

"Then soon I shall bring many horses and pelts to you as his price," Strong Bear proudly said, his arm wrapped possessively around Yellow Hawk's waist.

"And I shall accept your payment my friend," Roaring Thunder said smiling warmly at his son and then at Strong Bear. "I shall tell our Shaman that soon he will be performing a ceremony to unite you both in marriage."

Strong Bear turned his gaze to Yellow Hawk; he lowered his mouth to the boy's and tenderly kissed him.

"Until we meet again my love, I shall think of no other but you," he whispered and then kissed him possessively.

"My heart shall not be at peace until I am in your strong arms again, Strong Bear," he whispered back, neither of them noticing that Roaring Thunder had slipped from the lodge.

Two days later, Roaring Thunder rode back to his village with Kyle riding beside him. He had returned as promised to bring the boy back to his village for a visit, but they both knew that it was for much more.

"I have not been able to sleep or eat in anticipation of this day," Kyle said gazing over at the man that he had fallen in love with.

"I have made us a special place where we will spend several days making love together, away from my wife and people," Roaring Thunder told him and suddenly Kyle's face saddened.

"I thought that we would be staying in your village, Roaring Thunder," he asked, surprised that he was now going to be alone with the man. "Is it because you are ashamed of our love or of me?"

"Gah-ween my handsome one, but I wish not to bring shame to my wife. She has been good to me and it would shame her if my people found you in my arms and not her."

"Surely as chief, you can say who you will and will not love?"

"Ay-uh, this is true, but for me to take one such as you into my bed and shun my wife's body, that would bring shame to not only her, but to me also. I do not wish to do this to either of us."

"If you did not have a wife, would you be free to openly love me?" Kyle asked, gazing hopefully into Roaring Thunder's eyes.

"Ay-uh, then I would be free to love you as my mate without shame."

"Then until you are free to do so, then I shall be your secret lover," Kyle said, reaching his hand out to the chief, fitting is snuggly into his.

They rode onward and when they came to a secluded cave, Roaring Thunder dismounted his horse and along with Kyle walked toward the cave's entrance.

"I use to play in this cave when I was but a young brave," Roaring Thunder said as he took Kyle by the hand and led him inside.

The cave was beautiful inside, a slow fire burned, having been started earlier by Roaring Thunder, wishing to take the dampness from the cave. Around the fire were many mats and a bed of pelts and blankets lay close to the fire also.

"This is so beautiful my love," Kyle said looking around his surroundings.

"Come, there is something that I wish to show you," he said smiling and grabbing Kyle by the hand as he led him deeper into the cave.

As they walked through the dimness of the cave, Kyle gasped when he stepped into a large room and saw a steaming pool waiting for them and also another fire, which also had mats and a bed of pelts and blankets beside it.

"My Great Spirit made this water to be warm at all times," Roaring Thunder told him as they knelt down beside the water. "Feel its warmth, for it soothes ones tired and sore body," he told him, turning now to look at the boy.

"But why two fires and beds?" he questioned.

"The other is for my son and his lover who will be joining us in a few days," he said, remembering how he had shown his son the cave and to bring Strong Bear there when he returned with his bride price.

"Are we to share our lovemaking with their eyes also," Kyle worried.

"Gah-ween my sweet heart, for they shall be there and us here," he assured him. "Only when we share the water will we share our nakedness.

Kyle was already standing and removing his clothes when Roaring Thunder's eyes turned to the boy. Naked and standing erect, his manhood ready for the man that he loved, Kyle wished to take advantage of this time alone with his lover.

"Stand and let me undress you," Kyle said, reaching his small hands down to the chief.

Roaring Thunder stood and allowed Kyle to disrobe him. Kneeling before the man, Kyle lifted each foot and removed his lover's moccasins and tossing them aside with his clothes. Momentarily looking up at the eyes of the one that he loved, Kyle ran his hands about Roaring Thunder's naked body before he placed his hand around the chief's hardness.

Roaring Thunder gasped and tossed his head back in ecstasy, his strong fingers twining through the boy's hair as the boy moved his hand slowly up and down on his hardness. Slowly at first and then with building momentum, Kyle lowered his mouth down and around Roaring Thunder's cock and sucked until he felt the swelling of Roaring Thunder's cock within the confines of his mouth.

"My climax approaches, Golden Hawk," Roaring Thunder said, knowing that if Kyle did not stop he would be tasting that which makes babies.

"Mmmhmmm," Kyle moaned and continued sucking his cock, eager to taste his seed.

"Aieeeeeeeee," Roaring Thunder cried out, his hands holding the boy's head as his hips drove with a compelling momentum, his cock into Kyle's mouth, spewing his seed.

Spewing his seed into the warmth that surrounded his cock, Roaring Thunder thrust feverishly until he had surrendered all to the boy. Spent and his breaths gasping, he helped Kyle to stand, lifted him into his arms as he kissed the boy and walked slowly into the warmth of the water.

They sighed in unison when the water engulfed their bodies with its warmth. Roaring Thunder placed the boy on his feet and wrapped his arms securely around him as their mouths met in a heated kiss.

When he felt a renewed vigor return to his manhood, Roaring Thunder lifted Kyle and the boy wrapped his legs around the chief's waist, his arms wrapped around the chief's neck. Slowly, Roaring Thunder lowered Kyle's ass down onto his throbbing cock, impaling the boy with its largeness.

Kyle gasped and tossed his head back as Roaring Thunder began his rhythmic thrust into Kyle's ass. The water splashed between their joined bodies as Kyle rode the thickness of Roaring Thunder's cock. The chief's hands were clasped securely about Kyle's hips, urging the boy's body up and down on his cock.

Kyle was in sexual heaven as he posted up and down on Roaring Thunder's cock, knowing that his body was giving great pleasure to the chief. After many long, sensuous minutes, Roaring Thunder's throbbing manhood began to swell and he knew another climax was approaching.

Fire...liquid fire coursed throughout Kyle's body as his own climax rose from what felt like his very soul.

"Faster...deeper, I'm about to shoot," Kyle gasped out, his ass moving feverishly up and down on his lover's length.

Kyle erupted with a volume of seed that rose to the top of the water, his ass tightening around Roaring Thunder's cock, pushing him over the edge also.

"I too am about to fill you with my seed," Roaring Thunder said, blasting Kyle's insides with his seed, his cock buried so deep that Kyle thought that it reached to his very soul, as they both surrendered to their release.

"To long it has been that I have not been able to share moments like this," Kyle said and then pulled Roaring Thunder's mouth to his for a kiss.

"Ay-uh my sweetness...my heart, for I too long for many moments like this with you," he whispered against the boy's lips and then took them by storm, kissing him with the passion and fury that their love had.

"Come my love, let us sleep together beside the fire until our need is renewed," Kyle said, leading the mighty chief from the water, hand in hand.

Roaring Thunder place several more logs on the fire and then spooned Kyle to him, his arms wrapped possessively around the boy's waist and soon they had drifted off to sleep.

Yellow Hawk paced back and forth inside his lodge, his heart pounding in anticipation of Strong Bear's return. For the first time in his life, his shame was no more and he eagerly awaited the man of his dreams to arrive. When he heard the thunderous pounding of many hooves, Yellow Hawk knew that his lover approaches with his bride price.

"Strong Bear has finally come," Yellow Hawk sighed and rushed from his lodge only to find many white eyes and renegade Indians rushing into his village with their weapons ready to kill.

A sudden fear struck the boy's heart as his people rushed hurriedly about the village, the women grabbing up their children as the warriors ran for their weapons.

Gunfire erupted loud as the men rode into the village, their bullets finding targets amongst the fleeing people. Roaring Thunder's warriors returned the fire but it was too little and to late, many fell to their deaths as they ran from their lodges.

Josh made a direct path for Roaring Thunder's lodge and when the chief's wife ran from it and toward the forest, he shot her in the back, dropping her quickly to her death.

"Mother nooooo," Yellow Hawk cried out and ran toward Josh, his bow notched with an arrow and ready to fire.

Yellow Hawk stopped and released the arrow, but not soon enough before Josh got off a bullet, hitting Yellow Hawk and dropping his body to the ground beside his mother, his blood pooling beneath him.

With many of the Fox Clan dead and wounded, as well as many of them that rode with Josh, Josh signaled his men and rode from the village. Still showing the arrow that was lodged in his chest, Josh rode on, with his body struggling to stay in the saddle.

"Josh...you've been hit with an arrow," Cal yelled and pulled alongside Josh's horse just in time to see the man fall from his saddle.

Josh grasped at the arrow and broke it off, his blood oozing profusely from the wound.

"Don't move Josh...let me cut the other part out," Cal said, as he knelt beside the evil man.

"No...don't bother Cal, my time here is finished," a weak and gasping Josh said. "At least I got that bastard's wife and son," he said, sporting a weak and sadistic smile.

"Just let me tend to you and save your life," Cal said, knowing that even if he were to get the arrow out of the man's chest, he was still going to die.

"I'm no fool man, I know that my end is near," he said, looking around him and seeing just how many of his own men and the renegade Indians had been killed. "Where is Black Feather," he asked, still not seeing the renegade chief and concerned where he was.

"He didn't make it my friend...an arrow got him the same as you and his warriors rode off," he told him looking around at those that still were there. "I've got to get back to the fort before someone remembers that my men and I have been gone far too long and may connect us with this raid."

"Always thinking of yourself Cal, not caring if those that you called friends, were in need."

"It's not that I don't care Josh, but if my colonel knew that we were connected with this raid or for that matter you, he'd have us hanged, regardless that I am his son-in-law."

Josh began to fitfully cough, his life blood flowing from the sides of his mouth and nose as he grabbed Cal by the shirt, his body convulsing fitfully before he surrendered his ghost.

Standing and seeing Josh's men surrounding him, Cal took charge, sending them back to their stronghold, worried that at any minute he would be discovered by those that may be riding from the fort.

"Get out of here before soldiers from the fort come riding, having heard the gunfire." He shouted at the men.

"Are you going to join us or return with the others to the fort like a coward," Bart Mathews, Josh's right hand man asked, looking down at his fallen leader and then disgustingly at Cal, knowing that he would be looking out for his own hide.

"No...I gotta get back to the fort before someone notices that we have been gone," he said, looking over to the few soldiers that had joined him in the raid.

"I thought as much, the coward that you are," Bart said bitterly. "I should shoot you all and let your damn colonel find your sorry carcasses," he said, venom hanging on his words.

"Just try it Bart, my men will drop you faster than you could ever draw that pistol at your side."

"You ain't worth a damn bullet," he spat and then turned and walked to where a man was holding the reins of his horse.

Once Bart had the body of Josh secured over the rump of his black stallion, Bart took the reins and rode away, leaving Cal to his own problems, because he had enough to deal with.

Bart decided that enough was enough and would split their ill gotten gains with the others before riding off to better pastures.

"We got our story straight men?" Cal asked as he and those that rode with him rode away.

"We were out patrolling and looking for the renegades when we came upon the massacre," Jim Rollins said, confirming it aloud for Cal, as well as the others present. "I know a shortcut back to the fort if'n you care to take it," he added.

"Damn right I care to take it, if'n it means we won't be stumbled across. Now remember also, that if no one questions us about our whereabouts, we don't bother mentioning the massacre, and just act surprised when we do hear about it, because if I know Roaring Thunder, he'll be riding with vengeance in his eyes to the fort once he returns and sees the carnage we done."

"Gotcha," the men said in unison as they followed Cal and Bart back to the fort.

Leisurely riding back to the village of the Fox Clan, Strong Bear and Abe spoke, with Swift Sparrow listening to their conversation.

"It wasn't really necessary to banish Caleb and Running Water from the clan, was it Strong Bear?" Abe asked, remembering the look on both of their faces when Strong Bear banished them.

"Ay-uh Walking Tall, for Running Water committed the worst of all sins against his people, taking the mate of another as his, when the other was not free but still married."

"I realize that Strong Bear, but Running Water was your best friend, hell man, you had grown up together and were stronger than brothers."

"Ay-uh, but Strong Bear would look weak in his people's eyes if he did not do which is required by our laws, which is banishment. Besides..." but the sound of gunfire echoing through the forest interrupted him.

"That is coming from my village," Swift Sparrow said, kicking his heals into his horse's flanks and hurrying onward toward the village, with Strong Bear following beside him.

Their hearts sank and they gasped in shock when their eyes took in the carnage of the village. Women wailed as they clutched their dead husbands and children to them. Roaring Thunder's warriors also wailed, clasping tight to dead wives and children, their mournful eyes meeting Strong Bears as he rode into the village.

"Yellow Hawk," he gasped beneath his breath as he shifted his gaze around the carnage.

Strong Bear looked toward the lodge that was Yellow Hawk's and his heart sank when he saw Yellow Hawk's body lying still in a pool of blood, beside his mother's.

"Gah-ween," he shouted, dismounted and ran as fast as he could toward his sweet Yellow Hawk. "Aieeeeeeeee," he cried out in anger and pain, when he turned his love over and saw the blood that covered his bare chest. "Oh Great Spirit why did you take this man from me," Strong Bear prayed, now seeing a repeat of White Deer's death in his mind's eye. "I do not have the strength to bury another love," he prayed as he looked down at the colorless face of his future husband. "Aieeeeeeeee why," he cried out, lifting his eyes to the heavens and Yellow Hawk's head into his lap, his tears falling freely as grief overtook his heart.

Cal rode beside Bart as they rode back to the fort. When they got close to the forest, he noticed two horses tethered to a low branch and feeding on the long grass. Recognizing one horse by its saddle to be that which belonged to an Indian, he pulled his reins up abruptly, stopping to investigate.

"What have we here," Cal said, dismounting and stealthily approaching the grazing horses. "This one is one of ours," he whispered, wondering why and how it was tethered alongside the Indian's horse.

"I don't like this much, sir," Bart said looking around for the owners. "I don't like this one damn bit...we'd be best to leave this unseen and keep on riding," he suggested.

"Bullshit, I recognize a chief's horse when I see it," he said back, knowing that the horse belonged to Roaring Thunder. "You men stay here while Bart and I investigate this here cave," he ordered and the men nodded in agreement.

"Come on Cal...lets leave well enough alone and get our asses back to the fort," Bart whined, his skin crawling with goose bumps, at the walked slowly into the dim light of the cave.

"If'n you're too scared...wait out there with the rest," Cal ordered and Bart didn't waste a minute in leaving Cal alone to investigate the cave.

"It's not that I'm scared, it's that I got a really bad feeling about this here cave," Bart whispered, looking around fearfully at the shadows of the forest.

"Bullshit...you were always the superstitious type. You and the others come with me, Jenkins, you wait there with the horses," he ordered and along with Bart, he and two other soldiers walked into the dim light of the cave.

Carefully and with their weapons drawn, Cal and the others moved stealthily further into the depth of the cave. Bart grabbed Cal by the arm and stopped him when he saw the reflection of the fire up ahead.

"That's a campfire aburning," he whispered to Cal, "and where there is campfire there has got to be someone near it.

"Just be careful and shoot to kill if they make a move on us. We'll ask questions after, if'n there be anyone left to ask."

When they saw that there was no one around the fire, Cal and the others crept further into the soft light, eager to find the ones that had built the fire. Suddenly the sound of voices filled the silence of the cave, echoing off the walls and giving the sense that many voices were talking.

"Harder...deeper," Kyle called out, causing Cal to stop dead in his tracks when he recognized the voice.

"What's wrong Cal," Bart asked, seeing the sudden draining of color from Cal's face and his scared expression. "Do you recognize that voice?" he asked.

"Yep...it belongs to my son, Kyle," he said, anger now filling his thoughts as he wondered why his son would be here and so far away from the confines of the fort.

Moving now with determination, Cal had the others wait while he moved further into where his son's voice was coming from. When he rounded a bend in the cave, his mouth dropped and his eyes filled with rage when he saw Roaring Thunder fucking his son.

Thinking that his son had been abducted and was now being raped, Cal leapt from the shadows, his rifle aimed at Roaring Thunder.

"Get off of my son...now," he shouted, causing Roaring Thunder to leap to his feet and Kyle to grab a blanket to hide his nakedness from his father's eyes.

"Pa...what are you doing here," Kyle asked, fear in his voice.

"Move slowly away from the savage and over to me son," Cal said, his eyes still on Chief Roaring Thunder and his rifle aimed at his stomach.

"No pa...please don't shoot him," Kyle said, rising quickly to his feet, the blanket dropping and he was now standing protectively in front of the chief.

Cal looked at his son with disbelief in his eyes and then rage, finally figuring out what he was seeing. His son had not been abducted and raped; he was there willingly with this...this savage.

"You let this...this savage take you sexually, son?"

"He didn't take me pa; I gave my heart and body to him willingly. I am in love with Roaring Thunder and you'll have to kill me before I let you kill him," he shouted, his eyes glaring into his father's.

"I should have never let your mother be the one to raise you. She has made you a sissy and now looky at where it got you... an abomination." His voice was mocking and his heart was loathing his son for having given his body to a savage to use sexually.

Rage and vengeance was quickly overtaking his senses and he held up his rifle and aimed it right at his son, but Roaring Thunder pulled and placed Kyle behind him, keeping his own body between the rifle and his young lover.

"You would kill your own flesh and blood because he loves a mighty chief?" Roaring Thunder asked, his own nakedness now showing in the light of the fire that raged a few feet from him.

"He's no longer my son, I cannot and will not claim a Nelly for a son," he said, using the name that whites called homosexuals then.

"Pa please listen to me, mother knows that I love Roaring Thunder and so does grandfather, so if they can accept us, then why can't you?" a tearful Kyle asked, stepping from behind Roaring Thunder and allowing the man to wrap an arm possessively around his slender waist.

"No...you are shit to me now Kyle," Cal roared in anger and once again he aimed at Kyle.

An arrow flew through the air as did several others, hitting Cal in the back.

Stunned and surprised by the suddenness of the attack, he turned to see Swift Sparrow standing before him with another arrow notched and ready.

Pandemonium broke out as Kyle rushed from Roaring Thunder's arms and to his father's side. He knelt down beside his father and gazed into his eyes, his own tears falling onto Cal's face as he gasped hard for a breath.

"Pa why, why couldn't you just accept the fact that your son loved a man, and not just any man, but a mighty Choctaw chief?" he asked crying.

"I'll see you in hell Kyle," he gasped out and with the swiftness of a deer, sank his knife into Kyle's side.

"Gah-ween," Roaring Thunder shouted and rushed to Kyle's side, catching him before his body fell to the floor.

Kyle gazed up at his lover and his eyes were filled with love before they closed, causing Roaring Thunder to let out a mournful wail. Slowly he rocked back and forth his sweet Kyle in his arms.

Swift Sparrow knelt and placed his ear close to Kyle's nose and mouth.

"He lives my chief...your heart still lives," he said, causing Roaring Thunder to gasp from the news.

Drawing his buckskin breeches on rapidly, he knelt and scooped Kyle's lithe body into his arms and hurried from the cave, pausing momentarily when he came across the bodies of those that had accompanied Cal.

"I must get him to our village and into the care of our Shaman," Roaring Thunder said, not yet knowing what awaits him at the village.

"My chief, our village was attacked and many are now lying dead, including Yellow Hawk," he said gravely, standing beside his chief.

"Gah-ween...not my son also...but why, who could have done this," he asked looking down at the boy that he was holding to him.

"Them," he said, pointing a finger at the men that lay dead on the floor. "It was his father, along with Josh Temple and Black Feather's men."

Roaring Thunder placed Kyle in Swift Sparrow's arms, long enough to climb onto his horse and then placed Kyle on his lap and rode off toward his village.

When Roaring Thunder was close to his village, a great wailing was heard. His heart cried out for his son and also for Kyle. As he approached his lodge, he saw his wife of many winters lying dead and suddenly guilt overcame him.

"If I hadn't surrendered to the lust of the flesh, they'd still be living," he cried out to himself, handing Kyle down to Swift Sparrow.

Suddenly the thundering of many horses' feet exploded the village and Roaring Thunder turned to see Colonel Parker riding into his village, weapons drawn and heading directly for him.

Roaring Thunder dismounted and took Kyle into his arms just as Seth stopped his horse beside him.

"Oh God no...not my precious grandson," Seth cried out and dismounted, calling a soldier to him. "Give me my grandson, this is a doctor and he'll tend to him," he said, taking Kyle into his arms. "What happened here...why is my grandson naked and bleeding?"

"Your son-in-law was responsible for this, my friend. He, along with Josh Temple and Black Feather's men, they rode against the Fox Clan."

He went on and told Seth of what happened in the cave and where to find their bodies... Seth stood there in shock, his head shaking with astonishment.

"I am so, so sorry Roaring Thunder, I came as soon as I was alerted to the gunfire," he said, his eyes tearing up as he watched the doctor work on Kyle.

"The wound apparently exited his body and thankfully missed his vital organs, but he's lost much blood," Randy Cooper, the fort's doctor said, sewing up the wound after he had cleaned it, hoping to save the teen.

"My son is also dead, as well as my wife," Roaring Thunder said, and then walked away to kneel down beside his wife's body.

Looking into the sky, Roaring Thunder wailed loudly. His voice mixed with those that also mourned. Never would he put the needs of the flesh before his people again. He swore an oath to his Great Spirit to always put them first and his needs last.

"What can I do to help ease your pain, my friend," Abe asked, putting his own pain for Strong Bear aside.

"Thank you, but it is Roaring Thunder that must right what he allowed to be made wrong," he said, refusing to look up at Abe.

"You are not responsible for this, it could have happened even if you were here," Abe reasoned with the man.

"Gah-ween Walking Tall, I was diligent and sought my own needs of the flesh instead of being with my people when the carnage rained down on my village," he said adamantly.

He looked up and saw the tears that were in Strong Bear's eyes as he walked toward him, he could not bare his sorrow too...gah-ween, it was just to much for him to bare. His wife and son were dead and now he would have to endure the shame of another chief for putting his own flesh's needs ahead of that of his clan.

He could see the anger in Strong Bear's eyes; Roaring Thunder turned his head, ashamed to face the mighty chief.

To be continued...

Sorry about the turn of events my readers. Let me hear your thoughts, to or against.

Thank you,

Daniel

danielrunningwater@yahoo.com